• crash this bash

    Disinvite your favorite reporter from the Google holiday party

    It's becoming a holiday tradition: Google announces a holiday party for Silicon Valley reporters at its Mountain View headquarters, and Valleywag's invite gets mysteriously lost in Gmail's ever-canny spam filters. The invitation for the December 8 event, held again at the Googleplex's Cafe Slice, is nontransferable, so we can't accept any pass-along invites, alas. More »

    2:40 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    1,310 views, 3 comments

    Latest by IngaAsclepius: 2008 is a leap year, moron! more »

  • wedding announcements

    Kara Swisher discloses she married Google exec

    A disclosure statement is an odd place for a wedding announcement. But that is where conference organizer and AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher has buried the news that she married her longtime partner, Google vice president Megan Smith, last night, before the passage of Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, made same-sex marriages illegal once more. (The couple had had previous ceremonies — including, while we're disclosing things, one that I attended — but this was the first one that was a legal marriage under California law.) This would be no one's business but their own, except for the fact that Swisher actively covers Google and its rivals. More »

    12:40 PM on Wed Nov 5 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    7,609 views, 35 comments

    Most discussed karaswisher: Fair piece, but you do leave out the salient fact that I have also been one of Google's toughest critics, more »

  • hires

    Microsoft exec Jeff Dossett really joining Yahoo after all

    Mountaineer, philanthropist, and longtime Microsoftie Jeff Dossett has a new claim to fame: He's brave enough to join Yahoo — but it took a while to convince him. Two months ago, Dossett, who joined Microsoft in 1991, went through a curious back-and-forth: BoomTown's Kara Swisher reported he was leaving Microsoft to join Yahoo. A Microsoft rep promptly denied the report, claiming Dossett was leaving a job at the software giant's MSN Web business, but looking at other opportunities within Microsoft. We could speculate about how Microsoft and Yahoo were bidding for Dossett's services, but the real lesson here is: Never, ever believe a Microsoft flack. Dossett replaces Scott Moore, who's leaving Yahoo as reported.

    1:20 PM on Mon Nov 3 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    914 views, Comment

  • meltdowns

    Valley blowhards gush forth advice

    Professional annoyance Kara Swisher, the BoomTown blogger, went to a how-to-survive-the-downturn gabfest, and all she got was this lousy video. Captured on her Flip camera: Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis, who didn't predict the downturn; Nirav Tolia, the Epinions cofounder — an entrepreneur — who hasn't laid anyone off since the last bubble burst and is surely rusty; Google investor Ram Shriram, who has way too much money to care about such mundane affairs as a recession; and Fast Company videoblogger Robert Scoble, who is cheerfully clueless as ever. The bright side: If Scoble is saying companies need to conserve cash, perhaps we've hit a market bottom.

    10:00 AM on Fri Oct 31 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    306 views, 7 comments

    Most discussed FiveStarEggRoll: First Ashton Kutcher and now that "Fez" guy. Sheesh, up next will be Topher with something techy. Harry "wishes he played more »

  • Fright Masks

    The 5 scariest people in Silicon Valley

    Halloween's on a Friday. With people already more worried about keeping their jobs than actually doing them, you might as well plan on writing the workday off. Trying to figure out a clever costume in which to pester your remaining coworkers? Valleywag has done the work for you. Print up one of these masks, designed by Valleywag interim creative director Richard Blakeley, on the finest-quality office paper you can steal from the supply closet, follow our tips on how to act the part, and you're good to go. Select from our list: More »

    6:00 PM on Thu Oct 30 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    7,641 views, 23 comments

    Most discussed cv: Your list sucks. Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP Tom Perkins, 'nuff said Katie Cotton, Apple PR exec more »

  • Fright Masks

    Kara Swisher, obnoxious AllThingsD blogger

    How to wear it: Soccer mom meets Castro lesbian, with a denim shirt and blue jeans. Oh, and a Pure Digital Flip camera. More »

    6:00 PM on Thu Oct 30 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,180 views, 4 comments

  • allthingsd

    Kara Swisher's hiring criteria revealed

    Eyebrows cocked? Smirk at the ready? Then you, sir, are qualified to tack on wry analysis to the day's news at AllThingsD.com. Good thing Peter Kafka, Kara Swisher's latest hire at the Dow Jones-backed tech blog, is a continent away from John Paczkowski, Swisher's incumbent snark machine. Put the two in the same office, and they might just spend all day raising their eyebrows at each other.

    3:20 PM on Mon Oct 27 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    784 views, 6 comments

    Most discussed Patricia2: I didn't say they were the hottest tech has to offer, but, kara does have nice men to look at more »

  • peter kafka

    Lazy reporter crowdsources new column

    Peter Kafka is Kara Swisher's latest star hire at AllThingsD. She stole him from Silicon Alley Insider, where he worked with Henry Blodget. At SAI, Kafka always seemed to do fine without invoking the wisdom of the crowd. Why is Kara pushing him to go on and on about nothing? His first post was the standard Web 2.0 "Hello, world." His second takes 400 words to restate its own headline. Peter, here's my first and last free rewrite. Give me credit for not saying "Kafka-esque." More »

    10:20 AM on Mon Oct 27 2008
    By Paul Boutin
    396 views, 7 comments

    Most discussed ShyamalikaHespera: AllThingsD is a total sinkhole. All anybody does is spout idiotic commentary on there. Soon Peter will devolve to talking more »

  • yahoo

    Jerry Yang's unpurple prose

    Right now, a leader needs to do two things: Communicate clearly, act decisively, and project confidence. That's three things, but Jerry Yang can't even do one of them. In a two-part interview with Kara Swisher, Rupert Murdoch's pet eyeball-poker, Yang fails to sell, or even tell, Yahoo's story: More »

    12:20 PM on Fri Oct 24 2008
    By Paul Boutin
    5,263 views, 5 comments

    Most discussed dorian: two things eh? more »

  • great moments in journalism

    Reporters learn Yahoo's secret plan: Copy Facebook

    Don't call it a "social network" — the product that will save Yahoo is an "enhanced profile." Which just happens to look exactly like someone's profile page on Facebook or MySpace — friends, updates, and all of that. CNET News editor-in-chief Dan Farber got the PowerPoint deck, as did AllThingsD's Kara Swisher. Is it something they teach you in journalism school — that writing about tech involves fawning over something simply because it is new and you got to see it first? I never got to take that class. (Screenshot via Webware)

    4:20 PM on Thu Oct 16 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,466 views, 6 comments

    Most discussed pepelicious: So how's this different than Yahoo 360 or Mash (is that even around anymore?)? more »