Roundup: Obama’s White House reboot, SoCal’s VC slump and more

Here’s the latest pre-inaugural action:

Will Obama “reboot” the White House? — Wired looks at the president-elect’s efforts to become more transparent and responsive through tech, and at the obstacles facing those efforts. The conclusion is worth quoting: “Instead of turning WhiteHouse.gov into a governmental synthesis of Facebook and Wikipedia, or running a permanent campaign off the White House email list, Obama’s best shot at rebooting the government is to remember how he got there: making people feel that they were part of the solution and then enabling them to talk to one another and take action.” Yes.

Southern California VC market tanks more than rest of nation — SoCal investments fell 45 percent from the previous quarter, compared to 30 percent nationwide. This reinforces my pro-Northern California bias.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uADE-gbsxGg&hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=344]

Wozniak: Leave Steve alone! — The Apple cofounder says the media should stop prying into Steve Jobs’ private life, and points out that Apple’s product roadmap usually stretches out a year or two ahead — exactly as we laid out a few days ago. So everyone should just calm down.

Chip factory usage expected to plummet — That means a lot of billion-dollar chip factories are going to be idle or under-used in the coming months, thanks to the downturn.

American people tell Obama what they want — The most popular idea submitted for Obama’s “Citizen Briefing Book” involves ending the “marijuana prohibition.” Thank you, Internet, for reminding us about what’s really important.

How many solar startups are there? — Greentech Media ran a list of 150 solar startups back in November, but it just updated the list and passed the 200 mark.

Intel cuts prices by as much as 48 percent on PC chips — The price cuts come as a result of efficiencies in production, but they should also help clear out inventory that piled up in the holiday season.

Obama inauguration will test the reliability of cell phone networks — Large cell phone carriers are asking people to limit their calls and delay sending photos. Because, as many of us have already learned, providing cell phone service is really hard.

Couple meets, falls in love, and gets married via video game Halo — “Teammates for life!”

Cisco plans to release server computer — This move will put the networking giant in competition with its traditional partners like Hewlett Packard and IBM.

Search advertising gets hit by downturn — One of the most significant indicators of how bad things have gotten will be Google’s earnings report on Thursday, but in the meantime, a recent study is not encouraging.

Spiceworks unveils new version of IT management system — The system is now ready for bigger companies, having increased the official user cap from 250 to 500 users. The ad-supported IT model appears to be paying off: The company tells me it’s rapidly selling out its ad inventory for the coming year.