Gawker
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googleplex
Google Moves in with Founder's Wife's Company
Google's complicated relationship with its founder's wife just got more tangled. Anne Wojcicki's genetic-testing startup, 23andMe, not only took a second round of funding from the company — it's now cohabitating with the search giant. More »
8,294
By Ryan TateComment by TouchedByAnOctopus: Anne had irritable bowel syndrome through the whole pregnancy. You would be in a conference room with her and she... 2 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
AOL's Shameless CEO Bailout
Tim Armstrong, AOL CEO, just bought a company from... Tim Armstrong, investor. The official line is that the deal is on the up and up, since the consummate salesman won't be taking any profits off his stake. Rich. More » -
conflicts of interest
Silicon Alley's Bitter Awards Scramble
For a startup founder itching to cash out, the recession can be tough: The economy fades hopes for an acquisition or plum funding round. Perhaps this explains some of the testiness around this year's awards from Silicon Alley Insider. More »
2,859
By Ryan TateComment by thecowardlylion: Oh, no say it ain't so. PR is the new marketing?! I am so proud of us little Internet babies. We... more » | Other threads
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updates
How To Avoid a Conflict of Interest at Your Wife's Book Party
Last night, New York Times LA bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer had a party for her new book at the home of Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton. The additional drama: Her husband Edward Wyatt covers television for the Times! So what happened? More » -
conflicts of interest
The New York Times L.A. Bureau's Favorite Studio
Jennifer Steinhauer is the L.A. Bureau chief for the New York Times. Her husband is Times television reporter Ed Wyatt. Steinhauer's having a book party in LA tonight for her new novel, Beverly Hills Adjacent. The location of the party: the home of Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton. What? More » -
Losers, of money
Thomas Friedman Is $75,000 Poorer
Is mustachioed hybrid-hawker Thomas Friedman licking dog food remnants from discarded cans yet? Sadly no, but he must be getting close! First his rich wife's family business went bankrupt. Now he's lost $75K. Just yesterday! More »
6,868
Comment by i'm a bottle: Seriously, the NY Press polemic against Friedman is one of the best things I've read all week on the Internet. [www.nypress.com] 2 Responses | Other threads
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flackery
Fox News' Mercenary Campaign Against Military High Command
Fox News Channel likes to pound the drums for patriotism and the armed forces. Odd, then, that it keeps letting its military analyst rail against the Pentagon for curtailing money to his clients. More »
2,386
By Ryan TateComment by Almostbanned: Ok, this guy may be a shill for Northrop Grumman, but everyone on these shows, on every channel and of... 6 Responses | Other threads
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books
Times Suppressed News of William F. Buckley's Suicide Impulse
Christopher Buckley's family tell-all has already made him some enemies. Will people look more kindly on the writer's crusade to break the news of his father's suicide urge? More »
6,530
By Ryan TateComment by son of spam: The man was incredible. Pissing out a car window is not an easy thing to do. 8 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Fox's Pirate-Killing Jet Swindle
Fox News analyst Thomas McInerney bizarrely twisted today's pirate attack to cheerlead for a pricey fighter the Obama administration plans to cancel. Is that because he's been paid by a contractor on the plane? More »
7,776
By Ryan TateComment by Almostbanned: Ok, he's wrong to say that the F-22 would be the weapon of choice to go after pirates, but Gawker... 19 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
Pirated Wolverine Review Puts Fox Newser's Job on the Line
(UPDATED) Despite reports he was fired for reviewing a pirated copy of Wolverine, Fox News columnist Roger Friedman will have a chance to argue for his job, a Fox News source said.
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media
Dan Abrams Wants to Buy a Few Good Bloggers
Former MSNBC host Dan Abrams, not content with running his shady new conflict-of-interest-laden PR firm for working journalists, now wants to start up his very own "'Drudge meets The Huffington Post' site." Oh good. More »
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Comment by the supergoddess: I see he's following Gawker's "penis only" business model. Oddly missing from the list? My Cock. 5 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Merkin Family Rules
Last Saturday, the NYT ran a breezy op-ed by Daphne Merkin, blaming widespread willful delusion for the Bernie Madoff debacle. No wonder. Her brother is the scam's biggest sucker. More »
6,794
Comment by leonleonleon: Please place all "merkin" jokes here, fellow commenters, for future reference 17 Responses | Other threads
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facebook
Even Facebook Employees Hate the Redesign
The feedback on Facebook's new look, which emphasizes a stream of Twitter-like status updates, is almost universally, howlingly negative. Why isn't CEO Mark Zuckerberg listening to users? Because he doesn't have to, he's told employees.
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197,425
By Owen ThomasComment by Botswana Meat Commission FC: Can someone explain what exactly is the problem with the redesign? (other than perhaps not enabling users to revert) To me... 18 Responses | Other threads
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valley spawn
Google Founder Sacrifices Son, Last Shreds of Integrity to Science
Google cofounder Sergey Brin and wife Anne Wojcicki are so unconcerned with privacy that they're donating their newborn son's DNA to science. So surely they won't mind if we tell you the kid's name. More »
11,947
By Owen ThomasComment by tokenfemale: I have been told for over 10 years 'I could have parkinsons, but they can't test, so all they know... 3 Responses | Other threads
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e-books
Esquire Editor Admires the Kindle, or At Least the Hearst Replacement
Esquire editor David Granger loves the Amazon Kindle. Sort of. The e-book reader gives him hope that Internet-shortened attention spans will lengthen enough to spark a renaissance in books and magazines. He's utterly delusional. More »
3,550
By Owen ThomasComment by stoprobbers: I can't read off a screen, hurt my eyes. When society turns away from the written word -- on a PAGE... 2 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
WSJ Conference Organizer's Wife Secretly Running Google
Megan Smith, a Google executive little known outside Silicon Valley, is taking a high-profile role running the search engine's in-house charity. She's part of a power couple whose louder half is AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher. More »
7,889
By Owen ThomasComment by JewelAlthaemenes: I think you are letting her off too lightly. Kara has a massive conflict of interest problem, not only does... 3 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
NYU Protest Leader Calls Times Reporter 'My Boy'
Funny story: You know the New York Times story this morning on the protests at NYU? Written on the laptop of one of the protest leaders, by her "boy." More »
11,246
By Ryan TateComment by Nice Beaver: In a later Twittering, she quoted Georges Jacques Danton's famous proclamation "At last I perceive that in revolutions the supreme... 1 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
At Last, Google Funds a Bailout for Reporters
Journalism pundits have been begging Google to put its billions behind the project of saving journalism. At last, a Google executive has come through. Here's Tim Armstrong's secret plan to save the local news business. More »
8,980
By Owen ThomasComment by Robert Strutin: As a startup doing research on Angel Investors this is exactly the way forward in business. Google is testing,... 2 Responses | Other threads
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fashion
Michelle Obama's Fashion Svengali
Unlike other First Ladies, Michelle Obama funnels most of her contact with fashion designers through a boutique owner. This is a scandal only in the tiniest, most adorable way. More »
6,234
By Ryan TateComment by bytememehard: I adore her, but the more pictures I see of her in that dress, the more I hate it. Here... 2 Responses | Other threads
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field guide
Shira Lazar, Kevin Rose's Latest Fling
Having famously "plowed through" San Francisco's eligible bachelorettes, Digg founder Kevin Rose went L.A. for his most recent paramour, Shira Lazar. Who is this Web-video wannabe with links to Dov Charney and Julia Allison? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by LilyBartleby: She's an upgrade from his previous paramour, Roseys Palm. 9 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
Selling A War-Shill Exposé
In April, the Times published a 7,600-word story on how major news networks presented as their own military "analysts" former officers who were on the payroll of major defense contractors and who had received talking points in special Pentagon briefings. The networks declined to cover the story and the scandal never caught fire. The newspaper's solution? Recast the story to focus on a single villain, retired General Barry McCaffrey, who NBC News' Brian Williams defended as a "passionate patriot" the last time around. More »
3,027
By Ryan TateComment by Weegee's bored: Y'know, every time a medical researcher is revealed to have gotten funding from a drug company the nation's press shits... 10 Responses | Other threads
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dan abrams
Dan Abrams' Ring Of Media Informants
Last year the SEC and New York attorney general's office opened investigations related to a novel business: a company that hired as "consultants" moonlighting workers with access to proprietary information of interest to hedge funds. Ethical questions will also be asked about the network of insider media consultants Dan Abrams has assembled after Rachel Maddow took the Elle Macpherson-dater's MSNBC slot. With advisors like former Us Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller, ex-Huffington Post writer Rachel Sklar and Lockhart Steele, once of Gawker Media, Abrams Research is meant to be simply a "mock jury of bloggers, TV personalities and newspaper or magazine editors," the Wall Street Journal reports. But it could get so much more thorny than that. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by abbe diaz: Bold! So like, once a upon a time, these peoples were called "publicists" and/or "PR managers," yes? And being at the... 2 Responses | Other threads
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geek love
VentureBeat blogger writes about girlfriend's company
Leah Culver, the ever-romantic founder of file-sharing site Pownce, does not think anything should keep two lovers apart, least of all work. True! And if she wants to date MG Siegler, the handsome VentureBeat blogger, more power to her. Brian Solis's lens captured the two sticking quite close to each other at a party for MySpace Music last night. But shouldn't Siegler, rather than Valleywag, disclose the relationship to his readers before he writes flatteringly about Pownce and quotes Culver in an article? (Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)
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By Owen ThomasComment by Figaro: What is she doing? IS she trying to fuck her way to the bottom? At least in the past she... 2 Responses | Other threads
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deals
Digg's Kevin Rose interviews former Digg suitor Al Gore
It only takes hearing so many jokes about Al Gore inventing Twitter to figure out that the former vice president has signed up for the microblogging service. Wisely, he's not really participating in the site, just using it to market his websites and announce his interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose, which airs tonight on Current, the Gore-backed cable channel. Current and Digg have been teaming up for a series of election-related events, including a party on election night. But Rose and Gore's acquaintance goes back almost two years. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by giania: Well either he's multi-account spamming or he's already got immitators because I was recently friended by [twitter.com] who is pimping... more » | Other threads
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great moments in journalism
Googler mom Esther Wojcicki's sideline job as Google publicist
What about the children? Palo Alto High School teacher Esther "Woj" Wojcicki took time away from educating future reporters to write about America's teens for the Huffington Post. In the piece, she promotes a nonprofit letter-writing project sponsored by Google and touts the use of Google Docs. No surprise there: Woj, whose daughter Anne is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin and whose daughter Susan is a Google executive, has been promoting Google's pet causes from the first. But only now, after Valleywag has twice pointed out Woj's failure to disclose family conflicts of interest, has she started to include a disclaimer. Too bad it's deceptive. More » -
wedding announcements
Kara Swisher discloses she married Google exec
A disclosure statement is an odd place for a wedding announcement. But that is where conference organizer and AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher has buried the news that she married her longtime partner, Google vice president Megan Smith, last night, before the passage of Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, made same-sex marriages illegal once more. (The couple had had previous ceremonies — including, while we're disclosing things, one that I attended — but this was the first one that was a legal marriage under California law.) This would be no one's business but their own, except for the fact that Swisher actively covers Google and its rivals. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by karaswisher: Fair piece, but you do leave out the salient fact that I have also been one of Google's toughest critics,... 4 Responses | Other threads
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facebook
Microsoft's Facebook millions paid back with Google election map
What does $240 million get you these days? That's what Microsoft invested in Facebook, but the software giant hasn't gotten much love in return. On election night, whose online maps did Facebook use? Google's. More » -
esther wojcicki
Google founder's journalist mother-in-law writes blimp infomercial
Esther Wojcicki, known as "Woj" at Palo Alto High School, where she teaches journalism, is a beloved figure on campus. She's also quite welcome at the Googleplex, as the mother of Anne Wojcicki, who's married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and Google executive Susan Wojcicki. I wonder if proximity to power and wealth has dulled Woj's reportorial instincts. More »
3,410
By Owen ThomasComment by VedetteLinglewood: I can also say that I was a former student of Woj's, and this article is at least offensive, if... 1 Responses | Other threads
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new york, minute
New York blogger worries himself sick over conflicts of interest
"If we want NYC to kick ass in the world's tech community, we have to stop favoring a few 'friends' and let everyone get time on stage." CenterNetworks founder/writer/editor Allen Stern doesn't just complain about inbreeding in New York's Web 2.0 scene, he documents it by listing the companies that presented at last night's NY Tech Meetup, and speculating on their potential conflicts of interest. Jeez, Allen, wait'll you find out I used to be on the secret MacArthur committee. Here's what we're group-thinking out here in our Valley chatroom: More »
1,328
By Paul BoutinComment by Lawrence: It seems there's always conflicts of interests - stop bitching about it, and just accept it as the norm now more » | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Michael Arrington wants you to read about MySpace Music, not his love life
If you didn't believe our report that TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington is in bed with MySpace's top flack, Dani Dudeck, read the obsessive startup blogger's latest story on MySpace Music, which claims that MySpace has "streamed" 1 billion songs. Considering that most MySpace profiles are set to start playing a song, whether you like it or not, as soon as you visit them, that's not that impressive. Arrington leads his story by comparing MySpace streams to iTunes sales, and then acknowledges it's not a "fair comparison." His readers, in the comments, went much further, citing our report and questioning whether the affair with Dudeck clouded Arrington's judgment. Those comments have been — what's the word? — unpublished.
1,380
By Owen ThomasComment by Rachel Marsden: Is his girlfriend beating him up, or does he always have 2 black eyes? 3 Responses | Other threads
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jim cramer
Jim Cramer Sorry About Biased, Ruinous Advice
So it turns out that the same night James Cramer was bragging about foretelling the Wall Street meltdown he was in the midst of a colossal fuckup. The CNBC host on September 15 recommended shares of Wachovia as a safe haven from the financial panic. Cramer took comfort in the words his former Goldman Sachs boss Robert Steel, who earlier in the show said his company Wachovia had "a great future." "You're a reassuring face," Cramer told him. In between, a CNBC promo promised "Fast, accurate, actionable, unbiased" advice. Wachovia of course went to liquidate at $1 per share Monday, less than a tenth of its value when Cramer recommended the stock. Cramer quickly apologized Monday night. "I wasn't skeptical enough," he said. It's all in the video after the jump. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Ogiri W Surie: To be fair, he was dead-on about Bluth Industries. 2 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Michael Arrington's MySpace Music review, the 100-word version
We know what TechCrunch's Michael Arrington got out of sleeping with MySpace PR executive Dani Dudeck: Screenshots of MySpace Music before the service launched. But what was Dudeck's quid to Arrington's quo? To find that, it's worth examining all the nice things Arrington has posted about her employer over the past couple of months. More »
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Comment by kimbjo: sounds fishy. i don't believe he'd be smart enough to keep his mouth shut long enough to get some nookie.... more » | Other threads
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geek love
Michael Arrington pounding his MySpace source
When TechCrunch, the blog for startup fetishists, published leaked screengrabs of MySpace's just-launched music service, Michael Arrington wrote: "We’ve been pounding our sources for screenshots of the new service for weeks without any luck." Now we know what he meant. A tipster tells us, and another source confirms, that Arrington's been dating Dani Dudeck, MySpace's VP of global communications, for months. More » -
emma gilbey keller
Wife Of Editor Gets Another Times Book Plug
Emma Gilbey Keller's new book "The Comeback" is, in part, about emerging from under the shadow of her husband, Times editor Bill Keller. Good luck with that. In the insular world of publishing, the Times Book Review still reigns supreme, and the positive Sunday notice on Emma Keller's title has already arched some eyebrows. Sure, the Keller family connection is disclosed. But people are already wondering about self-dealing at the Times after recent gushing praise for a book by a New York Times Co. executive and four separate plugs for a book by the husband of a company director — whose book-writing son also got notice in the paper. Then there's the efficient praise the Times had for Emma's last book. Newspaper gossips will remember it from the author. More » -
jill greenberg
Mag Photographer's Grotesque McCain Trick
The Atlantic has said it didn't vet Jill Greenberg's politics before hiring her to shoot John McCain. Even if it had known about her controversial anti-George Bush photographs, it wouldn't have cared, as a matter of policy. The policy may soon change: Greenberg is gloating she left McCain's eyes bloodshot and skin gnarly for the Atlantic's October cover. Worse, from the magazine's perspective, is that she tricked the Republican presidential nominee into standing over an unflattering strobe light, then posted the worst shots and Photoshops to her personal site: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by RandomLunatic: Not voting Republican, think McCain/Palin would be the road to this country's utter destruction, but I frankly think juvenile crap... 13 Responses | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Was TechCrunch50 rigged?
The anointing of Yammer as the winner of TechCrunch50 has raised questions about how the startup-launch conference operates. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, has made much of the fact that he and fellow event organizer Jason Calacanis don't charge startups to present at the show, as established rival Demo does. But people who attended the show are saying behind his back that the contest was rigged in favor of a pet startup of Arrington's with ties to one of the event's sponsors. More »
5,148
By Owen ThomasComment by calleynye: The point of TC50 isn't about the $50k. It's about presenting it to a room of full VCs, press,... 3 Responses | Other threads
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new york times
Carlos Slim's Shady Money Flows Into Times
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's $127 million investment in the New York Times Company made headlines this morning, but left unremarked upon, including by the Times itself, are the murkier aspects of how Slim made his fortune. Yes, Slim acquired control of telephone monopoly Telmex in 1990 when it privatized in part by smartly partnering with Southwestern Bell and France Telecom. It's also true he has strongly denied there was anything untoward about the $1.7 billion purchase price, even though the company just 14 years later was valued at $37 billion. But Slim's financial support for the ruling PRI party, including a $25 million donation at a notorious 1993 fundraising dinner, was at the very least leveraged in an unseemly manner elsewhere. Slim went on to use his "influence over the government" to fight off the entry of competing phone companies into the impoverished Mexican market — that according to the Times itself in 2006. And what of the billionaire as a "decent philanthropist"? More »
1,100
By Ryan TateComment by Smitros: ¡Friedman Máximo! ¡Brooks Espectacular! ¡Kristof Gigante! 2 Responses | Other threads
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cbs news
CBS News Censors McCain Ad
CBS News may be home to the once-groundbreaking newsmagazine 60 Minutes and even the instigator of an evening-news segment called "free speech," but it'll be damned if it's going to let John McCain use footage of Katie Couric to smear Barack Obama as a sexist. CBS said the ad took Couric's comments out of context, which it apparently did, implying a swipe at Obama that was never taken. But instead of pursuing a lengthy court case that would have to contend with extensive case law protecting political ads, CBS is borrowing a tactic from the Church of Scientology and alleging a copyright infringement, at least according to YouTube's statement on the matter. That got the video removed nice and quick-like, though it still exists on the McCain campaign website. Surely CBS news executives could have taken a a more elitist road than low-grade YouTube censorship. [Politico] -
om malik
VC reporter finally joins the team
No one's surprised that GigaOm founder-and-whatever-else Om Malik has joined True Ventures as a partner. Or that he buried the news near the bottom of a lengthy blog post last week. Or that it took days for reporters to discover the blog post, with its classically obscure Malikian headline, "Evolving My Work Life." The New York Times felt obligated to quote a journalism ethics prof on the potential conflict of Om being both a Valley VC and a reporter on Valley VCs. But let's be honest about the Valley's take: No one cares. Like fellow reporters-turned-moneymen Michael Moritz and Stewart Alsop, Malik will finally, finally be taken seriously by the people he's been following for years. (Photo by Brian Solis)
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By Paul BoutinComment by HumphreyBogus: Haven't we seen this movie before? Om's bio mentions that he had a short stint as a VC in 1999 as... 1 Responses | Other threads
conflicts of interest
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Thu Jul 16
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