July 28th, 2008 // 38 Comments
Filed: Tech
More amazing scoops at the RDL blog today. My Skype just buzzed, with a call from a name I didn’t recognize, and I picked up and it was Kevin Rose of Digg. He goes, “This is Kevin Rose. You think I’m a self-absorbed lothario who is secretly only seventeen years old and who once bragged to BusinessWeek about being worth $60 million even though I didn’t have a dime, and I think you’re a parasitic low-life who should be mopping booth floors with your tongue at the Lusty Lady in North Beach. Could I bend your ear for a moment?” Rose went on to say that he was very upset about some of the recent coverage of Digg’s attempts to sell itself to Google for a rumored $200 million. He specifically mentioned this story from TechCrunch in which anonymous sources said Google walked away from the deal because of (a) technical issues; and/or (b) personality issues. Rose said he wanted to talk about this and he wanted me to write about it and act as his proxy, telling the world his side of the story, but he would only do it if we spoke off the record and I didn’t attribute anything to him so that if anything turned out to be not true he couldn’t be held responsible, and I would take the fall for it instead. Sure thing, I said. Sounds like a great deal to me. Now, I cannot tell you what Kevin Rose said, but I can tell you that nothing I heard during our conversation led me to believe that TechCrunch got the story completely wrong, but on the other hand I don’t think TechCrunch got the story completely right, either. For example, as to whether Google walked away, this may or may not be a completely accurate description of how the talks fell apart, if indeed there ever were any talks, which there may or may not have been. Also, the rumored deal amount of $200 million may or may not be the correct one, and in fact according to someone with knowledge of the negotiations the actual figures were “totally a lot higher, like way, way, mega higher,” than $200 million. That same source with knowledge of the negotiations adds that there is still a chance that Google will resume talks with Digg, and that if not, Microsoft may or may not also be interested in acquiring Digg. Reached by cell phone and asked to comment on this, Digg CEO Kevin Rose referred a reporter to Digg’s PR department.
Dead Horses…
Now, if you wanted this to be funny, you could have told him no, you wouldn’t talk off the record, and then let his desperation keep him talking.
Don’t listen to CD. This will never not be funny.
Ryan’s right. This is friggin’ hilarious and you were absolutely right about it all in the first place.
i thought i would miss FSJ more. i’ve found you two to have a very similar writing style. quite odd. anyways if you keep cranking out the content… i will continue to laugh plenty throughout the day.
Yawn. Old. Can you use a different humor vehicle?
I know it doesn’t matter in this context, but your last line calls Kevin Rose Digg’s CEO… I can’t remember his actual title, something like Chief Brainstormer? Or was it Architect?
Also, would you mind using paragraphs? Interweb readers tend to like that…
Alright, you’re going to have to give Plouffe your other number. The both of us have been trying to call for awhile now, for my off-the-record interview with you. But I guess, judging from all these recent posts, that others are just getting through while I’m not. I’ll keep trying.
- Barry
Dan, I think you’re absolutely right with your comments on the whole RSJ health matter and the way you handle it on this blog is superb. Please write on and show the commentards the strenghth of the former FSJ was not in the persona, but rather in the great writing and spot-on critics.
Thumbs up RDL!
I love this meme!
KEEP ‘EM COMING!
Hey Dan,
I got news for the readtards here who don’t get the scoop. There is a common bug going around (top echelons) which makes people call up other people to discuss stuff off-the record (or not-discuss stuff, if you like that better).
The common bug is actually a NOT-gate (or NAND-gate, not sure) which attaches itself to the PR-cells of the subject and feeds on NDA-related thoughts and PR-non-disaster thoughts.
Nothing new, really. Kind of like the Babel Fish, but in reverse. A lot of reverse, that is.
This vindicates Apple PR while keeping everyoen else in the dark.
My good deed for the day is done. LOL
Dan,
Big fan of FSJ. Critiques are great like they were for FSJ. You HAVE TO STOP THE OPENING LINES! They suck. They were tired after the 2nd one you posted! They are inane. Your writing abilities (clearly demonstrated on FSJ blog) are better than that. You did a great job of getting the point started and communicated via FSJ without so much lead-in theatrics. Throw the crutches away and run….Please.
Realise that this is but one comment among many however I just wanted to share how much I’ve enjoyed having you back. FSJ or Real Dan, you always make me laugh, think, or both. FWIW, I love these multi-post jokes. One of my favourites from the FSJ days was the one where one of the windows-leaning bloggers/journalists was slamming Vista and you did six or seven responses from all the tech companies rejecting him as their new advocate. Gold!
Twenty bucks says when Rose reads this he has to look up what “lothario” means.
Rose could twitter and ask his following what “lothario” means!
Holy crap Dan, are you getting paid by the keystroke now? You need to chill out & pull away from the keyboard a couple hours, you might have a heart attack.
When I saw FSJ was coming to an end, I was sad. The new blog, the real you, carries over the same charisma and wit as FSJ…and now you can pick at WHOEVER you want.
Love it!
Good stuff.
I had to look up “lothario” myself. So what?
Ballmer! Do Ballmer!
no… dizzle. blow him up… tear him to pieces… or do balllmer.
Keep em coming =D Funny stuff.
You have a very valid point about Apple PR.
Why do yo look like me?
Quit looking like me!
Arrwrongton dropped a stick of lit dynomite into a lake, it blew up and he waited to see what kind of fish would float to the surface.
Keep it up, Dan. I can’t wait for a oPinion$: The Secret Diary of Dan Lyons book.
This is God Almighty. I know what you think of me and you do not even want to hazard a guess of what regard I have for you and the rest of the carbon samples on that slimy rock I designed. I’ll do the talking this time, you just shut up and listen.
AND THIS IS FOR THE RECORD, SO COPY AND PASTE THIS TO YOUR BIBLE, QUR’AN, VEDA AND ANY OTHER SCRIPTURE OR DOCUMENT YOU HOLD DEAR, FOLKS!
For a start, stop saying, “Goddammit!”, every time someone or something unpleasant happens in your life. I am not going to condemn something to Sheol just because you have a short fuse and can not cope. Not even priests have that power.
Next, stop praying to me. I am not a djinn in a bottle. Quit wishing foe me to harm all your enemies. Quit asking me to change the traffic signal; make it rain, snow, shine, windy, cloudy; for a bountiful harvest, larger paycheck, a better iPhone, a three hundred million lottery jackpot; for more life, less pain, a quick death; for the answer to forty-two down in the Sunday crossword puzzle; for the answer to mysteries you can not begin to even comprehend.
Stop sucking up or praising me.
By the way, life is not a gift, it’s a process. If you happen to notice all the beauty and ugliness along the way, well, that’s merely a bonus.
I am glad we’ve had this little talk. Do not bug me, again.
Please.
Can we create a software which will help us to deny ourselves?
Name will be “DenyMe”. We can not make it. Eternal “I” and “Me” is so diverse and deep it can not be understood easily.
Wow, another episode of not funny.
Geez, at least a FSJ readers could believe it was written by some sarcastic undergrad student in a basement dorm room instead of by a supposed journalist.
Why are “journalists” such douches?
Join the real world and get a real friggin job.
I can’t believe I had to *manually* submit this article to Digg! A Digg button would have been sweetly ironic.
Good stuff Dan
thank you…
thanks you…
thank you a lot
thanks for your information
tnk
Thank you
great news
Please continue. I nearly wet myself laughing while reading this.
Additionally the comments on how much people whinge and bitch about it are fantastic too.
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şiir türleri <a And just so a few more people won’t miss it, some dude above actually said steve jobs is a legend. What the fuck. The man’s a savvy businessman ripe for a bit of satire for sure, but a legend? Lay off the meth.