Sky Dayton

media

"Google Me" documentary an irony-free, feel-good flick with literal cult appeal

Jim Killeen, former bit-actor and current small businessman, decided to turn the typical act of searching for other people with his same name on Google into the premise for a documentary — Google Me. He tracked down a number of other Jim Killeens around the world, from Australia to Ireland, and spent some time to get to know them and ask them a few questions. The result is an hour and a half of "gee whiz" encounters and white male bonding. See Jim meet Jim! And Jim! And Jim! See Jim get grossed out by vegemite and haggis! See Jim uncomfortable as the particulars of a swingers party are explained! You can watch it all for free on YouTube. But what was the most interesting thing about the film? More »

10:00 AM on Sun Apr 27 2008
By Jackson West
1,963 views, 10 comments

Latest by n/a: About 15 years ago, filmmaker David Berliner's "The Sweetest Sound" had a similar conceit. He tracked down anyone he could find with his name via phonebook, newspaper ads and however else people used to search for each other during those more »

rolla huff

EarthLink's choice: just fade away

Rolla Huff, the CEO of Internet service provider EarthLink, has made a choice many in Silicon Valley find incomprehensible: He's no longer bothering to get new customers. Here, the moment you stop growing — no, the very second your momentum falters — you're instantly written off. But the reason why EarthLink swung to a $54 million profit in its first quarter was simple. Its new dial-up customers — yes, people are still signing up for dial-up — simply weren't worth its while, and EarthLink stopped spending money to market service to them. Huff has also pulled the company out of the municipal Wi-Fi market, selling some networks to city governments and shuttering others. He's similarly disentangling the company from its Helio cell-phone joint venture, a half-billion-dollar fiasco. All of that doesn't leave EarthLink with much of a future. More »

1:00 PM on Thu Apr 24 2008
By Owen Thomas
927 views, 5 comments

Latest by Troll_2.0: Huff! more »

rumormonger

Helio hires Goldman Sachs

Helio has tapped Goldman Sachs, its longtime banker, for a new project, we hear. Signing up a banker is usually a sign that a company is putting itself up for sale. Helio, Sky Dayton's wireless startup, began life as a joint venture of EarthLink and SK Telecom, the South Korean phone company. But EarthLink washed its hands of Helio after the untimely death of CEO Garry Betty, and on Tuesday, Dayton and most of his EarthLink-loyalist management team were ousted. Now SK, too, may be looking for Goldman to rid it of a cash-burning child. Why would anyone buy Helio? Not for its tiny user base. Possibly for its innovative phone designs, like the Ocean, and mobile friend-finding services. It is unlikely those will reclaim the hundreds of millions of dollars SK poured into Dayton's dream.

10:42 PM on Tue Feb 12 2008
By Owen Thomas
2,432 views, 5 comments

Latest by Skem9: I've been with Helio for about 2 years now, and I'd be disappointed to see them go under.. Their service was always good, and unlimited minutes, text, pictures, internet for only 100 bucks a month is better than anywhere else. more »

exclusive

CFO and three VPs depart Helio, chairman to follow

Helio CFO Todd Tappin and execs Michael Zemetra, Terry Boyle and Kieran Hannon will leave the company by March 31. A source tells us former CEO and current chairman Sky Dayton won't remain long, either. The cell-phone carrier started as a joint venture in 2006 between EarthLink, the Internet service provider founded by Dayton, and South Korean phone company SK Telecom. Since then, it has disappointed, and EarthLink ran short on cash to invest. When SK Telecom reupped with another $270 million last fall, reducing EarthLink's share to 22 percent, this kind of shakeout was expected. In fact, our source tells us most if not all executives from the "EarthLink side of the house" will depart the company on or before March 31.

2:10 PM on Tue Feb 12 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,184 views, 21 comments

Latest by search.scientist: @justinsane: how does that foot in your mouth taste? more »

social networks

Sky Dayton just wants to be your friend

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Could it be that Sky Dayton is feeling a little lonely? EarthLink, the company he founded, refused to participate in the latest round of financing for Helio, the upstart wireless carrier he now heads. In a keynote speech at Technology Review's EmTech conference, he touted his company's service not as, say, letting you make calls and surf the Web, but "connecting you to your community of friends." So it's a social network! Ah, but a social network that requires buying a phone (as much as $295) and signing up for service ($85 to $90 a month, on average). No wonder Dayton's ersatz social network, cleverly disguised as a cell-phone company, only counts 140,000 users, and is losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Somehow I don't think Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is sweating over this one.

6:14 AM on Thu Sep 27 2007
By Owen Thomas
330 views, 1 comment

Latest by ResearchZilla: you know, i'm also really upset by how his company markets to teens - the pricing is ridiculous in the states and no teen (working or not) can touch their package pricing offerings (text, im, web and phone)...worse than even more »

rumormonger

Does Sky Dayton need a new sugar daddy?

Helio, Sky Dayton's wireless-service provider, is cutting back, laying off one out of seven employees, mostly in sales. It's now concentrating efforts, the company says, on its 20 largest markets. The company only has 100,000 subscribers, and 600 employees even after the cutbacks, and is expected to lose more than $300 million this year. EarthLink, the troubled Internet service provider founded by Dayton that's one of Helio's two backers, is rumored to be looking to pull out. More »

12:32 PM on Fri Aug 31 2007
By Owen Thomas
763 views, Comment

tom cruise

Tom Cruise and Sky Dayton -- the gatekeeper and the keymaster to meet

Fresh from his Yahoo gig, Tom Cruise is headed off to a Scientology temple today. This tip just in: More »

12:12 PM on Wed Mar 22 2006
By ndouglas
284 views, 2 comments

valleywag

Week's best comments: Working out our thetans

As always, the wittiest people on Valleywag are the commenters. This week's best: More »

earthlink

Auditing Sky Dayton

Ah, this is why you shouldn't run tech from Hollywood. A friend of Valleywag was browsing Rolling Stone's Scientology article (to ogle at Tom Cruise and maybe catch a peek of Beck, natch) when he stumbled on this: More »

11:48 PM on Mon Mar 6 2006
By ndouglas
3,427 views, 6 comments

Valleywag

Kinderplex crisis reveals Google founder's fumbling and fibbing

Valleywag team

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