WebLaunches » Tech News

5 Most Screwed-Up Tech Buys

WebLaunches — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 07:22:02 +0000

As the tech world gets itself in a tizzy over Google saying its 5 percent stake in AOL might be impaired — basically it may now be worth less than they thought it was — we thought we’d revisit some of the most notable tech writedowns in history

read more | digg story

Twitter refugees find a new home (for this week): Identi.ca

WebLaunches — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:47:25 +0000

First everyone was going to leave Twitter for Jaiku. Then everyone was going to leave Twitter for Pownce. Then everyone was going to leave Twitter for Plurk. Then everyone was going to leave Twitter for FriendFeed. There
’s just one problem. Everyone is still on Twitter. identi.ca/zaibatsu/

read more | digg story

Stephen Colbert wins “Webby Person of the Year”

WebLaunches — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:24:21 +0000

(CNN) — Stephen Colbert may have already earned the title of “Greatest Living American” but now he can add “Webby Person of the Year.”

Stephen Colbert won the Webby Award for “Person of the Year.”

Colbert became the “Greatest Living American” in the eyes of Google thanks to his fans who took to the Internet and “Google-bombed” him to the top. They did so by posting comments all over the Web that contained his name and “Greatest Living American” to make him the top result when anyone searched Google for the title.

Colbert’s use of the Internet, including challenging the “truthiness” of Wikipedia, attracting 78 members per minute to the Facebook page for his candidacy for president and his ability to get fans to rack up donations online for DonorsChoose.org earned him the award.

The Webby Awards honor excellence on the Internet, including Web sites, online film and video, mobile Web sites and interactive advertising from around the world.

Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am won Webby Artist of the Year for his viral video “Yes We Can” in support of Barack Obama. The video, which was posted in February, has been viewed more than 17 million times since it was posted on YouTube.

The awards have been presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences since 1996, but users also play a part in picking the winners. For each of the categories a winner is chosen by both the Academy and the popular vote, which is cast online.

In some cases the judges and the popular vote match, but in many instances they are different.

The pop hit video “Chocolate Rain,” which won a YouTube awards, was snubbed by the Academy, but won in the popular vote for Viral Video. The Academy chose “Here Comes another Bubble” instead.

Some of the winners:

• Blog-Political: Huffington Post

• Blog-Cultural: PostSecret

• Magazine: National Geographic

• Newspaper: NYTimes.com

• Politics: FactCheck.org

• Community: Flickr

• Do-It Yourself/HowTo-Video: My Damn Channel’s “You Suck at Photoshop”

• Weird: Passive-Aggressive Notes (Academy), I Can Has Cheezburger? (Popular Vote)

• Social Networking: Flock The Social Web Browser (Academy), Facebook (Popular Vote)

• Comedy - Long Form or Series: “Wainy Days”

At Rearden Commerce, Addiction is Job One ($100 Million Round Confirmed, Major Deal With JPMorgan Chase)

WebLaunches — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:37:55 +0000

Rearden has done the hard job of integrating different travel services together all through a single browser interface. The system ties in personal preferences with your company’s travel rules, restrictions, & negotiated rates to give you a customized view of what’s available to you. Think of it as Kayak, TripIt, StubHub, Zagats, and webex all in one.

read more | digg story

Allen & Co. Pitching LinkedIn At $1 Billion

WebLaunches — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:21:23 +0000

Allen & Co. Managing Director Dave Wehner is out pitching a LinkedIn venture capital round at a whopping $1 billion valuation, multiple sources say. This is a story we’ve been working on and isn’t fully baked yet, but VentureBeat started speculating about a potential buyout and so we’re going with what we have now.

read more | digg story