We noted Digg founder Kevin Rose's tragic haircut when we first saw a glimpse of it in picture from last month's Lobby conference. We saw the entrepreneur at a party Saturday night and can tell you that the cut looks better in person than it does in pictures, though four weeks worth of growth probably helps. So why did Rose shed his trademark shaggy locks in the first place?
So, where do you vacation when you're a multibillionaire? Try crashing at your billionaire friend's place. According to a source close to Lucy Southworth, Google cofounder Larry Page's fiancée has reserved Necker Island, the Caribbean hideaway of Virgin megamogul Richard Branson, for Larry and Lucy's upcoming nuptials. The location is consistent with the visa requirements mentioned in a blog post briefly published on Fortune's website, then erased. The private resort should offer plenty of privacy and security for the camera-shy couple. Past guests include Princess Diana, whose presence there required a 150-meter security perimeter around the entire island.
When David Hornik pitched VCs and entrepreneurs on his tropical funconference, The Lobby, part of the sell was that the whole affair was to be off the record. Ha! Good one, David. Turns out what happens in Hawaii only stays there long enough to launch itself toward our inbox. Take for example, what struck some attendees as a budding romance between TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde, the former Fox executive Michael Arrington hired to run his blog's business end, and Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress. Now, TechCrunch runs on WordPress, so it's possible that Mullenweg was just giving Harde blogging tips. But witnesses to their late-night canoodling at the bar say that wasn't the kind of pointer in question.
Update:
Now that Google has lost to Microsoft in the Great Facebook Battle of 2007, I imagine relations between the search giant and the $15 billion social network are only getting frostier. Facebook is continuing to poach Google's employees, for one. And Google plans to strike back by launching a platform for social applications next month. All that has to make things awkward for Dave Morin, Facebook's developer-platform manager.
Julia Allison, self-described "small yappy dog" and Star editor-at-large, has a new request for geeks, besides some hot, sweaty configuration of her servers. Because she can't keep herself from stalking ex-boyfriends, Allison wants "a small platform" that "blocks whatever URLs you type in (including Facebook profiles, Flickr photostreams, even, yeah, Vimeo channels), for a limited period of time, which you can adjust accordingly." Julia, off switch. Off switch, Julia.
We had high hopes when we found out that Leah Culver and Brad Fitzpatrick, pictured above at a party in August, had started dating. Fitzpatrick, the LiveJournal founder turned Google engineer, and Culver, a cofounder with Digg's Kevin Rose of Pownce, the Twitter-and-file-sharing mashup, seemed heaven-sent to the eyes of a tech gossip columnist. Brad 'n' Leah could be our geek Brangelina. Both partners were sufficiently techie, and, thankfully, good-looking enough to get on a year-end hot geeks lists. Also, neither seemed afraid of a bit of drama. For example, Culver's recent staged snit against Rose where she claimed Digg ripped off Pownce, and Fitzpatrick's confrontation of a romantic rival at a party. So it was such a disappointment for us to learn that they had ended their nascent relationship last week.
New York faux-celebrity Julia Allison and online-video entrepreneur Jakob Lodwick, founder of Vimeo, are back together, following Lodwick's public posting of a pseudo-apology on his blog. Of course, Allison had to nudge him by text message to write it. We hear the makeup sex was anything but virtual, though. [Obeastiality]
Ah, we remember a day when relations between the creators of Pownce, the online message board backed by Digg founder Kevin Rose, were, well, kinder. But now Pownce coder Leah Culver, pictured here, has started a spat with Rose, using his own Digg site to accuse Digg of copying Pownce. Digg has added more social features, it's true — and considering that Digg and Pownce share employees, is it really surprising that they'd look similar? Perhaps Culver has reconsidered the charge, having deleted the Flickr screenshot she used to illustrate it. Considering that one of the double-time workers, Daniel Burka, is Culver's ex, we suspect that there may be more to this drama than mere user-interface issues.
How typical: Julia Allison, the New York dating columnist and TV personality, has broken up with her boyfriend, Vimeo founder Jakob Lodwick. By blog post. And email. Yes, she has, at last, become one with the byways of Silicon Valley. Gawker has the blow-by-blow. So why should anyone on this coast care? Only to note the spread of our unfortunate social mores eastward. The Allison-Lodwick relationship, according to her email, was sexless. The couple, instead, bonded by talking about blogging and business plans. Lodwick never even had a chance to unseat software blogger Joel Spolsky Michael Pryor, the business partner of software blogger Joel Spolsky — yes, he's the one she wrote about — as the ultimate object of Allison's carnal attentions. (Photoillustration by Gawker)
We should have known that dot-com wonderboy Mark Pincus was maturing when he sold Tribe, his social network for Burning Man attendees, to Cisco earlier this year. After a few months cavorting around Aspen and partying with movie stars, he's settled down and gotten engaged to girlfriend Alison Gelb, who works at magazine publisher Hachette Filipacchi and whom a friend describes as "a huge prize" for Pincus. As for Pincus? Not so much of a prize. Ever the romantic, Pincus gallantly waited for Gelb to recover from a momentary illness before popping the question.
Yahoo has agreed to pay $4 million to settle the almost two-year-old class action lawsuit, Anthony v. Yahoo, in which Robert Anthony alleged Yahoo did not fulfill his needs — or rather, its obligations to paid subscribers. He claimed that the Web giant's personal-ad listings were polluted with non-personal listings and defunct profiles. Yahoo, while continues to contest the charges, is accepting the settlement so that it, and Mr. Anthony, can get on with their lives, such as they are.
Those stunned by notorious East Coast nobody Julia Allison's infamous arrival on the Silicon Valley scene might be surprised to learn that she actually has a job. Apparently she writes columns for Time Out New York. About her sex life. And here's a shocker: Allison claims nerds make the best lovers. I know the identity of the geek who gave Allison what she writes is "the best sex I've ever had." But instead of just telling you, I'm going to let you guess, in the comments, who it is. Two hints: It's certainly not high-and-dry TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington. And it's not, despite appearances, Jakob Lodwick, founder of IAC-controlled video site Vimeo. Unless his efforts over the weekend were particularly heroic. So who is the geek stud Allison had in mind? Leave your tawdry rumors in the comments. (Photo by Jakob Lodwick)
I have a confession to make, folks. Remember that Julia Allison character, the New York-based TV commentator and magazine columnist who swept through town not long ago? Okay, yes, I'm technically gay and technically married, but the state nullified my marriage and Allison, more recently, nullified my gayness. We're totally going out. The apparent dalliances with TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington and Vimeo founder Jakob Lodwick? Just cover stories. Consider them Allison's beards. I'd post more but Julia's calling to me to reset her Wi-Fi connection. I don't have the heart to tell her I can't program my way out of a paper bag.
Is it true that Jakob Lodwick, the founder of IAC-controlled online-video site Vimeo, has gone on several dates with notorious nobody Julia Allison, the TV commentator and magazine columnist whose brief visit terrorized Silicon Valley and left desperately horny TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington so heartbroken he apparently threw himself into another woman's arms? Just think: Allison traveled thousands of miles to find a geek to love, and there were plenty of eligible nerd bachelors in New York all the while. From the shirtless photo he posted of himself, we can kind of see why Allison might go for him. Add to that IAC stock options and the ability to design a blog, and we'd say she's got herself quite a catch. Make a serious play for Jakob, Julia, before Barry Diller does. (Photo by Jakob Lodwick)
As new husband Sergey Brin stands watch, 23andMe's Anne Wojcicki, recently married to the Google cofounder, shows photos from her recent wedding to home-style guru Martha Stewart, at this weekend's Science Foo Camp nerdfest. No wedding bells, at the moment, for Stewart, who's merely going steady with early Microsoft employee Charles Simonyi.
