I think this photo speaks for itself. Pownce cofounder Leah Culver — no, I don't know what Pownce does don't tell me LA LA LA — has trampled the competition at Dig a Silicon Valley Girl. Rocketing women's roles in the Valley 30 years backwards, the site proves all a gal needs to make it is a videoblog and/or an early-employee gig at Google. But special thanks to all the German Splunk admins who voted for a black-and-white headshot of my wife. You guys are dorks, but with class.

Hey! Our book is out! Today's the big day when this website joins the ranks of published authors such as Jose Canseco, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and Robert Olen Butler! To celebrate The Gawker Guide To Conquering All Media, we're gonna run three contests, because we got corporate to cough up some actual dough for prizes. We'll kick off with a quick and dirty yet secretly difficult contest. On October 19th, we'll randomly choose someone who correctly named all the people on the cover of the book and they will win an iPod video nano. You have to use our handy-dandy submission form—and naturally, the usual contest rules apply. Fair warning: Our upcoming contests will actually require you to, you know, have read the book.

Our sponsors are far too strong-minded to go in for silly fads that they will later regret. Equally independent? Find out how here. Thanks this week to American Apparel, Annie Lennox, Ask.com, Bravo, CNN, Comedy Central, Crown Publishing, Crunch, The Darjeeling Limtied, Dirty Sexy Money, Evian, Good Luck Chuck, KT Tunstall, Mandalay Bay, New York City Opera, TMZ, Toto Washlet, The TV Set, and VW.

Seriously, who doesn't agree that this summer has outstayed its welcome? Get out of here, August! If you're interested in advertising on Gawker, there's more info available here. Also, would you like to win a set of Justin Timberlake CDS? Just email contests@gawker.com with your answers to the following!

Thanks to this week's sponsors, who take a long walk, come back, and re-read their e-mails before they decide that hitting "send" might not be a good idea after all. Wish you had that kind of judgment? There's more info here.

Thanks to this week's sponsors, who aren't shy about displaying their endearing bits. Care to show some of your own? There's more information here. This week: American Apparel, Ask.com, Converse, Crunch, Death and Taxes, District NY, E! Online, Evian, Fresh Direct, Gypsy Caravan, MSN Live Earth, Mandalay Bay, Psych, SciFi Channel's Superhero, Toto Washlet, Tegan & Sara, The Travel Channel, Weeds, Wicked Musical.

Thanks to this week's sponsors, whose Facebook pictures are all completely above-board. Interested in joining the gang? There's more information here! This week: American Apparel, Ask.com, Converse, Crunch, Death and Taxes, District NY, E! Online, Fresh Direct, Gypsy Caravan, Sony Pictures Interview, Live from Abbey Road, MSN Live Earth, Mandalay Bay, Psych, Reyka Vodka, Rock of Love, Sammy's House, SciFi Channel's Superhero, Toto Washlet, The Green Book, The Travel Channel, Wicked Musical. Plus! Do you want to win a copy of Sammy's House, the smart, entertaining new novel from New York Times bestselling author Kristin Gore? Sure you do! To enter, just send an email to contests@gawker.com with the subject line "Sammy's House Contest" before Tuesday, July 17th An email will be picked at random to win. By emailing your entry, you agree to our Contest Rules. Find out more about Sammy's House at Hyperion Books.

You Kill Me, "a killer comedy" by John Dahl, starring Ben Kingsley, Téa Leoni, and Luke Wilson, opens on June 22nd. Write a clever caption for the image above (click to enlarge) and you could win the following: A one-sheet movie poster signed by John, Téa , Ben, and Luke - plus DVDs of Dahl's Rounders, Red Rock West, and The Last Seduction. To enter, just send an email to contests@gawker.com with your caption suggestion and the subject line "You Kill Me Contest" before Tuesday, June 19th. An email will be picked by our editors to win. By emailing your entry, you agree to our standard Contest Rules.

Thanks to this week sponsors, who know how to dress for summer. Care to share in their sartorial elegance? There's more information here.

Check out the book Luis Alberto Urrea calls "vivid to the point of hallucination." Escape into your own copy of The Virgin's Guide to Mexico, by Eric B. Martin, at McAdam Cage.

So yes, the Vlog Hot poll was hacked and scrapped in the semifinals, but we respect the need for closure. Therefore, after the jump, you can peruse the "final" vote tallies, such as they were. In related news, the fine acrylic statuette is back on! The gentlefolk at Zazzle offer these same excellent keepsakes without requiring a trip to some seedy mall studio à la Glamour Shots. So any contestants who made it to the finals — send a high-res photo of your desired subject, your preferred shipping address, and your preferred photo-imprinted farewell gift (deck of cards, pillowcase, or statuette) to tips@valleywag.com.

"Sport spirit does not have this number here anyhow no more." So true, those words, as written by Katrin Bauerfeind fan "codemonk" and badly if poignantly translated from the German by Babelfish. This refers to a Bauerfeind partisan (commenter "votekatrin") in our Vlog Hot poll who was so determined to see his gal win that he wrote a script to hack the totals, auto-submitting multiple votes per day by gaming the IP address. He/she even offered the script for download to interested parties. Thus our amusement-only poll is rendered even more superfluous than it might have been otherwise, if such can be imagined. The only fair thing to do, of course, is to suspend the poll and declare no winner, since all the heats are suspect at this point. And by nobody wins, we mean everybody wins!

It's hardly cricket to negate all the vlogger vote-stumping and sincere viewer appreciation, despite the corruption introduced by a bad apple or two. Therefore, everyone who made it to the semifinals gets to "win." Unfortunately, it turns out that lovely acrylic statuette requires an actual visit to the mall-based hell of Glamour Shots, so we can't make good on that prize. So just for simplicity's sake, anyone who made it into the semifinal rounds (all 16 of you) can choose from having the photo of your choice (you, your cat, your pet cactus, whatever) imprinted on either a deck of playing cards or a pillowcase, which are the two cheesiest gift options offered by the Kodak Easyshare Gallery. If you're one of the semifinalists, email the high-resolution photo of your choice, plus your preferred shipping address for your lovely parting gift, to tips@valleywag.com. Sorry this exercise in the democratic process ultimately broke down, but that's the Internet for you. Due congratulations and thanks to all our fine contestants.

And for today's final semifinal in the Vlog Hot reader poll, here's your last serving of man-meat. Voting will run through this week and conclude at noon Eastern time on Sunday, March 11. You can vote in all heats once per day by clearing browser cookies from polls.gawker.com. In this installment, your choices are Ron Richards, Pedro Andrade, Chad Ruble, and Eric Rey. After the jump, crown your prince.

If you can't see the voting mechanism below, we can't help you. We don't know how it works either. You might try turning off firewalls and turning on cookies. Note that you can now vote more than once! And why not? You should be able to vote once per day in any of these polls, showing true devotion to your favorite vlogger by suborning the more casual, ephemeral love showered on her or his opponents. Again, if you have technical problems with that, don't call us. For amusement only, far as you're concerned.

Wrapping up the fair-sex semifinal side of our Vlog Hot reader poll, here are the last four females. Voting will run through this week and conclude at noon Eastern time on Sunday, March 11. You can vote in all heats once per day by clearing browser cookies from polls.gawker.com. This course of the menu includes Aida Mollenkamp, Kristin Reilly, Veronica Belmont, and Maria Sansone. Choose your future spouse after the jump.

If you can't see the voting mechanism below, we can't help you. We don't know how it works either. You might try turning off firewalls and turning on cookies. Note that you can now vote more than once! And why not? You should be able to vote once per day in any of these polls, showing true devotion to your favorite vlogger by suborning the more casual, ephemeral love showered on her or his opponents. Again, if you have technical problems with that, don't call us. For amusement only, far as you're concerned.

Continuing the semifinals in our Vlog Hot reader poll, here's the first log cabin full of hearty male specimens. Voting will run through this week and conclude at noon Eastern time on Sunday, March 11. You can vote in all heats once per day by clearing browser cookies from polls.gawker.com. In this heat, enjoy Kevin Nalts, Gary Vaynerchuk, Josh Shipp, and Jonathan London. Vote for your bestie after the jump.

If you can't see the voting mechanism below, we can't help you. We don't know how it works either. You might try turning off firewalls and turning on cookies. Note that you can now vote more than once! And why not? You should be able to vote once per day in any of these polls, showing true devotion to your favorite vlogger by suborning the more casual, ephemeral love showered on her or his opponents. Again, if you have technical problems with that, don't call us. For amusement only, far as you're concerned.

The first 16 heats of the Vlog Hot reader poll have concluded, so it's time for the semifinals — four heats of the top vote-getters (two heats of ladies, two heats of gents). Voting will run through this week and conclude at noon Eastern time on Sunday, March 11. You can vote in all heats once per day by clearing browser cookies from polls.gawker.com. The four semifinal heats will be announced throughout today. In this first heat of womens, we have Katrin Bauerfeind, Christine Gambito, Joanne Colan, and Adriana Gascoigne. Hit it after the jump.

If you can't see the voting mechanism below, we can't help you. We don't know how it works either. You might try turning off firewalls and turning on cookies. Note that you can now vote more than once! And why not? You should be able to vote once per day in any of these polls, showing true devotion to your favorite vlogger by suborning the more casual, ephemeral love showered on her or his opponents. Again, if you have technical problems with that, don't call us. For amusement only, far as you're concerned.

Voting in the first round of our Vlog Hot poll ends Sunday, March 4, at noon Eastern time. We've had a few shifts in the close races, but remember you can keep voting to support your vlog-crush. Vote once per day by clearing out your browser's cookies (specifically, the cookies from polls.gawker.com). Many of the (ostensibly) most popular vloggers are far behind due to devoted grassroots campaigns from the up-and-comers, so the field remains open. Semifinal rounds will open Monday, March 5. After the jump, a complete list of heats, contestants, and current vote leaders.

VLOG HOT STANDINGS
Current vote leaders are in bold. Voting closes noon Eastern time on Sunday, March 4. Semifinals begin Monday, March 5.

Newsbabes Heat 1 - Katrin Bauerfeind, Amanda Congdon, Zadi Diaz, Mary Katharine Ham, Lauren Love, Shauna.

Nerdboys Heat 1 - Randall Bennett, Josh Flanagan, Conor Kilpatrick, Heywood Jablome, Ron Richards.

Newsbabes Heat 2 - Lindsay Campbell, Joanne Colan, Liza de Guia, Leah Culver, Amber MacArthur.

Nerdboys Heat 2 - Alex Albrecht, Loren Feldman, Steve Garfield, Jonathan London, Kevin Rose, Gary Ruplinger.

Techbabes Heat 1 - Natali Del Conte, Iria Gallardo, Erin McNamara, Kristin Reilly, Irina Slutsky, Karina Stenquist.

Newsboys Heat 1 - Pedro Andrade, Alex Blagg, David Hauslaib, Drew Olanoff, George Oliphant.

Techbabes Heat 2 - Veronica Belmont, Cali Lewis, Caroline McCarthy, Molly Wood, Yue Xu.

Newsboys Heat 2 - Rich DeMuro, Rudy Jahchan, Daniel McVicar, Chad Ruble.

Glamazons Heat 1 - Violet Blue, Gala Darling, Adriana Gascoigne, Casey McKinnon, Sara Schaefer.

Wildcard Boys Heat 1 - Peter Bragiel, James Comans, Cyrlille de Lasteyrie, Ze Frank, Kary Rogers, Josh Shipp.

Glamazons Heat 2 - Brigitte Dale, Sara Gore, Micki Krimmel, Cecile Raubenheimer, Maria Sansone.

Wildcard Boys Heat 2 - Nick Douglas, Juan Falla, John Herman, Eric Rey, Bill Streeter.

Wildcard Babes Heat 1 - Brookers, Christine, Ximena Falla, Randi Jayne, Jenny Lee, Sarah Meyers.

Wildcard Boys Heat 3 - Greg Rose, Gabe Mac, Rick Rey, Chris Ritke, Gary Vaynerchuk.

Wildcard Babes Heat 2 - Jacqulyn Joy, Mary Matthews, Aida Mollenkamp, Uta Ritke, Eva Sollberger.

Wildcard Boys Heat 4 - Kevin Nalts, Chuck Olsen, Schlomo Rabinowitz, Christopher Witecki, Peter Zottolo.

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Voting for the Vlog Hot video blogger hotness poll continues through this weekend; polls will close at noon Eastern time on Sunday, March 4. Semifinals will launch the following Monday. Many thousands of votes have already tallied, but note that even wide margins should be no deterrent, as everyone can vote once per day in all contests (just delete cookies from your browser, or specifically, delete cookies from polls.gawker.com, to vote anew daily). So energize your base and get out the vote. Several surprises in the making — popular kids Amanda Congdon and Ze Frank are getting trounced, for example. After the jump, a complete index of all open races and contestants, with the current favorite (as of this writing) highlighted in bold for each heat.

Newsbabes Heat 1 - Katrin Bauerfeind, Amanda Congdon, Zadi Diaz, Mary Katharine Ham, Lauren Love, Shauna.

Nerdboys Heat 1 - Randall Bennett, Josh Flanagan, Conor Kilpatrick, Heywood Jablome, Ron Richards.

Newsbabes Heat 2 - Lindsay Campbell, Joanne Colan, Liza de Guia, Leah Culver, Amber MacArthur.

Nerdboys Heat 2 - Alex Albrecht, Loren Feldman, Steve Garfield, Jonathan London, Kevin Rose, Gary Ruplinger.

Techbabes Heat 1 - Natali Del Conte, Iria Gallardo, Erin McNamara, Kristin Reilly, Irina Slutsky, Karina Stenquist.

Newsboys Heat 1 - Pedro Andrade, Alex Blagg, David Hauslaib, Drew Olanoff, George Oliphant.

Techbabes Heat 2 - Veronica Belmont, Cali Lewis, Caroline McCarthy, Molly Wood, Yue Xu.

Newsboys Heat 2 - Rich DeMuro, Rudy Jahchan, Daniel McVicar, Chad Ruble.

Glamazons Heat 1 - Violet Blue, Gala Darling, Adriana Gascoigne, Casey McKinnon, Sara Schaefer.

Wildcard Boys Heat 1 - Peter Bragiel, James Comans, Cyrlille de Lasteyrie, Ze Frank, Kary Rogers, Josh Shipp.

Glamazons Heat 2 - Brigitte Dale, Sara Gore, Micki Krimmel, Cecile Raubenheimer, Maria Sansone.

Wildcard Boys Heat 2 - Nick Douglas, Juan Falla, John Herman, Eric Rey, Bill Streeter.

Wildcard Babes Heat 1 - Brookers, Christine, Ximena Falla, Randi Jayne, Jenny Lee, Sarah Meyers.

Wildcard Boys Heat 3 - Greg Rose, Gabe Mac, Rick Rey, Chris Ritke, Gary Vaynerchuk.

Wildcard Babes Heat 2 - Jacqulyn Joy, Mary Matthews, Aida Mollenkamp, Uta Ritke, Eva Sollberger.

Wildcard Boys Heat 4 - Kevin Nalts, Chuck Olsen, Schlomo Rabinowitz, Christopher Witecki, Peter Zottolo.

And THIS, for real now, is the last heat. Jesus Christ, there's a lot people out there with time on their hands. Not that we don't fully support everything you do. But next time we'll just flip a coin. In this last incarnation of hotness, pick your fave from Kevin Nalts, Chuck Olsen, Schlomo Rabinowitz, Christopher Witecki, and Peter Zottolo. Do it, after the jump.

If you can't see the voting mechanism below, we can't help you. We don't know how it works either. You might try turning off firewalls and turning on cookies. Note that you can now vote more than once! And why not? You should be able to vote once per day in any of these polls, showing true devotion to your favorite vlogger by suborning the more casual, ephemeral love showered on her or his opponents. Again, if you have technical problems with that, don't call us. For amusement only, far as you're concerned.