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23 views | MySpace Cofounder Tom Anderson Was A Real Life “WarGames” Hacker in 1980s Source:TechCrunch 2008-08-30 07:30:05 |
Perks: A Wired freelancer profiles the company’s …
September 20th, 2007 at 5:54 pmSource:Valleywag
Oracle’s earnings have beaten Wall Street’s expectations, suggesting that the turmoil in credit markets has not had an impact on tech bellwethers. Score one for VC blogger Paul Kedrosky, who has cast tech stocks as a safe haven in today’s market. [Associated Press]
Source:Valleywag
And a child will lead them — down the garden path. PlaySpan is garnering buzz because its cofounder, 12-year-old Arjun Mehta, hauled in $6.5 million in venture capital (although it’s suspected that his father and CEO Karl Mehta is using Arjun as a mere promotional tool). Talk about a startup in need of adult supervision. Arjun makes teenage entrepreneurs like Jessica Mah and Comcate founder Ben Casnocha look like pikers. The founder’s age, however, is distracting reporters from the real question: Why did this company snag so much cash?
PlaySpan’s executives say it’s a “publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network.” Whatever that means. In-game item sales are the hot new trend in massively multiplayer online games. Since these virtual items — say a shiny coat of dragon-scale armor — can be made at virtually no cost to the publisher, they’re extraordinarily high in margin. Some developers are, in fact, now offering their games for free, making ends meet by shilling fashion accessories. Since open-market trading of these items on, say, eBay is often deemed “illegal” by the developers, it makes sense to create a sanctioned forum for sales — similar to Sparter, LiveGamer and a bunch of other external marketplaces.
PlaySpan isn’t forthcoming about how its commerce network will actually work, but the very idea is plagued by problems. For one, replicating PlaySpan’s software tools isn’t exactly difficult when looked at in the wider context of game development. Also, PlaySpan encourages users to chat on third-party servers about a wide variety of games — hardly a boost to the developers’ goal of winning players’ exclusive loyalties. It’s like a company that comes in and offers to set up kiosks in a mall’s parking lot, diverting shoppers before they even set foot inside. All the big multiplayer games, like World of Warcraft, have their own proprietary commerce systems. In-game traffic is too valuable to hand over to a third party.
Why get into gory details, though, when you have a story about a cute kid who’s got a startup while he’s still in elementary school? PlaySpan has made garnering publicity look like child’s play.
Source:Valleywag
Kids! Uncle Nick is gonna teach you about sex, the Internet, and the interplay of the dehumanizing modern simulacrum versus the physical expression of that most animal of human urges! Also, acrostics!
Sex position or World of Warcraft spell? (answers at bottom of page)
1. Cat Form
2. Stargazing
3. Earth Shock
4. Backstab
5. Bull Horn
6. Rainbow Arch
7. Charge
8. Aimed Shot
9. Crushing Spices
10. Clinging Creeper
11. Battle Stance
12. Double-edged Knife
Five LOLcat ways to say no to sex!
1. Abstinent cat is abstinent
2. Iz that time of monf
3. I made you a Viagra, but I eated it.
4. Sumbuddy stole mah fukket
5. DO NOT WANT
Match the Internet people to the sex toy:
1. Star Wars Kid
2. Thriller Prisoners
3. Ask a Ninja
4. Leeroy Jenkins
A. The Python Extra-Large Double Dong
B. Trojan Extended Pleasure with Climax Control
C. Vibrating Silver Bullet
D. Fuzzy nunchucks
(Answer: None. The above people all need the touch of a real woman)
Computer dangers that you could also get from sex
Did you know that some people somewhere are using the Internet instead of having sex? Here’s why!
- Chances of back ache, carpal tunnel are just the same
- Google doesn’t laugh at questions
- Lower-risk poking
- Less shame after “404 Not Found”
- Finally an activity that lasts longer than two minutes
Positions: 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12
Spells: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11
Artwork from Your Lost. Nick Douglas writes at Valleywag, Too Much Nick, and Look Shiny. Actually, he’s having sex right now.
Source:Valleywag
A Wired freelancer profiles the company’s in-house cafeteria, which predates Google’s overhyped meal-flingers and serves up organic, local fare. And who runs it? Why, real-estate blogger Phil Ferrato. Small world. [Ethicurean]
