Valleywag
Politics
Dell, far too late, trims ad-agency roster down to one
Why is Dell taking a beating from HP? One reason may be that it didn't apply its vaunted supply-chain techniques to its marketing. Before asking WPP to create a single-client ad agency just for Dell, the PC maker worked with 800 advertising agencies around the world. [News.com]
Why is Dell taking a beating from HP? One reason may be that it didn't apply its vaunted supply-chain techniques to its marketing. Before asking WPP to create a single-client ad agency just for Dell, the PC maker worked with 800 advertising agencies around the world. [News.com]
Politics
More raiders at Yahoo's gates
Carl Icahn's allies now control 31 percent of Yahoo. The latest to pile on: Dan Loeb of hedge fund Third Point LLC who plans to purchase 10 million Yahoo shares. [SAI]
Carl Icahn's allies now control 31 percent of Yahoo. The latest to pile on: Dan Loeb of hedge fund Third Point LLC who plans to purchase 10 million Yahoo shares. [SAI]
PCs, not printers, boost HP results
Sales at Hewlett-Packard grew 11 percent, year-over-year in the second quarter, to $28.26 billion. Notebook sales jumped 31 percent, while earnings in its cash-cow printer unit were flat. [WSJ]
Sales at Hewlett-Packard grew 11 percent, year-over-year in the second quarter, to $28.26 billion. Notebook sales jumped 31 percent, while earnings in its cash-cow printer unit were flat. [WSJ]
Acquisitions
Moonves declares CNET new CBS Interactive headquarters
In an address to employees after a tour of the CNET building in SoMa, CBS chairman Leslie Moonves proclaimed, "CNET is CBS Interactive's worldwide headquarters." It might have been meant to stoke employees on the deal. But it could just as well remind workers who just went through a round of layoffs that they now face redundancy with CBS's own online publishing teams. More »
YouTomb, where embedded YouTube videos go to die
The fight for free culture rages on at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they've built YouTomb, a site that scans YouTube for metadata on videos pulled because of copyright complaints and posts screenshots and information such as time online before takedown. Sadly, what they don't do is archive the pulled videos so that bloggers with archives full of dead embeds can make their own fair-use stands. [News.com]
The Sum of All Human Knowledge
Jimmy Wales kicked off Wikipedia spinoff
At an offshoot of Wikipedia, the users are revolting. Administrators of Wikinews, a site where volunteers collaboratively write news articles have voted to strip Jimmy Wales of his administrative privileges. He has protested the decision: "Due to recent developments, I am here more often and anticipate being here more often." Wales is not just a Wikinews user, however; he is a board member of the site's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, with a guaranteed seat, thanks to a recent reshuffling of the board. As such, his participation on the site may put it at legal risk. More »
Online Video
Netflix and Roku hope to avoid the curse of the set-top box
What makes Netflix's new living-room box for Internet video downloads different from all the other set-top flops? Everything. The price is low: At $99, it's much cheaper than the $229 Apple TV. It connects to regular TVs as well as HDTVs, and can stream video in variable quality depending on your Internet connection speed. And you can eat all you want from the buffet of available titles on Netflix, with movies available online that happen to be in your Netflix queue already lined up and ready to go. Hardware partner Roku has introduced it with a chipset that other manufacturers can license, and Netflix has a huge domestic subscriber base as potential customers. So what three things could doom this product to the same fate as every other Internet-video set-top? More »
Venture Capital
Iminlikewithyou close to more funding
Web videogame maker Iminlikewithyou is close to earning revenues — about three months away — and closer to landing more funding, we hear. When Jason Calacanis was in town earlier this year, Iminlikewithyou founder Charles Forman told him he planned to make money by selling gamers avatar and in-game upgrades. Forman is already funded by Betaworks, a New York-based incubator which has also backed Tumblr. A likely investor: SoftBank Capital, which is "very active in NYC right now," according to a source familiar with the East Coast VC scene.
Jackpot
Carl Icahn has already made $120 million from Microsoft-Yahoo, and you haven't
Right after Microsoft withdrew its offer, Yahoo shares dropped to $20 and Carl Icahn snapped up 15 million shares. The next day, while Yahoo traded at $24 to $25, Icahn purchased another 15 million. He bought another 29 million or as Yahoo shares hovered around $25 to $26 per share. Icahn purchased the shares using options, so it wasn't obvious right away that a raid was in progress. Prices jumped $2, immediately putting Icahn in the black by at least $120 million. (Photo by AP/ho)
Don't Be Testy
Google cofounders: Google vs. Microsoft vs. Yahoo "horse race" is unhealthy for Internet
For a while it looked like Google had successfully killed the Microsoft-Yahoo merger with its promise to pump up the profits of Yahoo's search results. So perhaps you'll forgive Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page for a little crankiness now that talks between Yahoo and Microsoft are on again. Asked about Microsoft's plans to buy Yahoo's search business for a rumored $21 billion, Page told reporters in the U.K. he's tired of talking about the deal and would like them to stop asking about it: "If we're focused on what the other companies are doing we won't make much progress." The Financial Times reports that Page and Brin even complained that the "horse race" between Google, Microsoft and Yahoo "was unhealthy for the development of the Internet." It was much easier when no one was paying attention to Google, wasn't it, Larry and Sergey? More »
Girlsense
Barry Diller likes to play dress-up, too
Having reached 13 million girls with the chance to design glittery jpegs for each other, social site Girlsense has a new parent: InterActiveCorp. IAC already has teen virtual world Zwinky and its 6 million users, part of their aim to take on a "broader teen mindshare." Girlsense brings a different slice of the demo — the girls who go for Glam Ads and butterflies, and maybe a few of their doting rainbow-loving boys-who-are-friends, too.
valleywag calendar
Your khaki pants'd plans
SF Beta 2.3 is tonight at 111 Minna, encouraging everyone to come in their Silicon Valley uniform of a blue shirt and khakis — that is, if you aren't already wearing that combo right now. Adaptive Path is hosting the "Queens of Content," Erika Hall & Kristina Halvorson. They'll be giving presentations on content strategy and creating a good interface for your site. For those with a thing for accents and technology, the French Tech Tour — featuring the 12 hottest startups from France — will be stopping at Mighty. And please, people: Flat front and natural fiber, never, ever pleats (or, worse, cargo pockets). More »
Your Privacy Is An Illusion
Okay to be evil in India
Google has reportedly turned over the necessary information to identify an Orkut user who wrote "I hate Sonia Ghandi." The Indian government had the name of the perpetrator, Rahul Vaid, but Google provided the IP address that pinpointed his location. This is not the first time Google has helped a foreign government go after its own citizens. After the jump, Boing Boing TV filmed the art pranksters from the Billboard Liberation Front and Monochrom teaming up to help Google advertise their close relationship with the ruling Chinese Communist Party's Internet censors — on the day of Google's annual shareholder meeting, no less. "Do no evil" seems pretty darn flexible if you're a moral relativist with profitable interests in international markets. More »
great moments in journalism
Wall Street Journal reporter writes up colleague's Harvard boyfriend
Vauhini Vara, who covers Facebook for the Wall Street Journal, is leaving the newspaper to go back to school. Why not write up a friend on the way out the door? In a profile of Harvard graduates inspired by — or jealous of — Mark Zuckerberg's startup success, she includes Sam Lessin, cofounder of Drop.io. A file-sharing startup which has raised only $3.9 million wouldn't normally rate a mention in the Journal, one would think. But Lessin is also the boyfriend of Jessica Vascellaro, the Journal reporter who's moving to Silicon Valley to cover Yahoo and Google. More »
rumormonger
News Corp. wants to buy videogame website Newgrounds
Slide executive Keith Rabois isn't the only one who sees serious cash in silly games. To get more in on the action, News Corp. property IGN is trying to acquire Tom Fulp's Newgrounds, a Flash videogame portal that specializes in violent games like The Last Stand 2, featured in the video embedded above. A sale could be lucrative for Fulp. More »
Reorgs
Leaked memo details Microsoft search reorg, while the bosses try to replace them all
A leaked memo from Microsoft SVP Satya Nadella says Microsoft's Erik Jorgensen will now lead MSN's content programming and engineering team. Greg Nelson, Nadella writes, will report to Jorgensen. Why the reshuffle? Nadella explains, in something close to English:It's imperative that we set up for blurring of the lines between Portal and Search to drive experiences that enable more seamless exploration of content across the search-browse continuum.Meanwhile, Microsoft higher-ups continue to hold talks with Yahoo in an effort to make all of the reshuffled executives redundant. The memo is embedded below. More »
Pic Of The Day
Google Maps Catches Chicago Kid About To Shoot Someone
FROM GAWKER.COM: Spotted on Google Maps: a kid pointing a gun at a younger kid. (Okay, it's probably a toy gun.) What is it about Chicago? We've already seen a drug deal on the South Side and a girl flashing the camera in Homewood. More »
blogging for dollars
Who will discover Arianna Huffington's algorithim for vileness?
"If all those geniuses working in Silicon Valley could come up with a way to screen for those vile comments," as Arianna Huffingon mused on KQED's Forum, would her Huffington Post blog empire be empowered to delete meanness from the blogosphere? Sounds like a challenge. Maybe Google can inspire its engineers by changing its slogan to "Don't be vile."
Yahoo Raid
Yahoo execs tepid on Microsoft plan to split up the company
Yahoo execs got a good look at Microsoft's latest plan — Microsoft has proposed acquiring Yahoo's search operations, buying a minority stake in the rest of the business, and selling off Yahoo's Asian assets — and these executives responded "lukewarmly," reports the Wall Street Journal. Need an aside to clarify the motives for each party in this drama? Here goes. More »
Party Report
Wired celebrates 15 years of turning a cult into a culture (and back again)
MIDTOWN WEST — "You're a normal person," Wired editor Chris Anderson asked me at Wired's 15th anniversary party last night in New York. "What do you make of all this?" He nodded his head toward the four corners of the roof top, crowded with the Wired set. In response, I said something about the thick-rimmed black frames and all the scarves. But for reading-comprehension points, I should have said I felt like I was in the midst of a cult. Because that's what Conde Nast's Wired is all about, Anderson and Wired cofounder Louis Rossetto told us in their speeches: turning the cult of technology into a culture, but keeping it as fervent as a cult. That and covers of a nude Jenna Fischer and LonelyGirl15 in bed, of course. Below, photos of the faithful. More »
Yahoo Raid
Texas oilman adds another 10 million Yahoo shares to Icahn's cause
Joining John Paulson in support of corporate raider Carl Icahn's plot to force a Microsoft-Yahoo merger, Texas oilman and longtime Icahn ally T. Boone Pickens purchased 10 million shares of Yahoo. Pickens told CNBC he plans to support Icahn in a proxy fight. By our count, PIckens's addition puts 30 percent of Yahoo shares in control of those favoring a merger with Microsoft — a merger that Microsoft, having been rebuffed the last time, has yet to propose.
Mysteries
Michael DeGusta "buys jets, rocks Coachella," according to Google ad
Who is Michael DeGusta? According to federal election records, he's unemployed. The Santa Barbara-based entrepreneur previously cofounded Steel Card, a financial-technology startup bought by ChoicePoint in 2006. Terms of that deal weren't disclosed, but we suspect DeGusta made bank. Why? If you Google his name, an ad appears claiming that DeGusta "Buys jets. Rocks Coachella," linking to his Facebook profile. The campaign doesn't appear particularly effective: DeGusta only has 21 friends at present. Anyone know the purpose behind this vanity advertising campaign, save for driving curious bloggers to write about it?
cubicle culture
Googlers in Taiwan move into new office, could open a day care
Google's Taipei office used to be on floor 37 of the Taipei 101, one of the world's tallest towers. After a big move, it's now on floor 73. Flickr user tempofeng attended the move-in party and uploaded shots so the rest of us could marvel at the pace with which Google's kindergarten-themed offices march across the globe. The full gallery is embedded below. More »
Industry News
Tesla's Elon Musk Claims IPO To Come This Year
FROM JALOPNIK.COM: Who needs to actually be in production of anything in order to toss out an initial public offering? Not most companies and certainly not Tesla. More »
Virtual Worlds
The flying penis menace moves offline in Russia
In a stunt reminiscent of something from Second Life, an unknown perpetrator let loose a remote-controlled flying dildo at a speech yesterday by Garry Kasparov, the famed chess champion defeated by IBM's Deep Blue who now heads up Other Russia, an opposition party that seeks to wrest power from the Kremlin government dominated by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. As Andy Baio at Waxy points out, it's unclear if the pranksters knew about the infamous interview between Second Life baron Anshe Chung and CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman, video from which is embedded after the jump. More »
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