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Funtrepreneur Jason Calacanis is turning to low-profile interviews to promote a new round of funding for Mahalo. But CIO Insight? Why is the well-connected friend to thousands turning to a niche publication aimed at IT executives? The always entertaining Calacanis should be able to get an interview with anyone he wants. And where's the usual bluster? "I think it's going to work, although it may take five years and $50 million to prove my point," says Calacanis. We're not sure what to make of this new, tentative Calacanis.

He has found an unwittingly useful new metaphor, however:

... we create pages based on a combination of the wisdom of crowds and the judgment of experts; we let the audience scrutinize pages and put in links, but we make the final decision. Voting is a great device, but there's a reason we have a representative government.

In other words, Mahalo is a lot like Congress. And about as effective.