Airbnb, Just Pay Your Taxes and Follow the Law and Shut Up
Airbnb is set for a new round of fundraising that would value the company at $30 billion. How do we regulate this ephemeral behemoth before it swallows our urban real estate markets whole?
Airbnb Is Not the Big Enemy of Labor. Uber Is.
“The sharing economy is here!” we are frequently advised. “We must devise a new labor deal for a new century!” we are warned. So why is making a deal between Airbnb and unions so fucking hard?
“While my family may be the first guests to speak out about a wrongful death at an Airbnb rental, it shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise. Staying with a stranger or inviting one into your home is an inherently dicey proposition.”
Lawsuit: Uber Exec Asked Nanny For "Handwork," Paraded Naked Around the House
Cameron Poetzscher is Uber’s head of corporate development. And, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in San Francisco Superior Court, he repeatedly sexually harassed his live-in nanny by masturbating, exposing himself, and asking for “handwork.”
Housesitter AirBnbs San Francisco Couple's House While They're at Burning Man
A San Francisco couple went to Burning Man. But wait, it gets worse. While they were gone, the housesitter they found on TrustedHousesitters.com rented their apartment out on AirBnb, the Guardian reports. The sharing economy has gone mad, and San Francisco is a monster of its own creation.
Man Finds Strange Couple in His Bed After Roommate Airbnbs His Condo
A Chicago condo owner who lives part-time in California returned home to find all his booze gone, a mysterious hookah on his dining room table, and a young couple sleeping in his bed. As he asked the couple to leave his apartment, they told him they’d booked the room on Airbnb.
Better AirBnB Slogans
AirBnB’s new advertising slogan is “Is Mankind?” Dumb as hell. Give me a break. There are many better slogans courtesy of the Gawker.com staff.
"XXX Freak Fest" Airbnb Host: "I am homeless"
Ari Teman thought his life had taken a bad turn a year ago, when his apartment was unwittingly selected to host a “BBW panty raid” orgy. Now, Teman says his life has been fully ruined by Airbnb: “I’m on a blacklist and cannot get a legitimate lease in all of New York City.”
AirBnb Guests Completely Destroy Rented House in "Drug-Induced Orgy"
AirBnb has agreed to compensate the owners of a Calgary home that was thoroughly destroyed in a “drug-induced orgy” while four people were renting it through the online service.
Here's a Depressing Airbnb: Sleep in Some Guy's Car for $85/Night
Sleeping in the back of a car is usually the domain of recently evicted single dads and heroin addicts, but thanks to digital technology it's now bourgeois fare: this guy will let you live inside his Tesla. That's a great bargain if you hate yourself.
I Can't Wait to Work for Candy Crush Magazine
Airbnb, the popular hotel-tax dodging application and apartment-renting service that artists use to gouge tourists and finance their careers, has launched a print magazine, the Times reports. It is called Pineapple (?) and its purpose, it explains in a note to readers, is "to explore our fundamental values: sharing,…
Thomas Friedman Assures You He Knows About Important Stuff
Lost child Thomas Friedman enjoys few things more than penning a good ol' paean to a hyperconnected corporation. Yet Thomas Friedman also has a reputation to maintain— as a person that dumb people think is a smart foreign policy thinker. What happens when these two things clash?
Man Unwittingly Rents Out Apartment on Airbnb For "XXX Freak Fest"
On Friday night, a comedian named Ari Teman rented out his Manhattan apartment on Airbnb to a man named David who said he was looking for a place for his family to stay while in New York for a wedding. What Teman accidentally discovered later was that his apartment was being prepared to host an orgy.
Watch Out, Airbnb Hosts: New York Is Going After You
Thought you were safe earning extra cash (five grand a month?!) by renting your New York apartment rental out on Airbnb? Not if the state Attorney General has anything to say about it.
The Seedy, Spammy Past of Airbnb's Co-Founder
The hot vacation rental service Airbnb has been insisting its recent scandals have all been innocent mistakes: The time it spammed Craigslist, its dearth of safety protections, the cover-up it attempted. For penance, the company built safety systems like a "verification dashboard," online references, and address…
Users Revolt After Hippie Couchsurfing Site Goes Corporate
CouchSurfing, the room-sharing service of choice for Burning Man attendees, free-spirited geeks and backpacking college students, just announced it's selling out and going corporate with $7.6 million in venture funding. Now users are in open revolt.
Ruinous Startup Airbnb Will Expand Its Failure Division
Airbnb, a website for renting your apartment to to tourist meth heads, has announced plans for a big expansion. Which is funny, because less than a month ago Airbnb was profusely apologizing for failing to protect customers, return phone calls or even blog properly. It must be time to lean in to the failure.
Check Out the Repulsive Side of Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley's loathsome side is ready for its closeup again, judging from the recent press. You know, the side that says it deserves a tech bubble even as it insists none is forming; the side that's greedy but pretends money doesn't matter; and the side that dresses up clubby insularity as a virtue.
Ashton Kutcher Is a Massive Whore
Not only did Ashton Kutcher pose for the cover of Details' September issue, he also edited a special "online only" version, out today. Turns out Hollywood's prettiest boytoy is one compromised whore of a magazine editor, directing most of his recommendations and profiles to tech companies he's invested in, with nary a…
Airbnb Backer Rebuked by Victim's Sister
After blogging about her terrible experience with Airbnb, San Franciscan "EJ" was hit with various insinuations from company supporters—that she's a liar, that she's crazy, or worse. Now her sister is lashing prominent startup adviser Paul Graham and blogger Robert Scoble for their treatment of EJ. Excerpts in today's…
