It’s been a busy couple of weeks on the web, both in terms of news and news makers.

Here are some highlights:

• Facebook purchases WhatsApp…for $19 billion (yep, with a “b”). Time will tell whether this is a smart move or not, but I like MG Siegler’s take on this, that it’s “the strongest signal yet that we’ve fully entered a new age in the world of computing where mobile is now the kingdom” – the web has been dethroned as the biggest deal (kingdom). And, to Siegler, that big price tag for the acquisition means that there isn’t any king in this new kingdom. Interesting take.
   
• Tim Bray is leaving Google. Why? Because he lives in Vancouver, and Google no longer deems his telecommuting as viable. Bray is very even-handed about it, and even goes as far as to agree with Google. But he doesn’t want to move. So they part ways. It’s a loss for Google, but it’ll be interesting to see where he pops up next. He’s too smart and way too curious to just pack it all in. And he promises to keep blogging – good! He’s always a solid read.
   
• Om Malik gives up journalism. Malik was one of the first – maybe the first – tech bloggers to go out on his own (no newspaper/print backing) and create an online information hub (GigaOm.com). Yesterday, he announced he was giving up the 24-hour news cycle and taking on other roles. While I’m sure he’ll turn in an occasional article, his voice will be missed. He often had a way of cutting through the fog/hype and seeing an acquisition/hiring for what it really was.
   
• NBCnews.com redesigns – and I stop going there. I’ve made fun of both NBCnews.com and cnn.com in the past for having a lot of non-news on the allegedly news sites (especially cnn.com), but the NBCnews.com redesign has made it more like … People magazine? It employs the same responsive design/picture-heavy design as Yahoo’s new tech site, but it works for Yahoo Tech – but not for a breaking-news site (see pics, below). I have to go down four screens to see an update on something that blew up in some country X days/weeks ago. Can’t scan headlines. I’m pretty sure this is not me just “not liking change,” but I could be wrong. But – for now – NBCnews is rarely visited.