Gawker: Free

Man Sues Hilton for Tricking Him Into Reading USA Today

Lauri Apple — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 12:54:15 EDT

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If Hilton hotel guest Rodney Harmon had known that the USA Today left by hotel staff outside his door wasn't free, he wouldn't have read it. But he did read it, and the hotel charged him the 75-cent fee, so now Harmon's suing Hilton hotels in federal court. More »

Condé Nast's Grumpy East Coast-West Coast Feud

Ryan Tate — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:58:42 EDT

Big Ideas Author Malcolm Gladwell, a Manhattanite of the New Yorker, has issued a smackdown review of Free, the book from Big Ideas Author Chris Anderson, a Berkeleyan of San Francisco's Wired. If that's not provocative enough, Gladwell sounds downright grumpy. More »

How the Crescent City Revealed Wired's Plagiarizing Editor

Ryan Tate — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:09:23 EDT

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How did the Virginia Quarterly Review connect Chris Anderson's book to Wikipedia, thus unraveling a plagiarism scandal? A strange use of parentheses. More »

Wired Editor Steals Content for Book About How Content Should be Free

Ryan Tate — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:54:27 EDT

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Chris Anderson has been caught lifting huge chunks out of Wikipedia for his book Free. The irony speaks for itself. But it's worth noting that the Wired editor's excuses are disconcertingly clichéd. More »

Google, No Longer the Land of the Free

Owen Thomas — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:27:51 EDT

The accountants have taken over the Googleplex, once a hotbed of amiably unprofitable innovation. The notion that ads would pay the way for everything has been dropped — and "fee" is replacing "free." More »

Starbucks' Free WiFi... Not So Free

cityfile — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:01:00 EDT

O, munificent Howard Schultz: starting today, Starbucks is offering free WiFi! The only problem is, the "free" WiFi has more strings attached to it than a tennis racquet. First, you have to buy a Starbucks card, which has to have a minimum of five bucks on it. Ready to log on and read nytimes.com while sipping your tall skim Cinnamon Dolce Latte with foam? Not so fast. Before you do so you have to register online for the Starbucks Rewards Program. Going forward, if you want to keep your free WiFi, you're going to have to use that Starbucks card at least once a month, otherwise it's voided. Oh, and you can't even squirrel away your time: Each purchase earns you two free hours, which you'll have to blow in one sitting. So it's kind of useless. But the timing worked out nicely! Mayor Bloomberg just proclaimed this to be Internet week in New York, "a weeklong festival of events saluting New York’s thriving Internet industry and the many talented companies, organizations and innovators creating the future of online media!" More »

Gnarls Barkley Album Leaks As Consequence Of Internet Fandom

Hamilton Nolan — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:07:35 EST

Gnarls Barkley, the somewhat experimental hip hop duo whose ability to walk the line between "catchy" and "crazy" has made them beloved among millions more fans than Cee-Lo ever could have dreamed of when he was in the far superior group Goodie Mob, has a new album due out on April 8. But now the damn thing has leaked to the internet. That's what they get for having so many more fans who just play on the computer all day! If you're so inclined, a link to the download of "The Odd Couple," and the first video, after the jump. More »

"Free!" issue of Wired not actually free

Jordan Golson — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:00:23 EST

We heard through the grapevine that copies of this month's Wired were being taken off newsstands without payment — because unsuspecting readers thought the giant "Free!" on the cover meant the magazine was available no charge. Wired editor-in-chief Greg Anderson tells Valleywag:

The mag was indeed free (but not at newsstands). There have been some scattered reports of people walking out with them without paying. After the alarms went off, we hope they were advised about the web offer ;-)

Get Wired for free — thanks, Mr. Anderson!

Jordan Golson — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:20:30 EST

Being editor-in-chief of a major magazine must do wonders for your book sales. (Or not.) Wired head honcho Chris Anderson published a 4,703-word excerpt touting his new book and how "free" is the future. Want to read it for yourself? Grab Nick Douglas's 100-word version, read the full article on Wired.com, or get your very own dead-tree edition of Wired — free! More »