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Al Gore
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great moments in journalism
In today's news, I met Al Gore!
GigaOm's Om Malik and Mashable's Pete Cashmore like to present themselves as leaders of a new kind of Web 2.0 journalism. Both turned up at Current TV's offices Friday, ostensibly to cover Current's Twitter-enhanced coverage of the first Presidential debate. Truth is, Current's publicists had called reporters to tip us off that executive chairman of the board Al Gore would be there. Gore didn't bother to use Twitter himself — he didn't even stick around for the debate. But he did take time to pose for photos. More »
mysteries
Why won't Al Gore use Twitter?
Missed opportunity: Current TV founder Al Gore dropped in on the start of Friday's "Hack the Debate" event, a partnership with Twitter. Attendees were invited to post updates to Twitter during the debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. Current flashed selected tweets onto the screen over a live feed of the debate. Wired dubbed it groundbreaking. Social media consultant Shel Israel complained the result was "just a bunch of young people making shallow comments." But either way, where was Gore? More »
great moments in pr
Al Gore's Twitter account still a secret
So Al Gore, who cofounded Current TV, promised to have a Twitter account by Saturday. It's Monday, and the algore and albertgore account don't look anything like they're being maintained by the former American vice president and current free marketeer. If you find him under shouldawon00 or some other catchy handle, do let us know. I couldn't find anything from his wife Tipper, either — tipper is a Twitter bot for calculating tips, and tippergore doesn't exist. And it's for shame. Because how fun would it be if they really embraced the medium, instead of just showing up to press the flesh at staged events? Below, pure speculation as to what we all have to look forward to. More »
venture capital
iPhone app fund rejects 99.8 percent of applicants
"In 6 months, we’ve received over 2,700 plans. That’s about 20x what we received in a similar period last year. Out of that group, we’ve funded five companies." Honestly, I have no idea why Kleiner Perkins partner Matt Murphy has decided to blog about the firm's iFund venture with Apple. KPCB is notorious for doing all its deals through insider connections, not by trolling for ideas on the Internet. (Apple board member Al Gore is also a partner at Kleiner Perkins, so it's not like the firm needs an in.) Murphy concludes, "Stay tuned for a future conversation on mobile monetization and navigating the tradeoffs of free versus paid applications." How about a conversation on navigating Apple's imperious rule of its App Store?
steve westly
The greens are just as greedy as the rest of us
A few weeks ago, I highlighted a post by Mathew Honan which pointed to former gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly using his campaign mailing list to promote Akeena Solar without bothering to disclose that he's an investor and sits on the company's advisory board. Which prompted Akeena design consultant Jamie Belliveau to write me personally: "In your recent Valleywag article, are you implying that Steve Westly is doing something wrong by promoting alternative energy solutions in the Bay Area?" Look, I have nothing against renewable energy, but I'm not willing to hand out an ethical free pass just because some wealthy capitalist is in the business of selling solar panels instead of gas-guzzling SUVs. Belliveau disagrees. More »
cleantech
Al Gore commands America to go fully green -- and pad his venture-capital returns
In a speech at Philadelphia's historic Constitution Hall, former veep and current entrepreneur-investor Al Gore called on Americans to produce 100 percent of our energy from fully renewable sources within 10 years. Impossible? Probably. But that won't stop him from playing a latter-day John F. Kennedy: More »
venture capital
No, Kleiner Perkins won't give your Web 2.0 startup money
In the latest issue of Fortune, a feature about venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins pointed out that the company has yet to make any investments in Web 2.0. The firm which was an early investor in Google has not been so bullish on the likes of Facebook. (The investment in Friendster couldn't have helped.) Instead, it has continued to focus on biotech on the one hand and changed focus to cleantech on the other. Reporter Adam Lashinsky noted that KP didn't even send a representative to the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference this year, and relays the bad buzz from Carlsbad: More »
kevin rose
Kevin Rose gushes over Digg-shoppers Murdoch, Diller and Gore
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. More »
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