silicon alley insider

The end of Digital Noise

All albums eventually come to an end--even super-gonzo triple live CD sets--and the time has come for this blog to end as well.

I've had a great time exploring the intersection of music and technology for the last three-plus years. And even though the music industry is going through some wrenching changes, the public's interest in music has, if anything, gotten stronger.

I was at Coachella this April along with a record sold-out crowd of more than 90,000. Some of them were there for the party, but the musical lineup made the party happen. I've seen … Read more

Q&A: Henry Blodget on redemption, Eliot Spitzer, and taking criticism

Words like "scumbag," "fraud," and "crook" once trailed after Henry Blodget's name anytime it came up in Silicon Valley. The budding Web-publishing mogul, who was once a superstar tech analyst before being accused of securities fraud, has spent the past five years trying to recover his credibility. Last week, his efforts may have suffered a setback.

This interview began in August, when I sent Blodget the questions. He e-mailed his answers on Wednesday, two days before Silicon Alley Insider, the technology news blog Blodget co-founded, wrote itself into a controversy. A member of … Read more

Who's to blame for spreading phony Jobs story?

"Unedited. Unfiltered. News."

That's the slogan CNN chose for its user-generated news site, iReport.com, a place designed to tap into the citizen journalism craze. At iReport, any member of the public is allowed to post stories, ostensibly as part of the cable network's news operation, simply by providing an e-mail address. CNN and citizen journalism are being criticized after someone used the site on Friday to spread the false report that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a serious heart attack.

The bogus story sparked a minor panic on Wall Street before Apple had a … Read more

Report: MySpace Music may delay launch

MySpace Music is having some trouble getting out the door it appears.

Sources told me months ago that overseers of the new music service, formed by News Corp. and the three largest music labels, were shooting for a September 15 launch date.

The blog Silicon Alley Insider wrote recently that the launch date had been moved back to September 18. Now Peter Kafka of SAI, citing music industry sources, is reporting the launch date may get pushed back a week.

Kafka, a former writer for Forbes magazine, reports that there are two obvious possibilities. On Monday, CNET News reported that … Read more

Michael Eisner not doubting Veoh despite report

LOS ANGELES--Michael Eisner wasn't miffed enough at Veoh to stop him from investing in the company once again.

Last week, the former Disney chairman took the stage at Digitas' "Newfront," a showcase of Web video for potential advertisers held in New York. Joining him was Veoh's founder Dmitry Shapiro.

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Eisner used the opportunity to chide Shapiro about when Veoh, a company that bills itself as a Web TV network, is going to pay off. Silicon Alley Insider called the exchange between the two men "uncomfortable."

On Tuesday, Shapiro was … Read more

Report: Ballmer says Yahoo announcement coming 'in very short order'

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says he knows exactly what Yahoo is worth and isn't willing to go a dime over that, Silicon Alley Insider reported Thursday.

Ballmer, speaking to Microsoft employees in a so-called town hall conference call Thursday, also said an announcement regarding Yahoo is coming "in very short order," the blog site reported. But what he meant by that is unclear, since he also noted that he had "nothing to say today." A reporter for Silicon Alley Insider apparently listened in on the call.

Ballmer also didn't put a price tag to … Read more

Silicon Alley Insider creates start-up valuation index

How much is Facebook, Wikipedia, or Twitter worth? Silicon Alley Insider is attempting to crack the mysterious code on the valuations of the major Web start-ups with its SAI 25 Live! It tracks the valuation of the private companies and shows changes in those valuations in real-time (updated every 20 minutes on the site).

Given that the companies in the SAI 25 (or 47 in this case) don't share their numbers like a public company, the index is based on educated guesswork, looking at a combination of VC financing, financial performance, growth rate and market share and size.

Interestingly, … Read more

Video: New York geeks gone wild at karaoke bar

I guess it was impossible to shake off that South by Southwest geek-turned-rock-star fever. On Wednesday night, New York's new-media nerds had no problem taking center stage at a Chinatown karaoke outing.

Case in point: this video of two dudes and an unidentified female rocking out to Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Those guys, in case you don't know 'em, are a pretty big deal. The skinny one who looks like he should be fronting a garage band is Tumblr founder David Karp, and the Jimmy Kimmel lookalike is Silicon Alley Insider reporter Dan Frommer (whose bosses are loving the fact … Read more

Which fast-growing NYC start-up is getting some googly love?

Peter Kafka at Silicon Alley Insider has started a little guessing game: which anonymous New York tech start-up is getting backed by influential ex-Googler Chris Sacca, who left his job as head of special initiatives to become an angel investor?

On Sunday, Sacca wrote on his blog that he's looking for a "Web geek" for an "edgy little content company" based in Gotham, which "needs its first full-time tech lead."

This is a big deal, because powerful ex-Google executive muscle would mean both great press and deep-pocketed connections for the start-up in question. … Read more

Gotham mayor tops blog's list of NY tech influencers

For the past few weeks, New York's tech scene has been semi-quietly anticipating the Silicon Alley Insider's inaugural "Silicon Alley 100" list for 2007.

Local entrepreneurs and enthusiasts have recently traded plenty of jabs, guesses, and "if I make it to the list, you owe me a drink" bets. Nate Westheimer, founder of start-up BricaBox, even launched a "people's choice" version.

The full list is set to officially go live later Tuesday, but CNET News.com managed to dig it up before its official debut.

In the No. 1 spot? New … Read more