Mr. McClure

#RealTalk Dave McClure, our favorite giver of zero fucks, went on a bit of a Twitter tear the other day. It started with the admission that he'd "just had really hard tough love talk w/ startup founder. fucking sucks, but better harsh truth than bullshit 'you'll make it work' lies." He didn't stop there, adding that "what really sucks is none of other investors (incl big lead VC) have the balls 2 tell them its not going 2 fucking work & shut it down."

He concluded: "the Silicon Valley story is indeed the 1% story of Instagram $1B win, but also 99% broken dreams, shattered hopes & try, try again. sigh."

Okay, 'fess up: Who's the startup? Tips@betabeat.com if you wanna talk.

Not So Super Today, in unlikely historical connections: Wired reports that the decades-long legal battle over the ownership of Superman has been resolved... using the precedent set by the conclusion of Winklevoss vs. Facebook. To simplify a byzantine copyright nightmare: In 1938, the creators of Superman sold the rights for a mere $130. For decades, Jerry Siegel’s heirs have been attempting to rectify the move. In the latest chapter of the saga, they argued that an agreement reached in 2001 wasn’t finalized, meaning that the Siegel heirs could press for more rights and more money. Lots and lots of money. It also presented a potential legal problem for the studio with Man of Steel, which is scheduled to hit screens this summer.

In 2008, the courts sided with the Siegels. That’s been overturned, though, thanks in part to a ruling against the Winklevosses claim that an earlier settlement with Facebook hadn’t actually been binding. Warner Bros. now has the rights to make the movies free and clear--and without having to hand over more moola to Siegel's heirs. Hope the Winklevii and Mark Zuckerberg are proud of themselves for this.

It Ain’t Me, Babe Last year’s coverage of the booth babes of CES took a more circumspect, critical view. “That Mad Men bullshit doesn't represent who we are as an industry anymore, and it certainly doesn't represent what we should aspire to become. Technology is about the future, and this attitude is from the past,” Mat Honan wrote over at Gizmodo.

But Business Insider went back to business as usual this week with its slideshow ogling the antiquated, alienating marketing tactic.

glad we've moved past meta booth babe coverage and circled back to unironic booth babe galleries

— matt buchanan (@mattbuchanan) January 10, 2013

That wasn’t the only sexism on display. Skillcrush, the tech literacy startup, took a stab at “unpacking male tech privilege,” starting with the backlash that followed a petition to get more women on conference panels.

Indeed, blockbuster tech shows tend to surface all manner of moral quandaries, apparently, such as what happened when CNET's corporate owners intercede in news coverage to their own advantage. It was enough make Sam Biddle go straight quid pro quo.

(GIF HAT TIP: @jwherrman)

Viva Las Vegas Maybe the Buzzfeed editorial team skipped CES, but that doesn't mean head honcho Jonah Peretti missed a chance to visit Sin City. Photographic evidence comes from the unlikeliest of sources: Namely News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch, who tweeted that "At CES getting many brilliant presentations. So far most fun Buzzfeed."

We'd almost be afraid to hear what secrets were discussed. Our faces might melt off, like in Raiders of the Last Ark.

WTF Consider the charmed life of Kevin Rose. Sure, Digg crashed and burned (only to be resurrected by Betaworks once it was out of his hands), but Mr. Rose landed on his feet. He's now a venture partner at Google who spends his time Instagramming things like his Hawaii vacation and also this:

The caption: "Hanging with Tim Ferriss, yes this is normal."

Here's what we'd like to know: What was Mr. Rose wearing to the party? Was this, by chance, a furry party?

Open the door and influenza Could someone check on Chris Hughes? You might find him huddled in a corner at the New Republic between two bookshelves overflowing with pamphlets from the 1950s, clutching a giant bottle of hand sanitizer. Earlier this week he tweeted a link to a New York Times piece (with an xpost to Facebook) and commented that "Flu, stomach viruses, and whooping cough are at record levels this season. Reminder: wash hands compulsively."

Okay actually now we're terrified too. If you need us, we'll be looking for Mr. Hughes' Tamiflu stockpile.

The new Winklevoss pad. (Photo: TMZ)

As residents of Silicon Alley (a clever knockoff of California's original Silicon Valley), we don't have much room to mock other cities around the country for attempting to claim a piece of the tech pie all for themselves. But we couldn't help but notice in a Wall Street Journal real estate feature that Los Angeles--despite the fact that it's already well-known for being the entertainment capital of the world--is still trying to make "Silicon Beach" a thing. SMH.

The Journal reports that tech bigwigs like Peter Thiel, Mars enthusiast Elon Musk, Romney critic and investor Ray Lane, Matt Jacobson, Facebook's stylish head of market development, the Winklevii and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison have all recently plunked down millions of dollars for vast palatial compounds in the land of smog and nose jobs. The newly blurry line between tech, media and entertainment is enticing young techies with money to burn to ditch the fog for beachfront stunners.

Ever since Google opened its Venice Beach headquarters, home prices in the area have skyrocketed--despite the fact that tech stocks, on the whole, are kind of tanking. And apparently tech titans are much more annoying to work with than even your typical home buyer. "They will challenge your knowledge of the market. And only if you pass will they trust you," one broker said, exercising great restraint by not using the term "know-it-all."

Of course, there's another reason besides the good weather that has "Silicon Beach" filling up.

"A lot of these guys are young, they have cashed out, they are bachelors, they like to party," one real estate broker told the Journal. "And let's be honest, the partying in Hollywood is way better than in Silicon Valley."

Ah, it really is 1999 all over again, isn't it?

Speak of the devil: Google just purchased Instagram challenger Snapseed. [PC Mag]

The Winklevoss twins are giving this social network thing another go, investing in SumZero, ConnectU cofounder Divya Narendra's new site for investors. We can only assume developers are being vetted very carefully. [Wall Street Journal]

The ludicrous looking Ostrich Pillow is now on Kickstarter. How long before this is yet another standard-issue startup perk? [TNW]

An Iraqi American plans to found a hackerspace in Baghdad, because he is way more hardcore than you. [Wired]

Long Island City is being overrun with "artisanal food businesses and tech start-ups." [New York Daily News]

Apparently 34 percent of people have used their iPad naked. Naughty! [VentureBeat]

“This lawsuit is a brazen and outrageous fraud on the court,” Facebook wrote in its response. “Plaintiff is an inveterate scam artist whose misconduct extends across decades and borders. His latest and most far-reaching fraud is the amended complaint filed in this action, which is based upon a doctored contract and fabricated evidence. Plaintiff alleges that he recently ‘discovered’ a purported contract that now supposedly entitles him to ownership of 50 percent of Zuckerberg’s interest in Facebook. The purported contract was signed in 2003, yet plaintiff waited until 2010 to file this action — a seven-year delay during which plaintiff remained utterly silent while Facebook grew into one of the world’s best-known companies. Plaintiff has now come out of the woodwork seeking billions in damages.”

Mr. Ceglia claims he and Mr. Zuckerberg had a contract in 2003 that entitles him to 84 percent of Facebook, which he says he had forgotten about until now. The lawsuit was filed in Buffalo; Facebook wants the case dismissed and wants Mr. Ceglia to pay its legal fees.

*NOTE: The following facts may or may not be true.

1. They hate cilantro.

2. Tyler’s childhood nickname is “Cameron.”

3. Both are one inch taller than the other.

4. Their parents didn’t get around to naming Tyler until he was 7 years old.

5. Never actually went to Harvard, but volunteered like crazy for the Crew team.

6. The Winklevoss Family made its fortune on Jeopardy!

7. Cameron LOVES the TV show Medium; Tyler thinks it’s just okay.

8. Put their pants on both legs at a time by way of a proprietary leg-sheathing device.

9. They aren’t just jocks – Cameron remains one of the world’s most sought-after hand models (Right hand, only).

10. Were part of an octuplet birth but killed and ate the rest of their siblings.

Totally not sour grapes. Members of the DUMBO Tech Breakfast Meetup think Facebook is dead. Okay!

Geek sweat. It's the first warm day in recent memory, and we hear General Assembly is a sweat lodge--but they had the fans on! Wonder what it'll be like in the summer?!

Blind item! Which New York start-up was so desperate to hire a hacker who presented at the HackNY marathon that they offered to double the offer he had received from a major (LIKE REALLY MAJOR!) media production company? Not sure, but we're thinking he said no. :( He had declined to work on the New York start-up's A.P.I. because the service was "too slow." Ouch!

That's... hot? Did hipster writer Bret Easton Ellis really once offer to publish Ronen Verbit's novel in exchange for sex? "FUN FACT," Mr. Verbit claims on Bnter. "During an interview. Which was being recorded." So, was that disillusioning, or like, perfect?

Overcrowding. Applications for TechCrunch Disrupt were sent in last week, and the hackathon is looking at having to host 500+ hackers. More challenging than the venue: Judge attention spans. Investors and other judges aren't going to want to sit through three hours of demos, the organizers fear, and some sort of run-off may be necessary.

Giggle city. The dead horse-beating Winklevi don't know which one is older! That and more fun facts in 10 Things the Media Either Gets Wrong or Doesn’t Know About the Winklevoss Twins, by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, here on Betabeat. They're also going to continue beating that horse with a Petition for Rehearing. Go for it!

Pretty apps make waves. Homegrown playlist-maker 8tracks posted a pitch to AngelList recently and now one of the co-founders is out on the West Coast, being all tight-lipped about why. The start-up continues to kill it, as the iPhone app was featured today by TechCrunch's number one Apple sycophant and proprietor of the Paris Lemon expressway to pageviews, M.G. Siegler.