Valleywag
Caption Contest
First Tour: Huge Boston Apple Store
We're here at the Boylston Street Apple Store for Media Day. No line outside, but plenty of reporters playing with the toys. Ron Johnson, Apple's SVP of Retail, is here with hizonnah Mayor Thomas Menino to open the largest Apple Store in the country (confirmed!). The Mayah "loves" the store and made a joke at the expense of the Back Bay Architectural Commission, which was hesitant to approve the project. Menino said he wasn't a fan of the prior building and didn't know why anyone would want to save it for "historical" reasons. Get more details on the new location after the jump.MORE »
New Boston Apple Store Largest In The United States (Updated Again)
Later this month, Apple is opening its latest flagship store on Boylston Street in Boston. The store's main claim to fame? It's huge. We're talking largest Apple Store in the (Photos by Jordan Golson) MORE »
Caption Contest
Clips
Jason Calacanis on bulldogs and steak knives -- the two-minute version
Crack videoblogger Robert Scoble heads to Mahalo to interview bulldog entrepreneur and blog blowhard Jason Calacanis. Scoble rolls 24 interminable minutes of virtual tape as Calacanis talks about the math of buying monitors and comfy chairs and how the backend of Mahalo works. Forget that. We trimmed the video down to the most important bits: bulldogs and Glengarry Glen Ross-inspired steak knives. More »
TechCrunch explained in a sports metaphor
If TechCrunch were a football blog, every player in the scouting combine would be the next Tom Brady.
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Tax tips for bloggers from my dad
Californians have another 7 and a half hours to file their taxes. If you haven't started yet, it's time to jump on TurboTax.com and get cracking. This will be my first year filing taxes without a W-2. As a freelancer, I've been looking for tips on deductions and tax filing in general. MORE
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rumormonger
Julia Allison's reality show gets greenlit?
We heard from a tipster that Julia Allison's reality show has been given the go-ahead to begin production. No word from JA herself though, just a mysterious blog post. I tried to call Julia for comment, but like every other time I try to call her, some guy asked me 'pick-up or delivery'? I guess she lost her cell phone again. Update: Julia called back. She says she hasn't heard anything about the show and her blog post is about her new website that's launching next month. False alarm.
Clips
Alana Taylor's Twitter song
19-year old NYU student Alana Taylor really wants to be the next "It" tech girl and the new Mahalo Daily host. She even has a show on UStream, which apparently is the hot new thing. Like any good member of The 250, she's also a huge fan of Twitter — unlike Scoble and Mike Arrington though, she wrote a song about it. I don't know if this is what Calacanis is looking for as a replacement for his "Rojas-level" hire Veronica Belmont, but it is entertaining. Check out the video after the jump. More »
Oklahoma exposes sex offenders' Social Security numbers
A blogger noticed the Oklahoma Department of Corrections was making the Social Security numbers of thousands of registered sex offenders viewable through a security hole on a state website. Even after he notified the department, the problem remained. Only when he showed how to make state employees' personal information visible did the state fix the problem. [The Daily WTF]
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A blogger noticed the Oklahoma Department of Corrections was making the Social Security numbers of thousands of registered sex offenders viewable through a security hole on a state website. Even after he notified the department, the problem remained. Only when he showed how to make state employees' personal information visible did the state fix the problem. [The Daily WTF]
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Valleywag emeritus offers unsolicited advice for Michael Arrington
Newly softhearted Gawker Media head Nick Denton offers some kindly advice for TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington: "@Michael Arrington: Hey, everybody has been expecting the grand roll-up ever since you hired Heather. I don't see it happening. Certainly don't see it sticking. And, without a roll-up, you have a niche Valley site with some 3% of the traffic of Gawker or Weblogs Inc. Good luck with that when the tech bubble bursts!"
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Newly softhearted Gawker Media head Nick Denton offers some kindly advice for TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington: "@Michael Arrington: Hey, everybody has been expecting the grand roll-up ever since you hired Heather. I don't see it happening. Certainly don't see it sticking. And, without a roll-up, you have a niche Valley site with some 3% of the traffic of Gawker or Weblogs Inc. Good luck with that when the tech bubble bursts!"
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"I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again"
Jason Calacanis makes a list of ways to relieve stress with friends. Our favorite? "g) next time you go to a conference fly there with someone. Mike Arrington, Om Malik and I were all on the same flight to Le Web this past year. It's just great fun to travel together, share movies, and read books." Jason, you're making a mess with all those names you're dropping.
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Jason Calacanis makes a list of ways to relieve stress with friends. Our favorite? "g) next time you go to a conference fly there with someone. Mike Arrington, Om Malik and I were all on the same flight to Le Web this past year. It's just great fun to travel together, share movies, and read books." Jason, you're making a mess with all those names you're dropping.
MORE » 
We Read Twitter So You Don't Have To
"She's got legs, she knows how to use them"
BusinessWeek columnist Sarah Lacy, in Israel for a conference, is feeling the heat, and this time not from a conference audience. Tipsters, don't fail us now: pics or it didn't happen!
Apple hires HP's top acquisitions lawyer
Could Apple be preparing to spend its $18 billion cash hoard on acquisitions? Apple has hired Charles Charnas, an 18-year HP veteran who oversaw the $25 billion merger between Compaq and HP, to run Apple's intellectual-property licensing and strategic acquisitions. But don't count on Apple making any Yahoo-sized purchases. The company prefers to spend its cash in small amounts, buying talent and patents instead of large businesses which require integration. [9 to 5 Mac]
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Could Apple be preparing to spend its $18 billion cash hoard on acquisitions? Apple has hired Charles Charnas, an 18-year HP veteran who oversaw the $25 billion merger between Compaq and HP, to run Apple's intellectual-property licensing and strategic acquisitions. But don't count on Apple making any Yahoo-sized purchases. The company prefers to spend its cash in small amounts, buying talent and patents instead of large businesses which require integration. [9 to 5 Mac]
MORE » 
Politics
First they take our land, now they take our Internet
Internet access to chapter houses across the Navajo Nation has been disconnected. Access won't be restored for at least a couple weeks to the 27,000 square-mile reservation in northern Arizona. Satellite service, paid for with federal funds, is supplied by OnSat Network Communications, which claims it is owed $2.1 million for satellite time. The federal program that administers the service is withholding the money because an audit showed the company may have double-billed the tribe. In the meantime, the only option is to drive an hour to Page, Ariz. to access the Net.
rumormonger
Microsoft to open retail stores?
The list of computer companies with failed retail initiatives includes a lot of big names: Sony, Dell, and Gateway, for starters. Only one company, Apple, has beaten the odds. Now Microsoft, which tried and failed with one retail store in San Francisco a decade ago, is rumored to be tiptoeing into the retail waters again. Fudzilla, a rumor site, claims Microsoft will open "many" retail shops dedicated to Microsoft products. The aim of the stores would be to show the "true Microsoft experience." What, random crashes of the cash register during checkout and multiple identity checks before being allowed into the store? This can't end well. A Microsoft spokesperson offered the standard noncomment, which may be wise; if the retail push is for real, I wouldn't want to try and pitch it to the press, either.
We Read Twitter So You Don't Have To
"Unmitigated horror" sounds about right to me
Craig's List founder Craig Newmark is in Israel for a conference and his roomate is Robert Scoble. What happens when you room with the Scobleizer? He convinces you to sign up for Twitter. [Twitter]
Greatest wire story ever shows AP embracing Web 2.0 technology, humor
WASHINGTON (AP) - Get real, people. That is not a naked woman reflected in Vice President Dick Cheney's sunglasses. Although it kind of appears to be. It you blow up the picture, you can see it is Cheney's hand gripping the handle of a fishing rod.So much for putting "who, what, when and where" in the first line, eh AP? I like that they use a TinyURL link at the bottom too. [AP] MORE »
