Catching Up (Weekend 9/11)
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
One Friday afternoon in 2010, Pat Contri got the Facebook message of every video game collector's dreams. A friend who worked at the local game store started texting him cryptic photographs of something a customer had just traded in. He stared at the blurry, gray-and-green pictures. What at first looked like a row of shelves, he eventually realized, was a close-up of several exposed DIP switches . Just then, like a Tetris block dropping neatly into place, it clicked. Contri slammed his finger on the "Call" button.
The quest for the golden Nintendo game (Build 20110912042003)
Huffington Post Seeks Teenage Bloggers to Not Pay | Commentary and analysis from Simon Dumenco - Advertising Age (Build 20110912042003)
'Breaker boys' -- children who broke coal into manageable chunks by hand -- circa 1884 You need to read this Forbes.com post if you haven't already: "Huffpo and Patch Recruiting Bloggers as Young as 13." It perhaps fell under the radar a bit because of when it was published -- Friday afternoon during the lunch hour for many North American readers -- so I'm calling attention to it here. In it, Forbes reporter/blogger Jeff Bercovici notes that AOL's Huffington Post Media Group (HPMG) is prepping the launch of a vertical called HuffPost High School, which will be edited by a (paid) 17-year-old staffer, but which will apparently solicit unpaid blog contributions from teenagers.
Apple's co-founder Ron Wayne on its genesis, his exit and the company's future
It was a sunny but windy Tuesday morning in Brighton and the first day of Update Conference, an event that’s primary focus is mobile design and development, along with plenty of discussion. Attendees were sipping their free coffee, quietly discussing the sessions that they were most excited by and in the corner of the break area sat a man, easily the oldest person in the room, talking quietly with a local reporter. That man, recognised by nobody, was Ronald Wayne – the third and often forgotten founder of Apple, now the world’s largest technology company. Always in demand by the media, Mr Wayne found himself in England to talk about his part in the the formation of Apple, also to publicise his new book “Adventures of an Apple Founder” from a small table conveniently situated next to mine.New technology provides an endless supply of information online, but as even Silicon Valley found out this month, it comes at a price: Readers have to work harder to decide which of their many sources can be trusted. A widely read technology website, TechCrunch, became news itself when its founder, Michael Arrington, set up a $20 million venture fund to invest in startups, which are among the main topics covered by the site. AOL, which bought TechCrunch earlier this year, is an investor.
Crovitz: A Business Model Based on Conflict of Interest - WSJ.com (Build 20110912042003)
Google will use Zagat's (so you don't have to) - Computerworld (Build 20110912042003)
Computerworld - Google bought Zagat Survey this week for an unknown amount between $50 million and $200 million. Zagat specializes in ratings for restaurants, hotels and travel destinations informed by the input of some 350,000 contributors. The acquisition is Google 's 104th. (The blog TechCrunch claims that the deal did not merit an FTC antitrust review, which happens automatically for any deal worth $66 million or more.) Google offered Zagat competitor Yelp $500 million in December 2009, but the offer was rejected. Silicon Valley companies often make acquisitions to gain access to talent, intellectual property or markets.
Campaign Trains Viewers for ‘TV Everywhere’ - NYTimes.com
“Consumers have bought tens of millions of iPhones and iPads,” Mr. Koonin said in an interview last week. “Our vision is that TV Everywhere kind of becomes the consumer-enabling technology that allows them to unlock the potential of those devices.” The ad campaign encourages people to download TBS and TNT apps on their phones and tablets to start watching television episodes online and on demand. The apps require users to log in — or, in industry parlance, authenticate — to confirm that they are paying subscribers to a participating cable or satellite company. The log-in process has taken a long time to put in place, but most of the major companies are now participating, including DirecTV, Dish Network, Comcast, , Cox, Verizon FiOS, and AT&T U-verse.
Sean Maloney was on his way to being the chipmaker's next CEO when a stroke crippled his body -- and took away his ability to talk. This is the story of how he returned to work (he's now head of Intel China) -- and found his voice again. Sean Maloney with his wife, Margaret (far left), and their three daughters in Beijing
Intel's Sean Maloney: The man who couldn't speak - Postcards
AOL has issued the following statement: “The TechCrunch acquisition has been a success for AOL and for our shareholders, and we are very excited about its future. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund. Michael is a world-class entrepreneur and we look forward to supporting his new endeavor through our investment in his venture fund.
“Deciding” To Move On | TechCrunch (Build 20110912042003)
Last year, Tim Armstrong joined Mike Arrington on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt to sign the deal that made TechCrunch part of AOL (NYSE: AOL). You could feel the glow even at a distance. This year’s event kicks off with news of a different sort: Arrington and AOL have parted ways when it comes to TechCrunch. (Statement below.) He’ll be at Disrupt as planned but he no longer has any financial interest, responsibility or say over the site and company he founded.
Arrington’s Long Goodbye Finally Over; Schonfeld New TechCrunch Editor | paidContent (Build 20110912042003)
