I don’t have further details on the Forbes cuts other than to note that some of what you’ve read at other sites about power grabs and such is inaccurate. If the Forbes folks pass along a statement to me, I’ll run it. Here’s the memo Forbes CEO Steve Forbes circulated to his staff today detailing the furlough, etc:

This is a very painful message. It is no secret that the economy is in a deep contraction and that the media business in particular has been especially hard hit. While we are doing better than our peers, our business has been adversely affected. Because of this, it has been necessary to take certain measures.

A number of our colleagues were laid off over the last two days across all areas of the business. This is due to the unprecedented economic environment we find ourselves in today and the need for ongoing reorganization of the company in response to the enormous technological changes affecting media.

Other measures we are taking include suspending the 401K matching contribution. There will be salary reductions for anyone making over $100,000, amounting to 10% of the increment over $100,000, starting with the April 1 pay period.

Everyone will take a week long furlough with no pay. You should talk to your manager about scheduling this furlough. HR will be sending you further information with regard to this furlough in a separate communication. This is not part of the vacation time you have accrued from service at the company.

These are serious and unfortunate steps, but we believe they are necessary and sadly unavoidable.

We deeply appreciate all that you do every day for the company and hope that in the months to come there will be a real positive turn in the economy.

Meanwhile, Condé Nast, which laid off some of its secretaries yesterday, has let go of a reported 20 people at its Condé Nast Digital group. A spokesperson says the “streamlining” is a result of the reorganization of Web properties it made earlier this year. At the time, Condé said that reorg would not result in layoffs.

That’s because the Online Publishers Association, one of the Web ad industry’s main trade groups, is rolling out a new series of in-your-face ad units–standardized blocks of space that Web publishers and advertisers favor because they make it easy to mass-produce marketing messages.

The new standards are meant to combat “banner blindess”–our collective, unconscious and successful efforts to block out and ignore most Web advertising.

ClickZ has the details, but the key point is that the ads are going to be ginormous and gaudy–think monster trucks with sirens and flashing lights. The numbers they’re referring to in the quotation below are pixels; by way of comparison, the column of text you’re reading now is about 350 pixels wide:

“Among the new units being debuted are: the ‘fixed panel,’ a 336 x 860 panel that looks embedded into the page and scrolls to the top and bottom of the page as the user scrolls; the ‘XXL Box,’ which is 468 x 648 and allows users to actually turn ‘pages’ and watch video; and the ‘pushdown,’ which is 970 x 428 which opens to display a nearly full-page ad and then rolls up to the top of the page.”

The reasonable thing to point out here is that there’s nothing that prohibits advertisers and publishers from doing interesting and creative stuff with these formats–just like Apple (AAPL). And if you’re really lucky, you’ll find that the ads are even about stuff you’re interested in learning about. That’s the key, remember, to Google’s (GOOG) success (and note how unobtrusive most of Google’s ads are).

But if the ads aren’t interesting and aren’t relevant to you? It’s the kind of thing that could drive a mild-mannered person to install ad-blocking software.

If you want to see this stuff live, keep your eyes peeled at sites run by ESPN, the New York Times, MTV and Condé Nast Digital, which are among the 24 publishers that have agreed to start running at least one of the ad units by July.

Condé has tapped former Wired publisher and current New Yorker publisher Drew Schutte to be Condé Nast Digital’s chief revenue officer, a newly created position. The appointment follows last month’s (apparently) bloodless reorg of Condé’s digital properties, which are now consolidated under Sarah Chubb. Here’s a summary from Advertising Age’s Nat Ives, who broke the story:

Mr. Schutte was tapped to lead The New Yorker in January 2008 but was never as successful there–in an admittedly terrible year for most magazines–as in his previous role overseeing Wired magazine and Wired Digital. The New Yorker’s ad pages declined 26.8 percent last year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Mr. Schutte wouldn’t necessarily have an easier job at Condé Nast Digital. Condé Nast is above all a magazine company, one whose efforts to build revenue online have not gained a lot of traction yet. Condé Nast Digital itself is a new formulation of company strategy in the area.

Condé, publisher of major titles such as Vogue and Vanity Fair, enjoyed a period of double-digit revenue growth earlier this decade, but the recession ended that. The company’s cooler, calmer approach–a departure from earlier years–also seems to have suffered. Last week Condé shut down Domino magazine.”

Ad Age recently estimated that Time Warner’s (TWX) Time Inc., the magazine company that has made the biggest strides in moving its properties online, is making more than 10 percent of its revenues from the Web. Time Warner reported yesterday that Time Inc. had seen a $57 million increase in annual sales from its digital properties last year.

Condé Press Release:

February 5, 2009 (New York, NY) — Drew Schutte has been named Senior Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer of Condé Nast Digital, it was announced today by Charles H. Townsend, President and C.E.O. of Condé Nast.  This newly created position takes effect immediately.

Mr. Schutte will be responsible for all sales and marketing for Condé Nast Digital. He will manage the newly consolidated digital sales team and work closely with the publishers on integrated sales throughout all of the company’s titles.

“Drew has a proven track record of selling online and print—as well as an understanding of the complexity of selling integrated campaigns–which makes him uniquely qualified for the job,” Mr. Townsend said.

Mr. Schutte became VP & Publisher of The New Yorker in January 2007. Previously he was VP & Publishing Director of Wired Media. He joined the magazine in 1994 as West Coast Advertising Manager.  Before joining Wired, Mr. Schutte spent three years at Business Week based in San Francisco. Prior to that he was East Coast Manager for PC Week and West Coast Manager for Inc.

Mr. Townsend also announced that Lisa Hughes is being named Vice President & Publisher of The New Yorker. Her position is effective immediately.

“Lisa is an experienced publisher, a strategic thinker, and an innovative marketer who is inherently well suited to lead the business side of The New Yorker,” Mr. Townsend said.

Ms. Hughes has been Vice President & Publisher of Condé Nast Traveler since 1995 and has guided it through some of its most successful years. In 2008, Condé Nast Traveler was named to both Adweek’s “Hotlist” and Advertising Age’s “A-List.” Previously, she held positions as VP & Publisher of House & Garden, and as Associate Publisher of Vanity Fair.  Ms. Hughes began her career at Condé Nast in sales at Mademoiselle.

Condé Nast, a unit of Advance Publications, includes twenty-three consumer magazines, Condé Nast Digital, the Fairchild Fashion Group, Parade, the Condé Nast Media Group, and the Shared Services Centers.