Gizmodo bloggers pulled a stunt at CES where they used a device to turn off many of the tvs and displays at the electronics show. The stunt has perturbed some tech bloggers - see here, here, here and here. Some bloggers are also concerned that the stunt could cause a backlash against bloggers attending electronics shows. But not everyone feels the stunt is a serious problem. Mathew Ingram asks What’s the Big Deal?. Puh-leeze. Not surprisingly, Denton is unapologetic (although Lam says he’s sorry about disrupting the poor Motorola guy so many times during his presentation). Most of the events in the video are completely harmless, with TVs winking out as people are staring at them in the big hall - so what? I find it hard to get too excited about the whole thing, and much like Nick I find it refreshing that someone is standing apart from the slack-jawed and drooling coverage that CES gets in other places. ZDNet’s Between the Lines also thinks the Gizmodogate outrage is overblown. The prank itself is clever and the video is funny but the Gizmodo bloggers may have taken the stunt too far when they repeatedly turned off some of the same TVs disrupting CES presentations. In a business situation a funny prank can very quickly become annoying. As Zoli notes these people “worked hard to prepare, stage and deliver” their presentations. This is unlikely to have any impact at all on tech blogging in general as some are suggesting. If any bloggers are barred from future tech shows it will probably just be the Gizmodo bloggers and not all tech bloggers. At any rate the video sure shows that the TV-B-Gone devices that Gizmodo used at CES are very effective at turning off TVs. Maybe it is these disruptive devices that should be banned from tech conferences. CyberNet says everyone will be covering up the infrared ports on their displays at next year’s CES — probably a good idea. Update: Portfolio reports that the Gizmodo blogger has been barred from any future CES events. They are also reviewing possible sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker. “The Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event,” the C.E.S. said in a statement. “The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of C.E.S. media credentials and caused harm to C.E.S. exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future C.E.S. events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker are being reviewed.” Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Greg Gutfeld at Fox News Bashes Blogs
Iran’s leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be blogging infrequently but that shouldn’t mean blogging is dead. Greg Gutfeld at Fox News thinks it does. He also jabs unfairly at senior blogs. But other than realizing how much it sounds like Olbermann, it dawned on me that when the elderly, squirrels and crazed dictators start blogging, then blogging is dead. Crazed dictators is not good but seniors? They have every right to blog and probably have far more interesting stories to tell than many of the 20-something bloggers. Greg Gutfield continues his anti-blog rant by explaining how blogs suck. The worst five words you can hear at a party are “have you read my blog?” Blogs used be called diaries and they were covered with rainbow stickers and glitter. But now everyone calls them blogs and they suck. I call it the Sylvia Plath Syndrome: The idea that every nuance of your life should fascinate everyone else. At least Plath had the decency to provide a killer ending. Some think that if you don’t blog, you don’t have a life. But it’s the opposite. You should be happy that you don’t write for dopes who live in a disjointed bubble of weirdness where their own real world cowardice is masked by online bravery. Greg ends his rant by saying it would be more honest to go outside and beat someone up for real than to beat them up online. Does that mean Greg is about to go outside and beat up some seniors? We suspect Greg Gutfeld’s probably kidding about some of this but he’s going in the Blog Pessimism file anyway. Note to Greg: Ahmadinejad’s blog isn’t new - it has been around for about a year and a half. Posted in Blog Pessimism Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

2008 Bloggies Nomination Period Underway
The nomination period for the 2008 Bloggies is underway. It will last until Friday, January 11. You can nominate your favorite weblogs and/or your own blog or blogs. From now until 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Friday, January 11, 2008, anyone can nominate their favorite weblogs. That Sunday, January 13, three panels of 50 voters will receive an e-mail. It will list the weblogs that have received the most nominations in ten categories. They will have until 10:00 PM EST on Friday, January 18 to privately submit their five favorites (six for Weblog of the Year) for each category. The five (or six for Weblog of the Year) receiving the most votes will become finalists. I (Nikolai Nolan) will only vote for the panel in the case of a tie for fifth place. This panel is on an opt-in policy; there is a checkbox on this form for it. On Tuesday, January 22, the finalists will be announced and voting will be open again to choose the winners. Voting will close at 10:00 PM EST on Thursday, January 31. The winners will be posted sometime between Sunday, March 9 and Tuesday, March 11. This is the eigth year for the Bloggies. You can see a list of the 2007 Bloggies winners here. Posted in Blog Awards Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

Blockbuster Online

Digg on the Block?
VentureBeat reports that Digg has hired Allen & Company to help it sell itself. A reliable source just confirmed the company’s plans, noting the company has hired Allen & Company, a tiny but influential private investment firm, to help broker a deal. The asking price is still $300 million, the source said. This will come as no surprise. Rumors of a sale have been rampant for months, although until now we hear co-founder Jay Adelson has been trying to muster up interest in a sale. This is the first time Digg has hired a bank to shop the deal, we’re told. Valleywag reported the $300 million rumor last month. Separately, it reported Digg chief executive Jay Adelson’s attendance at Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley, Idaho get-together of the rich and famous, noting the company might be looking to find a buyer among one of the many media company executives in attendance. Has Digg waited too long to get its $300 million? Probably not. Tech bloggers have been focusing much more on the social networking big dogs lately but Digg still has tons of traffic. Digg has lost some of its appeal because of competition but someone will likely pay the big bucks for all this traffic. Who would want it? Mashable is betting on a big newspaper conglomerate like “Gannett, Tribune, or Cox Newspapers.” Valleywag mentions Barry Diller’s IAC. Matthew Ingram suggests that Google may buy Digg - you can ridicule (or praise) him for it here. Microsoft is said to be selling at least some of the ads on Digg so maybe that’s something Google would want to takeover. Microsoft may also want to buy Digg to keep Google away from it. Digg itself has a lot of comments about a potential sale. There doesn’t seem to be quite as much interest in blogging this particular rumor. Some of the other rumors this year were very heavily blogged. Maybe everyone is just about rumored out for 2007. Permalink | Recent Headlines | Twitter | WWFeeds.com

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