Around the Web 12.29.08: Howard Stern’s lost relevance, California’s lost taxes, websites’ lost connections

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-- California officials are warning businesses that they need to pay use taxes for goods bought out of state, including through Amazon.com and other e-commerce sites, or risk audits. LAT

-- Howard Stern has lost his clout since transitioning to satellite radio. And the industry faces an uncertain future, as the merger of XM and Sirius hasn’t done much to bolster its financial stability. NYT

-- Connectivity and censorship problems have gotten Sony’s Home virtual world off to a rough start. SF Chronicle

-- What would an iPhone Pro look like? Gizmodo

-- Some major websites suffered sporadic outages Sunday because of an apparent Internet backbone problem. TechCrunch

-- Kickback schemes like the one a Fry’s executive is accused of are more common in emerging markets. Mercury News

-- Vaporware 2008: The top 10 promised products that didn’t materialize during the year. Wired

-- Chris Gaither