Valleywag: igoogle

Marissa Mayer's tasteless display of designer wealth

Jackson West — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:20:00 PDT

Google search czarina Marissa Mayer explains her "personal style philosophy" — or, at least, that of her personal shopper and the staff at Bergdorf's — in a comprehensive if hardly hard-hitting followup to the launch of iGoogle's designer themes in the Wall Street Journal. Yes, the woman who showed up to her first interview in a sweater from Macy's INC International Concepts line is being crowned as a new tastemaker. Even as the economy takes a nosedive, Mayer jokes about being an unrepentant label chaser:

I remember I'd be babysitting and I'd be saving up money for the latest Guess? sweatshirt at the mall.

That kind of early influence would explain the smiley-face sweater she's modeling in this picture from the slideshow. At least she's a fashion savant compared to Sergey Brin and his white, latex bodysuit.

The launch of a designer-influenced iGoogle aside, is this a good time for Mayer to be bragging about her expensive wardrobe? Last we checked, Google's stock is in the tank, recession talk abounds, and ordinary people are choosing between new Wal-Mart George jeans and gasoline. Perhaps there's some countercyclical wisdom in Mayer's aspirational Web layouts: This is as close as most Google users will get to Mayer's lifestyle.

Marissa Mayer treating Google as her personal salon

Jackson West — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:20:00 PDT

The Google homepage today features a photo of chrome tulips by famous artist Jeff Koons. Google has hired a bunch of artists and designers to create themes as a way of promoting the iGoogle homepage. And their choices read like a veritable "who's who" of name-brand, commercial types who create work that isn't particularly daring or challenging.

I mean, c'mon, Anne Geddes, the woman who made a name for herself by Photoshopping babies into floral patterns? I'm just surprised there's no work by Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light. It also made me pause to wonder about Marissa Mayer's self-interest. For instance, glass-blower Dale Chihuly makes an appearance, and Mayer just happens to own work by him. Seems like a great way to improve the value of her own collection by helping to popularize the artist and his work.

Local woman dumps newfangled RSS feeds to type in website addresses the old-fashioned way

Jackson West — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:40:00 PDT

An online publishing veteran who goes by the name of Halsted has stopped drinking from the RSS firehose. She says she's not missing her feed reader's unread items folder:

Nothing has changed. I spend my time writing, reading, and puzzle-solving instead, and my stress levels are markedly down. Now I am absolutely convinced that I need to ditch my RSS reader permanently, and only read a handful of feeds on a start page like iGoogle or Netvibes.

As a journalist, it's my duty to call three friends for quotes to support my article about the "Slow Web" movement now. I expect some blogger will get a book deal for the inevitable manifesto. (Photo by Jef Poskanzer)