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• “Strong earthquake in the Los Angeles area”: Talk about a phrase we could go without hearing. While the quake was powerful, it definitely wasn’t an end-of-the-world situation by any stretch. Mediaite has the initial reports from CNN, which they totally got the jump on over MSNBC and Fox News, including the use of Twitter. source

• His management has been trying to book a tour. One of the regulations Conan has on his contract is that he can’t show up on TV in any role besides an actor until September. But they didn’t say anything about showing up live! So, instead of sitting on the beach drinking mojitos for nine months, he decided that he’d rather be working. If this goes off, it’s gonna rule. Team Coco for life! source

• Who didn’t see this coming? Our boy Lou is like the DJ playing heavy metal on the smooth jazz station – he doesn’t fit CNN to the point that people regularly complain about it. As he notes, though, this will be sad – he was the last of original anchors on the network. Considering the open-ended way he spoke of leaving, we hope he does something completely left-field. Like run for president in 2010. Whaddya mean there isn’t a presidential election in 2010? As for CNN, they plan to announce a replacement tomorrow morning. (please not michael savage, please not michael savage) source

• Obama’s speech about health care promises to either bring it or fail to bring it. Watch it here. Oh look, a kitty!

• My dad didn’t wake up this morning.. I’m sure you’ll all hear about it. It hasn’t yet hit me but it’s about to.
• Billy Mays III • Who wrote about his dad’s death via Tweet. Mays, who says “All the support from you guys does help,” reported the news of his father’s passing hours before the mainstream media got to it. It’s the nature of the medium. • source

• The Britpop icons made their live re-debut over the weekend, and we couldn’t be happier clams. Sure, Gorillaz was good, but Blur is Blur. OK? source

• The new features Google seems to be gunning for the immediacy of Twitter search through its redesign, which much like every other Google redesign, is only obvious after a little digging. Javascript allows you to narrow your search criteria to something as recent as the last day, as opposed to having to dig through weeks of content to find what you want. It also sorts based on the type of content, like reviews.
• Why the change? “So when you get your search results from Google,” says Google exec Marissa Mayer, “you need to be able to say ‘I really just want the most recent’ or ‘I really just want reviews’ – to slice and dice search results so that you can experience and visualize them in an entirely new and enriched way.” Mayer’s speaking like a supergenius right now. We wonder if she’s available (and if she’d say yes). *Fawn*
• Our take?We’ve loved Google a lot in the past for things they do, but it always did feel like the organization end was lacking a little. To narrow down searches, it required numerous clicks or knowing the right boolean to look for something recent. They’re reacting to a trend that has seen numerous attempts to topple the company, most famously (and unsuccessfully) Cuil. (Cuil sucks, BTW.) source

• $2.5 billion in market value (plus convenience charge) source

• Hey, it beats being out there. CNN and Facebook brokered a deal to bring the inauguration to computers with a mix of streaming video and social networking. At work? Load it up while the boss isn’t looking. And put up a status update telling your friends how awesome it is. source