Gawker
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valley spawn
Google's Naughty Heir Lusts for New York
Philippe Dauman Jr. can't stop flouting taboos. Friends remember his Park Avenue orgies. Family members note he joined Google when his father's Viacom sued it for $1 billion. Even San Francisco, we hear, is too tepid for him. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by TallulahSkankhead: This Father's Day, I'll be giving thanks that my dad talks like a regular human being. 1 Responses | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Cisco Exec Makes Death Threat Over $4,000 Bike
According to the AP, Cisco executives like Joe Burton are brave technology warriors, building the networking giant's post-recession future. According to a guy who runs a Bay Area bike shop, though, Burton's a jackass. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by shag_carpet_bomb: I'll bet it was a road bike. Those guys are total dicks. 8 Responses | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Steve Jobs's Flack Backstage with the Boss
When Steve Jobs is away, his PR mice will play! A tipster sent us this photo of Apple flack Katie Cotton snuggling up to Bruce Springsteen — apparently at a recent concert in San Jose.
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By Owen ThomasComment by m4ximusprim3: Am I doing it wrong? Because I don't see the boss. or the flack. 6 Responses | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Who's Saying 'Fly Me' to Eric Schmidt?
How does Eric Schmidt do it? The computer nerd runs Google, has Obama's ear, parks his jet fleet in a NASA hangar, and has a rocking girlfriend. Is she the reason he flies so much? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by MisterHippity: Owen, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but your headline recalls this 1970s advertising campaign for National... 4 Responses | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Searching for a Gay Old Time
The founders of Powerset, a search startup sold for more than $100 million to Microsoft, seem to have time on their hands. Barney Pell gropes dolphins and other mammals. What about cofounder Lorenzo Thione? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by get the buttah: I don't get the point of this one. Looks like a blast to me! Good for them! 9 Responses | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Googlers' Pilots Are Real Boobs
The Google Jet really is a party plane. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin travel the world on a Boeing 767 they bought and tricked out. But who flies it for them? A wild bunch. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by fugazi: To be fair - they give you the rubber gloves in ice bars (if you didn't bring your own). Pragmatically... 6 Responses | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Angry, angry IT guy goes to jail
Drugs! Alcohol! Baseball bats! Hey, it's a good story. IT contractor Steven Barnes will serve a year in prison and pay a $54,000 restitution after being convicted of logging into a client's network and deleting the Exchange database, among other things. Barnes claimed he acted after coworkers from Blue Falcon Networks, now known as Akimbo Systems, came to his home and took away his personal computers by force. Barnes reconfigured Blue Falcon's server as an open relay for spammers, causing the company to be automatically blacklisted from delivering real mail. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Barnes's temper that a little prison time won't — haha! I almost finished that sentence without laughing.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Shadowlayer: More like federal pound me in the ass prison, amirite? more » | Other threads
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courtenay semel
Ex-Yahoo CEO's daughter: "Google me"
Terry Semel, the former Warner Bros. chief who used to run Yahoo, can't catch a break from wild-child daughter Courtenay, who continues to embarrass him. The latest, via celebrity blog TMZ: Testimony from a court case about an incident last August where Courtenay — who's now dating MySpace hottie Tila Tequila — got handcuffed after swearing at Jaroslaw Jarczok, a security guard at Pure, a Las Vegas nightclub. The line that did her in: "Do you even know who I am, f**king idiot?...Google me, you dumb f**k." You would think, if she had any respect for Daddy whatsoever, she'd have told Jarczok to search for her name on Yahoo.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Hey_mikey: Terry is so fugly it's like an ironic comment on rat faced humans. 1 Responses | Other threads
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las manitas
SXSW hangover joint closes
It's the end of an era, they'll all Twitter: Austin's Las Manitas Avenue Cafe has closed. Las Manitas, if you were too passed out to recall, is where the rest of us nursed our South By Southwest hangovers while uploading photos from the events that caused them to Flickr. If you didn't spill salsa verde on yourself there at least once while attending the warm-weather Web 2.0 junket, then why did you pay $400 to get into SXSW in the first place? (Photo by wordridden)
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Comment by drinkwater: Newsflash: Austin does not cease to exist for 50 weeks out of the non-SXSW year. Las Manitas is legendary, and... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Yahoo engineer: Take your job offer and shove it
Yahoo programmer Isaac Schlueter is gunning for a spot in our hearts. His cranky resume demands $400,000 a year up front, non-negotiable. Not that he's going to land that high a salary — Schlueter's real goal is to chase off recruiters who won't leave him alone. Those who bother to read his online CV are greeted with a nasty blowoff: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Adisharr: Who isn't tired of recruiters. Most of the calls I get are completely off base involving positions I'm either... more » | Other threads
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nerdcore
CERN's Large Hadron Collider explained in rhythm and rhyme
Do you lay awake at night worried that physicists tinkering in Geneva at the new Large Hadron Collider might destroy reality as we know it, or are you hoping they open a portal to a parallel dimension that just happens to have really hawt aliens? I do. Both. If you don't, let Will Barras and friends take you on a ride in their ode to the search for the Higgs boson. Mad props for the Stephen Hawking shoutout on the hype track.
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By Jackson WestComment by inkhead: except that the answer to this question has long ago been solved.... Ben Rich head of Lockheed Skunkworks used to... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Kevin Rose shaves his head, and 806 people watch
On Sunday, Digg founder Kevin Rose went online, turned on his webcam, and proceeded to shave his head. A Britney Spears-style breakdown for San Francisco's linkbait lothario? No, it was just some charity bet. But we still wonder if former flame Julia Allison's recent run through town had anything to do with Rose's mental state. The saddest thing of it all: 806 people tuned into Rose's lifecasting session to watch.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Operator: You know, Kevin isn't the only one who shaves his head because of a bet! [tinyurl.com] more » | Other threads
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gallery
Justin Kan, raw and undressed, in kerfuffle at TechCrunch afterparty
Can't get enough of this weekend's TechCrunch party? Valleywag's camera was on the scene as Justin.tv's Justin Kan shed his shirt and got into a heated altercation with OpenHulu creator and Ustream.tv employee Matt Schlicht over accusations of content poaching. More » -
geeks gone wild
Sysadmin of the Year contest goes video
Slashdot is sleeping on the job. Not only is this Sysadmin Appreciation Day, it's also the launch of this year's Sysadmin of the Year contest, which has thankfully woken up and ditched the written testimonials for self-produced video submissions. Send us copies! This'll be rich. Oh, and full disclosure for journo-ethics wonks: I used to work across from super-sysadmin Mark Cohen (pictured) at Splunk. I'm still married into lots and lots of their stock. Hahaha pageview bonus, that's a good one.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Paul Boutin: Thanks for the update. But until/unless some real dirt gets out via those passwords, it's kind of a standard... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Facebook ladies shake it on stage with Thievery Corporation
Maybe Facebook's hackathon wasn't an all-nighter like founder Mark Zuckerberg prefers, but that didn't stop Facebook hotties Brandee Barker, Caitlin O'Farrell, Kathleen Loughlin and Raquel DiSabatino from enjoying themselves on stage with Thievery Corporation. Apparently, the crowd enjoyed them on stage too. "So awesome," commented Facebook's Dave Morin, despite being very taken by Google's Brittany Bohnet. Here's what we want to know about the video: Where's Sheryl Sandberg? What, mama don't dance no more? We hear her team insisted she wear jeans to the event, a fashion move the buttoned-up Sandberg almost never makes. But dancing must have been a step too far.
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Comment by Citizen Kang: ...this is why white people shouldn't dance. Especially if there is the remote possibility that it's going to be... more » | Other threads
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zune
We would submit that all tattoos are stupid, not just one of a Zune
The man who had the Zune logo and "Welcome to the social" slogan" tattooed on his arm and back is getting the ink removed. [Real Dan Lyons]
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By Owen ThomasComment by matto: Crap, they're just finishing the shading on my "VALLEYWAGGED" tattoo, and you tell me it's passe? more » | Other threads
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san francisco
Disgruntled IT guy hacks San Francisco government's computers
A city employee, allegedly on the brink of being fired from his $126,735-plus-bonus job wrangling the network of computers that hold email, payroll, and confidential information, has been arrested and charged with four felony counts of computer tampering. City officials — don't those guys have names? — say that 43-year-old Terry Childs gave himself privileged access and locked out other system administrators. The computers are still usable by city employees. But Childs still has exclusive super-user access to many parts of the network, because he won't give up his passwords. [San Francisco Chronicle]
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By Paul BoutinComment by notyoutool: Paul -- seriously? "But Childs still has exclusive super-user access to many parts of the network, because he won't... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Only millennials get Random Play on Facebook
If you were over 30 years old when you signed up for Facebook, you never got the option to look for "Random Play" — that's what the "kids" are calling it now. Sheryl Sandberg's new No Fun regime at Facebook has taken it a step further: They've removed the Random Play option from some people, including me, who'd already checked it. Now all users' inner sluts have been caged, at least as far as the interface is concerned. More » -
geeks gone wild
Play the iPhone party game
Google and Apple employees, seeking to entertain themselves at a party, stack their iPhones 13 high. That, my friends, is at least $3,887 of fun.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Carlos: @MostlyLisa: Is it a characteristic of all hipsters to flee like roaches when the light shines on your shennanigans or... more » | Other threads
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we read twitter so you don't have to
David Sacks is having an excellent Memorial Day weekend
David Sacks, the former COO of PayPal turned first Hollywood producer and now CEO of Geni.com, seems to be enjoying himself. Even if, we suspect, he's not following his own advice about Twitter and alcohol.
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By Owen ThomasComment by MadScientist68: @Rachel Marsden: eeeewwwwwwwwwww more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
The party photos Googlers don't want you to see
Was it something we said? On Friday, we featured a snapshot of Googler Orkut Buyukkokten — yes, that Orkut. The photo appeared in Google engineering manager Niniane Wang's Smugmug gallery of a 2006 party held at colleague Orkut Buyukkokten's South of Market loft. The page now has a password, but it's trivially easy to guess: The street on which the party was held, all lowercase. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by giddieup: is it just me, or does that asian chick look like a cheap escort with that dress. more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Bertram Capital borrows Benchmark jet for Cabo San Lucas trip
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 to Facebook from his firm's trip to Cabo San Lucas. Slightly less awesome reality: Bertram had to borrow the jet from Benchmark Capital, and investors who put money in Bertram may not be that impressed with the firm's goofy display of extravagance. Selections from the photos, which show Bertram executives behaving like high-schoolers on a museum field trip: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by dingdongditch: @mattearle: You guys hiring? :D more » | Other threads
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ebay
Man puts cheating wife up for auction on eBay
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 the 44-year-old man decided to pull the auction. Good thing he did: eBay's terms of use forbid the sale of humans, in whole or in part.
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Comment by raincoaster: But he could use Craigslist to just rent or lease her out, right? @DanLar75: Oh, dude, times are tough in the... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Orkut inventor may be best argument against H-1B visas yet
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, which was created (or stolen, depending on who you ask) by H-1B hire Orkut Buyukkokten (pictured, right) represent a boon to the U.S. economy, added Google lobbyist Pablo Chavez as he echoed Block's plea for more visas. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by runrig: Classy comments? Which ones? The comments that say "The dancer" or the ones that tell NW how loser geeks... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Users of early online community The Well party like it's 1989
Computing pioneer and author Howard Rheingold has jumped on the buzzword bandwagon with a vlog, and the two most recent entries are a peek back into the pre-Web days when "geek" was still a term of scorn. Possibly because of some astounding fashion choices — Rheingold's taste in vibrant colors and eye-splitting patterns pictured here seem to have influenced Marissa Mayer's taste in couture. That said, as an early BBS dialer myself, I find this footage of a party at the Sausalito offices of The Well in 1989 fascinating. For a list of the people in the videos, the comment thread on BoingBoing's post gives the details. Watch and learn, you kids, after the jump. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by BobDope: Where's Billy Idol? He had his Well e-mail address printed on the cover of his seminal work 'Cyberpunk'. more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Facebook NSFW! Julia Allison and other pics from Randi Zuckerberg's Vegas bachelorette
Can you imagine a photo op that Julia Allison wouldn't attend? What happens in Vegas goes instantly to Valleywag, Allison knows, and so she flew to Las Vegas to attend Randi Zuckerberg's bachelorette party. Zuckerberg, whose wig-and-sunglasses disguise did not deter the Web's paparazzi, is a budding Web video star, Facebook's marketing director, and, unlike younger brother Mark, an actual Harvard graduate. In what's surely a first, Allison, the tech-obsessed TV personality, managed not to hog the camera; she's in only one of the shots. Facebook's Meagan Marks also appears sporting what looks like a freshly acquired head wound. A slip and fall on the dance floor? Our informants are investigating. In the meantime, enjoy the evidence of Zuckerberg's bacchanal. A warning: If plastic sex toys offend your coworkers, one photo may be unsuitable for office computers. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Hopeless: Is it me or does Facebook employ the ugliest women in the Valley? I've also heard that Randi is a dingbat.... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
No, this woman will not take your virginity if you support Net Neutrality
Belgian activist Tania Derveaux is making an offer to virgins: Join her campaign to prevent Internet service providers from favoring some websites with better bandwidth, and she'll have sex with you. The virgin must be "able to provide sufficient evidence that clearly shows he has been defending net neutrality." The bad news: Derveaux is just a attention whore. Her past hoaxes include a promise to give 40,000 blow jobs in return for getting elected to Belgium's senate, and a still-ongoing suicide countdown. Still, we appreciate Derveaux's postmodern sensibilities. Check out the "General Requirements and Rules of Conduct," for her "Don't stay a virgin campaign," copied below. My favorite part: "Tania is not responsible for any genital injury that the applicant may suffer." After you read it, you may conclude that it's easier to build your own network than complain about how Comcast and AT&T run theirs. More »
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Comment by CGrant: lol. If your not a virgin I suggest you pretend to not understand copulation and female anatomy. more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Details of Randi Zuckerberg's bachelorette party in Vegas
We hear that friends of Randi Zuckerberg, better known as nerd chanteuse Randi Jayne, are surprising the Facebook marketer with a bachelorette party in Las Vegas this weekend. The place: the Hard Rock Hotel, where they've secured two suites. (Zuckerberg is set to wed Brent Tworetzky, an associate at Shasta Ventures, in May.) The bacchanalia's expected to last all weekend, including a dinner at Tao and a night out at Rain. Who's going? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Owen Thomas: @sample032: And here I thought I was one of the girls. more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Why is Yahoo cofounder David Filo getting hit by a ball? Faceball, that's why!
Let Google and Facebook play ultimate frisbee. Yahoos like balls, and they like them in the face. Their game is called Faceball. How it works: Two players sit in chairs ten feet apart and take turns throwing inflated beach balls at each other's faces. One point per facial, and no ducking. This goes on for five rounds. John Allspaw and Dunstan Orchard developed Faceball in April 2007 and ever since, Yahoos — from CEO Jerry Yang on down — have loved it. When it came time to plan the launch of Flickr Video, there was little debate as to what to do. A Faceball tournament was held on April 9, 2008. In the picture above is your winner, cofounder David Filo. Below, a video (on Vimeo, not Flickr, oddly) from Faceball creators Allspaw and Orchard describing their game, as well as more photos (on Flickr) from the tournament. More » -
geeks gone wild
Randi Zuckerberg takes Manhattan (and our hearts)
Randi Jayne Zuckerberg, the nerd chanteuse and sister of Facebook CEO Mark, visited the fair island of Manhattan last week and frankly, we'll never be the same. Zuckerberg — sorry boys, she's planning to wed in May — came to town with her mother. Notorious notoriety-possessor Julia Allison roped Zuckerberg into a meal — and one of her lip-sync videos. We haven't seen the video yet, but we're hoping wantrepreneur Allison was smart enough to hand over creative control to the vastly more talented Zuckerberg. She's excellent at show tunes. Stills from the shoot are below. More » -
geeks gone wild
Scoble text-message rampage leaves Twitter users numb
Robert Scoble went on a tear yesterday, posting more than 200 Twitter messages within the span of a few hours. The logorrheic explosion came as he had a "group conversation" with his Twitter followers. Not all were impressed. "Well, I've tormented Twitter enough today. About 200 people have unfollowed." Don't worry, Bobby. I'm sticking around — for now, anyway. Though I'm starting to think that woman at Whole Foods who found Twitter "boring" might have been right. See an excerpt of Scoble's Twitters below, and then share your opinion in our poll. More »
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Comment by nat lyon: The real news here is that despite being washed up he still manages to snag a new batch of minnows... more » | Other threads
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caption contest
Page, Branson, Wales and Blair fuel up private jets for more green getaways
Earlier this month, Virgin's Richard Branson hosted Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and his wealthier coevals on Necker Island for a discussion on global warming. The beach party seemed to be held mostly for the benefit of a sun-satiated New York Times reporter. But, between sips of pinot grigio, Branson and his tanning friends confirmed that yes, they will consider holding another such confab again in the future. You don't see plebes in Priuses saving the world, do you? Write your best caption in the comments. -
geeks gone wild
Scoble spots a "fun shirt at SXSW"
Back in Austin, egoblogger Robert Scoble spotted Internet marketing consultant Stephanie Agresta at BlogHaus. He took one photo, then a second, close-up shot. Anyone want to take bets on Maryam Scoble attending SXSW next year? (Photo by Robert Scoble) -
geeks gone wild
Ryan Allis, the "b" in "b-boy" doesn't stand for "business"
Preternaturally grandiose iContact founder Ryan Allis should probably stick to selling email marketing tools, as his toprock is nonexistent and his power moves cheesier than Ricky Schroder's. That wack mess may play in Denver, where the 23-year-old Allis was visiting a college on an "extreme entrepreneurship tour," but he should think twice before trying to bring it in the Yay Area, lest he get served. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by The OC: Sometimes... It's all about the shoes! more » | Other threads
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sxsw
Average SXSW partier blows a 0.097
"What are you blowing?" Wired's Megan McCarthy asked blip.tv's Charles Hope the other night, offering him the chance to take a breathalyser test. His slightly puzzling answer: "HOT." Natalie Villalobos, a community manager from the Bay area answered: "Mostly boys." McCarthy polled five others as well, who actually blew into the damn thing. Their levels ranged from sober-dober (0.00) to "heyyyyI'm in Aushtin?hokeedohkee" (0.25).
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Comment by Matt Schlicht: Owen was definitely a....10. Thats right - a 10. more » | Other threads
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sxsw
Wired reminds you the good-looking people in Austin are actors
Including portaits and thumbnail sketches, Wired's Megan McCarthy posted on the "Faces of SXSW: Geeks and Film Freaks." Read it and you'll discover that venture capitalist David Hornik uses both Twitter and Pownce. You'll learn that MyToons founder Jessica Beers's dream job is being the MyToons founder. And, taking a close look at the portraits, you'll remember why you stayed home.
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Comment by jbeers: Hey guys - Sx was awesome, and I loved wallowing in the glorious geekiness. Thought I'd take a moment to quickly clarify... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Venture capitalist disrobes in front of titillated SXSW audience
David Hornik is a secretive sort; the venture capitalist tried (and failed) to keep his invite-only Lobby conference off the record. Even when he wants to expose himself, he stays guarded. At a SXSW panel where he judged the best of the worst website pitches, Hornik changed from a gold-hued paisley shirt to the VC's blue button-down uniform. Next time, David, skip the white T-shirt. That seems braver. The frame-by-frame strip tease: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by davidhornik: Trust me. The t-shirt was a blessing. more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
The Philippe Dauman Jr. playlist
Philippe Dauman Jr., triumphant Googler, entrepreneur, and son of Viacom's CEO, you're our new hero. So we made a playlist for you. Forgive us: We didn't have a password to your music startup, Yuzu, so we used rival Pandora's algorithm to find music about coke, boys, girls, boys and girls, and other things we imagine you like. Please play it this weekend. We'll be thinking of you as we do. More »
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Comment by Nicholas Carlson: @aphexsloth: Sounds like someone didn't get invited more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Why Philippe Dauman Jr. is our new hero
I'm a hustler baby, that's what my daddy's made me. The son of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman gets guff from the likes of Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget for running yet another NYC-hipster online music company on the side from his day job as a "strategic partner development associate" at Google. Don't tell Silicon Alley Insider about the sex and drugs. More » -
geek love
Asha already moving on, planning to get geeks gone wild in Miami
Michael Arrington and Meghan Asha aren't on-again, off-again anymore. Sources with intimate knowledge of the situation tell Valleywag that it's unambiguously over. We're confident a man with Arrington's prospects will have no problem moving on. Asha, it seems, already has. More »
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Comment by Benoit: @bbucy: What's funny is that there was no venom nor defensiveness in my comment. What made me laugh is how... more » | Other threads
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Fri Jul 10
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