Tuesday 8am Silicon Valley news report:

Sun CEO Faces Pressure Over IBM - WSJ.com

Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's CEO, is under pressure to come up with an alternative for the struggling computer maker if talks with IBM can't be revived.

Sun's failed IBM deal could lead to lawsuits

Sun is now vulnerable to shareholder lawsuits or changes in top management if executives can't move quickly to shore things up, analysts said Monday.

Tech Giants Help Clients Tap Stimulus Funds - WSJ.com

Gregg Stahl received an unusual offer last week from technology giant Cisco Systems Inc. Did he want a Cisco grant writer to help craft an application for federal stimulus funds that his state could use to buy digital-phone technology?

Intel launches new chip logos, rating system | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News

A daunting challenge in the case of consumer laptops, which are typically plastered with a hodgepodge of stickers from Intel, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, AMD's ATI graphics chip unit, and other companies.

GM and Segway unveil new two-wheeled urban vehicle - SiliconValley.com

...they are working together to develop a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle designed to be a fast, safe, inexpensive and clean alternative to traditional cars and trucks for cities across the world.

Motorola’s Jha: Highly Paid, and Elusive - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

...his 2008 compensation of $104 million puts him first among the chief executives of the 200 largest public companies

Op-Ed Contributor - How the Internet Got Its Rules - NYTimes.com

...these humble documents shape the Internet’s inner workings and have played a significant role in its success.

Seismologist Was Forced to Remove Italy Earthquake Warning From the Internet - Digits - WSJ

...a local scientist is demanding an apology from authorities and saying that he was forced to take his warnings off the Internet.

- A.P. to Take On Web Aggregators

News aggregators have long asserted that collecting snippets of articles — usually headlines and a sentence or two — is allowed under the legal doctrine of “fair use.” News organizations have been reluctant to test that idea in court, and it is still not clear whether The A.P. is willing to do so.

- Fonera 2 Combines Wi-Fi Sharing, BitTorrent, Network Storage -Wired

Interestingly, some progressive European telcos actually like Fon, because it enforces reciprocal sharing, rather than freeloading -- which means that Fon users have to pay for their own internet service at home if they want to use the Fon network abroad.

- Apple Updates iTunes With HD Movie Rentals -TechWeb

Apple last month said it would offer HD movies for rent or purchase through the iTunes store and promised that future movies would be available in HD format 30 days after their release online.

- Silverlight strikes out with MLB -ZDNet

Baseball never detailed the reasons for dropping Silverlight but sources close to the negotiations between the league and Microsoft said it was a series of glitches and conflicts between the companies that led to the split.

- Do you hate your iPhone? -ZDNet

When RIM introduced the BlackBerry Storm, despite the reviews, it was a sign that the company was ready to fight on Apple’s home turf. It’s time for Apple to show it can do the same. Only this time, it’s competing against a BlackBerry, an Android and a coming iteration of Windows Mobile.

- MySpace a Bulletin Board, Not Private Room, Says California Court -WSJ

How do social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace fit within the world of privacy law? Are such sites private rooms in which one can pen his or her internal thoughts without fear of others misappropriating such thoughts? Or are such sites really just bulletin boards for the world?

- YouTube, Sony Pictures in talks over feature films -CNet

Some studio executives have told CNET that they don't believe full-length movies can make money online. To generate a decent return, a large number of ads must accompany a film. Tests show Internet viewers resent this, according to film-industry sources.

- Top 12 Green-IT Users: No. 1 Highmark Inc. -ComputerWorld

The company's new data center, built entirely of recycled building materials and certified as a leader in energy and environmental design by the U.S. Green Building Council, is an 86,000-square-foot, Tier 3 facility with some 28,000 feet of raised flooring. The new data center is three times bigger than the old one, but its electricity costs are the same: $45,000 per month.

- Netbooks May Soon Outsell Notebooks, says Qualcomm CEO -PCWorld

Qualcomm has a vested interest in the netbook’s success. Its upcoming Snapdragon line of processors, designed for netbooks and other ultraportable devices, will debut in consumer devices later this year. Snapdragon will challenge Intel’s Atom chip, which currently dominates the netbook market and is slated to appear in other mobile Internet devices as well.