The New York Observer » Tech http://www.observer.com Just another WordPress site Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:52:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 10 Questions with Chris Mohney, Editor-in-Chief of Tumblr’s New Editorial Project Yesterday, the New York Times broke news of blogging platform and social media network Tumblr's new editorial project. The project was characterized as something that will be "documenting the Tumblr service and marketing it to users."

In the same article, the project's editor-in-chief—(2011 NYO Media Poachable) Chris Mohney, who will be leaving his post as the Vice President of Content at BlackBook—explained that it will avoid "forced attempts at corporate boosterism." This is odd, because a forced attempt at corporate boosterism is exactly what this nebulous project sounds like. Then again, Mohney (who, before BlackBook, was an editor at regular Tumblr-antagonist Gawker) will be manning the project with Jessica Bennett, a journalist leaving her post at Newsweek/The Daily Beast to jump on board. Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2012/02/tumblr-editor-chris-mohney-02022012/ Updated: FourSquare Allows New Yorkers to ‘Treat Yo Self’ Updated below with a response from list founder Alisha M.

Foursquare, the social-networking app that allows you to "check in" to venues, become a mayor, meet up with your friends, and find out which Starbucks locations have been masturbated in, now has a new crowd-sourcing function. In the words of Parks and Recreation's Tom Haverford, it's time to "Treat Yo Self!"

Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/11/foursquare-allows-new-yorkers-to-treat-yo-self/ Talking to ‘Occupy the Board Room’: New Site Encourages Getting in Touch with the 1%, Legally Even if you're not quite sure where you land on the Occupy Wall Street debate (perhaps you are Warren Buffett-type, who believes in capitalism and the markets and even personally bailed out banks, but also believe in the people's right to assemble; or perhaps you just couldn't be bothered to pay attention yet), you still might be interested in OccupytheBoardroom.org, which provides the straightest line from your laptop to the desk of a Citigroup executive.

Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/10/talking-to-occupytheboardroom-org-new-site-encourages-getting-in-touch-with-the-1-legally/ The Cracked iPhone Club: The City’s Beat-Up Cell Screens Get Chic On a charming August night, The Observer was sitting on our fire escape with two friends, having cigarettes, having beer. We had brought out an iPhone dock, a diminutive speaker machine that plays music right from a mobile device, at a decent, but not offensive-to-the-neighbors, volume. Then, with a jerk of an arm, there came Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/09/the-cracked-iphone-club-the-citys-beat-up-cell-screens-get-chic/ Siting New York’s Tech Campus Our colleague Nitasha Tiku over at BetaBeat has a rundown on where, exactly, the city might place Mayor Bloomberg's ballyhooed tech campus. Turns out Roosevelt Island wants it badly and is flexing some political muscle to get it: Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/07/siting-new-yorks-tech-campus/ You’re Paying Too Much for Bottle Service: Bookabottle Can Help Thomas Monson, the founder of Bookabottle, met The Observer at midnight on a corner of Union Square in a black two-door BMW. He leaned a dress sneaker against the door, drumming his fingers on his knee and listened  to opera by the blue light of a third-party stereo system. This was actually very much Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/07/youre-paying-too-much-for-bottle-service-bookabottle-can-help/ Grind Up On This! A Straight Man Uploads a Cute Pic to Grindr THERE HAVE BEEN MANY HAPPY BOYS who have found their perfect matches on Grindr, the social network for single gay men, but founder Joel Simkhai has a favorite. “There was a serviceman in the Air Force, stationed in Baghdad and Kuwait,” Mr. Simkhai said on the phone from Los Angeles, where he lives. “He used Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/06/grind-up-on-this-a-straight-man-uploads-a-cute-pic-to-grindr-and-takes-the-plunge/ Apple Sour on Grand Central Apple's plans to bring the world's largest iStore to Grand Central always seemed to defy laws of taste, landmarks preservation and possibly even physics.

Apparently, Apple has reached the same conclusion, because an anonymous source close to the M.T.A. has confirmed that the company has backed out of plans to bring computers to commuters in Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/real-estate/apple-sour-grand-central Twitter Snubs Soho, Takes Facebook Space on Madison Twitter, the Web's main repository of personal oversharing, political dissent and tasteless self-promotion, is donning a suit and tie.

The little blue bird has been perching in a spartan temporary New York City space since September, searching for the perfect spot for its first New York City headquarters. Now The Observer has learned that it Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/real-estate/twitter-grows-abandons-soho Advertising With a Venture Edge: Darren Herman’s Big Bet on Startups The crowds of investors clamoring for shares in companies at every stage of their development are no deterrent for Darren Herman of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, who announced this morning that his ad firm is creating an early-stage investment arm. He's betting that the marketing and branding power KBS+P boasts will attract entrepreneurs.

As interest Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/tech/advertising-gets-venture-edge The 100 Funniest Tumblrs … Ever In honor of Social Media Week, The Observer is anointing the 100 Funniest Tumblrs ever. They're ordered from less funny to more funny, to help give readers the enthusiasm necessary to avoid click-through fatigue. And remember, the next time Tumblr goes down, this slideshow can provide that blogging fix. 

>> The 100 Funniest Tumblrs Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/tech/100-funniest-tumblrs-ever Labor Union Mobilizes Huffington Post Contributors As talk of payouts for the exposure-hungry bloggers who contribute content to The Huffington Post ramps up, California's Media Worker's Guild is sponsoring a Facebook campaign asking Arianna Huffington to "spare a dime" out of the $315 million pricetag her company fetched in a recent merger with Aol.

Says the Media Worker's Guild, Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/tech/labor-union-mobilizes-huffington-post-contributors Ehrenberg: Some, But Not All, VC Firms Will Die How long can this venture capital dog and pony show last? That's the question on the mind of IA Capital Partners' Roger Ehrenberg, who forsees a proliferation of venture capital firms even as some of the biggest names wither and die.

He separates venture firms into three categories: Micro VC, Life-cycle VC and Growth VC. Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/tech/ehrenberg-some-not-all-vc-firms-will-die CEO Mike Yavonditte Explains Why Hashable is Not Lame New York startup Hashable got an extensive video treatment by Building43. Michael Yavonditte, CEO of the relationship-tracking company, faces tough questions from Robert Scoble, including his initial reaction to check-in software: "That's sort of weird, or lame... Why would you check in on a person?"

Mr. Yavonditte maintains that there are people who are interested Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/tech/hashable-ceo-pumps-his-company-robert-scoble Guess What? MySpace is up for Sale The tech pundits got this one right. A round of pats on the back is in order for anyone who's been speculating about News Corp.'s eventual spinoff of MySpace, which it bought for $580 million back in 2005. paidContent reports:

"With a new structure in place, now is the right time to consider strategic options for this business," Read More

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