Gawker: valleywag, the way we were

A Museum-Ready Collection of Videobloggers

Owen Thomas — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:00:42 EDT

Remember when Amanda Congdon was rocketing to the top? Yeah, me neither. Videoblogging's forgotten stars.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg in Prep School

Owen Thomas — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EDT

Where did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg learn his imperious ways? Before he dropped out of Harvard, our social overlord was schooled in ruling others at Phillips Exeter Academy. Via a fellow Exonian, a leaked pic:

Remember when Valleywag was a startup?

Owen Thomas — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:00:00 EST

It was only two and a half years ago that Nick Denton launched Valleywag, Silicon Valley's tech gossip rag, at a time when the Internet hadn't yet resumed its froth. From the first, Paul Boutin and I were working for Nick Denton for free, feeding launch editor Nick Douglas tips and quips. As Denton wore us down, we both become official employees of Gawker Media. A bubble and a bust later, we're still here. At least through the end of the month — after which, I'll be the Valleywag both here and on Gawker.com, and Paul will no doubt return to his sub rosa role as advisor and instigator. Same party, different venue. Do tag along! (Photo by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid)

Ten years on, Google cofounders' homepages frozen in time

Jackson West — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:20:00 EDT

Say what you will about Hubert "Third Google Founder" Chang, at least he dropped some links to the old homepages of Sergey Brin and Larry Page back when the pair were teaching Computer Science 349 at Stanford, "Data Mining, Search, and the World Wide Web." What's there?

On Larry's page, dug up through the Internet Archive, he declared "I attribute a great deal of my understanding and ability with mechanical devices to Legos and similar construction toys." Brin's page has a laughable GIF animation, but the real humor is that he apparently worked on an early copyright-infringement detection system called COPS with Stanford professor Hector Garcia-Molina. Brin even posted his resume from 1994, and a quick peek into the source code reveals a telling tidbit — hidden in a HTML comment, Brin states as his employment objective: "A large office, good pay, and very little work. Frequent expense-account trips to exotic lands would be a plus." Looks like his dream came true.

Back when Barry Diller was full of bright ideas

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:20:15 EST

The argument goes that IAC chairman Barry Diller is battling with John Malone over control of the company because he's never been the visionary he claims to be. Odd. He certainly seemed like one back in 1999. That's when he appeared on Charlie Rose to explain why his company, then called USA Networks, tried to acquire Lycos for $20 billion. Check out the clip. Nine years ago, Diller nailed the Internet. Though maybe not the Lycos deal.

Meet Meghan Asha, hedge fund analyst

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:20:18 EST

Admit it. Michael Arrington's flame du jour, Meghan Asha, is working her way into your cold, schadenfreude-loving hearts, people. First you found out she doesn't need Arrington's bankroll. Then, the private plane. Now this from the above clip: She used to work as a hedge fund analyst and is now starting a company on the side. Plus, she's adorkably awkward on TV.

Michael Arrington, dumpster diver

Owen Thomas — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:40:40 EST

Aside for his habit of throwing money at dodgy startups which are then given lavish coverage in his blog, TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington has a skinflint reputation. (Certainly, the bloggers in his employ have never known largesse.) A college chum of Arrington's at Claremont-McKenna now tells us that Arrington, spotting a market opportunity, edged out a poor family to corner the market on recycling his dorm's beer cans. From earning beer money, to Davos. Impressive! (Photo by Ryan Froerer)

Before Google was Google, it was more than a bit naughty

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:58:58 EST

Before Larry and Sergey named Google after a typo, Larry Page called his Stanford project BackRub. Blogoscoped thinks the name comes from the way Page's algorithm used backlinks to judge a search result's relevancy. We just think the name is kind of pervy, especially since Google is now a verb. Millions of people, BackRubbing all day long — it's some kind of geek dream. And yes, by the way, that is Larry Page's hirsute paw.

Before Larry met Lucy

Owen Thomas — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:49:04 EDT

A tipster reminds us of the story with which Valleywag made its debut: That Google cofounder Larry Page and executive Marissa Mayer used to date. Here, in a photo snapped by Omid Kordestani — yes, the Google sales guy rumored to be splitting from his wife — at the wedding of Googler Sheryl Sandberg and Internet entrepreneur Dave Goldberg, are Mari and Larry smiling for the camera. One hopes Page will find a spiffier tux when he weds fiancée Lucy Southworth — reportedly next month on Necker Island. (Photo by omid)