Herding Cats: Windows Phone 7, High Speed Rail and the End for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

^{Image courtesy of ICanHasCheezburger}

This week Obama announced they're phasing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Groupon axes their controversial commercials, a seven year old bought a $113k Harrier jet and Windows Phone 7 partners with Nokia. 

Reuters: Long road ahead for Obama housing overhaul plan - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are being phased out by the Obama administration within the next eight years. At one point, they guaranteed 9 out of 10 new mortgages, which ended up costing the US taxpayer $150 billion. They expect the housing market to recover in three years.

CNN: Groupon axes controversial ad campaign - If you didn't tune in for the Super Bowl and haven't been watching much TV since then, chances are that you missed some rather interesting commercials that Groupon put on. While tongue-in-cheek, a couple of these were pushing the line on being a little too inappropriate for even the young folk. Making fun of Tibet may not have been the wisest decision, which is why they've promised to pull them from the air. Not a good way to start, Groupon.

Fox Chicago: Boy, 7, Tries to Buy Fighter Jet on eBay for $113K - An awesome little seven year-old managed to snag himself a $113k Harrier jet on eBay using the "Buy It Now" button. Even though it's de-weaponized, the father canceled the order. The $2 million or so it would cost to fix it was probably a bit too much.

Huffington Post: U.S. Unveils $53 Billion High-Speed Rail Plan - Obama wants to play catch-up over the next six years by allotting $53 billion to building high-speed rails that reach speeds of 250mph. His goal is to give 80% of Americans access to high speed transportation within 25 years.  So far he only has $8 billion pledged, so it's unclear where he's going to get the rest of the funding from.

Gizmodo: Nokia and Microsoft Are Officially New BFFs - Looks like Windows Phone 7 is partnering with Nokia in an effort to take on the growing Android and iOS platforms. Nokia's Symbian has a tradition of constant underachievement, and Windows Phone 7 made a significantly smaller splash than hype indicated it would when it released. The two giants are going to try and use Windows Phone 7's young but advanced platform with Nokia's manufacturing and distribution network.

Moneyning: 4 Extra Hours a Day: Television's Impact on Our Time - A.C. Nielsen research shows that the average American watches four hours of television per day, meaning that roughly 1/6th of our lives are being spent frying our brains watching reruns. Instead of zoning out for 28 hours a week, try to cut down the time in front of the tube and go outside. Or at least TiVo your shows and save the commercial time. We really shouldn't waste 112 hours a week. 

Enjoy the weekend.