<![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, brian lam]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: valleywag, brian lam]]> http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/brianlam http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/brianlam <![CDATA[Crap Day for Diablo Cody is Awesome Day for Twitterati]]> Dr. Drew Pinsky turned into a self-harming cutter; Diablo Cody disagreed with the internet and a CNN anchor got dissed. Things went pear shaped for the Twitterati.

Screenwriter Diablo Cody, a/k/a Brook Busey, could not get with the program w/r/t today's internet awesomeness.

Television doctor Drew Pinksy engaged in some self-inflicted distress, at the airport. Worrisome.

Don't you know who CNN's TJ Holmes is, department story lady? Not your peon.

Actress Erika Christensen seeks man to receive home-cooked meals. Line forms to the left. In her Twitter stream.

In an obvious bid for attention, Mashable's Ben Parr called a feature he not only read, but also tweeted, "lazy" ....as if that were a bad thing!



Did you witness the media elite tweet something indiscreet? Please email us your favorite tweets - or send us more Twitter usernames.

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<![CDATA[Engadget editor admits to creating "Boycott Gizmodo" site]]> Know that old saying "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"? Former Engadget editor Ryan Block has put it into practice by tapping former Gizmodo editor Brian Lam — now the site's editorial director — to help advise them on their new gadget startup gdgt. In doing so, Block has ended — or at least set aside — a long-term gadget-blog rivalry which frothed with animosity. (Gizmodo, like Valleywag, is published by Gawker Media.) At times, the competition got dirty — like the time Block created an anonymous blog slamming Lam for a post about the iPhone.

Block has since confessed to the stunt. In a post on Lam's hire, Block says "Brian Lam and I are actually pals outside of work — have been for years." But back in 2006, a tipster told Valleywag, Block created a blog called Boycott Gizmodo! and a Digg account with the same name that he used to promote blog's one and only post to Digg's front page. "The time has come to Boycott Gizmodo," reads the post. "Not only did Brian Lam and Gizmodo purposefully deceive long standing readers such as myself about the iPhone, they did a terrible job of covering their tracks." (Lam's post promised readers news about an "iPhone" device on a Friday, before the launch of the actual device — and then, on a Monday, revealed that Cisco owned a trademark on the term, long attached to speculation about an Apple cell phone, and had released an iPhone-branded product. The companies long since settled the matter, giving Apple rights to the iPhone name)

We asked Block if he was the author of the blog. In response, Block told us, "Brian and I have always been friends who knew where to draw the line." Block also just published a confessional blog post titled "Bygones and rivalries," in which he confessed to authoring the "Boycott Gizmodo!" blog. He also offered another anecdote from a rivalry we're all going to miss.

Of course, it went both ways, too. Gizmodo and a lot of other sites were pulling shenanigans day in and out, with the traded barbs pushing everyone harder, thinning out mistakes which could turn into ammunition. The result being better, faster, more accurate gadget sites, of course, but it’s a little funny, because that stuff all seemed so very serious then. Looking at it now, the storied rivalry retired, it’s almost kind of cute.

There was a line to be drawn, too, and to me that line was where real damage could be done. This May, in fact, that line drew itself right in my inbox when a disgruntled former Gizmodo editor pinged me offering a tidy bounty. The full “back catalog of classified Gizmodo emails, some discussing Engadget,” as well as “access to Gizmodo’s tips account [that'd be where you could get all of Gizmodo's scoops, or even turn over their tipsters to the companies they're leaking about]” and the “master list of Gizmodo online sources, which is a great aid.” Without hesitation, I turned this person (and any data they could make use of) over to Brian and owner of Gizmodo/Gawker Media, Nick Denton, for them to deal with as they saw fit.

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<![CDATA[With Engadget nemesis gone, Gizmodo editor soft-retires]]> After two years at the helm of the gadget blog, Gizmodo editor Brian Lam has gotten himself kicked upstairs. The former Wired staffer will now focus on live event coverage as an assistant managing editor for our mutual parent company, Gawker Media. Lam will also retain an "editorial director" title at Gizmodo — I'm not sure what that means except someone's been reading too many Condé Nast mastheads. Lam became a gadget-geek cult hero for his aggressive competition with former Engadget editor Ryan Block, who split last month to launch a startup called GDGT. (Lam's even helping Block out as an advisor.) Here's an excerpt of the announcement from Gawker's internal mailing list.

Significant staffing changes at Gizmodo to announce today: Jason Chen is now the editor of Gizmodo. Brian Lam is becoming the site's editorial director as well as an assistant managing editor of Gawker Media focusing on live events. Brian will still spend the majority of his time overseeing Gizmodo, only now he will dedicate more of his time to expanding Gizmodo's presence through features, reader meet-ups, and a curated gadget pop-up store among other projects. Jason, who has always been Brian's right-hand ninja assassin and is easily one of the top pageview earners in the entire network, will take over the site's day-to-day operations. As AME, Brian will focus on organizing and running live events coverage across the network. Brian's mastery of field work (video, photo and live blogging) has surpassed my own. Spreading this knowledge to other editors in the network will benefit everyone, and expand the amount of live events coverage overall. Congrats to both.

(Photo by Brian Solis)

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<![CDATA[Gizmodo vs. Engadget in Wired — the 100-word version]]> The April issue of Wired has a lengthy piece on gadget blogs. Most of the focus is on Gizmodo (disclosure: Valleywag is owned by Gawker Media, parent company to Gizmodo) and the rise of the gadget blogs in influence and reach. It's worth a read, but if you're too busy frantically reloading Engadget and Gizmodo to read the whole thing, we've tagged the high points below.

  • "This is a business where every minute counts," Lam wrote.
  • Like a couple of rival hometown newspapers, Engadget and Gizmodo have seen their competition develop into a full-blown feud, complete with charges of malfeasance and sabotage. Gizmodo's publisher, blogging impresario Nick Denton, has accused Engadget of being "amateurish" and "gullible."
  • [Engadget editor] Ryan Block, for his part, offered only minimal comment for this story: Lam is a former Wired contributor and assistant editor, and Block said he was concerned that Lam's relationship with the magazine would prevent Engadget from getting a "fair shake." He even forbade Engadget employees from talking to me at CES.
  • "They have audience, and they have influence. They are right up there with Walt Mossberg." As a Samsung spokesperson puts it: "Gadget blogs are the future of the world for us."
  • "They have to figure out what they want to be when they grow up," says David Pogue, who reviews technology for The New York Times and reads both blogs regularly. "And they are going to continue to stub their toes along the way."
  • Despite the heated competition, neither site appears to be damaging the other's popularity. Most business battles revolve around a scarce resource — audience or customers or money. But in this case, the battle for readers is not a zero-sum game. "Nothing stops people from going to both," says Jeff Jarvis, media blogger and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism. "This is a natural state of media. It's good for everyone."
  • Victories and bragging rights are won in seconds. Lam talks about renting a different apartment so he can be on a FedEx route that receives deliveries before Block.
  • Engadget is cool and straitlaced. (One typically direct headline: "Sprint Announces Massive Layoffs, Store Closings Amid Subscriber Defection.") Gizmodo revels in cheap jokes and hedonism. Its writers regularly proclaim their love of alcohol, marijuana, and Jessica Alba. Las Vegas would seem to be a very dangerous place for them.
  • Around 5 pm, Jason Calacanis — who cofounded Engadget's parent, Weblogs, Inc., and sold it to AOL in October 2005 — inadvertently wanders into Gizmodo territory. Calacanis immediately spouts off: "Fuck Gizmodo. Engadget rules." Then he throws up three fingers twisted into the shape of an E, the Engadget gang sign.

    Calacanis' outburst is a reminder of what really motivates both sites — more than money or prestige, it comes down to a frat-like rivalry, driven by boyish egos and measured in pageviews.

  • Richard Blakeley, a cameraman for Gawker Media and Gizmodo, was armed with a little device called TV-B-Gone. He prowled the floor, extinguishing the demos and displays that are CES' lifeblood. Four days later, however, Lam posted a story titled "Confessions: The Meanest Thing Gizmodo Did at CES," which included a video documenting the escapade.

    Four days after he uploaded the clip, he posted a response to his many critics: "Bloggers and trade journalists, so desperate for a seat at the table with big mainstream publications, have it completely backward ... No matter how much access the companies give us, we won't ever stop being irreverent."

    Not as long as it pays off. The TV-B-Gone video received some 679,000 views by February 22, making it Gizmodo's most popular CES story.

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<![CDATA[Gizmodo chief Brian is a sleepy little Lam]]> Blogging can be tiring, especially when you blog blog blog almost nonstop like Gizmodo's Brian Lam. When you're reporting from a show like CES where there is so much stuff to cover, you have to grab a few minutes to rest whenever you can. Don't worry, Brian. It'll all be over soon. Lam told us he used to tease Walt Mossberg about his age but stopped when he realized that the 60-year-old Wall Street Journal columnist has more energy than he does. (Photo by Curtis Walker)

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<![CDATA[Fake quote a real honor for Gizmodo editor]]> What a Christmas present: Gizmodo editor Brian Lam has been fake-quoted by The Onion. Paul Boutin, our very special correspondent, still talks about the day — five years ago, people — that he got the Onion treatment. And yes, I'm jealous. (Disclosure: Gawker Media publishes both Valleywag and Gizmodo, which means I get to rag on Lam about this at staff meetings.)

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<![CDATA[The perils of drunkblogging]]> "Quick, post the pictures before you sober up!" the ever-helpful Paul Boutin emails me. I'd love to, Paul, but it seems that Brian Lam, gadget expert, forgot to put charged-up batteries in this superhigh-tech, amazingly unusable Sony camera he lent me. Thanks, Brian. This is why he's running a gadget blog and I make fun of venture capitalists for a living, people.

I managed to snap this one pics-or-it-didn't-happen piece of photographic evidence. It proves that good times were had by yours truly and Eric Eldon of VentureBeat. After that, I put down my now-useless, superhigh-tech, amazingly unusable Sony camera, which if I haven't mentioned it, was lent to me by my good friend Brian Lam, gadget expert. I look prettier with a lemon drop in my hand than a camera anyway. Flickr photo sluts Terry Chay and Jeremy Pepper were also there, so you can check their streams for more.

Oh, and confidential to Caroline McCarthy of News.com: You were missed. And much discussed. No, we're not telling you what was said about you. Hope you enjoyed those Mission margaritas, babe, but let me tell you, nothing's sweeter than Valen's cocktails, and nothing's more bitterly delicious than North Beach gossip.

Did I mention that Brian Lam, my good friend, was a gadget expert? And that he lent me a camera?

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<![CDATA[What Gizmodo and Valleywag talk about when they're not working]]> Gizmodo editor Brian Lam and I had the following conversation on AIM this morning:
GadgetFanBoi google is talking about the gphone
GadgetFanBoi lets get on the conference call
Valleyfag I'm on the IAC call
Valleyfag Way bigger deal for me than a frickin' PHONE THAT DOESN'T EXIST
GadgetFanBoi =)
GadgetFanBoi lol
GadgetFanBoi you should post that
(Disclosure: Lam and I are paid to goof off on AIM by the same guy.)

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<![CDATA[Engadget factchecks Gizmodo on Apple rumors]]> Chastened by the $4 billion loss it inflicted on Apple shares in May, Engadget has started more rigorous factchecking. Of other blogs. Our sister site Gizmodo was taken in by a fraudulent tipster — a 16-year-old Australian with the same name as a Google product manager, which lent his email just enough credibility for a Gizmodo writer to run it. Editor Brian Lam, embarrassed, issued a complete retraction. Boy, do I know how that feels. Of course, Gizmodo's item ran on a Sunday, when it couldn't affect the public markets — and the minor Apple hardware updates promised in the faux tip were unlikely to move the stock, in any event. Memo to my Gizmodo colleagues: Next time you screw up, try to make it matter a bit more, will you?

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<![CDATA[Facebook to the rescue!]]> Fans of Time Inc. tech title Business 2.0 have taken the bold step of starting a Facebook group to show their support for the troubled publication. So far, the group has amassed over 50 members, including Business 2.0 editor Josh Quittner, Quittner's wife, New York Times columnist Michelle Slatalla, Gizmodo editor Brian Lam, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, and LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman. Oh, and former Business 2.0 editor and my new boss Owen Thomas. Let's hope this roster of Valley luminaries is more effective than other futile Facebook groups, such as the 29,359 people who believe strongly in removing the "is" from the Facebook status message.]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=279518&view=rss&microfeed=true