Gawker: valleywag, von

Pulvermedia falls, may not be able to get up

Jackson West — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT

New York-based VOIP trade publisher and event organizer Pulvermedia has been written off by investor TICC Capital Group according to sources cited by GigaOm's Om Malik. In a classy move, TICC allegedly shut down the company's bank accounts while founder Jeff Pulver was proselytizing in San Jose at Spring VON, resulting in a string of bounced checks. Ouch. (Photo by Jonathan Klinger)

Michael Arrington's Razor-sharp Wit

Nick Douglas — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:42:00 EDT

Michael Arrington was surprisingly witty while talking to PodTech vlogger Robert Scoble at this week's Video on the Net conference. The TechCrunch blog founder, whom we'd usually call anything but funny, cleverly deconstructed Scoble's business plan:

"How much does it cost you [in bandwidth charges] every time you play a video?"

"A few cents."

"And how much do you make on every video?"

"It's not directly linked. My sponsor Seagate paid me before I had any viewers."

"So ideally, you make a lot of money and no one watches you."

— NICK DOUGLAS. Photo by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

Conferences, the secret cause of spam

Nick Douglas — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:14:25 EDT

Reason I came to VON, a conference that means both "Video on the Net" and "Voice on the net": Free press pass, free coffee and it's brighter than my home office
Number of times, when writing Valleywag for a year, that I expressed interest in bullshit voice-over-IP deals: 0
Number of times I expressed interest in sitting down at a conference with a voice-over-IP exec: 0
Number of press releases over the past 12 days announcing bullshit voice-over-IP deals and requesting that I sit down with execs: 42
Number of articles I have to write about VON to justify my press pass: 1
Aaaaaand done!

Nick Douglas writes for Valleywag, from home or from anywhere with free food.