Current, the bizarre TV channel co-founded by Al Gore, laid off 60 staff last night. Supposedly the hippies in the San Francisco headquarters office are being shoved aside in favor of the bloodsuckers in Los Angeles. But even the survivors better watch their backs, because a company statement makes it sound like they might eventually be replaced by the robots and RSS feeds that fueled Current's awful, awful election-night coverage:

It only takes hearing so many jokes about Al Gore inventing Twitter to figure out that the former vice president has signed up for the microblogging service. Wisely, he's not really participating in the site, just using it to market his websites and announce his interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose, which airs tonight on Current, the Gore-backed cable channel. Current and Digg have been teaming up for a series of election-related events, including a party on election night. But Rose and Gore's acquaintance goes back almost two years.In late 2006, Gore's Current made an offer for Digg which valued the social-news startup at $100 milion or more. Wonder if Rose and Gore discussed business at all in this interview. As VentureBeat recently pointed out, Digg's traffic is flat, and it hasn't significantly increased its valuation since Rose and Gore's 2006 chat.

Want to watch North Carolina gyrate to a hip-hop beat? Tune into Current, Al Gore's user-generated cable channel. I don't mean people dancing in the streets; I mean an outline of North Carolina pulsating. The channel is carrying, on live TV, headlines you could read on Digg and messages you could read on Twitter, along with video snippets from current viewers. Other than that, it's offering the same kind of exit-poll projections you could get on CNN, but in hot pink and cyan instead of the traditional red-blue-gold color scheme. Digg founder Kevin Rose pops up occasionally with live updates from a San Francisco night club where Current, Digg, and Twitter are hosting an election-night party. It's Web 2.0 in your living room — and it makes me wish I could Brillo-pad the "vision" out of "television."

The company that funded Netscape, Google and Genentech is now focusing on electric cars, solar power and biofuels. New York Times contributor Jon Gertner has been meeting with Kleiner partners since last year. His 8,000-word feature in Sunday's paper goes deep on details of a few KPCB investments such as Ausra. But it spends a lot of time framing the story for non-techies outside the Valley. Here's the Sand Hill Road edit:

GigaOm's Om Malik and Mashable's Pete Cashmore like to present themselves as leaders of a new kind of Web 2.0 journalism. Both turned up at Current TV's offices Friday, ostensibly to cover Current's Twitter-enhanced coverage of the first Presidential debate. Truth is, Current's publicists had called reporters to tip us off that executive chairman of the board Al Gore would be there. Gore didn't bother to use Twitter himself — he didn't even stick around for the debate. But he did take time to pose for photos.Malik and Cashmore, perhaps taking a cue, didn't do any real reporting on the event, leaving that to Threat Level and Laughing Squid. The two simply blogged their Al-and-me pictures as news stories on GigaOm and Mashable, bringing themselves one step closer to the old media stereotype of the vain reporter who can't stop inserting himself into the story — or in this case, into the non-story.

Missed opportunity: Current TV founder Al Gore dropped in on the start of Friday's "Hack the Debate" event, a partnership with Twitter. Attendees were invited to post updates to Twitter during the debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. Current flashed selected tweets onto the screen over a live feed of the debate. Wired dubbed it groundbreaking. Social media consultant Shel Israel complained the result was "just a bunch of young people making shallow comments." But either way, where was Gore?After giving a short speech to attendees, in which he praised their efforts to break the "feudal" system of network television, Gore promised "By tomorrow, I'll be on Twitter." Then he left. Come on, Al. How hard would it have been to sign up for Twitter on the spot, then stick around for a few minutes to lob an inconvenient truth or two across John McCain's puss during the opening leg of the debate? Instead, here's the message Gore sent: Twitter is for kids. (Video by Laughing Squid/Scott Beale)

So Al Gore, who cofounded Current TV, promised to have a Twitter account by Saturday. It's Monday, and the algore and albertgore account don't look anything like they're being maintained by the former American vice president and current free marketeer. If you find him under shouldawon00 or some other catchy handle, do let us know. I couldn't find anything from his wife Tipper, either — tipper is a Twitter bot for calculating tips, and tippergore doesn't exist. And it's for shame. Because how fun would it be if they really embraced the medium, instead of just showing up to press the flesh at staged events? Below, pure speculation as to what we all have to look forward to.

You know what's really needed at a presidential debate on delicate foreign policy matters and capital markets paralyzed by their own complexity? Random internet heckling via Twitter! Or at least that's what Al Gore's cable network Current believes. Why not turn on Current, if you get it, and fire up Twitter, if you're into it, during the debates, if you're home, and enjoy seeing your 140-character tweets superimposed on Barack Obama as he debates a plastic skeleton. This will save our politics from being subsumed by the celebrity-industrial complex and maybe briefly forestall the rapidly accelerating collapse of our society. Sort of like good old Al Gore himself!

♦ She's only been on the air a week but Rachel Maddow has already usurped Keith Olbermann in the ratings. [HuffPo]
♦ The New York Times Co. reported today that ad revenue in August dropped 14 percent compared to the same period a year ago and total revenue declined 8.8 percent for the month. [E&P]
♦ A libel lawsuit against author John Grisham has been dismissed. [AP]
♦ Is Al Gore buying a magazine? [Portfolio]
♦ The Atlantic's website has witnessed a surge of traffic thanks to those gross pics of John McCain drinking blood. [Portfolio]
♦ CNBC's Erin Burnett suggests that short-selling is unpatriotic; Jim Cramer says it may be terrorism. [CJR]

Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici hears that former VP and current elitist environmentalist Al Gore is planning to buy Plenty, the environmentally-themed do-gooder magazine. Gore's on the cover of the current issue. No official confirmation yet, although Plenty's owner told Bercovici only "that wouldn't be quite accurate." So, sounds true. Did Gore miss all the smart people saying the "green" advertising boom is over? Is he itching to be a mogul past the point of good sense? Gore already has the youth-oriented Current TV network, which isn't doing incredibly well, business-wise. And his post-White House fame has allowed him to move in highfalutin circles—I'm sure he has more friends in venture capital than in farming these days. Plenty might not be the wisest investment, judging only by the general state of the print magazine industry. So this doesn't seem like mogul envy on Gore's part. He's apparently a true believer, and sees environmental media investments as part of his mission. If he makes money on them we'll really be impressed. [Anybody have inside info about Gore's plans? Email us.] [Mixed Media]

"In 6 months, we’ve received over 2,700 plans. That’s about 20x what we received in a similar period last year. Out of that group, we’ve funded five companies." Honestly, I have no idea why Kleiner Perkins partner Matt Murphy has decided to blog about the firm's iFund venture with Apple. KPCB is notorious for doing all its deals through insider connections, not by trolling for ideas on the Internet. (Apple board member Al Gore is also a partner at Kleiner Perkins, so it's not like the firm needs an in.) Murphy concludes, "Stay tuned for a future conversation on mobile monetization and navigating the tradeoffs of free versus paid applications." How about a conversation on navigating Apple's imperious rule of its App Store?

Remember that guy who got his "Bring Back Crystal Pepsi" sign onto MSNBC while a political analyst was trying to talk about Michelle Obama's big speech or whatever? Well, we heard from his roommate this morning, and asked for some more information on the grassroots political campaign that's already threatening to eclipse both Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. What we got back was a manifesto that could easily be folded into the Democratic Party platform, and probably should, because honestly the convention is already so HARSH, what with all the talk of war and economic depression and sexism and so forth. Also, this Crystal Pepsi thing, along with (OK OK) the other street protests, is probably the closest the convention comes to actual political dialog. Escape the pageantry for the moment and think about important issues, after the jump.

Al Gore's incredibly expensive campaign to solve the climate crisis by enriching the advertising industry is still going strong! The Gore-backed WeCanSolveIt.org is running a new ad, and it unfortunately embodies the traits of its sponsor: off-putting earnestness and a befuddling message in support of a worthy cause. This one features various Americans staring creepily into the camera while slogans flash, informing politicians that we "demand" that they "use the wind" to stop global warming or something. A tenth of Gore's $300 million budget spent directly on lobbying would accomplish much more than these ads ever will. Environmentalists have all the good weed-is this as creative as they can get? Watch the Gore-like spot after the jump:

A few weeks ago, I highlighted a post by Mathew Honan which pointed to former gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly using his campaign mailing list to promote Akeena Solar without bothering to disclose that he's an investor and sits on the company's advisory board. Which prompted Akeena design consultant Jamie Belliveau to write me personally: "In your recent Valleywag article, are you implying that Steve Westly is doing something wrong by promoting alternative energy solutions in the Bay Area?" Look, I have nothing against renewable energy, but I'm not willing to hand out an ethical free pass just because some wealthy capitalist is in the business of selling solar panels instead of gas-guzzling SUVs. Belliveau disagrees.

In a speech at Philadelphia's historic Constitution Hall, former veep and current entrepreneur-investor Al Gore called on Americans to produce 100 percent of our energy from fully renewable sources within 10 years. Impossible? Probably. But that won't stop him from playing a latter-day John F. Kennedy:

In the latest issue of Fortune, a feature about venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins pointed out that the company has yet to make any investments in Web 2.0. The firm which was an early investor in Google has not been so bullish on the likes of Facebook. (The investment in Friendster couldn't have helped.) Instead, it has continued to focus on biotech on the one hand and changed focus to cleantech on the other. Reporter Adam Lashinsky noted that KP didn't even send a representative to the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference this year, and relays the bad buzz from Carlsbad:

Some conservative pundits are, all of a sudden, understandably pissed at Democrat Al Gore for — well, maybe for not winning the White House for the liberals eight years ago or something? Or because they are jealous of Gore's Nobel Peace Prize, Oscar, and Emmy. Or maybe because they think Barack Obama will give Gore the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to someday become vice president. Anyway, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia just told Britain's Telegraph that Gore was a big baby who should have taken his unfair 2000 presidential defeat in stride like a real man, such as Richard Nixon. Since he had to wuss out and ask the Supreme Court to intervene, Scalia can't be held responsible for the ruling that ensued. Kind of a weird take from a guy now pimping a book called "The Art of Persuading Judges." But Scalia is not the only right-winger trashing Gore in the media lately. Here's an amazing, month-old clip in which Gore is accused of crushing the hopes of a Holocaust hero:

When Diggnation cohost Alex Albrecht said Kevin Rose has "basically plowed through everybody" maybe he wasn't only referring to the Digg cofounder's dating habits. DIgg's gone through quite a few potential buyers over the years, including News Corp., IAC and Al Gore's TV network, Current. Except, as illustrated in this excerpt from Big Think's interview with Rose, there's one big difference between Rose's love life and Digg's many turns on the auction block.

When CEO Steve Jobs presented the list of countries where the iPhone will be available in the next few months near the close of Tuesday's keynote address at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, the presentation cued music of "It's a Small World After All" — a song long copyrighted by Disney, on which Jobs sits on the board. However, someone at Disney legal must have asked Apple to excise the music from the copy of the video that's archived online. With the original grabbed from Mahalo Daily's one minute version of the address, we've cut together the two versions for comparison. That saddest part? Now you can't hear the jolly chortle of Apple board member Al Gore!

It's that time of year when institutions of higher learning heartlessly eject their seniors into the real world! Princeton grads were treated to the best speech of the season; Stephen Colbert delivered a zinger-filled address (above) in which he wisely reminded grads that "no one will ever, ever want to hear you sing a capella" outside college. How true. But plenty of other colleges tapped A through Z-list celebs to brace their soon-to-be-discharged students for entry into the workforce.