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00Dumbass
British Secret Agent Chief's Wife Outs Him As Speedo-Wearing Nazi Homie On Facebook
British secret agents are supposed to be exponentially smoother than their American counterparts. We get Ethan Hunt, they get James Bond. Except, not, because the chief of MI-6's wife had her Facebook profile set to public. Very public.
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advertising
Should Police Academy Alumni Direct Microsoft Ads? No.
Microsoft has heard your pleas: it's pulled its "Worst Tech Commercial Ever," which tried to use a puking theme to sell Internet Explorer. And you'll never guess who the director was! You will never guess. More » -
phones
Google Voice Is Cool, But Do You Need It?
You've read about the features, you saw the invites going out, but you might be wondering what, exactly, Google Voice could do for you. Here's our guide for the curious and uninvited on whether your phones need some Google juice. [Lifehacker] -
bright ideas
Let's Screw Up the Entire Internet to Save Newspapers
The hot new idea among people who think about "journalism," and the sanctity thereof: let's ban linking, on the internet! Let's also ban wheels, in order to save the horse industry. Let's also ban talking about things!
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twitterati
'Well-Designed' Orgasms, Voice Mail Important to Twitterati
AT&T failed to give Adam Frucci a sense of childlike wonder about his iPhone; Jimmy Jane's mobile device proved more satisfying to Melissa Gira Grant and Ana Marie Cox damned an internet conference with faint praise. More » -
struggling writers
Exploiting the Blog-to-Book Bubble: A Guide
Two blogs, Texts From Last Night and Look at this Fucking Hipster, scored contracts at Penguin's Gotham Books imprint in the past week, the latest in an endless series of such deals. Shouldn't you get a piece of the action? More » -
badvertising
Worst Tech Commercial Ever, Probably
If Harry McCracken, who has been writing about personal computers for 29 years, says this Microsoft spot is the worst technology commercial ever, he's probably right. Warning: It's also gross. More » -
media wars
YouTube's Changing of the Guard
YouTube co-founder Steve Chen has quietly left his baby behind, moving to a different Google division. Fellow co-founder Chad Hurley might leave too, PaidContent writes. Now comes a more Hollywood future for the video-sharing site. More » -
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Tweed?
L.A. Weed Dealer Finally Finds a Use for Twitter
California won't let the gays marry but it does let people micro-blog (medical) drug deals. Meet former Northwestern J-school student Dann Halem, who is building an online business selling weed on Twitter. How is this possible you ask? More » -
valleywag
Bing Upholds Microsoft's Tradition of Stealing Whatever Designs Interest It
Think these screenshots of Microsoft's Bing search engine and travel website Kayak look similar? So does Kayak, and an independent software-copyright attorney contacted by GigaOm. Can you tell which is which? More » -
twitterati
Celebrity Deaths Ruin Chef's Precious Chicken-Making Opportunity
The deaths of Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett and Ed McMahon were catastropic... to Tyler Florence's publicity efforts. Also apparently tragic: having to ride to a resort town on a private jet, and the incessant printing of the New York Times. More » -
nerdspotting
First Sighting of Steve Jobs Officially Back at Work
Apple won't say whether Steve Jobs was at the office today as part of his official return to the company. But a Valleywag spy spotted the CEO on his company's Cupertino campus. Jobs apparently left early:
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nerdfight
Condé Nast's Grumpy East Coast-West Coast Feud
Big Ideas Author Malcolm Gladwell, a Manhattanite of the New Yorker, has issued a smackdown review of Free, Big Ideas Author Chris Anderson, a Berkeleyan of San Francisco's Wired. If that's not provocative enough, Gladwell sounds downright grumpy. More » -
wtf
The Not-So-Triumphant Return of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is BACK! Oh, he's just stone cold striding into the office, high-fiving people, running marathon meetings, screaming his as... err, wait, actually, did we say "back?" More like backish. The official word: More » -
flackery
It's Spy vs. Spy as Microsoft Mounts Whisper Campaign Against Google
It's one thing for little nonprofit groups like Consumer Watchdog to hound Google for how it handles privacy and competitors. Much trickier for the company: A large corporation like Microsoft, can afford to whisper in reporters' ears, individually. More » -
public relations
How Censorship Finally Helped Wikipedia's Co-Founder
Jimmy Wales had an image problem. After bending his online encyclopedia's rules for a lover and, allegedly, for a benefactor, the Wikipedia co-founder faced rebuke and embarrassment. Then the New York Times made him a hero. More » -
twitterati
How You Could Have Saved Michael Jackson
The Twitterati were obsessed with the less brilliant Michael Jackson: His most brain-dead lyrics, his worst video moments and his awful neglect at the hands of...you! More » -
cubicle culture
How MySpace Humiliates Fired Workers
MySpace's CEO purportedly keeps his body pretty tight. But he should lay off the weight obsession at work. Owen Van Natta said MySpace was "bloated" when he laid off 400 workers; now they're reportedly called "fat" to their faces. More » -
moguls
Steven Brill Fails at Customer Service, Too
Airport-security gimmick Clear is just the latest example of Steven Brill failing investors (see also: Brill's Content, Inside.com, etc. etc.). But this time the mogul is just stone-cold ripping off customers, too, pocketing their half-used $200 membership fees. More » -
Twits of fate
The Deadly Side (For Real) of Twitter
Twitter won't just give you a black eye; as Flavia Maria Boricea found out, Twitter also kills.
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the internet
Michael Jackson Traffic Melts Entire Internet
Any doubts about Michael Jackson's megastardom should have ended after news of the singer's death tripped up Google and crashed AOL Instant Messenger, Wikipedia, TMZ and, of course, Twitter. A survey of the epic traffic: More » -
Shut Up, Twitter
Twitter Doesn't Care About Iran Anymore
Well it's taken almost two weeks, but it looks as though The Week America Died is about to knock "#iranelection" out of the top ten Twitter trending topics. More » -
crossovers
The Still Re-Birth of Julia Allison
Julia Allison no longer has her last proper job, at Time Out New York. Her reality show fizzled; a business partner ditched her. The archetypal protocelebrity was reduced to shilling for an amusement park. Time for a rebirth, via hair. More » -
disasters
How Google's Thirst for Power Might Bury San Francisco in Rubble
With its many servers, Google devours electricity. And with search queries growing by 50%, it's only getting hungrier. The solution? Drill a two-mile-deep hole in the Earth, extracting geothermal energy and possibly destroying San Francisco with a terrible earthquake. More » -
scandal
How the Crescent City Revealed Wired's Plagiarizing Editor
How did the Virginia Quarterly Review connect Chris Anderson's book to Wikipedia, thus unraveling a plagiarism scandal? A strange use of parentheses. More » -
publicity stunts
iPhone Porn Makes Long-Awaited App Debut
It's been a full year since Time magazine dubbed porn "The iPhone's Next Frontier," and only now has an application publisher dared to distribute a truly adult application: An app called Hottest Girls was updated to include naked pictures. More » -
books
Facebook Tell-All Has Founders Banging Groupies in Bathroom Stalls
Ben Mezrich's forthcoming Facebook exposé was sold to film producers before it was even written. The Hollywood influence helps explain why the book answers such pressing questions as, "Who might the co-founders have conceivably boned, and where?"
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rumormonger
Layoffs Rumored at Mrs. Google's Genetics Company
Genetics company 23AndMe can purportedly help you predict your health in decades to come, but we're hearing the three-year-old company can't even forecast its own near-term needs: A tipster tells us the company laid off seven employees. More » -
feuds
Do We Need a Restraining Order Against Josh Quittner?
We never imagined Josh Quittner would burn a previous Valleywag editor in effigy, but after seeing the video he's posted on Time.com, we wonder if we might need a restraining order. More » -
politics
Facebook Backer Peter Thiel Wants You to Know Environmentalism Will Kill Us All
Peter Thiel's objectivism and anti-immigration donations were hard enough for Silicon Valley colleagues to stomach. This attack ad he helped fund against climate-change legislation should be even less popular among California's Tesla-driving, cleantech-obsessed venture capitalists. More » -
magazines
The Case Against Chris Anderson
Chris Anderson's plagiarism scandal is still unfolding; Brooklyn writer Ed Champion has found instances where the Free author copied material he was supposed to be summarizing. But there was grumbling about Wired's editor long before his book scandal. More » -
public relations
Apple's Frozen Board Needs a Reboot
A hospital officially confirmed Steve Jobs received a liver transplant there, and did so with Jobs' permission. Meaning everyone is talking about the Apple CEO's sickness, except Apple. The pressure on the company's paralyzed directors is, justifiably, mounting. More » -
twitterati
Rob Corddry Sorry About the Ogling
A Daily Show host weirded himself out a little bit; a San Franciscan had pizza envy and Doree Shafrir discovered a yoga mat that automatically raises your blood pressure. The Twitterati were flabbergasted. More » -
blogging for gold
Nikki Finke Did Not Make $15 Million Today
News broke earlier today that Nikki Finke had sold her Deadline Hollywood Daily blog to Jay Penske's Mail.com Media Corp. Now, fantastical numbers are being floated around about how much she got. Who would do a thing like that? More » -
the cinema
The First Rule of Facebook Club Is...
Columbia Pictures is close to securing a director for its Facebook movie: David Fincher, of Fight Club fame, is reportedly in advanced talks. He'll be expected to move fast, before the market for a movie about the social network evaporates. More » -
books
Wired Editor Steals Content for Book About How Content Should be Free
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 » -
field guide
Jay Penske: The Hard-Partying Si Newhouse Wannabe of Bel Air
As the L.A. media otherwise disappers, Jay Penske is in empire-building mode. His hitherto low-profile Mail.com Media Corporation acquired Nikki Finke's showbiz blog and he backed Movieline in April. From what we've gleaned, the guy's a true Tinseltown dreamer. More » -
blogging for dollars
Return of Fake Steve Is a Vote of Confidence in Real Steve
Fake Steve Jobs is back. Dan Lyons, author of the piercingly funny satire blog, insists his return may be temporary. But he wouldn't be having this much fun with Jobs' illness if he still worried about the Apple CEO's death. More » -
tesla motors
Tesla Gets $465 Million from Feds
The Department of Energy has made it official: Tesla Motors will, in fact, get $465 million in government loans to fund its Model S sedan. Chalk another one up for founder Elon Musk's improbable dream of a mass-market electric car. More » -
class war
MySpace Exec Gets $500K to Sit at Home While 300 Laid Off
MySpace today confirmed the rumors it will lay off 300 international staff, on top of 400 U.S. layoffs last week. The social network also shoved aside purported co-founder Tom Anderson, who has a new gig: NOT going to the office. More »
















