Valleywag: mashable

That's not a sweater, honey

Owen Thomas — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:00:00 PST

We certainly don't know what Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore does. We have even less of an idea how Adam Hirsch, the tech blog's COO, stays busy. Hand-cranking the site's server, perhaps, to save on electricity costs? In this just-unearthed Halloween photo sent in by a tipster, Hirsch seems to be short a piece of clothing. Can you think of a better caption? Leave it in the comments. The best will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: kfury, for "We can see Google from our campus!"

Mashable founder proves he loves brown sugar

Jackson West — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Young master Peter Cashmore of Mashable ditched the vest for the last party before repatriating to Blighty one step ahead of immigration officials. Here he's caught savoring a sweet cupcake with a come-hither glint in his eye. Proffer a different headline in the comments, and the most cunning linguist will be crowned with a new title on this post. Yesterday, emnem had the climactic entry with "Eric Shmidt and wife Wendy seen in Valleywag Green #61b335." (Photo by Andrew Mager)

The hardest working suit vest in the blog business

Alaska Miller — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:00:00 PDT

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore will say goodbye to his American friends tonight in San Francisco. The faux-blogging CEO caps off his six-month visa stay with a party, booze, food, and — as always — startup pitches. The Scottish whirlwind came to the U.S. and stayed long enough to snag a documentary, as well as gals left, right, and sometimes both sides. What's the secret? Perhaps it's his dapper outfit. We chronicle Pete's magical suit vest:

February 23, 2008:
FlashMash Meet NYC

Februrary 25, 2008:

Valleywag

March 10, 2008:
SXSW '08

March 11, 2008:

Valleywag

March 12, 2008:
Rana Sobhany's Rock Band Party

March 13, 2008:

(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

March 18, 2008:
Tumblr/Rock Band party

March 31, 2008:
Mashable/Causecast drinkup

April 5, 2008:

Valleywag

April 11, 2008:
PopCrunch 2008

April 22, 2008:
Web 2.0 Expo/Digg party

June 7, 2008:

(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

June 18, 2008:

(Photo by Brian Solis/bub.blicio.us)

July 15, 2008:

Valleywag

July 18, 2008:
LA Mashable Tour

July 20, 2008;

SummerMash LA

August 21, 2008:
Mashable Monthly

September 20, 2008:
Blog World Expo

September 30, 2008:

(Photo by Mark Heithoff/DETAILS)
October Details magazine profile.

(Top photo by Caroline McCarthy)

In today's news, I met Al Gore!

Paul Boutin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:00:00 PDT

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.

Malik and Cashmore, perhaps taking a cue, didn't do any real reporting on the event, leaving that to Threat Level and Laughing Squid. The two simply blogged their Al-and-me pictures as news stories on GigaOm and Mashable, bringing themselves one step closer to the old media stereotype of the vain reporter who can't stop inserting himself into the story — or in this case, into the non-story.

Blog about Six Apart's blog software unblogged

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

How absurd: Six Apart, the blog-software maker which has helped so many bloggers overturn the staid, outdated conventions of journalism and PR, has tried to use an embargo to quash news of a software upgrade until 9 p.m. tonight. Mashable published the news earlier this morning, and then yanked its story. The software in question, Movable Type Pro, is an anodyne improvement, turning MT's existing commenter features into a social network. Why this news ought to be released in a coordinated fashion is beyond me; for that matter, why it's interesting is also beyond me, since Six Apart has been trying to get into the social-network business since its ill-fated purchase of LiveJournal in 2005. News.com, admirably, has kept its post online. Here's Mashable's now-unpublished report by writer Kristen Nicole:

A couple of months ago Six Apart launched a new initiative that provided custom ad options aimed to offer more engaging ways for brands to interact with content producers and consumers, thanks in part to its acquisition of Apperceptive. Things seemed to have worked well for Six Apart as a result, and the next step for the blogging software creator is a new self-service option for site publishers to add social networking capabilities to their online publications with the upgraded Movable Type Pro (MT Pro).

This combines Movable Type’s blogging platform with social networking features, which is something that many traditional and new media sites have begun to do in the past couple of years for branding purposes and additional engagement with consumers. Many traditional media companies have found this to be a challenging task given the existing crossover audience and lack of integration with publishers’ content for consumers’ purposes.

Now that companies have begun to find more productive ways of interacting with their customers online, Six Apart is capitalizing on this growing necessity with additional social networking tools that can be integrated with the Movable Type blogging platform. This will include things like social media content aggregation capabilities for users, more ways for users to share and contribute items, forums, groups, and more.

I asked Chris Alden, CEO of Six Apart, and a few of his team members how brands are hoping to use any of this user-generated content that’s coming through these newly enhanced blogs and online publications, and he mentioned that things like forums and content aggregation are quite popular, though there may not be a direct way in which brands will be using the content per say. Being part of the conversation, however, is priceless. “Even if it’s sharing content that they find interesting across the Web is contributing content,” said Alden, “aggregating is important for these larger companies. It’s not theoretical anymore. It’s real.”

Along with the new MT Pro launch, Six Apart is also releasing Movable Type 4.2, which is the most recent version of its platform. It comes with a handful of new and improved features, including enhanced performance, simplified default templates for easy “quick start” blogs, and open source TypePad Anti-spam built in.

Cashmore's Kazakhstani wedding pics

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore makes a living throwing parties. Tumblr founder David Karp seems to get by on going to them, if only to make people say, "Why who's that fellow dressed so much like, Chuck Bass, and how can I join any website he's created?" This must explain why the two make such good dancing partners. But won't Iminlikewithyou founder Charles Forman get jealous? Write your own caption for this post and we'll use the best one as its new title. Friday's winner is bloggerman with "And in the end the stock you take is equal to the mess you make."

One bubble Pete Cashmore would like to pop

Jackson West — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Careful, Pete — get too handsy and we hear Niles could happy slap you back to Blighty, as when she's not appearing in Californication or on French Maid TV, she practices kung fu and holds a second degree black belt. Maybe next time she can torture him into confessing what, exactly, he does besides show up at parties to pose with hotties. Can you come up with a better caption? Do so in the comments. The best one will become this post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: "Lectroid Julia Bigboote's pheromonic camouflage fails at the worst possible moment " by matto. (Photo by Marc Salsberry)

Want more traffic? Throw your widgets overboard

Paul Boutin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:40:00 PDT

"Some blogs, like TechCrunch and Mashable are so loaded with widgets that they take at least 30 seconds to fully render," gripes a post by frequent Valleywag commenter Alan Wilensky. So true! When I was a website producer, I used to plot page load times versus daily pageviews. Load speed affected traffic — and hence revenue and brand reach— far more than I could convince my managers.

The time it takes before the main text and/or images load matter, too, because most readers will start reading the page as soon as there's something to look at, rather than waiting for everything to settle into place. Dave Winer's Scripting News is a living lesson in speed over flash. I hit Dave's site once a day because I know it'll take under 10 seconds to load the page, scroll down it for Valleywag-grade dirt, and then move on to another site. Yet for whatever reason, I've never been able to personally convince anyone to lighten up a heavy front door. Oh, everyone who cares uses RSS now. Tech people have the best excuses for laziness.

Mashable indeed

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Now that we all finally know what Mashable does — throw parties and charge admission — maybe you can help us write a better caption for this photo, more evidence that when you've got to get something off your chest, Pete Cashmore will be there to watch you do it. We'll rename the post after the best one. Monday's winner was abmw with: "Does that sandwich come with an RSS feed?"

What is Mashable? At long last, we've found the answer

Melissa Gira Grant — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:20:00 PDT

What's not nearly as sexy as Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore? Having to tease out an audience with discoveries like "An Almost Perfect Web-Based Twitter Management Tool." Yes, Twitter traffic is growing fast, but the vast majority of people in the world haven't discovered Twitter yet, let alone realized it's something they need to manage.

But readers who think that having "Twitter management" issues is a problem that only very important people like themselves have can be lucrative — you just have to be more creative in monetizing such people, rather than trying to sell ads. (Heck, Mashable can barely give them away.) Having a Twitter crisis is just the thing those "influencers" might brag about. At a party, even. Perhaps a party thrown by Pete Cashmore. A party which charges money for admission and has a cash bar, we're told by someone with a Twitter management problem. Which bubble is Mashable blowing again? Or is that what Mashable's actually for? (Photo by Andrew Mager)

"It's my pleasure to announce the king and queen of the Valleywag Prom... Jimmy Wales and Julia Allison!"

Jackson West — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Mashable was in town to do what they do best — throw parties. For CEO Pete Cashmore's sake, let's hope the faux blogger is doing a Morrissey impersonation and not Ian Curtis. Have a better caption? The best one will become the new headline. Friday's winner: "They put #$*&@! Sanger back in my bio, again!? " by mrfomoco.(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

Anyone got a cigar they want me to light?

Owen Thomas — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:00:00 PDT

Pete Cashmore, the blogger impersonator and CEO of Mashable, waves his wad at an Internet Week party in New York. Can you suggest a better caption? Do so in the comments. The best one will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: "I'm leaving, Larry said there'd be girls here," by 26footjasontaylor.
(Photo by Brian Solis/Bub.blicio.us)

Pick your career poison: Part-time Mahalo guide vs. Pete Cashmore's personal assistant

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:20:00 PDT

The class of 2008 has already begun to realize the tragedy of actually having to work for a living. Cheer up, kiddos; it could be worse. You could be employed, part-time, cutting and pasting Google search results for Jason Calacanis's Mahalo. Or you could serve as Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore's personal assistant — the entry-level gigs facing off in our third matchup to determine the worst job in tech. Vote below.

When we wrote up our list of tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs, we figured Cashmore will pay his assistant around $55,000 per year. But since, we've learned that number is well high of the mark. Readers figured Cashmore will pay $51,000 per year. We've heard Mahalo pays guides between $30,000 and $35,000 per year, but commenters on our original post told us we got it wrong. Wrote Richeem:

Figuring Mahalo's current pricing for the average page, wait time for acceptance, and any other factors a "good" ptg would be lucky to make $50/day. I highly doubt they are accepting more than 5 pages per day per ptg! Specially given the fact they have 120+ pages pending review.

Readers later guessed $32,000 per year.

In our last matchup, working as a Microsoft Windows support professional handily trounced the Yahoo finance internship in our last matchup, 59 percent to 41 percent.

Guess how much tech's 10 worst jobs pay

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:00:00 PDT

To come up with the estimated pay for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs we spoke to former and current employees, HR reps and friends of friends working these jobs. But still, some of our commenters expressed disbelief over the salary estimates. "80 grand for an entry level job? Time to apply and kick those whiney losers out! Let's see how they feel about their new job bagging groceries at the Safeway," wrote mwbeeler. Loakim said:

Boo fucking hoo. I clicked through about 4 of those and if they are representative, then getting paid 60-70K right out of college at an "entry" level job is nothing to complain about, regardless of the "tough" working conditions (ceiling too low? CSR work? no windows? cubicle? oh the torture!!). I spent half my life to get a Ph.D. and will barely be making that as an asst professor at a major research university.

We like our estimates, but we're willing to bow to the wisdom of the crowd, or the madness thereof. Save for IODA's unpaid internship — no point in guessing there — we've created a poll for each job. Take your best guess.

By the way, if you actually work one of these jobs, create an anonymous Gmail account — or Yahoo Mail, if it's the Google job — and tell us the real number.

Review the job's key responsibilities, first-hand accounts, and how much we estimated it pays.
Is this your job? Let us know how much it actually pays.

(Photo by eston)

Tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:00:00 PDT

Soon America's most bright-eyed graduates will enter the workforce and make their workaday homes in cubes at Google, MySpace, or Amazon.com. And they will suffer not just the indignity of having to work for a living, but also the dispiriting realization that a job at a cool company isn't always that hot. These employers, and the others hiring for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs, listed below, will look spiffy on a resume someday, but for now the only good these jobs promise the world is the pleasant feeling you and I can share knowing we're not the ones stuck in them.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should note that I wouldn't have been able to get any of these jobs out of college. I didn't finish with a 3.8, do a year of service in Nicaragua or file any patents during my sophomore year. But the worst part of this list is the fact that the people taking these jobs did. To paraphrase Dan Lyons, there's something distinctly evil about the way Google and the other companies listed below hoard the world's best and brightest and put them to work on creating more efficient text ads or, worse, tasking them with taking phone calls from angry customers.

Follow the link for each job to see a picture of their locations, a list of key responsibilities, first hand accounts of why each job is so bad and how much they pay.

(Top photo by star5112)

What does Mashable's Pete Cashmore do? Al Gore funds an investigation

Owen Thomas — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:20:00 PDT

I've long been fascinated with the ubiquitous gladhandery of Pete Cashmore, the 22-year-old founder of Mashable. And I've been meaning to ask Cashmore what, exactly, he does. Al Gore's cable channel, Current, has saved me the awkward moment. As a video clip shows, Cashmore talks on his cell phone, takes cabs, and meets with Internet luminaries. He claims that this process helps Mashable "get the news." For example? He interviewed Bebo founder Michael Birch days before the company's $850 million sale to AOL. Did his facetime land him the scoop? No. For that matter, Cashmore really hasn't written anything for Mashable in ages. Understandably. Appearing to be a blogger is a full-time job. The full clip:

The face that launched a thousand ship-dates

Owen Thomas — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:00:00 PDT

With wine and women, why isn't Pete Cashmore happier? The Mashable blogger's smile had to be mashed into place by Julie Wohlberg at a party thrown by Netvibes. Suggest your caption in the comments; the best will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: scalawag, for "On the firing line." (Photo by Andrei Zmievski)

Michael Arrington, Pete Cashmore puff up egos, traffic

Jackson West — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:40:00 PDT

At last night's PopSugar-TechCrunch party, I hadn't hoped to become part of the story, but LA Times reporter David Sarno suggested Arrington's 86ing of my date inspired Mashable's Pete Cashmore to invent a story about his own ouster. I don't know whether there's anything to Sarno's theory. But I do know this: Cashmore and Arrington are full of it if they think either of their operations are "top 10 blogs." (Photo by Robert Scoble)

Peter Cashmore too handsome for Michael Arrington to bear

Owen Thomas — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:47:28 PDT

Rumor has it that Pete Cashmore, the unfairly handsome Mashable blogger, has also been kicked out of the PopSugar-TechCrunch party. His offense, if any, is still unknown. [Twitter]

The photo Pete Cashmore would pay to delete from the Internet

Melissa Gira Grant — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:00:00 PDT

Saturday's Twitterati Drinkup, a self-mocking gathering of the 250, almost saw the ruin of blogger Pete Cashmore, if you believe Pete Cashmore. In an effort to keep the following image out of the hands of "the media," Mr. Mashable offered compensation to photographer Andrew Mager in the form of blogging about him, and when that didn't work, actual money. As he explained to the lady whose tit he's tilting at, Nikol Hasler of the video podcast Midwest Teen Sex Show, "This is the sort of thing Gawker and Valleywag would have a field day with." Sorry, Pete, but we're not sharing this one with Gawker.

Moving to Bay Area, Cashmore confesses: "I'm completely corruptible"

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:20:00 PDT

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore isn't dating Julia Allison. Still. But he is moving to San Francisco today. In this clip he sounds like he's lived here for years. Mahalo's Sean Percival asks Cashmore: "How long do you think its going to take before classic American greed and venture capitalists corrupt you?" Cashmore's swoon-inducing answer: "I think it's happening. I'm completely corruptible." Jump into our arms again, big boy — we think we're in love.

New social networks fighting against ebb tide of user interest

Jackson West — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:20:39 PDT

Social network fatigue is nothing new, at least to The 250, and VCs are finally catching on — the Starbucks social network might be the watershed moment when everyone stepped back from updating their umpteenth profile, put down the double-tall soy mocha and said to themselves, "You know, maybe we've reached the point of diminishing returns."

I was on the verge of deleting my Facebook profile, except that as a Gawker Median, I have to have one per company policy. (Well, that, and Facebook's resident chanteuse Randi "Jayne" Zuckerberg left a note on my wall — air kisses!) I settled for deleting all but the basic apps. Just don't tell Mashable's Pete Cashmore the sky is falling. He seems like such a sensitive lad. (Photo by tomnono)

Mashable introduces video commenting, terrifying new reality

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:20:01 PDT

Embedding videos into Valleywag comments is as easy as dragging and dropping a YouTube URL into the comments field. One advantage this method holds over Mashable's video comments: Embedding a YouTube video of yourself takes at least one extra step. Trust us: No one wants to hear you talk. Especially me. I get paid by the pageview.

Blogging for Mashable: so easy a caveman can do it

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:40:00 PDT

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins wasn't cutting it, so Mashable founder Pete Cashmore found his replacement at Rana Sobhany's Crush Party at Six Lounge Monday night. A disclaimer: as far as we know, Hopkins still has a job and that isn't a real caveman. As far as we know.

"Want a lift, Pete?"

Owen Thomas — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:28:36 PDT

Mashable's Pete Cashmore and your editor at the Side Bar in Austin. (Photo by Caroline McCarthy)

How not to pitch Pete Cashmore's puppet

Melissa Gira Grant — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:00:41 PST

Mashable's adorably awkward Pete Cashmore really, really wanted to get a photo with the Valleywag crew during SXSW's opening parties. Lost in the middle-school-dance ambiance of Six, the Austin bar which served as our first stop for the night, I mistook the official Mashable hand mascot for "the shocker." But when Pete popped up again sans puppet at the way more laid-bac Gingerman, he tried again — and lightly punched my tit area . Casual approach, yes, but why not just pitch me like I really was one of the guys? That seems easier. (Photo by mashable)

Mashable? I'll show ya mashable!

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:20:56 PST

Mashable's Pete Cashmore (left) and CenterNetworks blogger Allen Stern (right) met for a beer on Saturday. But things turned ugly when Cashmore insisted on being so damn handsome.

A reminder of the caption-contest rules: In the comments, suggest a better caption. If we like it, we'll make it the headline of the post. Any comments other than caption suggestions will be openly sneered at, or ignored.

All the hot Pete Cashmore action you can handle

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:00:02 PST

Mashable's Pete Cashmore visited New York from Scotland over the weekend and his blue steel gaze (pictured) failed to melt only the icy roads which caused planners to cancel a MashMeet set for Friday. Our hearts, however, withstood not. After a Saturday FlashMashMeet, one Cashmore fan — seeming to level her aim at two birds — said, "Valleywag should have a contest awarding an iPhone to anyone who can prove they hooked up with Pete Cashmore at SXSW." Valleywag, of course, would never promote such sexual objectification. So you people will have to settle for what's below: Pete Cashmore and his girls, girls, girls. Consider it a warning, ladies. He's moving to San Francisco.

Mashable's female readers like to get naked

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:20:38 PST

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore is "hot," StyleDiary's Patricia Handschiegel told me the other night at dinner. Overhearing us, another chimed in. "Oh yes, he's hot," she said. Keep your pants on, girls! Literally. Cashmore doesn't have to worry about Handschiegel stripping — she's a lady — but a screenshot of "recent visitors" who have built profiles on the site indicates some of Cashmore's readers aren't. After the jump, see their profile pages. A warning: Not safe for work.

Here's Mashable reader Mrs. Hot Sticky Wet Panties. We recommend Gold Bond for that problem, but maybe they don't sell that in "USA, Ohio, wet panty land." Click on the image if you really need to expand it further.

Here we have KL Hot Babes Escort, located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Pete looks like he doesn't know why he' friends with KL. Pete, it's the pageviews.

Take it easy on the Crystal (Geyser), Zuck

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:00:05 PST

A tipster sends this shot of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg with Mashable's Pete Cashmore. Our tipster says the photo captures Zuck and Cashmore "drunker than skunks." Don't buy it. Zuck's got a straight-edged reputation and he's holding a bottle of Crystal Geyser, not Cristal. A better explanation for Zuckerberg's awkward pose? He's camera-shy. That jibes with what Zuckerberg told egoblogger Robert Scoble during a three-hour walk the pair took around Davos over the weekend.

A gift for our dear readers: 10,000 Hulu Invites

Jordan Golson — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:20:09 PST

I saw a theme this morning as I perused the various other tech sites: Hulu invites! Hulu, the video-streaming partnership between News Corp. and NBC, is throwing open its doors to many early adopters by offering up thousands of invites on several tech sites. If you haven't gotten a chance to play around with Hulu and want to see just what the hell Paul Boutin is complaining about, here's your chance. GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb, TechCrunch, and Mashable are giving away 2,500 invites each. All, we note, are clients of Federated Media, John Battelle's online-ad network. Coincidence, conspiracy, or just part of a future Hulu advertising campaign?