At McGraw-Hill's business newsweekly, someone decided, apparently, to do some late-summer database cleaning. BusinessWeek accidentally updating its RSS feed with some really thrilling stories. Headlines include: "More news today than ever," "Headline bla bla," and "just another headline that we need to fill in." Subheads — known in the news business as "decks" — also suffered: "Deck bla Deck bla Deck bla," "But this time we are testing FedEx campaign handling," and "testing the pp9 ad."

The writing is on the whiteboard for Business 2.0, the tech-focused monthly magazine published by Time Inc. (and, I should note, my former employer). The October issue is definitely the last one to be published by the current staff, some of whom have already secured new jobs. But could Business 2.0 live on in some fashion? Time Inc. is ostensibly still entertaining offers to buy the magazine, if only for form's sake. But even if the sale process is a charade, some serious bidders have nevertheless emerged. Who are they?

The New York Observer continues its acquisitions with the hiring of a new media editor: One Zachary Roth, late of the Washington Monthly. We figure if you finish this piece of his on election financing or this one on parents and television, you'll know all you need to know about him; we sure didn't so we totally don't. He has a blog with his brother. We have yet to find any pictures of him, but oh, we will.

From the mailbag: "You may or may not care to know that [New York Times reporter] David Carr was the guest speaker at NYU's J-school orientation today. He was charming in an old-guy-who-references-Clap-Your-Hands-Say-Yeah sort of way and delivered an optimistic spiel about sticking it to the old guard and shaping the future of media. Needless to say, the kids ate it up. As for me, I began to rethink grad school entirely. I thought I was here so that I could eventually get paid a ridiculous sum to write mindless blurbs for Conde Nast mags. Everyone else was so damn earnest. What the hell? For a moment I wondered if maybe my priorities weren't in order, but then I squashed it and started to think about which one of my classmates I'm going to sleep with this semester." Maybe the kids are alright!

BLACK ROCK CITY — Here at Media Mecca, the press center for Black Rock City, site of the loosely countercultural event Burning Man, the usual travails and torture of being in the middle of harsh desert conditions — spotty Internet, no beer left in the cooler, subpar fare in the commissary, failing air conditioning — are beginning to wear on the whine-prone members of the Burning Man press corps. Answer us this: What correspondent for a well-known tech magazine was freaking out the other day over a compilation of playa frustrations? The Internet connection was going down, he had to be three different places "right now," and he was sitting in the corner, muttering threateningly to himself, "bad choices," "you're fucking kidding me," and "god fucking dammit"?. The desert takes its toll, friends. Guess the identity of the hissyfitting hack in the comments.

"I am fine thank you, and enjoying my house in Palm Beach," says convicted fraudster Conrad Black, who remains "optimistic" about his chances on appeal. Uh, don't get too comfortable, Connie. [AP]

Charging for content generates disdain, or worse, disinterest among Web users. When so much news and entertainment is freely available, the idea of getting charged for any of it seems like nothing more than corporate greed. But advertising-hating journalists, who dream of getting paid directly by readers, keep bringing up the idea. Dan Mitchell writes in his latest column that Internet users are slowly being conditioned to accept micropayments. The most noticeable example is our willingness to purchase songs off iTunes for 99 cents a pop. The argument is that we're willing to pay for things that we view as valuable — mainly music and videos, not, alas, the written word. So much for the dreams of ink-stained wretches.

From a New Yorker review of hot new barbecue joint Hill Country: "Conversation is discouraged, most nights, by the raucous live acts, including, not long ago, CBS News's Bob Schieffer, who was fronting the D.C.-based band Honky Tonk Confidential. Sample lyrics: 'Excuse me, bud, before you intrude. I ain't some "Brokeback Mountain" dude.' Maybe the music ought to be left to Texas." Our heads just exploded a couple of times. [NYer]

"[R]eporters for the Times Ledger, the Queens weekly that was purchased last fall by Rupert Murdoch, thought their editors were doing their corporate big brother the New York Post a favor. The reporters had located Matt Murphy, who caught Barry Bonds's 756th home run, through their high-school alumni Website and gotten the first interview with him, which the weekly posted on the Internet. But the Post didn't appreciate the tip. "The Post basically had a fit and demanded the story come down off the site," apparently to keep the Daily News from seeing it, says a source close to the weekly. The Times Ledger complied, and the Post published its own version later that night." That's just how they roll over at News Corp., kids: Wait until you start breaking the financial scoops. Straight to the Journal! [NYM]

In the wake of recent admissions by certain editors of the British tabloids that they feel partially responsible for the death of Princess Diana, the Independent asks about other regrets. This will mainly be of interest to those who follow the British press, but there are still some good ones, particularly this, from Kelvin McKenzie (the man responsible for the headline "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster," which is the British equivalent of "Headless Body in Topless Bar," influence-wise):

The audience for men's magazines is maturing, but don't call readers metrosexual. The Financial Times talks to Men's Vogue editor Jay Fielden, who is trying to sneak fashion past suspicious straight guys. "'Earning your way into men's working and leisure time is a difficult thing,' says Mr Fielden, who previously worked as an editor at Vogue and The New Yorker and might serve as a stand-in for his ideal reader. At our meeting in the Condé Nast cafeteria, he was wearing a pinstripe suit with a pink polkadot handkerchief. His tie was askew. Yet Mr Fielden's Texas roots filter through his accent, he is married, and can credibly claim to hunt quail." Hunting quail? Don't go getting too butch on us, Jay. We're easily confused. [FT]

Andy Rooney kinda realizes that there's something slightly off-putting about calling all ballplayers "Rodriguez," just because you're an old white guy who feels uncomfortable about the changing demographics of both sports and our nation. More important: What horrible invective is Andy whispering to Katie Couric in this picture to make her look so horrified? [NYT]

Tribune almost-owner Sam Zell visited the Los Angeles Times headquarters recently. How'd it go? Allegedly, "In his talk to the assembled staffers, he said he found the paper 'pretty bland.' He pissed on the business section. He ran down the importance of foreign coverage as opposed to local news. Asked whether front-page ads compromised the integrity of the paper, he called that idea a 'crock of shit.' He made a big point of saying the paper had to print what readers wanted to read, not what LAT editors wanted them to read—an idea that's pretty much in complete conflict with the existing DNA of the Times (which deemed L.A. mayor Hahn's divorce while he was in office not worth discussing, and reported Lindsay Lohan's arrest, after she mowed down some bushes in Beverly Hills, on page B3). All in all, Zell studded his spiel with bad omens for the paper's entrenched twits.'" Hmm, we're starting to like this guy! [Kausfiles]

Michael Eisner, the former Disney CEO, is turning into a Web 2.0 demigod, claims BusinessWeek. Except it fails to prove any kind of new-media apotheosis whatsoever. Beyond a few cursory details about Eisner's portfolio of invesments — kid-friendly, just like Disney! — the majority of the piece details his interest in a potential acquisition of Topps, the trading-cards company. Somehow, in the perfervid imaginations of BusinessWeek editors, the right to print Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trading cards and stickers transforms into "fodder for online shows." But never mind that.

More bad news for Ziff-Davis, the storied, and troubled, tech publisher: Two executives in its videogames group have left the company. General manager Ira Becker and editorial director John Davison announced they're departing to start a new venture, thought to be a family-oriented videogame site. Opportune timing considering Ziff's uncertain future. It's also sure to dampen any enthusiasm among potential buyers for the technology publisher's shrinking game portfolio, which have been on the block since late last year. Becker and Davison, you see, were responsible for the website 1UP.com, the only segment of the group that has shown consistent growth. Ziff-Davis has been trying to sell off its magazines (Electronic Gaming Monthly and Games for Windows) as well as 1UP.

The New York Times proves its digital knowhow with the public launch of MyTimes. Web users haven't enjoyed this kind of newsfeed personalization since, oh, say, Excite.com in 1998. [Techdirt]

AllThingsD's Kara Swisher, tired of playing ambush journalist with her handheld videocamera, tries her hand at pretending to be Dan Lyons, the fabulous Forbes fabulist behind "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs." Sort of. Except here, she's Fake Jerry Yang, a faux version of Yahoo's CEO, not Fake Steve Jobs The best bit comes when Swisher imagines Yang's reaction to Brad Garlinghouse, the controversial Yahoo executive who called for major changes in what's now called "The Peanut Butter Memo."

There's no official word on the fate of Business 2.0, the Time Inc.-owned magazine where I used to work. The publication, once fated to shut down after its September issue, is still alive, thanks to a hastily granted extension of life support. The staff is working on the October issue, while higher-ups consider offers to buy the magazine that streamed in after word of its impending demise leaked. But they seem to have resigned themselves to the fate of being absorbed into larger sister publication Fortune, based on this sign: A magazine logo near the entrance has been altered to read "Fortune 2.0."

News blog Drudge Report doesn't list Fark.com on its blogroll of sources. But a tell-tale URL on a story about emigration from Britain shows that Matt Drudge does, in fact, read the edgy social news site. [Drudge Report]

If you're heading to Vegas to cover BlogWorld & New Media Expo—"the world's first, industry-wide blogging tradeshow"—be sure you're properly credentialed. "Press credentials are open only to accredited members of the professional media and will require submission of articles and verification that you intend to write for a publication on the conference." Good idea! You don't want those untrustworthy, parasitic bloggers covering the event, would you? [Information Week, via]