• The Inquirer likes the idea that AOL's Jason Calacanis was handed Netscape by someone seeking his failure. But everyone knows Calacanis will fail spectacularly, which is the Dogbert-endorsed fast track to success. [Inquirer]

After just a few months, the new head of Netscape wants out. That's why he's fomenting controversy over his newest job offer — paying his competitors' top users to seed Netscape. When the smoke clears, the site will have a shot in the arm, and Netscape's boss will be closer to leaving for a better gig at AOL.

Two web portals, figuring out new ways to hemorrhage money, are paying people to play on the Internet.

Need to make fun of someone this morning? Try the curmudgeons from Netscape who came to AOL exec Jason Calacanis's blog to tell him they don't like what he did to their site. How did they find his blog? By reading the new Netscape.

The New York Times documents the backlash against AOL's new interactive edition of Netscape.com in a story of dubious worth. Sure, a little ribbing's fine, but is it really news that the relaunch led by Weblogs, Inc. king Jason Calacanis caused a petition signed by under 2000 members? Not really.

• Bill Gates says Vista will be ready in January. Unless it won't. [MSNBC]

The business divorce between Rocketboom producer Andrew Baron and anchor Amanda Congdon gets bitchier by the hour. (If you just tuned in, see Amanda's original announcement and Andrew's rebuttal.)

Video-blogging celebrity Amanda Congdon's exit from the daily Rocketboom show is getting all the blogosphere's love today. The general feel is that Rocketboom's screwed and Amanda's a golden girl.

• Batting .000 on his New Year's predictions, Firefox developer Blake Ross rushes out a second batch:

AOL switched Netscape.com to the new edition (the one we don't like) made by Weblogs, Inc. president Jason Calacanis and his team. One of the top stories:

As promised in Valleywag, New York Magazine profiles Jason Calacanis this week. Netscape PR asked writer John Heilemann (whose last mention of Calacanis got three days of angry e-mails from the sensitive AOL exec) to interview the man who's turning Netscape into a clone of Digg.com.

UPDATE: This item was, in fact, pretty lame, as Netscape does run Gawker Media stories just like any other. (No idea about Phonescoop, you'll have to ask blogger Eric Lin.)

"All anyone sends on the WIN-wide mailing list is, 'Please digg my article.'" So says a member of AOL's blogging arm, Weblogs, Inc.

Thirty-six hours after AOL's "Digg killer" launches, this is still the site's top story, with three times the votes of any other.

So that's why Netscape managing editor C.K. Sample left a cryptic message about firing an AOLer on an unrelated news story. First day on the job and all, but C.K. meant to (and did) post his comment to this Netscape story about an AOL customer service rep from hell.

In the booming Silicon Valley economy, everyone's looking to buy or be bought. But not all offers are equal. How do you politely turn down a lowball without burning your bridge? Let's take a look at three turn-downs — none of which were publicly reported.

Looks like AOL's Netscape Beta has bigger problems than ugly voting buttons. One of the new site's top stories has a seemingly unrelated message from Netscape managing editor C.K. Sample (pictured):

Diggsketeers! When we last left our hero, his news-gathering site Digg.com was under attack from Dr. Netscrape's AOL NegaDigg Machine (Issue #47). But help was on the way, with a new Diggmobile — the post-Crisis-on-Infinite-Earths Digg 3 (Issue #41)! Will Diggman succumb to the cosmic powers of the evil Dr. Netscrape? Or is the Power of Digg stronger than the AOL Force? While the battle unfolds, watch the superbattler stat sheet!

You weren't on your computer night, you were at some kick-ass party. So you're just now finding out that AOL launched its highly anticipated clone of social news site Digg.com at Beta.Netscape.com.

Welcome to the new Netscape. Today's hot stories — voted on by you! Here's the top story on AOL Digg clone Netscape Beta, from midnight: