Valleywag

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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"Googirls" spotted in China [Caption Contest]

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

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Google has been hoping to get more market share in China, but surely not this way. A tipster sends in this photo of bus ads in...

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NBC Direct still doesn't work [Online Video]

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

Liz Gannes, a veteran online video reporter whom I've worked with and is no slouch when it comes to getting almost any newfangled content application to function, couldn't get NBC's relaunched...

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MySpace avoids liability in Megan Meier suicide, victim of terms of use breach [Crime]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:20:00 PDT

MySpace's contention that the social network was a victim, and not an enabler, in the suicide of Missouri teenager Megan Meier has paid off. A federal grand jury has indicted Lori Drew on one count...

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My 60 seconds with Quincy Smith [CBS]

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

If CBS were to greenlight a TV series about life at a modern media giant, the director would find it hard to cast anyone but Quincy Smith as himself. Call it 60 Seconds, a version of the news show...

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Facebook just not that into Google Friend Connect [Feuds]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:40:00 PDT

Facebook has shut off access to Google's new Friend Connect, citing privacy issues, saying that the service "redistributes data" in ways that users don't "expect or understand," according to a blog...

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How Google can charge three times as much as Yahoo for a search ad [Online Advertising]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:20:00 PDT

Most clicks on Yahoo search ads do not occur on Yahoo's search results. They happen on one of Yahoo's 1,196 advertising partners. The problem is, as the above chart from SEOBook indicates, these ad...

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YouTube now offering demographic data [Your Privacy Is An Illusion]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:00:00 PDT

YouTube has added demographic information to the data they offer video publishers. The suite of metrics is known as Insight, which already tracks views over time and geography. The new tools should...

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EU warns Google to respect privacy laws with Street View [Your Privacy Is An Illusion]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:40:00 PDT

After reports of Google Street View vehicle sightings on the continent, an EU spokesperson reminded Google to respect local privacy laws. "Taking pictures on a street isn't in itself a problem but...

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Tech's best workspace: Digg [10 Best Workspaces]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:20:00 PDT

When we first listed tech's 10 best workspaces, we downplayed the importance of design and amenities. The crowd disagrees. It favors beer. Digg's beer, to be exact. 1,505 voted in our poll, and 28...

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Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is Iron Man [Separated At Net Worth]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:00:00 PDT

Besides creating one of the world's most successful tech companies, Larry Ellison invented the 5 o'clock shadow plus blazer look. He drives an Audi R8 to the gym — the car Top Gear's Jeremy...

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Hulu nabs Diggnation and other Revision3 shows [Online Video]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:40:00 PDT

Hulu, the online video site created as a joint venture between NBC and News Corp., will distribute shows from content startup Revision3, which focuses on shows broadly related to technology. Now you...

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Broadcom gives "backdating" a whole new meaning [Crime]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:00:00 PDT

After the SEC accused Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli, founders of chipmaker Broadcom, of illegally backdating stock options for five years, Samueli stepped down as board chairman and CTO. Nicholas...

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Facebook vs. CollegeHumor beer pong canceled [Cubicle Culture]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:40:00 PDT

The smack-talk inspiring contest of beer pong — known as beiruit in some quarters — scheduled between Facebook and IAC subsidiary CollegeHumor is off. Why? Because Facebook's PR and legal...

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California gay-marriage ruling could be boon for queer-friendly brands like Apple [Politics]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:20:00 PDT

California's Supreme Court has overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage. While others will doubtless take this opportunity to argue about whether to call it marriage or not, I'm betting...

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Because 2.0 is more than 1.0 [Valleywag Calendar]

Dianne de Guzman — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:00:00 PDT

With 2.0 of everything, how is one to compete? There's "Lunch 2.0" which is happening in an hour at Xoriant HQ in Sunnyvale. "The Search for a World Like Our Own: Imagine Earth 2.0" is a very cool...

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Quincy Smith's one big idea [Cnet]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:40:00 PDT

CNET has been eyed by Quincy Smith, CBS's hyperacquisitive online chief, long before he sealed a $1.8 billion deal to buy the company. As a banker at Allen & Co., CNET was his client. "At one...

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Can YouTube vindicate a rape survivor? [Crime]

Melissa Gira Grant — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:20:00 PDT

Crystal says that a 23-year-old man raped her, and she's saying it on YouTube. Why not go to a shelter or a counseling center like girls are supposed to? Crystal isn't just doing teen-bedroom...

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Ask.com buys reference site Lexico [Acquisitions]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:00:00 PDT

Lexico, the company behind reference sites like Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, has been acquired by also-ran search engine Ask.com, a unit of Barry Diller's IAC, for an undisclosed sum. It will...

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Carl Icahn's letter to Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock [Yahoo]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:40:00 PDT

Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock has a letter from corporate raider Carl Icahn in his inbox. It's more than 3,000 words long. For a version that Bostock and you can read before Icahn completes his raid,...

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Overstock.com nixes New York affiliates to frustrate taxman [Overstock.com]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:20:00 PDT

New York's state legislature passed a law that will require Internet vendors with any business ties to the state to collect sales tax. The law is so sweeping that it includes nonphysical ties, such...

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Ballmer refuses to encourage Icahn's Yahoo raid [Microsoft]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:00:00 PDT

For Carl Icahn to earn a quick profit on Yahoo, snatching up 3.5 percent of the company at around $25 a share and then selling to Microsoft at $33, Microsoft executives have to play along. So far...

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Z is for Zuckerberg, the richest of all [Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:20:00 PDT

Money isn't everything. Mark Zuckerberg may have the highest net worth among his generation of entrepreneurs, but the Facebook CEO only gets 21 out of 294 pages in Sarah Lacy's new Web 2.0 book, Once...

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Children of IT pros expected to take over the server-farm [Careers]

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:00:00 PDT

Three-quarters of information technology professionals would recommend the career to their children, according to a study from The IT Job Board. However, had they asked the children of said sample...

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Last chance to vote for tech's best digs [Poll]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:40:00 PDT

Be sure to vote for the best workspace in tech. The poll closes at noon Pacific, at which point we'll announce a winner, and then launch voting for the worst workspace in tech. Review the contenders...

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T is for Twitter, which turned blogging small [Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:20:00 PDT

Twitter, the 140-characters at a time blogging service, was shaped by its founder's dry, understated sense of humor. The company, not to mention the service, seems to be a sort of Silicon Valley...

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R is for Rose, who made Digg his toy [Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

newVideoPlayer("calacanisalbrecht.flv", 463, 367,""); Kevin Rose takes up 62 out of 294 pages in Sarah Lacy's Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, her new book about Web 2.0. That's less than I...

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P is for Parker, the Valley's bad boy [Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good]

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:00:00 PDT

Sean Parker has had a hand in some of the Valley's biggest successes. His first company, Napster, took the world by storm, but didn't make Parker rich. His second, Plaxo, just sold to Comcast. And...

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CBS buys CNET Networks for $1.8 billion [Acquisitions]

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:52:03 PDT

Shareholder activists Jana Partners and company got their way, sort of. CNET has new management, and in fact ownership: CBS, which will purchase CNET for $11.50 a share, or $1.8 billion. That's about...

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Is Jimmy Wales getting Wikipedia in legal trouble? [The Sum Of All Human Knowledge]

Owen Thomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:00:00 PDT

Jimmy Wales's clandestine editing of a girlfriend's Wikipedia entry has done more than just bring the online encyclopedia into disrepute. It may well put the site's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia...

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Top 5 unintended uses for Microsoft's tactile interfaces [Surface Computing]

Jackson West — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:00:00 PDT

"Every surface will be a computer." So spake Bill Gates at the annual CEO Summit, sounding much like himself a few decades ago when he promised a computer on every desk. Since then we've collectively...

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George Bush to terrorize world with emails [Politics]

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

The president of the United States, George W. Bush, has been banned from sending emails during his term in office, with officials citing security concerns. That's all about to change once he's...

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Comcast acquires Plaxo, after unbearably long courtship [Acquisitions]

Owen Thomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:20:00 PDT

Months after rumors of its interest first surfaced, Comcast has officially bought Plaxo. Terms weren't disclosed, but we last heard that the price was rumored to be around $175 million. For now,...

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The first rule of Hair Club is you do not talk about Hair Club [Caption Contest]

Jackson West — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Hollywood star Edward Norton gleefully shakes hands with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom at a hearing on green building practices today before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global...

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Intel Atom to be used in new, larger iPhone [Apple]

Jackson West — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:40:00 PDT

At a birthday party for chipmaker Intel held in Munich, Hannes Schwaderer, CEO of Intel Germany, confirmed that Apple will be using the company's new Atom processor in a future version of the iPhone....

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