Recent Stories with tag michael arrington

Facebook offers a wide assortment of NAMBLA groups your prankster "friends" can add you to.

Facebook's 500-million-strong user base was built on the power of weak social ties; "friendship" got defined down significantly to include "anyone I've interacted with." But Facebook's new group feature lets all those low-bar friends decide what groups you are in. The blowback has been immediate, and in a twist, involves Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.

Area resident Michael Arrington, upon discovering that he had been added to a joke NAMBLA group, added Zuckerberg as well. As a squeaky-clean new AOL employee, Arrington naturally wants this cleared up as soon as possible, so a little fuel was added to the fire. This is possible because since only "friends" can add you to groups, there is no query to you for confirmation. (Ironically, Zuckerberg pitched groups as offering Facebook members "more control.")

Meanwhile, Seattle's Health Month inventor, Buster Benson, made the rueful discovery today that any potential competitor of yours can claim intellectual property infringement, and Facebook will take down your page immediately without checking with you, or offering recourse. (Lifehacker explains what Health Month is all about here.) Benson has since discovered that the person who complained to Facebook about the "infringement" can be found in the comments section of various Health Month mentions online, remarking anonymously on the superiority of his product. [UPDATE 10/12/10: Benson reports his page has reappeared.]

On the plus side, perhaps even now Facebook ads are recommending local legal services.

Noting on TechCrunch that they have writers in "Silicon Valley, New York, London, Brussels, Paris, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and, absurdly, Chicago," blogger and "serial entrepreneur" Michael Arrington tries to justify moving to Seattle, which he has previously portrayed as an underperforming tech outback--the "minor leagues," in fact. (Though he admits the skiing is superior.)

The justification doesn't really take. He ends by saying, "to be honest the biggest reason I've moved is to simply mix things up in my life. Like many people I tend to get bored if I stay in one place too long--five years is the longest I've lived anywhere since high school. It was time for a change." Hey, just like Mark Emmert!

TechFlash, our homegrown, indefatigable tech blog, didn't miss a beat in securing an interview with Arrington, wherein he reveals he really does have a heart--adding that he also wanted to be nearer his parents, who retired up here.

And, we may be getting him for the long haul: "The house that I had in Silicon Valley, I was renting. It was time to buy a house, and so that is a pretty permanent thing buying a house."

A TechCrunch commenter supplied this Wolfram Alpha comparison of relocating to Seattle from the Bay area. Turns out a dollar goes a lot further here.