Two big names announced this week that they're stepping down at Microsoft -- first, the most human face of the company, Robert Scoble, followed shortly by founder and icon Bill Gates. While we seriously doubt the two moves were related in any way, both moves could substantially impact the company's future. If for the worse, then big trouble at Microsoft could mean a big boon to Silicon Valley. Of course Microsoft is not an empire......

If you like Joy Division and Interpol, why haven't you bought the Editors record yet? These UK-born and University-bred blokes deliver the same style of disaffected echoing vocals paired with disco drum beats and guitar melodies that ring like alarms. Listen to "Munich" [Real / Windows Media] off their record The Back Room that recently came out here in the States. We have two tickets for you to go see their sold out Popscene show......

Friend of the 'ists Todd Barry is back for another stand up stint here in SF as part of a west coast tour. Last time we saw the show, we fell in love with his free form style, audience-participation antics and snotty mien (it's a schtick, people, he's actually quite nice). He'll be performing with Mississippi native and southland resident Tig Notaro, who's officially endorsed by SFist comedy crush Sarah Silverman, so we're going to go out on a limb and see she's funny (judge for yourself and watch a clip [Windows Media]). The shows are at the Punchline starting tonight at 8pm and running through Saturday. You can buy tickets online for $10 (plus evil TicketMaster handling fees), and the club has a two drink minimum. You may well catch this SFist laughing so hard they lose control of their bladder....

Want to know how to get SFist's attention? Try sending us a press release that reads like this: THIS EMAIL IS FOR YOUR EYES ONLY—PLEASE EAT EMAIL AFTER READING. You've been sent this email because you are a Person of Special Interest. The Billboard Liberation Front is planning a large-scale improvement on Monday, May 30th—Memorial Day. I don't want to give away too much about the nature of improvement, but I will go as......

We've got a date with Deadwood, so we'll bring you tidbits from all over nerdville, population: too many. Washington, D.C. Federal District Court says the FCC has no power to foist the broadcast flag upon our wonderful gadgets. The forces of evil Rightsholder lobbyists shall decend on Congress. Gigi Sohn points out that constituents probably don't want their TV's f**ked with by their elected representative. Speaking of rightsholder lobbyists, Hillary Rosen (former chair of......

In a partnership that was originally announced months ago, Hewlett-Packard - the folks who brought you the Light Emitting Diode, among thousands of other patented inventions - is now shipping Apple's iPod to customers around the world. You may have seen the new ads premiering at this weekend's MTV Music Video Awards. EssEffist would like imagine the conversation over beers at some Cupertino watering hole: "Well, HP wants a digital music player as part of their new line of media products for the home user." "Hmm. Over at Apple, we want to distribute our products to people who are scared of the intimidating modernism of our retail stores." "Well, HP does have one of the best world-wide distribution networks for computers and electronics." "And Apple does have the best digital music player in the world. I wonder..." While we were originally concerned this could be some sort of unholy union - after all, HP will be shipping Windows Media Center on it's new entertainment-centric PCs - Apple is practically supporting their niche-market computers with money from iPod sales, and as a Mac user, whatever keeps the sleekly designed, loveably reliable Apple computers coming is fine with us. We think this could be a good move for both companies, since Apple's expertise is in digital media and HP's in research, manufacturing and distribution. But couldn't they have done something about the price? We can only hope this is making Steve Jobs feel better....