• kevin werbach

    Obama's net neutrality man plays Warcraft

    Supernova conference organizer Kevin Werbach is part of President Change's FCC transition team. I've hung out with the guy, and I never would've guessed he belongs to not one, but two guilds in World of Warcraft. Here's his take on WoW's benefits to grownups: More »

    11:20 AM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By Paul Boutin
    15,496 views, 35 comments

    Most discussed deathbunny: 2 guilds?! Pick a side! We're at war. also, warcraft does not qualify as knowing how to use the internet. In more »

  • exits

    Is Yahoo done with search?

    Among the many windmills Jerry Yang tilted at in his brief career as Yahoo's CEO was his devotion to Web search. It veered on an obsession for him. It played into his decision to resist Microsoft's offers to shower him with cash, first for his whole company, then for just its search business. Is it a coincidence, then, that Yahoo's top search engineer has left a day after Yang stepped down? A tipster tells us Sean Suchter resigned yesterday, and speculates that he may be joining Microsoft. More »

    10:20 AM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    6,412 views, 9 comments

    Most discussed Triborough: They need to start selling of the viable assets. I can only think of one - flickr, which was something more »

  • internet famous

    81-year-old monk has 1,166 Facebook friends -- and a get-rich-quick scheme

    The Internet is relentlessly eliminating the entertainment value of fame in favor of commerce. In the old days, you'd get a publicist in L.A. or New York in the hopes of garnering the attention of some producer or director and becoming a star. The end result: You get rich by titillating the masses. Now, you hire a "social media marketer" in Malaysia to drum up mentions in blogs to increase your Google rank and thereby win more random Web searches. The end result: Increased online-advertising revenues. At least that's what we think is what Burt Goldman, an author and self-described "American monk," is after. More »

    5:00 AM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,067 views, 2 comments

    Latest by michaellamb: how do I hire one of those Malaysians? more »

  • armchair general

    Fire Yahoo's board!

    After a CEO's ouster, the knives always end up in the wrong person's back. Take how Jerry Yang is being ritually badmouthed now that he's out of Yahoo's top job: Such a nice guy. We all loved him. But he couldn't make a decision to save his life. Now, Yahoo's board of directors is being lionized for giving the nice guy the boot, and heroically engaging in a search for his replacement. But aren't they guilty of the same sins? More »

    12:40 AM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,976 views, 14 comments

    Most discussed TomNocera: Sorry, but CEO's don't have the authority to fire members of the board. Quite the opposite, CEO's are hired by more »

  • The Human Stain

    Googlers take turns insulting P&G marketers

    Nothing, it seems, can stop Google — except the overweening hubris of its employees. Every time Googlers venture outside the Googleplex to demonstrate their charitable embrace of the digitally unfortunate, they end up just reinforcing their snobby superiority. So it went with the search giant's job-swap program with starchy old-media marketer Procter & Gamble. More »

    11:20 PM on Tue Nov 18 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    4,694 views, 9 comments

    Most discussed Mouser_UK: how does a 50's era TV ad apply at all to todays market i'me sure we all laugh or wince more »

  • facebook

    Mark Zuckerberg wants to know how you feel

    Why have social networks blossomed in as antisocial an environment as Silicon Valley? Because they allow computers to become a crutch for a task most engineers find imposing: dealing with other human beings. Turning relationships into a social graph that can be fed into a database and ruled by algorithms is a genius move for tech's clumsy savants. Alex French, a writer for GQ, interviewing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for a profile, wonders if his cold stare and cagey responses are an incredibly calculating attempt to intimidate, or merely a sign that he's awkward. Either way, Zuckerberg shows a disdain for displays of emotion. Asked if he celebrated Microsoft's $240 million investment in Facebook, Zuckerberg seems puzzled by the question's premise. And yet emotion is at the core of Zuckerberg's plan for world domination. More »

    1:00 PM on Tue Nov 18 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    6,775 views, 34 comments

    Most discussed its_a_feature: That's a truly awesome picture of the Zuck -- in a "40-year old virgin" sort of way. more »

  • stocks

    Why founders win

    Silicon Valley entrepreneurs like to talk about their hopes of "changing the world." Yes, of course: Changing the world from one in which they are poor to one in which they are fabulously wealthy. The question in the air is whether the founders of companies do a better job at creating wealth, for themselves and their investors, than professional managers. With Yahoo announcing Jerry Yang's plans to step down as CEO, it would seem like a losing time for founders. But Yang is an exceptional case; he took his hands off the steering wheel when Yahoo had a mere five employees, and never really ran anything until he stepped in as CEO last June. Most founders of successful startups eagerly seize power, and have to be forcibly dislodged from the driver's seat. The best never let go. Just take a long-term look at the stock market, and you'll see why. More »

    Feature

    11:20 AM on Tue Nov 18 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,747 views, 13 comments

    Most discussed TinaTyndareus: There's something to be said about being in the right place at the right time. No such thing as luck. more »

  • exits

    Jerry Yang and the myth of the founder

    It is one of the most heartwarming narratives of Silicon Valley — the founder is abused and evicted by the suits and then returns triumphant. But that's not how it worked out for Jerry Yang, ousted as Yahoo's CEO Monday by a suddenly restive board. Until yesterday, Yang was never much abused by Yahoo's suits; if anything, he was coddled for more than a decade, granted the honorific of "Chief Yahoo" and allowed a say in the Internet portal's strategy. He held a seat on the company's board, and played a role in courting executives like former CEO Terry Semel; but until last year, he never had to operate a business. More »

    9:20 AM on Tue Nov 18 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    4,124 views, 8 comments

    Most discussed macbeach: I could be wrong, but I don't think people with many millions of dollars in assets lose sleep over losing more »

  • exits

    5 reasons why Jerry Yang is done at Yahoo

    Why is Yahoo looking for a new CEO? Because founder Jerry Yang, in his year and a half on the job, has proven himself incapable of meeting the company's many challenges. Here are five key moments where Yang failed to rise to the occasion: More »

    6:00 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    8,515 views, 22 comments

    Most discussed Rock tha Hizzee: I'm guess you wrote this four months ago and just had to click "publish." more »

  • yahoo

    Jerry Yang's goodbye letter to Yahoo

    How untidy was Jerry Yang's exit from the CEO seat at Yahoo? Here's a clue: Tech blog AllThingsD obtained a copy of Yang's all-hands memo before the PR team had sent it to the staff. It must be genuine, since, like the rest of Yang's memos, it completely lacks capitalization. The founders of Internet companies are too busy, it seems, to reach for the shift key. What Yang does not explain: Why, when he took over as CEO last year, he took pains to say this was not a temporary job. His excuse seems to amount to this: The changes he has made at Yahoo are so amazing, so transformative, that it is a "significantly different company" today which requires someone who can "manage this opportunity to leverage the progress up to this point." Translation: Jerry Yang was the right man to be Yahoo's CEO, until he wasn't. The memo: More »

    5:40 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    7,063 views, 18 comments

    Most discussed Baroness: Bye, you rich dick. Stop abusing the English language now. Your lack of common captilization bespeaks a more »