Valleywag

Wired parent buys Ars Technica -- and Webmonkey, too? [Acquisitions]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:05:00 PDT

TechCrunch reports that CondeNet, the online arm of Condé Nast and the parent of Wired.com, has bought Ars Technica, a rival technology news site. But if the latest issue of Wired is any...

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A week in which we lapped it up [Recap]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:00:00 PDT

Sweet mother of mercy was it hot this week. Of course, those at the workplace rated best by Valleywag readers, Digg, can just reach into the company cooler for a cold one. I'm sure Jerry Yang could...

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The real reason for Mark Zuckerberg's trip around the world: He's bad at goodbyes [Facebook]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:00:00 PDT

We've never gotten a straight story on why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took off for a trip around the world. Work or pleasure? Our latest tipster says that Zuck's travels are really about about...

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How to avoid being a Facebook shill like VC David Sze [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:40:00 PDT

Greylock Partners VC David Sze is no doubt thrilled to have been caught endorsing Blackberry via Facebook. Such "social ads" are the very reason his firm invested in the social network. If you're...

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Accused of downloading child porn? Blame Google [Crime]

Melissa Gira Grant — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:20:00 PDT

William Dalgleish, charged with downloading 16,000 "indecent images of children", is trying for a Google defense. "If companies like Google did not provide access to such sites, he would not have...

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Robert Scoble actually kind of hot in the early '90s [Caption Contest]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Before he turned into a Philip Seymour Hoffman clone, there was a time when Fast Company videoblogger Robert Scoble looked more like James Spader. And here we thought Scoble was a run-of-the-mill...

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CBS CEO Les Moonves to visit CNET next Tuesday [Rumormonger]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:40:00 PDT

After buying CNET for $1.8 billion, CBS CEO Les Moonves is getting around to inspecting his new property next Tuesday, we hear. Moonves is visiting CNET's San Francisco headquarters to address the...

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Apple will continue to arm military through PA Semi [Military-iPod]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:20:00 PDT

After a hue and cry from defense contractors who were buying chipmaker PA Semi's core product in bulk, Apple has agreed to continue supplying merchants of death arms manufacturers with the newly...

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Adman Alex Bogusky latest Fast Company coverboy [Studvertising]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:00:00 PDT

Rising ad star Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky is the subject of the cover feature in the latest issue of Fast Company. The story focuses on Microsoft's $300 million deal with the agency to,...

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Gates Foundation refuses to help Bletchley Park [Failanthropy]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:40:00 PDT

The legendary site in England where the Nazis' communication code was finally broken, Bletchley Park, has hit hard times. The land is being eyed by developers eager to build on the spot situated...

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Bradley Horowitz a Yahoo double-agent inside Google? [We Read Twitter So You Don't Have To]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:20:00 PDT

What, exactly, is Yahoo's former VP of special projects Bradley Horowitz doing at Google? Innovating! If by "innovating" you mean spending his 20 percent time playing classic arcade games. Bldg 44...

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Bertram Capital borrows Benchmark jet for Cabo San Lucas trip [Geeks Gone Wild]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:00:00 PDT

How awesome is the private-equity business? Private-jet awesome. That's the message that Bertram Capital vice president Michael Chang likely hoped to send to friends when he posted an album of photos...

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NSA site goes down in blaze of badly-engineered DNS glory [Breakdowns]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:40:00 PDT

The website of the National Security Administration went down yesterday. No, it wasn't subject to "cyber terrorism," just bad network management — specifically, its domain-name servers,...

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Former billionaire caught in the long tail of dot-bomb securities fraud [Crime]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:20:00 PDT

Former CEO of PurchasePro Charles Johnson is facing 20 years in jail for his role in stock fraud at the company. An earlier prosecution of Johnson ended in mistrial, but this retrial included the...

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Photos from Sarah Lacy's book party [Party Report]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:00:00 PDT

Web 2.0 was hot last night. And I mean the kind of heat determined not by Technorati rank, but by the thermometer. Despite the stifling weather, San Francisco's Web stars turned out for a party Sarah...

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Everybody at CNET superexcited to move to CBS, except for those canned on Monday [MP3.com]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:40:00 PDT

A "handful" of CNET's MP3.com music writers got laid off on Monday. Otherwise, News.com's Caroline McCarthy tells us CNET employees are actually very excited about the CBS acquisition — if only...

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Comcast lies to FCC about blocking file-sharing [Network Neutrality]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:20:00 PDT

Cable copmany Comcast assured the FCC that the company's "network management" practices that involved blocking file-sharing traffic only affected heavy users during peak hours. However, tests found...

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Facebook caters to CollegeHumor with greasy apology [Nerdfight]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:00:00 PDT

Due to "PR concerns" — or rather, new COO Sheryl Sandberg's excessively grownup attitude — Facebook bailed on a scheduled game of beer pong against CollegeHumor. The people at...

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One Laptop Per Child project proves to be about ego, not education [One Child Per One Laptop Per Child]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:40:00 PDT

MIT Media Lab director Nicholas Negroponte had a vision: Millions of third-world children lacked laptops and therefore the means to learn of his greatness. He founded the One Laptop Per Child Project...

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Online ad take bigger than that of radio, cable and broadcast television [Online Advertising]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:00 PDT

Online advertising grossed $21.2 billion in 2007, beating cable ($20.9 billion), radio ($19.8 billion) and broadcast television ($19.2 billion), according to a report commissioned by the Interactive...

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Your Google plans (the pirate edition) [Valleywag Calendar]

Dianne de Guzman — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:00:00 PDT

We are still doing our due diligence before signing any term sheets with prospective happy hour locales. But that doesn't mean you won't have plans: Google has cooked up two events for those who feel...

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New York Times puts female geeks in the style ghetto [Great Moments In Journalism]

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:40:00 PDT

An article about women in science and engineering from the New York Times, "Diversity Isn't Rocket Science, Is It?" seems like it ought to go in the news or business section. It ran in fashion and...

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Valleywag advertisers are Iron Man [Sponsors]

Fri, 16 May 2008 10:20:00 PDT

In our heads, our advertisers are all heroic entrepreneurs, growing their 5 o'clock shadows on megayachts as they invent rocket-armor suits. Indulge us our fantasies as we thank this week's...

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Madison Avenue loves CBS-CNET [CBS]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:00:00 PDT

Old school ad agencies on Madison Avenue know and understand CBS, Inc. They've been selling its inventory to clients since 1928. So it's no wonder the ad agencies are so happy to see CBS take control...

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Yahoo scrambles back to Google for cover [Online Advertising]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:40:00 PDT

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is once again very eager to get a search-advertising deal with Google signed. Two sources tell the New York Post "executives are scrambling" to finalize the deal. Why such a...

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CNET CEO Neil Ashe made $1.6 milllion selling to CBS yesterday, and you didn't [Jackpot]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:20:00 PDT

Under the wing of CBS, CNET CEO Neil Ashe will continue to earn his $700,000 salary. He'll also get a 100 percent bonus and, in the next 10 days, a long-term stock award of "not less than $1,625,000...

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Yahoo: Please ignore this silly Icahn mess and check out our deal with WPP [Great Moments In Pr]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:00:00 PDT

When bad news about a company dominates the headlines, sometimes a company's PR team will craft bogus announcements to distract shareholders. Which is why today in the Wall Street Journal, you'll...

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Secret Service can't help Stickam keep users from saying "bye bye" [Spam]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:40:00 PDT

Stickam, the webcam site the New York Times says is backed by Japanese pornographers and Stickam PR says isn't, has a spam problem. CEO Steve Fruchter says last November, hackers broke into "an old...

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Pro-Microsoft shareholders control at least 29 percent of Yahoo -- does that mean the fight's over? [Yahoo]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:20:00 PDT

$30 billion hedge fund Paulson & Co. has released filings to show it owns 3.4 percent of Yahoo shares and intends to support Carl Icahn's bid to replace the company's board. Combined with Icahn's...

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Why does Madison Avenue have to beg its way into Web videos? [Online Advertising]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:00:00 PDT

Hulu, the Web-video venture of NBC Universal and News Corp., reached nearly 900,000 visitors last month, according to Compete. Too bad that its 15-second ads and spots spliced into the middle of...

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Yang addresses the faithful (and the other Yahoo employees, too) [Internal Memo]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has written two letters in response to Carl Icahn's attempt to take over Yahoo's board. One addresses Yahoo employees and the other its senior management. Neither feature...

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Rank tech's 10 worst workspaces [10 Worst Workspaces]

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:00:00 PDT

After reviewing our post "The 10 worst workspaces in tech," commenter AdmNaismith described Facebook's office, pictured above, as "foggy, dank, dim, and utterly depressing." Commenter mothra1 hated...

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Icahn puffs up Yahoo board nominee's resume [Yahoo Raid]

Owen Thomas — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:00:00 PDT

Adam Dell, Michael Dell's younger brother, is a venture capitalist with some successes under his belt, including HotJobs, which Yahoo bought. He'd make a fine Yahoo board member. So why does Carl...

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Dissecting Yahoo's response to Icahn [Yahoo Raid]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:40:00 PDT

Roy Bostock, Yahoo's chairman of the board, has responded to corporate raider Carl Icahn. The one-word version: "Unfortunately." That word sums up so well the letter, Yahoo's hamhanded reply to...

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10 VC predictions from the Churchill Club [Venture Capital]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:00:00 PDT

Yahoo, CNET, and Plaxo are old news, according to VC blogger Fred Wilson. He writes: "I suggest you ignore all of that and focus on what went on last night in San Jose at the annual Churchill Club...

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Mark Cuban to Jerry Yang: Thanks for the $5.7 billion -- now let's get you fired [Yahoo]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:00:00 PDT

Carl Icahn's slate of replacement directors for Yahoo's board is a list of head-scratchers, except for one name. That's Mark Cuban, the guy who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1998...

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Man puts cheating wife up for auction on eBay [EBay]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:40:00 PDT

Paul Osborn of the U.K. suspected his wife was having an affair, so he put her for sale on eBay. Bids for the goods, listed as ""cheating, lying, adulterous slag of a wife" reached $961,700 before...

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Brijit leaves 100-word summary market wide open [Brijit]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:20:00 PDT

Brijit, a startup which provides 100-word abstracts of news articles, has "temporarily" shut its doors. The three-word reason: out of money. [News.com]

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Orkut inventor may be best argument against H-1B visas yet [Geeks Gone Wild]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:00:00 PDT

Give us more H-1B visas and we'll give you innovative products. That's the pitch Google exec Laszlo Bock made to Congress as he decried the H-1B visa cap. Projects like also-ran social network Orkut,...

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Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock to Carl Icahn: Back off [Acquisitions]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:40:00 PDT

Yahoo board chairman Roy Bostock has penned a response to billionaire investor Carl Icahn's verbose missive, who's trying to replace the Internet company's board with directors who favor a deal with...

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The complete index to "Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good" [Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:20:00 PDT

Sarah Lacy's book about Web 2.0, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, officially comes out today (and there's a book party at Otis on Maiden Lane in San Francisco this evening). We've run the index,...

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