Mercury News
Nothing really dies in Silicon Valley. In the end, everything just merges.
The latest combo came not to a tech company, but a tech tattletale, Valleywag, the spunky Silicon Valley gossip site. Like just about every other news Web site, VW hasn’t figured out how to make big bucks off big news online. So it’s going to be folded into another gossip site, Gawker.com, by its parent company, Gawker Media.
“Valleywag’s traffic isn’t enough to pay for two writers,” Valleywag scribe Paul Boutin wrote this week.
And Friday, Dear Newspaper Reader, there was more bad news that should encourage you to hug a newspaper today. (Or better yet, subscribe to one!)
Financial media company TheStreet.com announced it was closing its San Francisco office.
“In this environment — the words that have been used are these unprecedented times — we thought it was prudent to really be looking at our costs,” said company spokeswoman Rebecca Updegraph. “The overall trend in the industry is the softening of online advertising.”
Some of its laid-off Bay Area reporters “will contribute to our network as freelance contributors,” she said.
A PLUG FOR OUR SPONSOR: Yes, the winners of the annual Tech Awards are do-gooders who spend more time than most thinking about what a wonderful place twhe world could be — if only.
That’s not to say these world-changers aren’t brilliant and especially brilliant enough to know that it never hurts to plug a patron.
Randy Wang, of Digital Study Hall, showed some quick thinking as he took to the stage during the black-tie gala at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center this week. He was there to pick up the Tech’s education award, sponsored by Microsoft, and the $50,000 that went with it.
Wang knew time was short and so he offered the CliffsNotes on his organization, which uses digital video technology to distribute lessons from India’s best teachers to school houses in rural areas and slums throughout India and Bangladesh.
To find out more, he suggested, google “Digital Study Hall.”
Then Wang turned to Microsoft VP Dan’l Lewin, who had just handed him his award, and quickly recovered.
“And since our sponsor is Microsoft, you could also use Live.com.”
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