To set the stage, Steve Ballmer was getting ready to start a meeting with some other Microsoft employees when he noticed that one of the employees was about to take his picture with an iPhone. Ballmer reportedly grabbed the phone out of the hand of the employee and started to make joking comments about it. At one point he even set the phone on the ground and pretended to stomp it. All the intimidation aside, Ballmer even took the time to remind the employee later that he had not forgotten about him.

Right wing cuts would devastate vital services and cost jobs Left Foot Forwards looks the TPA and IoD report How did economists get it so wrong? Paul Krugman on fine form (hat tip Richard Murphy) Irish propose flat rate tax relief on pensions Steve Bee, Scottish Life’s prolific commentator on pensions, reports that the Irish Commission on Taxation Report is proposing flat rate tax relief on pensions and what looks like auto-enrolment: 10.2 The current tax relief for personal retirement provision should in the medium to long-term be replaced by a matching Exchequer contribution of €1 for each €1.60 contributed by the taxpayer.

It seems just about everyone on the web is talking about Joe Wilson, the Republican Congressman from South Carolina (yes, our favorite state ) who accosted President Obama during his speech to Congress yesterday. His name has been the top trending topic on Twitter going on its second day now — and that’s pretty impressive considering yesterday saw the return of Steve Jobs and a range of new Apple releases, and today has some big Android announcements . And now Wilson has his own awesome site.

Plus: J.Cole recalls the first time he got in the studio with Jay-Z, in Mixtape Daily. By Shaheem Reid and Jayson Rodriguez 50 Cent Photo: G-Unit It’s VMA weekend — so many parties popping off in NYC over the next three days. If you’re not in town, get your plane ticket! One of the big presenters at Sunday’s Video Music Awards , 50 Cent, told us whether he told off Jay-Z. Then, we have Jay’s new find, J.Cole. Cole is originally from North Carolina but moved to Queens, NY, for college and his shot at the music big time.

Here come the next-gen iPods. These little candy-colored players are available at a steal of a price compared to previous generations ($179 for 16GB nano is a great deal, particularly for a genuine iPod). Not only does the 16GB nano also include an FM tuner (about time, if you ask me) but they also include a video camera. It’s a simple camera, to be sure; recording only SD video in H.264 with AAC audio; but for a lot of people, that’s all they’ll ever really need.

Earlier this week, Steve Jobs characterized iTunes 9 the “the biggest release of iTunes in a long time.” We naturally grabbed a copy and took it around the block a few times to see if we could verify that claim for ourselves. Though the biggest changes (aside from the Home Sharing feature) are mainly connected to the highly revised iTunes Store, what we discovered is that iTunes 9 has many refinements that are hidden all over the application.

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs returned Wednesday to the showman role that has helped define his company leadership, taking the stage for the first day since his medical leave to announce such new products as an iPod Nano that records video. Jobs, who had a liver transplant that spring from a young adul… Tech Talk

Plus: J.Cole recalls the first time he got in the studio with Jay-Z, in Mixtape Daily. By Shaheem Reid and Jayson Rodriguez 50 Cent Photo: G-Unit It’s VMA weekend — so many parties popping off in NYC over the next three days. If you’re not in town, get your plane ticket! One of the big presenters at Sunday’s Video Music Awards , 50 Cent , told us whether he told off Jay-Z. Then, we have Jay’s new find, J.Cole. Cole is originally from North Carolina but moved to Queens, NY, for college and his shot at the music big time.