Digging out from under the fluff

In response to a shareholder's plea, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said at a recent meeting that the company is developing a tool - know as the "Fluff-o-meter" - that would allow customers to turn down the volume of celebrity gossip appearing on their home pages. Editor & Publisher reports on the exhange:

“Please stop dumbing down the home page. We can use CNN-type stuff. We can handle it. Give us something that’s not Hollywood,” a shareholder complained to Bartz during the question-and answer period of the meeting.

Bartz then mentioned something Yahoo is developing internally called the "Fluff-o-meter," with which -- presumably some time in the near future -- users can customize their preferred mix of hard news and fluff.

“Even though people don’t like to declare it, there’s a lot of sneaky people that love that kind of news,” she said. “I very much understand your issue,” she told the shareholder.

“My I.Q. thanks you,” he responded.