Gawker: valleywag, steve gillmor

Unconference made unbearable by unattendees

Paul Boutin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Friday's Bear Hug Camp, a software developer's meetup to discuss Twitter-like "microblogging" services, proved Internet commenters can prickle even the grizzliest Web 2.0 advocate. "Steve Gillmor decided to look at feedback on the Twitter and Identica services," a tipster emailed. "After reading out loud multiple comments calling him an A**hole, as well as other choice words, Gillmor commented he didn't want to do this anymore and made Leo Laporte take over, despite Leo's plea for him to stay." We waited for the video. It takes forever to watch, so here's the summary: At 11:40 into Session 3, Gillmor packs up and walks off ("OK, take care..."), leaving the event in the hands of Laporte, a TV host turned videoblogger, but he returns at 1:22:15 to take over an API whiteboarding session. You can check out any time you like, Steve, but you can never leave.

PodTech fuckup roundup

Nick Douglas — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:21:50 EDT

PodTech, the video podcast network apparently dedicated to screwing over as many people as possible without actually profiting from it, has dropped so many fresh cowpies that I need to pack OH MY GOD SIX STINKING STORIES into one post, just so I don't overload and nauseate the people who aren't gleefully watching this bullshit company get properly prison-raped.

Congrats to kind-of-failed, kind-of-hit-on-our-friends-despite-being-married-and-gross entrepreneur Steve Gillmor on making a PodTech show that's a combination of someone halfway through Michael Moore Filmmaking School, someone 1/3-way through Alcoholics Anonymous, and someone 1/4-way through kindergarten! (And congrats to Kevin Marks for his polite British smackdown of such!)
Congrats to hard-working videoblogger Steve Garfield for finally getting (or so we hear) the statuette he won at PodTech's 2006 Vloggie Awards, six months after other winners got theirs. We know how much reminding they needed before they'd try to patch up the issue while lying to the public about it.
Congrats to the entertaining Geek Entertainment TV for getting sponsorship from Go Daddy, after PodTech reneged on their promise to buy this interview show. (The show is now happily independent as before.)
Congrats to entertaining videoblogger Casey McKinnon of Galacticast for getting PodTech to deliver on some of their promises, and for being funny about the promises they break.
Congrats to PodTech employee Robert Scoble for hinting elsewhere that we should write about something he did! But he is boring and we're starting to feel bad, as if we were mocking Corky on Life Goes On, but if Corky was kind of an asshole! So no! Instead we should concentrate on PodTech founder John Furrier.
Congratulations to photographer Lan Bui for finally getting compensated for the photo PodTech illegally blew up and used in a kiosk display without his permissi—oh, after several months, PodTech still hasn't paid Lan. Oops! Guess we'll save that for another edition of the PodTech fuckup roundup!

Bonus stat for those wondering why PodTech can't afford to buy decent shows, or to pay Lan Bui's little $3000 (industry-standard in the case of use without permission) charge: PodTech got a $5.5 million investment in March 2006, but we hear they had trouble raising the $30 million they want. So will the company repay its victims before it tanks? TUNE IN NEXT TIME!

Mike Fights: The battles of TechCrunch's Michael Arrington

Nick Douglas — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 20:25:39 EDT

What happened to the nice Mike Arrington? We don't pretend to know, but now that the formerly friendly TechCrunch blogger has transformed into Fighting Mike, here's a round-up of his feuds and feuds-to-come.

Carr Wars: Mike insists that he doesn't avoid tech author Nick Carr because Carr called TechCrunch a whorehouse. Instead, it's Nick's bullying of others that gets Mike on edge.

Gillmor Gangbuster: A frequent guest on friend Steve Gillmor's "Gillmor Gang" podcast, Mike resigned during the last episode, claiming Carr's bully attitude drove him off. A week later, Mike says he's coming back. Steve says he's glad to have Mike back, even if that means the Gillmor Gang will turn into a trash-talking session instead of the comfortably boring tech talk it used to be.

No Valleywag at my party: After a certain gossip blog posted an e-mail from Mike, he banned that gossiper from his upcoming 500-person party. Now Mike's posted some of our mail in return, sending the hint that we'll have to pick up our beer and cake elsewhere.

You can't go Om again: Tech blogger Om Malik has more chops and a bolder attitude toward scoops than Mike. But he hasn't gained as much momentum, thanks to fewer and shorter blog posts. Now that Om has funding and a team of writers, will he stay friends with Mike, or will competition drive the two pundits apart?

Netscape scrape: Netscape's offer to hire away top users from other social news sites raises a red flag, says Mike. He thinks Netscape head Jason Calacanis is spinning a desperate move as an innovation in user economics. Jason counters, saying he'd planned to pay defectors from day one. So far, Mike let him have the last word.

Troll hunt: Like any blogger of stature, Mike's fighting an army of trolls, many of them anonymous, who leave nasty comments on his posts. Overwhelmed with the criticism, Mike's decided to delete comments at will. Nothing wrong with that — it's his blog, isn't it? — but so far the effect is like whacking a beehive with a baseball bat. Now the trolls are sending their deleted comments to anyone who will listen.

Honorable mentions
Ripping into Jigsaw
9rules don't play by my rules
I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed

Remainders: Your alter ego is named "Kind of a dick"

Nick Douglas — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 21:28:11 EDT

You can make yourself famous by programming at a social network. [Craigslist]
But you can make yourself more famous by not programming at all. [Steve Yegge]
Six Apart is censoring Tribe.net founder Mark Pincus, who uses their TypePad service. [Mark Pincus]
Whizzr, hoflickr, and mulletbook: three dot-com mashups the world never asked for. [Dead 2.0]
It's true, Gillmor Gang podcast host Steve Gillmor core-dumped spicey details of his career to me off the record. That's why I need you to guess what he said and report it, so I can print that. [Steve Gillmor's Inforouter]
Sorry, kids, no more free iPods in return for selling out your friends. [Bad Mark]
Half a million bank workers protest outsourcing. Why is this funny? Click through. [Financial Times]
BBC techie Ben Metcalfe says it's okay that he scandalized his employer — it was his alter ego "dotBen" that did it. Wow, I want an alter ego too! Mine is named Bonecrusher! What's yours? [Ben Metcalfe]
The bookie BetUS.com handicaps the race for Top Technorati-linked Blog. [BetUS]

A chat with a crazy uncle: Begging Steve Gillmor for info

Nick Douglas — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:27:55 EDT

Everyone knows that TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington had a falling out with tech writer Nick Carr on the Gillmor Gang podcast. But Gang host Steve Gillmor hasn't published that part of the show. (He's released Part 1, which consists of everyone trashing Valleywag. It's cute.) In the meantime, we've deduced how it went down. Unsatisfied with that, I tried to wrangle some coherent explanation out of Steve. Here's a long snippet of the conversation.

Valleywag: i want to know so i can quote you: what really happened between arrington and carr?
Steve Gillmor: no way to know what someone else really thinks, is there

Wag: what did YOU see go down?
Steve: not much, seeing as how we do the show on the phone
Wag: har. what'd you hear?
Steve: well, I announced that I am moving to Valleywag "if he'll have me."
Wag: so you mentioned
Wag: but about arrington and carr
Wag: what'd arrington say about carr?
Steve: great gouys, friends of mine
Steve: has he written anything about this?
Wag: like i said, carr wrote that arrington refused to return to the gang if carr was part of it.
Steve: I saw that
Wag: is that what you heard happen?
Steve: well, until the show is released nothing happened wouldn't you say

About that time, I cried uncle. We'll have to wait for Steve to release the rest of the show.

Photo by Simon Phipps [Flickr]
Earlier: A guide to the Gillmor Gang and its latest nerdfight

Another guide to the Gillmor Gang for anyone who's still confused

Nick Douglas — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:39:18 EDT

If today's lengthy introduction to the Gillmor Gang didn't explain who Steve Gillmor, Michael Arrington, Nick Carr, and Jason Calacanis are, this simple chart ought to do it. Below are the names, positions, and recent exploits of four highly respected members of the tech industry.

Earlier: A guide to the Gillmor Gang and its latest nerdfight

A guide to the Gillmor Gang and its latest nerdfight

Nick Douglas — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:48:28 EDT

So the weekly podcast "The Gillmor Gang" is in limbo as members Michael Arrington, Steve Gillmor, and Nick Carr fight their personal demons. I'm wondering the same thing you are about this tiff: Who are these guys, what's their problem, and why should I care?

The short version: Michael is the TechCrunch blog founder with a heart of gold. Nick is the linkbaiting hard-ass. Steve hosts a podcast, which has twice included Michael and Nick. Michael's sick of hearing Nick be mean to other people, so he resigned. It matters because Nick is a leading tech pundit, thanks to his article and book, Does IT Matter? Michael is becoming a leading tech pundit as TechCrunch becomes the go-to site for IT business news.

The long version follows.

Before the latest Gillmor Gang show: Nick Carr wrote an article treating Netscape head Jason Calacanis as a pioneer for offering to pay top users. Michael Arrington writes an article calling Jason's offer a "red flag" for Netscape.

During the show: (A partial recording went live today. I'm still listening.) The first nine minutes are about some stupid gossip blog named Valleywag. Apparently I'm not invited to Michael's party any more, because I posted this e-mail.

Steve Gillmor asks to be bumped above other people on Michael's party guest list. Michael declines.

Nick, Steve, Jason, and Michael discuss Jason's Netscape offer.

During the show, still unreleased: Michael says he's not coming back to the show if Nick's on it again.

After the show: Nick blogs Michael's "resignation" and promises to leave the show so Michael can stay.

Michael blogs his reasons for leaving and denies that he left because Nick once called him a whore.

Nick updates his post, saying: "A madam is a very different occupation than a whore." Yes, a careful reading of the post in question shows that Nick actually called Michael's TechCrunch writers whores.

Still to come: Michael's famous for apologizing after big spats. But who will get his apology? Steve, whose show will be weaker without the one name people still recognize on the bill? Nick, who now left the show for no reason and can't return without looking desperate? Jason, for being rich enough that Michael should stay on his good side? Or me, for not banning me from his party sooner?

Gillmor Gang recording, part 1 [PodShow.com]
Photos by Scott Beale, Wired Magazine, and unknown

Waste it or taste it

Nick Douglas — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:46:27 EDT

Speaking of Wired Magazine's Wired/Tired/Expired (née Wired/Tired) feature, it's time for another ripoff of that cultural hot-or-not. Today, let's call this feature "waste it or taste it."

Waste it	Taste it
Lycos paying Wired News writers 50 cents per word	Condé Nast paying Wired News writers 50 cents per word
The Long Tail	The 1% Rule
YouTube videos	Revver videos
Begging TechCrunch for a product review	Begging TechCrunch for a party invite
Dave Winer promises to quit his blog	Steve Gillmor actually quits his blog

Steve Gillmor is dead

Nick Douglas — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:32:03 EDT

While all the happenin', relevant journalists were out at the book party for Wired editor Chris Anderson, ZDNet writer Steve Gillmor was at home shutting down his blog, "InfoRouter" (Alternative title: "An Incoherent Truth").

Yep, before Steve's fellow blogger Dave Winer could deliver on his promise to stop blogging in 2006, Steve left a tiny message on his ZDNet blog announcing it was over. Granted, given Steve's habit of prematurely declaring things deceased (newspapers, links, Microsoft Word), InfoRouter will likely last another hundred years.

Control Alt Delete [Steve Gillmor's InfoRouter]

ZDNet: The Fox News of tech journalism

Nick Douglas — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 21:20:11 EDT

Once, ZDNet was a respectable outlet for level-headed journalists. Then it gave everyone a blog and every day was Someone-unlocked-the-madhouse Day. Today, for example:

Donna Bogatin thinks Google CEO Eric Schmidt is personally telling his minions, "Write about her, but for god's sake, don't you dare link to her column!" [Digital Micro-Markets blog]
David Berlind discovered the center of the space-time continuum. It's the API for an events database. [Between the Lines blog]
Steve Gillmor's latest article was just too profound to read, so I ran it through Word's Autosummarize tool and got this:
This media showdown is getting really interesting. Meanwhile I keep hitting the spacebar with Marshall whenever Mike leaves town. Face it Nick, you're too smart for your own shtick. * Dave Winer * John Battelle — Pointed prominently at previously described pieces. Om and Mike are carving up the page view widget real estate on their blogs, competing against their deal with Battelle's FMPub.

This summary actually makes more sense than Steve's column. [Steve Gillmor's Inforouter blog]

Crazy uncle update: Sleepy, Grumpy, and Doc

Nick Douglas — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:38:15 EDT

Here's a hit of news for all you crazy-uncle-watchers out there.

Conference addict Marc Canter has embraced his inability to stay awake at conferences like Gnomedex. Rather than admit that he needs to sleep at home, the sleepy software developer slaps three photos of his famous open-mouthed doze onto his site banner. Declaring himself the canary in the boring-lecture coal mine, he writes, "My body is the ultimate judge." Gnomedex organizer Chris Pirillo comments that bodies that just smoked weed don't make the best judges. [Marc's Voice]

Conference heavyweight Dave Winer, not to be outdone, says that he falls asleep at conferences too, and that this is also the conferences' fault. He then mentions "assholes" and their "shit" for no good reason, and for this we applaud him. [Comment on Marc's Voice]
Meanwhile, ZDNet columnist Steve Gillmor explains his tactic for getting Sun to send him all their PR announcements. "Everytime I see Jonathan [Schwartz, Sun CEO], I try and embarass Noel [Hartzell, Schwartz's spokesman] by complaining." Someone's been reading How to Win Friends and Influence People! [Steve Gillmor's Inforouter]

Geek out: Chris Pirillo pulls a Jackson at Gnomedex

Nick Douglas — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 18:51:50 EDT

Okay, since everyone asked, here's your fanservice. Now geez, Robert Scoble, stop with the booty calls.

Independence Day weekend and the no-free-pass policy may have kept you from the Seattle Gnomedex conference, but the magic of the Internets again lets you pretend you were there to hear presidential hopeful John Edwards speak and to snark the usual gang of crazy uncles in the backchannel chat room. Photos posted by Scott "no I won't shoot your wedding" Beale at Laughing Squid.

Senator Edwards sees Dick Cheney in the crowd. "Wanna mess, old man? I got two hands here and they're itching to break some neck."

Gnomedex organizer Chris Pirillo and partner-in-crime Ponzarelli try out for a ska band.

Laugh at them now, but in five years these dudes will shave and reveal that they're 16.

Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg and Microsoft manager Niall Kennedy are blown back by an off-screen explosion, caused when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and blog pundit Dave Winer accidentally bumped each other.

Submissive startupper Kris Krug points to his dominatrix, Megan Cole.

This fish wouldn't stop asking for an "angler investment," and when its pun didn't go over well, the damn thing would bite.

The performance by Dave Dederer (of the Presidents of the United States of America) lost the talent competition to an interpretive dance about dynamic web menus.

When techies Chris Heuer and Will Pate decide they've had enough of the tech bubble, they will unleash Cthulhu upon the world and all hope will be lost.

ZDNet columnist Steve Gillmor talked for half an hour before anyone realized he was reciting the Bhagavad Gita in the original Sanskrit.

Philip Kaplan performs the interpretive dance that beat Dederer.

Gnomedex 6.0 Photos [Laughing Squid]

Arrington engages the Valley's crazy uncles

Nick Douglas — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EDT

The Three Stooges of Silicon Valley found a Shemp. After Michael Arrington spoke at Dave Winer's BloggerCon, the TechCrunch blogger got sucked into Winer's little club — Winer, Marc Canter, and Steve Gillmor.

We've explained the crazy uncles before: Canter's a wacky Macromedia burnout, Gillmor's an attention-starved ZDNet journo, and Winer's a blog feed innovator who's always boss of the playground. Arrington is the latest victim of their attention-getting argument club.

Gillmor wrote a staggeringly incoherent BloggerCon wrapup, practically begging Winer and Arrington to link to it. Arrington did, asking his readers if anyone could decipher Gillmor's prose. (They can't.)

Gillmor and Winer chimed in on Arrington's comments, making — oh hell, here's a diagram.

Every microcosm has a group like this. Don't commit Arrington's mistake — steer clear of these mutually abusive cliques.

Steve Gillmor: "Please Don't Link to That" [CrunchNotes]

This is how we write things now.

Nick Douglas — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:30:28 EDT

There's a rumor going 'round that lots of reporters are reading blogs. So apropos of nothing (and because it's the middle of the afternoon and I'm drinking at the House of Shields), the Valley journo circuit needs new rules from now on.

All headlines about Yahoo must start with "Yahoo for..." If Yahoo ever gets involved in Cocoa Puffs, this will be the best headline ever.
Every response to a TechCrunch review by Michael Arrington must say "Mikey likes it!" This is regardless of whether Mikey likes whatever's being discussed.
Drinking game! Every time ZDNet columnist and entrepreneur Steve Gillmor (pictured here disturbingly sober) says "attention" (hint: as often as Keanu Reeves says "whoa"), take a shot. Version for teetotallers: Drink every time Steve makes sense.
More articles about about Google's Sergey Brin getting snubbed.
More puff pieces about young men starting companies! Barely legal boys! Barely legal boys! (Starting to realize why male Valley journalists don't get laid?)

F500 roundup: Revolving door in Bangalore

Nick Douglas — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 16:15:04 EDT

Time for another roundup of the top dogs in tech, with names in bold for easy skimmin':

Apple drops out of India, cancelling 3000 planned jobs and sacking the staff, before CEO Steve ever got to visit. [CIOL]

Meanwhile, IBM moves into India. Tomorrow, IBM's CEO speaks in the former palace of a maharajah. A touch of symbolism? [NYT]

IBM, by the way, was convicted years ago for co-operating with Nazi Germany, something Yahoo CEO Terry Semel should worry about. [Sploid]

More wrap-up after the jump-down.

Terry Semel's new salary ($1, announced last week) is less the punishment he deserves and more a way to keep his taxes down as he collects millions in new Yahoo stock options. [Forbes]

Forbes admits what Google's CEO (pictured) won't: "But as charming as he is, [Eric] Schmidt runs Google about as much as much as the Dalai Lama runs the world's spiritual life." Oh snap. [Forbes]

Granted, the rest of that article gives a little too much credit to all the self-styled Googlestars manning the cubicles.

Google CFO George Reyes's brother, Greg Reyes, gets in the Merc News. Congrats, Greg! The former Brocade Communications CEO is being investigated for securities fraud to the tune of a few million bucks. [Mercury News]

As far as we know, Microsoft president Bill Gates still hasn't replied to the open letter from ZDNet writer Steve Gillmor, in which Steve: 1. asks Bill to retire, and 2. asks Bill to use Steve's product. (Some...trust...product...thing; I don't know, I didn't pay attention.) [ZDNet]

When the New York (behind-the-)Times says teens are leaving MySpace, it means they're already out of the building. [NYT]

Tom Morris is a very funny fellow, right

Nick Douglas — Tue, 30 May 2006 16:56:46 EDT

Blogger Tom Morris does, um, something with OPML or whatnot. But bugger that — he makes clever Silicon Valley comics like this nerdhunt:

A bigger version is after the jump, or in Tom's photo stream at Flickr. Other Morris wit: The Zany Web 2.0 World and The Wacky World of Steve.

Heh. "Nano Nikes."

Source: What are the nerds doing? [Tom Morris on Flickr via Morris's blog]

Calacanis almost makes the Gillmor Gang fun again

Nick Douglas — Tue, 30 May 2006 15:56:26 EDT

Right. I just got around to playing last week's Gillmor Gang tech podcast. It's safe to listen.

Well, not really. It's still painfully dull, even with the presence of Jason Calacanis (the AOL exec who calls out all bullshit — whether it exists or not). After Steve's opening commercial (skip it) you can hear the painfully unedited recording of a special Gillmor Gang. The first lines: "Hello?" "Hey, it's Jason." "Who is it?" GRIPPING INTRO, STEVE.

Highlights:

Part 1. Steve greets Jason and ZDNet reporter Dan Farber: "Well, I'm gonna finish having some cereal. So I'll be back in a minute."
Dan to Jason: "You're great.... At that." Nice save Dan! Now hide your shrine.
About two minutes in, Jason realizes how stupidly boring this show will be. After the jump, so can you.

Jason: "Half the pages on Wikipedia will be locked in two years."
OMG boring. Skip two-thirds through part 1, where Steve acts like a clumsy amateur porn director: "I'm recording everything. Keep going. I'm in the background."
Part 2. Jason says cool things about his Weblogs, Inc. network — which, you know, is a groovy network if you're into that.
The awesome part: End of the Part 2. Steve to Jason about something that matters: "Who cares?" Ohhhhhh irony.
Jason compares himself to Quentin Tarantino. Sounds accurate, really. (Pictured)

Don't bother listening to Part 3.

Oh, and Jason insulted TechCrunch, and Michael Arrington got huffy about it. Which is a shame, because ragging on your competitors is no way to run a blog.

Gillmor Gang [Official site]
On Conflicts of Interest and TechCrunch [CrunchNotes]
Earlier ragging on a Gawker Media competitor: Jason Calacanis, secret king of AOL [Valleywag]

Wagged, sagged, body-bagged: Things we've decided are dead

Nick Douglas — Thu, 25 May 2006 10:30:00 EDT

Nick Carr, long-time flamebaiter turned linkbaiter, declares Wikipedia dead. (No fair pointing at the very live site!) We can't let Nick be the only one gunning for Steve Gillmor's coroner job. So in the interest of upping our own fake authority, here's Valleywag's table of what's wagged, sagged, and body-bagged. Apologies to Wired — that is, we're so very sorry.

Wagged	Sagged	Body-bagged
Fox Interactive buyouts	CNET buyouts	AOL buyouts
"We're in gamma."	"We're in beta."	"That's not a bug, that's a feature."
Getting TechCrunched	Getting BoingBoinged	Getting press
Kevin Rose	Matt Haughey	CowboyNeal
Steve Jobs in Nikes	Steve Jobs in New Balance	Steve Jobs in sweater vests
Crowdsourcing	Outsourcing	Open sourcing

The Death of Wikipedia [Nick Carr]

Bloggerati breakdown: A very Arri roundup

Nick Douglas — Mon, 22 May 2006 18:53:14 EDT

TechCrunch blog mogul Michael Arrington (pictured here waving some shock) smirks at pundit Richard MacManus, who decided that Web 2.0 is ~~undead~~ resurrected: "While I enjoy watching Richard struggle with his inner self, and trying to find security in his beliefs, I think I'll carry on as I have - mostly ignoring the debate and focusing on the companies that are defining the new web." Snap. [CrunchNotes]
GigaOM blogger Om Malik is watching sexy ladies. [Daily Om]
For a good time, call Steve Gillmor. [ZDNet]
RSS master Dave Winer, who despite his faults at least has great taste in entertainment, thought the Da Vinci Code was crud. [Scripting News]
Federated Media blog mogul John Battelle totally, like, forgot his password, dudes. And he's got a gnarly case of the munchies. [Searchblog]

Coroner Gillmor

Nick Douglas — Mon, 22 May 2006 11:30:00 EDT

Oh, that's too cute. As the creator of this adorable little Steve Gillmor animation said, "Ding dong, everything's dead." Watch or just play the audio of the ZDNet pundit declaring search, Office, and so many other wicked witches, dead under Dorothy's porch.

Incidentally, this sound would go great with the stomach-churning Marissa Mayer laugh. The guy who laid down the Marissa Beat Box says:

Here is the userid & password for the Odeo account. You can have people add their stuff straight to the odeo marissalaugh podcast. that way you can get flash players for all of the submissions and have odeo host them.

fun fun fun

studio.odeo.com
userid: marissalaugh
password: marissa

So keep those remixes coming, and we'll have a Valleywag soundtrack built in no time.

Coroner Gillmor [Amyloo's OPML blog]