The Insanely Rich Young Mobile Ad Broker You've Never Heard Of

No one knows what Facebook and Twitter are really worth, sexy though the startups may be. But AdMob, an obscure company in Silicon Valley's hinterlands, has a very clear, solid value: $750 million in stock from acquirer Google. Yay boring! More »

The Retreat of King Twitter

With great power comes great responsibility, and with great responsibility comes great headaches. So after years as the hottest, most talked about startup in Silicon Valley, Twitter is ready to relinquish some control of the national conversation. More »

U Can Haz Cheezburgur, World Dominashun, LOLZ at Other Starupz KTHXBYE

The I Can Haz Cheezburger guy, Ben Huh, got an AdAge profile. They've got 21 full-time employees, 30 blogs, and 11.5M visitors a month. They were profitable in their first quarter "almost entirely via ad networks and Google AdSense." [AdAge]

Facebook's Wacky Prank on Journalism

The social network can and will fuck with you, as TechCrunch found out, after Facebook targeted an elaborate hoax at just its reporters. More »

Julia Allison's Clone Army

Julia Allison wants to be a Web mogul. Foreman of a fameball factory. Oprah to a dozen young Dr. Phils. In short, she'd like to replicate herself. Ominously, for such grand ambitions, she's recruiting on Cragslist. More »

'In Lieu of Gifts, Please Give Us Free Venture Capital'

Drue Kataoka and Svetlozar Kazanjiev have come up with a novel way to hit up their wedding guests for cash: explain the cash will be used to generate even larger sums of cash, via the internet. More »

How a 'Made' Startup Was Clipped

Two years ago, music service iLike appeared to be set: Its CEO said it was "made," its investor mused it could be a "billion-dollar winner," and the press was enthralled. Now the poster child is a cautionary tale. More »

Ashton Kutcher, Exploited Twitter Spokesmodel

Has any celebrity tied himself so closely to a technology product as Ashton Kutcher with Twitter? It's doubtful, and yet Kutcher hasn't received a dime for his defacto endorsement. That's not lost on the actor. More »

Meet San Francisco's 'Naked' Hippie Internet Startup

In Silicon Valley, the line between cult and company can be thin. Leave it to Steve Newcomb to toe that boundary, with a San Francisco "idea factory" that sounds as much like a religious order as a startup. More »

Barry Diller Just Bought This Kid a TV Studio

At the ripe old age of 28, Ricky Van Veen is finally putting CollegeHumor.com behind him. He's leaving the site he co-founded and starting a production company called Notional. But the young man remains in Barry Diller's well-padded nest. More »

New Twitter Ad System Tested by New York Times Reporter

How will Twitter ramp its revenue from nothing to $21 million a month in less than two years, as its managers forecast? Maybe by simply monitoring what you tweet about, and then targeting ads at you. More »

Sun Valley's Lusty Old Men Are Fickle

Allen & Company is doing its annual thing in Sun Valley, Idaho, in which old moguls shamelessly ogle the most supple young internet startups. This year, everyone's drooling over Twitter. Last year's trophy companies? Not looking so sexy. More »

Twitter, Facebook Just Actively Ignoring Business Opportunities Now

Who can afford to be blasé about making money in this economy? A hot Web 2.0 startup, it turns out. More »

Silicon Alley's Bitter Awards Scramble

For a startup founder itching to cash out, the recession can be tough: The economy fades hopes for an acquisition or plum funding round. Perhaps this explains some of the testiness around this year's awards from Silicon Alley Insider. More »

The World According to Twitter

How distorted is Twitter's view of the world? That question is neatly answered by Topsy, a new search engine that's like Google, except sorted by the attention-deficit-disorder sufferers who live on Twitter. More »

Clinging to Dying Web 2.0 Dreams

Being a startup is way more fun than being a business. Which is why we see Twitter and Facebook in seeming economic denial this morning. Who wants to confront financial reality, like Google? More »