Valleywag: Jason Pontin

What else must Jason Pontin do to prove he's not gay?

Owen Thomas — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:00:00 PDT

Congratulations to Technology Review editor-in-chief Jason Pontin. His wife, Boston Globe editor Anne Nelson, has validated his long-rumored but heretofore unproven heterosexuality through the birth of a son, Alonzo Pontin. Heir, heir! Jason, Valleywag will keep a summer internship slot open for Alonzo in 2027, provided he doesn't inherit his dad's obnoxiously fake British accent.

Jason Pontin coming out as straight next month

Owen Thomas — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:40:00 PDT

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Technology Review editor-in-chief Jason Pontin is bursting with pride. No, not the Clay Aiken sort: He is married — to a woman, one must specify, since this is Massachusetts — and the couple is expecting a child in mid-October. Oh, and his magazine has won some large number of awards from an industry trade publication, placing behind CRN for best online community. But how to explain his choice of wardrobe at the EmTech conference he is hosting? His hosiery recalls Nathan Lane's in The Birdcage. On the surface, Pontin's straightness remains as plausible as the former West Oakland resident's British accent. Update: Pontin adds, "Please mention my stylishly skinny Nudie jeans from Sweden." You're not helping, Jason.

Technology Review editor addicted to Twitter, gossip

Owen Thomas — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:00:00 PDT

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — I'm here in the hub of the universe for EmTech, a conference thrown by Technology Review, MIT's magazine of self-importance. Jason Pontin, who is the magazine's editor-in-chief, publisher, and whatever title he's added last week, has just introduced Vinod Khosla, one of the venture-capital industry's brightest names. But is Pontin gazing raptly at Khosla, taking in his every word of wisdom? No, he is not. I can see his laptop screen from six rows away. He is using Twitter, a recent topic of obsession for him. This grand chronicler of innovation is whiling away the duration of Khosla's presentation 140 characters at a time. Oh, wait! I take that back. Now he's reading Valleywag.

Flickr's Cal Henderson dumped by Technology Review covergirl Leah Culver

Owen Thomas — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:40:00 PDT

We've been remiss in informing you of this: Cal Henderson, the eminently scalable Flickr engineer, and Leah Culver, the shrill-voiced cofounder of Pownce, San Francisco's favorite way to share MP3 files while evading copyright cops, broke up some time ago. (We hear it wasn't exactly his idea.) But don't feel sorry for Henderson, or Culver. She has no shortage of suitors — including, it seems, Technology Review editor-in-chief Jason Pontin, who was taken enough with Culver to put her on his magazine's latest cover. Pontin's married, but a man can dream, can't he? Sorry, Jason: We now hear Culver's hooked up with a Googler. (Photo of Henderson by magerleagues)

Sarah Lacy to tour middle America

Owen Thomas — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:40:00 PDT

Book tours? So old media — or rather, not profitable enough for book publishers to conduct except for celebrity writers. Sarah Lacy, the author of Web 2.0 nonfiction chronicle Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, plans to defy that wisdom and go on a 10-city tour herself. She's already included her hometown of Memphis and the provincial burgs of Des Moines and Portland, and is asking for suggestions on the other cities — anywhere but New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Our ideas:

Boston — A literate city, where Technology Review editor Jason Pontin would make an excellent host.
Chicago — Local entrepreneur Dick Costolo has a lot of time on his hands after Google acquired FeedBurner.
Montreal — Oh, Canada? Why not! Austin Hill of Akoha is the go-to guy for startups north of the border.
Raleigh, N.C. — Likewise a college town. ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo is plugged into the local tech scene.
San Antonio — After South By Southwest, Lacy's had enough of Austin, and I'm sure the feeling is mutual. But why not San Antonio, headquarters of AT&T, where they're just starting to hear about this "Web 2.0" thing? Brad Mays, AT&T's blogger-wooing PR guy, can organize it.
Seattle — No sense in skipping this town if Lacy's going to Portland.
Washington, D.C. — Or more properly, northern Virginia, the cluster of technology companies sprawling between the Beltway and Dulles Airport. Brian Loew, CEO of health startup Inspire, is a good local contact.

Jason Pontin from the block

Owen Thomas — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:00:33 PDT

Don't be fooled by the titles that he's got (CEO, editor-in-chief, publisher, grand vizier, poo-bah). Jason Pontin from Technology Review reflects his Oakland-via-Oxford roots, styling an ironic hoodie under his suit jacket at the Valleywag/io9/Lifehacker party in Austin.

Valleywag editor is "a bitchy young man"

Paul Boutin — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:39:47 PST

... but not as bitchy as former Valleywag editor Nick Denton. This according to definitively bitchy MIT Technology Review editor Jason Pontin. He just friended me on Facebook, so I guess I'm bitchy enough.

"We think technology is a high adventure." ...

Owen Thomas — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:43:49 PDT

"We think technology is a high adventure." — Technology Review editor-in-chief Jason Pontin, shortly before welcoming Kevin Rose to the stage at his magazine's annual EmTech conference. You don't say, Jason, you don't say.

Jason Pontin's Facebook fallacy

Owen Thomas — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:24:35 PDT

It was all in good fun, I thought, to tease my former boss Jason Pontin, now editor of MIT's Technology Review, about using Facebook, of all things, to hunt for interesting startup ideas. But the well-meant mockery soon uncovered a deeper issue: My friend misunderstands how one is meant to use Facebook. Pontin, ever the technoliteralist, takes Facebook at its word, thinking of it as a tool to replicate real-world relationships. He misses the real use that self-promoters like Jason Calacanis and Robert Scoble have discovered: Spamming the less-important people who have volunteered to be your "friends" — people who are really just fans, to whom you have no meaningful relationship.

Pontin writes, in a posting on Facebook:

What have I done?

Last week, when I asked my Facebook friends which startups I should write about, marketing and public relations professionals I donot know began befriending me and inundating me with pitches. I value Facebook as a private network, one where I can talk to my real friends, colleagues, and peers. Therefore, if you work in PR or marketing, and I don't have a prior relationship with you, I shan't be accepting your friendings and I shan't be reading your messages. I don't mean to be rude—but there it is.

Ah, but Jason, refusing Facebook friend invitations is rude, according to Scoble, a Facebook connoisseur. It's called "faceslamming," Scoble claims, and it's simply not done. Why, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates "faceslammed" Scoble, and Scoble's still steaming about it!

The trick to using Facebook as a tool for self-promotion is to treat it as strictly one-way. Accept all friend invitations, and then relentlessly spam your fans with examples of your latest work, to drum up traffic. Ignore any messages you receive; you can always plead "Facebook bankruptcy," as Calacanis did.

Even Pontin is beginning to understand that Facebook is not, in the end, about real relationships. Immediately after posting his diatribe against opportunistic faux frienders on Facebook, he turned around and added a Facebook spokesperson as a "friend." Why? Not because Pontin and the PR rep are actual friends in real life. His rationale? She "might conceivably be useful to me and [Technology Review]," he explains. The other PR reps who tried to friend Pontin? Not useful, apparently.

Useful versus not useful, of course, has the benefit of being a clearer distinction than the squishy category of "friend." Facebook, through the tireless efforts of Scoble and Calacanis, is transforming from a social network to a utilitarian broadcast network. Its users, increasingly, are divided into those looking for an audience, and those willing to provide same — as well as the usual Silicon Valley scrum of favor-trading and wheeling and dealing. Just ask yourself: What have your "friends" done for you lately?

Jason Pontin admits he has no ideas

Owen Thomas — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:52:13 PDT

We thought it amusing, if a bit sad, when Technology Review editor-in-chief started asking for startups to pitch him for his New York Times column on Facebook. But for him to continue the apparently unanswered plea, more than a week later? Maudlin veering on pathetic. Please, someone with an interesting startup to profile — do yourself a favor, stop flinging yourself on the rocky shoals of Valleywag, and try Pontin instead. We hear he's easy.