Ballmer disses Google's Android

Steve Ballmer is doing a little trash talking about Google's Android system. The Microsoft CEO let loose on his archrival's new mobile operating system at an event in Sydney, according to this report.

Will the economic downturn cause people to do more shopping online, or less? No one has more riding on that question than Amazon.com. A prominent analyst sounded the alarm on that today. Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney downgraded Amazon to a hold rating, citing slowing online sales at other e-tailers, including online jewelry store Blue Nile. Silicon Alley Insider has more.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Amazon is launching a German language version of its movie trivia website, IMDb. The new site was created "to help German-speaking movie and TV lovers easily find information for their favorite films, TV shows and celebrities." David Hasselhoff, anyone?

Zillow.com has signed up a new partner for its real estate listing service. The Seattle web company today announced a deal with Weichert Realtors of Morris Plains, N.J. Weichert will add more than 40,000 listings to Zillow's growing database, which now tops 3.2 million listings.

Also in the online real estate sector, HouseValues of Kirkland is changing its name to Market Leader and will begin trading under the symbol LEDR on Nasdaq Monday. The company is also rolling out new products for real estate agents.

Etelos, the Renton-based web application developer, is shaking up its business offerings. VentureBeat has more on the changes, and how Etelos differs from other companies in the cloud computing space.

Seattle-based QL2 is filling out its management team. The company named Scott Milburn as VP of operations and general counsel. Milburn and QL2's recently appointed CEO, Russ Aldrich, both have connections to AdRelevance of Seattle. Milburn worked there and Aldrich was a venture capital investor in the company.