Nice flowers, Mr. Constine. (Photo: Business Insider)

Facebook Fiasco Claims Another Scalp Remember that time Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein kept the name of their Watergate informant a secret for decades, thereby providing generations of teenagers an excuse to say "deep throat" in high school classrooms? Good thing no one had email at the time!

According to Business Insider, Citigroup tech analyst Mark Mahaney was recently given the boot. Turns out that one of Mr. Mahaney's underlings was getting a little too comfy with the press. Looking into the Facebook IPO, Massachusetts investigators stumbled across an email from a junior analyst to two TechCrunch reporters that read, in part, "I am ramping up coverage on FB and thought you guys might like to see how the street is thinking about it (and our estimates)." That little communique got Citigroup slapped with a $2 million fine, and that is why one confines all illicit activities, from sexting to whistle-blowing, to one's personal email account.

A bit of footwork on the part of BI suggests the junior analyst was Eric Jacobs, and the recipients were John Constine and Kim-Mai Cutler. As former Stanford University classmates, Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Constine go way back. A photo of the pair was even, for a time, Mr. Constine's profile pic on Facebook.

Find the Yeezy! The Great Kanye Hunt of 2012 continues! Back in September, Betabeat first heard the drumbeat come from General Assembly's east campus at 902 Broadway: Yeezy is here! And he's meeting with a startup. A source mentioned IDEO, the global design and innovation consulting firm, which has an outpost in New York. That would make sense, considering that DONDA, Mr. West's collective of "creatives and developers," is at work on a line of products. However, we've been told we're barking up the wrong tree. One tech company down, 99,999 to go. If you have any information about the identity of this lucky startup, please contact the authorities/Betabeat immediately.

Tea Time at Twitter Fortune reporter Jessi Hempel was visiting a mystery startup in the Bay Area when she sent the following Instagram dispatch: "guess the tech company: kombucha on tap," she tweeted, along with a photo of four different flavors of the stinky tea on tap. TechCrunch reporter Ryan Lawler immediately wondered if it was Square, the mobile payment service known for the highbrow tastes of its dapper CEO, Jack Dorsey. Ms. Hempel replied, "nope. But not far off." When Betabeat then guessed Twitter, she confirmed it with a "favorite." Is kombucha the new Mountain Dew?

(Photo: Jessi Hempel, Twitter)

We were still disappointed to discover, however, that the answer was not Diapers.com.

Frankenstorm Is Chartbeating! Amid the preparations for Hurricane Sandy, a.k.a the extra-perfect storm currently barreling toward New New York's shores, Mayor Bloomberg just couldn't resist a little plug for the city's snazzy digital initiatives.

During a press conference earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg reminded everyone that this is an unpredictable storm and we should all therefore stay attentive to weather forecasts. Among our options are both "one of the weather services on the Internet" and the city's own NYC.gov. Then came the traffic trumpeting: "During Hurricane Irene, NYC.gov, you should know, had 4.3 million hits, shattering its previous high of 2.2 million." He added, "We have added additional capacity to NYC.gov to keep up with the increase in traffic volume, and we have streamlined the website to make sure it provides the most up to date information to New Yorkers."

So if walk outside Monday night and you're surprised by the terrible weather, don't blame Mayor Bloomberg.