Gawker
-
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.
5,105
14
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
-
meltdowns
The layoff lie
A wave of layoffs is sweeping startupland. But why? "Today is my last day at Revision3," writes Damon Berger, one of the victims, in a mass email. "Due to budgetary cutbacks that are a direct result of the economic meltdown, I will no longer be employed at the company." Revision3, an online-video startup, has slashed five Web-video shows from its lineup, and with it some unknown number of employees. But are we to believe that collateralized debt obligations killed "Internet Superstar"? Of course not. More » -
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.
788
By Paul BoutinComment by fireproof: Caption competition time? "You in the back, keep forcing that smile, or you're next!". more » | Other threads
-
Layoff Memos
Tough times, unoriginal blog posts
Mahalo founder: "Tough times, hard decisions." Zillow founder: "Difficult times, difficult decisions." Seesmic founder: "Tough times. Tough decisions." The only thing easy in these times is what to headline your post about the employees you just laid off. Also, make sure to note that you are sad.
1,747
By Owen ThomasComment by giania: Uncomfortably challenging zeitgeist, deductions of an equal or greater magnitude of concern. more » | Other threads
-
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 »
1,473
By Owen ThomasComment by skycut: Talked to Le Meur for about 5 minutes. That dude is a prick. 1 Responses | Other threads
-
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 »
2,893
By Jackson WestComment by michaellamb: damn, not even tech crunch pandering could save them..... 1 Responses | Other threads
-
online advertising
TechCrunch advertiser AmateurMatch offers "real" sex
Nothing like cheap run-of-network ads to get the blood pumping in the morning — a tipster from Blighty spotted this ad for AmateurMatch offering "Real members, real sex" to TechCrunch readers yesterday. (Yes, I know, it could be a fake, but where's the fun in that?) By "real" I assume they mean as opposed to the cam chats you might enjoy on fellow advertiser Seesmic. Personally, I wonder how Siemens feels about all this.
1,572
By Jackson WestComment by AllanJames: Look, I wasn't going to say anything but it looks Siemen's has leaked on the other ad. more » | Other threads
-
party report
Cal Henderson sighting at 330 Ritch
Stubblicious Flickr developer Cal Henderson and his "fake wife," Pownce community liaison Ariel Waldman, were sharing a precious booth with their entourage at yet another overpacked Seesmic party. Here, Waldman tries to chat with Laughing Squid founder Scott Beale over the din. Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis and Twitter cofounder Evan Williams, probably fed up with the crowds, have ditched 330 Ritch for the Plista party at Fluid.
1,136
By Jackson WestComment by cal_forgot_password: i'm scared. are you outside my house now? this isn't healthy more » | Other threads
-
-
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.
582
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
-
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 »
972
By Jackson WestComment by Shadowlayer: So the french are literally throwing the house through the window... Whos the capitalist pig now? more » | Other threads
-
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 »
1,462
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
-
death of print
Bloggin' journos want to bring sexy back to classified ads
Steve Outing, a former editor at the Poynter Institute and self-described "new-media visionary" Christopher Ryan have started a blog to brainstorm ideas for new classified advertising business models. While quotes from the likes of new media pundit JD Lasica assert "Craig Newmark of Craigslist is not the devil incarnate," the level of obsession is evidenced in the site's popular categories. One cure for the classified ad revenue decline fever suggested? More Seesmic! [ReinventingClassifieds]
246
By Jackson WestComment by raincoaster: Whatever happened to that Dilbert Guy's website? He had one like that, didn't he? more » | Other threads
-
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 »
1,691
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
-
friendfeed
Why Silicon Valley just won't shut up about FriendFeed
"Cathy Brooks is a typically unapologetic Silicon Valley Web addict," writes Brad Stone in the New York Times. "Last week alone, she produced more than 40 pithy updates on the text messaging service Twitter, uploaded two dozen videos to various video sharing sites, posted seven photographs on the Yahoo image service Flickr and one item to the online community calendar Upcoming." Usually, when one identifies a friend as an addict, an intervention is in order. But Stone, who seems to have spent so much time in San Francisco's tech circles that he's gone native, suggests more technology instead: Specifically, FriendFeed, which gathers all of this online activity in one place, making it marginally easier for Brooks's benighted friends to keep up with her online logorrhea. More » -
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 »
2,343
Comment by Robert Synnott: Bloody hell, Arrington just gets worse, doesn't he? more » | Other threads
-
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 »
2,461
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
-
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 »
758
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
- 1
1-19 of 19 for "Valleywag, Seesmic"
