Gawker: valleywag, morgan webb

John Battelle feels like he needs more money

Owen Thomas — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:31:35 EDT

Private Equity Hub reports that Federated Media, the online ad network, has raised $4.5 million in a second round of funding, not long after raising $2 million in venture capital, on top of some seed funding. This, of course, after rumors that FM was "overdue" in raising more funds. We're not sure what founder John Battelle plans to do with all that cash, but perhaps, just perhaps, he might want to bankroll some hair-replacement therapy for FM videoblogger Morgan Webb.

Videoblogger Morgan Webb shows some skin

Owen Thomas — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:46:05 EDT

TechThatOut believes it's caught Morgan Webb, host of derivative, me-too, copycat tech videoblog WebbAlert, exposing her ... scalp? The screenshot is a bit blurry, raising questions about whether Webb is actually missing some follicles or just had her hair pulled back too tightly. But it does make one wonder why TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington went gaga and declared her "fairly hot." A quick survey of Valleywag's temporary officemates got a different ruling: "fairly scary." But there's something equally scary, and even balder, about WebbAlert.

WebbAlert discloses on its website that it has "barter arrangements" with other FM-represented sites. But that's not the sales pitch that Webb's husband, Listen.com founder Rob Reid, gave some FM bloggers. Contrary to what the WebbAlert site claims, Reid made suggestions of link-swapping that went beyond mere ad barters. And from the appearance of things, Arrington, among others, took the bait, linking generously to WebbAlert after its launch. Federated Media executives, of course, insisted it was all just a coincidence. Of course. We'll just try not to notice the ethical bald spot here.

Horny Michael Arrington's new lust object

Owen Thomas — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:14:41 EDT

It appears that Michael Arrington is no longer devastated by the abrupt departure on Tuesday of Julia Allison, the New York-based TV commentator he'd begged to stay in town after she flew in for his TechCrunch9 party. The TechCrunch editor has found a new lust object: Morgan Webb, host of WebbAlert, yet another online tech-news show with a busty host in the vein of Rocketboom. After the jump, the hilarious homina-homina that the horny hetero slipped into his review.

Says Michael Arrington:

As an aside, she's also fairly hot — Webb's pictures have been in FHM and Maxim magazine, and in April she was voted the 51st sexiest woman in the world in a FHM survey.

Well, folks, now you know the real way to get your startup into TechCrunch. You don't have to send flowers, or show up unannounced at Arrington's doorstep. You just have to have long hair and a killer rack. Valley foxes, take note.

"How many of these ghastly tech reports can anyone watch?" asks a friend of Valleywag. One, of course — the one with the hottest chick. WebbAlert is sure to do some damage — to, say, the GigaOm Show. Blogger Om Malik, with his face for radio and voice for magazines, just can't compete with the likes of Morgan Webb, even with comely cohost Joyce Kim.

To save his show, Malik should turn it over completely to Kim. And he'd better do it soon. More competition is on the way: We hear that NakedNews.com is launching NakedTechNews.com. Now that's sure to get an Arrington review.