Extending a wave of layoffs, AOL reduced its entire business news team to one or two people and is expected to use Huffington Post staff to pick up the slack. Because that's what HuffPo is famous for: business news.

Now that the Huffington Post has taken over editorial operations at AOL, freelance AOL movie writers will be transitioned to a new compensation model that replaces contractual pay with deep, deep appreciation and possibly compliments.

Author Gregory Levey just revealed how his book won almost 700,000 Facebook fans, more than Brad Pitt, JK Rowling or the New York Times. His secret: Accidentally appeal to stupid people.

Google today announced "Google Editions," another e-book service alongside Amazon's for Kindle and Apple's for iPad. Google doesn't know what gBooks will cost or how exactly you'll read them, but they'll definitely piss Steve Jobs off, so full steam ahead!

As if the journalism job landscape weren't terrifying enough, now you've got to think about learning to code. It's yet another new media skill you'll need to stay ahead of competitors. And make no mistake: they're stockpiling O'Reilly books.

This is sad: Mediabistro is now carrying classified listings for straight up clerical jobs with no media connection, because they figure those are the jobs of the future, for many media people. After all, their industry is dying.

The New York Times fired Critical Shopper columnist Mike Albo for taking a free junket to Jamaica, in violation of ethics policies. Which might make sense, if the Times itself hadn't specifically cleared him of violating ethics policies.

Two blogs, Texts From Last Night and Look at this Fucking Hipster, scored contracts at Penguin's Gotham Books imprint in the past week, the latest in an endless series of such deals. Shouldn't you get a piece of the action?

A good reason not to write for BlackBook: "Your final check will be sent out next week" is followed two months later by "there will be no further payment for your services."

It's widely acknowledged among Huffington Post alumni that founding editor Roy Sekoff ghost writes Arianna Huffington's columns. So it would be natural to expect Huffington to outsource her new Twitter stream, as well.

Nicholas Hughes, a marine biologist and academic, hanged himself at home 46 years after the suicide of his mother, the poet Sylvia Plath. He was 47.

Here's the thing about losing your journalism job and starting your own internet/freelance business: Suddenly you work, eat, sleep, drink and even exercise in one tiny space. Laura Rich almost went crazy.

Google paid $125 million to settle copyright charges over its scanning of 7 million books. Today authors were told their cut: $60 to $300 per title. Woo?

No more excuses, blocked novelists: A shrink convinced nervous London lawyer Joseph O'Neill to follow his novel-writing dream. Ten years on, he took the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Is Jared Kushner's family real estate business having trouble subsidizing the cash-bleeding New York Observer? Maybe: Editors told one writer about orders to delay freelancer payments.

After asking about rumors that deceased environmental magazine Plenty was stiffing writers, we heard from more pissed-off former staffers. Some think the owner could pay if he wanted.

Somehow, we're guessing there will be much more of this sort of writing from the Times' new columnist Bono, who in his debut effort visits a Dublin pub:

MTV tacked on a $500 stocking stuffer to the final paychecks of those charity bloggers it was avoiding paying. Could it be the raunchy Viacom network believes in God? Or at least karma?

Photographer Steve Schapiro needs a hook to sell his $700 special edition book about the Godfather movie. The behind-the-scenes pictures (including James Caan wired up with explosive squibs, left), 1,000-copy print run and author signatures might not be enough, and lord knows the economy isn't going to help matters.…

Arianna Huffington had some good advice for aspiring bloggers on the Daily Show tonight — blog your passion, go with your first impression — but her most important technique was communicated only implicitly, by way of example: Promote the hell out of yourself. From a brief guest stint on the Comedy Central show,…