Silicon Valley

Peninsula Dining Update: New Coastal Restaurants, a Hofbrau, and Pizza in Palo Alto

Just in time for the summer beach season, a few new destinations have opened up along the coast. In Pacifica, the 140-seat Puerto 27 is now open inside the Pacifica Beach Hotel. The Peruvian-style cuisine comes courtesy of Jose Calvo-Perez, most recently of Pasion in San Francisco's Sunset District. ... More >>

Haute Links: When Blogs Become Ads

Here's Why San Francisco Is Ranked the Raddest City in America This Year

Before you start whining again about how San Francisco seems to have more cock rings than parking spaces, read this piece of great news: S.F. was just voted the best city in America -- yes, even better than New York. As our sister blog, the Exhibitionist, notes, Businessweek put together a slideshow ... More >>

Fall Arts: Your Wee Guide to This Season's Bay Area Books

Sound Mind

Newspaper Drama in the South Bay Gives Other Newspapers Something to Write About

There's nothing we enjoy more than a petty newspaper fight, especially one that includes the phrase "put down the news rack."Down in the South Bay, the San Jose Mercury News was busted with news racks from competing papers inside a dumpster at the Merc's headquarters, including those belonging to th ... More >>

Local Nerds to Hold Lock-In This Weekend for Hackathon

Don't let that headline turn you off -- this event is actually pretty cool.On Saturday, Change.org is holding its second annual hackathon, where more than 200 geeks from all over the Bay Area will spend 24 hours creating new apps for social good. The engineers and designers will head over to the Cha ... More >>

Google Attempts to Teach Everyone on the Planet That Being Gay Is Not a Crime

Hey homophobes, here's one more big corporation for you to boycott. Today is the day that Google launches its much-talked-about campaign, "Legalize Love." We know what you are thinking -- what do those geeks in Silicon Valley know about love? Turns out, those nerds know a hell of a lot more about lo ... More >>

Facebook Says You Can Get Gay Married

As of late, Facebook has endlessly come under fire for its in-your-face tactics and unpopular overhauls. Just earlier today, users were lamenting the new @Facebook e-mail accounts being shoved down their throats. But for all the seemingly unnecessary changes the Silicon Valley tech company has made, ... More >>

Sorry, Twitter, if You're in the Media Business, You're a Media Company

​Given how Silicon Valley moguls flee from the term "media company," you'd almost think it was as bad as "child-porn merchant." But whether they like it or not, companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are media companies. They don't have precisely the same business models as News Corp., Disne ... More >>

Google, Facebook, Others Fight Legislation to Stop Online Content Piracy

​A veritable who's who of major tech firms in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley are fighting federal legislation aimed at putting a stop to theft of original content online.The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would allow content creators to seek court orders barring internet service providers, se ... More >>

King of the Nerds Is Looking for Bay Area Geeks

​When television producers say they're looking for the biggest nerds out there for a new reality show, it's hard to tell whether it's one of those laughing-with-you or laughing-at-you situations.But it sounds like the people behind King of the Nerds mean no disrespect by the nerds they hope w ... More >>

H1-B Visa Program Creates Caste System for Silicon Valley

Apple, at $153 Billion, Unseats Google as World's Most Valuable Brand

Secret weapon​A surge in estimated valuation from sales of products such as the iPad has landed Apple at the top of a survey of the world's most valuable brands, displacing fellow Silicon Valley juggernaut Google.Financial-research company Millward Brown set the company's current brand value at $1 ... More >>

Mark Zuckerberg Becomes First-Time Homebuyer

A billionaire in flipflops ​The Social Network only perpetuated Mark Zuckerberg's image of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur in flip flops and a hoodie. He has even continued to rent his digs ever since moving from his  Harvard dorm in 2004, despite the fact that he's a billionaire. But the 26-ye ... More >>

Bay Area Capitalists Outspending Big Oil in Last Stretch of Prop. 23 Battle

No longer so menacing​So much for the titans of the petroleum industry using their profits to bend voters and politicians to their will. It turns out the out-of-state oil companies behind the campaign to pass Proposition 23 -- the ballot initiative that would suspend California's landmark 2006 law ... More >>

AOL to Buy TechCrunch; Reported Price Tag is $25 Million

Michael Arrington​AOL has announced that it is buying the San Francisco-based tech industry blog TechCrunch, an influential business news site that has built a strong following in Silicon Valley.Initial reports suggest the acquisition price -- which has not been publicly disclosed by either party ... More >>

'Halo: Reach' Earns $200 Million, Shows Console Games Are Still Big Business

Still printing money, it seems​One of the more vivid side discussions provoked by our story last week on social-gaming company Zynga's allegedly predatory business practices was about the merits of Zynga-style games. The company specializes in Facebook apps that entice users to compulsively build ... More >>

Jonathan Kauffman Speaks! (on KQED's Forum)

Our favorite morsel from the Web. If you missed it yesterday ― SF Weekly food critic Jonathan Kauffman's vocal turn on KQED's Forum with Michael Krasny ― we embed for your pleasure: Kauffman shared air with San Francisco food editor Jan Newberry, Stett Holbrook (ditto for Metro Silicon Valley) ... More >>

Facebook Vs. Foursquare: What You Need To Know About Today's 'Location' Announcement

​If you're the type who's always looking for another time-suck social-networking application to fall prey to, chances are you'll be tuned in to your Twitter account this afternoon for a much-anticipated announcement from Facebook at its Palo Alto headquarters. The technorati have been abuzz with r ... More >>

51st State: A Roving Taste of American Regional Food Downtown

51st StateThe truck parks weekdays in three downtown locations.​The 51st state: Would that be Puerto Rico? Gitmo? According to Francesca Salcido, the 51st state is a state of food. Salcido and partners Nathan Smith and Daniel Gutierrez rolled out their downtown mobile eatery two weeks ago. S ... More >>

Santa Clara County Allows Voter Registration Via Electronic Signatures

​Santa Clara County has taken a historic step by allowing residents to register to vote electronically, the San Jose Mercury News reports.The new procedure allows people to register using touch-screen devices such as iPhones and iPads, and is the result of a proposal by the Silicon Valley firm Ver ... More >>

On the Wings of Love

Report On Google Shuttles In the City: You May Hate 'Em, But the Environment Doesn't

Pipe down, Nimbys...​So maybe you've heard Mission and Noe Valley dwellers complaining about the huge shuttle buses huffing through their small residential streets to whisk 2,500 daily commuters away to their Silicon Valley cubicles. Well, turns out they're not so bad, Nimbys. Thus concluded a stu ... More >>

Left Coast Live Kicks Off Today in San Jose

EKAphotographyLeft Coaster: Lyrics BornDo you know the way to San Jose? If you can find your way to the heart of Silicon Valley this week, you're in for a musical treat, as the LeftCoast Live festival gets underway today and continues through May 15. This weeklong event features 30 bands in 60 ve ... More >>

All Polled: We're Totally Contented and, Like, Totally Depressed

A recently released Gallup Poll attempts to rate the vague notion of "well-being," breaking down the rankings state by state and congressional district by Congressional district. California ranked on the happier end of the well-being index, and our neighbors in Congressional District 14 -- encompass ... More >>

Hot Documents: Here are the Receipts for Chinese Bureaucrats Who Enjoyed San Francisco 'Homosexual Show'

"All reactionaries are paper tigers ... and those who leave documents on the train about going to San Francisco sex shows are just plain dumb." A cadre of Chinese officials who blew through around $94,000 of the Glorious Taxpayers' money on a recent junket to the United States are in hot water after ... More >>

The Clickable Clit: Halloween-Themed Cybersex with the Professor

Print is dying, but Chron gets glossy new press

It's Time to Buy Stock in MRSA Detectors

Quattrone 2.0

A judge says Silicon Valley investment titan Frank Quattrone is free to go back to work. Would you trust him?

Water Pirates

The politics of Thirst at the Roxie

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, March 3, 2004

No Shades of Gray

Race, sex, and drink make an explosive brew in a feature debut

Show Time!

AfroSolo's back in town

And Now We Dance

A 10-day spree of performances, parties, open studios, and classes

Independence Day

The good news: A major studio turned his book into a movie. The bad news: Hardly anyone will ever see it.

Hear This

"Z Program 8 (Infinity)"

Dog Bites

Hot Lead at 50 Paces; Have Merc-y

Dog Bites

Mercury News redesign; Chronicle rumors; Gavin Newsom

Riff Raff

Street Hassles

Genes Without Frontiers

The so-called gene chip could revolutionize the way we treat cancer patients. That is, if biotech firms don't keep it out of doctors' hands.

Reel World

Living in Oblivion, Wedding in Galilee, Lightning Over Water

Silicon Valley Shakedown

A con man feeds on fear and paranoia in the software business

Dog Bites

Yawn2K, Hair Today, Gone ... Or Is It?, Wishin' and Hopin'

Industry: Pheasant Fad

Multimedia Zilch

The computer revolution still hasn't come to San Francisco government

Night + Day

Mulch