Jason Calacanis and Kevin Rose, interviewed together on the second episode of the GigaOm Show? Of course, the "fur would fly" — or so hosts Om Malik and Joyce Kim promised. Despite recent photographic evidence of a peace accord, Calacanis did, after all, try to undercut Kevin Rose's Digg social-news site with a revamped Netscape during his short tenure at AOL. So, did the claws come out?
Digg, the social news site that inspired a thousand knock-offs, was created (well, commissioned) by Slashdot user Kevin Rose after the venerable tech news site dismissed his suggestions. Now the old green lady has introduced a "Slashdot Firehose" page that vaguely reproduces the Digg method of listing headlines and allowing users to vote them up or down the page. But compare these current Digg headlines to some Slashdot heds.
Chris Pirillo, the tech pundit and conference organizer, doesn't mind being exposed. But he does object to people stealing his identity, as some unknown user has done on Pownce, Kevin Rose's file-sharing service. Pirillo says he hasn't signed up on Pownce, and doesn't know who's using the username "chrispirillo" on the service. Among the people the faux Pirillo appears to have taken in, if you can trust any username on Pownce: Digg cofounder Jay Adelson, spokesblogger Robert Scoble, and Internet-TV personality Veronica Belmont. One thing Pirillo might want to look into: Someone has also signed up for Pownce with the login "lockergnome," the name of Pirillo's popular tech website.
What on earth could bring together supposed mortal enemies Kevin Rose and Jason Calacanis? Why, Om Malik, of course. Rose is the founder of Digg, and Calacanis, the blowhard entrepreneur who created a Digg clone when he was an executive at AOL. But love has conquered all that. First, there's Malik, the cuddly tech blogger, a friend to all. And, perhaps more importantly, there's Malik's stunning cohost for his new Internet TV show, "The GigaOm Show." Lawyer-turned-videoblogger Joyce Kim, you see, is Calacanis's sister-in-law. Family trumps all. The four were among the stars at a launch party that Revision3, Rose's online-video company, threw for Malik and Kim Wednesday night in the tower of San Francisco's de Young Museum. (Revision3 is producing and distributing the show.) New Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback looks like a weatherman and talks extremely loudly. (My boss has nicknamed him "Jumpin' Jim Louderback.") After the jump, a gallery of photos from the glitzy affair.
Since Friday, I've been going around telling friends that "Pownce is the new pink," which is really my way of avoiding the burden of explaining Digg founder Kevin Rose's new startup toy. But since I've been mocked by my staff at and misheard by my friends, I might as well explain myself — and Pownce, while I'm at it. Here's what Pownce is — and isn't:
MEGAN MCCARTHY — "Pownce is the new pink," declared Valleywag's capricious new editor Owen Thomas in assigning me to go cover a party thrown by Leah Culver and Kevin Rose, cofounders of Digg. The new pink? More like the new pot. The microblogging site, which people use to send around URLs, MP3s, and updates on their lives, is just as coveted — invitations are still up for sale on eBay — and seems to leave its users just as unproductive. So what better place to hold a party than a pink castle of a house in the Castro owned by Dennis Peron, one of the heads of California's medical marijuana movement? A list of Internet-glamorous attendees, a crime scene, and a photo gallery, after the jump.
When entrepreneurs hire, they turn first to the people close to them. But how close? In the case of Digg founder Kevin Rose, that means hiring his ex-girlfriend Sarah Lane as director of production for Revision3, his online-video startup. People close to Rose and Lane say she was "the love of his life," which should make things awkward at the office. Lane, you see, married someone else after breaking up with Rose.
Sun Valley, the quiet Idaho ski resort town, is about to get a charge from Silicon Valley. Allen & Co., the New York investment bank, has been holding an exclusive conference there for 25 years, but until recently, the invite list has been limited to old-media moguls. On the invite list for this year's conference, which kicks off tonight: Jay Adelson, CEO of Digg, the social-news website, which he cofounded with Kevin Rose. Here's why we think Adelson's on the list — and who else might show up.
Kevin Rose, the web wunderkind, has revealed his new project, Pownce, which apparently allows us to "share stuff." Maybe the community is partially to blame for the hype surrounding the creator of Digg and Revision3 (the former is popular and influential, the latter just received funding), but Kevin does his fair share of self-promoting, and he doesn't have to believe his own hype. He is not Superman — something he may not yet be aware of. This third project could finally expose the young entrepreneur to a little failure and humility.
Arianna Huffington, personality and political blogger, continues to embrace all things new and Web 2.0 by introducing Digg-like functionality to her self-named web property, The Huffington Post, or Huffpo for short. Dubbed, unsurprisingly, HuffIt, the beta service apes Kevin Rose's voting and news aggregating service Digg. Although not a direct threat, the introduction does shed light on the challenges facing Digg.
NICK DOUGLAS — Okay, Digg's co-founder isn't so much "on Sesame Street" as he is "on an Internet puppet show about Toronto web designers." Kevin Rose and his friends Alex Albrecht (Kevin's cohost on the Diggnation podcast) and Leo Laporte (creator of the TWiT podcast network) star as themselves in this surreal episode of the dotBoom show involving beer, design and mortal combat. Watch it at dotBoom or below.
MEGAN MCCARTHY — Last night marked a soiree at Slide for Revision3, the net TV net brought to you by the fine folks at Digg. Indie mag XLR8R has joined the outfit with XLR8R TV; mag founder Andrew Smith says the show covers "cutting-edge music and culture." (Also, the host of the show is named — no joke and completely coincidentally — Vivian Host.) Slide is a newish club partially owned by Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams (he was there, but left before I could be introduced). Slide's speakeasy theme perplexingly includes an actual slide patrons can use to enter the club; is this how it was done back in Prohibition? At least two people copped to using the slide last night. "It's a lot better in a speedo," said one. As are so many things. Full gallery of fotographic fun may be found here, courtesy of lenswoman Lane Hartwell. After the jump, our report and a sample of the visual entertainment.
Moving right along, here's the second crop of primo boyflesh for your delectation. The menu includes Alex Albrecht, Loren Feldman, Steve Garfield, Jonathan London, Kevin Rose, and my man Gary Ruplinger. Voting commences 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.
MEGAN MCCARTHY — Digg loves itself, and Digg loves Kevin Rose, and Kevin Rose loves Diggers. Hence Diggnation Live, a Rose-led podcast, Digger social event, and drinky party at the Beach Chalet on Ocean Beach. Or, as one attendee said, "It's a frat party for people who never left their room in college!" Diggers from all over certainly left their rooms to get here, hailing from Sacramento, Santa Cruz, and some strange land known as "Minn-eh-soh-tah." Bemused local surfers were cruelly shoved aside by scruffy nerds who took over half the bar, keeping the doors open to let in the coastal chill. Sundry Diggers, babies, dogs, and film crews rounded out the circus. Check out the amazing gallery of joy shot by Lane Hartwell, and journey after the jump for party notes and photo highlights.
Outside the Beach Chalet, a tent "simulcasted" the Diggnation podcast to an audience of zero, since all Diggfans were clustered inside around the bar and its sweet, sweet alcohol. Rose and interlocutor Alex Albrecht mugged for the crowd, doing the podcast thing between rounds. Digger chrispcade came up from Sacramento because "It's so close". A family of three from three hours north — including a 10-month-old who really should have had his ID checked — stopped by on their way to Tahoe. One guy named Michael, visiting from the Midwest, wanted to see Diggnation because "You don't have this in Minnesota". Then there's Katie, a.k.a. katiedesu, who came up from Santa Cruz to show off her homemade Digg shirt (hastily thrown together in 30 minutes because the blue Digg shirt she had ordered failed to arrive in time). Since social media is The Shit right now, local media types all but pounced on super-cute Katie, including a film crew; look forward to her appearance on the Discovery Channel.
Rose worked the crowd amicably, as did a few other leading lights. At one point during the podcast, he and Albrecht held up a copy of JPG magazine open to an arty picture of nearly naked woman with star-shaped pasties. That pic was shot by none other than Valleywag's own Lane Hartwell, whose photos grace this very post. Synergy! Later, Digg t-shirts and other swag were hurled into the crowd, temporarily sating their bloodlust.
A local beardling observed the proceedings with confusion. "I'm just here for the band. I heard they were taking an hour break and couldn't believe it." Dreadlocked surfer dude Marc pronounced the Digger crowd "corporate," and I don't think he meant that in a good way. Bartender Nick, who was serving drinks in the background the during the podcast, had never heard of Digg before his prominent cameo. At the end of the night, he wrote down "Diggnation" in capital letters, murmuring that he ought to check it out.
Below are a few photo picks from the evening. Plenty more here.
NICK DOUGLAS — Digg grew from a tight community of power web users and fans of founder (and former Tech TV star) Kevin Rose. Now it's a popular destination that sends hundreds of thousands of users to dozens of sites a day. As Digg's role on the Internet has changed, Rose and his team have had to adapt how the site works. But some changes seem counterintuitive. What does it mean that this week, the site stopped honoring its "Top Diggers"?
NICK DOUGLAS — While dust gathers on our old VHS copies of Pirates of Silicon Valley (for us, Noah Wyle's career hit its high point with his role as Steve Jobs), it's time to cast the sequel. Starring the Daily Show's Demetri Martin as Digg founder Kevin Rose, Jason Bateman as Diggnation co-host Alex Albrecht and Rush Limbaugh as John C. Dvorak, the show also includes stars playing Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Merlin Mann, and Google's Marissa Mayer.
