Alexander, Oliver, and Marc Samwer, founders of a German eBay knockoff, have invested “$10 million to $15 million” in Facebook, joining Microsoft and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing in a financing round that has valued Facebook at $15 billion. We hear Li Ka-Shing could double his investment in the company, bringing the total raised to almost $400 million. [Silicon Alley Insider]

Source:Valleywag
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Introducing the MacBook Air, or at least its ad campaign (13 comments), Macworld 2008 Steve Jobs keynote (5) and The weapon used to beat the man Google helped arrest (5).

Source:Valleywag

Poor Ars Electronica and Gizmodo. The gadget sites invited San Francisco’s thirsty class over for some pre-Macworld booze at Harlot in SoMa last night, and the assembled crowd drank the hosted bar dry in 35 minutes flat. I ran into a host of familiar faces there, including a certain Farker who goes by the unforgettable login of “catbutt.” So unforgettable that I called him … well, something else instead. And no, I’m not throwing David Ulevitch the shocker — just a gesture that looks a lot like it. Fake Steve Jobs blogger Dan Lyons, making his Macworld debut, drew a tight bubble of fans around him everywhere he went.

Photos by Randal Alan Smith

galleryPost(’arsgizmodomacworld’, 9, ‘Ars Electronica and Gizmodo party’);

Richard Blakeley, the Gawker Media cameraman whose antics for Gizmodo drew widespread attention, is selling his press badge — the last one he’ll ever get, he says — for $100 on Craigslist. Why is it a collector’s item? Because CES has banned him from attending future events after he filmed himself using a remote control to turn off TV screens on the show floor. (Gizmodo, like Valleywag, is owned by Gawker Media, and Blakeley does video work for both sites.)

Star Wonkette commenter FlakJack listed additional punishments the Consumer Electronics Show people should mete out to Gizmodo’s TV-remote prankster Edited version:

• No protective sleeve for press room coffee cup.
• Photo credential only allows you to take pics of booth dudes, not babes.
• Shocks from a designer Taser anytime you roll your eyes at a vendor’s use of jargon.
• Mandatory lunch with Scoble and Calacanis.

Source:Valleywag

Richard Blakeley, the scamp behind Gizmodo’s TV-turnoff stunt at CES, has been banned from attending the show. Here’s the CEA’s official response to the Gizmodo TV-B-Gone prank:

We have been informed of inappropriate behavior on the show floor by a credentialed media attendee from the Web site Gizmodo, owned by Gawker Media. Specifically, the Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event. The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of CES media credentials and caused harm to CES exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future CES events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker Media are under discussion.

The employee in question, Richard Blakeley, is clearly credited, so it shouldn’t be difficult to “identify” him, though both Portfolio and Silicon Alley Insider failed to get that essential detail right. Blakeley tells us that he has received “no notice at all” from CES about the banning. Though, seeing as how CES is over, we’ve got a year for this to all blow over. And Blakeley has a year to think up another stunt.

Star Wonkette commenter FlakJack listed additional punishments the Consumer Electronics Show people should mete out to Gizmodo’s TV-remote prankster Edited version:

• No protective sleeve for press room coffee cup.
• Photo credential only allows you to take pics of booth dudes, not babes.
• Shocks from a designer Taser anytime you roll your eyes at a vendor’s use of jargon.
• Mandatory lunch with Scoble and Calacanis.

Are Microsoft’s second-tier executives all second-rate? Apparently. Microsoft has just tapped Stephen Elop, the COO of Juniper Networks, to run its Business division, which includes the highly profitable Office suite. Elop, the former CEO of Macromedia, is a good fit. But his hire sends an unwelcome message to up-and-comers within Redmond: Keep toiling away, but don’t aspire to run one of Microsoft’s great franchises. Bill Gates can find someone better than you elsewhere. Which should be as good a signal as any for them to start leaving.

Source:Valleywag

What’s the difference between a blogger and a journalist? Nothing, says CNET’s Rafe Needleman. But he’s concerned that Gizmodo’s sophomoric prank, using a TV remote control to turn off video screens at the CES 2008 gadgetfest, will get bloggers disinvited to the event next year. After all, CES only grudgingly started accrediting bloggers to the show. The only problem with Needleman’s thesis?

Gizmodo attended the event — and pulled their silly stunt — with full press credentials, not second-class blogger badges. And people say the difference between journalists and bloggers is that bloggers don’t factcheck. Needleman is right: There is no difference.