By Kelly Faircloth 5/01 7:03pm

Launch Day

Luckily, no one made any "Can you GIG IT?" jokes.

Last Night Randi Zuckerberg Met Rick Ross, Because Startups

Last night, a varied crowd of rappers, rappers’ entourages, music industry types, and startup folks gathered downtown at Capitale, for the launch of Gig It.

A new Facebook game–bold timing, considering the current dismal state of Zynga–Gig It allows gamers to create custom concerts using 3D avatars. It’s basically The Sims Social crossed with Guitar Hero, but starring famous rappers. More than 50 artists have cut deals with the company to lend their faces to the project.

On a giant screen behind the stage: #THIS AINT NO FARM. (Get it? Because it’s concerts, instead of agriculture?) In between introducing the acts, emcees DJ Khalid and La La hyped the game constantly, going so far as to call it a “movement.” Read More

By The Editors 4/19 6:30pm

shameless rumormongering

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Rumor Roundup: Eric Schmidt Had a Long Talk With Julian Assange, Plus Randi Zuckerberg Went to Japan

Cold as Schmidt Here’s a little digital memento from AllThingsDigital’s D: Dive Into Mobile conference: This is what it looks like when, rather than answering your question, Google chairman Eric Schmidt slices to the proverbial bone.

Speaking of Mr. Schmidt, goodies from his upcoming book, The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business are beginning to trickle out. Today WikiLeaks released the transcript of a five-hour conversation between Mr. Schmidt and Julian Assange, used for the book. It opens with some really riveting stuff. Mr. Schmidt: “Well do you want us to start eating?” Mr. Assange: “Well, we can do both.” Guess there’s not much time for leisurely meals in the life of a WikiLeaker. Read More

By Patrick Clark 1/24 8:21am

Linkages

jobs_ashton_kutcher

Booting Up: Ashton Kutcher Helps Beat Off Winter Doldrums With Release Date for jOBS

Feeling blue about missing Sundance? Cheer up. Ashton Kutcher’s Steve Jobs biopic is slated to arrive April 19 at a theater near you. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Apple set a company record for iPhone sales last quarter, but it wasn’t enough to placate investors, who sent shares falling in late trading after Apple announced its quarterly results. [AllThingsD]

It wasn’t all bad for tech stocks. Netflix soared after the company announced better-than-expected profit on the strength of new subscribers. [Bloomberg]

Careful. The NYPD has a new device that detects the energy emitted by the rocket in your pocket. [NYDN]

“While I haven’t seen hard data on how this plays out across the industry, my personal experience has been that women in tech are primarily found in these emotional labor-heavy departments, even in the tiniest companies.” [Quartz]

Raaaaaaandi! [Fast Company]

By Jessica Roy 1/15 2:38pm

RAAAAAAAANDI!

(Screencap: YouTube)

Here Is Randi Zuckerberg’s Broadway Debut

Today Bravo producer and famed Facebook sibling Randi Zuckerberg tweeted a YouTube video that captured a very exciting moment for the spotlight-hungry entrepreneur. Not content to be outshone by her brother Mark, who debuted a new Facebook feature just an hour prior, Ms. Zuckerberg announced that she’d had a walk-on role in a Bay Area edition of the Broadway musical Anything Goes, arranged by the theatrical company SHN San Francisco. Read More

By The Editors 12/07/12 5:59pm

shameless rumormongering

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Rumor Roundup: Artsy’s Art Basel Bust and the $50,000 Tip That Wasn’t

Basel Bust? Artsy’s invite for its Art Basel party this year–thrown by Chanel–was positively littered with enticing cohosts. “On behalf of Carter Cleveland, Larry Gagosian, Wendi Murdoch, Peter Theil & Dasha Zhukova, we invite you to a beachside barbecue on Wednesday, December 5th in Miami Beach,” the invite said. Perhaps too enticing. “I ended up not going because it was such a shit show,” said one would-be guest. The tipster blamed the venue, noting that “the same thing happened last night at Amfar. It was a mess trying to get into the after party and there were 400 people waiting outside and inside it was a crowded mess.”

Typical for Art Basel, said the source, brushing off complaints. “Less so for tech startups ” Too bad they missed Demi Moore’s highly gif-able turn on the dance floor next to Lenny Kravitz. Perhaps our partier will have better luck with Tumblr, which is hosting its own Art Basel extravaganza tonight. Read More

By The Editors 11/30/12 6:15pm

shameless rumormongering

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Rumor Roundup: Randi Zuckerberg Isn’t the Only One Casting for a Startup Reality Show in New York

Randi, Can You Hear Me? Yesterday evening, Betabeat attended a Bravo casting call masquerading as a networking event. An email passed around the technoscenti sought locals “who have a full time career and full time lifestyle” to possibly maybe star in an New York spin off of Randi Zuckerberg‘s much-maligned show.

But we hear Ms. Zuckerberg may have some competition. A source mentioned that MTV is also working on a startup reality show rumored to be produced by peripatetic Foodspotter Soraya Darabi and “a Reddit cofounder.” Ms. Darabi told Betabeat she was “not involved” in the project and Reddit cofounders Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman did not immediately responded to our inquiry, so it’s hard to say if that was just wishful thinking. However, an independent New York City-based casting director–not the lovely gentleman from last night!–confirmed that “There’s a bunch of networks” currently testing reality programming about startups, including MTV and possibly CNBC. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 11/30/12 12:45pm

Television Without Pity

The scene. (Photo by Michael Gold, via Instagram)

In Which We Went to Bravo’s Casting Call for the Real Wantrepreneurs of Silicon Alley

When we arrived at the Dream Hotel on 55th, there was already a substantial crowd of would-be attendees worrying that the one-hour open bar at #techdrinkup’s holiday party would end before we made it upstairs. Ahead of us, two young men were debating the relative merits of Sean Parker in the wake of Airtime’s abysmal numbers: “I’m a fan,” said Mr. Parker’s defender. “Everyone has success and failing.”

What no one mentioned within our earshot: Gotham Casting would be in the house, looking for personalities to feature in a possible New York spinoff of Start-ups: Silicon Valley, Bravo’s oft-maligned, Randi Zuckerberg-produced reality show.  Read More

By Jessica Roy 11/12/12 3:12pm

RAAAAAAAANDI!

(Photo: Connected Social Media)

Look Out, New York: Randi Zuckerberg Is Casting for a New Techcentric Bravo Show Set in the Big Apple

With 634,000 viewers tuning in for last week’s premiere of Start-Ups: Silicon Valley, newly-minted Bravo TV producer Randi Zuckerberg already has her sights set on New York. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg Media, Bravo and the production house responsible for Start-Ups, Den of Thieves, have all confirmed that they’re planning a tech-focused show based in NYC. It won’t be a Start-Ups reboot for the Manhattan set, but according to the Journal, “Ms. Zuckerberg and her team are looking to expand and see what techie opportunities there are.” Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/01/12 5:05pm

RAAAAAAAANDI!

Mr. Crow

Cast Member of Randi Zuckerberg’s Bravo Show Just Got Hired by Facebook

Carsabi, a comparison shopping site for cars that graduated from Y Combinator this March, just announced that its cofounders would be joining Mark Zuckerberg to “help Facebook users connect and share.” Facebook isn’t actually acquiring Carsabi, just the talent. “We’re looking for someone to buy the Carsabi service, so the two of us can focus on our new jobs,” cofounders Dwight Crow and Christopher Berner wrote on the company blog.

TechCrunch reports that features baked into Carsabi–including a social element that lets you ask friends for shopping advice and the startup’s ability to crawl all available car listings–make the duo a natural fit to help develop Facebook Gifts or Events. However, we hear that Carsabi first got an offer from Google (another natural fit!) and then parlayed that into a counteroffer from Facebook. Read More

By The Editors 9/21/12 6:45pm

shameless rumormongering

Mr. Lovingood (Photo: Bravo TV)

Rumor Roundup: Bravo Cuts Two from Zuckerberg’s Show, Tumblr’s Fine Young Cannibals

You didn’t think we’d forgotten, did you? It’s Friday afternoon, which means it’s 

Reverse-Reverse Sexism Still wondering what $50 and an App.net membership will get you (besides

Wedding bells On the mergers front, we hear that serial cofounder and investor Zack Klein recently married girlfriend Courtney Lewis, a partner at Hard Candy Shell. The pair booked Read More