We sure do love to watch New Yorkers catfight on Twitter. But if you literally "let everyone get time on stage" you won't have a punk-rock utopia, you'll have a boring parade of bad ideas and worse PowerPoint. Think TechCrunch50 expanded to TechCrunch52,157 and you get the idea. Still, we sense it coming: Look for CenterNetworks' own startup event in early 2009. (Photo by Brian Solis)

Arrington headlined his own post about the news "GigaOm ignores my advice," linking to a long, telling post from earlier this year in which he attempted to explain why blogs should remain financially independent. What he really means is: GigaOm shouldn't take VC because TechCrunch is the only blog that's supposed to get VC, so Arrington can buy his competitors.

Arrington has said publicly that he wants to be the one to consolidate the blogging sector into one big Voltron-like online publishing empire. When he wrote this morning that "we are one of the last large blog networks to remain independent," he probably wasn't intentionally lying. But his Web-2.0-centric worldview ignores bigger non-tech networks such as the local Sugar Publishing and the British Shiny Media.

By taking on five million dollars in further investments, Malik hasn't just picked up capital to expand his staff and marketing. Like a pufferfish circled by sharks, he's made GigaOm a much bigger ball for Arrington or anyone else to try to swallow. (Photo by Brian Solis)

On MySpace's Data Availability, a feature which lets MySpace users link their profiles to other services like Twitter, versus Google's similar Friend Connect, he wrote:

MySpace is taking a much more interesting approach than Google.

In an early post about MySpace Music, Arrington gushed:

Music almost certainly plays a part of MySpace’s continued dominance of Facebook.

About MySpace friend-in-chief Tom Anderson's hacking back in the 1980s, Arrington dutifully wrote:

Frankly, my opinion of Tom Anderson just rose significantly.

A week before MySpace Music launched, Arrington quit playing games and just posted free ads for the service. None of that approached the review Arrington gave MySpace Music the morning it launched.

MySpace has done something incredible at a big picture level: they’ve created both a compelling music experience for users as well as a realistic, long term business model for labels and artists in a world where recorded music moves towards free. Depth of catalog and usability is far beyond what other free streaming services like Last.fm and iMeem currently offer. And when it comes to listening to music, the pop out player, pictured above, is excellent. It’s a great resource for users, and it’s likely to become the center of the revenue ecosystem for artists, particularly unsigned artists starting to make a name for themselves. Indie labels are in a great position, too. A lot of positive press is rolling in around this launch, and it’s much deserved.

We're told Dudeck leaked Arrington not only the MySpace Music screenshots, but also tipped him to a story about MySpace friend-in-chief Tom Anderson's brush with the FBI as a hacker in the 1980s. The article served to burnish Anderson's rather questionable geek credentials.

MySpace has helped Arrington's business in other ways besides feeding him stories. The News Corp.-owned social network was a major sponsor of the recent TechCrunch50 conference.

Arrington has no issue bragging privately about his relationship with Dudeck. And Dudeck, our source says, has "no issues to sleeping with key influencers." Before Arrington, we hear, the rumor was Dudeck dated MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe.

But don't believe us — let's go to the tape. Check out this clip of DeWolfe and Dudeck together at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, caught by Kara Swisher for AllThingsD. The way Dudeck leans in to DeWolfe to stay warm tells you more than any of our anonymous sources.

Kara's quippy response — "You don't have to love me" — reminds me of an anecdote my boss once related about Dudeck. The flirtatious MySpace flack accosted him at a conference last year and said, "We really need to work on our relationship." Sorry, Dani — Owen doesn't swing that way.

Yammer is a business-friendly copy of Twitter. It's an offshoot of Geni, a Web-based genealogy site started by former PayPal COO David Sacks, which raised $100 million in venture capital last year. TechCrunch50's prize panel, composed of Arrington and a few TechCrunch insiders (shown here, in a spy photo taken at the event), passed over more promising startups like FitBit, the maker of a wellness-monitoring gadget.

Quality aside, a sense of fairness might have led Arrington to give Yammer the skip: Neither Sacks nor Geni needed the $50,000 prize. Arrington's crush on Geni has been obvious since before its launch. (Most recently, he claimed Geni had close to a million visitors a month in August; according to a link to Compete.com Arrington himself included in his writeup, it's actually 400,000, a fraction of the audience enjoyed by established genealogy sites like Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.)

The problem with events like this is no one is unconflicted. But Sacks is in particularly deep: His former boss at PayPal, Peter Thiel, now runs VC firm Founders Fund, one of TechCrunch50's sponsors. Arrington has long been rumored to favor startups backed by the VCs who sponsor his event. He brags that he doesn't charge startups directly to appear on stage. But he seems to like to have them in his pocket, one way or another.

ROOM AND BOARD AS PAYMENT FOR A FULL TIME RUBY(?) CODER (NE OFF SANDY
Reply to: gigs-832919343@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-09-08, 1:56PM PDT

We are looking for an excellent developer who can work on extending the capabilities of our alpha demo. It was written in ROR, flash, red5 and I think C# You may decide that there is a better, more robust way to code this application. Once we get our alpha demo to the stage where we can launch the product we will qualify for funding. We have already been approached by TechCrunch to be one of their TechCrunch50 companies but we aren't ready to launch yet so we couldn't do it. They are going to do a publicity piece about us as we are so disruptive. We need your expertise.

We need someone who is analytical and can do an architectural study and then write code. Detailed specifications have been written.

We will provide a nice room, wireless access, food, utilities all in exchange for a workaholic (like we are) who can get it done.

No drugs or alcoholics. Must be clean and sober. We will do a background to check for a criminal history.

Your ability to stay here will be based on the work you produce.

If interested, please send a resume and cover letter for consideration.

We hope to hear from you.

* Location: NE OFF SANDY
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
* Compensation: no pay

PostingID: 832919343

(Photo, "Internet Stock Certificate," by LiquidShirts.com)

If Arrington was, as his flack claims, considered and discarded from the main list, why didn't he show up on Vanity Fair's "Next Establishment," a collection of up-and-coming also-rans? Startup types like Ali and Hadi Partovi, the cofounders of music widget iLike, appeared there, though they're pretty much unknown outside the Valley. In this beauty contest, Arrington didn't even get the consolation prize. (Photo by Maria Avila/San Jose Mercury News)

No such dilemma for cam queen Shira Lazar, a Los Angeles TV personality and Seesmic comment diva who's been shamelessly flirting with Arrington in public, online, for months. Lazar has landed in San Francisco for the TechCrunch show. Here's a video showing her having to deal with Michael Arrington and preparing for the big TechCrunchOrgy. You can stop watching after she mockingly tells Arrington how great he is, unless you're really into watching Lazar pick out her wardrobe.

The crowd was small, our spy reports — "about 20-30 people, mostly TechCrunch50 finalists." SearchMe.com was one of the finalists — "some woman even Twittered that they got in." Arrington drives a gray Porsche, and "left with a ladyfriend, didn't get to see who." (Anyone know who he's dating? Do tell!) On to the pictures!

Arrington, even as host, never could seem to crack a smile:

TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde watches from the sidelines:

Arrington and Del Conte catch up:

For contrast, Web editors at Wired.com abandoned decks a year ago, replacing them with a mix of standalone headlines and excerpted blog posts.

An explanation at TechCrunch says a main goal was to "reduce load times" for the home page. More effective than reducing the amount of story text, TechCrunch's home page clutter of ads and widgets has been trimmed by about 20 percent, compared to old screenshots.

I'm sure clever commenters are already concocting their Valleywag-are-hypocrites posts, but here's what you don't know: We fight over stuff like this all the time. I'm a fan of the all-on-one-page format, for easy sneak-reading at work. Certain sweater-clad people here beg to differ.

"This was not going to be your mommy's website ... I wanted it to feel like a fashion and beauty magazine but with tremendous depth," Notkin told the Post blog. For "depth," read "Twitter," which Notkin credits with leveraging her brand or whatever nonsense phrase we're using today to excuse egolinking.

SavvyAuntie was among the most oft-Twittered words on its launch day — "her marketing is genius," said TechCrunch's snackiest flack, Calley Nye, before her own post got pulled, for, we guessed, overdoing the PR-speak. TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington's unpublishing of Nye's post, not the brilliance of SavvyAuntie's business plan, was likely what launched it into Twitter microfame. But Notkin is a genius for spinning the snafu as an event that promoted her "visibility." Someone else's baby, someone else's blunder — it's all fodder for Notkin's marketing event. That's really savvy.

(Photo by Kelly Sue)

PR as a profession is broken. Most PR folks don’t read blogs and certainly don’t understand them. All they see is a Google alert with their clients name. For me PR is the last refuge when I’m attacking a story. What do you do if you’re a startup looking for help in getting the word out about your company? First off, don’t hire PR help. Start your own blog. And in your leisure time participate in the fascinating conversations occurring on Twitter and FriendFeed.

Great, except for one thing: Can anyone name a startup founder with leisure time?

(Photo by Jay Meattle)

—-—-—-- Forwarded message —-—-—--
From: Chris Shipley
Date: Aug 11, 2008 5:06 PM
Subject: RE: Deb McAlister-Holland

Hey, Owen,

I am unable to find the original article, which again would have been in PC Letter pre 1996.

This is one of the advice pieces we provide to our demonstrators; I certainly wouldn't accuse Jason of plagiarizing this.

—-—-——

As you begin to develop your script, it is important to reiterate a few thoughts about what the DEMO audience expects from your presentation.

A LIVE DEMO

First and foremost, the DEMO audience expects to see a LIVE DEMO OF YOUR PRODUCT. If you are intending to do anything other than a LIVE DEMO you MUST discuss this with Chris immediately. The DEMO crowd will forgive the glitches that sometimes occur when you are giving a live demonstration; they are rather unforgiving when they discover that a company has "faked it." Don't risk your credibility to slight-of-hand attempts to deliver a canned demo as a live one.

POWERPOINT, VIDEOS, FLASH, ETC.

Second, the DEMO audience is very familiar with the "no PowerPoint" rule of the DEMO stage. No slides, no videos, no Flash animations, no clever screen savers or wall paper. You have been invited on the DEMO stage to show your product, not your graphic design skills. That said, in specific instances where the use of a visual aid enhances the audience's understanding of the product or its market, we will make exceptions to this rule.

If you are seeking an exception, keep in mind:

1. The visual must be limited to the bare minimum to communicate a key point.

2. They should always exclude extraneous marketing hype.

3. They should never take more than a minute of your on-stage time.

Remember, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE may you include visuals without prior approval, and then you are only permitted to show that which is approved. Clever ploys to circumvent this approval will be met with profound disappointment.

TIMING

Third, please remember that your time on stage is strictly limited. At the end of your time, we will bring up music to escort you off stage. Don't let your final comments be lost because you've gone over your time limit.

Some of our direction and advice may sound a little harsh and maybe even foils some of your grand plans. But trust us: Over the years, we've seen some big ideas fail miserably . . . and we've seen simple, direct demos succeed beautifully. So, finally, remember that we are here to help. If you have questions about what will or won't work on the DEMO stage, direct them to Karyn Williams as soon as possible (kkw@k2events.com). We'll gladly get back to you with the sound advice that will make your presentation a success.

SUGGESTED FORMAT TIPS FOR DEMO

* The introduction sets the context for your product demonstration.

* Use only 5% or less of your stage time on the introduction.

* Describe the market issue or user problem your product/technology solves.

* Give a brief summary of the history of the product/technology.

* Start your product demonstration within 30 seconds of taking the stage.

* The product demonstration should show the product/technology and

demonstrate its core value.

* 85% of your stage time should be used for demonstration.

* It's best to make only three key points. Remember you can delve deeper in

the Pavilion.

* Demonstrate only features and functions that support these points.

* The conclusion should be used to re-emphasize the benefits of the

product/technology.

* The conclusion should take up no more than 10% of stage time.

* Stress benefits to intended user.

* Stress benefits to industry.

A report from TechCrunch, which pegged Kindle sales so far this year at 240,000. "We acknowledge being 'out-sourced' by TechCrunch," Mahaney writes it his note, "But we believe the 240K number was well-sourced and believe reports of 40,000 shipments a month may also be reasonable."

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.

As a nearby source explains:

Justin got introduced to some guy sitting down and quickly started yelling and waving his arms. Justin accused the guy of stealing his broadcasters, using words like "incessant" and "out of control". Justin then said something about "staying off his fucking site" or that he'll just "break the guy's face", with his fists clenched. The guy just sat there pretty calmly and simply asked Justin for more than 1 example of content poaching. After Justin stumbled to answer the guy continued to say "this is not worth my time." Stumped, Justin kind of gave up, apologized, and walked away embarrassed.

More photos of Kan, Julia Allison, Sarah Lacy, and other afterpartiers:

At August, things got crowded up real fast. There were more women in the crowd this year, a change from sausagefests past. But they were hardly breaking Valley gender barriers. The marketers at the Plista booth lamented that their competitors were getting attention by hiring cute girls to serve free beer. (I still don't remember what Plista does.) A fellow with an accent — possibly a put-on — asked Yahoo Tech Ticker cohost Sarah Lacy if she worked in PR, because "you're so pretty." Here's Lacy's account of the conversation:

Dude: "You girls are really lovely you must work in PR."
Lacy: "Did you really just say that? That's incredibly insulting. Never say that to a woman in any business setting."
Dude: "No, I just mean because every pretty girl I've met here is in PR."
Lacy: "Yes, I know what you meant. that's why it's insulting. It's like assuming a woman in an office is a secretary."
Dude: "Blah blah."
Lacy: "You know what? There's a lot of people i actually want to talk to here." (walks off)

He came up to me TWICE after that, interrupting conversations to apologize.

Lacy: "Look, I don't care dude. just don't ever say it again because it's textbook insulting."

Everyone was mesmerized by Julia Allison, the former Star editor-at-large (read: TV spokesperson) turned Wired covergirl. That is, if you were important enough to warrant a conversation with her. Once the 30 seconds of polite time she gives you is up she'd turn free agent and could easily be stolen by somebody like Facebook's Dave Morin. Speaking of being mesmerized, rap impresarios MC Hammer and Chamillionaire showed up as well. They mingled amongst the geek kids talking about tech and rap while the Olds just guffawed at the entire thing from afar.

As the party wound up and the business-card-swapping got all the more frantic, Duck9's Larry Chiang put his afterparty plan into motion. His brilliant scheme: Send the entrepreneurs a URL with an invite to the Four Seasons Palo Alto and misdirect the venture capitalists with an otherwise identical invite to the Westin — a plausible location, since that was where Chamillionaire was staying. For non-VCs, the choice came down to Chiang's pool party at the Four Seasons, or Julia Allison's expedition to the Cheesecake Factory with Randi Zuckerberg, the nerd chanteuse and sister of Facebook CEO Mark. I crashed the pool party. I like to think I made the right decision for Valleywag readers.

At the Seasons, we saw Brian Solis working the crowds like a pro. Justin Kan of Justin.tv enjoying the jacuzzi in his underwear surrounded by girls. Shira Lazar mingled with Michael Arrington (perhaps prepping for an interview). And I even witnessed Jason Baptiste of Publictivity pitch a movie deal to Sarah Lacy based on her book. Michael Cera to play Zuckerberg anyone?

Which brings us to a tweak in Arrington's business model. Michael, instead of charging sponsors for booths at the party party, why not sell sponsorships at the afterparty? I don't remember any of the companies who paid for my attention on Sand Hill Road. But the scenes of Silicon Valley's finest stumbling around at poolside? Burned into my memory.

barenakedlady: hey sorry
barenakedlady: was getting a wax
barenakedlady: for NO REASON
valleybadgirl: It's ok
barenakedlady: are you going to this tech crunch party
barenakedlady: will i see you in a few hrs
valleybadgirl: Yes?
barenakedlady: at this tech crunch thing
valleybadgirl: I'm so not going.
barenakedlady: ugh i wish i could see you
barenakedlady: i have a cute dress
barenakedlady: i just blew some money on looking good tonight
valleybadgirl: Aw, jealous.
barenakedlady: and i got a brazilian for NO reason
valleybadgirl: well, I would have, too!
barenakedlady: none.
valleybadgirl: Ha — you're hoping though!
barenakedlady: well, my hair grows slow

Arrington desperately wants to sell, that's for sure. But a Fox Interactive-TechCrunch linkup makes little sense on the surface — Fox Interactive chief Peter Levinsohn is said to loathe Arrington, or at least dislike him. And yet Levinsohn, who has practically no control over Fox Interactive's largest business, MySpace, might conceivably be eager to buy a tech blog which gives him, if not traffic, some industry clout. After all, that's why Murdoch owns the reportedly unprofitable New York Post.

But the biggest problem with an Arrington deal is, well, Arrington. Recent rumors had AOL acquiring TechCrunch for $30 million. That deal didn't go forward, we're hearing, because AOL worried about Arrington's mental stability and doubted whether the brand would survive if the mercurial blogger left. As one prospective buyer put it: "We're worried about buying it and him leaving, and we're worried about buying it and him staying." Before being acquired by CBS, CNET, too, took a long look at TechCrunch, only to decide too much of its value was tied up in the volatile blogger.

Arrington is ready to check out. He was recently heard talking about plans to retire to Hawaii; other Valley sources say he's been spending a lot of time up in Tahoe. It would be the height of irony if Arrington's willingness to let go was what finally greased the wheels for a deal.

But without Arrington, is TechCrunch worth anything? That's the question. And that's why everyone's still talking. Arrington, a master of the deal-gossip game, could well be floating these rumors himself — both talk of a deal with News Corp., and signs of his pending departure — to get AOL to come back to the table. Will it get his company sold? Maybe to AOL, a company gullible enough to buy an also-ran social network like Bebo. But not to News Corp., home to the ultimate media spinner.

When Business 2.0, published by Time Inc., another arm of Time Warner, was on the rocks, its editor talked up a deal to save the magazine by merging it with TechCrunch. Those talks went nowhere. All of which makes us feel bad for TechCrunch coeditor Erick Schonfeld, who previously worked at Business 2.0; wasn't the whole idea of joining TechCrunch to escape Time Warner?

Shortly after discontinuing her own blog, Nye's byline appeared on TechCrunch, where she's become a regular contributor.

But her latest article on startup SavvyAuntie got pulled from the site shortly after being published. Despite the yanking, it still went out over the RSS wire and into a syndicated spot on the Washington Post's Web site. Could Arrington have reconsidered the wisdom of giving a professional startup rep space on the masthead?

Maybe Nye has taken off her publicity hat and decided on another career change — before marketing bands and startups with social media, she also bared all in work as a model. We can't help but admire the youngster's chutzpah, but Arrington should know that ostensible journalists laying down with their public relations enemies has traditionally been considered an ethical taboo. Next thing you know, the site might feature articles about companies written by people who've invested in them.

Social news purists will no doubt shrilly protest against TechCrunch's marketing scheme, but the rest of us know this kind of "Digg Army" approach to voting up stories on Digg.com is both inevitable, commonplace, and clever enough — until Digg's moderators or its spam-detection algorithms catch up with you. The question isn't whether TechCrunch should do this — it's why your site hasn't, you lazy punters.

I know, say it — there's women, who read Valleywag? Oh, honey. There was even something of a girl posse at the launch party back in the day, though I doubt this mystery Craigslist lady was among them as she's just relocated to the Valley. But don't hold that against her. She's in utterly shameless search of gossipy lurv, and that behavior we can only encourage.

If the ad is to be believed, she works in the Valley, and if she doesn't, God help her if she's harboring an Arrington crush. But for the sake of exploring her fantasy, let's assume she does actually work and, ahem, play here. She's looking for a guy like this not because she's so drawn into the bubble that she can't help but bring work into the bedroom, but because she gets off on it. Amazing. When did we create a fetish? As I've (mostly) sworn to never again help any of you get laid, the only advice I'll drop is this: let her make the first move when it comes to livestreaming your date.

Had an email last night from someone who I really respect chewing me out completely due to a business deal with a competitor. To be precise, not just chewing me out, full blown FU I'll never talk to you again.

Sounds like "Bang Bang" Michael's silver banhammer strikes again.(Photo by Sue Waters)

It’s not clear where Garlinghouse is headed next, the rumor is multiple private equity firms are vying for his attention. Frankly, given his operating experience (he grew most of the properties under his control to no. 1 in their market, even as Yahoo search fell apart over the years), it’s too bad he isn’t ending up in a CEO role somewhere.

Any guesses as to who fed Arrington all of TechCrunch's Yahoo news?

What struck me about Hansell's piece was the use of a file photo that features a wildly grinning and unbelievably baby-faced Adelson — with professionally trimmed hair, no less! Looks a little too much like a certain viral movie marketing campaign to be a coincidence. Is the gray lady secretly synergizing with News Corp. on the latest Dark Knight release and subtly Joker-izing Adelson?

if you're a young startup looking for PR help, ping me. I have someone you'll want to meet.

For someone so sensitive to the conflicts of interests that arise through friendships (though not necessarily financial relationships), I can imagine that tech pitchfolks won't be pleased to hear that Arrington has a fave flack. Who would Valleywag go with to place an item on TechCrunch? We've heard young startuppers would be wise to choose FutureWorks' Brian Solis who's a whiz at getting clients like SezWho coverage from Arrington.