(Original photo: flickr.com/niallkennedy)

Lying Bitches 500 Startups founder Dave McClure, known for his rather dirty mouth, made a big slip-up at the Nebraska-based thinkfluencer festival Big Omaha today. According to Valleywag, Mr. McClure was giving a talk at the conference when he asked someone how good her iPhone battery life was. When she responded with a presumably positive answer, Mr. McClure called her a "lying bitch." On stage. In front of tons of people.

Mr. McClure responded by clarifying his comment:

https://twitter.com/davemcclure/status/332946952176156672

Okay then.

Man about Internet Anil Dash stepped into the fray, corroborating Valleywag's reporting, but saying that Mr. McClure apologized for the faux pas.

https://twitter.com/anildash/status/332950633424502785

But then he added more context:

https://twitter.com/anildash/status/332951296816599041

Wonder if this whole debacle is making Mr. McClure wish for the heady days of reality show stardom.

No One Knows Anything at Twitter Even though Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey claims that he is "not even thinking" about taking the little company public, that doesn't mean other people aren't. Jean-Phillipe Maheu, a Twitter employee and former Bluefin Labs exec, was stopped by an immigration agent at JFK airport, but not for a typical immigration check. Instead, Mr. Maheu was asked the $64,000 question: when the hell is Twitter going to cave and make it rain with an IPO? Mr. Maheu didn't finish his tweet, so maybe he's not even thinking about it.

https://twitter.com/jpmaheu/status/332806410545025024

Nuptial Update Are you getting SO PUMPED for Sean Parker's Medievial Times-themed wedding of the (19th) century on June 1? We know you're busy polishing off your sword and ironing out the wrinkles in your Elven Hooded cloak, but before you get too carried, you should get acquainted with the surroundings of the wedding's exotic locale in Big Sur, Calif. It's a hot spot for celebrity weddings, as SFGate.com discovered. The city, which is about two hours south of the Valley, has seen several (real) celebrities get married like Michael C. Hall, Natalie Portman, and, ugh, Anne Hathaway. If you can't be an A-lister, you may as well get married like one.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Dorsey Jack Dorsey is really freaking us out this week, perhaps more so than usual. First, he's doing these weird selfies on his Vine account that nobody can explain, and now apparently he discovered the Marilyn Monroe tag on Tumblr. His always erratic Twitter account that usually spews non-sequiturs and documents the San Francisco sunrise is now spitting out quotes from Ms. Monroe. This one below is particularly special because we ask this every day.

https://twitter.com/jack/status/332864581653368834

X Marks the Spot Rumors surrounding Microsoft's new iteration of its Xbox videogame console are in high gear with the nearing of the console's reveal at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington on May 21. On Tuesday, the International Business Times reported that it had confirmed that the new console would be called Xbox Infinity, although Reddit users appeared to debate the validity of this source. The device, which internally is going by the codename Durango, has seen numerous name ideas emerge, from Xbox 720, NeXtbox, or simply Xbox--just like Apple did with their newest iPad. No Xbox Cheetoh Fingers, then?

Zynga Death Watch Zynga employees appear to be so distressed about the state of their company that they are willingly running into traffic. The Village Voice reports that Zynga NYC's mobile team had its second annual footrace today:

They waited until one light turned red, made the cross-walk at one side their starting line, and ran through a hastily pulled ribbon at the other cross-walk to finish. There were pictures. And applause. And a lot of people standing around going, "What the f*ck?"

Runnin' Scared was kind enough to get a video interview, which you can watch below:

Lafayette Foot Race from Voice Media Group on Vimeo.

Worms can get in through that bite now. (via Wikipedia)

Apple stock is down 24 percent this year. Shares slipped briefly below $400 earlier this week. [Wall Street Journal]

Did an adding error in Microsoft Excel exacerbate unemployment? [Ars Technica]

"It really is that simple–just design something great, something that users love." Damn, someone ought've told  Zynga. [Forbes]

Should we really be so worried about hackers? [TechDirt]

Barry Diller says, "I see the death of irrelevant media." You think he relishes the angel of death role?[NetNewsCheck]

$$$

You've got to wonder what employee happy hours are like in the legendarily intense environs of Zynga. (We're gonna guess testy.) A couple days ago, the company announced the departure of New York GM Dan Porter, and former employees are already dishing to Fast Company. A lot of former Zynga staffers, it seems, are ready to trash talk the OMGPOP acquisition, which cost Zynga a $95.5 million write-down.

One former employee complained to Fast Company, "They bought it at the peak [of Draw Something], and people got tired of the gameplay quickly and the usership dropped. We got the timing wrong."

A former "long-time" product manager said Zynga timed the acquisition wrong and overpaid (double ouch):

 "It was a knee-jerk reaction to something the executive team saw as a threat to the company. If you look at OMGPOP's portfolio of failed games, the fact that they hit on this winning game was an accident. People got bored of playing Draw Something after about two weeks. Zynga closed the acquisition and announced it when their numbers peaked. That's almost comical."

It wasn't all criticism, though. See, one former GM delivered this backhanded compliment:

"I knew the OMGPOP guys--they were really talented, and really good at making games," says a former Zynga general manager. "What they were bad at was making money, and they were struggling for a long time."

In fact, it sounds like some of these guys aren't mad at OMGPOP, so much as they're disgusted with Zynga's bungling: "The acqui-hire doesn't make sense, and I think Zynga's acquisitions are retarded, actually," one former product manager told Fast Company.

Not to put any pressure on the upcoming game show or the celebrity-focused Draw Something 2, but this sob story could really use a happy ending.

(Photo: How to get real)

It should probably come as no surprise to you that Facebook has employees whose job it is to read private messages that have been flagged as inappropriate, particularly if they contain malicious URLs or child porn. [BuzzFeed]

Zynga's first big real-money casino games, ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino, are launching this week in the U.K. At least you'll have the potential to win actual dollars instead of spending them on virtual crops? [AllThingsD]

Apple is finally beginning iPhone production this quarter so calm down ya fanboys. [Wall Street Journal]

If you live in California, you may soon be able to know exactly what personal information your telecom company collects on you. [Ars Technica]

Happy 40th birthday to the cellphone. Oh, how far we've come. [The Verge]

Mr. Porter and Ghostface Killah (Photo: Twitter)

Dan Porter, the former CEO of New York-based gaming company OMGPOP which was purchased by Zynga in March of last year, has left the company, according to a release obtained by Betabeat.

Zynga confirmed to Betabeat that the decision was mutual and unrelated to the expiration of any “golden handcuff” clause in his contract keeping him at the company after the acquisition. Mr. Porter had been working on developing the sequel to Draw Something for the past year and felt it was in good enough shape to make the transition. Zynga launched Draw Something 2 in Sweden last week. The company picked Sweden to release the sequel--a celebrity-focused social network of sorts that emphasizes showcasing drawings over gaming--because Sweden was the first country where the first version hit no. 1 in the App Store.

"Developing and launching games is a team effort, and we’re proud of the great work the Zynga New York team has done with Draw Something 2," Zynga COO David Ko said. "We thank Dan Porter for his efforts in making the Draw Something franchise a success and wish him well in his future endeavors."

Until today, Mr. Porter served as the VP of general management at Zynga's New York office. He'll be replaced by VP of Mobile Sean Uberoi Kelly. This past December, CEO Mark Pincus was named the fourth worst CEO in part because of "a big exodus of top executive talent," as well as the $95.5 million write-down on its acquisition of OMGPOP.

Mr. Porter’s independent streak has bristled against Zynga’s corporate policies in the past. His public criticisms, such as calling Zynga out for copying competitors, have on occasion warranted a retraction. Zynga HQ’s willingness to blame poor performances on the OMGPOP write-down and dwindling engagement with the game likely didn’t help.

But Zynga New York has been on a hot streak of late, as we reported last week. What’s the Phrase--a new game from the New York office that borrows from “Wheel of Fortune” the same way Words with Friends borrows from Scrabble--hit no. 1 in Apple’s App Store without much promotion. It's currently no. 6 in top free apps overall and no. 4 in top free games.

On March 21st, Mr. Porter tweeted “One year,” indicating the one-year anniversary of his time at Zynga.

https://twitter.com/tfadp/status/314841925268172800

This is a breaking story. We have reached out to Mr. Porter and will update the post when we hear back. 

UPDATE: Yesterday evening after our post went up, Zynga's What's the Phrase moved from no. 3 to no. 1  for top free games in Apple's App Store and is currently holding down the top spot.

Zynga New York hasn't always had the chummiest relationship with Zynga's corporate office back in San Francisco. The East Coast outpost was formed a year ago after Mark Pincus acquired OMGPOP and its mobile juggernaut Draw Something--installing OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter as general manager.

Things started to sour last fall when Zynga blamed a $95.5 million write down on its $183 million OMGPOP acquisition for a bad quarter. But after a round of office closures, Zynga New York remained open, which is in line with gaming giant catching the all-mobile-all-the-time bug from Mark Zuckerberg. COO David Ko (Mr. Pincus' no. 2 man) also continues to speak highly of Draw Something and the upcoming, Ryan Seacrest-approved Draw Something 2.

Soon he may have even more to crow about to wary Zynga shareholders. 

When we logged into Apple's App Store today, Zynga New York's newest game What's the Phrase was front-and-center, holding down the no. 3 spot for free games. The app, which was launched February 28th, had been hovering just below the top 10 games last week, a Zynga representative told Betabeat.

Like other Zynga titles, What's the Phrase takes its cue from old school American pastimes like Scrabble and Pictionary--updating them with a social twist. In this case, "Wheel of Fortune," since players take turns guessing vowels and consonants that form a hidden phrase.

The company said a team of ten mobile developers from Zynga New York were responsible for the app and that it managed to climb up the app charts organically, without much promotion. This is good news for Zynga, which has had to acquire hits (like Words with Friends) in the past.

Considering Pat Sajak is still on the air, though, What's the Phrase is gonna have to find a different monetization path than Draw Something, which has an upcoming game show (produced by Mr. Seacrest) and is following the Angry Bird model of extending its brand beyond your smartphone screen.

But Zynga HQ doesn't sound ready to cede dominance to New York just yet. A representative pointed out that Running with Friends, a new game currently in beta in certain markets, was developed in San Francisco. With that name, we expected a quantified-self app that forces you to humble-brag marathon times (with friends), but apparently the game is Mr. Pincus' version of Temple Run. Maybe Zynga should change its name to Copies with Friends?

You know what happens to Joe Pesci at the end, right? (Photo: Wikipedia)

The day where you can blow your paycheck playing poker over the Internet creeps ever closer! Fast Company reports that the Nevada Gaming Commission has issued U.K.-based online gambling company 888.com a license to act as an "interactive gaming service provider." 

That means the company can, once more, run an online gambling business in the U.S.--legally this time, that is. 888 had to exit the market with other international operators when the feds closed old Internet gambling loopholes and began cracking down. Some states (including New York and New Jersey) have begun the long, slow process of legalizing the practice but this is the first official license secured by an Internet-only operator.

(Update, 2:40 p.m.) The Verge points out that 888 Holdings has a rather checkered past: "The International Gaming Affiliate Marketing Initiative (IGAMI) blacklisted 888 twice for "unethical affiliate practices including scraping and spamming" and "numerous instances of blog and forum spamming." Another group, CasinoAffiliatePrograms, suspended 888's certification in May 2006 and requested that the company take steps to curb spam." But nowadays, the company's spokesman says, they limited themselves to "very good targeted marketing." Guess the good folks of Nevada will find out soon enough.

This might also herald a happy opportunity for beleaguered Zynga, which poached an exec from 888 Holdings last year in an attempt to get its own online gambling operatons off the ground.

Of course, the problem with this license is that it only gives 888 the opportunity to operate in Nevada. Why would you want to stay inside and gamble online when the bright lights of Las Vegas are right there?

Another rainy day in NYC. (Photo: wired New York)

Zynga has lost another exec. The struggling company's chief game designer Brian Reynolds has resigned. [VentureBeat]

Sorry, Facebook: Twitter is now the fastest-growing social platform in the world. No data yet on who owns the universe, though. [GlobalWebIndex]

Netflix wants to become the next HBO. So, lots of shows with gratuitous nudity and cursing just 'cuz, "It's premium cable, man." [The Verge]

McDonald's is the new study hall. Hey, it's not like the library has french fries. [Wall Street Journal]

Startup visas may soon become a thing after the President endorsed them in a recent speech. But what about all those lawless seafaring incubators? [Huffington Post]

flickr.com/davidcory

At the eleventh hour, a security bug was discovered in Facebook's "Midnight Delivery" feature, which made it possible to see and even delete users' New Year's messages to friends. Whoops! It's been fixed. [TNW]

As part of a plan to cut costs, Zynga has shut down a raft of games over the course of December. The latest: PetVille and Mafia Wars 2. [TechCrunch]

Guess Nate Silver's election-day triumph didn't singlehandedly slay the gut feeling in favor of big data, after all: "What is intuition at its best but large amounts of data of all kinds filtered through a human brain rather than a math model?" [New York Times]

Techies we lost in 2012. [Wired]

"But there is a darker possibility, too, which is that some people will own workbots before other people do, and that the people who lack workbots won’t be able to keep up with those to do." Happy New Year, ya'll! [New Yorker]

You know what happens to Joe Pesci at the end, right? (Photo: Wikipedia)

Bad news for anyone looking to launch a real-money gaming startup: The AP reports that in a recent poll, half of respondents said they wanted sports gambling legalized--but a whopping three quarters thought Internet gambling specifically ought to remain off-limits.

Guess everyone just wants to stake their paycheck on how Eli Manning feels this weekend?

The AP says opposition is even fairly bipartisan:

"The poll also found that political affiliation made little difference in attitudes toward Internet gambling; 27 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of Republicans supported it, while 59 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans opposed it. Independents had roughly the same levels of support, as well."

Finally, something America can agree on. The poll, which measures national sentiment, comes on the heels of New Jersey state legislature Internet betting bill. It's not clear whether Gov. Chris Christie will approve it, though.

The company likeliest to be disappointed by this is Zynga, which is gearing up to offer real-money gaming in the U.K. and would sure love another way to separate Americans from their dollars.

Then again, the U.S. Congress is all too often an enigma wrapped in a riddle shrouded in mystery, so who knows what they'll do. Let's not even talk about state legislatures.