Gawker
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launches
You Can Use GMail Now, It's Finally Ready
Google finally dropped the "beta" label from GMail. A bit hasty, no? The product launched just half a decade ago; its inventor left Google barely 18 months back. Why the rush to commit? More »
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By Ryan TateComment by TedSez: I'd like to try it, but I'm still waiting for someone to send me an invite. 5 Responses | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Jargon from Hell Rides in on Google's Wave
The open secret about Google's forthcoming product "Wave" is that no one knows what the hell it does. Here's the tech gibberish the Guardian used to describe the software after talking to Google co-founder Sergey Brin: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Motoko Kusanagi: Wave is not at all hard to understand. 1. It's a shared document format. 2. Collaboration happens in real time,... 5 Responses | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Slate's shipment of fail has been ... oh, never mind
Slate — never heard of it, I asked Paul and he says it's an online magazine for the Olds — is trying to figure out why Internet people like to say "fail." It's because they like to "express [their] schadenfreude out loud," and it's one syllable shorter than "failure." And here I was thinking it's because 4chan kiddies and Twitter freaks are lemmings and will repeat everything until the humor has been bled dry.
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Comment by Migrant Blogger: What's more interesting than why we like to say "fail" is why the print folks don't. 2 Responses | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Gina Bianchini lurks outside the walled garden
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — "That is not my presentation, although it would be very sexy if it were," said Ning CEO Gina Bianchini, as she took the stage at MIT's EmTech conference here, with someone else's Windows desktop blown up on a screen behind her. Alas, her presentation, a canned version of Ning's stump speech, was not sexy. Bianchini routinely talks up Ning, a set of tools for developing customized social networks, as if it were a platform, and takes audiences through a tiresome parade of the free websites created by her customers. MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn are "walled gardens," she says — techspeak for an online service whose contents are tightly controlled by its owner. But listening to Bianchini, I couldn't help thinking that "walled garden" is code for "an idea I wished I'd come up with."
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By Owen ThomasComment by WilliamMarkFelt: She's pretty hot for an SV girl. 2 Responses | Other threads
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valleyspeak
"Vesting in peace"
Connected Ventures cofounder Zach Klein — the guy who spread a rumor that the Mormons were trying to buy Facebook — continues his stay in San Francisco. The latest phrase he's learned from the natives: "vesting in peace." More »
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Comment by Shadowlayer: That may explain why the youtube guys are MIA... more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
More Yahoo layoffs coming
Yahoo's Aikido and Judo projects, briefly mentioned in a New York Times story, "are, in fact, yet another round of navel-gazing strategy overview efforts," Kara Swisher reports. Translation: more layoffs to come. [BoomTown] -
valleyspeak
"Nonguaranteed"
When she's not boring shareholders silly, Yahoo president Sue Decker has been trying to beguile advertisers to buy a new form of online advertising: "nonguaranteed" ads. Her campaign started in earnest at an Internet Advertising Bureau conference in February; it continued in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Strip aside the technical mumbo-jumbo, and you learn this: "Guaranteed" ads run at specified times, on specified websites. "Nonguaranteed" ads run wherever, whenever, at Yahoo's discretion. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by adgirl2001: Isn't all remnant non-guaranteed? Why is this new? more » | Other threads
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the chart
The 250 shows supercharged viral growth, more than tripling to 806 in four months
Back in March, very special correspondent Paul Boutin revealed that the Olds were derisively referring to the insular San Francisco clique of Web hipsters — the sort of people who Twitter about how they wish FriendFeed had a better Plurk API — as "the 250." After learning that 806 people tuned in to watch Kevin Rose shave his head, live on the Internet, we are now revising that figure upwards by a factor of 3.224. With Rose's market-expanding efforts, we now have three times as many people to mock. Thanks, Kevin! -
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valleyspeak
Unpublished
Not long ago, an "unpublished" work was one that had never been published. Boing Boing comments moderator Teresa Nielsen Hayden unintentionally popularized a new meaning of the word when she used it to describe posts the Boingers had erased from their site: "We unpublished our own work. There's a big difference between that and censorship." Now, Google's Wikipedia competitor Knol has completely broken the word's meaning. "The requested biographical knol has been unpublished by the author." Doesn't that sound like I wrote and then deleted my bio, rather than that I've yet to write it? Don't go hunting through Google's cache for it — you'll be sadly un-successful.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Cynical Tech Media Bitch: As I recall, the courts use "depublish" when they retract a published opinion. (Between people who don't use dictionaries to check... more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
The unhappy death of the Blogger Appeasement Group
In what seems like another age, my predecessor once wrote about companies' "blogger appeasement groups" — units dedicated to generating buzz, not bucks. With Chad Dickerson leaving Yahoo Brickhouse, the troubled company's troubled incubator for new ideas, I think we can declare the delusion of blogger appeasement groups safely over. The self-appointed punditocracy of the blogosphere never was a real customer — nor even a twisted proxy for a real customer. Playing to the echo chamber only generated noise — a specialty of former Brickhouse head Salim Ismail. More » -
valleyspeak
Merriam-Webster's new dictionary words for 2008
Last year, the lexicographers at dictionary maker Merriam-Webster proclaimed w00t its Word of the Year. For 2008, they've added fanboy, webinar, netroots, and pretexting to the lexicon. Who cares? I do, because I find Merriam's online dictionary, more consistent, more focused, and better written than its wikified open dictionary or the Google results for define:pretexting. There'll be 100 or so new words in the Merriam-Webster's 2008 edition, due September 1. Meanwhile, I called the company and got the 25 most populist of the new entries as a teaser: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by BobDope: Thank god for that. The time I confused kiteboarding and waterboarding was embarassing and more than a little unpleasant. more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
At long last, Yahoo reorg to put employees out of their misery
Yahoo is about to perform that dreaded big-tech-company maneuver, the "reorg." For you young-uns who don't get why reorg is such a scary word: Think massive layoffs, lost mortgages, and people like your parents with no back-to-school money for brats like you. Multiply by 10,000-plus. I can only wish a soft landing for the folks who designed, built and shipped Yahoo's new search engine interface, and the marketers who dreamed up those radio ads that got me to — I can't believe I'm admitting this on a blog — actually use Yahoo to find stuff. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by techgurl: Looks like Sue shops next door at the Mission College campus TJ Maxx like all the other laid-off xY! fashionistas. 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 » -
valleyspeak
"Donutfest"
"Tumblr is totally estrogen-y," blogger Jessica Gold Haralson told Silicon Alley Insider, explaining the heavy female presence at a party for the blogging startup. "If anything, it's a complete donutfest." "Donutfest" is the opposite of the far more common "sausagefest," which describes a heavily male event, such as today's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. (For the record, this editor wonders what's wrong with enjoying sausage.) Do we need to explain the anatomical reference? (Photo by fillyjonk)
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By Owen ThomasComment by waynelambright: Owen, I think you coined a new word. (Dounutfest) more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Five words or phrases to short on the slang stock exchange
CollegeHumor cofounder Ricky Van Veen has decided to short the word "douche."After a strong resurgence in 2005 and showing strong staying power through 2007, lately most of the people I've seen use it fit into two categories: 1) people over 40 who have finally had the word passed down the cool chain from their younger friends and coworkers. 2) the "douches" originally being described themselves.
We second this call. In fact, our own very special correspondent banned douche not long ago. Below, five more words we'd like to see tank. State your portfolio position and suggest other picks in the comments. More » -
valleyspeak
The original is ok, but this edit is the best.
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valleyspeak
Why don't you just read Valleywag? That seems easier
Commenter Matthew O'Ryan is on to us. He's noticed how a throwaway line has become our new catchphrase: "That seems easier." In an industry full of people who claim to be obsessed with efficiency, why do we have to keep explaining over and over the simple way to do things? Because Valley denizens secretly love doing things the hard way — and they hate it when people point out we're doing it wrong. Neophilia, cast as a love of innovation, is actually an algorithm for generating ever-changing shibboleths that keep outsiders away. They make things complicated because it entertains them; because they love challenges and puzzles; because they can. But the world that pays their bills? Customers like things simple. Why not keep them happy? Ah, but you know how that would seem. -
valleyspeak
Leah Culver tries to coin a catchphrase
From the Future of Web Apps conference in Miami: "Leah Culver is trying to coin the term 'social messaging' as a way to describe Pownce." I suppose that's better than "social massaging."
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Comment by pepelicious: @Nicholas Carlson: Thanks to Web 2.0, the word "Social" has lost pretty much all of it's meaning. What she means... more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
A tipster writes of the cuts at Yahoo: "Maria Hinge, the VP for emerging European markets, got laid off on Friday. She's credited with rolling out services in Turkey, Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. However, her reports always thought she was more adept at 'rolling' with the European management team." Come on, people. "Rolling?" Does anyone actually say that? Next we're going to hear that Toby Coppel was swinging with the flippity-flop. -
john gruber
Daring Fireball's John Gruber takes on Jerry Yang in his very funny "Translation From PR-Speak to English of Selected Portions of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang's Company-Wide Memo Regarding the Microsoft Takeover Bid."
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Comment by ResearchZilla: hmmm....and a translation of elgoog's sunday blowhard: [www.passingnotes.com] (or: [tinyurl.com]) more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
The classics of art, translated into geekspeak
As undergrads, Silicon Valley tycoons didn't have the time to appreciate the finer things a liberal arts education had to offer. They were far too busy coding away in their dorm rooms and plotting to take over the world. Now these poor lads and lasses face a Herculean task whenever they're confronted with, say, Rodin's "The Thinker" at the Legion of Honor — they just don't know what to make of it. More » -
wired
"I just threw away 5 months of Wired, unread. There may be some newly-minted jargon for that, but I have no way of knowing." - Adam Lisagor
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By Nick DouglasComment by digitalhecht: @Geek4life: It appears others agree with me here. But then again, thw world is full of tards like us, isn't... more » | Other threads
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w00t
Videogamers game Word of the Year honors
I was really hoping "facebook" would be named Word of the Year by Merriam-Webster. But no, "w00t" — in l33t-speak no less — took home the honors. I should have known better than try to call an Internet poll. My mistake was underestimating the videogamer community's pull. Now if they could only agree on an etymology. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by Carlos: @mmalone: Yeah, this has been around since at least 2000 or so more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Alternate definitions of "facebook"
The definitions of "facebook" submitted to Merriam-Webster are limited to logging in, viewing a profile, searching for a profile, and friending someone. But "facebook," as a word, is nearly as polymorphous as "smurf". We can think of several additional activities which the word describes far more accurately. More » -
valleyspeak
"Facebook" a shoo-in for word of the year
Just in case the rest of the world isn't paying attention to the Valley's throbbing hard-on for Facebook, Merriam-Webster has stacked the deck in favor of facebook for Word of the Year. Last year the honor went to Stephen Colbert's truthiness. While not as catchy, timely, or funny as truthiness, there is less doubt about facebook's value as Word of the Year than Facebook's valuation of $15 billion. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by Tim Faulkner: @Deprong Mori: That's what I get for trying to call an Internet poll. more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Social nerdwanking
Coined by R. Stevens in his webcomic Diesel Sweeties, "social nerdwanking" means lording your social-network superiority over others, which is secretly the only reason you bother with Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Orkut, and every other social network. Except your legitimate if fruitless use of Adult FriendFinder.
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By Nick DouglasComment by sultrysiren: All of Various Inc was sold Friday December 7th.The transition will be over the next twelve months. more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Facebook founder redefines "opt-in"
People say the craziest things to New York Times reporters. In an attempt to explain that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wasn't, you know, lying when he implied to NYT staffer Louise Story that Facebook's Beacon ads wouldn't report on users' purchases and other activities unless they opted in to the system, "Matt Hicks, a Facebook spokesman, said Mr. Zuckerberg had meant that users would be given the opportunity to opt out of having information sent out by Beacon, and the company had assumed that anyone who didn't say no meant yes." As Story reports, Coke is having the same "Huh?" reaction, and has withdrawn from early participation in Beacon ads. I confess: I'm biased. I went to MIT, so whenever a Harvard man like Zuckerberg opens his mouth, I start listening for the bullshit. I wish I were wrong more often.
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By Paul BoutinComment by dula: wait what the hell does coke want out of beacon anyways? Nobody is gonna buy a coke online more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
"Community CEO" new term for "self-aggrandizing jerk"
God bless Allen Stern of CenterNetworks. The blogger has given us a gift: something to call Jason Calacanis other than "egomaniac." Now, Stern thinks that being a "community CEO" is a bad idea. Publicly relying on readers of your blog and Facebook "friends" for business decisions, Stern argues, causes customers and employees to lose faith in you as a leader. Calacanis, of course, disagrees, and has embraced the label in a long post defending his newly christened role. Bring out the bulldogs, already.
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Comment by Jeremy: Does this mean the board can fire the community if something goes wrong? more » | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Zuckerberg's Law: "Once every hundred years media changes."
He's never going to live it down. Otherwise likable Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's ludicrous pronouncement is on its way to becoming his I-invented-the-Internet tagline. Why? Because he made the mistake of proclaiming Zuck's Law to a roomful of very senior people who work in — you got it — media. Mistaking his audience for Web 2.0 fanboys, Zuckerberg turned his big moment into a running joke among reporters and publicists alike. I heard it repeated several times at last night's San Francisco book party for Fake Steve author Dan Lyons. You know: "Once every hundred years, Forbes picks up the tab," etc. I'm pretty sure Zuckerberg didn't write the doofy line himself. But when you're CEO, you needn't parrot your publicists. My advice? Mark, don't take it back. Instead, repeat it over and over. Convince a critical mass of A-listers to abandon their blogs in favor of Facebook profiles, the new media for a new century. Here's a helpful hint: Some of those guys can be bought. (Photo by AP/Craig Ruttle)
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By Paul BoutinComment by eze: @snidleywhiplash internets is serious business! more » | Other threads
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web 2.0 to english
OpenSpeak translated is "gimme"
Loveable crankster Dave Winer unwraps the etymology of Google's OpenSocial platform. More » -
valleyspeak
"Wantrepreneur"
What is a "wantrepreneur"? My obscurantist boss has been tossing the term around for the last week or so as if we've all heard it before, but I've been too afraid to ask him. So here's what I've gathered: Short for "wannabe entrepreneur," "wantrepreneur" describes one who hopes to hop on a bandwagon and ride to glory, instead of carrying one's own ideas to success through actual effort. It's best depicted in the image above, a "help wanted" sign posted on a newspaper box on University Ave. in Palo Alto. But why seek out wantrepreneurs? They surround successful types like flies at every party I've gone to. (Photo by Gabe Rivera)
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Comment by darrindickey: A wantrepreneur is, as you say, a wannabe entrepreneur. However, the term wasn't supposed to be derogatory, as you've used... more » | Other threads
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web 2.0 to english
The "semantic graph" reads Wikipedia
WEB 2.0 SUMMIT — Twine, Powerset, and Freebase are all doing dense demonstrations about the "semantic Web" — basically, improved search. I'd swear I've heard all three startups say that their systems analyze Wikipedia to understand connections between terms, a phenomenon one calls the "semantic graph." The short version? These startups read Wikipedia so you don't have to. -
valleyspeak
When Hollywood meets Silicon Valley, language barriers appear. Twitter founder Evan Williams reports hearing the following angry exchange: "Programming! Writing *programs*. For their website!" [Twitter] -
web 2.0 summit
The original definition of Web 2.0
I found the October 2003 Microsoft Word file in which O'Reilly editor Dale Dougherty proposed a new series of "Web 2.0" conferences. The one surprise is that the idea was originally much more machine-oriented.The first wave of the web was closely tied to the browser. The second wave extends the applications built on the web server and it will enable a new generation of specialized clients and automated web applications. (Emphasis added)
Four years later, as the saying goes: Web 2.0 is made of people. -
web 2.0 to english
Can I make money doing online video?
Raw numbers from today's Web 2.0 Summit: Federated Media, which sells ads for top video shows Ask a Ninja and Diggnation, claims to pull checks ranging from $10,000 to a cool million from advertisers. But if you're a unknown starting out, don't expect more than two to four dollars for every thousand of your viewers, say panelists here. Plus, you'll argue with ad buyers about how to measure your audience and their return. Advertisers will pay most for the classic "host endorsement," where the Ninja or Diggnation's Kevin Rose talks about their product during the show — a format widely used in the early days of TV. (Radio newsman Paul Harvey remains the master of the host endorsement, as proven by the Neutrogena products that pack my bathroom.) The takeaway from today's panel: Don't quit your day job yet. In 2007, advertisers still haven't opened up to spending big video bucks online. -
web 2.0 to english
Why Facebook is bad for the Internet
Harvard and Oxford prof Jonathan Zittrain's Web 2.0 Summit workshop this morning, "Web Two Point No — And You Thought Microsoft Was Bad," hits on something few people think about: All the social-network information and messages flying around Facebook, MySpace and AIM are stored and retrieved through proprietary systems — at the whim of the proprietor, as Zittrain puts it. It's a sharp contrast to the email, Usenet groups and IRC channels of yore, which were generally open networks with many points of access. In this respect, Zittrain sees Facebook as the new Compuserve, a members-only resource. Even its myriad apps are built to the company's programming specs, and Facebook can change the terms of the deal for competitive advantage anytime. Be afraid — be moderately afraid.
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By Paul BoutinComment by schvitzatura: What's in a name? that which we call a "walled garden" By any other name would smell as sweet; How profitable is... more » | Other threads
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web 2.0 summit
Web 2.0 pitch generator — just add elevator
Always willing to lend a helping hand, Gadget Lab's Rob Beschizza created a Web 2.0 startup and press release generator. You know, so if your first Red Bull-fueled pitch crashes and burns, you can quickly con your way into a second audience with that VC. Sure, the idea may not be original — Web 2.0 generators are all the rage: A sales pitch, slogan, name, logo and website can all be yours at the click of a button. On the other hand, it's hard not to applaud an attempt to remind the world of irrational exuberance. And if you really want to have fun? Send the nonsense to Valleywag's Paul Boutin and watch him contort himself into knots trying to translate it into English.
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Comment by cv: This was far funnier when Tom Davis wrote the original buzzword bingo circa 1993 at SGI. The C program would... more » | Other threads
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web 2.0 summit
Free Web 2.0-to-English translation
The big brains presenting at tomorrow's Web 2.0 Summit have lots of good ideas. Too bad no one can understand what they're saying. I've got a plan to fix that. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by elvenjewel: If you haven't discovered this yet, you should. It's the Web Economy Bullsh** Generator. Have fun! more » | Other threads
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lobbyconners
Only fools pay to sit and listen
If you're an entrepreneur, you probably don't care what Rupert Murdoch has to say about MySpace's rivalry with Facebook at the upcoming Web 2.0 Summit. (Short version: Bitches just jealous.) You're there looking to hook up with clients, investors, or journalists. And that doesn't happen during panel sessions or keynotes, does it? "The sessions at technology conferences are often like plots in porn films," technology consultant Ben Metcalfe told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's required for the context, but it's not really what you paid for." Metcalfe is a "lobbyconner," as these deep-thinking, shallow-pocketed startup types call themselves. They refuse to pay conference fees which run to the thousands of dollars but still covet the schmoozing, which can be had for free. And heck, they're probably the ones you want to talk to. The ablity to do simple math is a nice thing to have in a business partner.
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Comment by Web2PointOhShit: "The sessions at technology conferences are often like plots in porn films," technology consultant Ben Metcalfe told the San Francisco... more » | Other threads
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theory
The life of a buzzword
A buzzword is no black swan, but when one breaks out of the long tail into the short head and hits the tipping point it still makes me question the wisdom of the crowds. But because the world is flat, I've listed a freakonomical list of the lifespan of a buzzword. Purple cow. More »
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