Gawker
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housekeeping
Valleywag: An Instruction Manual
Dear Ryan:
As I head to NBC to run its Bay Area site, I'm leaving you one Silicon Valley gossip blog, used but in good condition. A few thoughts on how to keep it that way. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RheaPollstry: Is that Owen? Mmmmmm, I do luv me some bears. And working in a bar, no less! My heart is... 4 Responses | Other threads
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hubris
Marissa Mayer Is Right 80 Percent of the Time
Continuing her unstoppable PR rampage, Google executive Marissa Mayer took to NBC's Press:Here, a Silicon Valley interview show. The cupcake princess of search defended her by-the-numbers approach to Google's design. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by GrumpyMcGillicutty: The thing is, Mayer's kind of right about this. Google is a business, not an art gallery. Their goal is... 3 Responses | Other threads
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mistakes were made
New Google Design Features AIG
The Googleplex is a place apart. But are the brainiacs of Mountain View, Calif. so cloistered that they haven't heard of AIG's woes? Apparently so, judging by new graphics VP Marissa Mayer unveiled Wednesday. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by gogetemguy: seems like this cupcake queen is just trying to keep busy to justify her job. A job that a... 2 Responses | Other threads
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nerdfight
The Unflinching Stare of Marissa Mayer
Is Marissa Mayer, Google's cupcake princess, driving away talent with her icy indifference and utter lack of management skills? One ex-Googler says yes. Here's Anne Halsall's tale of getting dissed by Mayer at a meeting: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: I've given up caring about people's feelings at work. I'm not being paid to be sensitive, I'm being paid... 12 Responses | Other threads
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discrimination
Guess Which One Is the Google Executive?
Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products, experiences the unfamiliar at a recent visit with First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. (Photo by AP)
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: I was hoping the Obama administration would rise above race, but I guess seeing this shouldn't surprise me. In... 7 Responses | Other threads
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valleywag
Google's Data Fetish Drives Away Its Top Designer
As we reported last week, Doug Bowman, Google's top designer, has confirmed that he's leaving (we hear to Twitter). Bowman's reasons for quitting are fascinating — and they show why Google's losing its cool. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Nic Fit: Yeah, and if Google was founded by a bunch of princess designers it would have gone nowhere. 4 Responses | Other threads
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Cupcake Princess
Lesley Stahl Investigates Marissa Mayer's Matchless Fashion Sense
After having her image frosted by the New York Times and Charlie Rose, Google VP Marissa Mayer, the cupcake princess of search, is hungry for more press. Luckily, Lesley Stahl arrived to spread more on! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Jennifer Savage: I don't see anything wrong with her fashion. Her sense of style is pretty consistent, and it seems to fit... 8 Responses | Other threads
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hires
Twitter Claims Valley Crown by Poaching Google's Top Designer
Twitter, the twee San Francisco messing startup, is all hope, no revenues. That makes it irresistable to Silicon Valley's best and brightest — like Google's top designer, Doug Bowman, whom we hear Twitter just hired. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Andy Johns: Sure, Google isn't flashy. But don't forget that simplicity is design. Google also does as much if not more MVT... 5 Responses | Other threads
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clips
Google's Marissa Mayer Pities Yahoo
Why is Marissa Mayer, Google's athletically inept cupcake princess, going on such a publicity tour of late? She was in the Times Sunday. Last night, she hit Charlie Rose to make excuses for not innovating. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by LorraineSquirrel: Amazing how much excoriation this smart, attractive young woman is receiving. Is jealousy at play here? Or are people in... 2 Responses | Other threads
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nerdfight
Bill Gates's Wife Outruns Marissa Mayer
Google executive Marissa Mayer, best known for her ballgowns, cupcakes, and whimsical designs, feels that the media has ignored her athletic achievements. But how does she compare to rivals like Mrs. Bill Gates? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Wrapitup: First person to make a catfight joke is a douche. Also, Owen, how is Mrs Gates a rival to Marissa Mayer?... 7 Responses | Other threads
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Googlefreude
Marissa Mayer: Google's Biggest Failure
Google's perfectionist cupcake princess is totally misunderstood! That's the claim Marissa Mayer, the VP who oversees Google search, makes to a credulous New York Times, which licks up the frosted version of her career.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Wrapitup: "Good students are good at all things." But a good student is not necessarily a good software engineer or a good... 5 Responses | Other threads
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geek love
Another closeup of Google executive Marissa Mayer's non-grotesque engagement ring!
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geek love
Marissa Mayer Rocks Her Ring on the Today Show
A sharp-eyed tipster caught an addition to Google executive Marissa Mayer's wardrobe for Tuesday's Today Show appearance: an engagement ring. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by siliconvalleydropout: image of her ring = failed 1 Responses | Other threads
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exits
Marissa Mayer Sticking to Google Like Icing on a Cupcake
Google will never be free of Marissa Mayer, the cupcake-loving gigglepuss VP who oversees the company's multibillion-dollar search engine. Or so says Marissa Mayer. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Tremonius: Even though they closed the no-host bar, I don't know why in this climate anybody would leave Google. I mean,... 3 Responses | Other threads
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google
Marissa Mayer's 2009 Resolution: Leave Google
What will Google be like without Marissa Mayer, the glamour nerd whose goofy laugh so neatly captures the search engine's adolescent awkwardness? We'll know soon. We hear the company's 19th employee is planning her goodbye.
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By Owen ThomasComment by nirreskeya: OK, I've only ever read about this laugh, so I played the clip. Please tell me these are faked... 5 Responses | Other threads
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Inaugural Cash
Google Execs Pay $150,000 for Obama Bash
It's Google's presidency. We're just watching it. Six Google executives, including CEO Eric Schmidt and cofounder Larry Page, have donated $25,000 apiece to fund President Barack Obama's swearing-in party.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Goose Spruce: First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the president. 1 Responses | Other threads
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google
Marissa Mayer, the 21st Century's Pointy-Haired Boss
"Scarcity brings clarity," says Marissa Mayer, the blonde cyborg who runs Google's search engine, in a BusinessWeek interview. She makes fun of Dilbert-style managers — but in reality, she shows how she's turned into one.
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By Owen ThomasComment by scottd: Umm...this qualifies as an article? Blatant Marissa bashing with essentially no purpose, guys. Not protesting as a Marissa fan, just... 4 Responses | Other threads
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geek love
Google exec Marissa Mayer engaged
It's Silicon Valley's fairytale romance: Girly-girl nerd worth hundreds of millions meets fellow with a job who looks good in a tux. And now Marissa Mayer and Zack Bogue are getting married, a tipster says.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Ted Dziuba: How much will Gawker pay for a copy of the prenup? 3 Responses | Other threads
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marissa mayer
Google executive gives perky take on recession
Want to know what worry-prone consumers are looking for online? Marissa Mayer, the search engine's prettiest vice president, went on Today to reveal its top searches for 2008.
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By Owen ThomasComment by michaellamb: what kind of moron does a google search for facebook? www.facebook.com can't get much freaking easier than that 2 Responses | Other threads
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marissa mayer
Google's complaint-prone perfectionist
A tipster tells us that Google VP Marissa Mayer, who owns a penthouse apartment in San Francisco's Four Seasons, recently berated the staff there about how long it's taken to paint the lobby of the residents' entrance at the hotel-condominium complex, and stormed off before they could apologize. Oh, how nouveau riche, arriviste, tacky — is that what you're thinking? Think again! As bad as one might feel for the Four Seasons workers, one has to think Mayer's imperiousness has its plusses — at least for Google's shareholders. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by TiddlyTwinks: Come on people, if you've seen her in person she is NOT cute. She is slathered with makeup in... 14 Responses | Other threads
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caption contest
Zack and Mari make a porno
Zack Bogue, the well-dressed boy toy of Googler Marissa Mayer, always looks good in black. But the surprise in SFluxe's coverage of a recent masked ball is that Mayer does, too. Smart of her to adopt a more subdued palette in these dark economic times. Can you think of a better caption for the photo? Leave it in the comments. The best one will become the post's new headline. Friday's winner: Ted Dziuba, for "A final salute to the good times." (Photo by Drew Altizer via SFluxe)
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By Owen ThomasComment by its_a_feature: Zack and Mari Make a Porno 2 Responses | Other threads
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marissa mayer
Google's "first female engineer" doesn't think of herself as a female engineer
Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of things that actually make money, sat down for a filmed power breakfast with NBC's Today show. Aside from a fib at the start — that she doesn't think of herself as a female Googler, when that's how she's listed in her corporate bio, and how she introduced herself, quite recently, to ABC News, It's a good performance — no nervous tics, no creepy laughs captured on camera. But it's missing something. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by KaliIshamael: I've heard rumors about Google sexism for years, including them not even giving interviews to a couple of smart women... 1 Responses | Other threads
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caption contest
Dressing up as Neo for Halloween is so 2000
"Nice to see Marissa living large in a sharp economic downturn," snarks a tipster about the latest society outing of Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president in charge of the stuff people actually use, at the opening of Tory Burch's clothing boutique on Union Square's Maiden Lane. His anti-Marissa rant continues: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by deathbychichi: I know what boys like. I know what boys want. And you can't have it! Ha ha... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Google Chrome
Marissa Mayer Chrome-plates the Nasdaq
If you don't believe Google should buy a few 30-second TV spots to hawk its Chrome browser, watch Google's VP of Search Products and User Experience try to explain Chrome to the semitechnical viewers at CNBC. The whole thing falls apart into a meandering talk about faster JavaScript rendering, overlaid with a chart of Google's waffling stock price — the real reason Mayer is on CNBC. I doubt investors changed their GOOG valuations based on Mayer's promise that in the future, crashing one tab in their browser won't take down the whole thing. -
copyfight
Wilson Sonsini diversifies into Marissa Mayer's favorite pastry
When a history of the decline and fall of Wilson Sonsini, Silicon Valley's preeminent law firm, is written, this will surely deserve a paragraph: The lawyers there are now defending cupcakes. Sprinkles Cupcakes, the Los Angeles bakery made notable by HBO's Entourage, is seeking to defend its trademarked dot patterns against imitators; the concentric circles denote flavors. (Shown here: a red velvet cupcake.) It is, I suppose, a question of intellectual property. And a client is a client. But taking on this case just illustrates how far Wilson Sonsini has fallen since the '90s, when IPO fees fattened its partners' wallets, and before it got wrapped up in stock-options scandals. The silver icing: This may lead to work representing Google executive Marissa Mayer, should an interloper ever trespass on the ideas contained in her spreadsheet of cupcake recipes.
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By Owen ThomasComment by lustylady: You guys are so stealing our beat of late. It's okay, though. Perhaps a closer VW connection - Sprinkles just opened... more » | Other threads
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Nouveau Gauche
Who wore it better, Googler Marissa Mayer or socialite Sloan Barnett?
A group of ultrarich San Francisco socialites, each with a carbon footprint the size of a small African country, gathered at the home of Larry Ellison's wife Melanie Ellison. The good cause: to promote author Sloan Barnett's book Everything Goes with Green — which just happens to suggest everyone buy her husband Roger Barnett's Shaklee "green" cleaning products. But the conflict of interest wasn't nearly as chatworthy as the conflict of couture! More »
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By Jackson WestComment by emnem: The next time Marissa Mayer rips the drapes off the stage of my alma mater's auditorium and sews them together... 6 Responses | Other threads
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Nouveau Gauche
Marissa Mayer dateless at society gala?
Wearing a green ballgown and patent leather belt from designer Catherine Martin and plenty of diamonds, Google cupcake princess Marissa Mayer mingled with the local society set at the San Francisco Symphony opening night gala. But the big news isn't that Martin clearly chose the green print from the upholstery section at the fabric store, but that Mayer's venture capitalist boytoy Zack Bogue was nowhere to be seen in any pictures. Could the pair be on the outs? Of course, where Mayer goes, A-list Google gay Orkut Büyükkökten and his partner Derek Holbrook are sure to follow. The pair wore white and silver tuxes, respectively — however, with no right hands visible in their photo, we can't tell if the betrothed couple have officially tied the knot yet. Update: Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Don Draper, the Chronicle has pics of Bogue and Mayer arm-in-arm. Looks like Bogue took our advice and dressed it up with a pocket square.(Photo by Drew Altizer via SFLuxe)
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By Jackson WestComment by HotintheValley: Nice effort all around on her part. more » | Other threads
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google
Marissa Mayer's WASPy roots are showing
In an epic post, Google VP Marissa Mayer does some work to earn her hundreds of millions of dollars in equity by clarifying statements made earlier in a Los Angeles Times interview — Google has solved 90 percent of the search equation in the first ten years, but the remaining ten percent will take nine times as much effort. The post is full of the sort of details that flit about in Mayer's mind and amongst her social circle. Most telling? She didn't know the word "goy," a word from Hebrew for gentiles or non-Jews. Granted, I doubt she ran into many Hebrew or Yiddish speakers growing up in Wausau, Wis. or shopping at the JC Penney in Yankton, S.D. on Saturday. (Photo by Andrew Mager)
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By Jackson WestComment by BartKela: If you want cheesecake or cupcakes, you should try Jezebel and Fleshbot, not Valleywag which is mostly a blue-shirt, khaki-pants... 2 Responses | Other threads
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caption contest
You just put your lips together and blow
Google's cupcake princess Marissa Mayer celebrating the company's tenth anniversary at the TechCrunch50 party — giving us all a taste of how they celebrate young Googler birthdays at the Kinderplex. Yesterday's winner: "You know little boy, I have much I can teach you" by Duncan. (Photo by Andrew Mager)
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By Jackson WestComment by michaellamb: (no caption just a comment) the asian chick looks THRILLED to be playing the subservient role to blondie - arrington's... 1 Responses | Other threads
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search
Google News Archive lets you relive Watergate era
At a conference in San Francisco meant for startups, Google search-and-cupcake czar Marissa Mayer is currently live-demoing Google's latest launch, a news archive of scanned newspaper stories that goes back decades. The archive's scope of how many newspapers, over how many decades, isn't clear from Mayer's presentation or Google's blog post. Mayer says the project uses Google's book-scanning tech, adapted for newsprint archives.
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By Paul BoutinComment by macbeach: I love it. Handy for reminding people about all the "settled science" of (for example) global warming: [tinyurl.com] Found some... more » | Other threads
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quotable
Cafeterias, low wage labor to remain at Googleplex for now
Not aware that there will be any cutbacks in perks at Google, Marissa Mayer admitted to the economic justification for the Mountain View company's famous cafeterias was to wring every possible drop of productivity from salaried employees by keeping them near campus. However wage slaves at the Googleplex, like the undocumented workers at those cafeterias employed by subcontractors, probably won't be seeing pay or working conditions improving any time soon. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by deathbychichi: DId anyone ever think the free meals weren't a way to keep people at the office? 1 Responses | Other threads
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marissa mayer
How Google killed Blogger's social network
The new "followers" feature on Google's Blogger, which turns the blogging service into a quasi-social network, may strike some as too little, too late — a me-too move following WordPress and Movable Type's adddition of social elements. But it didn't have to happen. Blogger had a full-fledged social network in the works years ago, called Profiles — and it was quashed by Marissa Mayer in favor of Orkut. Why? Mayer's own social network. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Figaro: Well said Owen. I have a Blogger-based blog and have been blogging for about 3 years and don't remember last... 2 Responses | Other threads
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marissa mayer
Granting Visa's giant cupcake wish
An eagle-eyed reader spotted a shot of what looked to them like a giant cupcake building in downtown San Francisco, and immediately Google's cupcake princess Marissa Mayer came to mind. Credit-card giant Visa has recently started running an ad with lots of everyday-but-oversized objects populating urban areas (we've searched in vain on YouTube and among sites that cater to ad agencies for the full video). Based on the street furniture, I'd say it's not San Francisco. But is the connection so far-fetched? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by WagCurious: @Jackson West: The EMP looks like he took the Bilbao plans and made a McMansion out of it. more » | Other threads
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online video
Marissa Mayer a Lonelygirl15 fan
Buried in Kara Swisher's piece about EQAL, the new "social entertainment company" from Lonelygirl15 creators Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, is the dilly that one of the previously unnamed investors providing $5 million in funding is none other than Google's cupcake princess, Marissa Mayer. What's the next project from the YouTubepreneurs made good? Well, it's going to be kind of like lonelygirl15, except with a shot of social-network frosting. [BoomTown]
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By Jackson WestComment by random_play: Maybe now we'll see some cupcakes. more » | Other threads
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superficial
Marissa and Orkut prove geeks are label whores too
SFLuxe has photo proof that yes, that was Google cupcake princess Marissa Mayer at the years-delayed opening of Prada's San Francisco store on Maiden Lane in Union Square. Next to her in the "I heart Prada" tee is Orkut Büyükkökten, the totally gay Googler who unintentionally brought social networking to millions of Brazilians. Hey, don't forget to update Google Maps, which still points to Prada's temporary store on Geary. Prada, known for its sexy, well-built women's shoes, also makes men's footwear and a line of downtown-chic clothing for abnormally skinny people of all genders. I'll be down the street at Macy's.(Photo by Damion Matthews)
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By Paul BoutinComment by random_play: Haters! Ms. Mayer looks great in everything, so I can only assume she looks great in nothing. And no love... more » | Other threads
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don't be evil
Why the exit's no longer marked "Google"
The Wall Street Journal's Pepper ... & Salt has never been particularly cutting-edge. But a recent cartoon reads like a time capsule: An entrepreneur at startup WotsHot.com says, "Here's our timetable: launch, grow rapidly, be bought by Google." How quaint! During the lean years earlier in the decade, when Google was the only show in town, startups may have dreamt of getting bought by Google. But more recently, getting bought by Google has proven a nightmare, albeit a lucrative one. The oldtimers at YouTube are resting and vesting, watching the clocks tick. JotSpot's wiki product languished for a year before getting relaunched in barely functional form. Measure Map, a Web-traffic analysis startup, was similarly buried. More » -
caption contest
Marissa Mayer demonstrates Google's new "invisible cupcake" technology, currently in beta
Marissa Mayer resorts to hand gestures to explain complex concepts in terms inferior non-Googlers can understand at last January's DLD conference in Munich, Germany. The four photos in the series also provide an uncanny visual metaphor for Google's initially hot but eventually cooled interest in purchasing Digg. Can you come up with a better caption? Do so in the comments. The best one will become this post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: "Check out what they were giving away at the PerkettPR booth!" by auntanna. (Photo by Getty/Oliver Lang)
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By Jackson WestComment by Shadowlayer: THE REVENUE IS A LIE... THE REVENUE IS A LIE... THE REVENUE IS A LIE... more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Google nixing Digg deal?
A tipster tells us Google has backed out of talks to buy Digg, the popular news-discussion site fronted by Kevin Rose, the Web-video personality and San Francisco Casanova. There have been hints all week that Google has been cooling on Digg. Marissa Mayer, Google's reigning princess of pageviews, had once fancied Digg as a means of improving Google News, one of her Web properties. Last month, at her behest, acquisition talks were getting serious. But then Mayer brashly (and perhaps foolishly) announced Wednesday that Google News generated $100 million a year in revenues for Google. Translation: Who needs Digg? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Tango404: Digg is not as efficient now as people play with it all the time. more » | Other threads
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knol
Hello Knol, goodbye Wikipedia
The back-channel chatter on Google's Wikipedia-like Knol database, which opened to public editing today, is simple: Google plans to use Knol to replace Wikipedia, then serve ads on it. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by ThaiKitchen: @chirag: That means your site won't get a higher page rank because of it but not that wikipedia won't profit... more » | Other threads
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gaffes
Ad-free Google News generates $100 million a year — and soon, some lawsuits
Marissa Mayer, the Google executive who runs all the parts of the search engine, just put her legal team in a pickle. She told conference-goers yesterday at Fortune's Brainstorm conference that Google News, despite being advertising-free, makes $100 million in revenues a year. Fortune writer Jon Fortt explained Mayer's thinking: More »
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Thu Jul 9
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