Yeah, yeah, we know. Tech's natural home is the Bay Area. New York is for everything else. But as TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington and Silicon Alley Insider founder Henry Blodget blog their way into a full-on catfight over which one has the authority to predict the future of the dot-com industry, we figured it was time to give our readers around the world an understanding of two very different cities' very different tech scenes. From hot babes to tasty food, here's what you need to know about the fundamental differences between the Bay Area and the Boroughs.
| Valley | Alley | |
|---|---|---|
| Polarizing, Bubble 2.0-inflating blogauthority | TechCrunch's Michael Arrington | Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget |
| Tech titans | Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. | Well, AOL just moved to Cooper Square--and IBM's a few Metro-North stops away in White Plains. |
| Non-tech industry powerhouses | Tourism, biotech, medicine, left-wing politics | Tourism, media, finance, entertainment, fashion, celebrity gossip |
| Boulevard of (broken?) dreams | Venture capital artery Sand Hill Road | "Blog Alley," Crosby Street in SoHo |
| Loquacious blog celebrity | Robert Scoble | Jeff Jarvis |
| Late-night calorie booster | Burritos | Pizza |
| Bodacious finance newsbabe | Former MarketWatch anchor Bambi Francisco, now of Vator.tv | CNBC anchor and "Money Honey" Maria Bartiromo |
| Notable new-media defector | Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, who left Brooklyn for the West Coast | CBS Interactive President and Valley VC veteran Quincy Smith |
| Irritating exhibitionist online-video entrepreneur | Justin Kan of Justin.tv | Jakob Lodwick of Vimeo |
| New media's mini-empires | TechCrunch, Sugar | Gawker Media, Gothamist, The Huffington Post |
| High-profile political tabloid fodder | Sexy San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom | Non-sexy New York Governor Eliot Spitzer |
| Dreamy, shaggy-haired dot-com cutie | Digg founder Kevin Rose | CollegeHumor co-founder Ricky Van Veen |
| Week-long bacchanalia involving funny outfits and substance abuse | Burning Man | Fashion Week |
| Latest uber-disappointment | Second Life | The New York Mets |
| No. 1 reason to be cranky | Real estate prices | Real estate prices |
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