Gawker
-
googleplex
Google Moves in with Founder's Wife's Company
Google's complicated relationship with its founder's wife just got more tangled. Anne Wojcicki's genetic-testing startup, 23andMe, not only took a second round of funding from the company — it's now cohabitating with the search giant. More »
0
11
By Ryan TateComment by TouchedByAnOctopus: Anne had irritable bowel syndrome through the whole pregnancy. You would be in a conference room with her and she... 2 Responses | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
AOL's Shameless CEO Bailout
Tim Armstrong, AOL CEO, just bought a company from... Tim Armstrong, investor. The official line is that the deal is on the up and up, since the consummate salesman won't be taking any profits off his stake. Rich. More » -
conflicts of interest
Silicon Alley's Bitter Awards Scramble
For a startup founder itching to cash out, the recession can be tough: The economy fades hopes for an acquisition or plum funding round. Perhaps this explains some of the testiness around this year's awards from Silicon Alley Insider. More »
0
By Ryan TateComment by thecowardlylion: Oh, no say it ain't so. PR is the new marketing?! I am so proud of us little Internet babies. We... more » | Other threads
-
journalismism
Pirated Wolverine Review Puts Fox Newser's Job on the Line
(UPDATED) Despite reports he was fired for reviewing a pirated copy of Wolverine, Fox News columnist Roger Friedman will have a chance to argue for his job, a Fox News source said.
More »
0
By Ryan TateComment by dandles: When the movie hits, Fox will be lucky if anyone wants to go see it. 2 Responses | Other threads
-
facebook
Even Facebook Employees Hate the Redesign
The feedback on Facebook's new look, which emphasizes a stream of Twitter-like status updates, is almost universally, howlingly negative. Why isn't CEO Mark Zuckerberg listening to users? Because he doesn't have to, he's told employees.
More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Botswana Meat Commission FC: Can someone explain what exactly is the problem with the redesign? (other than perhaps not enabling users to revert) To me... 18 Responses | Other threads
-
valley spawn
Google Founder Sacrifices Son, Last Shreds of Integrity to Science
Google cofounder Sergey Brin and wife Anne Wojcicki are so unconcerned with privacy that they're donating their newborn son's DNA to science. So surely they won't mind if we tell you the kid's name. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by tokenfemale: I have been told for over 10 years 'I could have parkinsons, but they can't test, so all they know... 3 Responses | Other threads
-
e-books
Esquire Editor Admires the Kindle, or At Least the Hearst Replacement
Esquire editor David Granger loves the Amazon Kindle. Sort of. The e-book reader gives him hope that Internet-shortened attention spans will lengthen enough to spark a renaissance in books and magazines. He's utterly delusional. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by stoprobbers: I can't read off a screen, hurt my eyes. When society turns away from the written word -- on a PAGE... 2 Responses | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
WSJ Conference Organizer's Wife Secretly Running Google
Megan Smith, a Google executive little known outside Silicon Valley, is taking a high-profile role running the search engine's in-house charity. She's part of a power couple whose louder half is AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by JewelAlthaemenes: I think you are letting her off too lightly. Kara has a massive conflict of interest problem, not only does... 3 Responses | Other threads
-
-
journalismism
At Last, Google Funds a Bailout for Reporters
Journalism pundits have been begging Google to put its billions behind the project of saving journalism. At last, a Google executive has come through. Here's Tim Armstrong's secret plan to save the local news business. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Robert Strutin: As a startup doing research on Angel Investors this is exactly the way forward in business. Google is testing,... 2 Responses | Other threads
-
field guide
Shira Lazar, Kevin Rose's Latest Fling
Having famously "plowed through" San Francisco's eligible bachelorettes, Digg founder Kevin Rose went L.A. for his most recent paramour, Shira Lazar. Who is this Web-video wannabe with links to Dov Charney and Julia Allison? More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by LilyBartleby: She's an upgrade from his previous paramour, Roseys Palm. 9 Responses | Other threads
-
geek love
VentureBeat blogger writes about girlfriend's company
Leah Culver, the ever-romantic founder of file-sharing site Pownce, does not think anything should keep two lovers apart, least of all work. True! And if she wants to date MG Siegler, the handsome VentureBeat blogger, more power to her. Brian Solis's lens captured the two sticking quite close to each other at a party for MySpace Music last night. But shouldn't Siegler, rather than Valleywag, disclose the relationship to his readers before he writes flatteringly about Pownce and quotes Culver in an article? (Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Figaro: What is she doing? IS she trying to fuck her way to the bottom? At least in the past she... 2 Responses | Other threads
-
deals
Digg's Kevin Rose interviews former Digg suitor Al Gore
It only takes hearing so many jokes about Al Gore inventing Twitter to figure out that the former vice president has signed up for the microblogging service. Wisely, he's not really participating in the site, just using it to market his websites and announce his interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose, which airs tonight on Current, the Gore-backed cable channel. Current and Digg have been teaming up for a series of election-related events, including a party on election night. But Rose and Gore's acquaintance goes back almost two years. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by giania: Well either he's multi-account spamming or he's already got immitators because I was recently friended by [twitter.com] who is pimping... more » | Other threads
-
great moments in journalism
Googler mom Esther Wojcicki's sideline job as Google publicist
What about the children? Palo Alto High School teacher Esther "Woj" Wojcicki took time away from educating future reporters to write about America's teens for the Huffington Post. In the piece, she promotes a nonprofit letter-writing project sponsored by Google and touts the use of Google Docs. No surprise there: Woj, whose daughter Anne is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin and whose daughter Susan is a Google executive, has been promoting Google's pet causes from the first. But only now, after Valleywag has twice pointed out Woj's failure to disclose family conflicts of interest, has she started to include a disclaimer. Too bad it's deceptive. More » -
wedding announcements
Kara Swisher discloses she married Google exec
A disclosure statement is an odd place for a wedding announcement. But that is where conference organizer and AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher has buried the news that she married her longtime partner, Google vice president Megan Smith, last night, before the passage of Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, made same-sex marriages illegal once more. (The couple had had previous ceremonies — including, while we're disclosing things, one that I attended — but this was the first one that was a legal marriage under California law.) This would be no one's business but their own, except for the fact that Swisher actively covers Google and its rivals. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by karaswisher: Fair piece, but you do leave out the salient fact that I have also been one of Google's toughest critics,... 4 Responses | Other threads
-
facebook
Microsoft's Facebook millions paid back with Google election map
What does $240 million get you these days? That's what Microsoft invested in Facebook, but the software giant hasn't gotten much love in return. On election night, whose online maps did Facebook use? Google's. More » -
esther wojcicki
Google founder's journalist mother-in-law writes blimp infomercial
Esther Wojcicki, known as "Woj" at Palo Alto High School, where she teaches journalism, is a beloved figure on campus. She's also quite welcome at the Googleplex, as the mother of Anne Wojcicki, who's married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and Google executive Susan Wojcicki. I wonder if proximity to power and wealth has dulled Woj's reportorial instincts. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by VedetteLinglewood: I can also say that I was a former student of Woj's, and this article is at least offensive, if... 1 Responses | Other threads
-
new york, minute
New York blogger worries himself sick over conflicts of interest
"If we want NYC to kick ass in the world's tech community, we have to stop favoring a few 'friends' and let everyone get time on stage." CenterNetworks founder/writer/editor Allen Stern doesn't just complain about inbreeding in New York's Web 2.0 scene, he documents it by listing the companies that presented at last night's NY Tech Meetup, and speculating on their potential conflicts of interest. Jeez, Allen, wait'll you find out I used to be on the secret MacArthur committee. Here's what we're group-thinking out here in our Valley chatroom: More »
0
By Paul BoutinComment by Lawrence: It seems there's always conflicts of interests - stop bitching about it, and just accept it as the norm now more » | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
Michael Arrington wants you to read about MySpace Music, not his love life
If you didn't believe our report that TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington is in bed with MySpace's top flack, Dani Dudeck, read the obsessive startup blogger's latest story on MySpace Music, which claims that MySpace has "streamed" 1 billion songs. Considering that most MySpace profiles are set to start playing a song, whether you like it or not, as soon as you visit them, that's not that impressive. Arrington leads his story by comparing MySpace streams to iTunes sales, and then acknowledges it's not a "fair comparison." His readers, in the comments, went much further, citing our report and questioning whether the affair with Dudeck clouded Arrington's judgment. Those comments have been — what's the word? — unpublished.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Rachel Marsden: Is his girlfriend beating him up, or does he always have 2 black eyes? 3 Responses | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
Michael Arrington's MySpace Music review, the 100-word version
We know what TechCrunch's Michael Arrington got out of sleeping with MySpace PR executive Dani Dudeck: Screenshots of MySpace Music before the service launched. But what was Dudeck's quid to Arrington's quo? To find that, it's worth examining all the nice things Arrington has posted about her employer over the past couple of months. More »
0
Comment by kimbjo: sounds fishy. i don't believe he'd be smart enough to keep his mouth shut long enough to get some nookie.... more » | Other threads
-
geek love
Michael Arrington pounding his MySpace source
When TechCrunch, the blog for startup fetishists, published leaked screengrabs of MySpace's just-launched music service, Michael Arrington wrote: "We’ve been pounding our sources for screenshots of the new service for weeks without any luck." Now we know what he meant. A tipster tells us, and another source confirms, that Arrington's been dating Dani Dudeck, MySpace's VP of global communications, for months. More »
0
Comment by Rachel Marsden: Also, people who use "wait for it" as a splicer should be stood up against the nearest wall and shot. 2 Responses | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
Was TechCrunch50 rigged?
The anointing of Yammer as the winner of TechCrunch50 has raised questions about how the startup-launch conference operates. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, has made much of the fact that he and fellow event organizer Jason Calacanis don't charge startups to present at the show, as established rival Demo does. But people who attended the show are saying behind his back that the contest was rigged in favor of a pet startup of Arrington's with ties to one of the event's sponsors. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by calleynye: The point of TC50 isn't about the $50k. It's about presenting it to a room of full VCs, press,... 3 Responses | Other threads
-
om malik
VC reporter finally joins the team
No one's surprised that GigaOm founder-and-whatever-else Om Malik has joined True Ventures as a partner. Or that he buried the news near the bottom of a lengthy blog post last week. Or that it took days for reporters to discover the blog post, with its classically obscure Malikian headline, "Evolving My Work Life." The New York Times felt obligated to quote a journalism ethics prof on the potential conflict of Om being both a Valley VC and a reporter on Valley VCs. But let's be honest about the Valley's take: No one cares. Like fellow reporters-turned-moneymen Michael Moritz and Stewart Alsop, Malik will finally, finally be taken seriously by the people he's been following for years. (Photo by Brian Solis)
0
By Paul BoutinComment by HumphreyBogus: Haven't we seen this movie before? Om's bio mentions that he had a short stint as a VC in 1999 as... 1 Responses | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
TechCrunch owner's startup slips into TechCrunch50 lineup
The TechCrunch50 is out and again the list reads like a self-parody. Shryk? Swype? There is one interesting startup on the list, however: Fotonauts. Not because we know or care to know what Fotonauts does. We're just intrigued by Fotonauts president Keith Teare's habit of saying he owns 10 percent of TechCrunch. Isn't that a refreshing bit of honesty about how a list like the TechCrunch50 gets put together? More »
0
Comment by WagCurious: Could this be related to the internet-only device (being promoted by Michael) that the San Jose Mercury News was all... 2 Responses | Other threads
-
food fight
Google food manager charged with double-dealing
The brouhaha over Google's once-legendary, now troubled free-meals perk has bubbled up more charges of wrongdoing in the search engine's kitchens. An anonymous poster has taken to Craigslist to air charges against Google's former global food manager, John Dickman. (The post refers to him as "Dick," but it's obviously Dickman being discussed.) The Craigslist poster claims Dickman, left, who is married to Lisa McEuen, right, an executive at the parent company of food-service operator Bon Appétit, with leaking inside information which helped Bon Appétit win a contract to run Google's in-house meal service. More » -
George Church
23andMe advisor bidding for Google-backed prize with Google's help
Genetics researcher George Church is a great believer in openness, according to a profile of him in Wired. So he shouldn't mind a bit if we disclose some facts about his business dealings that we find fascinating. To wit: More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by BioBuddy: Google and its founders supporting the Personal Genome Project and the X-prize in genomics competition ARE GOOD things.... The fact... more » | Other threads
-
23andme
Google cofounder funnels money to wife's startup through Michael J. Fox charity
Google employees must avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, according to the company's code of conduct. But Sergey Brin is exempt from such bureaucratic trifles. The cofounder skirted ethical lines when he loaned money to 23andMe, a genetic-testing startup cofounded by his wife, Anne Wojcicki, and later had Google repay that loan in the course of investing in that company. The Google board's audit committee and CEO Eric Schmidt blithely signed off on the deal, however. Now, Brin has found a new way to route money to 23andMe, this time through a charity — thereby boosting, at least notionally, the value of Google's investment and his wife's net worth. Brin can claim it's all for a good cause, but the deal stinks to high heaven. More » -
conflicts of interest
Google's conflicted board
CEO Eric Schmidt's Apple board seat is only the beginning of Google's high-level conflicts of interests. Once Google's directors get done recusing themselves, there might not be anyone left in the boardroom. [Portfolio] -
caroline mccarthy
CNET Writer's Cozy Sourcing
CNET News.com writer Caroline McCarthy published a nice scoop today on how social networking site I'm In Like With You raised $1.5 million from venture funding firm Spark Capital. Silicon Alley Insider has been chasing the story for weeks! How did McCarthy pull the exclusive out from under their nose? Who's to say! But, um, it's probably worth noting that McCarthy is dating David Karp, founder of blog network Tumblr and an intimate, bed-cuddling, entire-body-carrying friend of I'm In Like With You founder Charles Forman. Karp's company also shares Spark Capital as a venture funding backer. So, basically, McCarthy had sources close to her boyfriend to draw on. (Pictured, the happy threesome of Forman, Karp and McCarthy, as photographed by Richard Blakeley.) Should McCarthy's CNET blog post have carried a disclaimer? She doesn't think so: More »
0
By Ryan TateComment by blackberry-addict: testing testing is this thing on? more » | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
Eric Schmidt admits he was kicked out of Apple boardroom over iPhone-Android rivalry
Keep your friends close, and your enemies on your board of directors. That seems to be the rationale for Google CEO Eric Schmidt's continued presence in Apple's boardroom. Despite a promised rain of would-be iPhone killers powered by Google's Android operating system coming later this year, Schmidt said he's only had to excuse himself from board meetings "once or twice." (Photo by Steve Jurvetson)
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Swifter: Schmidt said he's only had to excuse himself from board meetings "once or twice." I guess the Flomax is working then. more » | Other threads
-
geek love
Facebook's Julia Lam and Slide's Doug Sherrets like to SuperPoke
While people are busy complaining about Facebook's "Orwellian" redesign, you won't hear a peep from Doug Sherrets, who works in business development at widgetmaker Slide. Why? We hear Sherrets and Julia Lam, who works in platform product marketing for Facebook, are now — as Facebook profilespeak would have it — "in a relationship." Could that be a conflict of interest? Maybe, but you obviously can't credit all of Slide's success to Sherrets's abilities to sleep with the frenemy. Slide's most popular widget, SuperPoke, is said to be both sticky and fun. -
we read twitter so you don't have to
Michael Arrington doesn't appreciate Wired's abuse of his ethics
Wired on TechCrunch's syndication deal with the Washington Post:We've got nothing against TechCrunch, but it seems crazy-crazy to us that the Washington Post, a paper known for the sort of reporting that can take down U.S. presidents, is publishing content written by a dude who invests in the companies he writes about.
Which naturally prompted the characteristically vulgar response from Michael Arrington, TechCrunch editor and bastion of indecorous surliness. Portfolio.com quotes Arrington: "Journalism is evolving."
0
By Jackson WestComment by raincoaster: @FlakJack: I'm with you. I don't really give a rat's ass about Arrington, but I have to take five for... more » | Other threads
-
deathwatch
The Omnidrive story you won't read on TechCrunch
Until a recent article from ReadWriteWeb declaring online file-storage and sharing service Omnidrive dead, founder and CEO Nik Cubrilovic was missing in action. The support forums for customers went unattended even as the site went down. An investor, Clay Cook, who sunk six figures into the company couldn't get a reply to his email. Also nowhere to be found? Any reporting from TechCrunch. More »
0
By Jackson WestComment by jackparsons: Meet your new TechCrunch writer: Nik Cubrilovic: [www.techcrunch.com] more » | Other threads
-
clips
Schmidt: Microsoft-Yahoo would "elminate consumer choice"
In this excerpt from Eric Schmidt's interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, the Google CEO explains that a Microsoft-Yahoo merger would "eliminate consumer choice, particularly in electronic mail, instant messaging — things where they would have 80 or 90 percent market share." As an alternative, Google has proposed the idea of serving its ads against Yahoo's search, giving it control over 80 percent of the search advertising market. But that would eliminate advertisers' choice, not consumers'. So it's cool.
0
Comment by bloggerman: This guy looks more and more like Edward Hermann from The Lost Boys all the time. You expect him to... more » | Other threads
-
ftc
Google's Aspen junkets for FTC commissioners just the start of its lobbying spree
In 2007, Google spent $1.5 million lobbying Washington, D.C politicians and regulators. According to public filings, much of that cash went toward getting the Google-DoubleClick merger approved. Google says the rest went toward patent and copyright reform, online privacy, energy independence, getting funding for scientific research and education, increasing the H-1B visa quota and making the case for net neutrality. (Net neutrality is the belief that Google, not telephone companies, should dictate what's carried on broadband lines.) It's unclear whether the $1.5 million sum includes the money a Google-backed foundation spent hosting a 2007 Aspen Summit conference held at the St. Regis Resort in Colorado. FTC commissioner William E. Kovacic attended and he later voted to approve Google's merger. So did fellow commisioners Jon Leibowitz and Deborah Platt Majoras, who attended a similar conference in 2006. -
conflicts of interest
Fortune columnist fails to disclose Arrington tie
Josh Quittner, the Fortune executive editor who's reportedly plotting his escape from his gilded cage at the magazine, has written a perfunctory profile of TechCrunch blog impresario Michael Arrington. Nothing we haven't read before — including the obligatory paragraph about Arrington's conflicts of interest in writing about startups even as he invests in them. Quittner observes that the practice seems to boost Arrington's reputation in the Valley. One conflict Quittner never mentions: As editor of Business 2.0, where I worked for him, he tried to strike a deal with Arrington to save the magazine by merging it with TechCrunch. The effort failed, landing Quittner at Fortune.
0
By Owen ThomasComment by matto: This one time, in 2001, I read an article in B2. Full disclosure. more » | Other threads
-
conflicts of interest
Pay-for-play Yahoo Buzz "blows away" Digg — but will users bite? Vote in our poll
Yahoo Buzz, the Digg competitor we uncovered last month, has Web publishers giddy over traffic binges. Us Weekly, Salon and Michael Arrington's TechCrunch all report that when Yahoo Buzz put links to their sites on Yahoo's homepage, they posted record traffic days. "It's clear that a link from Yahoo.com blows away anything Digg or any other competitor can offer," Arrington writes on TechCrunch. "That will keep the Buzz publishers, who must be invited into the service, paying attention." And paying for traffic, according to Yahoo's plan. More »
0
Comment by FiveStarEggRoll: I needs to incorporate a little Buzz when we launch our crappy little search engine. -Harry "Wantrapreneur" Wang more » | Other threads
-
the sum of all human knowledge
Wikipedia scam made easy for reporters
Are you an investigative journalist? Here's a cheat sheet, with sources: The single worst charge against Wikipedia chair emeritus Jimmy Wales is that he erased a $5,000 donor's embarrassing page history, an act akin to shredding a dossier or spiking a feature story. This allegation allegedly (pardon my reporter-speak) comes from the donor himself, former Novell chief scientist Jeff V. Merkey. Wikipedia's own records show that Merkey donated, and that Wikipedia editors complained when Wales scrubbed Merkey's page completely. Why is this worse than Wales editing his girlfriend's page? If you're a gumshoe reporter, you get it already. More »
0
By Paul BoutinComment by buzzzkilll: When will Jimmy be immortalized in dickipedia (www.dickipedia.org)? more » | Other threads
-
the sum of all human knowledge
Charge: Wikipedia flew Wales girlfriend on donors' dime
Elisabeth Bauer was Jimmy Wales's first big perk as lord and master of Wikipedia. As with Rachel Marsden, the Canadian journalist at the root of Wales's recent woes, Wales and Bauer struck up a friendship online, over Wikipedia. And people are now saying Wikipedia paid for Bauer, known online as "Elian," to travel with Wales as an upaid Wikipedia press officer — a title he insisted on for her, though some argue she was unqualified for the job. More » -
the sum of all human knowledge
Resign, Jimmy Wales, resign
Jimbo, face it: You're not meant to live out your days administrating nonprofits and setting the low bar for lifestyle. You're not Al Gore. You're CEO material, meant to soar like an eagle, fly first-class, bang one bimbo after another, and dine at the finest restaurants. Your for-profit search engine Wikia could totally kill Google and make billions — ignore Marissa Mayer's giggling, we're serious here. Let go, let go of the tedious pro bono, pro-Bono work. Disengage from Wikipedia completely. The latest accusation — that you traded edits for donations — just show how dull fundraising is. The board of directors will thank you for making it safe for Seagate's chairman to donate another hundred grand, but screw them. This is about you, Jimbo. Become what you are. More »
0
By Owen ThomasComment by Dave Malhotra: I never understood why a guy who is a big fan of Ayn Rand would be running a non-profit in... more » | Other threads
-
the sum of all human knowledge
Wales accused of trading edits for donations
A post at AntiSocialMedia.net that's best quoted verbatim:According to [former Novell chief scientist Jeff] Merkey, in 2006, Wales told him that in exchange for a substantial donation, Wales could use his influence to make Merkey's article more agreeable. Merkey made a $5,000 donation and hinted at the possibility of something much larger in the future.
More »
valleywag
San Francisco, 5:25 AM
Sat Jul 4
13 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@valleywag.com
| AIM
Valleywag:
Ryan Tate | Email
Valleywag elsewhere on the Web:
Twitter | Facebook
Valleywags Emeriti:
Nick Denton
Nick Douglas
Owen Thomas
-
Transformers blows up this weekend. Need to know more? io9 gets down and dirty with the superbots.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
