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Mike / CrunchNotes:
I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! — The title, which is a quote from the movie casablanca, is what came to mind tonight when I read the complete train wreck occuring on TechMeme over advertisements that contain a written message from the publisher.
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Om Malik / GigaOM:
On the Microsoft Ad Campaign — Earlier today Valleywag published a post suggesting that Microsoft paid me (and a number of other bloggers) off to recite their corporate slogan. It is a serious charge, one I take very seriously. — I have been upfront about my ethics and propriety in my reporting …
Discussion:
VoIP Watch
Neil Chase / FM Blog:
Conversational Marketing Gets a Close Look — ValleyWag today suggests that one of FM's conversational marketing campaigns is hurting the editorial integrity of our authors. It says that Microsoft paid them to write, which is simply not true. They were invited to join a conversation …
Discussion:
Insider Chatter
Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Did Microsoft pay star writers? — Valleywag has a story that Federated Media is paying "star writers" to recite a Microsoft marketing slogan. — I sent emails to several of the writers and Microsoft PR. I also asked John Battelle, the founder of Federated Media, if this is true.
Fred / A VC:
Why Is Nick Denton So "Old School"? — I have a lot of respect for Nick. He's built a great media business in Gawker Media using blogs as the platform. Valleywag is one of my "must reads" every day. My girls tell me that Jezebel, Gawker's new women's gossip blog, is fantastic.
Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Comments on people-ready — Re the "people-ready" discussion. — There are a couple of reasons why the writers shouldn't have done what they did, and in all the comments already posted, no one has gotten to this. — First, Mike Arrington implies, in the title of his post, that everyone knows about this practice.
Richard MacManus / Read/WriteWeb:
People Ready — I'm bemused by the latest blogging 'controversy' to dominate Techmeme. Normally I don't blog about these things, but this one has me as a central character - although I wasn't mentioned in the Valleywag piece that started it all. The Silicon Valley gossip blog …
Discussion:
How To Split An Atom
Valleywag:
Federated Media: Microsoft pays star writers to recite slogan — The stodgy old media industry has a rule that newspaper reporters, and TV news hosts, shouldn't trade on their public trust to endorse products. It's become redundant: the reading public typically wants journalists to drop …
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com:
When A-List Became Elitist — Nick Denton's Valleywag reported that his pseudo-competitor John Battelle's Federated Media might have crossed the integrity line when he got Microsoft to pay for a bunch of his roster's so-called elite, A-list bloggers to write something that supported MSFT's "People Ready" campaign.
Joey Seiler / Virtual Worlds News:
Liveblogging the Virtual Goods Summit: Virtual Goods Success Stories — The first ever Virtual Goods Summit kicked off this morning at Stanford University with a panel on success stories in virtual goods. While many outside of this room may be concerned with whether or not virtual goods …
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Joey Seiler / Virtual Worlds News:
Liveblogging the Virtual Goods Summit: Making Virtual Economies Work — Once you have users, how do you make them want to buy your stuff? Is that even a legitimate questions? And if there weren't enough complications in talking about virtual economies with legitimate users …
Joey Seiler / Virtual Worlds News:
Liveblogging the Virtual Goods Summit: Virtual Items - Mainstream or Not? — Moderator Robert Scoble gave the best possible introduction, so I'll leave it with him: "A little while ago I got an interview of the Frank Mueller watch company in Switzerland. And I think it has applicability to this panel.
Adam / Google Public Policy Blog:
Censorship as trade barrier — Posted by Andrew McLaughlin, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs — The Associated Press is running a story headlined "Google Asks Government to Fight Censorship." The story highlights some (until now) fairly quiet discussions we've been having …
Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:
Hablo P2P: The Impact of Pando on CDNs — Sometimes things just happen by accident. You give your company a name that sounds cool, only to find out later that it actually means something in Spanish. Luckily, in the case of the personal P2P start-up Pando the meaning wasn't too bad …
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work
AppleInsider:
World's largest iPhones appear in Apple store windows (photos) — With the anticipation ahead of next week's iPhone launch reaching near epic proportions, staffers for Apple retail spent the better part of Thursday evening rearranging store planograms and erecting massive iPhone replicas inside store windows.
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Erica Sadun / The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
Confirmed: iPhones to be sold online
Confirmed: iPhones to be sold online
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