Valleywag: Kevin Rose

Temptress of Silicon Valley shuts down useless site

Owen Thomas — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:00:00 PST

Earlier this year, Leah Culver appeared on the cover of a tech magazine blowing an enormous pink bubble. But the shrill-voiced San Francisco programmer no longer desires fame — even the modest sort afforded Silicon Valley's microcelebrities. The turnabout seems odd, considering how aggressively she once courted notoriety.

Culver is shutting down Pownce, a Twitter knockoff which served as her vehicle for entrepreneurial achievement. Pownce's origins are notable in the way they show that connections rule the funding of startups in Silicon Valley, an industry whose capitalists relentlessly brag about their devotion to meritocracy.

Pownce allowed users to send each other short messages and, most importantly, share files; bootlegging MP3s was a popular if unacknowledged use. But it was more notable for its main backer: Kevin Rose, the languid-eyed founder of social-news site Digg, funded Pownce at a time when one of his employees, Daniel Burka, was dating Culver.

Rose's Web fame lent Pownce Internet-insider buzz; Burka applied his design skills to the site. (Both men moonlighted on the project while working at Digg.) Culver broke up with Burka before the site launched, taking up with Brad Fitzpatrick, the founder of LiveJournal, an online diary site which had been purchased by blog-software maker Six Apart.

That relationship didn't last, either. But it brought Culver attention in the right circles. Six Apart is now purchasing Pownce's technology and hiring Culver. This kind of deal, known as an asset acquisition, is typically the least lucrative kind of startup sale, suggesting Culver, Rose, and others involved in Pownce didn't make much money. But at least she got a job where she can prove herself as a programmer, or not, out of the spotlight.

If she's sincere about avoiding fame, Culver will have to reform more than her work life. Granted, San Francisco's pool of straight men is on the small side. But besides Burka and Fitzpatrick, Culver also dated Cal Henderson, an engineering director at Flickr; MG Siegler, a writer at tech blog VentureBeat; and Nick Douglas, a former editor at Valleywag and Gawker. If she doesn't want to be famous, Culver might want to take a look at her relentless technosexuality, which more than hints at the acquisition of influence rather than intimacy as its goal.

Is it sexist to point this out? Perhaps, but not nearly as sexist as touting technical skills while sleeping your way to the top.

Kevin Rose's cold tweeting in your face

Paul Boutin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:40:00 PST

Digg poster boy Kevin Rose is so hot that 726 people have already subscribed to a Twitter stream on which Rose pretends to be a head cold. For context, New York Times reporter Matt Richtel has 819 followers to the novel he's posting as tweets. Note to self: Become a celebrity first, then take up writing.

Digg's Kevin Rose interviews former Digg suitor Al Gore

Owen Thomas — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:00:00 PST

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.

In late 2006, Gore's Current made an offer for Digg which valued the social-news startup at $100 milion or more. Wonder if Rose and Gore discussed business at all in this interview. As VentureBeat recently pointed out, Digg's traffic is flat, and it hasn't significantly increased its valuation since Rose and Gore's 2006 chat.

Current broadcasts worst election coverage ever

Owen Thomas — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:00:00 PST

Want to watch North Carolina gyrate to a hip-hop beat? Tune into Current, Al Gore's user-generated cable channel. I don't mean people dancing in the streets; I mean an outline of North Carolina pulsating. The channel is carrying, on live TV, headlines you could read on Digg and messages you could read on Twitter, along with video snippets from current viewers. Other than that, it's offering the same kind of exit-poll projections you could get on CNN, but in hot pink and cyan instead of the traditional red-blue-gold color scheme. Digg founder Kevin Rose pops up occasionally with live updates from a San Francisco night club where Current, Digg, and Twitter are hosting an election-night party. It's Web 2.0 in your living room — and it makes me wish I could Brillo-pad the "vision" out of "television."

Valley homophobes still drafting Yes on Prop 8 response ad

Paul Boutin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:40:00 PDT

BoomTown reporter Kara Swisher rappelled from a skylight at Jerry Yang's secret hideout to score this draft copy of an ad, in which a bunch of tech bigwigs come out in favor of gay marriage — or at least in opposition to Proposition 8, a California state ballot initiative which would ban it. No Valley company in its right mind would be seen opposing gay marriage, so why bother?

Right: Because it's an awesome branding opportunity. The draft is a self-parody of corner office drama, full of Honorary Co-Chairs, Leaders, and Former CEOs. But the real story is: Who's missing? Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt are here, but not Larry Page. Twitter's Ev Williams is here, but not Digg's Kevin Rose. Federated Media: Present. TechCrunch: Absent. Mark Zuckerberg is not here, but Sheryl Sandberg pulled a John Hancock: She's right up top, where Owen can't miss her. Oh, look, she's trying to make nice! She's going to be sorry.

Kevin Rose runs from the crowd

Owen Thomas — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:00:00 PDT

Why is Kevin Rose on a publicity binge? In the past two months, the founder of headline-voting site Digg has garnered two magazine covers. There he is, with a smoldering leer on local San Francisco magazine 7x7. The look reminds everyone why Diggnation cohost Alex Albrecht once said that Rose, a prolific dater, has "plowed through everyone in town." For Inc., Rose participated in a wacky crowd shoot which echoed the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night." It's obvious why Rose is a hot commodity: Write about him, and traffic to your magazine's website will soar. (Will he sell print copies? I doubt Digg users visit newsstands.)

It's obvious what's in it for the magazines which write about them. Rose makes a compelling story, even if Inc. had to resort to ridiculous hyperbole:

Rose has managed to put himself at the center of an ever-expanding new-media empire. In addition to Revision3 and Digg, he recently launched an Internet messaging service called Pownce. Thanks to Rose's star power and a well-designed website, Pownce quickly attracted more than 150,000 people, who use it to share music, videos, and links with their friends. This means Rose owns an online newspaper, an online television network, and an online communications platform.

Ladies and gentlemen, geeks of the world, please welcome Kevin Rose. He is the first vertically integrated Internet celebrity — part Steve Jobs, part Howard Stern — and the next media mogul.

Wait a second: Revision3, Rose's "online television network," is mostly a vehicle for distributing videos where Rose chugs beer with Albrecht and discusses Digg headlines. It just laid off several employees and canceled five shows. Pownce is barely known outside of San Francisco — and its insidery core of users know that it's secretly a great way to swap copyrighted music and video files without getting threatening letters from the RIAA. And Digg?

Well, Digg just raised $28.7 million in venture capital, after several rounds of acquisition talks with Current, News Corp., and Google went nowhere. Digg needs to get big — which means Rose needs to change his image.

He's always been the beer-drinking slacker who started Digg on a whim, and never wanted to run a big company. That story no longer works. Instead of believing in the wisdom of crowds, Rose needs to run from it. His tech-geek fan base isn't large enough to take Digg into the territory where an IPO is plausible.

Burnt by a goofy BusinessWeek cover that made him look like a joke, Rose has stayed away from print. But now he needs the mainstream media as much as they need him. Coverage in second-tier publications like 7x7 and Inc. lead to more, higher-profile stories.

Will editors in New York's high-rise offices ask pesky questions about Pownce and Revision3? No, they'll just read his clips, and think Rose really is the next Howard Stern. In that future path lies true stardom, not just Internet fame, and real riches, not just paper ones. But it means abandoning the ideals which led him to start Digg in the first place.

Traffic is the new profit

Owen Thomas — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:00:00 PDT

We're not sure we buy Inc. magazine's cover math, any more than we believed BusinessWeek when that magazine told us Digg founder Kevin Rose was worth $60 million. But the cover is impressive. (As are Rose's biceps. Photoshop?) Your suggestions for captions are welcome in the comments; the best will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: DrewFinch, for "All your data are belong to us." (Photo by aprilini)

You must be this tall to ride Alex Albrecht

Owen Thomas — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:00:00 PDT

The bromance between Diggnation cohosts Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose is so palpable, and same-sex marriage so trendy, that I was a bit surprised to hear that Albrecht was engaged to someone else. Aw, Kevin, I hope you don't feel jilted! Someone will make an honest man of you, someday. The two performed their Web show live on stage at the Future of Web Apps conference in London — which, we hear, was just like Cyprus but without the crystal-blue sea and the matching swimsuits. Can you think of a better caption? Leave it in the comments. The best will become the post's new headline. Friday's winner: franky, for "Mark Zuckerberg signs petition against new Facebook design." (Photo by jimjarmo)

Correct out-of-touch New York style rag's Internet gossip!

Melissa Gira Grant — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:20:00 PDT

It's complicated. God, is it ever. The same October Details story that follows around New York's "Internet playboys" and their bicoastal hangers-on runs with this chart of who dated, funded, or hated in this overdocumented side of the Web scene. So sweet to know we're not the only ones keeping a scorecard, but one of its subjects, Caroline McCarthy, claims there's inaccuracies! Let's do Details and the kids recently fanning their fameballs from the coverage a favor and fix it up then. Ready? Let loose in the comments with your errata.

Introducing New York's own Web 2.0 "playboys"

Melissa Gira Grant — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:00:00 PDT

The golden boys of New York's start-up scene are just as flashbulb-driven as the women who dote on them, a new Details mag feature reveals. Mostly they followed Tumblr's enfant terrible, David Karp, and his heterosexual beard Charles Forman, who pimps "social gaming" at iminlikewithyou but is still better known as last season's Mr. Julia Allison. There's a guest appearance by Kevin Rose, which you can just tell is going to get messy. He's inserted towards the end as the wise old sage, warning these new guys away from male Internet fameballing:

Kevin Rose—"an old, old man," to quote Cashmore—never planned on going to the Mashable party. "I'm all partied out," he says. People magazine readers probably wouldn't know who Rose is, but among the Internet-savvy he's Brad Pitt. Rose, who dated Julia Allison a few years ago, is remarkably low-key compared with his younger counterparts. Drinking tea out of a mug covered with skulls and crossbones, he perks up when the talk turns to rock climbing (he's in a group called Geeks Love Climbing). He says he doesn't know what the term fameballer means. He also says he doesn't do things like wedge himself into nightclubs to have his picture taken with founder fetishists.

Those would be the women who this sort of scorn is usually reserved for: Julia Allison and her heiress apparents.

The Details profile is predictably overblown, but its core message is clear: There's a new generation of men in tech who no longer feel it's enough to just launch a product people want — unless that product is themselves.

Did Kevin Rose cash out?

Owen Thomas — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:00:00 PDT

The whispers have started: How much money did Kevin Rose make personally by selling shares in Digg's latest round of VC funding? The talk that Rose has sold shares is driven by equal parts envy and admiration. To understand the reaction, it helps to realize that the notion of an entrepreneur selling his own shares directly to investors before a public offering — getting out of the company just as other investors were getting in — used to be taboo in Silicon Valley. But that was before Wall Street's IPO machine broke down, and before merger activity dried up. Rose is at the vanguard of a seismic shift in how the Valley pays off its entrepreneurs.

Rose, whose stake in Digg was famously estimated by BusinessWeek as worth $60 million, may be a unique case. More driven entrepreneurs must be frustrated by Rose, the fun-loving rock climber, on-screen beer drinker, and legendary lothario. His company's rise has seemed effortlessly successful, driven more by the former TV host's fan following than Digg's innovations.

But Rose has gotten good business advice, chiefly from Digg CEO Jay Adelson, a longtime friend. Adelson feels he gave up too much control to investors at his previous company, Equinix; he strove to protect Rose from the same fate, an effort which Sarah Lacy chronicles in her recent book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good. As a result, Rose still holds a substantial stake in Digg.

Rose is already believed to have taken $1 million in a previous financing. It's not clear how much he's taken in this round, if any — but it stretches credulity to think he hasn't cashed out to some extent.

Here's why: Normally, a company raising $28.7 million in a third round of financing, as Digg just did, would be giving up a substantial chunk to outside investors. But when the founder controls as much as Rose does, the math doesn't work. Former Digg engineer Owen Byrne, who complains that he hasn't had access to Digg's financials in some time, speculates that the round involved massive dilution — the reduction in value suffered by existing shareholders when new shares are issued.

But Byrne has this exactly wrong: Allowing the VCs to put in enough money to make the investment worth their time, at a high valuation, would require substantial dilution, which would disadvantage employees and early investors. Much simpler to transfer shares directly from one large shareholder — Rose — to another.

What's the effect? Already, employees at Facebook have been agitating to sell their shares, and the company is creating an internal market to let them do so. Rose, as another high-profile example, will put further pressure on startups' management to let their workers cash out. This seems dangerous: Digg, with its high traffic and Microsoft ad deal, has achieved some success — but it's hard to envision it lasting long as an independent concern. What will the boards of even less developed startups tell their founders, when they want to sell, too — that they're just not as cool as Kevin Rose?

Digg announces major increase in spending

Owen Thomas — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:20:00 PDT

Burn, baby, burn! That's the coded message in Digg CEO Jay Adelson's blog post about a "major expansion effort." The website, whose users rate and discuss news headlines, is hiring for 19 open positions, with more to come, as Digg expands internationally. Only at the end does Adelson mention how he's making this happen: $28.7 million in venture-capital financing. Coming after failed acquisition talks with Google, the financing round makes it clear that Digg is now planning to get bigger rather than sell out. It's a strange thing to celebrate.

The obvious goal of the blog post is to advertise Digg's available jobs to prospective engineers. But in so doing, Adelson's alerting everyone to Digg's ever-expanding payroll expense — without talking up where the money is coming from. Digg has a sweetheart advertising deal with Microsoft, which sells ads for the site — but it hasn't found a revenue model of its own.

And Digg has a management problem which will only get more obvious as the company swells. Adelson, who commutes to Digg's San Francisco headquarters from his home in upstate New York, has admitted that he's not as committed to the company as he could be, having been burnt at a previous startup, Equinix. Founder Kevin Rose, who still commands considerable respect among Digg's contentious users, has made it plain he's not interested in running a big company and taking it public. It's hard to picture Rose and Adelson staying if Digg is sincere about getting big.

Apple to add Genius song-selling feature to iTunes

Paul Boutin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:20:00 PDT

Digg founder Kevin Rose claims this iTunes 8 feature from a reliable source:

iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don't already have.

It sounds like an iTunes version of Pandora, geared to selling you more music you might not have discovered on your own.

Newsflash: Apple to unveil new products at new-products event

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:40:00 PDT

At a press conference scheduled for September 9, Apple will unveil "unspecified new products," reports Reuters. Thanks, Reuters guys — that really helps! The event's theme is "let's rock." In August, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose predicted Apple would announce a new iPod Nano, minor changes to its iPod Touch, price cuts to older iPod models and version 8.0 of iTunes — in other words, the same kind of update to its iPod product line Apple makes every fall. Our eternal gratitude, Captain Obvious!

Mark Zuckerberg's new Twitter friends

Owen Thomas — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:00:00 PDT

When he moved Facebook to the Bay Area, Mark Zuckerberg deliberately set up shop in Palo Alto, not the self-involved hipstersphere of San Francisco. But he's been spending a lot of time in the City lately. Friday, a tipster spotted him in SoMa, near Twitter's headquarters. Kevin Rose, founder of Digg and lover of beer and women, met with Zuckerberg yesterday at the Samovar Tea Lounge. And Zuckerberg just added Twitter cofounder Evan Williams as a friend on Facebook.

Here's something odd: Zuckerberg has had a Twitter account since at least May — mentioned in Rose's Twitter account of his teatime with Zuckerberg — but it seems mostly inactive. Is he just trying to fit in with the San Francisco crowd, or is there something more going on here? I'm reminded, for some reason, of the time Facebook PR director Brandee Barker friended her counterpart at Microsoft right before the two companies announced a big advertising-and-investment deal.

Kevin Rose's idea of the week, the iPower from Apple

Jackson West — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:40:00 PDT

Kevin Rose, the Casanovative founder of Digg, is concerned about the effect that all his whizbang gadgets are having on precious Gaia. He proposes that the heavenly father of the Jesusphone, the almighty Steve Jobs, develop an "iPower" system to monitor a home's electrical system. When your iPhone's GPS detects that you've left the house, the AirPort base station would trigger relay switches in power outlets around the house to shut off, saving precious joules from being wasted — something that a number of other companies are already developing, Rose readily admits. That's not a problem: Like all of Rose's ideas, this one involves someone else doing all the work. My only concern? Considering all the fecund females who've been associated with Rose over the years, it's only a matter of time before this dream becomes a reality — and then an awful nightmare. Because what happens when Robot Steve Jobs is given complete control over your home?

Obama now No. 1 on Twitter

Paul Boutin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:20:00 PDT

I'm sure his followers will make a big deal of Captain Change's rise to the top of Twitter's most-followed-feeds scoreboard. But, um, look at the rest of that list. Nearly as many people are tuned into Digg founder Kevin Rose's meticulously documented drinking problem. Note to Obama staffers: Whatever you do, don't enrage 56,661 Twitterers by announcing his VP choice to CNN before you tweet it. Then again, there are 228 times that many voters in the AFL-CIO, and they watch TV. Go for it.

The 250 shows supercharged viral growth, more than tripling to 806 in four months

Owen Thomas — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:20:00 PDT

Back in March, very special correspondent Paul Boutin revealed that the Olds were derisively referring to the insular San Francisco clique of Web hipsters — the sort of people who Twitter about how they wish FriendFeed had a better Plurk API — as "the 250." After learning that 806 people tuned in to watch Kevin Rose shave his head, live on the Internet, we are now revising that figure upwards by a factor of 3.224. With Rose's market-expanding efforts, we now have three times as many people to mock. Thanks, Kevin!

Kevin Rose shaves his head, and 806 people watch

Owen Thomas — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:20:00 PDT

On Sunday, Digg founder Kevin Rose went online, turned on his webcam, and proceeded to shave his head. A Britney Spears-style breakdown for San Francisco's linkbait lothario? No, it was just some charity bet. But we still wonder if former flame Julia Allison's recent run through town had anything to do with Rose's mental state. The saddest thing of it all: 806 people tuned into Rose's lifecasting session to watch.

Robert Scoble, other Valley bon vivants subject of latest ego-stroking linkbait

Jackson West — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:00:00 PDT

Vancouver-based NowPublic is ostensibly all about citizen journalism. But since Guy Kawasaki sold Truemors to it and signed up as an advisor, it's becoming better known for publishing flattering lists of "influencers," supposedly ranking them according to various social media metrics. The first "Most Public" list focused on New York, but a new list for the Valley and San Francisco is "coming soon." And by virtue of being included in the latest edition, we received an early copy as a press release. Who comes out on top? Ubiquitous attention slut Robert Scoble, naturally. Full list after the jump.

Robert Scoble

Michael Arrington

Jack Dorsey

Biz Stone

Matt Cutts

Pete Cashmore

Dave Winer

Guy Kawasaki

Loïc Le Meur

Kevin Rose

Merlin Mann

Stowe Boyd

Jeff Atwood

Jeremiah Owyang

Veronica Belmont

Kara Swisher

Scott Beale

Marc Andreessen

Ryan Block

David Sifry

Emily Chang

Om Malik

Timothy Ferriss

Nick Douglas

John Battelle

David Cohn

Louis Gray

Tom Foremski

Tim O'Reilly

Ariel Waldman

Matt Mullenweg

Dean Takahashi

Philip Kaplan

JD Lasica

Sarah Lacy

Brian Solis

Charlene Li

Rafe Needleman

Dan Farber

Howard Rheingold

David McClure

Margaret Mason

Jason Goldman

Leah Culver

Chris Shipley

Jackson West

Liz Gannes

Owen Thomas

Adeo Ressi

Max Levchin

(Photo from Michael Arrington)

Google nixing Digg deal?

Owen Thomas — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:00:00 PDT

A tipster tells us Google has backed out of talks to buy Digg, the popular news-discussion site fronted by Kevin Rose, the Web-video personality and San Francisco Casanova. There have been hints all week that Google has been cooling on Digg. Marissa Mayer, Google's reigning princess of pageviews, had once fancied Digg as a means of improving Google News, one of her Web properties. Last month, at her behest, acquisition talks were getting serious. But then Mayer brashly (and perhaps foolishly) announced Wednesday that Google News generated $100 million a year in revenues for Google. Translation: Who needs Digg?

Shortly thereafter, reearsh firm Hitwise ran numbers which showed that Digg would be inconsequential for Google's traffic, only the 13th largest Web property, well behind Google News. Coincidence? Perhaps, but they can't have been helpful for Digg's negotiations.

One other sign that the deal has been going nowhere: Digg has been interviewing for a head of PR. That's a position they wouldn't fill if they were close to a sale. That said, we hear Digg board member Brett Bullington, who helped sell JotSpot to Google in 2006, has been pushing to keep negotiations alive.

So are things on? Are they off? Never say never in deals. But even Digg CEO Jay Adelson acknowledged this week, at a meetup with Digg users in Chicago, that his company has been too prone to leaks during negotiations. Could he be getting a taste of the same from the Google side? That's a theory I dig.

(Photo of Rose by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

Jackson West, please come home -- all is forgiven

Owen Thomas — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:00:00 PDT

Why did I let Jackson West take a vacation? While our associate editor was away, we actually wrote something nice about Gavin Newsom — and he only had to save San Francisco from a rogue IT guy to do it! Microsoft's Windows chief, Kevin Johnson, ended up in Sunnyvale, Calif. — but not, as he'd hoped, in the corner office at Yahoo HQ. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg flubbed more media interviews this week, prompting us to suggest he get help. Maybe he could take tips from the Internet-famous Julia Allison, who crashed his developers' conference?

Allison's sort-of ex, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose, said he was buying Google. Surely not for Knol, Google's weak attempt at taking on Wikipedia — at launch, its search engine didn't even work. Jackson, come back and help us make sense of this crazy business! (Photo by Jason Calacanis)

Digg founder Kevin Rose: "We're buying Google"

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:40:00 PDT

At a Chicago meetup yesterday, Digg CEO Jay Adelson would not comment on recent rumors that Google has renewed talks to buy the site. “There is no word,” Adelson said. “We commented on one of these rumors before and it got us in trouble. There is nothing to say.” Digg founder Kevin Rose wasn't so shy, joking with the audience: “We’re buying Google.” Adelson did, however, tell the audience that following smaller social-news rivals Reddit and Mixx, Digg will soon allow users to create their own sites using Digg's technology. Adelson said the new feature would be out in six months. The Windy Citizen reports:

Adelson said the move will open Digg up to new verticals and make it possible for stories that wouldn’t make the cut on the main Digg site to find an audience. Users will be able to control the threshold for submitted articles being promoted to the front page of these.

10 Digg stories not even Kevin Rose could make popular

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:00:00 PDT

Of the 377 stories Digg founder Kevin Rose has submitted to his social news site, 367 went to the site's front page. When I read this, all I could think was: God, those 10 that didn't make it must have really sucked. Maybe he should have pretended to be a hot girl? We thought we'd help the ~~spammers~~ "social media marketers" out by listing Kevin Rose's failed submissions below. If these stories couldn't hit the front page, with Rose's hordes of mancrushing fanboys clicking on them,then they're the exact kind of story our Digg-optimizing friends shouldn't even bother with. We'll tell you why.

You don't ask questions on Digg. You give emotional answers. Next time, Kevin, submit this one as: How Obama already beat Clinton!

A commenter on this submission wrote: "Clinton rules" and got buried 11 times. On Digg, only Obama rules.

Rose submitted this news after someone else already had. Don't do that.

Plastic bags were banned "one year ago this week"? That's too long ago for Digg users to care.

Again with the questions. Next time, write this headline as: "How Diet Coke makes you fat."

Microsoft gets you no where on Digg, unless somebody's throwing eggs at Steve Ballmer. Zune was a sponsor at a Digg's last meetup in New York and they couldn't give away T-shirts.

This Digg headline is far too wordy. Put down the thesaurus and just use the word "stunning."

A common mistake made with Digg submissions is that people think anybody outside of the Bay area knows who people like Mike Arrington, Marc Andreessen, Jeff Bezos and Paul Graham are.

As one commenter notes: "maybe there aren't a lotta diggs cuz this story sucks!"

The top comment; "You really don't care about duping other submissions, do you, Mr. Rose?" You can't submit a story to Digg that's already hit the front page and expect it to hit the front page. Not even if you're Kevin Rose. Only if you're Mr. BabyMan.

(Photo by mariachily)

Two guys, one glass

Jackson West — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Maybe it's just me, but I smell a bromance fermenting between Digg's Kevin Rose and Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. Have a better caption? The best one will become the new headline.Yesterday's winner: "It's gold, Jerry! Gold!" by null. (Photo by Andrew Mager)

The Kevin Rose- Julia Allison-Charles Forman love (and money) triangle

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:40:00 PDT

Here's Iminlikewithyou founder Charles Forman's unenviable position: The pectacularly buff New York techie is dating former Star editor-at-large turned wantrepreneur Julia Allison, but she still holds a candle for Digg founder Kevin Rose, whom she briefly dated earlier this year. And, coincidentally, Rose just happens to be an Iminlikewithyou investor. Maybe that's not so bad for Forman.

If his casual-games venture goes well, he'll have more free time to spend squiring Allison around Manhattan. (She even sometimes gets Forman's name right when introducing him to strangers.) And every moment Allison's out and about is a moment when she's not online obsessing about Rose. Less drama, more money? Rose had better hope Forman's startup takes off.

(Photos by b_d_solis)

Kevin Rose's latest romance splashed across the Web

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:20:00 PDT

Kevin Rose has a new girlfriend, a slightly-more-than-slightly stalkerish tipster tells us. Who's the reported belle? Current TV's manager of online content, Melody McCloskey. The Digg founder and famed online Romeo disputes this, telling us: "I've known Melody for awhile, we're good friends." But we don't buy the "just friends" routine, not after seeing our tipster's evidence: A highly convincing series of Twitter messages, Vimeo videos and Flickr photos featuring the pair.

Melody and Kevin on Twitter

Rose wielded his power and influence, landing two tickets to a private Death Cab for Cutie show. Color McCloskey impressed.

First Rose bought her a drink. Then breakfast.

After reading these two messages, we're wondering if "ice cream" is a euphemism for something else these lovebirds might crave. Like an iPhone 3G?

Who can resist the old In-N-Out?

The clincher: what kind of girl Twitters about really fruity-sounding tea, unless she's dating Kevin Rose?

Wall-E + brunch = obviously dating.

Melody and Kevin on Vimeo

On her Tumblr, McCloskey introduces this video: "Such a good song. Also cute cameo at the end :)" Skip to 1:12 to see who she means. Here's a hint: It's Rose.
Melody and Kevin on Flickr

On Flickr, we find Melody and Kevin sharing a drink through two straws. Haven't we seen Rose pull this move before?

Yes, yes we have. Rose and New York dating columnist Julia Allison similarly shared a milkshake at the Future of Web Apps conference in Miami earlier this year. Rose ended that fling not long after it started. Apprised of Rose's latest, Allison told Valleywag: "He's missing out."

Missing out? Not judging by this final Flickr shot of the cute noncouple:

Kevin Rose gushes over Digg-shoppers Murdoch, Diller and Gore

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:40:00 PDT

When Diggnation cohost Alex Albrecht said Kevin Rose has "basically plowed through everybody" maybe he wasn't only referring to the Digg cofounder's dating habits. DIgg's gone through quite a few potential buyers over the years, including News Corp., IAC and Al Gore's TV network, Current. Except, as illustrated in this excerpt from Big Think's interview with Rose, there's one big difference between Rose's love life and Digg's many turns on the auction block.

When it comes to selling Digg, it seems Rose is the one who can't seal the deal and is left pining for what might have been. Rose on Diller:

He is so well connected. He basically walked into the room with this amazing, badass suit on and just sat down and was like, 'Oh, Digg. Yeah. Love it.'

Look for Digg's acquisition abstinence to end soon, with Google's Marissa Mayer — infamously known to be looking for "random play" — as the one to pop Digg and Rose's sellout cherry.

Is Google about to swallow up Digg?

Owen Thomas — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:00:00 PDT

Google's cupcake princess, Marissa Mayer, and Kevin Rose, the playboy of the Webhead world, would make an awfully cute couple. Not romantically — the two are dating other people at the moment. But we hear Mayer is pushing hard for an acquisition of Rose's Digg, for a price below $200 million. Kara Swisher hinted a few days ago that the social news site, on which users "digg" or "bury" their favorite news headlines, might be on Google's shopping list. Mayer's goal: to use what Digg has learned to fix Google News which, while popular, doesn't make Google any money. (Digg CEO Jay Adelson would not comment on the sale rumor, but did disclose that he was having a "delicious" In 'N' Out burger for lunch.)

What's interesting is the timing. A source familiar with the talks says Google and Digg reached an agreement last month; it's not clear whether the offer was verbal or a formal termsheet. So why the delay? One possibility: Digg may have been exploring whether it could hire a rock-star CEO and raise more money. Adelson has long been flying cross-country, twice a month, to San Francisco from his upstate New York home, and privately complains about the commute to friends. But so far, I've heard nothing about Digg raising a new venture-capital round, or Adelson making way for a higher-profile hire.

Of Digg's possible acquirers, Google is the company's most natural home — despite Digg having a multiyear advertising contract with Microsoft. Google desperately wants to get a handle on social networking; it has struggled to sell ads profitably on News Corp.'s MySpace. More importantly, Digg could help Google improve the relevancy of its search results, especially with the news articles Digg readers vote on and discuss so vociferously. That might be worth more to Google than any ads it might manage to sell on the site.

The deal may not happen. Insiders are already mystified by its lack of progress since word first started spreading last month. As Sarah Lacy revealed in Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, Digg has held a series of deal discussions that never came to fruition. That history makes it hard to take any new Digg-sale rumor seriously. But we hear these discussions are close enough to take seriously. Cupcakes, anyone?

(Photo of Rose by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us; cupcakes by a_cooper)

Kevin Rose no longer single -- but who's he dating?

Owen Thomas — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:20:00 PDT

San Francisco's Web 2.0 playboy, Kevin Rose, has been laying low since his much-publicized affair with Internet notoriety provider Julia Allison in Miami (shown here, in a previously unpublished photo, with Rose). But on Facebook yesterday, Rose took the word "single" off his profile. A tipster says Rose is dating again, but we haven't heard the lucky lady's name yet. We're guessing she's a newcomer to town, since Rose's Diggnation cohost, Alex Albrecht, once drunkenly noted that Rose has dated quite a few locals. Rose's Facebook update, after the jump:

Founders Club partiers revel in the view from the top

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:00:00 PDT

HEARST TOWER, NEW YORK — Far from the sweaty, screaming fans that attended Digg's Brooklyn meetup Wednesday night, the suits of the Alley and Valley gathered last night on the top-most floor of the Hearst Tower for another Founders Club party to celebrate each others' transcendent splendor. All night, giant screens at either end of the party played clips from Citizen Kane, the barely fictionalized biopic based on the life of Hearst Corp.'s own founder, William Randolph Hearst. There wasn't a Hearst in the crowd, but there were those who aspire to be him. Blog moguls like PaidContent's Rafat Ali, Gawker Media's Nick Denton and AlleyCorp's Henry Blodget mingled. New Gifts.com CEO Jason Rapp attended, as did Digg cofounders Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's mentor, Valley bad boy Sean Parker, was rumored to be in the crowd as well. Jimmy Wales, cofounder of the world's most comprehensive list of William Randolph Heart's angry responses to Citizen Kane, attended with Andrea Weckerle on his arm. Photos below.

(Photos by NewYorkInsider and NYFoundersClub)

Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht love this guy

Jackson West — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose play buns to this hot dog at the Diggnation Live party last night in New York. Can you suggest a better caption? Do so in the comments. The best one will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: mzito for "How do you make a bubble? You put your lips together and *blow*." (Photo by William J Sisti)

Digg meetup more like a concert in a land without women

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:00:00 PDT

The line to get into Digg's meetup and live filming of Diggnation last night in Brooklyn went around the block. Inside, the joint was packed with dudes drinking beer, waving around iPhones, and wearing T-shirts. There were maybe like 10 or 15 women. Just as rare: Microsoft Zune users. Despite Microsoft's sponsorship, when Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback tried to give away Zune T-shirts, the crowd only booed. Julia Allison's entourage, Kevin Rose, and more in our photo gallery.

Thrillist beats Digg to win coveted gender ratio title in battle of Internet Week parties

Jackson West — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:20:00 PDT

Caroline McCarthy made it out alive from the Diggnation "sausage fest" in Brooklyn last night, where fanboys expressed their latent homoerotic desires by mobbing Digg founder Kevin Rose. She proceeded to the Thrillist party, where a more heteronormative mix were "Gettin' Jiggy With It" and indulging in founder Ben Lerer's boom nostalgia for when his dad Ken was an executive during AOL's heyday. [News.com]

Kevin Rose pumps his own Apple stock with $200 iPhone rumor

Jackson West — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:40:00 PDT

Digg founder Kevin Rose is back with another iPhone rumor. This time, the shaggy entrepreneur declares that part of the expected June 9 announcement will be an entry-level model priced at $200. Which jibes with other rumors that Apple and AT&T were considering subsidizing the iPhone, as most other carriers do. Or Apple's just looking to dump unsold stock. Either way, expect the customers who have been waiting in lines for current models priced at $399 to be nonplussed. Apple fans never learn, do they?

Leo LaPorte, "drunk and out of control," calls for Kevin Rose boycott

Owen Thomas — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:20:00 PDT

Why is tech podcaster Leo LaPorte picking a fight with Digg's Kevin Rose? He's jealous of Rose's Twitter following, and is making it a requirement that his Twit.tv listeners drop Rose and add him on Twitter to be eligible for a giveaway. LaPorte later regretted the call for a Rose ban, saying he was "drunk and out of control." Isn't that a prerequisite for listening to a podcast, let alone producing one?

Hulu nabs Diggnation and other Revision3 shows

Jackson West — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:40:00 PDT

Hulu, the online video site created as a joint venture between NBC and News Corp., will distribute shows from content startup Revision3, which focuses on shows broadly related to technology. Now you can easily switch between WWE wrestling matches and watching Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose getting drunk without having to turn off your laptop. [Silicon Alley Insider]

R is for Rose, who made Digg his toy

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Kevin Rose takes up 62 out of 294 pages in Sarah Lacy's Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, her new book about Web 2.0. That's less than I expected, since Rose was the coverboy for the BusinessWeek, co-written by Lacy, which launched her book. From the look of the index, not much time is spent on the women Rose is said to have "plowed through", as his friend Alex Albrecht once put it:

Previously:

Would you pay $999 for a customized Tumblr? Trustafarian bloggers will!

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:40:00 PDT

A couple weeks ago, when we showed you how to redesign your Tumblr for free, we mentioned that a company called Tumblize plan to charge $499 for the very same service. We were wrong. Andrew Wilkinson's Tumblize, launched today, will design you a customized Tumblr for "just $999." Startled by that kind of nonironic usage of the word just? Don't be. If Tumblr's blogging hordes have taught us anything, it's that earnest is the new ironic. Besides, Tumblize already has customers offering testimonials. Simon Frankson extols:

Tumblize actualized my crazy vision in ways I didn't think the internet even allowed for. They're poet/designers making haiku websites out of dreams.

Below, view a screenshot of Frankson's Tumblr and $3,996 more worth of goods.

Click to expand the images.

Kevin Rose in fender bender

Jackson West — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:12:33 PDT

Don't worry, everyone, Digg founder Kevin Rose will be just fine. Multiple tipsters sent messages to let us know that Rose ended up entangled in some unwanted Audi-on-Audi action. Ever the early adopter, Rose even uploaded video showing the damage to both vehicles. Smart move — now the owner of the other car can't get away with trying to convince Rose's insurer that the damage was anything more than a cosmetic scratch. Best excuse we've seen for having an account on mobile video publishing service Qik so far after the jump.