Valleywag, Silicon Valley's Tech Gossip Rag

Geek Love

I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Larry Page

If rumors are correct, Larry Page and Lucy Southworth should be married by now. One hopes that they're back to a suite on Richard Branson's Necker Island resort, recapping their mile-high makeout session from last year.

12:34 AM ON SUN DEC 9 2007
BY OWEN THOMAS
216 views, 1 comment

Latest by sample032: With only $20 billion, you too can hook your geeky ass up with something way too hot for you, but still not that great! Or they're really in love, and if they are, congratulations!! more »

lost in translation

"Webgemeinde baffles" at Googler wedding

Back when we had party correspondent Megan McCarthy to kick around, I made a point of assigning her all interviews with the German press. But now Leggy's headed to Wired, so when Der Spiegel called to interview me about Larry and Lucy's wedding, I had to handle it myself. And I think I acquitted myself pretty well. I think. The Google translation was a little unclear. "Webgemeinde baffles," indeed. Larry, when you get back, could you get someone working on this?

7:58 PM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY OWEN THOMAS
216 views, Comment

Larry and Lucy

Page's pissoir palatial, portable

At last, intimate details of Google cofounder Larry Page's wedding today are drifting in. How intimate? Well, let's put its this way: We know where Page is going to do his business. Seems the multibillionaire won't settle for a mere Porta-Potty. No, according to a source on the scene, he's contracted with Royal Restrooms to provide a "Regal Portable Restroom Experience." After the jump, a shot of the Googler's toilets. more »

7:39 PM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY OWEN THOMAS
800 views, 1 comment

Jim Plamondon

The next electric guitar?

Back in the '90s, Jim Plamondon used to push Windows on software developers. Now he's trying to stir up capital to back the Thummer, his venture into musical instruments. It's supposed to be easier to learn and more expressive due to Wii-like motion sensitivity. But so far, not so good. Plamondon's Wall Street Journal profile points out it's been nearly a half-century since the electric guitar took off. Before that, Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone for the French army in the 1840s. more »

4:43 PM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY NICHOLAS CARLSON
437 views, 2 comments

Latest by Ben Parr: It's sound isn't unique enough to draw support. It doesn't even look pretty. Music has an aesthetic component to it, too. It doesn't make me want to pick it up and try it out. Good luck to him, more »

Owen Thomas, the dunce who runs Valleywag

Followup

Facebook founder faces shareholder revolt

I was duped on a scoop. Word had reached me, from multiple sources, that Mark Zuckerberg had sold $40 million worth of shares in Facebook's $300 million financing round. Not so, we hear: All of the $300 million Facebook raised from Microsoft and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing is in the company's bank account, not Zuckerberg's. So why the rumor? more »

3:34 PM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY OWEN THOMAS
3,739 views, 6 comments

In Brief

Photos you can't see because we're not Facebook friends...

FROM CALACANIS.COM: I've been posting photos to Facebook a couple of times a day. As a reader of my blog you don't get them if you're not friends with me on Facebook. This is your fault, not mine.... you are the one who won't take the time to be friends with me. Really.

3:10 PM ON SAT DEC 8 2007

Clips

Larry and Lucy's wedding makes the "Today Show"

Jim Goldman, CNBC's SIlicon Valley bureau chief, runs down everything we know about Google cofounder Larry Page's wedding today to Lucy Southworth. Yours truly makes a three-second appearance.

2:37 PM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY OWEN THOMAS
1,866 views, Comment

Larry and Lucy

Clinton spokesman denies Googler wedding rumor

Phil Singer, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, says neither she nor Bill will be at Larry Page and Lucy Southworth's wedding being held today on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands. That's a shame. Richard Branson's Caribbean getaway is a lot warmer than Iowa, HIllary. And there are worse places to hit people up for campaign donations. Maybe she's just trying to avoid a photo op with the Bushes?

2:01 PM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY OWEN THOMAS
233 views, Comment

Party Report

Live from the Valleywag holiday party

Holy hell, it's 3:48 am? Owen Thomas, above, has kept things hopping for hours in our 13th-floor skypad by reading Peter Thiel's mind remotely. Or at least trying to. More photos after the jump. more »

6:48 AM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY PAUL BOUTIN
1,078 views, 3 comments

Latest by BLAKELEY: Gawker New York Holiday Party Photos: [www.randomnightout.com] more »

scoop

Mark Zuckerberg cashes out?

Venture capital's ancien régime is on the verge of being overturned. We hear Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, may have cashed out -- before an IPO, before a sale, and before his investors. In the company's recent financing round, insiders believe, he sold about $40 million worth of stock. A tiny portion of his $5 billion stake, but in cash rather than on paper, and "enough that he never has to think about money for the rest of his life," says a person made privy to details of the sale. On the Sand Hill Road of old, this is simply not how things are done. more »

1:58 AM ON SAT DEC 8 2007
BY OWEN THOMAS
6,858 views, 15 comments

Latest by Valleywag confession: We're frigtards on The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Nick Denton, who still claims he's the world's greatest investigative journalist even though he twice incorrectly identified Fake Steve and swore both times he had me dead to rights, is determined to make a go of this Valleywag gossip blog. more »

Recap

That was the week that wasn't

Wow, and we thought last week sucked. Googler Larry Page is marrying the Chiclet-toothed Lucy Southworth tomorrow, but no one has posted photos of the lucky couple yet, so as far as we're concerned, it didn't happen. The week's other near-misses that were nonetheless hits: more »

8:15 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY PAUL BOUTIN
2,525 views, 1 comment

Valleywag editor gleefully broadcasts advertisers

Marcel Laverdet isn't shy about whose bread he butters. And we're not shy about saying who spreads it thick on our toast. Thanks go to this week's sponsors:

Ask.com, Bank of America, Canon, Casio, Current TV, Dawdle, Evolve Speakers, Ford Focus, Helio, HP, Logitech, Mio, Nokia, OQO, Project Kuros, Register.com, SanDisk, Sprint, Toshiba, TiVo, Vista

Got something shiny you want to tell the world about? Advertise on Valleywag.

8:00 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
68 views, Comment

Larry and Lucy

Leo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp rumored guests at Google wedding

We're getting more reports from the scene of this weekend's wedding between gummy Google cofounder Larry Page and yummy Stanford Ph.D. Lucy Southworth. Above, another picture of the wedding tent (click for a bigger version.) Is that an alt-energy windmill on the hill? How eco-conscious! After the jump, a vacationing tipster sends us more details of the goings-on in the Virgin Islands, including a rundown on rumored Hollywood guests. more »

7:40 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY MEGAN MCCARTHY
4,340 views, 5 comments

Bad ideas

"Don't tase me bro" goes commercial

Andrew Meyer, a student at the University of Florida who was tasered after trying to ask John Kerry questions at a forum, got his 15 minutes of fame when millions saw video of him saying, "Don't tase me, bro!" on YouTube. If you thought it was the funniest thing you've ever seen, and you're a Verizon Wireless customer, you're in luck! You can purchase "Don't Tase Me Bro!" as your ringback tone. (A ringback tone is a short song or audio clip that plays when someone calls you. So, instead of hearing a boring "ring ring," your debt collectors and babydaddies will hear "DON'T TASE ME, BRO! ARGHH!" repeatedly. Who doesn't want that?) OK, seriously, this must be a sign of the coming apocalypse. For those who missed it, the full video of the arrest and tasing is after the jump. more »

7:35 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY JORDAN GOLSON
18,617 views, 2 comments

Latest by Jordan Golson: Yeah, but I was going for something more emphatic than "oww!" Actually, it sounded rather like the Wilhelm Scream. more »

Trademarks

Fark applies for "Not Safe For Work" trademark

Fark.com LLC, Drew Curtis' company which operates the zany headlines site, has applied for a trademark on "not safe for work" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Given how long "NSFW" has been around, we suspect it might be difficult getting the mark granted, never mind how Fark founder Drew Curtis proposes to enforce it. We suspect it might be part of a prank, but who knows? Only Drew. Maybe if we send him a beer, he'll spill the beans.

7:20 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY JORDAN GOLSON
781 views, Comment

Sandra Soroka

Facebook dumper may have staged Digg-linked hack

Sandra Soroka, the New York videoblogger who dumped her boyfriend through her Facebook status message may not have had her Flickr account hacked by outraged Digg users, as we previously reported. Some now suggest she staged the hack, hoping it would stem the tide of invective flooding her Facebook inbox, according to Underwire. "You can't write anything because I'm not saying anything," Soroka told fellow videoblogger Sarah Meyers, who reported Soroka was closing all her online accounts. Doesn't look like that worked, hmm?

7:04 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY NICHOLAS CARLSON
3,328 views, 1 comment

Latest by twenty7checkers: you still holding onto a story that isn't a story? more »

conflicts of interest

ChaCha turns Indiana University into its billboard

Hoosier-powered search engine Chacha is turning to an unlikely source to fund its already cozy deal with Indiana University. Chacha is introducing Google AdSense ads to the university's search results. ChaCha already features both Google and Yahoo ads as sponsored links, on its public search, but until recently IU had a strict policy against advertising: more »

6:39 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY TIM FAULKNER
209 views, Comment

Crash This Bash

Google parties in a house divided

We hear that Google's Christmas party, which was held at a pier in San Francisco last year, will be at Shoreline Amphitheatre this year, a short hop from the Googleplex. Want to attend? There's still a chance. Last year, your best bet to get a date to the Google bash was by trolling Craigslist. This year? We suggest you use Facebook's ad-targeting system to aim your message directly at Google employees. "siliconsallywag," whose ad is shown here, has already beaten us to the punch. If you want to follow her lead, you've got not one but two shots at it. more »

6:19 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY MEGAN MCCARTHY
1,162 views, Comment

Scandals

Kiddie-porn charges for SF talk show host

Bernie Ward, for those of you who don't listen to local talk radio, is a liberal commentator who won a Scripps award for his investigative reporting on sexual misconduct among the local Catholic clergy. Ward himself was indicted Thursday on two counts of sending and receving child pornography online. Ward's lawyer claims the former priest made an "error of judgement" while researching a book.

6:01 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY PAUL BOUTIN
334 views, 1 comment

silicon valley users guide

If you love your employees, set them free

I'm sure TechCrunch editor Mike Arrington was joshing when he threatened "war" on Facebook for hiring away one of his technical staffers. After all, the amount of damage a full-on TechCrunch assault of negative articles about Facebook would inflict on the site's business rounds off close to zero. Still, even jokingly warning another employer to stay away from "my" employees is a Valley faux pas. Such posturing is seen as a sign of weakness. If you want your tech workers to stay, you just offer them a better deal. Right, boss?

5:40 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY PAUL BOUTIN
374 views, 2 comments

Latest by Hraesvelg: Common sense that, but Mike fails royally, on the treating (and being) human issue. more »

Crash This Bash

Top-secret Valleywag gathering exposed!

We've reported on everyone else's holiday gatherings. It's only fair to spill about our own, don't you think? It's tonight at Valleywag uberspecial correspondent Paul Boutin's impressive sky-palace. The dress code is "rockstar," so expect Paul to be wearing his Armani sunglasses, Owen's hair to be extra pointy, and Nick Douglas to be in a suit and tie. You want in? IM me with a story I can use for my last hurrah before I shuffle off this bloggy coil and move to a respectable publication. Cheers!

5:31 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY MEGAN MCCARTHY
338 views, Comment

Politics

Ron Paul fans smartmob Republicans

The San Francisco Examiner reports that this week's annual holiday dinner for the San Francisco Republican Alliance (if you're wondering: 13 percent of SF voters are registered GOP) was flashmobbed by a last-minute cellphone campaign to hack the event's straw poll vote on the 2008 Presidential campaign in favor of libertarian-friendly candidate Ron Paul. SFRA president Gail Neira cancelled the poll after "they started showing up with signs, buttons -- it was a like a mob. I don't believe in stacking the deck." Welcome to San Francisco. If it's a left-leaning mob, it's a smartmob. If it's a right-leaning smartmob, it's a mob.

5:20 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY PAUL BOUTIN
687 views, 3 comments

Latest by rollypolly: I talked to Gail Neira and she said she was happy to have Ron Paul supporters there. She openly invited us and took our money. She also took money from the "mob" and had them wait in the lobby for more »

Google

OpenSocial won't open till next year

Remember OpenSocial, Google's open-source platform for building applications that let users throw sheep at each other on any social network, not just Facebook? "At this point it looks like we'll make a couple more revisions to the API before it's baked enough for launch," Googler Arne Roomann-Kurrik tells partners in a Google Group dedicated to OpenSocial. "This puts us into January before the API is ready. Expect some early adopters to have a public launch early 2008." In the meantime, Google's vaunted partners are all off launching developer platforms on their own. more »

5:03 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY NICHOLAS CARLSON
322 views, Comment

Crash This Bash

Kevin Rose's busy holiday agenda

Miss your chance to catch the Digg Christmas dinner yesterday? Turns out Digg founder Kevin Rose will host another holiday bash tonight, this one for the folks at Revision3, his other startup. "They're having 2 of them. A Rev3 and a Digg," one source says. So what, Revision3 gets the leftovers?

4:57 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY NICHOLAS CARLSON
310 views, Comment

Industry News

Martin Eberhard Is Out At Tesla Motors, And Whitestar Electric Sedan Dead on Arrival

FROM JALOPNIK.COM: So we may have been a little bit late to the table with the news that Martin Eberhard is out like a dead bulb as CEO of Tesla Motors, everyone's favorite electric car company that's not yet delivered any electric cars. more »

4:45 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
3,308 views, 58 comments

cubicle culture

Jakob Lodwick on driving the old people out with slinkies

Here, in an October video, ousted Vimeo cofounder Jakob Lodwick explains how Connected Ventures keeps the office young. His opening thought is the kind of thing that's best both read and viewed. So, here. For your pleasure. more »

4:41 PM ON FRI DEC 7 2007
BY NICHOLAS CARLSON
1,194 views, 7 comments

Valleywag team