On the more geek-centric front, there was unease about the future of Apple Computer in the wake of CEO Steve Jobs taking a sabbatical for health reasons. The official word was that he was suffering from a hormone imbalance, but given that he was treated for cancer in the past, rumors quickly spread, including the one that he is considering a liver transplant. Despite all this, however, Apple, and especially the iPhone, seemed to be doing perfectly fine, with the mobile device's application store surpassing 500 million downloads.

Speaking of the iPhone, and other next generation phones, one of the hot topics of the week was mobile phone browsers. Apple began allowing some outside browsers for the iPhone, and Bitstream announced it was working on a mobile browser of its own.

Dell, apparently knowing a hot trend when it sees it, announced that it's also getting into the mobile phone business, though it didn't name a partner. It's a boost that they need, given that they are currently losing market share – although the PC market in general is anemic right now, with growth slowing to the lowest numbers since 2002. (It is, however, still growing, so tech careers are in no danger).

Sony could have been in on the phone bandwagon, but it appears they may have shot themselves in the foot in that department – evidence surfaced that they may have blocked a Playstation phone. Given the fact that they are looking at their first loss in 14 years, they could have used the boost.

One of Sony's rivals, Nintendo, had quite the opposite fate, however – they are being credited with singlehandedly saving the gaming industry from the recession during the holiday season, driving $5 billion in sales during the month of December, and more than $21 billion for the year as a whole. One big factor in its growth: Its strong appeal to female gamers (one can imagine the runaway success of Wii Fit is part of that).

Not all the news was sunny in the game industry, however, particularly in the case of the once-unstoppable Tomb Raider franchise. Developer Crystal Dynamics announced staff cuts and the company that released the game, Eidos, is in buyout talks. It's a sobering reality check for anyone who gets into gaming – just remember that even if you're on top, that doesn't mean you're going to stay there forever.

Circuit City, one of the biggest game retailers in the country, announced it was going out of business altogether, after declaring bankruptcy and saying it would close some stores. The news wasn't entirely unexpected in the light of the company's problems, but it was still unpleasant to hear.

In publishing, things continued to be dismal, with plenty of news of potential newspaper closings and layoffs. Gannett, in particular, had a tough time of it, requiring all employees to take a one-week unpaid furlough and saying it may close down its Tucson, Arizona paper in March. Tribune Media, meanwhile, was working on a plan to emerge from bankruptcy.

Once again, media and publishing companies found novel ways to keep themselves afloat. Davenport, IA-based publisher Lee Enterprise staked its fortune on a reduced stock split, and a Los Angeles radio station, Indie 101, followed the lead of many publications and took their property online-only.

However, there was one bright spot in the literary world: The number of fiction readers is on the increase. While it may not necessarily translate into book sales being recession proof – indeed, bookstore sales are down – but it means that there will always be a market for published works of literature, even if it's to supply the incresingly-popular libraries. And for people who want to turn their fan-writing skills into a pro career, that's very good news indeed.
– Bonnie