Gawker: valleywag, mashable

Web 2.0 Proposal Produces Twitter Storm

Ryan Tate — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:56:42 EDT

The proposer: Adam Hirsch, COO of geek business hub Mashable. The courted: Sharon Feder, Mashable's Managing Editor. The location: On stage at the Social Good conference at the 92nd St. Y. And the verdict?

A complete success, from a social networking standpoint; word of the proposal filled fully 11 pages of Twitter search results, or 165 tweets, including half a dozen between the kneel and the young lady's answer. One, Allie Burns, snapped the picture above and quickly uploaded it to Twitpic. For a cohort that increasingly judges itself through the very narrow lens of Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, Vimeo and other social networks, that sort of visibility makes a moment very special indeed.

As for the actual real-life verdict? She said yes. And if these two managed to work at Mashable and co-found canine networking site My Social Dog, well, then there's no wild dream their imaginations can't bring to life.

After the proposal, by Leora Israel:

The Twitterati Have One of Those Days

Owen Thomas — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:28:54 EST

Ever worked from home, felt sad, drank coffee, had a Hot Pockets, and reminisced? Then you know exactly how Politico's Patrick Gavin, web comic Alex Blagg and new media flack Leslie Bradshaw felt today.

Politico's Patrick Gavin got things done.

Mashable writer Mark Drapeau craved caffeine.

Microsoft-employed Web comedian Alex Blagg reminisced about the days before the death of print.

New media flack Leslie Bradshaw felt lightheaded and had a Hot Pockets (the diet kind).

Gadget blogger Peter Rojas worked from his $1.6 million Lower East Side home.

Anyone else's tweets we should keep an eye on? Send us more Twitter usernames, please.

That's not a sweater, honey

Owen Thomas — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST

We certainly don't know what Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore does. We have even less of an idea how Adam Hirsch, the tech blog's COO, stays busy. Hand-cranking the site's server, perhaps, to save on electricity costs? In this just-unearthed Halloween photo sent in by a tipster, Hirsch seems to be short a piece of clothing. Can you think of a better caption? Leave it in the comments. The best will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: kfury, for "We can see Google from our campus!"

12 Presidential Poll and Electoral Projection Resources

valleywag.com — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:00:51 EDT

With the election for the President of the United States coming to a head on November 4th, people are more anxious than ever to get an of idea of how the race will turn out. Polls are being run daily and being reported via various news outlets, but wouldn’t it be nice to get an overall view of how the results may break down come election night? Here are 12 presidential poll and electoral projection resources that can help you get a better idea.

Which sites do you use for election polls and projections? Tell us about your favorite finds in the comments.

Electoral Map Projections

270ToWin.com - To win the election a candidate needs 270 electoral votes; this site shows you what the current projections are. Breaks down polls, runs simulations and gives you a detailed history on how each state has voted.

CNN Electoral Map - CNN gives you the current projections based on polls, but also lets you clear the map and run your own scenarios.

Electoral-Vote.com - A map of the electoral votes that is updated daily with the newest data on how the states are breaking down. They also offer information for congressional elections, animated maps, donation information and more.

ElectoralMap.net - This map is based off of the Intrade prediction market and can be backed up to May of 2008 to see how the map keeps changing.

FiveThirtyEight.com - 538 refers to the total number of electoral votes that are up for grab in the presidential election. The site provides you with a standard breakdown of how they see the electoral votes turning out, as well as news and in-depth analysis of possible election scenarios dependent on various factors.

Politico.com - The Politico’s map shows you the latest polling data, focusing heaviest on the states that are still too close to call and how they may swing to decide this election.

Washington Post Pick Your President Project - The Washington Post map will allow you to see either how the actual map is looking at this time, or work on your own version of the map to project different scenarios.

Poll Tracking

Gallup.com - The election 2008 poll results from Gallup, one of the best known polling companies.

Pollster.com - Tracks various polls and gives you updated charts on how each candidate is tracking. Also offers an electoral map as well as analysis of what each poll means.

RealClearPolitics.com - Features poll breakdowns by state. You can also see a national overview that shows you which candidate is in the lead in each state and by how many points.

USAElectionPolls.com - Brings together information on national and state polls, battleground polls, house & senate polls, and more.

USAToday.com - While USA Today’s map looks like an electoral vote tracker, it is a map of polls with color coding to give you an idea of the percentage of difference between the candidates.

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Another Cautious Report – Global Social Networking Ad Spend Estimates Lowered
EMarketer Releases Podcast Numbers; Probably Slightly Off
Is It Time For Yahoo To Accept Microsoft’s Bid? [Poll]
Startup Hacks: An Early Stage Checklist

Yahoo’s Swiss Army Search Knife Inquisitor Now Out for Firefox and IE

valleywag.com — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:01:16 EDT

The team at Yahoo Search has been involved with what is browser-based search assist for some time. For instance, they launched a feature literally titled Yahoo Search Assist in mid-2007.

And earlier this year the company acquired the exclusively Apple Safari-friendly plugin Inquisitor, which, in addition to scouring an engine like Yahoo for relevant material, suggests additional keywords, and grants easy access to sites like Flickr and Wikipedia. Today Yahoo says it has pushed Inquisitor past its once Safari-only existence to include options for Firefox and Internet Explorer users as well.

Yahoo and Inquisitor have made sure to maintain the visual traits of Inquisitor across the browsers now supported, which is just as well, given the fact that it always was a nice-looking bit of kit. But some enhancements beyond versions that have come before are in evidence and are certainly worth noting. This is particularly the case for those using IE 7 or 8. (Note: Inquisitor downloads now available for Firefox and IE are both in 1.0 beta stages.)

Yahoo claims that work done by its research department has enabled the company to enhance the search algorithm to present “more targeted results” to users. And in the space of IE, Inquisitor will quickly deliver items found within the bookmarks menu.

If you frequently create bookmarks, but don’t bother sorting them manually for fast perusal at a future time, this can certainly be helpful if you happen to condition yourself to trigger Inquisitor for regular Web searches. Of course, Firefox now allows users to tap the so-called “Awesome Bar” to easily access bookmarks hidden from plain view. And users can even search for items on specific sites through a special hot-key combination. But some users would likely find a more multifaceted search option with segmented results shown in aggregate more appealing.

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Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:

Yahoo Acquires Inquisitor to Target Safari Users
The Most Gorgeous Ajax Interface Ever!
New Del.icio.us Add-on Released, Jives With Firefox 3
Firefox 2 Security Fixes Released
Firefox 3: Not Worried About 80% of Bugs
400 Million Firefox Downloads
Meebo Firefox Extension Now Live

Mashable founder proves he loves brown sugar

Jackson West — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Young master Peter Cashmore of Mashable ditched the vest for the last party before repatriating to Blighty one step ahead of immigration officials. Here he's caught savoring a sweet cupcake with a come-hither glint in his eye. Proffer a different headline in the comments, and the most cunning linguist will be crowned with a new title on this post. Yesterday, emnem had the climactic entry with "Eric Shmidt and wife Wendy seen in Valleywag Green #61b335." (Photo by Andrew Mager)

The hardest working suit vest in the blog business

Alaska Miller — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore will say goodbye to his American friends tonight in San Francisco. The faux-blogging CEO caps off his six-month visa stay with a party, booze, food, and — as always — startup pitches. The Scottish whirlwind came to the U.S. and stayed long enough to snag a documentary, as well as gals left, right, and sometimes both sides. What's the secret? Perhaps it's his dapper outfit. We chronicle Pete's magical suit vest:

February 23, 2008:
FlashMash Meet NYC

Februrary 25, 2008:

Valleywag

March 10, 2008:
SXSW '08

March 11, 2008:

Valleywag

March 12, 2008:
Rana Sobhany's Rock Band Party

March 13, 2008:

(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

March 18, 2008:
Tumblr/Rock Band party

March 31, 2008:
Mashable/Causecast drinkup

April 5, 2008:

Valleywag

April 11, 2008:
PopCrunch 2008

April 22, 2008:
Web 2.0 Expo/Digg party

June 7, 2008:

(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

June 18, 2008:

(Photo by Brian Solis/bub.blicio.us)

July 15, 2008:

Valleywag

July 18, 2008:
LA Mashable Tour

July 20, 2008;

SummerMash LA

August 21, 2008:
Mashable Monthly

September 20, 2008:
Blog World Expo

September 30, 2008:

(Photo by Mark Heithoff/DETAILS)
October Details magazine profile.

(Top photo by Caroline McCarthy)

In today's news, I met Al Gore!

Paul Boutin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:00:00 EDT

GigaOm's Om Malik and Mashable's Pete Cashmore like to present themselves as leaders of a new kind of Web 2.0 journalism. Both turned up at Current TV's offices Friday, ostensibly to cover Current's Twitter-enhanced coverage of the first Presidential debate. Truth is, Current's publicists had called reporters to tip us off that executive chairman of the board Al Gore would be there. Gore didn't bother to use Twitter himself — he didn't even stick around for the debate. But he did take time to pose for photos.

Malik and Cashmore, perhaps taking a cue, didn't do any real reporting on the event, leaving that to Threat Level and Laughing Squid. The two simply blogged their Al-and-me pictures as news stories on GigaOm and Mashable, bringing themselves one step closer to the old media stereotype of the vain reporter who can't stop inserting himself into the story — or in this case, into the non-story.

Blog about Six Apart's blog software unblogged

Owen Thomas — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:40:00 EDT

How absurd: Six Apart, the blog-software maker which has helped so many bloggers overturn the staid, outdated conventions of journalism and PR, has tried to use an embargo to quash news of a software upgrade until 9 p.m. tonight. Mashable published the news earlier this morning, and then yanked its story. The software in question, Movable Type Pro, is an anodyne improvement, turning MT's existing commenter features into a social network. Why this news ought to be released in a coordinated fashion is beyond me; for that matter, why it's interesting is also beyond me, since Six Apart has been trying to get into the social-network business since its ill-fated purchase of LiveJournal in 2005. News.com, admirably, has kept its post online. Here's Mashable's now-unpublished report by writer Kristen Nicole:

A couple of months ago Six Apart launched a new initiative that provided custom ad options aimed to offer more engaging ways for brands to interact with content producers and consumers, thanks in part to its acquisition of Apperceptive. Things seemed to have worked well for Six Apart as a result, and the next step for the blogging software creator is a new self-service option for site publishers to add social networking capabilities to their online publications with the upgraded Movable Type Pro (MT Pro).

This combines Movable Type’s blogging platform with social networking features, which is something that many traditional and new media sites have begun to do in the past couple of years for branding purposes and additional engagement with consumers. Many traditional media companies have found this to be a challenging task given the existing crossover audience and lack of integration with publishers’ content for consumers’ purposes.

Now that companies have begun to find more productive ways of interacting with their customers online, Six Apart is capitalizing on this growing necessity with additional social networking tools that can be integrated with the Movable Type blogging platform. This will include things like social media content aggregation capabilities for users, more ways for users to share and contribute items, forums, groups, and more.

I asked Chris Alden, CEO of Six Apart, and a few of his team members how brands are hoping to use any of this user-generated content that’s coming through these newly enhanced blogs and online publications, and he mentioned that things like forums and content aggregation are quite popular, though there may not be a direct way in which brands will be using the content per say. Being part of the conversation, however, is priceless. “Even if it’s sharing content that they find interesting across the Web is contributing content,” said Alden, “aggregating is important for these larger companies. It’s not theoretical anymore. It’s real.”

Along with the new MT Pro launch, Six Apart is also releasing Movable Type 4.2, which is the most recent version of its platform. It comes with a handful of new and improved features, including enhanced performance, simplified default templates for easy “quick start” blogs, and open source TypePad Anti-spam built in.

Cashmore's Kazakhstani wedding pics

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore makes a living throwing parties. Tumblr founder David Karp seems to get by on going to them, if only to make people say, "Why who's that fellow dressed so much like, Chuck Bass, and how can I join any website he's created?" This must explain why the two make such good dancing partners. But won't Iminlikewithyou founder Charles Forman get jealous? Write your own caption for this post and we'll use the best one as its new title. Friday's winner is bloggerman with "And in the end the stock you take is equal to the mess you make."

One bubble Pete Cashmore would like to pop

Jackson West — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Careful, Pete — get too handsy and we hear Niles could happy slap you back to Blighty, as when she's not appearing in Californication or on French Maid TV, she practices kung fu and holds a second degree black belt. Maybe next time she can torture him into confessing what, exactly, he does besides show up at parties to pose with hotties. Can you come up with a better caption? Do so in the comments. The best one will become this post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: "Lectroid Julia Bigboote's pheromonic camouflage fails at the worst possible moment " by matto. (Photo by Marc Salsberry)

Want more traffic? Throw your widgets overboard

Paul Boutin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:40:00 EDT

"Some blogs, like TechCrunch and Mashable are so loaded with widgets that they take at least 30 seconds to fully render," gripes a post by frequent Valleywag commenter Alan Wilensky. So true! When I was a website producer, I used to plot page load times versus daily pageviews. Load speed affected traffic — and hence revenue and brand reach— far more than I could convince my managers.

The time it takes before the main text and/or images load matter, too, because most readers will start reading the page as soon as there's something to look at, rather than waiting for everything to settle into place. Dave Winer's Scripting News is a living lesson in speed over flash. I hit Dave's site once a day because I know it'll take under 10 seconds to load the page, scroll down it for Valleywag-grade dirt, and then move on to another site. Yet for whatever reason, I've never been able to personally convince anyone to lighten up a heavy front door. Oh, everyone who cares uses RSS now. Tech people have the best excuses for laziness.

Mashable indeed

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Now that we all finally know what Mashable does — throw parties and charge admission — maybe you can help us write a better caption for this photo, more evidence that when you've got to get something off your chest, Pete Cashmore will be there to watch you do it. We'll rename the post after the best one. Monday's winner was abmw with: "Does that sandwich come with an RSS feed?"

What is Mashable? At long last, we've found the answer

Melissa Gira Grant — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:20:00 EDT

What's not nearly as sexy as Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore? Having to tease out an audience with discoveries like "An Almost Perfect Web-Based Twitter Management Tool." Yes, Twitter traffic is growing fast, but the vast majority of people in the world haven't discovered Twitter yet, let alone realized it's something they need to manage.

But readers who think that having "Twitter management" issues is a problem that only very important people like themselves have can be lucrative — you just have to be more creative in monetizing such people, rather than trying to sell ads. (Heck, Mashable can barely give them away.) Having a Twitter crisis is just the thing those "influencers" might brag about. At a party, even. Perhaps a party thrown by Pete Cashmore. A party which charges money for admission and has a cash bar, we're told by someone with a Twitter management problem. Which bubble is Mashable blowing again? Or is that what Mashable's actually for? (Photo by Andrew Mager)

"It's my pleasure to announce the king and queen of the Valleywag Prom... Jimmy Wales and Julia Allison!"

Jackson West — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Mashable was in town to do what they do best — throw parties. For CEO Pete Cashmore's sake, let's hope the faux blogger is doing a Morrissey impersonation and not Ian Curtis. Have a better caption? The best one will become the new headline. Friday's winner: "They put #$*&@! Sanger back in my bio, again!? " by mrfomoco.(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

Anyone got a cigar they want me to light?

Owen Thomas — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Pete Cashmore, the blogger impersonator and CEO of Mashable, waves his wad at an Internet Week party in New York. Can you suggest a better caption? Do so in the comments. The best one will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: "I'm leaving, Larry said there'd be girls here," by 26footjasontaylor.
(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

Pick your career poison: Part-time Mahalo guide vs. Pete Cashmore's personal assistant

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:20:00 EDT

The class of 2008 has already begun to realize the tragedy of actually having to work for a living. Cheer up, kiddos; it could be worse. You could be employed, part-time, cutting and pasting Google search results for Jason Calacanis's Mahalo. Or you could serve as Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore's personal assistant — the entry-level gigs facing off in our third matchup to determine the worst job in tech. Vote below.

When we wrote up our list of tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs, we figured Cashmore will pay his assistant around $55,000 per year. But since, we've learned that number is well high of the mark. Readers figured Cashmore will pay $51,000 per year. We've heard Mahalo pays guides between $30,000 and $35,000 per year, but commenters on our original post told us we got it wrong. Wrote Richeem:

Figuring Mahalo's current pricing for the average page, wait time for acceptance, and any other factors a "good" ptg would be lucky to make $50/day. I highly doubt they are accepting more than 5 pages per day per ptg! Specially given the fact they have 120+ pages pending review.

Readers later guessed $32,000 per year.

In our last matchup, working as a Microsoft Windows support professional handily trounced the Yahoo finance internship in our last matchup, 59 percent to 41 percent.

Guess how much tech's 10 worst jobs pay

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:00:00 EDT

To come up with the estimated pay for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs we spoke to former and current employees, HR reps and friends of friends working these jobs. But still, some of our commenters expressed disbelief over the salary estimates. "80 grand for an entry level job? Time to apply and kick those whiney losers out! Let's see how they feel about their new job bagging groceries at the Safeway," wrote mwbeeler. Loakim said:

Boo fucking hoo. I clicked through about 4 of those and if they are representative, then getting paid 60-70K right out of college at an "entry" level job is nothing to complain about, regardless of the "tough" working conditions (ceiling too low? CSR work? no windows? cubicle? oh the torture!!). I spent half my life to get a Ph.D. and will barely be making that as an asst professor at a major research university.

We like our estimates, but we're willing to bow to the wisdom of the crowd, or the madness thereof. Save for IODA's unpaid internship — no point in guessing there — we've created a poll for each job. Take your best guess.

By the way, if you actually work one of these jobs, create an anonymous Gmail account — or Yahoo Mail, if it's the Google job — and tell us the real number.

Review the job's key responsibilities, first-hand accounts, and how much we estimated it pays.
Is this your job? Let us know how much it actually pays.

(Photo by eston)

Tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:00:00 EDT

Soon America's most bright-eyed graduates will enter the workforce and make their workaday homes in cubes at Google, MySpace, or Amazon.com. And they will suffer not just the indignity of having to work for a living, but also the dispiriting realization that a job at a cool company isn't always that hot. These employers, and the others hiring for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs, listed below, will look spiffy on a resume someday, but for now the only good these jobs promise the world is the pleasant feeling you and I can share knowing we're not the ones stuck in them.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should note that I wouldn't have been able to get any of these jobs out of college. I didn't finish with a 3.8, do a year of service in Nicaragua or file any patents during my sophomore year. But the worst part of this list is the fact that the people taking these jobs did. To paraphrase Dan Lyons, there's something distinctly evil about the way Google and the other companies listed below hoard the world's best and brightest and put them to work on creating more efficient text ads or, worse, tasking them with taking phone calls from angry customers.

Follow the link for each job to see a picture of their locations, a list of key responsibilities, first hand accounts of why each job is so bad and how much they pay.

(Top photo by star5112)

Executive administrative assistant to Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:59:59 EDT

Executive admin to Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore

Key responsibilities:

You will process large volumes of email, forwarding them to appropriate department or translating them into action items and priority tasks.
Provide high level and comprehensive administrative support to the CEO and business development team, including complex calendaring and detailed travel plans and agendas.
Coordinate meetings, documents and other aspects of multiple project teams.
Prepare promotional materials for events and business development opportunities.
Ability to develop, implement, understand general startup business operations, work flows, and procedures as appropriate.
Effectively handle as much as possible on behalf of the CEO and business development, but exercise good discretion and judgment with regard to involving them as appropriate.
Ensure budgets, schedules, and performance requirements are met by company vendors related to office management.
Track leads and forward them on to appropriate departments.
5+ years related experience working in a very fast paced Web startup or VC environment.

Why so bad?

Cashmore's job — to talk on his cell phone, take cabs, and meet with the Internet famous — is now yours. Without the ad revenue or the fawning fans.

Estimated pay: $55,000. Apply!

Next: Analyst, user operations, Facebook
(Photo by n-re-k)