Say you're a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist who wants a one-of-a-kind, show-stopping electric car. What do you do? If you're the very playful Satish Darmaraj, you build your own!

After selling his most recent company, Zimbra, to Yahoo for a cool $350 million, Darmaraj decided to splurge on something electric. He thought about a Tesla, but at the end of the day decided he loved his Toyota Prius too much to switch. And while plenty of people pay a few thousand dollars to turn their hybrid Priuses into electrics, Darmaraj took, well, a very Silicon Valley route instead.

A true tech geek, Darmaraj sought out George Barris, the creator of the original Batmobile and updated versions of the Knight Rider car, and convinced him to come out of retirement to make Darmaraj’s Prius something greener, cooler and of course more high-tech. The result is a one-of-a-kind car that wound up costing Darmaraj more than a Tesla Roadster, but boasts sunny colors and sporty lines, an all-carbon-fiber redone interior, and in-car wifi network. All this and it still gets a 105 miles per gallon.

This is the latest in our series on Valley luminaries who are investing in remaking the U.S. auto industry and breaking America's dependence on foreign oil:

• Elon Musk’s sporty Tesla, which changes the idea of what an electric car is 
• Vinod Khosla, who is betting big on smarter-ethanol
• Shai Agassi, whose ambitious plan is to build out a network of battery charging and replacement centers around the world

As their ventures make clear, everyone has a slightly different vision of exactly what that future should look like.

But here's Satish Darmaraj's vision of fun, starting right here today. Enjoy!

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There is one big story that made the rounds yesterday that has two parts. It’s about eBay, and its attempts to undo the bizarre acquisitions made by former CEO Meg Whitman. The company announced that it was spinning off StumbleUpon, a startup that helps people discover like-content on the Web, acquired for $75 million back in 2007. StumbleUpon has never been a fit with eBay, although the auction site’s cluttered inventory could certainly use some help on the search and discovery front.

But the bigger question on everyone’s lips: Is Skype next? Experts have expected something to happen with Skype this year, but the question was who would buy it in a market like this. Apparently, its original owners and some private equity investors have stepped up to the plate. Om Malik has a great write up explaining why eBay should accept the offer, even if it’s about $700 million shy of what eBay execs were hoping to get...

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23andMe is a radical startup with a bold idea: Personal genetic testing through the mail. But early on, the company made headlines in Silicon Valley for another reason: Co-founder Anne Wojcicki is married to Google founder Sergey Brin. What’s more: Google invested $3.9 million in the startup, along with Genentech, whose CEO Art Levinson sits on Google’s board.

In the final installment of our series on 23andMe, Wojcicki says the relationship has been more of a hindrance than a help. So why did she and her co-founder Linda Avey invited controversy by taking Google’s money? Their answer on the clip, plus the economics of 23andMe’s business.

Please see the other two posts in our series:

• How One Family Discovered Its DNA by Mail
• $399 DNA Kit Inspires Hope and Controversy

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When Anne Wojcicki and Linda Avey met, they were both working in the biopharmaceutical industry and horrified at how ineffective the modern healthcare system was. Forget the politicians, Wojcicki and Avey decided a better way to force change was to unlock the secrets of your own DNA.

Three years later, their company, 23andMe.com, gives anyone with $399 to spend a host of information about his or her genetic markers; from traits like whether you’re a natural sprinter to whether you might be at risk for Parkinson’s disease. You order the kit online, get it in the mail, spit in the cup and mail it back. A few months later, you get your results via email. It’s as easy as getting a movie from Netflix.

But the ease of the process belies the myriad of controversies awaiting 23andMe as the company goes mainstream. Among them, doctors and regulators who think the procedure should be done by a doctor, privacy advocates who worry the information could be used against you, and people who think decoding your genetics is a step too close to playing God.

I sat down with Wojcicki and Avey at their Mountain View offices to talk about these controversies and why they think literally knowing what you’re made of is a basic human right.

See the first piece in our series:

How One Family Discovered Its DNA by Mail

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There’s a funny thing about Wikipedia: We all love to talk about how flawed the content is, but judging from its traffic we all seem to flock to the site anyway. In the second installment of my sit-down interview with the frequently controversial Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, we talk about the accuracy debate.

Wales was candid about his own frustrations with the site, saying Wikipedia isn’t always right and people should use it with caution. But he also blames the press for overstating mistakes when they arise, calling it “the easy story” for reporters to write.

That said, he takes the role of founding the fifth largest site on the Web seriously. Wales shares some new features Wikipedia is evaluating to eliminate mistakes before they are published, and gives tips on how people should use the site wisely.

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Whether it’s Yahoo, Facebook or a no-name blogger, everyone on the Web is spending sleepless night after sleepless night trying to figure out how to wring more ad revenues out of traffic. Well, almost everyone on the Web.  Not Jimmy Wales, as you’ll see in the accompanying interview.

Wales is the iconoclastic founder of Wikipedia, the site millions of people use to learn more about everything from Adolph Hitler’s girlfriend to the origins of Pad Thai. But there’s one thing you won’t find on Wikipedia: ads. The non-profit company eschews traditional money-making ventures, funding itself through donations instead. And despite persistent rumors questioning Wikipedia’s financial health, Wales says that strategy works just fine. Indeed, in ten days in December, the company raised $3 million from passionate supporters — enough to fund its business for all of 2009.

I caught up with Wales at Wikipedia’s San Francisco headquarters and he was happy to tell me all about it, and much more. Still to come: Wales on Wikipedia’s early days, the controversies over accuracy, and how he’ll cater to the next billion people on the Web.

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New York City is reeling from the collapse of the stock market and Wall Street. The city's most profitable industry has been clobbered, with a resulting hit to tax revenue, real-estate prices, and jobs. The city's most visible industry, media, is also getting hammered. If you're lucky enough not to have been fired, you know plenty of people who have been, and you're fearing for your job.

So what's going on in Silicon Valley? How's the mood there?  Are there long-hidden disasters waiting to be uncovered?  Is there a Silicon Valley Bernie Madoff?  Do incipient mass firings await?

Veteran Valley reporter Kara Swisher of All Things Digital tells all. Earlier, we discussed:

• The rise of online journalism
• Chasing Google: Why 2009 will finally bring a deal among its rivals
• And why Apple isn't toast without Jobs

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Valley blogger Om Malik just sent a very sweet Twitter that read, “San Francisco on Holiday Break feels like the small cute town it used to be. Everyone is being so nice to each other.” Well, mostly.

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has picked another fight, staging a blog “intervention” for man-about-the-web Robert Scoble, who spent more than 2,000 hours this year on Twitter and FriendFeed instead of creating content for his own sites. Early in 2008, several academics published studies on Web addiction — now even those who profit off it are calling it out. Perhaps we do have a problem.

Another rumble is brewing over whether or not a new study undermines "the Long Tail," a theory coined by Chris Anderson that states the future of eCommerce is selling obscure or niche items, which eventually add up to higher revenues than mainstream hits. The Times of London quotes the study, which found that some 10 million digital music tracks didn’t find a single buyer last year and that just like the offline world, blockbusters make up about 80% of the sales.

Anderson stands by his theory, but the largest supplier of VHS tapes certainly doesn't see a future in obscurity. Ryan J. Kugler tells the LA Times, “It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt. I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away." Are CDs next? Gartner Research says yes.

OK, so we’re getting rid of obsolete formats; what are we getting in online entertainment content? Well, Will Ferrell’s Funnyordie.com has raised another $3 million, for one. Mysteriously, the company says it came from one “undisclosed” investor. (Santa?) Does that mean previous investor and mega-venture firm Sequoia has soured on the upstart? According to SEC filings, the deal included a $3 million deal for “in-kind contributions for marketing, publicity, and promotional support for programming.” That doesn’t sound good. Does Ferrell get to crash on the mystery investor’s couch in exchange for stock, too?

If Twitter and blog buzz are any judge, this video gem making the digerati rounds is much closer to online video done right. Thank God the Long Tail of obscure video is alive and well!

Hell hath no fury like an angry, baby-carrying mom armed with a blog, YouTube, and Twitter accounts.

Yesterday, Johnson & Johnson posted a Motrin ad on its Web site and on YouTube all about alleviating the pain of “baby wearing,” or toting around your baby in a sling. It was part of a broader ad campaign about the different pains Motrin can alleviate. In particular with this ad, JNJ tried to use humor to unite moms in some Oprah-like virtual high-five over the rigors of carrying around babies.

The controversial ad
Motrin united moms alright—only they united against J&J.; What began over the weekend is continuing today as thousands of Tweets (as individual microblogging posts are called) are still flying about the scandal. Many moms said they felt patronized, disrespected and insulted with language that implied carrying a baby was a fashion accessory. “Supposedly it’s a real bonding experience,” and referring to carrying babies in slings as “these things.” (You can see the ad here)

What’s at the heart of this controversy? Authenticity on the web. The stakes are high in the realm of social media. The right ad—like Obama’s “Yes We Can” —can hit the right populist chord, and outperform even the most glitzy, expensive media buy. But a wrong ad can become not just an embarrassment but make your brand the object of an angry digital mob.

Motrin pulls the ad
Of course, if Motrin was hoping for a viral campaign, they got it. The outrage in the Twitter-verse guaranteed...