Google is one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world, but on Thursday the tech giant was brought to its knees by a printer malfunction. Well, that and the fact that the company's net income in this year's third quarter fell 20 percent to $2.18 billion (... and cue the violins). It was an all-around terrible day to be working for Google (except for the part where you could go eat lunch at one of the best cafeterias in America, that part probably never gets old):

The recession is over and America's economic recovery is well underway! How do we know this to be true? Because the NASDAQ "has brought its confetti machine out of the closet, where it had been collecting dust," that's how. And there's no better indicator than that, is there? [NYT/Bits]

• As expected, Barack Obama has been named Time's person of the year. [Time]
• Oprah has negotiated a deal to produce movies for HBO. [Reuters]
• It appears the end is near for Lenny Dykstra's Players Club magazine. [NYP]
• News Corp. is moving its listing from the NYSE to the NASDAQ. [NYT]
• American Idol was the most time-shifted show in primetime in 2008. [Reuters]
• Cutting web staff seems to be a popular way for magazines to keep their print titles afloat. [NYO]

The world's largest computer services company pre-announced Q3 earnings with profits beyond analysts' forecasts. Even the Nasdaq is up on the news. Quick, ask your parents for that iPhone now.

Tech bellwethers are dragging the Nasdaq composite down. So much for tech's immunity to Wall Street's subprime crisis. The Nasdaq suffered its largest two-day decline in more than five years. Cisco's cautious outlook is blamed as the trigger for the broad selloff. The network equipment manufacturer has fallen more than 12 percent in two days since its announcement. Research In Motion has also fallen more than 12 percent. Apple declined 10 percent. IBM has tumbled nearly 5 percent. And even Google is down nearly 3 percent. Do I hear a bubble starting to hiss air? [WSJ]