Results tagged “internet”

Pompous Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson is, for lack of a better word, dim. And old. Case in point, he was, for some inexplicable reason, asked to speak at Web Summit 2.0 in San Francisco this week. During a panel discussion with Google executive Marissa Mayer, he accused her of "unintentionally encourag[ing] promiscuity." (Odds are he never would have said the same thing to Sergey Brin.)

In an effort to become "more of a true Web publication," the AP English class of the interwebs, Salon.com, laid off six editorial staff members. CEO Richard Gingras confirmed to Gawker that the online publication chipped away three editors, one writer, one photo editor, and one producer. The only name identified of the fallen six is culture editor Joy Press. Heather Havrilesky, we can only pray to God, will still remain with Salon after its facelift. Forever. She is, after all, a national treasure, one of the few literate folks who can write about TV without making you want to rip off your eyelids. She's that good. (And, of course, there's this.) Anyway, good luck out there, ex-Saloners.

The man convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, has managed to set up a website. Why? Because he plans on going forward with his appeal. While death row inmates are forbidden from internet access, much less blogging (no, wait, he is!), Scott's family has created scottpetersonappeal.org, "where they acknowledge that part of the cost of his new appeal hearing will be picked up by California taxpayers." Oh, and they also want you to give them some money. You can donate anywhere from $5 to $50. "With your contribution to the Peterson Family fund, the investigation will be able to move forward uninterrupted, the burden to pay for it will be lifted from our parents, and we will be one step closer to the priceless freedom of our innocent brother," the Peterson family painfully explains. They need up to $95,000 for attorney fees. The Petersons are also "offering a $5000 reward for specific information leading to the recovery of Laci's missing Croton watch," which we assume is some sort of important piece of evidence.

In an effort to make itself relevant again, Yahoo will undergo an extreme makeover. According to All Things Digital, "in what many sources at the company said is a major push, Yahoo (YHOO) is working on a massive plan to overhaul its brand in order to repair a damaged public image and focus consumers on what defines Yahoo." Just what that definition is these days is anybody's guess -- that is, aside from the wildly entertaining / scary Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. The onetime internet giant, we're told, hired San Francisco branding gurus Landor Associates to help re-imagine the Sunnyvale-based portal. So, dear readers, do you have any advice for Landor and Yahoo? We're certain they'd love to hear your ideas. Let them know in the comments.

When Unite The Fight, a homosexual blog, discovered that Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's wifi was blocking gay-themed sites, they were not thrilled. Because blocking access to gay site is, at the very least, creepy. See, a UTF contributor tried accessing such queer sites as Towleroad and Pam's House Blend, but both were blocked for "sexuality." (Neither site, by the way, is erotically charged.)

The Wall Street Journal reports that many of San Francisco's homeless are savvy at finding ways to go online regularly. Shelter attendants say the number of overnight visitors with laptops is growing, and SF Homeless, a two-year-old Internet forum, has 140 members. As noted, many job and housing applications must be submitted online, and some homeless advocates say the economic downturn is pushing more of the wired middle class on to the streets.

This post will be the most difficult one your editor has had to write. We type these words as we head to the Golden Gate Bridge, ready to jump over the railing, prepared to take the final plunge. Why? Because we don't want to live in a world without MyOpenBar.com. See, MyOpenBar, the AWESOME site that informs readers on any and all open-bar/cheap-booze events, will cease operations in Los Angeles and San Francisco. We talked to MyOpenBar, who we hoped would inform us that this was some sort of cruel joke. No suck luck. According MyOpenBar, "Yes, we're closing both LA and SF websites due to our inability to monetize those branches in all this time. We simply can no longer sustain them through our work here in New York alone. Unfortunate, yes, but hey, life goes on." Their New York City and Chicago site, however, will remain open for business.

Next to promises of penile enlargements and bank accounts of Nubian royalty, the Webby Awards are one of the best scams on the interwebs these days. The Webby Awards, which are beyond a joke to insiders or anyone who has long since deleted their Prodigy account, were announced on Tuesday. Family Guy creator and meme thief Seth MacFarlane, former SNL star Jimmy Fallon, and (much to our surprise, concern) Mission Local were among the last night's top recipients. Because, of course, when you think of last year's leading voices on the online internet world wide web, you think of MacFarlane and Fallon.

Although it's known more for pretty computers and applications celebrating infanticide than Internet know-how, Apple is rumored to snatch up Twitter, according to Valleywag. While the SF-based company turned down a $500 million offer in cash and stock from Facebook, whose most recent makeover was a disastrous aim at the Twitter set, Apple allegedly plans on ponying up $700 million for the micro-blogging site. According to Valleywag, "A source familiar with the thinking of Twitter's board says the company would be hard-pressed to refuse an all-cash offer in the range of $700 million. (Is Twitter really worth that? Since it's business is nothing but a fantasy at this point, any valuation, high or low, is a matter of make-believe.)"

Daring to go where no online writer in their right mind should ever, ever, ever go, SF Chronicle's Ryan Kim profiles SFGate's most "prolific" commenters, Kimble McSweeney, a Dallas resident. (!) During the first three months of 2009 alone, "McSweeney posted about 1,400 comments -- about 16 per day -- on a variety of stories." And much to our surprise, he's allegedly none too shabby when it comes to penning his thoughts on the Gate, or at least when compared to the others. (While not necessarily at the level of YouTube commenters, SFGate comments, much like arguing on the Internet, can lean toward the developmentally-disabled side -- or, as Kim too delicately puts it, "playground humor.")

Prepared to take l'internet by storm, SF Chronicle just unveiled their new "e-edition" (which is sophisticated, high-tech talk for "electronic edition"). What is the "e-edition," you ask? Well, according to the advertisement, it's a "new way to enjoy the San Francisco Chronicle." The "e-edition," the press material goes on to say, "includes the same page layout, headlines and photographs as the San Francisco Chronicle, with the advantage of interactive features that can be viewed from any Internet connection, anytime." Still confused? Let us explains: See, it offers the readers an "exact digital replica of the San Francisco Chronicle," "easy navigation," "keyword search for stories, topics and people" (genius!), and "access to a 30-day archive" (whoa!).

Further proof that gingers are crafty devils, former Valleywag editor Nick Douglas is (allegedly) being paid $50,000 by HarperCollins for a book on his Twittering capabilities. Specifically, his book, Twitter Wit, will be a "collection of other people's microblogging posts."

Dying to know more about Pink Friday -- today's statewide rally where teachers protest impending layoffs and budget cuts while sporting varying shades of light rogue -- we were delighted to find this message directing us to the official Pink Friday site. Yay.

These are the worst kind of people in the world, all together in one class. You will want to put your face through a window after watching this video. And then chew your thumbs off. And then bathe in a tub of Clorox. For six hours. Really, this is the Internet at its worst, when people see fame as an end, rather than a means to create and spread good and/or interesting content.

With yet another cover story on the same subject in 30 days (same story, but no new information), The Chronicle's anti-Internet story "Web 2.0 defamation lawsuits multiply" attempts to show how the promise of Web 2.0 has turned into a nightmare -- psst, it has not -- and why you should stick to buying print editions. Or whatever. (We tend to tune out when an article uses "Web 2.0" in its title.)

Scott Beale over at Laughing Squid came across this gem. It's a 1981 KRON report on the Internet and newspapers.

by Hunter Walker

"Simon Blint, Director of Visitor Relations at the SFMOMA is a first rate asshole."

Goodness, it's been quite an enthralling day, hasn't it? The tale of the cheap patrons versus the cranky House of Shield bartender got many of us hot and bothered. And in an effort to pour fuel on that fire -- oh, you're welcome - we contacted both the House of Shields' owner, the awesomely-named Schlomo Rabinowitz, and the anonymous bar patron who spent much of last night digging glass out of her foot.

Internet drama of the hair-pulling, eye-scratching, and feline variety is always high quality entertainment. And today Yelp has it in spades.

We've had to curb our games of Scrabulous since Phllyist's editor can't stop kicking our ass raw red at it since we no longer have time to play. But over the last few months, FB users have been pulling out their hair over the mere thought of the game getting yanked. Hasbro freaked out, or something like that. Anyway, according to the SJ Merc, Scrabulous, which has over 5 million users, is staying put. Which leads us to this: Anyone know of a good Boggle application? (Boggle is, after all, the superior word game.)

The west coast leg of the Web 2.0 Expo is here! Yay!

27-year-old Danny Yep of San Francisco must spend two months in a federal prison and then four months in home confinement for selling the endangered Asian Arowana fish (AKA the Asian Boney tongue fish) after a U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent came across his ad on Aquabid. Yep apparently knew the freshwater fish was illegal to sell as well. The fish, it should be noted, is quite spectacular.

In more pink slip sadness today, (owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group) eliminated 50 jobs. Fifteen newsroom employees and 19 employees from "other parts of the paper" were let go today. Citing a loss of advertising revenue because to the evil Internet, this most recent workforce slashing represents "a cut of about 5 percent" of the over Merc staff.

With regard to the SFBG vs. SF Weekly (VVM) lawsuit -- you know, the one where the Guardian sued the Weekly and its parent company for predatory pricing practices? where the Guardian's Publisher, Bruce Brugmann, claimed that the competition was so unreasonable that it could force the Guardian out of business? -- our sources confirm that:

When first reading the headline, "Google Gives All SF Homeless Free Voicemail" on our Digg feed, we didn't get it. Why the heck would the homeless want free voicemail? Aren't there more vital things the homeless need?

Remember the great Youtube outage of 2006? Horribly, it seems to have returned. Can you access the site? We can't. Multiple theories are popping up -- generally, hackers or incompetent cyber-Mohammedans are getting the blame -- or perhaps Google itself is at fault?

While not all of us are fortunate enough to zip around in swank Aston Martins, or have sleek Tesla waiting for us on the horizon, the "bus of the future" is the next best thing. Well, almost.

Luring us in with "just the kind of quirky San Francisco event that SFist readers would be interested in," a PR company sent us word today of a zany pre-Valentine's Day activity that's happening right this very second! It seems that a woman -- a woman who looks like she has no trouble finding a date whatsoever, God bless her -- is looking for love. Check it:

And honk they did. Yesterday a worldwide Scientology protest took place by "Anonymous" (AKA Project Chanology, an Internet-based protest against the Church of Scientology), and we caught a few images of the action on our rickety, old cellular communication device. Had we had a better camera, we could've gotten images of the police surrounding the Scientology building entrance; the tour guide telling his gaggle of tourists that John Travolta was, in fact, inside the Montgomery Street building (he was not), and more. Alas.