(Photo: wikipedia.org)

Among the Natives David Karp put on his salesman hat this week and preached the Tumblr gospel in front of execs at an Advertising Week event. Karp pushed his company’s new approach to “native” non-intrusive marketing. He went as far as to call Tumblr the "brave new world." The site now nets 27 million visitors a month and is expected to release some sort of earnings report this week, six months after ads started running on the site.

Pass The Popcorn MoviePass, a subscription service for unlimited movie-going, launched today, but is still invite-only. The app lets you check into a movie theatre, which then unlocks your MoviePass card. You pay at the credit card ticket kiosk using your MoviePass card, like you would with an ordinary card. The service is starting out at $29.99, which makes it a steal for New Yorkers because that's a little under the price of two movies with popcorn in Manhattan.

The Most Eligible Bachelor Wendr, an app for planning a night out with your friends, won Samsung and Thrillist's "Speed Dating For Startups" competition. After submitting a 30-second video advertising their app, the team had to demo with other finalists in front of a panel of judges. The winner was picked by Thrillist founder Ben Lerer, Samsung Senior Manager Jason Redmond, and and David Tisch, former managing director of TechStars NYC. The prizes for winning the competition include a write-up on Thrillist (bro outreach!), launch services from MRPR, KinPixel and LiftFive, and a collection of Samsung Series 9 laptops. Does this mean Wendr has to plan its own startup date?

Get Checked Y'all! In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, Hologic, Inc, rang the opening bell of the NASDAQ this Monday. They also parked a mobile facility in Times Square that was filled with 3D mammogram technology called The “Tomo Coach.” Their 3D technology is locating cancer faster and better, so go get felt up for a good cause.

1 Billion Amateur Editors Can't Be Wrong Aviary, the photo editing app, announced this week that one billion photos have now been edited on their app within the first 12 months of launching. For a comparison, it took Instagram 18 months to accomplish the same feat. The company estimates that they will double that number by the end of 2012. That's a whole lot of sepia tones and stickers slapped on people's faces.

Streets Now YouTube'able StreetEasy, New York’s best way to avoid getting scammed on Craigslist, has partnered with internet travel show Sonia's Travels, to make video content that spotlights individual neighborhoods throughout the city. "Partnering with her on this type of video series was a no-brainer, especially as we build up our original content," said Michael Smith, CEO of StreetEasy.

Witness the iResurrection Digg, still making its climb out of the Internet grave, introduced a universal app for the iPhone and iPad. It's stark white, just like the new site, which looks really great on the iPad. It also has a cool feature called Reading Sync that uses iCloud to sync up articles between devices.

A British Boost Earlier this week, Rightster, a service that helps content providers maximize revenue from online video, announced a digital revenue services company, announced the hire of Robin Pembrooke as VP of Product & Solutions. He's a former Yahoo! guy, but more recently he led the online operations of Britain's biggest advertising funded TV and radio broadcasters--ITV and Global Radio. He should be able to help them out in a big way in the U.K. market.

The End of the Valley, But Not Advisory Boards Twist, the app that gives your friends your ETA, announced this morning that Yammer founder David Sacks would join Twist's advisory board. Sacks started a small firestorm after he claimed that "Silicon Valley as we know it may be coming to an end" shortly after selling his company to Microsoft. Sacks was quoted in the company's announcement as saying he uses Twist everyday and that "apps that help people manage or save time possess huge market value."

A Better Second Round Betterment, a low cost personal investing website, announced today that they've acquired $10 million in second round financing led by Menlo Ventures. The company says that since its start in 2010, they've increased customer assets under management at 500 percent per year. The company also just launched Betterment Gift, a service that allows you to gift money that you make from investments. Feel free to gift Betabeat as much as your better angels allow.

(Photo: Duke.edu)

Perhaps disgruntled Yammer CEO David Sacks was right. With so few good ideas out there to execute on, perhaps we really are in the twilight of Silicon Valley. And even if a company does have a good idea, don't even mention the M word (monetization, spoken in a whisper), lest you incite the rabid boos of the NYC tech set.

But we have to imagine that this end-times mentality is what led a Michigan startup to hinge its entire business on getting companies to advertise on toilet paper. It's a more literal take on the term "crappy advertising."

Star Toilet Paper is the brainchild of Westchester-born brothers Jordan and Bryan Silverman. According to the Courier Journal, the startup--a recent finalist for a college entrepreneurship award!--has been offering toilet paper ads since its inception in 2010. Twenty-thousand ads will set you back $99; restaurants that agree to use the toilet paper get it for free, saving them on supply costs.

According to the Journal:

The toilet paper ads feature coupon codes that consumers can redeem on Star Toilet's website, startoiletpaper.com. The company's two-ply toilet paper is made of 100 percent recycled materials and an Illinois company prints the ads using a soybean-based ink. The brothers promise that their toilet paper is safe for both users and septic systems.

Oh, and Star Toilet Paper's motto? "Don't rush. Look before you flush."

On the bright side, now when a sliver of toilet paper gets stuck to your shoe, you can just call yourself a daily deals aggregator.

The ghost haunting the Valley. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Are we in the twilight of Silicon Valley? Yammer CEO David Sacks seems to think so. [TechCrunch]

It's like the worst Cosmo quiz of all time: Is your Web 2.0 company an Amazon, or a Pets.com? [AllThingsD]

In July, Americans watched 36.9 billion online videos. Americans should probably go outside more often. [CNET]

Here is a terrifying platoon of noodle-slicing robots. [Eater]

Internet jokerster Tom Scott pretended to put the Ecuadorian embassy on Airbnb. [Twitter]

Apropos of very little, we give you Tim Berners-Lee's original World Wide Web announcement, for your nostalgic pleasure. [Google Groups]

Microprocessing pioneer Victor Poor has passed away. [New York Times]