By Kelly Faircloth 10/16/12 8:15am

Linkages

We're hungry. (Photo: Screencap)

Booting Up: Foursquare Wants to Recommend Some Coffee Shops

Foxconn has confirmed that underage “interns” as young as 14 worked for brief periods at its Chinese factories. Bring this up the next time an underemployed millennial theater major carps about, oh, anything. [Bloomberg News]

Marissa Mayer has poached another Googler: Henrique de Castro will be Yahoo’s COO. But it’s costing the underdog a pretty penny to get him: All told, he’ll get something like $60 million (part of it in stock). [Wall Street Journal]

Badges? What badges? Foursquare, in its pursuit of being a player in the search and recommendations business, has redesigned its desktop home page so that anyone, not merely registered users, can use the service like they would Yelp. [GigaOm]

Meet your new favorite Tumblr, Fairy Tales for Twentysomethings: “the emperor bought a new fedora but all his friends thought he looked really stupid in it.” It’s like Once Upon a Time, except not one long commercial for the Disney Vault. [Tumblr]

By Kelly Faircloth 10/09/12 2:30pm

Bundles of Joy

Personally, we like "Manning." (Photo: screencap)

Is This the Poll to Name Marissa Mayer’s Baby?

Just last week, new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and her husband, Zack Bogue, welcomed a bouncing baby boy into the world. A tweet from Mr. Bogue followed, but don’t hold your breath for the pretty printed birth announcements just yet. As was reported last week by the New York Times, the littlest Yahoo will likely be named based partially on input from a large circle of friends and family. “Name TBD — suggestions welcome!” wrote Ms. Mayer in an email obtained by the Times.

Now, via a tipster, we have what looks like it might be the hub for where they are crowdsourcing Baby Bogue’s name. The source said that the parents have sent out another group email, this one pointing to a poll on a startup site called “Belly Ballot,” asking everyone to choose among six names, ranging from Zachary (presumably after his dad) to the more avant garde Neval. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 10/08/12 1:50pm

Yahoo for Yahoos

Like so. (Photo: pinterest.com/spicygurl)

Everything We Need to Know About Marissa Mayer We Learned From Diaper Cake

Marissa Mayer has long been a familiar name in the tech world. But with her ascendence to the role of Yahoo CEO, she’s become one of the most visible people in business, period. That means it’s time for a flurry of profiles digging into every facet of her personality, from her geek bona fides to her there-is-no-such-thing-as-burnout work ethic.

Stepping up to the plate this week:  New York, with a long, thorough look  at whether Ms. Mayer–who’s long stayed a little aloof from the “women-in-tech” fray–can quote-unquote “have it all.” (Tl;dr answer: We’ll see!) Read More

By The Editors 10/05/12 6:10pm

shameless rumormongering

bloomberghipsterglasses2

Rumor Roundup: Eric Schmidt’s BlackBerry Problem, a Foursquare Stalker & Sheryl Sandberg’s Frenemy

If your week was as hellish hectic as ours, you must be in need of a stiff drink. Pour yourself a cocktail and get comfy: here comes this week’s rumor roundup.

Step Away from the Crackberry! In case you missed all the Instagrams, Mayor Bloomberg performed some titillating acts of Startup Theatre on the stage at Gracie Mansion Tuesday night. The crème of tech society, including MakerBot’s Bre Pettis, General Assembly’s Adam Brimer, Yipit founder Vinny Vacanti, Google trends & insights editor Caroline McCarthy, Sailthru’s Aubrey Sabala, chief digital officer Rachel Sterne Haot and her husband, LiveStream founder Max Haot, gathered on the lawn for canapés and cocktails to celebrate NYC Connects 2012.

To enhance his usual Silicon Alley cheerleading, Mr. Bloomberg opted for props on the podium, like an array of Warby Parker sunglasses and a Seamless delivery guy, who shlepped takeout up on stage. The spotlight was enough to lure Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky out of Twitter hiding. Besides one of the guests complaining about a scripted “Hello world” joke that fell short, everyone seemed to eat up the promotional opportunities. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 9/19/12 8:22am

Linkages

Isn't everyone at Oktoberfest, anyway? (Photo: flickr.com/maggiejane)

Booting Up: Germany Says Stop Using Internet Explorer Edition

The government of Germany is urging citizens to stop using Internet Explorer–at least until a security hole you could drive a Volkswagen through is fixed. But who goes back to IE once they’ve switched, even for a couple of days? [Reuters]

If you must patent troll, it’s important to get a few basic technological details correct. GitHub and Rackspace are different entities. [Wired]

It’s official–tech companies including Amazon, Yahoo, and Facebook are joining forces to form The Internet Association, their very own lobbying shop. [TNW]

Do not shell out $1,600 on eBay just to have the iPhone 5 a few days early. That would make you a chump. [CNET]

A visit to the Ace Hotel: “‘I’m just trying to figure out who those people are and do they have jobs,’ said Chip Morrow, a lawyer from Memphis, staying at the hotel while trying a prescription drug case. ‘I mean, I see laptops everywhere but I can’t figure out what everybody’s doing.’” [Marketplace]

By Kelly Faircloth 9/17/12 7:44am

Linkages

Tech talent from Sesame Street. (Photo: flickr.com/libertygrace0)

Booting Up: The NYC Tech Talent Draft Begins

This crisp weather says it’s fall, which means it’s time for another round of the NYC Tech Talent Draft. [Wall Street Journal]

Third-party image hosts like Twitpic and yfrog are reportedly the next services to get the ax from Twitter. [BuzzFeed]

Your favorite educational puppet show was once a startup, and its founders were told the concept would never work. And yet here we are, an entire generation taught to count by the Count. [New York Daily News]

Some master thief drove his BMW into an Apple store and started stealing, only to find his getaway impeded by flat tires. [ABC News]

Marissa Mayer is giving everyone at Yahoo an electronic leash smartphone. [Business Insider]

Meet your iPhone 5 early birds: “Hazem Sayed, 54, and his marketing manager Sage (short for Sagittarius), 31, set up camp Thursday at 8 a.m. — eight days early — to promote a social media startup called Vibe.” [Fortune]

Here’s a little blast from the past, in the form of Bill Gates introducing Microsoft Excel, circa 1987. [History]

By Kelly Faircloth 9/06/12 5:15pm

Tumblr's Very Own

Mr. Brown. (Photo: LinkedIn)

Tumblr Installs a Groupon, Yahoo Vet as Head of Global Sales

Operation: Get Money seems to be proceeding apace at Tumblr, as the company builds out its advertising offerings and its team to manage them. The latest development: the hiring of a new head of global sales. Lee Brown, who starts work on September 17, will report directly to motorcyclist-in-chief David Karp.

Mr. Brown’s background in digital ad sales is nothing to sneeze at. Previously Groupon’s SVP of national sales, he was one of a number of recent, high-profile departures from the beleaguered daily deals site, which just seems snakebit lately. Before that, he spent a decade at Yahoo, serving in a number of positions.  Read More

By Jessica Roy 8/31/12 9:52am

Privacy Police

(Photo: Daily Mail)

Chinese Dissident, Convicted on Evidence from Yahoo, Freed From Prison After 10 Years

Way back in 2002, a Chinese political dissident named Wang Xiaoning was arrested for publishing pro-democracy materials using his Yahoo account. When the Chinese government went to build a case against Mr. Wang, Yahoo rolled over like a trained dog, coughing up Mr. Wang’s records, which China then used to convict him of “subversion.” It was all very Orwellian. But, finally some good news: Mr. Wang has finally been freed. Read More