Roundup: Sony CEO’s power grab, Dell droops, and are Facebook friends real?

Here’s the latest action:

Sony’s CEO takes over presidency — Howard Stringer believes he can run a tighter ship and break down walls between divisions with this latest power grab and reorg. Here he is having fun with Tom Hanks at the Consumer Electronics Show.

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Can we really have so many Facebook friends? — The Economist delves into anthropology to judge whether we are really expanding our social circles by broadcasting news about ourselves to virtual strangers.

Google News now runs small ads — Google may run the risk of angering news organizations who feel the company is using their content and stealing ad revenues.

Dell’s net drops 48 percent — Dell used to widen its lead over rivals during recessions. But now the company is hurting from its dependence on web-based PC sales. The New York Times has more.

IBM reaffirms outlook for the year — While rivals are hurting and cutting forecasts, Big Blue says it will hit its targets for 2009. The New York Times has more.

Hollywood producers launch Geon VFX film studio in India — Hollywood meets Bollywood, with producers teaming up to make films such as The Warrior’s Way.

IDC revises 2009 IT spending forecast downward — Guess how many times this will happen this year.

DEMO’s changes reviewed — TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington says he’ll go to the fall DEMO conference if invited. CNET has more.

Reality Digital tries to help businesses “harmonize” social media — The company’s new Harmony platform expects to make it easier for companies to launch social networks.

Rocky Mountain News dies after nearly 150 years — One of Denver’s two newspapers goes out of business. The staffers use Twitter to report on its demise. The Rocky itself posts news of its closing here.

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Newsday considers new business model — Newsday says it might start charging people for access to its web site. Uh, it’s a little late for that.