Gawker
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moguls
Facebook Movie Turns Sean Parker Into Rock Star
The blog ScriptShadow got hold of the first draft of Aaron Sorkin's Facebook movie. The verdict? The movie reads oddly mesmerizing, and has an unexpected hero: Sean Parker, an early investor in the social network. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Aaron Altman: I'll see this and the Gawker movie if and when. 2 Responses | Other threads
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celebrity computer science
Internet Somehow Survives Michael Jackson Funeral
Sure, the Department of Defense designed it to be military-grade rugged, but no one really knew if the internet could handle a memorial service webcast of a pop megastar. Oh, it was brutal. From a network engineering perspective. More »
7,356
By Ryan TateComment by deardearfriend: "Jackson chatter dominated and slowed Twitter." I think I'm gonna use some "Jackson chatter" on my boyfriend. 1 Responses | Other threads
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celebrity science
Michael Jackson Is Finally King of Facebook
As it has for so many other celebrities, death has bolstered Michael Jackson's image. The late pop singer just surpassed Barack Obama to hold the most popular page on Facebook. The numbers are pretty staggering: More »
5,892
By Ryan TateComment by heywhat: I'm in France now and no one here believes he is actually dead. They think it is a hoax and... 12 Responses | Other threads
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valleywag
Guy Who Passed on Backing Facebook Now Touting His Investing Savvy
Unemployment is through the roof, but Marc Andreessen just landed a new job: Venture capitalist. The Netscape co-founder officially has $300 million to play with, and that's all the more impressive for the black marks on his investing record. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Widget Economist: Giving venture capital to web businesses is the biggest disgrace when you really think about it. If this were a product... 3 Responses | Other threads
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00Dumbass
British Secret Agent Chief's Wife Outs Him As Speedo-Wearing Nazi Homie On Facebook
British secret agents are supposed to be exponentially smoother than their American counterparts. We get Ethan Hunt, they get James Bond. Except, not, because the chief of MI-6's wife had her Facebook profile set to public. Very public.
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By Foster KamerComment by maryloo: This is a media beatup. Whilst amusing does anyone seriously believe that organizations to whom this information would be useful such... 1 Responses | Other threads
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books
Facebook Tell-All Has Founders Banging Groupies in Bathroom Stalls
Ben Mezrich's forthcoming Facebook exposé was sold to film producers before it was even written. The Hollywood influence helps explain why the book answers such pressing questions as, "Who might the co-founders have conceivably boned, and where?"
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By Ryan TateComment by kolacek: I know I write some fairly shitty, angry, bitter commentary here on Gawker Media. But honestly...am I being punked? Because last time... 4 Responses | Other threads
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politics
Facebook Backer Peter Thiel Wants You to Know Environmentalism Will Kill Us All
Peter Thiel's objectivism and anti-immigration donations were hard enough for Silicon Valley colleagues to stomach. This attack ad he helped fund against climate-change legislation should be even less popular among California's Tesla-driving, cleantech-obsessed venture capitalists. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by foofybunny: Well, I never sell myself short, and consider myself a -huge- climate change slouch. Man caused it..? No science... 8 Responses | Other threads
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the cinema
The First Rule of Facebook Club Is...
Columbia Pictures is close to securing a director for its Facebook movie: David Fincher, of Fight Club fame, is reportedly in advanced talks. He'll be expected to move fast, before the market for a movie about the social network evaporates. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by TedSez: I enjoyed his previous computer-related movies, F-Se7en, Panic Switch, and The Curious Case of the Number-Lock Button. 2 Responses | Other threads
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memos
AP Tells Reporters To Muzzle Facebook Friends
Someone sent us the Associated Press' guidelines for staff social networking and, in keeping with company tradition, they're on the paranoid side. You should probably read them, since basically everyone in the world must now follow them. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by DrunkRobot: WTF? I may be wrong but if you work for the AP, you'd fall into one of three categories. Your... 1 Responses | Other threads
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books
Facebook Tell-All Released Into Wild
Facebook's creation myth has left the building, or so we hear: Fortune is said to be readying an excerpt of Ben Mezrich's tell-all book and movie about the social network. And another publication is, naturally, trying to ruin the scoop. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Niko Bellic: Apparently, our entire future depends on men who need to make a billion dollars just to get laid. 2 Responses | Other threads
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publishing
The Facebook Status Update That Could End Up a Movie
Sure, people have made books out of tweet collections and websites about emails and fatty foods, but has anyone parlayed a lone Facebook update into old-media glory? This might actually happen, insanely enough.
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By Ryan TateComment by Blue Plate Special: Hear that sound? That's dozens of unemployed screenwriters shooting themselves in the head. 5 Responses | Other threads
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cubicle culture
Facebook Heckling Rampage By Kara Swisher
As co-host of the Wall Street Journal's $5,000/head D conference, reporter Kara Swisher demands best behavior from her guests. Invite her to your startup, though, and she'll taunt your chef, heckle bizdev and mock your taste. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by babyjesus: who gives a fuck about kara swisher or anyones cafeteria? why don't you give us something juicy (intended) like why facebook... 2 Responses | Other threads
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Internerd Humor!
Have You Been Facesquatting?
Yes, Facesquatting: proportionally, the dirtiest term possible for the most inane thing it could be applied to, which, in this case, is taking a Facebook user name that's not yours. And now it's a hysterical, brainless internet meme. More »
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By Foster KamerComment by econdave: If your name was Obie Fernandez, would you really want to publicize that? I'm just trying to figure out what... 5 Responses | Other threads
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end times
Tonight Is the Nerd Reckoning
Run for your lives, Silicon Valley's terrifying nightlife is upon us! Any minute now, Twitter plans to start the party by assigning an extra-large numeric ID to a tweet, thus breaking various Twitter programs. Then Facebook makes its move. More » -
startups
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 »
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By Ryan TateComment by Moriturus: "It turns out Dell SOLD $3 million worth of computer gear through its Twitter feed alone, meaning it has MADE... 4 Responses | Other threads
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valleywag
The Comical Facebook Land Rush You Should Ignore
Sad Web nerds plan to stay in front of their computers late Friday night to obtain short, easy-to-remember Facebook addresses ("facebook.com/sadwebnerd"). It's the start of a geeky land grab! But true geeks know why this is stupid. More » -
journalismism
AP Spanks Reporter for Patently True Facebook Post
Richard Richtmyer is in trouble with his bosses at the Associated Press for something he wrote on Facebook. Did he burn a source? Trash a story subject? Worse: He mildly criticized one of AP's hundreds of members. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by ndhapple: More importantly, are they ever going to get around to fixing the clusterfuck of an unusable mess that is 'AP... 3 Responses | Other threads
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private equity
Peter Thiel's Depressing May
Even as Wall Street rallied last month, Peter Thiel's hedge fund lost close to $25 million, according to leaked documents obtained by Valleywag. Maybe this is why the PayPal founder has been grumpily calling people "frauds." More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Peoplefamiliarwith: Clarium Capital is a global macro fund. The S&P 500 isn't the appropriate benchmark to use with a... 3 Responses | Other threads
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real estate
Facebook Tries to Cool-ify Fuddy-Duddy Office
Facebook's making the best of its move from downtown Palo Alto to an old Hewlett-Packard building in the suburbs. As if to prove the campus is sufficiently cool, one engineer shot a video in which he skateboards through the building. Someone else took pictures. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Jackson West: If I'm not mistaken, I used to work in those buildings, which housed HPs Human Resources department among other things.... 1 Responses | Other threads
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health
Facebook Breast Ban Ended by Cancer Case
An outcry from breastfeeding mothers wasn't enough to get Facebook to lift its ban on "exposed breast" earlier this year. But a breast cancer awareness campaign has finally ended the absurdly broad restriction. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Mediahohoho: One of these days, America will join the rest of the world and realize that seeing breasts in different contexts--on... 8 Responses | Other threads
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facebook
Please Pay No Attention to the Scary Russian Oligarch Backing Facebook
It seems Facebook's new investor is keen to downplay its ties with "the hard man of Russia," an oligarch one critic called a "gangster and racketeer." How inconvenient, then, that said oligarch is reportedly buying up more shares. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Dr. Nick: to be fair, how many Russian oligarchs aren't gangsters and racketeers? 2 Responses | Other threads
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field guide
The 'Hard' Russian Oligarch Behind Facebook's New Money
The Financial Times reports that "among the biggest backers" of Facebook's new funder is Alisher Usmanov. He might be playing sugar daddy to a freewheeling social network, but the Russian oligarch is also known as a "devourer of websites" that dared to mention certain allegations about his past.
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By Ryan TateComment by BadUncle: so, this guy owns Arsenal. Roman Abromovich owns Chelsea. And Vladimir Romanov owns Hearts. Are there any Brit or Scot... 2 Responses | Other threads
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lawsuits
Facebook Disappears Legal Problem
Facebook settled a long-running trademark suit from Aaron Greenspan (pictured), the Harvard student whose "Universal Face Book" system predated Facebook and was used heavily by its founder before he publicly branded his own social network. Greenspan is just the latest mess Facebook has tidied up. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Tattertotter: Cute. Nice hair. Big hands. I am so unapologetically shallow. 12 Responses | Other threads
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deals
Why Facebook Insiders Should Cheer New Valuation
Facebook accepted a rumored funding round, taking $200 million from a Russian investment group. The deal values the company at $10 billion, a third less than what the company was supposedly worth a year and a half ago. But it could have been far worse. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Smitros: Any idea what the terms and conditions are? The though of getting a Superpoke from a Russian investment group is a... 1 Responses | Other threads
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bloglash
Bloomberg Forbids Mentioning Competitors, or Linking to Them
Bloomberg has distributed a policy to newsroom staff on blogging, Twittering and Facebook updating. And in keeping with the company's tyrannical management culture, the rules are far more authoritarian than similar admonitions recently dispensed at the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and elsewhere. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by lawnsprinkler: Not linking offsite sounds like the kind of forward-thinking policy that will allow old media to compete with the undisciplined... 1 Responses | Other threads
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startups
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 »
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By Ryan TateComment by Lizstless: I've said it before and I'll say it again. Twitter can start making money whenever they want, and they know... 2 Responses | Other threads
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housekeeping
Valleywag: An Instruction Manual
Dear Ryan:
As I head to NBC to run its Bay Area site, I'm leaving you one Silicon Valley gossip blog, used but in good condition. A few thoughts on how to keep it that way. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RheaPollstry: Is that Owen? Mmmmmm, I do luv me some bears. And working in a bar, no less! My heart is... 4 Responses | Other threads
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birthday wishes
Happy Birthday, Mark Zuckerberg! Welcome to the Rest of Your Life
What do you get the social-networking mogul who has everything? Click to see Valleywag's gift to the 25-year-old blunderkind CEO of Facebook! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: '50s-looking? They weren't using glass like that until the '90s. That's why the largest tree is 30 feet,... 1 Responses | Other threads
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schadenfreude
Peter Thiel's Richer Than You, But Not as Rich as He'd Like You to Think
It's one of many casually accepted, unchecked assumptions in Silicon Valley: Peter Thiel, the cofounder of PayPal and Facebook investor, is a billionaire, right? Leaked documents from his hedge fund, Clarium Capital, show he's not. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ADismalScience: I'd be shocked if you're right. 1.) 2006 is a faraway time. Most hedgies have seen the wisdom in putting less... 2 Responses | Other threads
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servicey
Get Paid to Tweet, Facebook and Comment on Blogs!
Jobs! Everybody needs one to pay for booze and porcelain figurine collections and such, right? We can't all be Ben Silverman and douche our way to the top! So we've been keeping an eye out! More »
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Comment by Private Hangnail: Crass marketing like this makes me feel dirty. It's time I wash with Dial™ brand hand soap. Dial™, the soap that... 4 Responses | Other threads
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Shut Up, Twitter
Finally, Twitter Learns When to Shut Up
The Twittersphere is up in arms over a move the message-broadcasting service made to make its site a bit less noisy: You can no longer easily eavesdrop on conversations with strangers. Hurrah!
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By Owen ThomasComment by Soup: There is a simple solution to this. Make it an option. The default can be set to turn off @... 5 Responses | Other threads
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twitterati
The Twitterati Panic Because Twitter's Down
What happens to the Twitterati when the site goes down for scheduled maintenance? Why, they temporarily turn into Facebookerati, lest the world be deprived of their every last thought. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by bichon: If a Twitter falls in the forest and no one's around, does it make a Tweet? 2 Responses | Other threads
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stalkers
Randi Zuckerberg's Excellent New York Adventure
Had an awesome week? Whatever. It was not as totally awesome as the week of Twittering Facebook chanteuse Randi Zuckerberg (of the Mark Zuckerberg Zuckerbergs). Except for the part where Julia Allison stalked her! More » -
principles
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Taxpayer Money
Clever libertarians don't just rail against government spending: They do something about it. Facebook investor Peter Thiel took $8 million from New York's pension fund — while setting himself up to avoid millions in taxes. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Carol Gardens: How is the Roth IRA situation even possible? Since you can only contribute $5000 per year? And it was even... 6 Responses | Other threads
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nerdfight
Rachel Maddow, Peter Thiel Show Why Gays and Lesbians Can't Get Along
What a fight! In one corner, Rhodes scholar Rachel Maddow, the liberal lesbian MSNBC commentator. In the other, arch libertarian chess master Peter Thiel, the gay Facebook investor. Best of all, they've squared off before. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Tremonius: Hey, she's already had on the top strategist for the Repugnants, Meghan McGoon, so why should she compete with Faux... 12 Responses | Other threads
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Our Robot Overlords
Facebook Relationships to Become More Robotic Than Ever
Oh great. Some geniuses in the Middle East are developing a robot with a Facebook account. Easier than it sounds, considering how mechanical our online interactions are anyway.
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By Owen ThomasComment by mattchew03: This makes the Facebook page my sister created for her dog sound legitimate. 2 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Could Apple Buy Twitter?
Facebook tried to buy Twitter. Google and Microsoft have been giving the red-hot Internet-messaging startup the eye. But we hear it's Apple that's closest to sealing a deal, possibly for as much as $700 million.
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By Owen ThomasComment by babyjesus: mission hipsters build websites? i thought they were all chillin in smoke shops waiting for the 1st and the 15th... 4 Responses | Other threads
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the internet
How Long Before the NYT Shuts Down Its Scandalous Twitterers?!
In January, the New York Times' standards editor issued guidelines about how editorial staffers are allowed to use Facebook and other scary online tools. Is reporter Twittering making a mockery of those guidelines? Let's explore! More »
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Comment by SultanaEleusis: Name me two people who wish The Times ill! Okay, name me two million, along with their middle initials... 1 Responses | Other threads
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geek love
Love in the Age of SMS
Things were simpler when the only medium for asking someone out was the telephone. Text messaging, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have complicated romance, if not ruined it, the Washington Post reports. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by serpentinefire: I don't know if this is related, but facebook (along with deeply embedded emotional and abandonment issues) makes it really... 12 Responses | Other threads
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hackers
The Latest Facebook Scam
Oh no! There's a site which tricks you into handing over your personal information for its own nefarious, moneymaking schemes! It's called Facebook. Oh, also, people are all upset because FBstarter.com is stealing their passwords.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Awesome X: Oh hell. So because of this spammers might be able to comment?!? This is what happens when you have too... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Sat Jul 11
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