nerdspotting

Steve Jobs? Total hippie

Paul Boutin · 10/07/08 10:40AM

Wozniak on Jobs: "Steve was into everything hippy, he ran around shouting 'free love man' and eating seeds." That's the best part of this long interview with Woz, which devolves into a bunch of platitudes about the cyclic nature of the stock market and consumer electronics that you'll read elsewhere today as "Woz predicts Death of iPod." I'm trying to factcheck this sentence: "His first love was an Iraqi super computer, a poster of which he had pinned to his bedroom wall." Um, what model? (Photo by dbasuito)

Facebook holds toga party to celebrate 100 million users

Owen Thomas · 08/26/08 03:00PM

To celebrate the company reaching 100 million users, Facebook employees are holding an impromptu toga party at a park near the company's office on Waverly in downtown Palo Alto, a tipster reports. (Dave Morin, Facebook's ubiquitous evangelist, also Twittered about the party, so it must be true!) Is this the last hurrah for the collegiate youth culture 24-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg created, before COO Sheryl "No Fun" Sandberg moves the company to an anonymous office complex next year? It's hard to imagine Facebookers donning sheets and running around the manicured lawns of the bland former Hewlett-Packard building. Here, Sheryl — somehow we can't picture you taking part in toga parties even when you were in college. For you, from eHow, some step-by-step instructions for holding a toga party. Bonus points to any reader who sends in a photo of Zuckerberg in a toga. (Photo by andyfitz)

Woz gets VIP Segway access

Paul Boutin · 08/25/08 03:20PM

A tipster alerts us: "Steve Wozniak and his wife were spotted Saturday evening rolling through the crowds inside the Outside Lands concert on their Segways. We wonder how he got this exclusive Segway-access when the concert organizers explicitly banned bicycles, skateboards, and scooters inside the concert grounds?" Compared to Larry Ellison violating airport noise curfews in his private jet, Woz is still the billionaire it's hard to hate. (Photo by RobotSkirts)

Steve Jobs's Mercedes parked in a handicap spot

Nicholas Carlson · 08/25/08 01:40PM

Valleywag spies were busy last weekend. "I was at a party in Palo Alto on Saturday night two doors down from Steve Jobs's house, and in the morning i was coming out with my bike and walked right in front of him on the sidewalk," writes one. How'd he look? "Pretty thin. I thought his face looked healthy, but he was very thin." If Jobs's parking habits are any indication, though, perhaps the Apple CEO is ailing after all. Another tipster eyed the Jobsmobile and took the picture above. Her caption: "Mercedes? Check. No license plate? Check. Handicap spot? Yep, this is Steve Jobs's car!!!" (Photo by Rana Sobhany)

MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe out and about with Paris Hilton

Owen Thomas · 08/09/08 02:01AM

That's so not hot: Chris DeWolfe, the CEO of MySpace, is dating Paris Hilton, Michael Arrington reports. Or if not dating, they've at least been seen together a lot, from Hollywood to the Hamptons. We wonder: Is it a coincidence that Hilton has fallen into DeWolfe's circle? Only two months ago, we reported how MySpace's security holes had further exposed the starlet, by making her supposedly private photos on the social network public. DeWolfe is married, but separated; Hilton has another boyfriend. So perhaps this isn't so much dating as tech support.We kid, of course. What this really confirms is what we knew all along: DeWolfe is a wannabe Hollywood type; rather than a hit movie, he has a hit website. Or had. It's precisely when stars begin fading that they begin prime targets for the paparazzi. MySpace has seen better days. As has DeWolfe. That he's hanging out with the likes of Hilton tells us all we need to know about the future arc of his career. It reminds us, in fact, of the idea of Yahoo merging with MySpace. Yes, that once seemed hot, too.

Woz speaking at Cisco

Owen Thomas · 08/01/08 01:20PM

We hear Steve Wozniak — he's the Apple cofounder who doesn't rain expletives on reporters — is speaking at Cisco at 11:30. We're curious what he has to say. Update: A reader sent in the photo above, and another eyewitness wisecracked: "It's like they transferred all the fat from Jobs to Woz." Ouch! Even former Woz flame Kathy Griffin wasn't that harsh. Any other Cisco tipsters care to send more? Below, a clip from another Woz talk at Google last year:

Julia Allison is in town

Melissa Gira Grant · 07/24/08 11:20AM

Back in San Francisco: Wired covergirl "Julia Alison," attending Facebook's F8 developers conference. Say what you want about her, just get her name right — so she can Google herself later. As tight as Allison is with Randi Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg's older sis, having attended Randi's Vegas bachelorette party, that's still not enough to get her name badge spelled correctly.

Digg CEO and Google cofounder smiling so hard, it's like they just wrapped up a deal

Nicholas Carlson · 07/10/08 04:00PM

This year's Sun Valley retreat, put on as usual by investment bank Allen & Co, will be Digg CEO Jay Adelson's second. But it marks Adelson's third or fourth trip around the block trying to sell Digg — with Allen & Co's help, naturally. Most of Digg's prior suitors — IAC, News Corp. and Al Gore's Current TV among them — are regulars at the Idaho resort. Glancing at Dealbook's photo of Adelson and Google cofounder Larry Page, we wonder: After months of lobbying from Google VP Marissa Mayer, has Google's top management finally decided to buy Digg and relieve the New York-based Adelson of his wearisome bicoastal commute? Adelson and Page's all-smiles body language in this photo strongly suggest it's so. (Photo by Reuters)

Four moguls walk into a bar

Owen Thomas · 07/10/08 03:00PM

Google cofounder Larry Page, Yahoo president Sue Decker, ex-Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, and Legg Mason fund manager Bill Miller, who owns large stakes in Google and Yahoo, sat and talked at a corner table at the Sun Valley Lodge, the site of Allen & Co.'s power media conference in Idaho. Page and Miller reportedly dominated the conversation. [DealBook]

Gurbaksh "G" Chahal spotted with blonde on arm, fooling no one

Owen Thomas · 06/10/08 02:00PM

Spotted at the opening of overpriced-denim boutique Duke et Duchess in San Francisco's Hayes Valley neighborhood: Gurbaksh "G" Chahal, the megalomaniacal playboy founder of BlueLithium, who's been spending his take from Yahoo's $300 million acquisition of that company on trying to launch an acting career. He's been "working on his instrument," as they say in L.A., for sure — with that outfit, you can hardly avoid checking out his pecs and quads, even if you avert your eyes. Wonder who his trainer is. (Photo by SFLuxe)

CBS CEO Les Moonves to visit CNET next Tuesday

Owen Thomas · 05/16/08 05:40PM

After buying CNET for $1.8 billion, CBS CEO Les Moonves is getting around to inspecting his new property next Tuesday, we hear. Moonves is visiting CNET's San Francisco headquarters to address the troops. So far, beaten-down CNETters, weary of the fight with hedge fund Jana Partners, seem mostly supine in CBS's embrace. Show some spirit, guys! We suggest testing your new CBS overlords' sense of humor by wearing some 2006-vintage "I Hate Les Moonves" T-shirts, from the days of his tussles with Howard Stern. Ironically retro, of course.

Mark Zuckerberg on "vision quest" in India

Owen Thomas · 05/09/08 01:40PM

"According to sources, Zuckerberg is in India and, in fact, all over the world, on a trip that is mostly for pleasure and contemplation, but also mixing in with some business." — Kara Swisher on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's travels [BoomTown] (Photoillustration by Webyantra)

Old media figure Graydon Carter spotted at San Francisco premiere of old media

Jackson West · 05/08/08 09:00PM

Vanity Fair, which is a New York-based operation distributing expert-written content on biodegradable media — a "magazine" — via premium subscriptions and bricks-and-mortar partners known as "newsstands," is sponsoring the West Coast premiere of Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Gonzo is being displayed on a screen considerably larger than any made by Samsung or Panasonic — using a technology which does not require any LCDs. Our spies snapped a photo of Vanity Fair's chief content officer, Graydon Carter, entering the specially designed facility. Much like Apple does with iPods and Macs, Vanity Fair is expecting a "halo effect" from its sponsorship of this screening to boost sales of its "magazines." (Photo by jacksonwest)

Indian website puts five-digit bounty on Mark Zuckerberg's head

Owen Thomas · 05/08/08 11:40AM

Mark Zuckerberg's in India, we hear. Is he there on holiday, or working to launch Facebook India? The answer's unclear, but Indian gossip website Techgoss.com wants to know the answer pretty badly. So badly that they're offering a 10,000-rupee reward for anyone who turns up photos of Zuckerberg and a detailed story on what he's up to. That translates to $250 — or a week's wages for an Indian computer programmer. (Photoillustration by Jackson West)

Could Owen Van Natta toast a reunion with another ex-Facebooker?

Owen Thomas · 05/07/08 04:00PM

When I ran into former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta at last night's Fast Company party, he was in high spirits, claiming to enjoy life as an unemployed dad. But he's made no secret of his desire to get back into the startup game at some point — this time as CEO, not a dispensable No. 2. Which is why this photo, sent by a tipster, of Van Natta doing shots of Jägermeister with ex-Facebooker Darian Shirazi, got us thinking. Shirazi has a startup, Redux, which raised $3.5 million in funding last month. Redux is working on automated ways of finding friends online, but it's better known for its FlickIM instant-messaging client for the iPhone. It may not be the next Facebook, but one has to think Van Natta could do worse than running Redux, and Shirazi could do worse than landing Van Natta.

You know how to whistle, don't you?

Owen Thomas · 05/06/08 06:00PM

At 21, Darian Shirazi, is just old enough to order a drink at the bar of Junoon, the Palo Alto Indian restaurant where this shot was snapped. But he's already logged two years at Facebook, the sale of one company, and a round of funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson for Redux, his current startup. That was enough to draw the interest of John Hawksley, an MIT-trained engineer who interned last summer at Google and who, in 8th grade, starred on Dick Clark's Battle of the Child Geniuses. (Hawksley doesn't turn 21 until May 22.) Our tipster spotted the two in mid-job interview, or so he claims. Can you suggest a better caption? Do so in the comments. Yesterday's winner: "How could we all be picked last?" by longtailwagsthevalley.

Marissa Mayer hits the town with hunky boytoy and Orkut

Nicholas Carlson · 05/05/08 10:20AM

Google VP Marissa Mayer attended the San Francisco Ballet's New Work's Festival on Friday and she brought along all her favorite friends. These included Mayer's manfriend, real-estate fund manager Zack Bogue, who, for reasons unknowable hasn't starred in a season of ABC's the Bachelor yet. Mayer's outfit is "a softer, [more] feminine look than we usually see from her" reports SFLuxe — but check out Googler Orkut Buyukkokten's suit, below. It's a Roberto Cavalli, darlings.