Death, blog not proud. The Times points to the recent deaths of ZD bloggers Russ Shaw and Marc Orchant as a sign that blogging is bad for your health. And since you need three facts to support a trend story, as Larry Dignan points out, throw in Om's non-fatal heart attack, too. The fast-paced worlds of Gawker and TechCrunch are thrown in there, too. Media is definitely moving towards hiring bloggers for piece work rather than staff reporters for life ... but plenty of us are creating balanced lives that revolve around family, not our computers.

MSFT: You have three weeks. Steve Ballmer slapped Jerry Yang around some, delivering an ultimatum letter. In essence: Give in now or face a proxy fight – for less money. Lose control of your company and have no place in ours. And enjoy those shareholder lawsuits, too. Microsoft Press Pass.

YHOO details AMP!. The new system, formerly Apex, is expected to make ad-buying across Yahoo sites and partner sites simple and powerful. Its development is partly behind YHOO's reluctance to accept MSFT's offer. (Reuters)

Judge doubts RIAA legal theory. A key issue in RIAA cases is whether the existence of files in share folders is proof of infringement of whether the RIAA has to show. Last week, two judges came to opposite conclusions on that issue. If the RIAA has to show actual downloading, it could put quite a crimp in their litigation strategy. (AP)