Activist investor Carl Icahn helped himself to some early Thanksgiving turkey, buying more shares in Yahoo on Wednesday.

Here’s Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodget with the basics:

Well, don’t accuse Carl Icahn of cutting and running. After losing $1 billion on his massive Yahoo bet–he bought 69 million shares last spring at about $25–Carl Icahn has (figuratively speaking) doubled down.

In the past three days, the raider has bought another 6.7 million shares of Yahoo for about $65 million, bringing his total to 75.6 million shares. At today’s closing price of $10.58, Carl’s stake is worth $800 million, about $900 million less than he paid for his original position. The 76 million shares amount to 5.4% of the company.

The Associated Press explains why this could be important:

Yahoo is looking for a new leader after co-founder Jerry Yang said earlier this month that he will step down as chief executive as soon as the company’s board finds a successor.

Icahn has been among the loudest voices arguing for a new direction at Yahoo. He threatened to nominate a new slate of directors after the Sunnyvale, California, company rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft this summer. Yahoo gave him a seat on its board and two other slots for members of his choosing.

And Kara Swisher on her Boomtown blog at AllThingsD speculates on Icahn’s motive:

BoomTown is guessing that the billionaire investor thinks he can recoup some of his massive losses in Yahoo, as Jerry Yang prepares to step down and the board, on which Icahn sits, and names a new leader.

That’s why my guess is that the choice of a new CEO is likely to be sooner than later and much more Icahn-friendly.

Keep an eye on

• Speaking of Blodget, here’s a profile that explains why he is smarter than you when it comes to media, though he’s also probably on more hate lists. (Wired)
• Farhad Manjoo lists items (Blu-Ray DVD players, photo printers, FM iPod transmitters) that you’d be better off not buying this holiday season. Manjoo reminds readers that shareholder value begins with figuring out how to seduce suckers into buying stuff. (Slate)
• A federal bailout of U.S. newspapers is an idea rejected by every newspaper executive I’ve spoken with, on the grounds that it doesn’t make sense to have the watchdog of government become the lapdog of government. But a state bailout? (The Bristol Press)

(Photo: Reuters)

With Black Friday only a few days away and projections for the holiday shopping season bleak, it’s not surprising that Sony is making a price cut move on its PlayStation 3 video game console to lure cash-strapped shoppers.

Now, you can get a hearty $150 price cut on the PlayStation 3 console. The caveat: you’ve got to sign up for a shiny new PlayStation credit card first.

There’s two ways to take advantage of the deal, it just depends how badly you want the PS3.

If you can’t wait to get your hands on the console, go to www.sony.com/newpscard to get instant approval for the PlayStation credit card and the visit the Sony Rewards site to purchase the PS3. You’ll receive a $150 credit for the PS3 after you’ve been approved for the card. What’s more, gamers who receive instant approval for the credit card will receive a coupon from Sony for a buy one, get one free offer on any Blu-Ray DVD purchase.

For those who are slightly more patient, sign up for the card at www.sony.com/getpscard and use it at any Sony retailer to purchase the PS3. The $150 credit will show up on the next billing statement.

The offer from Sony comes after rival Microsoft cut the price of its entry-level Xbox 360 console from $279 to $199 in September - but with no credit card sign-up required. Microsoft also lowered the prices of its mid-range and high-end Xbox 360 consoles by $50 each.

The price cut has reaped big rewards for Microsoft as unit sales of the Xbox 360 leapt 7 percent in October, according to the most recent NPD research report. The release of cult-classic “Gears of War 2″ will also bump sales during the holiday season.

But will the credit card offer lead to more sales of the PS3? It’s tough to predict as the offer is most likely to be available to those with good credit, rather than all interested PS3 buyers. Gamers with less-than-stellar credit ratings might not be able to access the offer as credit standards have tightened in the face of the global financial crisis. For more of Reuters coverage of the credit crisis, click here.

Sales of the PS3 have lagged behind the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii since August. So will this offer help the Sony console edge out Microsoft?

(Reporting by Jennifer Martinez)

Give the “Glass is Half Full” award to Stan Glasgow, Sony’s top U.S. electronics executive, ahead of what could be the most crucial (and potential painful) “Black Friday” shopping weekend in many years. It’s normally a happy time of year, filled with family gathering, gifts, etc.

This year its different. Read the papers, or a blog. Things look pretty gloomy.

Perhaps, just perhaps, things aren’t as bad as they seem, Glasgow told a gathering of journalists on Thursday, suggesting that there are great bargains to be had on cool gadgets and big TVs, if consumers can overcome their apprehension.

Glasgow, a passionate engineer-by-trade, whose casual briefings with the tech press are usually chock full of geek-y chatter about flat screen TVs, Digital SLR Cameras and OLED displays, took on the economy, such as it is.

His message in short: Yes We Can shop our way out of this mess:

All of us get shell-shocked a little, that we have been disappointed by the events that have happened in the economy. We’d like to think that it’s an opportunity. I’ve asked our employees to get out there and get aggressive, to come up with new ideas how to do things better for Sony, but also to begin to talk to their friends and family about ‘its a good time to buy products — the values are good right now.’

Prices have gone down on every product. It’s almost a deflationary time period in terms of good and services in this country. What that means is that everything is going down in price, including oil and gold and stocks and bonds and everything. It is not a bad time to buy products, it is not a bad time to make investments. So I’m encouraging our people — and I’m encouraging all of you around the table — that we can play a part in helping restore consumer confidence.

(Reuters photo of Stan Glasgow)