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Bang with Friends Attracts Investors, Yet It's Still Easier to Text Someone for a Booty Call

Bang With Friends, the prurient web application that allows you to click on Facebook friends and invite them for a roll in the hay, has evidently raised $1 million in its first round of venture funding. Yep, you read that right -- $1 million for an app that was created by three (probably) drunk tech ... More >>

The Tech Dream Factory: Networks and Incubators Promise "Insider Access," for a Price

Troubled Music Biz Draws More Venture Money

One in every 43 venture-capital dollars in 2012 was invested in music-oriented startups, according to Digital Music News. "Is this a simple case of dumb money," the site asks, "or the beginnings of a totally new industry?" Why can't it be both?

SF MusicTech Summit: Big Predictions, Blanket Dismissals, and Lots of Bad Words

Prediction: In 10 years, no one's going to care about owning music as long as they have access to it. Prediction: No one except for .1 percent of music listeners and Neil Young will pay for Neil Young's high-quality digital audio service. Prediction: In 3030, mashups will finally be legal. So i ... More >>

They Might Be Giants

For Sale: 24 Hour Fitness

A time traveler from, say, the Renaissance era or the Hellenistic period, would immediately find two things strange about our beloved present. First (in no particular order): Michele Bachmann. Second: "Wait, people are paying money to run in place and lift heavy things?"Everything else would sort of ... More >>

Live Review, 6/7/12: Twin Shadow and Tanlines Somehow Don't Get the Techies Dancing at Rdio's Private Party

Twin Shadow Tanlines Dirty Ghosts Thursday, June 7, 2012 The Independent Better than: A Facebook party featuring anyone. Tanlines percussionist Jesse Cohen's been slinging Internet-based one-liners all night. He introduces new music as "not even on Rdio, what they call a 'net exclusive.'" He under ... More >>

American Parasite: Romney's Bain Represents Capitalism's Worst

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington Leaves Journalism, Enters Investment World

Joi via FlickrWhat conflict?​It's the kind of story whose twists and turns make you realize why Twitter can be useful. TechCrunch's founder and coeditor, Michael Arrington, announced Thursday night that he'll be joining the investment world: He's starting a venture capital fund to invest in start ... More >>

Airbnb Raises $112 Million from Investors, Is Now Valued at $1.3 Billion

Lichtenstein: Available to rent​It's a simple idea: Set up a clearinghouse for people to informally "rent" out their homes, or rooms in their homes, to travelers. But it wasn't until 2009 that a group of San Francisco entrepreneurs tried to base a business on this idea, launching a website, Airbnb ... More >>

Fresh Eats: Stuffing Your Face with Bread for Charity

Proof Baking Encourages Stuffing Face With Bread for Charity

Michael Shwe and his son get ready to give out bread.​Maybe you've seen Michael Shwe around? He's the dude handing out delicious free bread on Fridays at Philz Coffee on 4th St. at Berry. Of course, if you're not a terrible person, you're most likely leaving a donation for the bread, and those ... More >>

The Summit Unlocks Doors of Ambition

Doug ZimmermanThe Summit (left) shares space with tech start-up incubator I/O Ventures.​We checked out yesterday's grand opening of the Summit well into an ambitious 18-hour day (it's open seven days a week, but from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday). Right away, we found the space fu ... More >>

Who Wants Your Microlending Dollars? These Local Businesses Do

​A barbecue truck. A food documentary. An artisan cheese maker. These are all Bay Area food projects seeking startup funding online.A few weeks back, Chow's Roxanne Webber wrote a great piece about Kickstarter and Indiegogo, two websites that allow small businesses or artists to advertise for micr ... More >>

Bay Area News Project Editor, CEO Introduce Themselves

​Out-of-work Bay Area journalists, start your resume engines. The Warren Hellman-bankrolled Bay Area News Project moments ago announced it has inked a CEO and Editor-In-Chief and is looking to hire "about 15 full-time journalists by the end of the year." According to newly installed EIC Jonathan W ... More >>

Hold Fast: Did Twitter Pull Us Through the Recession?

And by Twitter of course, we mean what is known as the realtime web (yes that's now one word). On the heels of the Techcrunch Realtime Crunchup we attended in S.F. last week and approaching the Parisian Le Web next week, a savvy observer might notice that automatically tacking the word realtime on ... More >>

Zeppelin Hovering Over San Francisco Wants Your Spit

Our future looms overhead ...​San Franciscans lucky enough to be enjoying our lunch outside today were interrupted by the less-than-appetizing sight of a gargantuan pair of chromosomes looming over our heads. This zeppelin, which belongs to Airship Ventures, currently features advertising from the ... More >>

SF, NY Fight Over Woodstock Name

Jim MarshallCountry Joe at Woodstock, 1969 Who owns the name Woodstock? That's the central issue in the brouhaha between the promoters of San Francisco's Free Woodstock 40th Anniversary concert and New York-based Woodstock Ventures. Today at 1 pm at John's Grill, a group of Summer of Love survivo ... More >>

Hammer Speaks at Stanford Business School

Still Can't Touch Dis: Hammer Nothing like celebrating St. Patrick's Day by learning how to make green, eh laddie? If you'd rather own a bar than hit the bars, spend tomorrow night at Stanford Business School soaking up game from none other than Hammer. The occasion is a panel discussion, sponsored ... More >>

Bluegrass Philanthropy

Warren Hellman takes S.F.'s free roots music festival into its sixth year

Brugmann's Brain Vomit

Cleaning up the latest drivel from San Francisco's leading bull-goose loony

Looking Inside INdTV

Al Gore and ex-Stanford prof Joel Hyatt say their S.F.-based cable news channel for twentysomethings won't be ideological. But do the Democratic moneymen behind the venture know that?

Rolling in War Bucks

How the state public employees' retirement system and the politically connected Carlyle Group profit from defense

Son of Super Swindler

The unsettling link between a group of firms that sell financial planning services to elderly Californians and one of the most notorious con men in U.S. history

Palookaville

In S.F.'s political fight game, all the contestants are ignoring a national biotech debate that could put the local economy down for the count

Generation Excess

A close look at Kibu.com, the teen Web site -- backed by Silicon Valley's elite -- that vaporized $15 million in a matter of months

Riff Raff

Dog Bites

Wired Frays

An editor is not hired; three key players flit away; layoffs begin

The Merger's Tangled Web

Unspun

Dog Bites

System Crashing

Buying Wired magazine may align you with the digerati, but buying its stock might sink you into poverty

Fish Story

Red Herring Editor Tony Perkins is a self-described maverick, a stylish fast-talker with a knack for making friends and influencing people in the high-tech world. Not bad traits for a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, but are they what it takes to publish a "m

Dish