<![CDATA[Valleywag: Mine Is Bigger]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/valleywag.com.png <![CDATA[Valleywag: Mine Is Bigger]]> http://valleywag.com/tag/mine is bigger http://valleywag.com/tag/mine is bigger <![CDATA[ Weblogs Inc. cofounder to check out Jason Calacanis's package ]]> Jason Calacanis, the professional email sender and part-time CEO of Mahalo, is a busy man. Fresh from executing layoffs at his fewer-humans-than-before-powered search engine, he's jetting off to Japan. This, mind you, despite promising to cut down on travel as an austerity measure. Brian Alvey, Calacanis's cofounder at Weblogs Inc., the blog network they sold to AOL for $25 million, is keeping house for him. "Heading to L.A. so I can house sit for @jasoncalacanis and help with any packages that arrive while he's in Japan," he writes on Facebook, according to a screenshot sent in by a tipster. Alvey later admits the "package" that's arriving: Calacanis's $109,000 all-electric Tesla Roadster. Here's the Facebook discussion this prompted:

]]>
Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:40:00 PST Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5082493&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ A Yahoo's greener-than-thou custom car ]]> After Yahoo bought email startup Zimbra for $350 million, where did the money go? Cofounder and CEO Satish Dharmaraj put at least some of it down on a customized Toyota Prius, now on display at the SEMA auto show in Las Vegas. The yellow-and-orange car was so outrageously over the top it made even the heartless carbloggers at Jalopnik weep.

The Prius features an extended battery for all-electric operation — how green! (Unless you count the coal which more than likely generated most of that electricity.) MyRide says that Dharmaraj's outré choice of scissor-wing doors means "the Lamborghini-door trend is officially over." (Photo by MyRide)

]]>
Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:00:00 PST Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5077980&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Vulgar ostentation never looked so good ]]> At the center of a small armada, Kleiner Perkins VC Tom Perkins's three-masted superyacht Maltese Falcon took a turn around San Francisco Bay last weekend. It's currently anchored in Richardson's Bay north of Sausalito, and if you've got a couple hundred million around, you could probably convince Perkins to let you take it off his hands. This post needs a better headline like Perkins needs humility, so offer one up in the comments and we'll select our favorite to re-title the post with. "Mashable founder proves he loves brown sugar" from ResearchZilla was the cupcake that took the cake yesterday. (Photo by Chris Comparini)

]]>
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:00:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5058343&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Used superyacht for sale in San Francisco Bay ]]> The world's largest sailing vessel, the Maltese Falcon, will be visiting San Francisco Bay. It's owned by Tom Perkins — "Perkins" as in "Kleiner Perkins," the venture-capital firm he helped found — and cost around $130 million to build. However, Perkins has been trying to sell the thing with a price tag of $233 million. With a financial crisis on Wall Street and the economy getting flushed down the head, parading a 289-foot tribute to "vulgar ostentation" feels a bit like a thumb in the eye to the average American right now. There is a way Perkins could redeem himself.

Two words: Homeless shelter. With homeowners failing to make mortgage payments, and the Bay Area known for a seemingly intractable homeless problem, the Falcon could provide part of the solution. And Perkins has admitted to being embarrassed by its expense. After all, it shares a name with a book by noted socialist (and alcoholic) Dashiell Hammett. The onboard "hotel" only accommodates twelve guests, so it would only be a symbolic gesture — at least 5,000 homeless live in San Francisco alone. But as it stands, it's a symbol of unrepentant greed, which at the moment is about as trendy as mortgage-backed securities. (Photo by AP/Lionel Cironneau)

]]>
Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:20:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5055396&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Intel says screw it, we're going for six cores ]]> Just when you blew your IT budget on quad-core servers, Intel has a six-core Xeon 7400 processor that'll be available from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell starting September 15th. I'm a bit disappointed, because I was hoping they'd also boost the 7400's L3 cache to 32 megs. But that's just me.

]]>
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:20:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5045598&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Echelon fuels up CEO's private jet ]]> Network appliance manufacturer Echelon will now cover half the cost of CEO Ken Oshman's travel on his private jet after a vote by the company's board. Previously, the company only reimbursed up to the equivalent expense of first-class commercial airfare for Oshman and any employees travelling on company business. Based on Oshman's travel so far this year, the new perk will cost the company an extra $370,000 a year. [Mercury News]

]]>
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:20:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5039659&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Niklas Zennström's vikings raid Irish Sea yacht race ]]> At Skandia Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight, Niklas Zennström's racing yacht Ran won five of seven races amongst the largest class of boats, and won the overall title without having to race on the final day. Zennström joined the competitive yachting class after successfully suckering eBay into buying Skype. His latest project, Joost, however, couldn't generate enough hype to raise the spinnaker, with the online video startup's sails continuing to luft luff in dead winds. (Photo by Rick Tomlinson)

]]>
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:40:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5037260&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ 10 "I Am Rich" ratings reveal how delightfully cynical online product reviewers can be ]]> Armin Heinrich's "I Am Rich" iPhone App, sadly no longer available for $999.99 in the iTunes App Store, was probably the most important software development of our time. Wonderfully, some 502 iTunes App Store shoppers took the time to review it, giving it a rating of two stars out of a possible five. Our 10 favorite reviews — sometimes marked by calm, playing-along cynicism, sometimes by wide-eyed fury — are below:










]]>
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5033764&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Behold the $999.99 do-nothing iPhone App; buy it because you can ]]> Maybe you haven't heard about the $999.99 "I Am Rich" iPhone App by Armin Heinrich yet. We'll catch you up, poor thing. Purchase this app for your iPhone 3G from the iTunes App Store now and it will do two things: display a glowing red gem for an icon and tell everyone who handles your iPhone 3G that you have more money then there are orca skin purses to spend it on. It's a bargain compared to a Patek Philippe watch which does the same thing.

]]>
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5033740&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Marrying into billions still acceptable so long as you're a smart girl ]]> Melanie CraftForbes lays on the Cosmo when it comes to finding wives for the rich: "Today, there are just 110 eligible 10-figure bachelors, including divorced men, in the world. So what does it take to marry one? For starters, looks are great—but brains are even better." Take Melanie Craft, the romance-novelist wife of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. A wife with her own career can stay busy and well-off. The more successful she is on her own, the more time her guy has to hire girls for rides in his Love Copter. And the less money he'll have to hand over in a future settlement. Everybody wins! (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)

]]>
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:00:00 PDT Melissa Gira Grant http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5026367&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Keeping Bezos, Ellison and Schmidt safe cost $3.4 million last year ]]> Keeping Oracle CEO and cofounder Larry Ellison safe cost the company $1.7 million over the fiscal year ending May 31, 2007. Most of that money went to guards at his homes as well as installing and repairing home security systems, according to Oracle's SEC filings. Part of Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos's 2007 compensation included $1.2 milion for personal security. Google CEO Eric Schmidt spent $475,000 on security in 2007. A lot of the money probably goes to security precautions that might seem a lot more like luxuries than necessities.

Limited Brands CEO Leslie Wexner, for example, spent much of his $1.25 million 2007 security allowance toward "protecting" his corporate aircraft, yacht and 22,371-sq. ft. home. "Security has become a convenient excuse for getting shareholders to pick up the cost for the CEO's lifestyle,' corporate watchdog American Federation of State's director of corporate governance and pension investment told the Wall Street Journal. (Illustration by Richard Blakeley)

]]>
Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:40:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5016764&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Charles Simonyi policing Hudson river, close enough for girlfriend Martha Stewart to wave a handkerchief ]]> The 233-foot yacht owned by Charles Simonyi, the Microsoft billionaire and Martha Stewart love-muffin, has been spotted in the Hudson River. For a sense of scale, the helicopter, painted to match, can be clearly seen perched on the helipad. (True story: the only time I've flown in a helicopter, Simonyi was the pilot). I'm sure that with Stewart's help, the whole thing is quite tastefully decorated — if only to remove the stank of the Danish girlfriend whose pet name for Simonyi was "skat." That's also the name of the yacht, according to Wikipedia. (Photo by Eric Etheridge)

]]>
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:20:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=385346&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Tom Perkins picked a bad time to sell the Maltese Falcon ]]>
Why is VC Tom Perkins already selling the Maltese Falcon, his 289-foot sailing yacht he finished building in 2006? For a quick profit, ostensibly. But he has likely botched the timing. In 2007, used yachts cost more than new ones because wealthy buyers wanted them immediately. That demand led to profitable yacht-flipping, similar to the condo-flipping of the late real-estate bubble. But that was 2007. In 2008, sales for yachts priced between $200,000 to $800,000 are down 50 percent, a broker told Fortune. Likewise, another recent megayacht sale didn't happen until the owner slashed the price by $7 million. Still, the market might be different if Perkins sails his $233 million ship through the Suez Canal, where petrodollar fortunes abound.

]]>
Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:20:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=378686&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Fired TokBox CEO didn't need to know HTML to drive his $80,000 BMW ]]> 650i.jpgEarly last month Sequoia Capital fired TokBox founder Serge Faguet as CEO. An engineer who spoke with Faguet for a job interview tells us his firing "comes as no surprise." The tipster, perhaps sore that his job interview didn't go so well, characterizes Faguet as "rude and arrogant" and argues that the original idea for TokBox came from cofounder Ron Hose. But mostly, our tipster objects to Faguet's car: a BMW 650i.

It's hard not to notice Serge's brand new, white BMW convertible that he drives around. A 650i costs $82,000 base, and one can only imagine how jealous and frustrated the rest of the team is when they are working long hours and someone with no knowledge of technology (he can't even program in HTML) has a substantially higher equity stake yet offers nothing substantive, and still splurges on a new sports car.
Want to see a vehicle like Faguet's in action? Here's a clip:


]]>
Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=374601&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ 5 best videos of the $233 million megayacht Tom Perkins no longer wants ]]> At 289 feet, the Maltese Falcon, is the world's largest sailing yacht. Its owner, venture capitalist Tom Perkins, is over it. He's looking for a buyer to take the Falcon off his hands for about $233 million, according to The Wealth Report blog. Of the Falcon, Perkins once told Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes: "I just wanted the biggest boat." It was a beautiful sentiment, people, and we're here to honor it. So below, the five best videos on the Web catching the Maltese Falcon in all its glory.

  • The Falcon at sunset.
  • The Falcon turning, chased by a smaller boat.
  • Perkins built this yacht to wake one morning off the coast of France and hear, amid the puttering noises of the dock, a man with a thick accent say: "This is the Maltese Falcon, the biggest sailing yacht."
  • Ha ha. Your Rolex boat looks tiny.
  • "I just wanted the biggest boat. Do I have an ego? Yes. Is it big? Yes."

(Photo by antiguan_life) ]]>
Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=372585&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Early Netscape engineer admits to owning the Mozilla M5 ]]> Yesterday we speculated that a BMW M5 with a "Mozilla" vanity plate might belong to Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker, who could afford the $80,000 car with her $500,000-a-year salary. We were wrong. "I will admit to it being mine," Lou Montulli, one of Netscape's founding engineers, commented on the post. On his personal site, Montulli admits to more.

I'm largely to blame for several innovations on the web including, cookies, the blink tag, server push and client pull, HTTP proxying, proxy authentication, HTTP byte ranges, HTTPS over SSL, and encouraging the implementation of animated GIFS into the browser.
Nice little CV, but other commenters still want to know why Montulli went for an 500-horse BMW M5 instead of a Porsche. Montulli says its because the M5 is a family car. "The key feature of the M5 is the fact that it has 4 doors and seats 4 comfortably. If you look closely at the picture you may be able to see the kids car seats." So you're a family man, Lou. Fine. That excuse works around here. Just don't try it on Calacanis. ]]>
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:40:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=372038&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Larry Ellison and fellow billionaire trade accusations of rigging the America's Cup ]]> bmw_oracle_americas_cup.jpgThe America's Cup is the world's premier opportunity for the ultrariches to prove whose is bigger. But if you think the race has anything to do with sailing, you'd be mistaken — it's about who can muster the most capital. This year the victor could be rigged by lawyers, not sailors, thanks to a spat between billionaire software tycoon Larry Ellison and billionaire biotech tycoon Ernesto Bertarelli.

Last July, the Golden Gate Yacht Club sued Cup defenders Société Nautique de Genève [PDF], accusing the Swiss of hand-picking an unqualified challenger, the newly formed Club Náutico Español de Vela. The Deed of Gift, which outlines the terms and rules of the race, requires that a challenging club hold an annual regatta — CNEV held a regatta, with boats crewed by children, only after being selected as challenger.

Now it's SNG's turn to accuse the GGYC of trying to tilt the field. GGYC wants the race to be held in October, giving the Alinghi team only seven months to build their boat. The BMW Oracle team, meanwhile, started building their multi-hulled vessel three months ago. SNG wants the race held in 2009, and says that the GGYC originally agreed that any race would be held ten months after the legal decision had been handed down [PDF].

We are disappointed that GGYC is backtracking on this agreement and launching a new legal campaign seeking to undo what GGYC previously agreed to. Why not simply meet us on the water and settle this there?
Probably because Ellison figures that if the case goes back to mediation, New York State Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn will likely rule in the home team's favor. Us Yankees have a saying — "If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying." (AP/Fernando Bustamante)

]]>
Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:00:01 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=371606&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ ArcSight's Robert Shaw gets a free yacht-club membership and you don't ]]> Robert_Shaw.jpgOf all the companies gone public in the past year, only one pays for its CEO's yacht-club membership. That's security-software maker ArcSight, which went public on Valentine's Day. The CEO is Robert Shaw. According to Footnoted, Shaw's other benefits include an apartment near ArcSight's Cupertino headquarters, a car for when he's in San Francisco and airfare for travel between Shaw's homes in Montana and Cabo San Lucas. All of which isn't as unusual as the yacht-club membership.

Of course, in Silicon Valley, an obsession with yachts isn't unusual, either. Though for Shaw to catch sharks like Oracle's Larry Ellison, his boss of six years in the '90s, he's going to need a bigger boat

]]>
Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:20:02 PST Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=357678&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Meghan Asha's party plane ]]> Videoblogger Meghan Asha, who pals around with TechCrunch's Michael Arrington from time to time, comes from a wealthy Los Gatos family, we hear. The evidence? She flies around the country in a private plane. Here's what that party venue in the sky looks like. That's Asha between fellow geek-luster Julia Allison and comedian Demetri Martin. A tight squeeze.

]]>
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:00:30 PST Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=353900&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ When attention whores compete, you lose ]]>
In Amersterdam, they have glass doors. In Silicon Valley, we have Twitter. And Jason Calacanis wants you all to himself. According to Twitterholic, Calacanis has 6,955 Twitter followers to Scoble's 6,865. This lead is a new development and it's got Calacanis as giddy as a nihilistic oil tycoon about to bludgeon a priest with a bowling pin. "Robert Scoble: I drink your Twitter Milkshake!" Calacanis writes. "I'm coming for you Robert!"

]]>
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:40:47 PST Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=353728&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ One day left to commission portrait of "Fellowship of the VCs" ]]> FellowshipoftheVCs.jpg "Are you a leader in Silicon Valley who has been unfairly left out of this work of art?" asks a project proposal on Strayform."Much like patronages offered by the leaders depicted in historical works, your patronage can earn you the recognition you deserve."

So far, the people deemed worthy of such recognition include Intel Capital's Eghosa Omoigui, Sequoia Capital's Roelof Botha, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington and angel investor Ron Conway. Each is depicted in the group portrait on the left. But people, forget Silicon Valley leaders. It's the rest of us who deserve to see this project through to its completion.

The painting, tentatively titled "Fellowship of the VCs," will draw its artistic inspiration from a timeless, classic source: Lord of the Rings movie posters. How is that not the most wonderful thing you've ever heard? There's only one day left to make your pledge. Make it now, or be forgotten by history, people.

]]>
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:22:18 PST Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=350649&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Hawaii -- Silicon Valley's Hamptons, minus the potato fields ]]> Architectural Digest profiled the Hawaiian home of a Silicon Valley mogul in its November issue. A reader fingers Rick Fluegel, a former general partner with Matrix Partners.

The evidence is a little shaky. In its article, our reader targets a Silicon Valley figure because AD calls Hawaii the "the Hamptons of the Silicon Valley (instead of potato fields, there's lava)." From there, it was a matter of a Google search for the architect's firm, "Hill Glazier Architects." That turned up a building permit for a $3.7 million home listing both Fluegel and Hill Glazier, a Palo Alto firm.

So there you have it. Another key detail: the lady of the household is Puerto-Rican born, according to the home's interior designer. Anyone know if Fluegel's wife fits that description? Not that it matters. Whoever owns the house joins the likes of Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, retired Hewlett-Packard CFO Bob Wayman, and former HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn. If Hawaii is the Hamptons of Silicon Valley, the point isn't who owns this house. It's that you don't.

]]>
Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:36:33 PST Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=337971&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Steve Jurvetson fails to make the mile-high club ]]>
Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson has a thing for rockets. He once built and launched a miniature replica of the Nazis' V2 rocket, the weapon Hitler used to devastate London during World War II. Well, the early investor in Hotmail, is back at it. Now director of space operations at local blogger Todd Lappin's faux company, Telstar Logistics, Jurvetson and a team traveled to Farmington, California to launch the Telstar Logistics Expediter over the weekend. They strapped a video camera to it, so enjoy the ride. All 5,186 feet of it. So close, and yet so far.

]]>
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:19:26 PST Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=332664&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ There's nothing more modest than a Boeing 787 ]]> As modest as a PriusGoogle founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are more "virtuous" than Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Guardian's Alexander Chancellor blathers. Why? Because while the prince purchased a new Airbus A380, which some call a flying mansion, Page and Brin "don't have private jets" and "own nothing more flashy than a modest Toyota Prius."

Well, Chancellor might have his facts a bit wrong, but his point is taken. Page, Brin and Google CEO Eric Schmidt own four commercial-sized jets between them, but it's for practical, money-saving reasons. And, yes, though Schmidt is eyeing another jet for his fleet, it must be said that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is more environmentally friendly than older planes. (Photo by Boeing via AP)

]]>
Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:15:30 PST Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=324361&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Saudi Prince buys world's biggest plane -- are Google boys next? ]]> Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia is purchasing a custom Airbus A380. The biggest passenger plane in the world — 6,000 sq. ft. — will cost more than $400 million once it is outfitted with all the accoutrements necessary to fly one of the richest men in the world. The prince already owns a custom Boeing 747, previously the biggest private plane in the world, and has a fortune worth around $20 billion. Don't count out Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, though. The Google boys are worth around $20 billion each and also have an affinity for custom jets.


Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who has plenty of money of his own, recently sold a Gulfstream V and Valleywag reported that he was looking at a brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Perhaps Larry, Sergey and Eric — the three Musketeers of Silicon Valley jet ownership — will pick up one of the A380s to add to their growing collection. Googlers always aim high, don't they?

And the A380? Custom designs could include a movie theatre, a gym, jacuzzi, multiple bedrooms, a very large dining area and more. What mogul doesn't need their own flying palace with more square feet than most houses?

(Photo by AP/Christof Stache)

]]>
Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:43:53 PST Jordan Golson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=321833&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Larry Ellison has at least one oversized ball ]]>
I've always heard Oracle CEO Larry Ellison had big cojones. No photographic proof, alas, has arrived at Valleywag yet. But this gigantic disco ball — so large it had to be transported by flatbed truck — for an event at Oracle's OpenWorld conference, which starts tomorrow, seems proof enough. To make room for Oracle's other outsized ambitions, San Francisco has closed off Howard Street through next Saturday. (Photo by Royce Perez)

]]>
Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:29:03 PST Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=321290&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Tom Perkins is richer, more successful than you -- and has a big yacht ]]>

Tom Perkins, bazillionaire venture capitalist and owner of the Maltese Falcon, was interviewed on 60 Minutes last night. Humility is not his strong suit. Why build the biggest sailboat in the world? "I just wanted the biggest." I can relate. In his spare time, Perkins also fake blogs.

]]>
Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:23:47 PST Jordan Golson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=319143&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Actually, the biggest boner for Facebook belongs to Alexa ]]> FBboner.jpgA loyal reader and apparent Facebook enthusiast notes in his Facebook status, "so valleywag apparently has a bigger boner for FB than i do ... weird, huh?" I can only assume this comment comes in response to our chart yesterday showing Facebook's vast superiority to the gang of also-rans Google has rousted up to support OpenSocial. But here's the thing. No way do we have the biggest boner for Facebook. That prize goes to Alexa. Care to inspect for yourself?

Now, we know you already know that Alexa is thoroughly broken, with a methodology so suspect as to be risible. But some of you complained that we used Compete.com for our charts yesterday. And also, there was the matter of the size of our boner to defend.

So here's how Alexa compares views of Facebook and MySpace over the past year:

AlexaBS.jpg

By contrast, here's how Compete compares the two social networks' "people count" over the past year:

No discussion of boners for Facebook would be complete, however, without mentioning Karel Baloun, author of Inside Facebook: Life, Work and Visions of Greatness. Judging by that title alone, you should know there's your man for a big old red and meaty for the blue and white site.

]]>
Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:38:39 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=317719&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ "Eat your heart out Larry and Sergey." — ... ]]> "Eat your heart out Larry and Sergey." — Reporter Mary Anne Ostrom, describing the Airbus A380 which landed earlier today at San Francisco International Airport. The humongous jet can carry as many as 800 people — 16 times the passenger capacity of the Google founders' party plane. [San Jose Mercury News]

]]>
Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:29:18 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=307383&view=rss&microfeed=true