Gawker
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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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caption contest
The $100 million flipper
Yes, that's Powerset founder Barney Pell in the water with a real, live dolphin. And sorry, this time the "Hot Dolphin with Douchebag" joke has already been made. The zoophilia joke, however, hasn't. So come up with a better headline — best submission in the comments becomes the new title of this post. Yesterday's Pellapalooza grand prize winner was Rock tha Hizzee with "Grandpa, no!"
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By Jackson WestComment by theodp: Flipper Meets $100 Million Flipper 1 Responses | Other threads
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caption contest
Grandpa, no!
Powerset founder Barney Pell brazenly reaches past former TechCrunch contributor Calley Nye's first available knee for an extra helping of frottage during the TechCrunch50 conference festivities. For Pell, the "Hot Chicks with Douchebags" joke has already been made, so you'll have to come up with something better in the comments if you want to win the honor of rewriting the headline. Yesterday UncleSalty took home the trophy with "How to make a baloney sandwich."
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By Jackson WestComment by JJ: Expose your ontology to my crawler! 1 Responses | Other threads
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exits
Why did Microsoft buy Powerset? Not for founder Barney Pell
Microsoft has confirmed its $100 million purchase of Powerset, the overhyped search engine whose buzz flared and fizzled last year. Cofounder Barney Pell, whom investors pushed out of his CEO seat last November, amid rumors of a top-level love triangle, may not last long after the deal. Consider the faint praise Microsoft offers for him: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Carlos: @MikeTy: Without having ever given a serious critical analysis, I'm afraid semantic web might be overrated. It would take... more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
Microsoft buys Powerset search for 90 percent off Yahoo search list price
Powerset never quite managed to launch with their natural language parsing search product. But they did give everyone a glimpse with a preview of search for Wikipedia. Not quite game-changing enough for Yahoo to buy or Amazon's Jeff Bezos to invest in, but just enough to get Microsoft to pay $100 million. Which is considerably less what Team Redmond would have paid for Yahoo's search business. Not bad for a company running on borrowed hopes and dreams. (By Intern Alaska, photo from Powerset) More »
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By Alaska MillerComment by MrMedia: did any Powerset employees make out in this deal? It screams of VC liquidation preference of about 5 :... more » | Other threads
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superficial
Is former Powerset CEO Barney Pell the douchebag with these hot chicks?
One of the most important and profound visual chronicles of our times, Hot Chicks with Douchebags, may have found a photo of former Powerset CEO Barney Pell with a bunch of hot chicks. This character certainly shares the same taste in shirts, the same number of buttons loosed and the same liberal use of the hands that he demonstrated in an earlier photo with a hot chick and some douchebags. What say ye, is this Pell with a proto-goatee auditioning for a role in a sequel to A Night at the Roxbury?
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By Jackson WestComment by matto: I thought it was a screencap from GTA. more » | Other threads
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nerdfight
Jimmy Wales vs. Barney Pell
We have a hard time picking a loser in the contest for world's worst search-engine startup: Powerset, where the founders' love triangle proved far more interesting than its technology, or Wikia Search, Jimmy Wales's laughably nonfatal Google killer. What both have in common: Their search results prominently feature links to Wikipedia, also founded by Wales. Wikia Search, like Wikipedia, has volunteers edit its search results; Powerset uses an algorithm to analyze Wikipedia pages, and tries to answer the questions implicit in users' searches accordingly. Wales is unimpressed by Powerset. But we're struck by how much he and Powerset cofounder Barney Pell have in common — a semantic link neither search engine has uncovered.
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By Owen ThomasComment by RachelIsANutJob: Do you see a sign out front that says, "Crazy Bitch Storage"? more » | Other threads
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barney pell
Powerset's Wikipedia search can't answer our "natural language" search
Let's ignore the fact that Powerset's core technology is only licensed from Xerox PARC. Even then, we're disappointed in today's public debut from publicity-ridden search engine Powerset. Cofounders Barney Pell and Steve Newcomb intended to create a "natural language" search engine that allowed users to phrase search queries in the way they speak. But after informing its search by trolling Wikipedia, Powerset couldn't even answer our one most important question: "Which Powerset executive slept with another's wife?" Powerset's answer: LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. No offense, Reid, but we're almost certain that's not correct.
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Comment by sample032: Next time I see Barney, I'll ask him if Powerset is hiring ;) more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Yahoo to buy Powerset?
Whither Powerset, the once-hot search engine backed by a heavenly set of angel investors, including Facebook board member Peter Thiel? Little has been heard from the startup since COO Steve Newcomb left amid rumors of a C-suite love triangle. Cofounder Barney Pell — another leg in the whispered-about tryst — is so checked out that he's wasting time coding Facebook applications. The company has been searching, so far fruitlessly, for a CEO. Now comes word that Yahoo may be interested in buying the startup. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Ted Dziuba: i think barney pell is a pretty cool guy. he made facebook apps and doesnt afraid of anything. more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Powerset founders' love-triangle mystery grows deeper
When Barney Pell, Powerset's former CEO, got demoted to CTO last week, we reported rumors that C-level hanky panky might have played a role. Now another tipster writes in to clarify that the "other CEO" mentioned must have been Pell's cofounder, COO Steve Newcomb. The new tipster can't confirm the first rumor that an affair soured relations between the two founders, but seems happy to offer plenty of other theories on why Powerset was doomed from the start. More »
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Comment by The_Age_of_Plastic: Ahhh the Shakespearean drama of infidelity, deceit, and too much funding on too little product. more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Hanky-panky ousts Pell as Powerset CEO?
Barney Pell is out as CEO at Powerset, the natural-language search engine. Pell will become CTO while the board begins a search for a new CEO. What's with the reshuffling? We're not sure, but a tipster tells us some C-level hanky-panky might have been involved. More »
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Comment by mblevin: Nothing like a Karl Pilkington look-alike to get the ladies all hot and bothered. Gross. more » | Other threads
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party report
Sergey watches Web Bowl peanut-butter fight
WEB 2.0 SUMMIT — Late last night, conference organizers assembled the "sharpest wits, biggest names and brightest lights of the Web community" for its first-ever Web Bowl, a nerdy game-show inspired trivia contest. The contestants were divided into two teams, with Digg CEO Jay Adelson, AOL founder Steve Case, angel investor Ron Conway, Yahoo "peanut butter memo" author Brad Garlinghouse, and Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker on the "Ask Kickers" team. On the "Bubbles!" side was Microsoft techie Gary Flake, About.com founder Scott Kurnit, Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone, AOLer Ted Leonsis, and New York Times scribe John Markoff. SpikeSource CEO Kim Polese was a lifeline for both teams. John Battelle hosted while Tim O'Reilly judged the answers. Lots of names up on stage. But the real star? Hidden in the audience. More » -
bad ideas
The poetic stylings of Sand Hill Road
We're used to venture capitalists having, um, "wild" and "exciting" hobbies in their downtime. Like Bill Tai of Charles River Ventures, who spends his time kitesurfing. Or Kleiner Perkins founder Tom Perkins, the yachting enthusiast. Or First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman, who dabbled in indoor skydiving. Venture capitalists are supposed to be daring and innovative, which is why we can't get our heads around this latest trend: VC as poet. After the jump, a brief history of the genre — and the latest atrocious example. More »
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Comment by 0x6772: Wait, wait. I'm actually criticizing the meter? This guy should get an A+++ would read again! Lemme guess, he's the... more » | Other threads
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party report
Liquidating the TechCrunch40 at Fluid
My fellow Valleywaggers Owen Thomas and Nick Douglas were banned from the TechCrunch40 conference, and, odds are, I would have been banned from the afterparty at Fluid nightclub, had I asked permission to attend. So, I didn't bother asking, and scrounged up a ticket though back-channel connections, instead. Specifically, through the generosity of my new crush, the mysterious "TechCrunch40" Twitter guy, who left an envelope with an extra ticket and a cryptic note with the bartender at the House of Shields around the corner from Fluid. (Turns out "TechCrunch40" is a group effort — the note was signed by Rick Diculous, El Guapo, Mr. Gray, and Harvey Farquard.) More »
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Comment by mblevin: Alternative caption: What's fat, sweaty, and green all over? more » | Other threads
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techcrunch40
Powerset's party time
Conference paraphernalia is normally comprised of useful but boring office supplies and t-shirts. Except, it seems, at Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis's TechCrunch40 conference. Rafe Needleman of CNET blog Webware is shocked by one giveaway from "natural-language" search engine Powerset — test tubes of cranberry juice and vodka. We're not shocked, of course. We just suspect Powerset CEO Barney Pell is pulling the usual bar pick-up trick of buying drinks for the person you're trying to seduce. Everyone knows you're prettier when they're drunk.
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Comment by sggrf: Are these guys ever going to launch a product? We keep hearing about one thing after the other from these... more » | Other threads
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By Owen ThomasComment by Carlos: @Fake Scoble: if that's talent then I'm in the wrong line of work more » | Other threads
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superficial
Silicon Valley, meet Star editor Julia Allison!
New York-based journalist and Star editor-at-large Julia Allison was a surprise guest at Friday's TechCruch9 event. Valley folks will likely have never heard her name, but she's famous in some East Coast circles. So why did Allison fly out to California specifically for Michael Arrington's soiree? More »
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Comment by america123: julia is HOT. if i could look past her superficiality (just checked out her blog and almost every post is... more » | Other threads
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sfbeta
The startup conference shrinks into near-irrelevance
Christian Perry, the organizer of tech mixer SFBeta, has offended some by charging for product demos, like next week's presentation by Powerset of its natural-language search technology. Tickets to his event cost $10 — $20 if you're a venture capitalist or other presumably loaded type. Perry, if he's savvy, one presumes, is also charging the companies for the privilege of showing off their wares. (Update: Perry tells Valleywag he actually doesn't charge companies to present. How unsavvy!) Even so, how is this any different than Demo, D: All Thing Digital, Supernova, or any other of the countless similar startup conferences which charge both attendees and presenters? The answer: It's way, way cheaper. Way, way less likely to bore with days of endless dog-and-pony shows. And, alas, way, way less likely to result in revealing cocktail chatter. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Jeremy: @Owen Thomas: Aaaaw, thanks. @jessicam: Aaaaw, thanks. more » | Other threads
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search
Is one of these eight search engines the next Google? (Hint: No.)
NICK DOUGLAS — When I hear someone saying they're the next Google, I wonder: Does this shit happen in other industries? Does Bob sit around Bob's Boise Brewery and say "I'm gonna make the next Bud Light! Yep! Bob Light, baby!" Actually, that probably happens. But that doesn't help the odds of these wannabe Google-killers. The following sites aren't just grad-school projects that wisely focused on a niche. They all think they're the next big thing in search, and they're all wrong. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by rmena: I don't think any of us think were going to be the next Google, were just trying to take on... more » | Other threads
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hype watch
Jeff Bezos getting into Powerset?
Bambi Franciso reportulates that Amazon's Jeff Bezos is considering a personal investment in much-hyped natural-language search engine Powerset. It's been widely reported that Powerset planned to use Amazon computing resources, but this would be an unusual vote of confidence from Bezos. Unless he really is just looking for a new toy. -
hype watch
The questionable personhood of Powerset
Watch the above video if you must — D7TV's Sarah Meyers hits this past weekend's party for "natural language" search engine Powerset. Best quotes: More »
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By Chris MohneyComment by buckpost: The entire video is inane - inane questions, inane answers. The whole scene reminded me of a retro, dot-com boom... more » | Other threads
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hype watch
The natural language of Powerset
The Palo Alto Research Center today announces the licensing of its "natural language' search tech to Powerset, a startup search engine that will attempt to "out-Google Google," in the words of angel investor and board member Peter Thiel. Lots of Valley traction around this one, as even Thiel pal Sean Parker put down his beverage long enough to throw in. So what's the big deal? More »
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By Chris MohneyComment by shmooth: it does make me wonder about the role of the blogosphere in reporting. we heard about powerset a few months... more » | Other threads
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bubble threat level
Bubble Threat Level: Red as a Yelp balloon
Time to spread some fear, uncertainty and doubt in the Valley! Here's why the Bubble Threat Level currently stands at Yelp Trademark Red: More » -
powerset
Why Powerset (unlike Snap, Kosmix, Clusty, and Eurekster) will beat Google
High on the "will this startup tank after five months" checklist — I think it's number 14 — is "Does this company want to be the next Google?" Would-be search innovators fail for several reasons: More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by Mark Johnson: WRT Kosmix: $7M of funding in January? You are probably thinking of the money we took in '05. .... more » | Other threads
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