Why is my friend who's going to the TechCrunch party at August Capital tonight telling me about the state of her area this late in the day on IM? No, she's not a working girl. Who would invite an escort to the TechCrunch party anyway? Any pro there tonight is a regular mistress of her sugar daddy, not a one-night…
Forget the glass ceiling for a second. This week anyway, the worst enemy of "women in tech" (like we're all one big happy girl army) is the Hot List. Playboy's "Hottest Blogger" contest is still rolling, still prompting faux-thinky "conversations" about objectification and what sets women back. (An aging softcore…
We had heard rumors that the relationship between 38-year old TechCrunch publisher Michael Arrington and 22-year old Exonerated PR founder Calley Nye might have been more than strictly professional. Thanks to a tipster's sleuthing, we found that blabby blogger Robert Scoble had confirmed that the pair had…
News.com reporter Caroline McCarthy's informants could have sworn they saw Digg CEO Jay Adelson at a party for RealNetworks last night. But Adelson, pictured left, was in San Francisco. So who was it? One possibility: A model who appears in the Clarins Men advertising campaign, right. Jay Adelson, mistaken for a…
We've always wondered how a schlubby guy like Jimmy Wales sees so much action. It can't be the I-founded-Wikipedia-can-I-edit-your-page pickup lines — for every Rachel Marsden he lands with those, one thinks Wales would get 10 drinks in the face. At last, we've gotten a scientific explanation: It's the stubble. A…
An old joke about San Francisco's economy is that half the people are in the business of selling t-shirts to the other half. Any Valley denizen quickly accumulates a wide assortment of corporate logos in their laundry. But be careful which company's brand you're sporting around the office.
One in a while a Web application comes along that's so damn useful, even we'd invest in it. Facebook? Nah. MakeMeBabies, the site that lets you create ruddy-cheeked mashups from any two photos? Its diapers will be filled with nothing but spun gold. Here's what the site came up with from photos of Facebook CEO Mark…
At a birthday party for game developer David "Talin" Joiner hosted by former Powerset CEO Barney Pell, the guest of honor provided guests with $5,000 to spend any way they collectively wished. What did they choose to spend it on? $1,000 to give Joiner a makeover and an electronic copy of Neil Strauss's modern…
I can report that Om Malik, the blogfather behind GigaOm and Giga Omnimedia's stable of sites like NewTeeVee, Earth2Tech, OStatic and Web Worker Daily (which I like to call, collectively, "the Ompire") has been doing well since suffering a heart attack at the end of last year. He's also scaled back what little…
One of the most important and profound visual chronicles of our times, Hot Chicks with Douchebags, may have found a photo of former Powerset CEO Barney Pell with a bunch of hot chicks. This character certainly shares the same taste in shirts, the same number of buttons loosed and the same liberal use of the hands…
What does privilege look like? This year, it was renting out an entire movie theater for your friends. But two years ago, it was a cleancut white guys playing air-fiddle on tennis rackets while singing Alabama's "Song of the South" horrificly offkey at Google society gal Marissa Mayer's birthday party, a scene…
Google engineer, grandson of economist Milton Friedman and "seasteader" Patri Friedman likes "brains, muscled backs, blinking lights, health, competence," and dislikes "beer, cigarettes, people who don’t like children." Judging by the photo, he also likes providing high-resolution photos prominently featuring his…
Think it's hard being a woman in technology? Apparently it's even harder to be an attractive one. That's right, pretty people are rising above the prejudice that unless they look like Steve Wozniak, they can't hack it:
The Palo Alto Neiman Marcus held a preview of the Oscar de la Renta fall collection for a San Francisco Symphony benefit, and we all know how much Google's Marissa Mayer loves her some de la Renta. So she showed up with boy toy Zack Bogue (far left) and Google senior UI designer Kerah Pelczarski (second from the…
A tipster writes in to tell us he was a little skeeved out by Fast Company TV videoblogger Robert Scoble. The offense? Manhandling the ladies at the NextWeb conference in Amsterdam two weeks ago.
Can you help Chadrick Baker, the Metaversatility biz-dev guy who recently became Valleywag's new mascot? He's shaved off the beard in this four-year-old profile pic, but hasn't settled on an icon that best captures his new, fresh-faced look. Chadrick has asked for suggestions on his blog, but we think Valleywag…
The commenter who has it out for Engadget editor-in-chief Ryan Block is emailing us again. The scandalous newsflash he has for us? That Block shaves his head, making him look a bit like the singer Moby. If you ask us, Moby looks like a much less handsome Ryan Block. (Photo by livedigitally)
Speaking for the masses, commenter Zoo responded to our poll on tech's most eligible bachelors, "Why is Pete Cashmore even mentioned if he isn't in the option pool?" Fine. For Zoo, StyleHive's Patricia Handschiegel and the rest of you who found yourselves forced to vote for Mr. Robert "I Wear Extra Medium" Pazornik —…
The latest issue of Marie Claire profiles Google's top female executives. You've got to pick up a copy, if just for the fashion credits. From left to right: Shona Brown, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Megan Smith, Francoise Brougher, Susan Wojcicki, and Marissa Mayer. With the exception of Mayer's getup, never has a…
Attention Gina Valo fans: Did you know Valo, the Googler who also wears the Miss Michigan beauty crown, plays the fiddle? And can dance the Bombshell Stomp? And that her career goal is to become an "independent strategy consultant and social entrepreneur"? Neither did we. Thanks, Chris311. I'm sure Valo appreciates…
