Like for Sale: Invasion of the Fugazi Facebook Friends
Maker Movement Purists Bothered by 'Closed System' 3D Printing Cartridges
That Massive ‘Jews Against the Internet’ Rally This Weekend Is Not Very Press-Friendly
After three weeks of getting the run-around (“Uh, I don’t know, call this number”) it seems that the rally of “Jews against the Internet” at Citi Field on May 20 is looking to exclude reporters as well as women. We asked, not The Times? The Post? The Daily News? Nope.
In retrospect, we should have purchased tickets. The rally is organized by Ichud Hakehillos, an Orthodox Jewish organization aimed at educating the masses regarding responsible use of technology, and we realized gaining access would probably be a unique experience after the moratorium on vaginas.
But after taking our information down on three separate occasions and promising to get back to us, one of the organizers gave us a flat-out no. The last number we tried led us straight to a voicemail explaining that there are no more tickets available for buses to the event.
When we called asking for an email address, the man who answered said they didn’t have one because “we don’t have the Internet.” Read More
Well-Dressed Entrepreneurs Enchant AskMen
Dapper dudes, unite: AskMen published a slideshow today of the “Most Stylish Entrepreneurs,” and many fashionable New York businessmen made the list. Hey, at least we’re finally objectifying dude techies the same way we usually do ladies?
“Here is what happens when ambition meets fashion,” declared AskMen in a post partially sponsored by Dell. You’re totally dying to know who made the list, right? Read More
EarthSmart: FedEx Sustainability
Explore our site to learn how EarthSmart is encouraging environmental responsibility within the FedEx community, for both the Earth's benefits and for yours.
Schumer Goes After Facebook Founder For ‘Disowning USA’
Yesterday, it was reported that Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship in order to avoid being hit with large tax bill when the company goes public.
Today, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer announced new legislation that would prevent such schemes.
“Mr. Saverin has decided to ‘defriend’ the United States of America just to avoid paying his taxes. We aren’t going to let him get away with it so easily,” Mr. Schumer said. “It’s infuriating to see someone sell out the country that welcomed him and kept him safe, educated him and helped him become a billionaire. This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong. We plan to put a stop to this tax avoidance scheme. There should be no financial gain from renouncing your country.” Read More
Backlash to the Pinterest Valuation: $1.5 Billion? Really?
AllThingsD’s scoop about a new round of funding for Pinterest has now been confirmed. Rakuten, the largest ecommerce site in Japan, is leading a $100 million investment round in Pinterest at a $1.5 billion valuation, eclipsing Instagram’s valuation by a cool half billion. Existing investors, including Andreeseen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital, as well as previous angel investors, also participated.
If you’re following along at home, that’s an $800 million valuation bump in eight months for a company with no revenue yet to speak of. Last October, Pinterest was valued at just $200 million.
The synergy for the two companies is obvious: Pinterest gets a leg up in expanding into Japan, where Pinterest is “growing very fast,” says Rakuten’s CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, as well as the ecommerce giant’s 17 other markets. But for Rakuten, the deal may be even sweeter. As TechCrunch reports, roughly 70 percent of Japan’s Internet population (about 80 million people) have a Rakuten ID–the same kind of ID consumers here have with Apple or Amazon, that includes payment details. Read More
Twitter Now Supports Mozilla’s ‘Do Not Track’ Privacy Feature
The Mozilla Foundation has been working hard to combat privacy issues spotlighted by sites like Facebook, which aggressively tracks and saves user data. Recently, Mozilla announced a “Do Not Track” feature that can be deployed through the Firefox browser that better protects your information. According to the Do Not Track site, “When the feature is enabled, Firefox will tell advertising networks and other websites and applications that you want to opt-out of tracking for purposes like behavioral advertising.” Read More
Unfunniest Tweet About Facebook IPO: We Have a Winner!
As we all know, the Facebook IPO is upon us. One of the things This Means For You: legions of unpaid amateurs are going to be taking to their various social media outlets at their own risk to then endanger the rest of human populace with their patently unfunny insights (as opposed to those like us, who Read More
The Facebookers Will Inherit the Earth
Report: Facebook Alumni Have Raised $271 M. in Venture Capital
A new report from CB Insights attempts to gather up all the ventures of the roving Facebook Mafia and put a number on how much money these Silicon Valley chosen ones have raised. “For those unfamiliar with the term, the Facebook Mafia refers to alumni of Facebook who’ve gone on to found new startup companies,” the report says.
So how much have these enterprising Facebookers convinced investors to give them? $271 million since 2006, with $130 million of it all in the first half of 2012 (Quora is responsible for $50 million of that). Momentum “appears to be accelerating,” the report says. Doesn’t it always? Read More
Webutante Ball, Year Four
The scene outside Marquee, a 700-some capacity club on 10th Ave. and 26th, was dramatic. Three fire engines wailed, police cars pulling up behind them, beside a long line of well-heeled public relations professionals that snaked around the block. A middle-aged man carrying a brown sack was getting into it with the bouncer. “I was invited, and this asshole…” Never attempt to gain leverage with one bouncer by berating the bouncer next to him. He will never take your side. “Who do you think you fuckin’ are?” the guest asked, before he turned and performed a pissy walk north. Read More
Why New York City Still Can’t Keep Smart Kids Away From McKinsey
Yesterday morning, Betabeat popped out of the subway a little further downtown than normal for an Internet Week breakfast panel at Eventi. The four speakers, assembled to discuss the city’s role as a leader in the new tech economy included Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Rachel Sterne, the city’s chief digital officer, Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of Cornell NYC Tech, and Craig Gotsman, director of the Cornell-Technion Innovation Institute.
Considering our profile of Mr. Pinsky and multiple features about the battle between Stanford and Cornell to win a chance to build on Roosevelt Island, it was not unlike seeing the pages of Betabeat on stage–only with free pastries and a lot more suits. Read More
Eduardo Saverin’s Move to Renounce Citizenship Was Totally Just a Coincidence
It may look like Eduardo Saverin, international playboy and man of very few public pursuits, renounced his American citizenship in favor of a lesser tax bill, but that’s just a coincidence, you guys. A very unfortunate coincidence. Mr. Saverin actually filed to renounce his citizenship way back in January 2011, because there’s no way he could have had the slightest inkling that Facebook might go public soon, being a cofounder and all.
“I’m not a tax expert,” he told the New York Times, while refusing to offer any other explanation for why he’d agree to a move that could mean he is never allowed back into the U.S. again. “This had nothing to do with taxes,” he insisted.
Okay then. Read More
