TCHO is a new kind of chocolate company for a new generation of chocolate enthusiasts.

TCHO is where technology meets chocolate; where Silicon Valley start-up meets San Francisco food culture.

TCHO is obsessively good dark chocolate.

TCHO is a direct, transparent connection between the farmers and the consumers, from the pod to the palate, from high concept to sensual experience.

TCHO is an innovative method for you to discover the chocolate you like best.
The Company.

TCHO is serious about chocolate, we aren’t just “re–melters” (like the majority of people who work with chocolate), we are manufacturers, with our very own factory capable of producing 4000 metric tons per year — joining only a dozen other major manufacturers in the US.

TCHO was founded by a Space Shuttle technologist turned chocolate maker and a grizzled industry veteran who set up chocolate factories for 40 years from Costa Rica to Germany.

TCHO’s team has deep experience from Silicon Valley to Berlin, from Fair Trade to Ferraris, from chocolate start up to Web start up.

TCHO isn’t funded by VCs or investment bankers, but friends and families brought together to invest in a dream. And every employee is an owner.

TCHO is scrappy and high tech – recycling and refurbing legacy chocolate equipment and mating it with the latest process control, information, and communications systems.

TCHO’s social mission is the next step beyond Fair Trade – helping farmers by transferring knowledge of how to grow and ferment better beans so they can escape commodity production to become premium producers.
The Factory.

TCHO is located in the heart of San Francisco, at Pier 17 on the legendary San Francisco waterfront, between Fisherman’s Wharf and the Ferry Building, and five minutes from SF landmarks the Transamerica Pyramid and Coit Tower.

TCHO will be the only chocolate factory in San Francisco.

TCHO’s tasting room will be a gracious and remarkable space in which to experience TCHO’s chocolates and drinks.

TCHO’s factory is large enough to enable us to have impact with the growers in order to acquire the best beans, and is small enough to lavish attention on creating obsessively good chocolate.
The Chocolate.

TCHO’s obsessively good dark chocolate is limited edition varietals and origins, in original, innovative packaging.

TCHO chocolate is available only at our factory store, and on our website.

TCHO encourages our customers to help us develop our products, as we launch limited run, “beta editions“ available only at the factory to those who join our flavor testers.

TCHO is a new way to discover your chocolate. “Dark,” “percentage cacao,” and recently “varietal” and “origin” have been placeholders for knowing what the chocolate you are about to put in your mouth actually tastes like. TCHO has developed a new method (taxonomy) to help you find the chocolate you like, using common-sense descriptors like Nutty, Fruity, or Chocolatey.
The Experience.

TCHO is about helping you become a knowledgeable enthusiast, since without context and meaning complete enjoyment of chocolate is impossible.

TCHO’s website connects our customers to the minds making TCHO, as well as to each other.

TCHO’s tour will be a multimedia exploration of how chocolate is made, how TCHO makes chocolate, and of chocolate culture.

TCHO creates new rituals for sharing chocolate.

We don't want to accuse Wired of anything, we're just worried for it. In the September 2006 issue, "The Rebirth of Music," we found Beck (last album: 2005) on the cover and a dozen recycled stories inside:

• "Frazzing," Jargon watch, pg. 50: seen on ABC News's blog in January
• "Phantom ring," Jargon watch, pg. 50: seen in the New York Times, May
• Nerdcore rap, pg. 62: seen in Wired Magazine, June 2005
• LED graffiti throwies, pg. 66: seen in MAKE Magazine, May
• Japanese paper robots, pg. 70: seen every day on Boing Boing since, like, 2004

• Apple MacBook, pg. 84 (we couldn't believe this one): seen in Macworld, May
• Luxurious Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, pg. 92: seen in the Annals of Improbable Research, 2001-2002
• Splogs, pg. 104: seen in Wired News, October 2005
• Low-texture computer graphics, pp. 133-140: seen in every magazine, CD-ROM, and made-for-reel CGI short around 1999
• Feature: Mix CDs, pg. 172: seen...geez, where...since the beginning of Pitchfork, unless you count mix tapes, in which case seen before High Fidelity came out
• Barenaked Ladies, pg. 178: career last seen in 2000, with an alleged appearance in 2003
• The Pitchfork Effect, pg. 184: seen in the Washington Post, April

Wired Magazine 14.09 [Wired.com]

September's Wired features the musician/artist/Web 2.0 enthusiast Beck on the cover with an apropos quote, "Radio sucks. The labels are lame. Now bands are taking over—and fans are getting what they want." Warning: If you repeat these words enough times, you will become a disciple of L. Ron Hubbard's teachings.

There has been much buzz about the impending release of Beck's new old album, repackaged with technologically enhanced goodies. Some of these goodies include do-it-yourself cover-art with stickers for you to design your very own cover.

If this feels a little amateurish (too Web 1.0, perhaps?), Beck has gone the interactive route with his Remix project where he allowed visitors to his site to sample his music and make their own versions and he plans on expanding. In other words, he wants to go visual, possibly a videogame. Somehow, we can't envision a "Grand Theft Auto"-type format, unless it includes Beck as the pimp and Clive Owen or P. Diddy as the gangstas who get popped. We're still working on the hos part.

Beck also plans on releasing a version of the album on "sites like YouTube." Smart man, that Beck. Staying as far away from a Web-2.0-start-up affiliation as possible. Additionally, Beck would like to release his home videos (done with his handy $100 video mixer purchased off Ebay) on such sites. In any event, we think John and Yoko might have been a bit before their time with those recorded sit-ins of theirs. [p.172]

Schwag-of-Note:

• Splogs are bad, very bad, but we kinda like saying the word anyways. That, and Matt Mullenweg of Wordpress says "mortgages and viagra, pills and porn." [p.114]
• Kokora Dreams designs an actroid" that understands sarcasm. We think we know where to find our next generation of readers. [p.149]
• Pitchfork is the quintessential tastemaker on the music scene? That's like saying Nick Sylvester wrote for The Village Voice. [p.186]
• Can the PS3 Save Sony? Considering the article starts with the adage, "Never try to introduce the same product twice." We think not. [p.189]
• Long live the Netflix revolution. Or Ted Sarandos, its Chief Content Officer, since the piece is really a thinly veiled profile of the man. A pleasant read, nonetheless, and a valiant enough plug for a mediocre flick whose creators yell to audiences, "Tell Us We're Brilliant!" [p.096]
• Mr.Know-It-All advises on frozen embryos, cell phone etiquette, and kosher Provigil. [p.048].

— Beth Gottfried

Goggins worked behind the scenes of Wired. In addition to editing, he composed many of Wired's headlines, cover lines, and pull quotes. His skill earned him the highest respect of the magazine's best writers. Contributing editor Steve Silberman says, "He used to give our features their last look, catching things everyone else had missed — I used to call Bill's edit 'the beauty pass.'" Silberman calls Goggins "the wit in the mix" at Wired.

Wired contributor Paul Boutin writes on his blog:

I'll remember him most for his dryly pointed wit around the office. When Chris Anderson's first Wired cover, "Is Japan Still the Future?" was punched up by Condé Nast's editorial director to "Japan Rocks!" Bill protested by posting a note above his desk in the same font, "If Japan's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'."

Wired writer Xeni Jardin calls Goggins "a kind man and a masterly editor." Boutin praises his "meticulous yet hilarious verbal skills." Silberman calls him "charming, witty, elegant, and wonderfully idiosyncratic."

Anyone wishing to write (or link to) memories of Goggins here can contact tips@valleywag.com. More Goggins stories are at Boing Boing.

Bill Goggins [Paul Boutin's blog]
In memoriam: Bill Goggins, formerly of Wired Magazine [Boing Boing]
15,000 go all out in marathon [SF Chronicle]
Photo by Joe Jarrell [Mediabistro]

People always wondered how Wired Magazine justified its ink-and-paper existence — wasn't Wired's premise something like "the future is digital"?

Wired finally answers in the "Wired/Tired/Expired" section of its August issue: Wired's advertising model is dead. Shown here is Wired's cheeky classification of "one-page ads" as "expired," next to a one-page ad from the same issue.

Wired Magazine [Not showing August yet]

"Hits are going to have to share the stage with nonhits," says Chris Anderson in US News, summing up his new book, The Long Tail. Chris's personal long tail stretches back into New Wave. The Wired Magazine editor-in-chief played bass for Egoslavia, a D.C.-based post-punk band that released one self-titled record in '82. Wired contributor Paul Boutin pulled out a copy of "Lost Song," the appropriately named first track. In the interest of rescuing it from obscurity, we're releasing the mp3. It's a real treat.

"Lost Song" by Egoslavia

After the jump, Boutin remembers buying the record, zinesters describe the band, and the man who hired Anderson for Wired makes an Osmonds reference.

A lot of people's old band demos would be embarrassing, but the indie record store owner in DC who sold me the still-shrink-wrapped copy of Egoslavia said they were considered one of the key bands in the scene of that time there. "Ohhh, yes, Christopher Anderson," he recalled before launching into the sort of local band family tree only an indie record store owner straight out of High Fidelity could pull off 20 years later. He also said he was in the middle of shutting down the store to sell online only — how fitting.

The band isn't listed on the All Music Guide or even Wikipedia, though it's mentioned in two rock history books and a few music-buff sites. One webzine writer says, "If I didn't live in Washington DC in 1982 when this came out and didn't see them live at the time, I never would have found this record."

Egoslavia, says the zinester, mimicked the style of Gang of Four, throwing in some Plastics and Pylon, for an "asexual post-punk funk" feel. In the few online accounts of Egoslavia, Anderson is rarely mentioned. Nostalgic punk fans instead focus on band leader Greg Strzempka, who went on to form the Southern boogie band Raging Slab.

Anderson, meanwhile, moved from New Wave to New Media. Condé Nast's James Truman hired him to edit Wired, calling Anderson "a little bit geeky, and a little bit rock 'n' roll." Despite some media skepticism about Anderson's future (the New York Times saw him as "fighting for custody" of Wired's soul in 2002), the ex-punk is now riding a wave of publicity well-deserved, thanks to his theory of the Long Tail.

In 2004, Anderson wrote and published a Wired feature story called "The Long Tail." His premise: In the new marketplace, selling a sea of little-known products can bring higher combined revenue than the top hits. Those little-known products make the Long Tail, shown below in a drawing from Anderson's Long Tail site.

One upshot is that as retailers like Amazon and Rhapsody offer long tail products, more little-known items can gain a cult following or even become hits. But some would-be hits are still stuck in analog obscurity like Egoslavia's "Lost Song." Not any more. Drag and drop Egoslavia onto your PostPunk playlist, smack between Gang of Four and Romeo Void.

Album art [:30 Under DC]
Egoslavia [Old Punks zine]
The Long Tail [Official site]

For example, Fine wonders why Wired sold its magazine to one company (Condé Nast) and its web site to another (Lycos). A writer of his caliber should know that Wired had no choice but to split its properties, because no media company would take the site, and no dot-com would take the magazine. Condé Nast was so uninterested in the Internet that it let Lycos handle its magazine's web site — a decision everyone later regretted.

He also says that Wired News and Wired Mag shared offices for eight years. Wrong again — the remnants of the once-mighty Wired News just moved across the hall from the Mag a few months back, only to hear endless "You think this is a Holiday Inn?" jokes from the Mag staff.

But Fine's real sin is quoting Condé Nast dealmaker Steve Newhouse (the boss's son), who says the purchase is all about Web 2.0. Bull. Web 2.0 doesn't care about Wired, and to be honest, Wired doesn't really care about Web 2.0 (its editor's Net-centric "Long Tail" book notwithstanding).

Newhouse did not pay $25 million for eight writers at a dying news site. Newhouse paid $25 million to wrest his magazine's web site away from Lycos.

Update: Fine posted a correction. If he sends me his address, I'll mail him a copy of Wired — A Romance.

Steve Newhouse on Wired and Wired News [BusinessWeek]
Earlier: Condé Nast bought Wired News: What that means [Valleywag]

1. Pay their writers a respectable wage. Wired pays $2 per word; WN paid 50 cents. (But an internal e-mail says that for now, that pay rate won't improve.)
2. Stop running so much non-original/non-news content. After all, that's what blogs are for.
3. Let WN writers write long when the subject merits it.
4. Clean up that ugly site. For one, get rid of that stupid ad that takes over the whole page.
5. Hire full-time reporters, not just editors.
6. Publish early and often — this once-a-day crap doesn't cut it.

Earlier: Condé Nast bought Wired News: What that means for Wired

At about 5pm, we got an office wide email asking us to meet up in the main conference room. We got there, and Chris [Anderson, Wired's editor-in-chief] gives us the announcement — it came as a pretty big surprise to most of us.

Chris described it as a deal "eight years in the making" and then opened the floor to questions. One senior ed, half kidding, asked "does this mean we're going to have more work?"

Chris said,"No. We'll run them as separate companies for now, and work on things closer in the future."

After that, we dispersed, and some went to across the hall to meet the new coworkers. It was not unlike the episode of Lost when the tail-end passengers appeared out of the jungle, tired and hungry. Those poor guys have been working on a tough budget for awhile now.

Picture: The Obvious [Splash page]
Earlier: Condé Nast bought Wired News: What that means
Earlier: What Chris Anderson told me before Condé Nast bought Wired News

• The remaining eight writers at Wired News can stop worrying about getting fired. (And Wired ought to grow the team back to its dot-com-boom size — this ragtag remainder has been worked to the bone.)
• Lycos will continue its death spiral. It still owns HotBot and Webmonkey, but these are dead properties. Now Lycos is carried by Tripod and Angelfire — two almost-healthy-but-getting-sicker brands.
• The $25 million price means Condé Nast paid $2-3 million per Wired News employee.
• Condé Nast can finally relaunch Wired Magazine's web site (a Wired News property) in the style of Portfolio, the publisher's upcoming business mag.
• "Internet" is capitalized again.

Earlier: What Wired's editor told me before Condé Nast bought Wired News

Last month, when I reported that Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson maligned Wired's online edition, several readers pointed out that Wired News publishes Wired Magazine's digital edition. Anderson was complaining because he had no control over his own magazine's online presentation.

So I e-mailed Anderson about the issue. On June 27, he replied:

We have an excellent working relationship with WN, probably better than many print/web relationships within a single company. We're working together to improve the site, and I think you'll see the fruits of this labor before the end of the year.

Pretty juicy fruits. Congratulations, Wired — it's good to see the family reunited.

Condé Nast Buys Wired News [Wired News]
Earlier: Editor dooms Wired Magazine's site to fugliness [Valleywag]
Picture: The Obvious [Splash page]

• Google and Apple have switched spots, with Google now at #1 in an official recognition of its millions and millions of fanboys.
• Genentech makes it to #4 because Wired got confused and thought it's the company from Jurassic Park.
• News Corp's on the list for the first time. The TV networks, newspapers, book publishers, magazines, and movie studios didn't matter to Wired, but hey, now they have a SOCIAL NETWORK! Oh boy!
• Intel drops down the list, proving that teaming up with Apple only gets you so far.

The Wired 40 [Wired Magazine]
Illo: The Obvious [Splash page]

Please. I'm sure Murdoch launched Fox News, the partisan news network with half the researcher-hours per broadcast-hour of any other network, to give people choices. And his ruthless mission to buy out every media outlet across the globe? Purely humanitarian.

Rupe's spin isn't surprising — name one mogul who doesn't claim to be the Second Coming — but Wired's eager puffery is disappointing. MySpace is just another dumping ground for the old media model — garbage made in high-price studios and pumped out to a lowest-common-denominator audience, smeared thickly with ads — with some profiles and booty pics thrown in.

Why lash out against it? Because in a few days, journo student Trent Lapinski will blow the lid off the MySpace story.

His Space [Wired]

• Apple's iPod maker says the sweatshop story isn't true, and they've vaguely threatened a lawsuit over the claim, made by the UK's Daily Mail. Can we resolve this peacefully so the slaves can crank out more toys? [Apple Insider]
• Props to Gnomedex organizer Chris Pirillo for designing conference tees that we'd pay good cash for (pictured). [Pirillo.com]
• I was utterly remiss not to show you this classic 1998 rant about writing for Wired Magazine. [Boing Boing]
• The "Coolz0r" blog has so far catalogued 54 services using "Flickr"-style names. If anyone wants to use this as a hitlist, the blogger will not be held responsible. [Coolz0r]
• AOL knew it was shady back in 2000. Then again, so did everyone else. [CNNMoney]
• Larry Ellison officially admits — it's not about the sick kids, it's about his buddy at Harvard. Those expecting the Oracle founder's $115 million donation can suck it. More on this tomorrow. [SFGate]

A monthly magazine like ours — which combines long-form journalism, lavish design and high-end photography — really shows paper at its finest. Online, the design is lost, the photos become thumbnails, and you have to click through as many as 16 screens [to read the longer articles].

In other words, Wired can't find a decent web designer.

Chris Anderson [I Want Media]

Updike noted Kelly's assertion that "copy-protection schemes" are helpless to hold back the technological tide. "Schemes," he repeated sarcastically, drawing a laugh. As his audience well knew, the Association of American Publishers filed suit last year on behalf of five major publishers alleging that Google's library scanning project is a massive and flagrant violation of copyright law.

Kelly was absent, but Google was there, feeding and transporting conference attendees — doesn't Wal-Mart hold a festival when they enter a town? — and making the case for its book-scanning Google Print project. Google's success could wipe that smirk off Updike's face faster than you can say "Run, Rabbit, run!"

Explosive Words [Washington Post]

First, Wired News and Wired magazine are distinct business entities with independent editorial teams. Opinions and decisions made on the online side of the house do not necessarily reflect those on the print side, and vice versa.

Second, the author and editors of the articles in question left Wired News long ago, taking their political opinions with them. There are a lot of disappointed Gore fans in the world, and not all of them write for the Huffington Post.

Third, just be happy the new Wired cover headline wasn't "Current_ TV sucks."

Rants 'n' Raves: Unsmear Gore Now [Wired News. That title again is Wired News]