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loren feldman
"TechNigga" video gets 1938 Media removed from Verizon
1938 Media is a one-man videoblog run by Loren Feldman. The guy is funny, in that edgily-offensive way that makes you wonder when someone's going to punch him in the face. Last week, Verizon cut a deal with Feldman to market his videos on Verizon phones and broadband connections — a big win for a one-man act. But eight days later, 1938's clips are gone from Verizon. The reason? A backlash from activist groups who've branded Feldman's shtick as racist. A year ago, Feldman posted "TechNigga," in which he pandered to stereotypes in an attempt to parody TechCrunch. The video wasn't in Verizon's collection of 1938 clips, and Feldman long ago made his apologies. Protesters don't care. Watch the first 1:05 of "TechNigga" and you'll understand everything.
geek love
Valleywag fetishist seeks same on Craigslist
Our secret girl admirer writes, "The perfect, shared Sunday for me would consist of..." among other things, fighting over the Sunday Times and fondling iPhones. After an art flick, "[w]e could catch up on blogs like Valleywag and TechCrunch." Ooh, dreamy! As the only one on the masthead with a scant few degrees of sexual separation from both blogs' founding editors, I have some words of — well — we have not even begun to overshare. More »
techcrunch
TechCrunch's fun with public markets
Citing several unnamed sources, TechCrunch reported yesterday that merger talks between Microsoft and Yahoo were back on. Investors responded, buying Yahoo stock up 10.5 percent from the day's low to $23.71. Now CNBC says the rumors were false. Reporters' reporter Kara Swisher of BoomTown — who did a bit of reporting on the rumor and happily quashed it in a report today — admonished TechCrunch, writing that "anyone reporting on the situation should have been deeply cautious about floating rumors." But we wonder: Cautious for the sake of whom? Investors buying up stock based on a report citing anonymous sources, written by a blogger known to write about companies he invests in? Ms. Swisher, we're pretty sure those folks can't be helped. They're called "market inefficiencies" and they are who real investors exploit on their way to wealth.
nerdfight
Is Duncan Riley getting the silent treatment from Michael Arrington?
We figured something was up when former TechCruncher Duncan Riley created his own tech news spinoff, the Inquisitr. We figured there was probably even more backstory when he suddenly became one of our most reliable caption contest commenters (and occassional winner). Now there seems to have been a split between Riley and his old boss Michael Arrington, who in a rather passive-aggressive farewell said "My sincere hope is to have the opportunity to buy that blog some day and bring him right back into the fold." But yesterday, Riley bookmarked "Is Mike Arrington a Dick?" and then wrote an only slightly cryptic message: More »
exits
If Brad Garlinghouse goes, where will TechCrunch get its Yahoo scoops?
It's not clear whether Brad Garlinghouse, the Yahoo executive who famously called for Yahoo to focus on doing fewer things well in his "Peanut Butter Memo," is out the door. AllThingsD says no, or not quite yet; TechCrunch says yes. Premature or not, Michael Arrington's epitaph to Garlinghouse's career at Yahoo is remarkable in its tone: More »
Copyfight
Did the New York Times Joker-ize Digg CEO Jay Adelson?
Saul Hansell quoted Digg CEO Jay Adelson defending the Associated Press (of which Hansell's publication the Times is a member). TechCrunch's Michael Arrington freaked out, natch. Adelson then attempted to further explain his complicated position, trying to be diplomatic. Yawn. As we've said before, and will say again, exercise your fair use rights under the law and shut up, because giving the AP attention just feeds its argument and therefore reinforces its position. Moving on: More »
We Read Twitter So You Don't Have To
Michael Arrington has at least one favored flack
Struggling to get your clients noticed by TechCrunch? Maybe it's because you're not one of the unnamed public relations BFFs Michael Arrington seems to be referencing in this Twitter update.if you're a young startup looking for PR help, ping me. I have someone you'll want to meet.More »
copyfight
Michael Arrington drops the banhammer on the Associated Press
A couple of bloggers have gotten their panties in a bunch because the Associated Press, a coop that offers original reporting to its 1,500 member newspapers and syndicates to other outlets, is asking that they go a little easier on the copy-paste. TechCrunch's Michael Arrington is having none of it! More »
poll
We're on to Round Two in our worst-tech-job contest. We've whittled down 10 terrible gigs down to five:
Finding the worst-entry level job in tech: Round Two
We're on to Round Two in our worst-tech-job contest. We've whittled down 10 terrible gigs down to five:- Online sales and operations account manager, Google
- Content acquisition intern, IODA
- Customer support specialist, Fox Interactive, MySpace division
- Windows support professional, Microsoft
- Part-time guide, Mahalo
Michael Arrington's sleepovers
Does anyone else think it's the slightest bit odd that TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington so regularly offers sleeping quarters to young male entrepreneurs? Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Does anyone else think it's the slightest bit odd that TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington so regularly offers sleeping quarters to young male entrepreneurs? Not that there's anything wrong with that.
we read twitter so you don't have to
Evan Williams's well-timed vacation
When his service is struggling with uptime at a high-profile event like Apple's WWDC, what does Twitter cofounder Evan Williams do? Take some personal downtime. He and wife Sara Morishige are vacationing from an undisclosed location — one that involves wakeboarding, tennis, chess, and dancing. While Williams relaxed, TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington went nuts. Again.
techcrunch
Michael Arrington reviews gadget without actually using it
Michael Arrington has made no secret of his ambitions to off CNET. The TechCrunch editor might want to spend some time studying the ways of his prey, though, before he moves in for the kill. For example: Gadget critics normally spend time with the devices they report on before reviewing them. Citing an embargo he didn't care to observe, Arrington panned the Flip Mino camcorder without ever touching it.
bad ideas
TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld to unleash world's worst startup pitches on the rest of us
When we worked together at Business 2.0, I always thought my then-colleague Erick Schonfeld was a bit of an evil genius. Now an editor at TechCrunch, Schonfeld hasn't proven me wrong. He's taking all of the boring startup spiels — "elevator pitches" — he gets from wantrepreneurs trooping through his office and turning them into content. All he has to do is sit back and hit "Record"; he doesn't actually have to do the critical thinking required to evaluate whether the ideas hold any promise, or even make sense. How boring is this idea? Look at David Carr from the New York Times, sitting two seats over from Schonfeld, who's fallen asleep just from listening to the idea. But I have no doubt this is the crowdsourced, video-enabled future of innovation journalism, folks.
startups
Wu Tang Clan producer launches pay-to-play chess, and Michael Arrington can't get money off his mind
WuChess, a site where you can hone your knowledge of the mysteries of
breakdowns
TechCrunch server out -- will Evan Williams have a breakdown?
TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington has been publicly losing his mind over Twitter's outages. Now it's his turn to have a server outage. Which makes us wonder: Will losing his TechCrunch fix drive Twitter founder Evan Williams around the bend? Somehow, we don't think so.
nerdfight
Michael Arrington shut down by Kara Swisher's minion
CARLSBAD, CA — A rumor sweeping the press corps here at the D6 conference: TechCrunch's Michael Arrington was set to stream Bill Gates's presentation live, but organizer Kara Swisher, who wanted to keep video restricted to her AllThingsD.com website, put the kibosh on it. Arrington abandoned the effort, but cited "bandwidth issues," not Swisher's strongarming, as the reason. Update: In the comments, Swisher denies she personally asked Arrington to stop streaming and says it's "the first she's heard of this." But, as commenter Mr. E. notes, Arrington associate Loic Le Meur confirms via Twitter that a man who "wasn't nice" asked Arrington to stop recording. In a subsequent email, Swisher says Arrington should have known better: More »
MediaScrape another Montreal startup haunted by crazed cocaine addicts
Apparently Capazoo isn't the only Montreal startup with delusional, coke-addled, co-founders in the family. MediaScrape's Tyler Cavell went ballistic in the TechCrunch comments, casting aspersions on an anonymous detractor he figures was his substance-challenged cousin whom Cavell saved from "skid row." All I can think is that the success of Vice Magazine can not have set a good example for wantrepreneurs in Quebec. [TechCrunch]
Apparently Capazoo isn't the only Montreal startup with delusional, coke-addled, co-founders in the family. MediaScrape's Tyler Cavell went ballistic in the TechCrunch comments, casting aspersions on an anonymous detractor he figures was his substance-challenged cousin whom Cavell saved from "skid row." All I can think is that the success of Vice Magazine can not have set a good example for wantrepreneurs in Quebec. [TechCrunch]
