• New York Times: Robert Spinrad, a Pioneer in Computing, Dies at 77. Former director of Xerox PARC — which was maybe the most concentrated center of innovation in the history of computing.
• Cash4Gold offers to pay its critics for their silence. If you don’t watch TV, Cash4Gold is a company that offers to buy gold from people at, as it turns out, far less than the prevailing market rate.
• Here are a couple of looks at the current unemployment picture. Our current level of unemployment looks really grim when you fit it to the pace of recovery from recent recessions. Oh, and in total, about 200,000 fewer people have jobs now than had jobs ten years ago. It’s worth remembering that the economy must add roughly 150,000 jobs a month to keep pace with population growth.
• James Surowiecki: Inflated Fears. Now’s not the time to obsess over inflation.