Gawker
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twitterati
White House Reporters Just Taking Cute Pictures of Each Other All Day, Basically
Two conservative-media journalists did some Twitter flirting, from the West Wing; David Shuster proved incapable of linking to others and the Huffington Post's CEO transition was deemed odd. The Twitterati confused one another. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by uncle_wiggly: Easy to see where Shuster is trying to go with this. Also, I agree that HuffPo guy seems like an unusual... more » | Other threads
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junkets
Tech pundits still wasting money? Mais oui!
Paris is lovely in December. And even lovelier if someone else is footing the bill! Oblivious to the world's economic meltdown, 1,500 self-involved, self-indulgent opinionators have flown to France for Le Web, a meet-and-greet on the tech circuit.
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By Owen ThomasComment by ciscokidinsf: WTF? Is Le Meur that tall or is Sarkozy from the French town of 'The Shire'? 1 Responses | Other threads
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great moments in pr
Seesmic wins at layoff spin
"At Seesmic, a video blogging service, the day of reckoning — when it runs out of the $6 million it raised in May — will come in three years. To make the money last, Loïc Le Meur, the chief executive, recently laid off seven employees, or one-third of his staff, and cut all projects not directly related to the video service." Great messaging, Loic. Now for the bad news: No video blogging service will get its picture in the NYT until Web 3.0.
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By Paul BoutinComment by fireproof: Caption competition time? "You in the back, keep forcing that smile, or you're next!". more » | Other threads
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meltdowns
Why Seesmic's layoffs don't mean what you think they do
Seesmic has laid off 7 employees — a third of its staff. Never heard of Seesmic? You must be doing something right with your life. The startup was ridiculous from its very conception as a tool for embedding videos as comments on blogs. Only to people who spend all day reading and commenting on blogs did that sound like a good idea. But that's exactly the kind of people Loic Le Meur attracted to himself — the groupthinking commentards of Silicon Valley, a self-appointed A-list of the blogosphere. To anyone conducting serious business, Le Meur's bloggy pals were an A-list, all right — "A" as in "avoid." Predictably, Le Meur and his investors — a group which includes Michael Arrington, a frequent promoter of Seesmic on his TechCrunch blog — are spinning the layoffs as a result of the recent economic unpleasantness. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by skycut: Talked to Le Meur for about 5 minutes. That dude is a prick. 1 Responses | Other threads
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lists
BusinessWeek scrapes Techmeme for its latest list
Loic Le Meur! Gabe Rivera! Joi Ito! Don't feel bad if you've never heard of them. BusinessWeek.com's latest 25 Most Influential People on the Web is a mashup of billionaire powerbrokers with a randomized handful of those folks you run into at that same little tech conference that happens under a different name every month. I'm guessing they left out TechCrunch's Michael Arrington to create buzz. If you don't want to click through 27 pageviews on BusinessWeek's site, here's the entire list in alphabetical order: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by newtonke: I think it is much more the people 'behind' those people you should watch. If your a gagbillionairre, or your... more » | Other threads
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le web
Feel the love, even if it's kind of uncomfortable, at Le Web 2008
Dashingly awkward entrepreneur Loic Le Meur was last seen making conferencegoers squish up in their seats with his "How to find the G spot" presentation earlier this year at Supernova. This December, Le Meur may bring yet more sensual discomfort to the attendees of his Le Web conference, organized by his wife Geraldine. The couple promise sessions on "Platform Love" and "Big Love" and "Love Entrepreneurship." Put on some Al Green before diving into the full invitation below: More »
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Comment by michaellamb: and I am saddened to see Dan'l Lewin's name attached to this atrocity. more » | Other threads
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online video
Seesmic's newest feature: layoffs
Seesmic, an online-video startup, is laying off some employees working to create original clips for the short-form video site. The official explanation, from newly unemployed video host Rachael Joy: "Seesmic's not a content site, never has been. It's a conversation tool." Joy was host of the startup's daily news and views "Seesmic du Jour." Talk of layoffs is not the conversation founder Loïc Le Meur wanted to start about Seesmic, which lets users pretend they're talking to each other through the medium of short, recorded webcam clips. Joy delivered the news with a wagging finger, in a spot-on parody of the bombastic Le Meur. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by michaellamb: damn, not even tech crunch pandering could save them..... 1 Responses | Other threads
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party report
Loïc Le Meur, Segway instructor
Please tell me someone has pictures of Seesmic founder Loïc Le Meur giving small-time technology investor Michael Arrington Segway riding lessons outside 330 Ritch for the TechCrunch50 conference's closing party. For now, I'll have to settle for Siqi Chen, left, and Alex Le, right, the guys behind Facebook widget Friends For Sale, at the Plista party at Fluid. Where's the afterparty? It's not at the W or the Four Seasons. Maybe Mahalo chief Jason Calacanis is drinking responsibly tonight and has turned in early, but I'm pretty sure Arrington is up drinking scotch somewhere.
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By Jackson WestComment by michaellamb: the thought of seeing that tub of lard teetering around on a weird looking scooter is enough to make me... more » | Other threads
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techcrunch50
Michael Arrington almost made to wait in line with plebes
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington just wants to get a scotch and hit on girls at the Seesmic party at 330 Rich, but ended up stuck in the multi-hour-long line outside the closing night party. Dutiful Seesmic founder Loïc Le Meur personally came out to escort him past the velvet ropes. For a second there, people might have come to the conclusion that TechCrunch50 was some kind of democracy.
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By Jackson WestComment by superpixel99: Pretty funny, although I have video of Brian Lam being made to wait at the Giz/Ars WWDC party last year.... 1 Responses | Other threads
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party report
Wellington Partners happy to spend our worthless American currency
At the brand new Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco last night, the team at European VC firm Wellington Partners celebrated the addition of an outpost in Palo Alto to their existing offices in London and Munich with a swell mixer. The hors d'oeuvres? Cheese gougères, tiny lamb chops, mushroom napoleons, Kobe beef sliders, croutons with creme fraiche, smoked salmon and caviar and a bite-sized tuna tartar, all washed down with French wine which topped $300 a bottle — which, as the joke went, "Is like, what, 20 euros?" Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis explained that for European private equity investors, the American market offers a double-dip: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Shadowlayer: So the french are literally throwing the house through the window... Whos the capitalist pig now? more » | Other threads
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social networks
Calacanis, Scoble, Arrington pawns in FriendFeed's smart marketing campaign
Egobloggers Jason Calacanis, Robert Scoble as well as startup PR clearinghouse Michael Arrington all want to know: How amazing is it that after two years of using Twitter, they've each already got nearly half as many "followers" on FriendFeed after just a few months? Asking the question, each offer hypothetical answers involving the social-network aggregator's ease of use — "The comment systems is so fast and easy that it's perfect," says Calacanis — or Twitter's frequent outages — "Twitter downtime plays a big part," writes Arrington. But here's the real answer to the amazing growth these bloggers have seen on FriendFeed: More »
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Comment by Mr. Gunn: giania: So, some people have different groups of friends on different sites, and FF provides a way to follow all... more » | Other threads
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online video
Seesmic launch illustrates how Metcalfe's Law and Dunbar's Number correlate
Some of the most pervasive buzzwords in the Valley are terms to classify product or idea adoption, such as "early adopter," which serves to define a behavior profile of a customer or user who's always trying the newest new thing. As a product's appeal widens, it begins to attract the "early mainstream," or the network of acquaintances inspired by the early adopter to try the not newest but still new thing. Now that Seesmic has launched publicly and gotten a vag-tastic kickoff, the early mainstream has started to participate, as exemplified by the drunk cry for help (or a mockery thereof) above, which is much more typical of YouTube than the community fostered on Seesmic while the site was still only adding users by invitation — this earnest response is more typical of Seesmic's early adopters. Which means we need to update another hoary Valley cliche, Metcalfe's Law. More » -
conferences
Loic Le Meur goes spelunking for the mythical g-spot in Seesmic demo
$1795 a head is a lot to pay for a sex ed lesson, let alone a tech conference, so why not combine the two? That was apparently the idea behind "Liquid Conversations" at Supernova, which nearly ran off the rails when panelist Loic Le Meur demonstrated his startup Seesmic, which the ebullient founder describes as "video forTwitter for video." The video he chose featured an international group of users and a talking head with a velvet vagina puppet leading them on an intrepid search for the g-spot. Le Meur may have thought the full-motion lesson would shake up the room of predominantly male attendees. But putting female sexuality front-and-center, especially when the few women in attendance just wanted equal time on the mic, not necessarily equal time for their orgasms, was just awkward for everyone. And it didn't do much for the sex ed lesson, either, nevermind that in another context it would have been not only appropriate but sorely needed. More sexploration on Seesmic after the jump. More »
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Comment by Traci Nickell Munns: I know the G spot!I have felt what happens when it is greeted.Yes it is better to greet it after... more » | Other threads
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nerdfight
Michael Arrington shut down by Kara Swisher's minion
CARLSBAD, CA — A rumor sweeping the press corps here at the D6 conference: TechCrunch's Michael Arrington was set to stream Bill Gates's presentation live, but organizer Kara Swisher, who wanted to keep video restricted to her AllThingsD.com website, put the kibosh on it. Arrington abandoned the effort, but cited "bandwidth issues," not Swisher's strongarming, as the reason. Update: In the comments, Swisher denies she personally asked Arrington to stop streaming and says it's "the first she's heard of this." But, as commenter Mr. E. notes, Arrington associate Loic Le Meur confirms via Twitter that a man who "wasn't nice" asked Arrington to stop recording. In a subsequent email, Swisher says Arrington should have known better: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by abmw: She could easily best him in a bare knuckle fight. Not even a match. Ajamei! more » | Other threads
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leaks
Who's going to TechTalk Menorca, the Balearic boondoggle?
Martin Varsavsky, the founder of Wi-Fi startup Fon, has concocted another excuse for Web 2.0's jet set to rack up frequent-flier miles and buy carbon offsets: It's called Menorca TechTalk, held on Varsavsky's ranch on the Mediterranean island this weekend. The website is password-protected, but Valleywag got a list of who's going. It's a curious mix of professional conference attendees, like Rapleaf's Auren Hoffman, Loïc Le Meur of Seesmic, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, and David Sifry of Technorati, mixed in with a few people who have day jobs. There are even Googlers on the list — and when have you known those lot to leave the protective bubble of Mountain View? Oddly, Jimmy Wales did not seem to make the cut, though his New York patroness, Louise Blouin MacBain, is listed. In the comments, sort the TechTalkers into your preferred categories. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sggrf: is this a joke? any list that michael arrington, with his tiny blog, as the most successful makes me very... more » | Other threads
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nerdfight
Arrington and French pal in Twitter snit over TED
TechCrunch's Michael Arrington and Frenchman Loic Le Meur got into a 140-character Twitter war this afternoon. The topic? The TED conference and French military history. Arrington said TED is lame because he wasn't given a free pass: "I defame anything cool that ignores me, until it stops doing so. it's worked so far." Loic defended the conference: "TED is the best conference... Pay your tickets it's worth it!" Arrington and Loic then claim to "remove" each other from their friends lists and Arrington made some tired jokes about France's inability to win a war. More »
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Comment by Robert Synnott: Bloody hell, Arrington just gets worse, doesn't he? more » | Other threads
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great moments in pr
Loic Le Meur hates to "do PR on funding" — but does it anyway
1 minute, 37 seconds into this video, Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur says, "It's very 1990s-ish to do PR on funding." And yet that's exactly what he had planned to do tomorrow, complete with a ridiculously outdated "embargo" order on news of his videomail company's $6 million in funding. Curiously, Dave Winer, featured in this video and previously mentioned as a Seesmic investor, didn't make the press release's "complete list." -
embargo breakers
Loic Le Meur raises $6 million for videomail startup
Blogger turned entrepreneur Loic Le Meur has raised $6 million to inflict on the world a decades-old technology thoroughly rejected by consumers: videomail. He calls it Seesmic, and has repackaged videomail as "video conversations." Really, what this means is that the same people who film videoblogs you promise to watch but never do have a new way of forcing themselves on you. Video is one of the most inefficient means of communication, suited only for self-important types who overvalue their own thoughts and undervalue the time of those they speak to. Which makes it perfect for Le Meur and the star-studded list of investors he's rounded up — including TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, whose blog has conveniently touted Seesmic at every turn. The press release is ludicrously embargoed, since it tells us nothing we haven't already heard from loquacious Loic. All the same, here it is: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by antoineg: I don't know, Seesmic might have new and interesting uses. For example, "talking out of your ass" takes on... more » | Other threads
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mysteries
Fred Wilson praises Loic Le Meur's startup — but will he invest?
Why is entrepreneur Loic Le Meur grinning from ear to ear? VC Fred Wilson declares that he's getting addicted to the "video Twittering" provided by Seesmic, Le Meur's new startup. But it's not clear that Wilson's going to put his money where his mouth is. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ashkan: I'm no expert, but Fred's not dumb. He knows a lot of folks in the VC space are riding... more » | Other threads
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web 2.0 summit
Scenes from a conference
At last, I understand the vision of synergy between News Corp. and Dow Jones. It's all about Kara Swisher, basically. The abrasive, pint-sized reporter-turned blogger spent dinner at Web 2.0 Summit locked in conversation with gregarious, pint-sized megamogul Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.'s CEO, and, come December, Swisher's boss. Swisher, of course, has been blogging hot and heavy on AllThingsD about Facebook, MySpace's chief rival. She's just the starting point. News Corp. is so vast that next year, it could easily assign an army of Wall Street Journal reporters just to cover itself. Check out the photos for Swisher's encounter with Murdoch, and more. More » -
techcrunch20
Michael Arrington yanks panel critique
More than one person has described TechCrunch's Michael Arrington to me as "touchy." Which is putting it mildly. Try "hypersensitive." Or "thin-skinned." Or "prickly." The latest example? Arrington recently posted about the naming of three people to the advisory panel of TechCrunch20, his upcoming startup conference: French blogger Loic Le Meur, angel investor Ron Conway, and Sarah Lacy. The panelists, unexpectedly, proved controversial — and Arrington, predictably, overreacted. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Owen Thomas: @Duncan: No, it's not. Follow the link above, where you'll get the blank TechCrunch page where a post and comments... more » | Other threads
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