According to an unnamed source at Condé Nast, today’s New York Observer reports, head-honcho Si Newhouse is “against anything that he feels takes the focus away from the printed magazine brand. That’s why he used to be so against digital.”

But today’s story wasn’t about how Newhouse has mended his ways to incorporate Condé Nast Digital into his magazines’ 10-year plan. Instead, the quote serves to reinforce how anti-Newhouse the idea of marketing the Condé brand for licensing purposes is. But it’s been a tough two years for the company and a lot of concessions have had to be made: we may not be so far off from a reality where Gourmet gets a second life in the form of cookbooks and baking supplies.

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Award season just won’t be the same this year, and it’s not just because there will be 10 movies up for Best Picture. Variety announced yesterday that new media reporter David Carr of The New York Times will no longer be covering the Hollywood gala beat, and his Carpetbagger blog will now be written by Melena Ryzik.

At first we were worried that this meant Carr was slowly being filtered out of The Times (or worse, already let go!) but he says he’ll be keeping his “day job” for now. But he will miss covering the self-congratulatory festivals that he’s been commenting on since 2005: “I love my fake friends…Penelope Cruz air-kissing you, even when she’s not exactly sure who you are, has to have an effect on you.”

If we had our say though, we’d hand that blog right over to Toby Young.

TVNewser: NBC News chief medical editor, and author of “Medical Myths That Can Kill You,” Dr. Nancy Snyderman will anchor an MSNBC midday show focusing on health issues starting next month.

GalleyCat: HarperCollins’ revenue was down 20 percent last quarter.

MediaJobsDaily: Is Google good for journalism?

Silicon Alley Insider: CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera is “furious” over the new Kindle DX — because she just bought a Kindle2.

Huffington Post: Former Vanity Fair contributing editor, author and “Top Chef” judge Toby Young was hit by a car and knocked off his bike in London. It looks like he’s going to be okay, but the picture of his face is kind of gruesome.