Top Items:
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.
Discussion:
J. LeRoy's Evolving Web, CostPerNews, Technovia, Glass House, Valleywag, Don Park's Daily Habit and Smalltalk Tidbits …
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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:
Insider Chatter, IP Democracy, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, Digital Inspiration, VoIP Watch and MediaVidea
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.
Discussion:
Deep Jive Interests
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.
Discussion:
Mickeleh's Take
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 …
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 …
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.
Discussion:
Webomatica
Mathew / mathewingram.com/work:
No, it's not really a "conversation" — I haven't posted anything about the current "blog storm" over Microsoft's ad campaign involving FM Publishing (which started with this post at Valleywag) because I wanted to take some time and think about it a bit — and in the blogosphere …
Discussion:
robhyndman.com
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.
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 …
Dylan Tweney / Epicenter:
Dismantling the Media With the BBC's News Director, Richard Sambrook — Richard Sambrook is surprisingly bloggy for the person who runs the BBC World Service. (His official title is "Director of the BBC's Global News division.") He blogged for years internally at the BBC, and then finally took it public at SacredFacts.
Discussion:
Everything is Miscellaneous