Gawker: valleywag, wallstrip

Jason Calacanis missive unpublished by Silicon Alley Insider

Jackson West — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:00:00 EDT

It's Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis's world, we just have the misfortune of living in it. The former Silicon Alley Reporter publisher decided to quit blogging, instead opting to send out his verbose fonts of wisdom as emails. Take his latest 2,948-word missive, "(The) Startup Depression" — claiming that anywhere from half to four in five startups will fail thanks to the current economic crisis (or at least, will blame their failure on the economy). Apparently Calacanis asked that the post be taken down. Because of a principled stand for intellectual property? Because SAI's publisher was getting the pageviews and Mahalo wasn't? Or because Calacanis can't take the heat in a public forum? The fight that broke out in the comments between Wallstrip creator Howard Lindzon, Blodget and serial entrepreneur Scott Rafer suggests the latter.

Awesome.

CBS confronts demographic realities of selling Web ad inventory

Jackson West — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT

CBS sales chief Jo Ann Ross told the audience at EconAds that most of the Web-only advertising inventory acquired in the CNET deal will be brokered by CBS Sports, according to comments at PaidContent's EconAds seminar in New York yesterday — presumably because the two properties share similarly male-dominated audiences. Finance show Wallstrip has struggled under the CBS News sales team, though, probably because the younger audience aren't buying the Viagra and adult diapers which pay Katie Couric's lavish salary. [Silicon Alley Insider]

My 60 seconds with Quincy Smith

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:00:00 EDT

If CBS were to greenlight a TV series about life at a modern media giant, the director would find it hard to cast anyone but Quincy Smith as himself. Call it 60 Seconds, a version of the news show sped up for the Web. His $1.8 billion CNET buy is just the latest episode in the life of the fast-talking president of CBS Interactive. Smith is sui generis; the stereotype, which grates on him but fits, is that of a frenetic dealmaker. Last month, he said he was looking for "the next YouTube"; instead, he bought a company which, having been founded in 1992, is eight times older than the current incarnation of CBS. CBS handlers offered to have him speak to me; I accepted. In the middle of the mile-a-minute conversation-argument, I think we both wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into. A partial transcript — the most I was able to type out while trying to keep up with Smith's banter:

Quincy Smith: We like the logo. We may borrow it.
Valleywag: CNET in the eye? It's already yours. That was one of your new employees, Andrew Mager. So Quincy, what do you buy now? There's nothing left.

Smith: What are you talking about? Are you crazy? That's like saying the Internet has stopped.

Valleywag: Have you heard of Jonathan Zittrain? I'm told he's trying to stop the Internet.

Smith: Zittrain and I went to college together, but I don't think he knew me. He was much smarter. I don't want people to think this is one big deal. The Internet is a big new medium, not rebroadcast television. Hey, we have a platform to retaliate now!

Valleywag: What, do I have to watch out for Caroline McCarthy?

Smith: We're going to put the two of you on mixed martial arts. Until you have that platform to really build that out — you've got to make sure you have a footprint. Think about CNET and all the properties they have, not just CNET.com. That's like saying CBS Interactive is just CBSSports.com. There's MP3.com, there's Radio.com, there's Chow, there's UrbanBaby.

Valleywag: So you're saying all the acquisitions you did before CNET are pointless, and now that you bought CNET, you can do more?

Smith: Now I know why no one ever talks to you. No, we did Wallstrip, we launched MobLogic.tv, we bought DotSpotter, which you guys broke, which was really an acquire-hire — those guys are redesigning CBS.com. But we think we're getting a real asset in CNET, there's a real business there. Look, I'm getting the hook, good talking to you!

At last I understand how Smith gets so many deals done: He just talks his targets into submission. Quincy, if you ever go back into investment banking, they might need your help up in Redmond.

Jimmy Wales: "It's like being a regular rock star, except there's no sex"

Owen Thomas — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:40:55 EST

"What's it like to be a famous guy on the Web?" Wallstrip host Lindsay Campbell asked Jimmy Wales in an interview last year. "Being an Internet rock star is like being a regular rock star, except there's no sex and drugs," Wales replies. We're inclined to believe him on the drugs — Wales can barely handle liquor, from what we hear — but no sex? Even in this finance-oriented chat, we detected Jimmy's subliminal message for the ladies at the end. The full clip:

New Wallstrip host plans to get dirty

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:20:52 EST

How is new Wallstrip host Julie Alexandria different from Lindsay Campbell, the thought-provoking interviewer she replaced at the CBS-owned videoblog? "I'm in for adding some dirty humor," Alexandria told NewTeeVee. "I don't want it to become the next Perez Hilton, but I do look forward to bringing my own little spice to it." Enough sexist, adolescent pandering — bring on Alexandria's glamour shots!

Downright condescending, no? Blame this guy, show creator Howard Lindzon, here shown fingering a Yahoo button.(Photo by mil8)

Lindsay Campbell leaves Wallstrip

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:01:05 EST

Wallstrip host and sometimes actress Lindsay Campbell will soon leave the CBS Interactive online stock-talk podcast. This after CBS acquired the show in May 2007. But don't worry, fans, Campbell is headed for another CBS Web-video production straightaway. Something called Moblogic.tv.

We wonder why the Eye doesn't just speed things up and put Campbell in front of a real camera, as CNET has wisely done with new on-air editor Natali Del Conte. But take heart, Lindsay, at least you're not Veronica Belmont, stuck hamming it up for the likes of Jason Calacanis.

There's a bubble in year-end parody videos

Owen Thomas — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:00:56 EST

When I said Silicon Valley needed more show tunes, I should have been more specific. In journalism, the cliche is that two's a coincidence, three's a trend. But as Liz Gannes at NewTeeVee points out, when it comes to year-end wrapups as musical numbers, three may well be a cliche. JibJab, WallStrip, and the Richter Scales all produced look-back videos to the tune of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."

JibJab's is a broad take on pop culture, Wallstrip's a review of the stock market, and Richter Scales is a rip on the Web (and some say a ripoff of other people's work). All of them are funny enough, but do they qualify as parodies?

According to the dictionary, a parody is "a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule." I don't buy that any of these videos qualify. They imitate Billy Joel's original not for comic effect but for convenience. For their creators, thinking of an original form for a quickly paced musical review of the news proved just too hard.

Then again, there's another definition for parody: "a feeble or ridiculous imitation." If the videographers want to claim that meaning, I won't stand in their way. Here are the three Joel derivatives. Judge for yourself the title they deserve.

Jakob Lodwick admits he needs help

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:25:17 EDT

Wallstrip has an interview with Jakob Lodwick, who's best known on Valleywag as the New York nerd Star editor-at-large Julia Allison settled for when she struck out in Silicon Valley. Lodwick's also the guy who can't focus on one good idea and go with it, instead, founding Vimeo, CollegeHumor and some T-shirt company. Anyway, in the interview, Wallstrip videoblogger Lindsay Campbell pretty much nails him on how YouTube came after Vimeo and blew it away. Lodwick responds with something about refusing to produce an inferior product. Talk is cheap. So is Lodwick's haircut.

Wikipedia is "worth billions"

Tim Faulkner — Mon, 21 May 2007 12:35:41 EDT

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder, explains the good and bad of the online encyclopedia's non-profit status in a conversation with WallStrip's Lindsey Campbell. The bad: he's missing out on a business "worth billions of dollars"; the good: he doesn't have to explain how Wikipedia would merit such a valuation without contradicting his strict ideals of free (including ad-free) and open to all.