• FishbowlDC: The Daily Caller is offering a free gun to whoever finds the person who hacked its site. Sounds perfectly logical.
• FishbowlLA: Rumors of Ron Burkle buying Variety are picking up steam.
• AllFacebook: Facebook might be launching a “save for later” option for all those times you wish you had more time to peruse status updates by parents proclaiming their appreciation of their kids’ poop.

The bad news for The Daily continues. According to All Things D, the digital newspaper is cutting 50 of its 170 employees, nearly a third of its staff. Apparently the hardest hit will be the the editorial and sports pages, which will still carry on after the lay offs, but with minimal content.

The cutbacks come on the heels of News Corp. announcing that it was putting The Daily on probation, so this probably isn’t a good sign for its future.

As for Jesse Angelo‘s comments that anyone saying The Daily is doomed is a “hater?” Well, we can only imagine what he’s going to say now.

UPDATE:
Check after the jump for a release about the cuts from The Daily.

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Media General, the company that sold 63 papers to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in May, is dropping 75 staffers.

According to a memo obtained by Jim Romenesko, the cuts were coming from “corporate staff departments and in the digital media section of the Growth and Performance group.”

“Affected employees are being notified effective today; however, certain positions will have a deferred termination date between now and the end of the year for various business reasons,” wrote Media General’s CEO, Marshall Morton, in the memo.

For more, head over to Romensko’s site.

Pete Thamel is leaving The New York Times for Sports Illustrated. Thamel has been with the Times for nine years covering national college football and basketball. He was also nominated for a Pulitzer by the Times in 2006.

The Big Lead reports that Thamel will cover college basketball and football for SI as well.

You’ll be seeing a lot more of sports anchor Duke Castiglione. Sources tell FishbowlNY that he has agreed to a multi-year extension with the Fox O&O. Since joining WNYW five years ago, Castiglione has covered every major sporting event. But none has been bigger than the New York Giants’ stirring Super Bowl XLII run. Castiglione capped the Giants’ dream season hosting the post-game show, and subsequent victory parade for Channel 5.

As the G-Men look toward a repeat, Castiglione, 39, will co-host the Giants season kick-off special, Defending the Throne, September 1 on sister station WWOR.

“Duke gives NY sports fans more than just scores and highlights; viewers get an all-access pass to their favorite sports teams,” WNYW news director Dianne Doctor, says. “His exceptional reporting continues to be an asset to our station and representative of our dedication to local sports coverage.”

Castiglione’s sports duties include hosting the long-running weekend wrap-up program Sports Extra, Sundays at 10:30 p.m. In addition, he covers Yankee post-games for Channel 9. The next game is August 14 versus the Texas Rangers.

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Lucky and Architectural Digest have finally come to the iPad. As of now, the only Condé titles not on the iPad are Details, W and Teen Vogue. WWD reports that the move to the iPad is especially important for Lucky, as ad pages are down 20 percent through September.

One of Lucky’s biggest lures on the iPad is giving users the ability to click on any single product and be directed to the designer’s site so they can purchase it. Brandon Holley, editor-in-chief of Lucky, told WWD that the app is, “The most shoppable digital edition of any magazine.” She’s surely not being biased.

Both Lucky and AD’s iPad apps are free for print subscribers. Single issues, monthly and yearly app subscriptions are also available.

In an interview with Salon, Jayson Blair says that Jonah Lehrer’s tale reminds him of his own. Blair gives some great insight, and as we read the interview, we couldn’t help but notice how often the themes of addiction came up in Blair’s answers.

We understand that these are Bair’s comments and not Leher’s, but below are some excerpts that made us wonder: Was Lehrer addicted to lying?

Often people come into the office seeking me out because of what I went through and what I did, and they say to me, ‘I’ve done this really bad thing and I don’t ever want to do it again.’ And they come back two weeks later and say, ‘I did it again. I can’t stop the cycle once it starts.’ There are fire walls in life, things you never want to do, lines you never want to cross, because once you cross that line it becomes easier to do it again.

Addiction is a cycle. It starts with some feeling — insecurity, loneliness, etc. — and then progresses into a behavior meant to silence that unpleasant feeling, even if that behavior is something that will make things worse. But it stops the “pain” briefly, just long enough to make a person consider doing it again.

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• AgencySpy: Diet Coke is throwing 30-second birthday parties for all the people who keep drinking it despite it tasting like crap.
• FishbowlDC: The Daily Caller got really, really sexy this morning.
• FishbowlLA: Tony Ortega has yet another scoop on everyone’s favorite religion (or whatever), Scientology.

David Speranza has been named design director for Road & Track. Speranza joins the magzine from Bicycling, where he worked under the same job title, since 2002.

Prior to his time at Bicycling, Speranza worked for such publications as TV Guide, Elle and Golf for Women.

“David has a keen eye and an impressive artistic body of work,” said Larry Webster, Road & Track’s editor-in-chief. “I’m looking forward to working with him to create the best showcase for our dynamic writing and photography.”