tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56376332024-03-12T16:00:37.963-07:00the IT blogcovering the IT things blogging.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comBlogger409125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-28430854556481163032011-01-21T07:01:00.001-08:002011-01-21T07:17:04.814-08:00More Mahalo Spam<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/5375580452/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5010/5375580452_a93fc07d11_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.9em;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/5375580452/">Mahalo 4.0 coming on Tuesday--you will be blown away. _-)</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/28999011@N00/">franzstehrn</a></span></div>Even the most recent<a href="http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-4-0-coming-on-tuesday-you-will-be-blown-away"> announcement of Jason Calacanis</a> new iteration of Mahalo - dubbed Mahalo 4.0 - is spam infested. Hope they improve on dealing with spam in new product which will presented at <a href="http://www.dld-conference.com/news/dld-events-related/dld11-program-released_aid_2170.html">DLD 2011</a> in Munich next week.<br /><br />Also we're a week in now since we have <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2011/01/mahalocom-spam.html">exposed</a> the latest Mahalo spam issue and they still have not cleaned up the site. Troubling future for Calacanis's project ahead!franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-63141202874938919592011-01-15T08:24:00.001-08:002011-01-15T08:29:45.319-08:00mahalo.com spam<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/5357485584/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5130/5357485584_0ac750d9b0_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.9em;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/5357485584/">mahalo.com spam</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/28999011@N00/">franzstehrn</a></span></div>unfortunately mahalo.com keeps on being spam infested: the screenshot shows the page for <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-get-your-kids-to-stop-watching-too-much-tv">How to Get Your Kids to Stop Watching Too Much TV</a> . This would be such a great page for many parents to get help on the issue, only that they will be confronted with in your face useless spam corrupting the entire page. We always thought mahalo.com was prime standard with dealing spam, but obviously they simply cannot keep up with black hat intrusions and fails to provide a clean and useful page of advice.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-75595720970170403862011-01-15T08:22:00.001-08:002011-01-15T08:30:28.191-08:00Mahalo Spam<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/5357501908/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5208/5357501908_c366bc341b_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.9em;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/5357501908/">Mahalo Spam</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/28999011@N00/">franzstehrn</a></span></div>also kind of sad: <a href="http://www.mahalo.com">mahalo</a> is already recognized as misused and spam related domain - it seems.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-50399893827168336642010-04-20T10:44:00.000-07:002010-04-20T11:09:27.408-07:00Jason Calacanis Riding Coat TailsIn view of the recent <a href="http://www.twitter.com/leolaporte">Leo Laporte</a> vs <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jason">Jason</a> Calacanis ThisWeekIn/TWiT <a href="http://calacanis.com/2010/04/18/my-official-statement-on-the-leolaporte-thisweekin-com-controversy-twit-twist-twi/">ballyhoo</a>: we are proud to point to an argument which was initially censored by Mahalo. They initially started a site twitquestions.com, where user <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/member/mactrainer">mactrainer</a> asked whether Jason was <a href="http://www.twitquestions.com/this-week-in-tech/is-jason-calacanis-riding-on-leo-laporte-and-the-twit-networks-coat-tails">riding Leo's coat tails</a>. We <a href="http://www.twitquestions.com/this-week-in-tech/is-jason-calacanis-riding-on-leo-laporte-and-the-twit-networks-coat-tails#a1908434903380abbb678d97942dfde1eb060ce2dc4f52ea60543da47feedba25">replied</a>, of course:<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mahalo.com/member/Jason" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal !important; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">@Jason</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is definitely riding on </span><a href="http://www.mahalo.com/member/leolaporte" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: normal !important; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">@leolaporte</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">'s coat tail!! he's a lagtard. since he desperately trys to employ poker jargon, we're sure he understands! never having been able to build a >30mill $ business, he keeps on building on the ideas of others. we're always wondering why these 250mill + people keep meeting him an equal grounds on his #twist show!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Then in an instance of fanboism the mob started to vote our argument down and ironically chose master Calacanis's statement as the best answer. Big LOL!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So we went back into the ring, blowing the horns for our reasoned post:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Seriously, this is ridiculous. Why are you voting me down for expressing an honest opinion which is shared by many among the tech crowd. No need to go all fanboi on us just because we hit the nerve right there, obviously! Rather than vote us down you could engage in developping some arguments. This thought seems to have evaded your fanboism completely, and instead you opted for the childish route. Fair enough! It only renders the Mahalo answers community useless at the end of the day, which by the way is self evident anyway. After all the only people distributing M$ are Mahalo staff members who got their credits to incentivise the system. That system, however, has remained a closed culture ecosystem. Also, as VC involved in Mahalo funding we'd be worried about Jason spending so much time on side projects (OAF, This Week In, etc.). It's clearly a sign that Jason should have remained in the publishing business. That's what he does best. Entepreneurshipwise he's not even a Kevin Rose.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); line-height: 15px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#424242;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Still, mactrainer deemed it necessary to justify his mob actions: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"This is Mahalo answers not Mahalo opinions." Big LOL again since most questions on Jason's answer service are about opinions from <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/answers/spirituality-and-religion/if-life-was-discovered-on-another-planet-would-it-change-your-views-on-religion">religion</a> to <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/answers/holidays/420-national-weed-day-how-celebrate">weed</a>, least of all mactrainers own question for an opinion.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#424242;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#424242;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">By now it should be obvious that Mahalo.com is a huge SEO engineering effort - best exemplified by the most popular pages leaderboard: <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/bed-bath-and-beyond-coupons">coupons</a>, <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/olive-garden-printable-coupons">coupons</a>, <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/outback-steakhouse-coupons">coupons</a>! It seems pretty clear that <a href="http://www.quora.com/">quora.com</a>, <a href="http://hunch.com/">hunch.com</a> and now <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/19/facebook-introduces-community-pages-hopes-to-make-them-best-collections-of-shared-knowledge/">facebook community pages</a> will kick Mahalos butt!</span></span></span></div>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-70923928552554681072010-02-28T12:28:00.000-08:002010-02-28T12:33:18.345-08:00OMG. The Spiers Newsletterso, this is what blogging has come to: university classes, entrepreneurship lectures, advisory board positions. When Spiers started out with and endgameresearch email address no-one knew what would come of this frenzy. Now<a href="http://twitter.com/espiers"> Spiers </a>has signed up for the <a href="http://twitter.com/jason">Calacanis </a>newsletter approach doing her own. First edition:<br /><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">...your resource for all things Spiers. Or at the very least, an update on<br />what I'm doing professionally at the moment.<br /><br />Eventually, I'd like to add some newsletter component that actually adds<br />some value above and beyond my SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION. Unfortunately, I<br />haven't figured out what that's going to be yet. But I'm taking suggestions!<br />If you have one, contact me at espiers AT gmail.<br />-WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON: -<br /><br />_SITE LAUNCHES: CRUSHABLE.com _<br />I launched a new site last week called Crushable.com for b5media, a<br />Toronto-based blog network that's in the process of re-tooling its editorial<br />offerings. I'm an advisor and consultant to the company and am helping them<br />with a few new site launches--conceptualizing, hiring and developing<br />editorial content, with some light business advisory work around<br />monetization and advertising on the side. Crushable is an entertainment and<br />lifestyle site that targets women ages 15 to 25, and it's helmed by Erin<br />Carlson (formerly an entertainment reporter for the AP), assisted by deputy<br />editor Amanda Ernst (formerly of FishbowlNY.com) and associate editor Jean<br />Bentley (formerly of EW.com.) Some first week features:<br />An interview with Rob Kardashian (the "nice" Kardashian):<br /></span><a href="http://crushable.com/entertainment/rob-kardashian-kisses-and-tells/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://crushable.com/<wbr>entertainment/rob-kardashian-<wbr>kisses-and-tells/</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br />Erin's replication of Mena Suvari's bizarre fashion week hairdos:<br /></span><a href="http://crushable.com/entertainment/get-inspired-by-mena-suvaris-crazy-hair/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://crushable.com/<wbr>entertainment/get-inspired-by-<wbr>mena-suvaris-crazy-hai<br />r/</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br />Jennifer Wright on Being The Wingwoman:<br /></span><a href="http://crushable.com/relationships/memoir-winging-it/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://crushable.com/<wbr>relationships/memoir-winging-<wbr>it/</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />_TEACHING: SVA & DUKE _<br />I teach two classes for SVA's Design Criticism MFA program. This<br />semester it's a 15 week blogging workshop for first-years. Next week I'll<br />be publishing all of their blogs, where you can read about everything from<br />Brunch in Brooklyn to the deconstruction of ad campaigns to reviews of dog<br />parks from the perspective of a dog. This week, I also guest lectured two<br />classes at Duke University (my alma mater), which is developing a new<br />program in entrepreneurship and expanding its journalism offerings. I also<br />took the drunken-student-late-night shuttle van from East Campus to West.<br />Just for old times' sake.<br /></span><a href="http://dcrit.sva.edu/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://dcrit.sva.edu</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />_NEW ADVISORY WORK: COUNSYL & WALL STREET CHEAT SHEET_<br />Most people who know me know I'm very interested in genetics and at one<br />point (pre-Gawker) contributed to a genetics blog that's now owned by Seed.<br />So I'm happy to be an advisor to Counsyl, a relatively new San<br />Francisco-based genetic testing company that makes genetic testing for rare<br />diseases accessible and affordable.<br />Here's a recent _New York Times_ profile of the company:<br /></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/business/29gene.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/<wbr>01/29/business/29gene.html</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><a href="http://www.counsyl.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://www.counsyl.com</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />Wall Street Cheat Sheet is a finance site that has some Venn diagram<br />overlap with Dealbreaker, but is far heavier on market analysis and<br />commentary. It's a fairly new site and is looking to expand. It got a nice<br />honorable mention from David Weidner in his "[10]Ten Wall Street Blogs You<br />Need to Bookmark Now" feature in last week's _Wall Street Journal_:<br /></span><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/02/25/best-wall-street-blogs-that-didnt-make-the-cut/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://blogs.wsj.com/<wbr>marketbeat/2010/02/25/best-<wbr>wall-street-blogs-that-didnt<br />-make-the-cut/</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><a href="http://wallstcheatsheet.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://wallstcheatsheet.com</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />_BOOK REVIEWS: DANIEL PINK'S "DRIVE" FOR CBS MONEYWATCH_<br />I just started reviewing business books for CBS Moneywatch. First up,<br />Daniel Pink's Drive:<br /></span><a href="http://moneywatch.bnet.com/career-advice/article/review-drive-by-daniel-pink/388030/?tag=content;col1" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://moneywatch.bnet.com/<wbr>career-advice/article/review-<wbr>drive-by-daniel-<br />pink/388030/?tag=content;col1</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Next up: a fairly atrocious how-to investment<br />book by ... oh, you'll just have to wait for it. If anyone has relevant<br />books to send me, email me and I'll give you my mailing address (assuming<br />it's not showing up in the footer of this email, as annoyingly and<br />anachronistically required by ICANN.)<br /><br />_HIRING: TBD MEN'S SITE_<br />I'm casually looking for an editor-in-chief for a potential men's<br />site--preferably someone with blogging experience who knows how to write,<br />edit and conceptualize stories. If you have recommendations or know someone<br />who'd be interested, send them to me at espiers AT gmail.<br /><br />-UPCOMING: -<br /><br />I have a few more site launches in the hopper and will be talking about them<br />shortly.<br /><br />I also just agreed to write a column for TheAwl.com from the perspective<br />of Choire Sicha's cat, which is descriptively if literally named "Cat." For<br />this I will be paid the ongoing Awl freelance rate of $0.00 a word. Which is<br />almost what I got paid at Gawker. Cat welcomes topic suggestions, which can<br />also be sent to espiers AT gmail.<br /></span><a href="http://www.theawl.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://www.theawl.com</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />-RANDOMLY: MY BEST FICTION OF THE DECADE LIST: -<br />I get asked for book recommendations pretty regularly, so I just condensed<br />my favorites into one post:<br /></span><a href="http://spiers.tumblr.com/post/300537739/best-fiction-of-the-decade-in-my-amateur-opinion" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://spiers.tumblr.com/post/<wbr>300537739/best-fiction-of-the-<wbr>decade-in-my<br />-amateur-opinion</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />OTHER PEOPLE'S STUFF:<br />My pal _Sloane Crosley's_ second book, HOW DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER? is<br />coming out in June and is now available for pre-order at Amazon:<br /></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Did-You-This-Number/dp/1594487596/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267385896&sr=8-3" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://www.amazon.com/How-Did-<wbr>You-This-Number/dp/1594487596/<wbr>ref=sr_1_3?i<br />e=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267385896&<wbr>sr=8-3</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><br />My boyfriend is on a board of a theater company called _Curious Frog Theatre<br />Company_ that has a mission "to present new, modern and classical works with<br />the goal of showing a new, multicultural perspective through non-traditional<br />casting" and they're doing a spring production of Jean Genet's "The Maids."<br />You can get tickets here: </span><a href="http://curiousfrog.org/index.php" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">http://curiousfrog.org/index.<wbr>php</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Last<br />spring they did Sam Shepard's "True West" with an all-Asian cast and it was<br />excellent.</span></blockquote></span></div>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-60590404090473828722009-03-17T02:53:00.000-07:002009-03-17T03:26:03.455-07:00Mahalo Downward Spiral<a href="http://www.mahalo.com">Mahalo</a>, Jason McCabe Calacanis's latest venture, is heading for the deathpool as it seems. While Jason tries to get some PR through his <a href="http://www.techmeme.com/090312/p80#a090312p80">paid-slot-on-twitter-suggestion meme</a> his front row is leaving the company one after another. After recent examples of <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2008/07/mahalo-exitus.html">key Mahalo employees</a> leaving now his product director <a href="http://twitter.com/ericds">Eric Stephens</a> is <a href="http://friendfeed.com/e/f6942829-f184-4269-34df-a5f3c677296f/bummed-that-our-dir-of-product-is-moving-back-to/">leaving </a>just shortly after his Mahalo Daily anchor <a href="http://thedealiowithdemilio.blogspot.com/">Leah D'Emilio</a> quit because Jason needs to turn the <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/answers/entertainment/why-is-leah-leaving-mahalo-daily">daily show into a weekly one</a>. According to Jason it's because the show ain't making any money. So he failed with the show which was supposed to help people, give advice, and present fun activities going along with Mahalo's tagline: We're here to help. Not anymore. From now on it'll be a compilation of youtube clips. We'll see how long Lon Harris will stick with it. Will he be the next to turn his back on Jason?<br />Meanwhile vanity prevails on Jason's side: He wants to <a href="http://friendfeed.com/e/d7fd4250-6e70-7cc7-4fcc-ed8b0a0efc0a/richardyoo-if-my-Tesla-could-do-1-000-miles-in-a/">join the Gumball 3000</a>. Still, we are looking forward to his new show <a href="http://www.thisweekinstartups.com/">"This week in startups"</a>. It's been a while since he <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2008/03/repeating-bold-move.html">failed to fulfill his initial commitment</a> for his first series of podcasts.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-23535009425958615392008-08-15T04:31:00.000-07:002008-08-15T05:03:55.635-07:00Mahalo Fail Whale - Prevalent FlawsLet there be a Fail Whale for funwebreneur Jason Calacanis's <a href="http://www.mahalo.com">Mahalo</a>, too. We've pointed out several flaws in the Mahalo system, and due to ever prevalent system immanent flaws there is always more: update fail - even <a href="http://www.haloscan.com/comments/franzstehrn/2895845448511724783/#296494">acknowledged</a> by Mahalo employees.<br /><br />Random examples we've come across recently: In the course of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Mahalo claims to have up-to-date coverage, yet they fail to keep pages like the medal count updated as one user <a href="http://twitter.com/PaleZer0/statuses/886335832">pointed out</a>. This was only resolved after baffled Calacanis himself <a href="http://twitter.com/JasonCalacanis/statuses/886401828">forwarded </a>the request to his team. Apparently, according to the tweet, <a href="http://twitter.com/lons">Lon Harris</a> seems responsible for this task, but he is obviously having more fun doing the Mahalo Daily show.<br />The Olympic Gymnastics team event is over, but no news on how the US team is faring on its <a href="http://mahalo.com/US_Olympic_Gymnastics_2008">very own Mahalo page</a>. (<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/2762711342/sizes/o/">screenshot</a>) The news on the page date June, mid July, no event news so far. There's many more Mahalo Olympic fail.<br /><br />Just the other day we were looking up London related pages on Mahalo and noticed they still have the old Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, named on them. The new one was elected back in May. So we <a href="http://twitter.com/franzstehrn/statuses/884469822">tweeted</a>. They acted swiftly, but sloppy: removing any reference to any London mayor from the fast facts on the London page. (<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/2762732506/sizes/o/">screenshot</a>) Usually they have info on a city's mayor, e.g. <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/New_York">New York</a>. People will be even more confused, because all other London related pages, like 'London Vacation' (<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/2761885391/sizes/o/">screenshot</a>) still report Linvingstone as mayor of London. Fail.<br /><br />One more: Public figures, e.g. the <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/Pope">Pope</a>: news date back months if not years (<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/28999011@N00/2762774108/sizes/o/">screenshot</a>). Are you serious? No important news in recent months about the Pope? What about his <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7513078.stm">Sydney visit</a>, relevant controversy over <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/14/world/fg-pope14">Latin America</a>?<br /><br />The verdict: epic fail! Bet Jason didn't mention this scenario in his <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/09/how-to-demo-your-startup/">pi</a><a href="http://www.techmeme.com/080809/p5">tch</a> to Sequoia et al. At least Mahalo employees openly admit to the problem. Former Mahalo geek <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/search/label/Sean%20Percival">Sean Percival</a> <a href="http://www.haloscan.com/comments/franzstehrn/2895845448511724783/#296494">agreed</a> once: "You know I agree, keeping these pages is going to be more difficult over time."franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-42505705348142259542008-07-27T12:25:00.000-07:002008-07-27T13:34:40.086-07:00Calacanis Mocks The Wack PackWe have to call out <a href="http://joshchandlerblog.blogspot.com/">Josh Chandler</a> for being among the worst, a stupid interviewer without any sense of how to formulate proper questions, just jerking along the wave of the technology blogosphere, without the slightest hint that he might have put some sort of effort into investigating and finding out stuff about his guest. <a href="http://podcast.technologygazette.com/2008/07/15/technology-gazette-episode-43-jason-calacanis-of-mahalocom-joins-us/">This is the Technology Gazette interview with Jason Calacanis</a>. <br />Entertaining, though, is when Jason rambles on about his contempt for the techmeme crowd, especially Allen Stern from <a href="http://www.centernetworks.com/">CenterNetworks</a> and that <a href="http://www.mathewingram.com/work/">Mathew Ingram</a>: "they are these wacky guys ... they're bitter and angry", "these people are not actually doing stuff", "Allen Stern is basically a nobody", "these guys are famous for writing 'trolly' kind of posts ... and now they're A-list LOL", "they have not done anything incredible in their careers, not somebody you should listen to". And Josh is one of them, too.<br /><br />update: wack pack member <a href="http://www.howardlindzon.com/">Howard Lindzon</a> <a href="http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/7/why-google-isnt-spending-200-million-on-digg?disqus_reply=1014799&disqus_reply=1015060#comment-1015065">loses his cool</a> and calls Jason "asshat"franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-49434688393444758832008-07-24T08:09:00.000-07:002008-07-24T08:23:05.601-07:00Lock And Julia On AgainWe had them framed mingling <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2007/01/how-lockhart-steel-makes-news-again.html">once</a>: Julia <a href="http://julia.nonsociety.com/">Allison</a> & Lockhart <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lock">Steele</a>.<br />Now they'r at it <a href="http://julia.nonsociety.com/post/43380597">again</a>:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://media.tumblr.com/NB8YioMLibsvi2i5UeTRGsui_400.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://media.tumblr.com/NB8YioMLibsvi2i5UeTRGsui_400.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />That's how they prepare for those Curbed house <a href="http://twitter.com/Lock/statuses/866645354">parties</a>: you're [all] invited!franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-19197065087996073582008-07-19T03:03:00.000-07:002008-07-19T03:10:03.676-07:00The Krucoff Fallacy Of Charity<a href="http://twitter.com/franzstehrn/statuses/862625656">Today</a>: <blockquote>The real hero is the person who gives, and then struts and preens in public like they just fucked the prom queen</blockquote>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-86090752766110617232008-07-18T10:54:00.000-07:002008-07-19T02:53:26.633-07:00"OMG, the literati hit the curb!"<a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/07/au_revoir_new_york_media_scene.html">Fuck you New York</a>! The shitstorm followed, <a href="http://jessandjoshtalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/about-that-elephant-in-room.html">obvs</a>. Usually we'd expect that sort of "honesty" from the <a href="http://youngmanhattanite.com"><strike>Young</strike> Manhattanite</a> crew, but the are all tumblrized these days.<br /><br />[ud]: <span style="font-weight:bold;">instead </span>Krucoff <a href="http://gawker.com/5026677/andrew-krucoff-wins-the-culture-war">wins the culture war</a> - sad.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-32286005248159841792008-07-16T04:11:00.000-07:002008-07-16T04:26:48.754-07:00Mahalo ExitusMass exitus at <a href="http://www.mahalo.com">Mahalo</a> compound. Key members of the Mahalo workforce quit <a href="http://www.calacanis.com">Jason Calacanis</a>'s venture: first in line: Calacanis fanboi <a href="http://www.seanpercival.com/blog/2008/06/24/leaving-mahalo/">Sean Percival</a>, and now <a href="http://rednikki.livejournal.com/1268804.html">Nicole Gustas</a>, too. Who's next? Seems like people are using the startup to learn and brush up on their skills to move on. Lunch four days a week seems not enough to accomodate them for longer.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-85243216967083785662008-05-12T02:13:00.000-07:002008-05-12T02:21:06.436-07:00"Mahalo you're doomed!" <br />enter: <a href="http://www.powerset.com">Powerset</a>: "compare 'internet' on <a href="http://www.powerset.com/explore/pset?q=internet&x=27&y=17">Powerset</a>, <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/Internet">Mahalo</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=internet&btnG=Google+Search">Google</a>"<br />Calacanis: "omg!", out & rushing home seeking comfort of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasoncalacanis/2481188515/">puppies</a>.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-21651192257061634122008-05-11T14:12:00.000-07:002008-05-11T14:27:58.199-07:00Where Is Jarvis Now?Where is Jeff Jarvis's aka <a href="http://www.buzzmachine.com">Buzzmachine</a> outcry for helping Burma/Myanmar today; he did it for the <a href="http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_Tsunami">2004 tsunami</a> in South East Asia, and went at <a href="http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2005_01_02.html">great</a> <a href="http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2004_12.html">length</a> to hail the efforts of citizen's media. He also praised the fundraising efforts made possible through the internet. So why is there no word on his <a href="http://www.buzzmachine.com">Buzzmachine</a> blog about this disaster the outcome of which is - <a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/080510/2/16swu.html">by any estimation</a> - far more devastating than that of the 2004 tsunami. <br />We get a sense of hypocrisy there!franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-42539586468203390542008-03-29T07:12:00.000-07:002008-03-29T07:24:15.073-07:00"I spend my life figuring out stuff about spam!"That's <a href="http://mahalo.com/Andrew_Keen">Andrew Keen</a>'s suggested pick up line for Mahalo employees when they go to parties. (at 1:45:49)
<br />Also: "You're not Nietzsche or Marx, but you're still doing a great job!"
<br />
<br /><embed width="400" height="320" flashvars="autoplay=false&brand=embed" src="http://ustream.tv/jZY7rQUoclR86HK6YJgIEj8qyD0sxl4a.usv" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"/>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-46445489976373293222008-03-29T04:19:00.000-07:002008-03-29T04:21:11.012-07:00Why Is This Happening?<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="302" data="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=834511&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color="> <param name="quality" value="best" /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="scale" value="showAll" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=834511&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=" /></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/834511/l:embed_834511">Ski Dub: 4 Non Blonde's "What's Going On!?"</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/juliaallison/l:embed_834511">Julia Allison</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/l:embed_834511">Vimeo</a>.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-9734910504799933292008-03-14T07:59:00.000-07:002008-03-14T08:05:55.478-07:00Repeating a Bold MoveWhy is Jason Calacanis shilling for sponsor again, without having fulfilled previous commitments as <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2008/01/bold-calacanis-wants-100k-more-inital.html">we have reported recently</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Bold move by webpreneur <a href="http://www.calacanis.com/">Jason Calacanis</a>. On Twitter he is <a href="http://twitter.com/JasonCalacanis/statuses/606320182">asking for $100K+</a> for his <a href="http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/11/media-philanthropy/">charity</a>. Now why is this so presumptuous?<br />Let's look back: in October 2006 Calacanis <a href="http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/26/my-news-podcast/">announced</a> a podcast with great fanfare and an official press release around his <a href="http://www.propr.ca/index.php/2006/bbs-jason-calacanis/">keynote</a> at the Blog Business Summit. He made a committment to do 50 episodes of "a weekly podcast" over the course of a year.<br />It's January 2008 now. Not only has he failed to deliver a <u>weekly</u> podcast, but he's far from meeting the commitment reaching those 50 episodes, the latest being the <a href="http://www.calacanis.com/2007/09/05/calacaniscast-32-beta/">32nd</a> installment only. We're pretty sure both sponsors, Godaddy.com and Podtech.net, must feel cheated!!</span></blockquote>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-84662983860614876372008-03-08T04:09:00.000-08:002008-03-09T03:07:53.766-07:00Jason's ScobleAfter the <a href="http://www.techmeme.com/080307/p64#a080307p64">blow up</a>: What <a href="http://scobleizer.com/">Scoble</a> was to Microsoft, <a href="http://www.seanpercival.com/blog/2008/03/08/how-i-went-from-picking-up-your-crap-to-reading-it/">Sean Percival</a> is to Calacanis.*<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">*We've been <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2008/01/more-spam-on-mahalo.html">treated</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">update: C.K. Sample <a href="http://www.sampletheweb.com/2008/03/08/having-worked-for-jason-calacanis-for-3-years-now/">wants to be</a> Jason's Scoble, too!</span><br /></span>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-84760922847155487582008-02-29T13:48:00.000-08:002008-02-29T13:50:07.170-08:00Best Instructional Poker Video Ever**<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vlUaixTf14U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vlUaixTf14U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br />**You should get it three minutes into it, or even after the first hand!</span>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-69420142367737346202008-02-29T04:13:00.001-08:002008-02-29T04:13:47.407-08:00Krucoff In The House<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lvlewitinn/2297371236/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3272/2297371236_170bdd3f5c_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lvlewitinn/2297371236/">Krucoff and John</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lvlewitinn/">Lawrence L</a> </span></div>Hipstering in NYC.<br clear="all" />franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-78124594194777239862008-02-25T14:48:00.000-08:002008-02-25T14:51:22.134-08:00"A freestanding Web site does not qualify" for a Pulitzer Prize, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/media/25marshall.html">says head honcho</a> of the Pulitzer Prizes. Hah!franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-62889103267930573072008-02-05T11:41:00.000-08:002008-02-05T12:25:19.453-08:00TWiT Sucks 2Why pundits are only pundits and have no clue whatsoever:<br />So TWiT naturally took the bait and discussed the MSFT-YHOO bid in its <a href="http://twit.tv/130">latest installment</a>. Luckily <a href="http://www.scobleizer.com">Scoble</a> and <a href="http://www.calacanis.com">Calacanis</a> were on it to provide some perspective business-wise, and they can do so simply because they have moved beyond any kind of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TechTV">Tech-TV</a> style punditry, especially Jason who has an impressive (like him or not) entrepreneurial record. Leo Laporte on the other hand comes off as clueless as ever. He was taken by surprise upon hearing the fact that Hotmail/Live Mail and Yahoo!-Mail each on their own are way ahead of Gmail concerning number of users. He considers 100 million sold copys of Vista a failure. Just by how he addresses (not) the upcoming challenges facing Microsoft and Yahoo! we get the impression that he has no understanding of how a corporation or business processes or markets work. Google is the only thing there is, everyone will be bought by Google, Google can do it all etc. Duh, please think! (Take Mark <a href="http://www.blogmaverick.com/2008/02/03/why-yahoo-should-say-yes-to-microsoft/">Cuban's post</a> as an example.)<br /><br />Then again for a podcast he has one of the largest audiences out there (which may be taken as an indicator for the quality of his audience). Even so, entertainment value is all well, but please deliver some insight instead of mere punditry.franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-20432312711601823122008-02-04T05:47:00.000-08:002008-02-04T06:07:47.361-08:00So Familiar With The MatterDuh, so many people all so familiar with the matter. The 'familiar with the matter' to character/word ratio in WSJ's latest <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120206856800138831.html">YHOO-MSFT analysis</a> breaks new records (53/2; 12 in absolute numbers). Can someone please fire the editor in charge? If they weren't seemingly overstaffed (2 authors, 3 contributors for 1.280 words) we'd sure been spared the mess. <span style="font-size:78%;"><br />[ed. note - and we're definitely among the last to call up on the style police!]</span>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-28958454485117247832008-01-22T09:39:00.000-08:002008-01-22T10:16:34.786-08:00More Spam On MahaloThis is further proof of what we have uncovered <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2007/11/mahalo-again-what-do-calacanis-and.html">earlier</a>. <br />On Dave Winer's blog the story became clear once again. While Jason Calacanis is so proud to be <a href="http://twitter.com/JasonCalacanis/statuses/628121552">hanging out</a> with Naomi Campbell and <a href="http://de.sevenload.com/videos/y9UD7qi/DLD08-Day2-Highlights-Humans-disrupting-algo">promoting Mahalo</a> at the DLD conference in Germany his concept fails at home. Readers of Scripting.com <a href="http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/01/21/outOnTheUgcLimb.html#comment-90789">uncover</a> that <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/Dave_Winer">Dave's Mahalo page</a> has spam among its recommended links section. Only in reaction to this revelation has spam link since been dumped to the blocked section. The issue at hands in Dave's words: "One of the problems with Mahalo, it always seemed to me, was keeping all those pages fresh. "<br />It goes without saying that the mob acted quickly to submit Winer-critical links to Mahalo which one of Jason's most loyal <a href="http://www.mahalo.com/member/Sean%20percival">fanboi</a>'s quickly accepted into Mahalo universe.<br /><br />Anyhoo, <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2007/11/mahalo-again-what-do-calacanis-and.html">back then</a> Jason kindly enough <a href="http://www.haloscan.com/comments/franzstehrn/6969001759413512127/#294358">replied</a>: <blockquote>"In terms of folks putting in unrelated stuff that happens all the time. Folks don't understand that they are recommending URLs for the specific page, they think they are submitting ones for the entire site. We're fixing that.<br /><br />Also, we're looking into why the person who manages my SERP didn't get emails when those were posted (might be a spam filter type thing). We try to deal with incoming links as they happen (the guide get email alerts)." </blockquote>We were ready to <a href="http://franzstehrn.blogspot.com/2007/11/say-what-you-may-but-calacanis-is.html">acknowledge</a> Jason's lenghty comment then, but we have to take a stance again, because Mahalo has not arrived at "We're fixing that".<br /><a href="http://www.scripting.com/stories/2008/01/21/outOnTheUgcLimb.html"><br />More discussion in the comments on Scripting News.</a>franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5637633.post-43321485738320352182008-01-17T05:02:00.000-08:002008-01-17T05:34:54.550-08:00Bold: Calacanis Wants 100k More. Inital Commitment Not Fulfilled!Bold move by webpreneur <a href="http://www.calacanis.com">Jason Calacanis</a>. On Twitter he is <a href="http://twitter.com/JasonCalacanis/statuses/606320182">asking for $100K+</a> for his <a href="http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/11/media-philanthropy/">charity</a>. Now why is this so presumptuous?<br />Let's look back: in October 2006 Calacanis <a href="http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/26/my-news-podcast/">announced</a> a podcast with great fanfare and an official press release around his <a href="http://www.propr.ca/index.php/2006/bbs-jason-calacanis/">keynote</a> at the Blog Business Summit. He made a committment to do 50 episodes of "a weekly podcast" over the course of a year.<br />It's January 2008 now. Not only has he failed to deliver a <u>weekly</u> podcast, but he's far from meeting the commitment reaching those 50 episodes, the latest being the <a href="http://www.calacanis.com/2007/09/05/calacaniscast-32-beta/">32nd</a> installment only. We're pretty sure both sponsors, Godaddy.com and Podtech.net, must feel cheated!!franzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610512888414947080noreply@blogger.com