Hopping into headlines, thanks to CBS.

This morning, The Verge published a damning report on an apparent conflict of interest in CNET’s “Best of CES” awards.

The post claimed that CNET's editorial staff, which votes on the award, crowned Dish Network's Hopper set-top box device the winner. But before the staff could reveal its decision, CBS--CNET's parent company--interceded because of litigation filed by CBS and other networks over the Hopper's ability to skip past commercials.

"Before the winner was unveiled, CBS Interactive News senior-vice president and General Manager Mark Larkin informed CNET's staff that the Hopper could not take the top award. The Hopper would have to be removed from consideration, and the editorial team had to re-vote and pick a new winner from the remaining choices. Sources say that Larkin was distraught while delivering the news — at one point in tears — as he told the team that he had fought CBS executives who had made the decision."

CNET's initial disclaimer about the awards did not state that Hopper had been chosen a winner, only that it was removed from the running. According to the disclaimer:

"The Dish Hopper with Sling was removed from consideration due to active litigation involving our parent company CBS Corp. We will no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product."

The Verge says both Mr. Larkin and reviews lead Lindsey Turrentine "fought for full disclosure, but were rebuffed by CBS."

Not long after The Verge's report, Greg Sandoval, a veteran reporter who has worked at CNET since 2005 announced his resignation on Twitter under the handle @SandoCNET over concerns about "editorial independence."

He appears to be the first staffer to voice his misgivings about the actions of CNET's corporate parent. Judging by the last big dustup over conflicts of interest in tech reporting, we don't imagine he'll be the last. But like Buzzfeed said, this is pretty much every tech reporter's worst nightmare.

We've reached out to Mr. Sandoval for comment and will update the post when we hear back.

UPDATE: Both CBS and CNET editor-in-chief Lindsey Turrentine have responded to the controversy. CBS released a statement calling its interference in the CES awards "an isolated and unique incident in which a product that has been challenged as illegal."

"The product in question is not only the subject of a lawsuit between Dish and CBS, but between Dish and nearly every other major media company as well. CBS has been consistent on this situation from the beginning, and, in terms of covering actual news, CNET maintains 100% editorial independence, and always will."

Of course, as CNET's competitors have pointed out, according to their previous disclaimer, this means that CBS views product reviews as something other than "actual news."

So, according to CBS, product reviews aren't journalism. Good to know!

— matt buchanan (@mattbuchanan) January 14, 2013

Like TechCrunch before it, however, CNET has covered the meta story in its webpages. Editor-in-chief Lindsey Turrentine confirmed that her editorial team had indeed selected Dish Hopper as the winner. She also called CBS' conflict of interest "real" because "a legal case can impact the bottom line of our company and introduce the possibility of bias," but expressed remorse about the lack of transparency in the process:

"If I had to face this dilemma again, I would not quit. I stand by my team and the years of work they have put into making CNET what it is. But I wish I could have overridden the decision not to reveal that Dish had won the vote in the trailer. For that I apologize to my staff and to CNET readers."

I win! I am the winner! (Photo: Wikimedia)

In a successful attempt to troll CES, Facebook announced a rare invitation to "come see what we're building" at its Menlo Park headquarters tomorrow. Let the speculation begin!

Could it be a Facebook phone? [TechCrunch]

Messenger for iPad? [TechCrunch]

What about FaceCAR integration? [TechCrunch]

Meanwhile, sources say Apple has cut orders for iPhone 5 components by "roughly half" due to "weaker-than-expected demand." [WSJ]

Could it be enough to send Apple stock below $500 a share? [Quartz]

It seems the most sober analysis of CES happens after the ballrooms clear. Here's a realist's guide to future gadgets. [WireCutter]

And a closer look at how China's biggest brands used CES to buy their way into America. [Verge]

Nice shirt, Jimmy! (Artists House Music.)

It's no wonder that Jimmy Iovine has been the beau of the ball called CES—what would you rather write about, more dumb gadget shit or the smack-talking, paisley-loving head of a major record label?

Mr. Iovine's big news was that Beats Electronics, the maker of premium headphones he founded with rapper Dr. Dre, is launching a digital music subscription service, called Project Daisy, to compete with Spotify, Rhapsody and the like.

That's all well and good, and means that Mr. Iovine—not to mention his chief creative officer and former Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor—are going to be big tech news in the months to come. Better still was that Mr. Iovine came to CES ready to regale journalists with tales of his closed-door conversations on the future of the music business with late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs.

So what do you need to know about Jimmy? He got his start in the music industry as a recording engineer, producing albums for U2, Tom Petty and Patti Smith, then founded Interscope in the 1990s, invested in Death Row Records, and introduced Eminem to Dr. Dre. Also, seems like he has a thing about being photographed with a hat on.

Somewhere along the line, Mr. Iovine started lobbying for Mr. Jobs to try out a subscription model, according to AllThingsD:

But I was always trying to push Steve into subscription. And he wasn’t keen on it right away. [Beats co-founder] Luke Wood and I spent about three years trying to talk him into it. He was there, not there … he didn’t want to pay the record companies enough. He felt that they would come down, eventually.

As for why he thinks he can thrive in the music game? Because the tech nerds running his soon-to0-be competitors are tech nerds, obviously:

I was shocked at how culturally inept most consumer electronics companies are. And what I also learned is that you can build Facebook, you can build YouTube, you can build Twitter—you can be a tech company and do that. But those [sites] program themselves. Subscription needs a programmer. It needs culture. And tech guys can’t do that. They don’t even know who to hire. They’re utilities.

Meanwhile, Beats notched 40 percent of U.S. headphone sales—and 70 percent of the premium market—according NPD statistics, a coup Mr. Iovine followed up by telling the Financial Times that his competitors "have no idea how to move sound around."

We may not know much about Beats’ new subscription service yet, but it’s going to be fun to have Mr. Iovine around.

MAGIC. (clintonfoundation.org)

Just when you thought CES couldn't get any randomer than Qualcomm's "Generation Mobile" atrocity, guess who showed up? Bill Clinton, who stopped by to speak in the middle of Samsung president Stephen Woo's presentation. Not only that, but according to CNET's liveblog, in the midst of his remarks he digressed and started talking about gun control.

The man used to be the leader of the free world; you really thought he'd get on stage at a trade show and stick to the subject? Child, please.

Mr. Clinton's appearance seemed a little random, but his philanthropic work involves attempts to close the technology gap between richer and poor countries, and he's specifically partnered with Samsung to work on the issue. Also, as much money as they've got flowing around that conference, why not hire a former president to speak?

And yes, he did start out on the topic of technology: "On the day I took the oath of office, a grand total of 50 sites on the entire Internet," he opened, before tacking toward the reason for his presence in Las Vegas, reminding everyone that poor countries need tech for things other than Evernote-integrated fridges.

That's when he started to drift. CNET says Mr. Clinton started talking about bad things that've happened all over the world, but like a record hitting a scratch, he got hung up on "unjustifiable neglect of gun safety":

Clinton talking about gun control and the death rate in the U.S. compared to other countries. "I grew up in this hunting culture, but this is nuts," Clinton says. "Why does anybody need a 30-round clip for a gun?" Half of all deaths have occurred since the assault weapons ban expired, Clinton offers.

Apparently he got a huge round of applause, then meandered through a discussion of anomie: "We have sorted ourselves out in our living patterns so that we look for people who agree with us," he said. Then finally he circled back to the topic at hand, by saying he wants technologists to find ways to bridge that gap.

Stay roguish, Bill. Never change.

(h/t Mike Isaac)

(Photo: Gifts.com)

Folks, have a glimpse into the terrifying future, a future in which your child refuses to relinquish the right to have you wipe his butt unless you give him an iPad. This is what could become of our society should the iPotty gain any modicum of popularity.

The BBC reports that the device was unveiled at CES. What is an iPotty, exactly, besides a blemish upon Steve Jobs's legacy? It's a kid-sized toilet with a built-in iPad stand, because children of the future will be incapable of taking a shit without simultaneously completing a Dora the Explorer virtual puzzle.

Makers of the iPotty told the BBC that kids can use the toilet "for entertainment," or load up an app to help potty train them.

God help us all if they build a dude-sized one of these things.

This nerd would go to CES and ENJOY it. Nerd. (Photo: IMDB)

CES is so uncool that it has magically transformed into cool. Cool? [TechCrunch]

Over 2 million people pledged close to $320 million for Kickstarter projects in 2012. [Kickstarter]

Apple is reportedly working on a less expensive iPhone to help reassert its dominance in the smartphone market. [Wall Street Journal]

The average salaries of Silicon Valley will launch you into a fit of despair. You're welcome. [How to Write a Business Plan]

There's a mystery complex in Western China and even the CIA analyst who spotted it on Google Earth can't figure out what it is. [Wired]

Here is a GIF of this amazing moment.

Steve "Sweaty" Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, was not slated to give the preshow keynote this year at CES. So fancy our surprise when he came running out, pointer fingers dancing wildly in the air, to join Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs on stage. Mr. Ballmer did his best goofy Steve Ballmer impression, waggling his tongue as he placed his outstretched and no doubt moist hand into Mr. Jacobs'.

It was the kind of pre-planned "surprise" that only Steve Ballmer could deliver. The crowd cheered encouragingly, perhaps hoping for a reprise of Mr. Ballmer's most famous video moment, DEVELOPERS.

Is that a beret, or a wig? (Photo: screencap)

The last time we checked, the Consumer Electronics Show, while quite the get-together, isn't exactly known for its raging party scene.

But it seems we may have underestimated Sin City: One local man is currently attempting to raise $30,000 (via Indiegogo, natch) to rent the mansion where Michael Jackson used to live and throw an enormous rager featuring Grammy nominees. Hell, he even created a YouTube video featuring his best Michael Jackson impression to promote it. Unfortunately, it is a terrible Michael Jackson impression.

YOLO, baby.

In addition to his work as founder of the PR firm SocialRadius, Las Vegas local Michael Terpin also runs the CES Partylist, which aggregates parties during the conference. And for several years, he's hosted a CES Partylist Party at his home in the Paradise Palms area, (which he'll be the first to tell you appears in the classic Casino). "CEOs and VIPs" turn out.  Now, however, he wants to upgrade the festivities. But renting the "Thriller Villa" and booking caterers and valets and, duh, Grammy-nominated musicians don't come cheap.

Not enough to sell you? Fine, dude busted out the Kmart-quality costume and falsetto to deliver his pitch in character:

Say what you will about Mr. Terpin: He takes the business of fun seriously.

Mr. Bieber, international robot salesman.

Teen heartbreaker Justin Bieber will be on hand at the Consumer Electronic Show from 1 to 3 p.m. on January 11th, pimping out some robots. Specifically: a BRAND NEW ENTERTAINMENT ROBOT by Vietnamese electronics maker TOSY Robotics, to be unveiled at the show.

"TOSY Robotics produces 4 types of products: Gigantic robots, Service robots, Industrial robots and High-tech toys," Robonexus reports breathlessly. There is also a tiny robot. TOSY robots can play ping pong and bartend. 

The "celebrities" page on the CES website is down. Maybe it's sick with Bieber fever? But the IBT reports Mr. Bieber will be joined by Snooki, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Dennis Rodman, actress Eliza Dushku, and "a slew of yet-to-be announced celebrities."

Mr. Bieber is very techie. In addition to being responsible for 3 percent of Twitter, he has a jailbroken iPhone.

WINNING. Skillshare is giving away a year's TED Live membership ($995)! "You get... Virtual seats at both TED and TED Global conferences. Year-round online community access. TED Books yearlong subscription & a new Kindle Fire," says Skillshare. "This is the warmup for all the stuff coming out over the next couple of months," said CEO Mike Karnjanaprakorn, a 2012 TED fellow.

VEGAS BABY. New York is headed to CES, and Makerbot, at least, is going to be alllll over it. "MakerBot Industries, creator of the Thing-O-Matic 3D printer and Thingiverse.com will be there showing off something extra awesome, and we'd love for you to stop by our booth and check it out!" MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis is scheduling interviews now for the full-court press; the 3D printing startup is also hosting a party on Jan. 11.

SECONDMARKET'S FINEST HOUR. SecondMarket has already started marketing for its Capitalyze conference on February 15. "The public markets no longer work for sub-billion-dollar growth companies."

HIRINGS. ZocDoc is still staffing up fast; Gizmodo needs a video intern.

MORE EVENTS. "Author Aaron Shapiro, CEO of Huge, will lead an overview of his recent book, Users Not Customers: Who really determines the success of your business." Brandhacker meetup Monday, Jan. 23. New York Tech Meetup is tonight. Startup Store is having an event Saturday, Jan. 7. "Just because the holidays are over doesn't mean the fun has to stop. Birchbox and Jouer invite you for an afternoon of indulgence."

NEWS. Reece Pacheco is happy.