Viral Video: Bedbugs Get Taiwanesed (And It's the Weirdest Ever)

It is saying a lot about this video that the CGI wizards at Next Media Animation have produced a doozy. It’s based on a report by Forbes.com, which asked the two largest pest exterminators, Orkin and Terminix, in the U.S. to pick the cities with the worst infestations of bedbugs.

News Byte

Forbes Gets a New Boss: Softbank's Mike Perlis

After a very, very long search, Forbes Media has finally tapped a new leader: Softbank Capital’s Mike Perlis, who will become president and CEO of the business magazine and Web site. Perlis fills holes left by former Forbes.com publisher Jim Spanfeller, who left in 2009, and Forbes magazine publisher Jim Berrien, who left in 2008. The move also means that COO Tim Forbes will no longer run the company day-to-day. Curious what this means for Softbank, which has already seen partner Eric Hippeau head out to run Huffington Post in 2009? Nothing, says Perlis: “Business as usual”.

Welcome to ATD: The Very Enterprising Arik Hesseldahl

And Arik Hesseldahl makes it four. New reporters and bloggers for All Things Digital, that is. The Bloomberg Businessweek writer–based in New York–will be covering the enterprise arena, as well as chips, for us. As most regular readers know, this site has been expanding its staff, adding even more top-notch editorial might to our already terrific work.

Voices

NY Judge Finds Nothing Private About Facebook Postings

Here’s an interesting legal development for those New Yorkers who chronicle their personal lives on Facebook: A Suffolk County judge presiding over a personal-injury lawsuit has ruled that material posted to online social networks–even what people post behind privacy settings–can be used as evidence in court.

Forbes Gets a Facelift. Next Up: A New Body

Here’s the new Forbes.com, the product of four months of work by new editorial boss Lewis D’Vorkin. The redesign hasn’t rolled out sitewide yet, but you can get a good sense of it by heading to the new Forbes 400 list, out tonight. The important changes, though, are happening under the hood, where D’Vorkin is rethinking what a journalist does, and how a journalist gets paid.

Former Forbes.com Publisher Jim Spanfeller Has VC Money; New Sites on the Way

Former Forbes.com publisher Jim Spanfeller has a new gig: A venture-backed Web publishing start-up. Spanfeller Media Group, which plans to launch a series of new sites, is close to finishing a funding round that I’m told will total around $2 million. Backers include RRE Ventures, Greenhill SAVP, SoftBank and Lerer Media Ventures.

How to Survive the Media Meltdown: “Imagination, Enthusiasm”

Still have a job in media? Looking for a wee bit of inspiration in a gloomy week in a miserable year? Here’s a free pep talk.

Forbes.com CEO Jim Spanfeller Out. Here’s the Internal Memo.

Forbes.com CEO Jim Spanfeller, who has run one of the Web’s biggest finance sites for the last nine years, is leaving the company at the end of the summer. No replacement has been named. Spanfeller’s departure comes amid a flurry of bad news for finance publications.

Are Online Ads Doing Better Than Expected? Or Just as Bad as We Thought?

The steady drumbeat of bad news from the ad market doesn’t always sound the same: Today, for instance, one survey of financial Web sites estimates that revenues are down by as much as 30 percent this quarter. But Gawker’s Nick Denton says his sites are up 10 percent.

Found: A Publishing Optimist!

What does Condé Nast publisher David Carey know that everyone else doesn’t? And who are these bullish advertising clients he’s talking to? Live from paidContent’s “Future of Business Media” conference, it’s … hope?