Today was my first day at TechCrunch and I am absolutely thrilled to be writing and breaking news about emerging technologies.  I love what this company is doing and I love all my coworkers (except for Mike Arrington, who is a monster*).

I’ve enjoyed helping the SF Weekly grow online as its Web Editor and I couldn’t have made so much progress without the help and support of Tom Walsh, Will Harper, Andy Wright, John Boitnott and an amazing editorial and production team, not to mention the superb Bill Jensen, Erin Broadley and countless friends, to whom I’ll always be thankful for their guidance and faith.

Together we made SFWeekly.com a destination, a place that San Franciscans continue go to as an essential source of news and entertainment, and we should all be proud. I hope you will continue to follow my newest adventures.
 
Many many thanks to old friends and new,
 
 
Alexia
 
 
* FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT UNDERSTAND MY SENSE OF HUMOR, I AM JOKING HERE.

Is it just me or do the words “Internet,” “Kill” and “Switch” strung together in this Zdnet headline send chills down your spine? Okay former almost Vice-President Joe Lieberman, you’re kidding right? Please tell me you’re kidding. Because if you believe the U.S. government (an organization that most likely prints out emails because most higher-ups “don’t like to click on links”) should have online override in times of national emergency then you clearly don’t understand the nature of the current revolution in human communication.

The Internet exists, primarily and inherently, and especially in the case of corporate behemoths like BP, to keep absolute power in check, because absolute power supposedly corrupts absolutely. Giving the government a monopolistic “kill switch” on this now ubiquitous socially mediated system of checks and balances is just weird, cc: @JoeLieberman.

Any company on a list created by Homeland Security that also “relies on” the internet, the telephone system or any other component of the US “information infrastructure” would be subject to command by a new National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC) that would be created inside Homeland Security.

What company *doesn’t* rely on the Internet or the telephone system? This stricture basically means “We have the power to shut down all your online communications, whoever you are,” — A statement which seems disproportionate considering the fact that the government spends more on military annually than the market cap of Google and Apple combined. If the country’s most viable protection in times of crisis is the conceptual equivalent of unplugging a lot of computers then yes, yes, you’re doing it wrong U.S. government.

To sweeten the deal for industry groups, Lieberman has included a tantalizing offer absent from earlier drafts: immunity from civil lawsuits. If a software company’s programming error costs customers billions, or a broadband provider intentionally cuts off its customers in response to a federal command, neither would be liable.

Immunity from civil lawsuits? Is it just me, or do the words “sweeten the deal for industry groups” give you the creeps? Here’s to this never, ever, ever, passing. I’ve never been such a proponent of the, however vaguely and awkwardly phrased, stiff opposition.

Follow me on Twitter at @alexia.

While the rest of us were out “networking,” Valleywag Ryan Tate spent his Friday night drinking and emailing with Steve Jobs about — among other things — whether Bob Dylan invented the word “revolution,” whether porn should be free, and something about how shitty Flash is.

I’m not going to get into any of that.

What is most striking about the after-midnight emails is how abruptly the thread ends, with Jobs,  possibly the most culturally influential person alive, asking Tate, a blogger at the beginning of a promising career:

“Btw. What have you done that’s so great? Do you create anything or just criticize others work and belittle their motivation?”

Oh BTW!

Sorry Steve, didn’t know you were in some sort of existential pissing match with humanity. Sure you envisioned the iPad or whatever, but I just quit smoking and filled out my census form.

Okay so ontologically I’ve got nothing on the tech and media mogul. But maybe you do? In any case what would you answer?

(And please put ‘em in the comments, I’m compiling the best ones for a Sfweekly post.)

Follow me on Twitter at @alexia and @sfweekly.

Douglas Spink, a.k.a Dr. Fausty, was arrested yesterday for running a “Bestiality Farm” in Northern Washington and, as of this morning has perhaps the worst Google footprint of any living person.

Even before his arrest, bestiality farmer Spink (I’m not even going to get into the onomatopoeia here) had a modest Internet presence; posting on BeastForum, reviewing stuff on Amazon (actually using the phrase “straight from the horse’s mouth” sans irony in a non-animal related book review), and microblogging on Twitter at @drfausty.

I’m actually surprised/relieved he never got into Farmville.

Count the headline typos in billionaire Mark Cuban’s latest post about the FCC! Free Stickybits stickers to the first person who catches all three.

“From a business perspective, it doesn’t make sense for these guys to all play nicely with one another and make it so you don’t have to use their services. The need to take steps to ensure that you will use their service, and will do so instead of a rival service. That’s the way it works, and that’s the way it has always worked. And that’s why it’s a war. Right now, it’s just the early stages where all sides are arming themselves. Soon, they’ll try to kill one another. And that may not be such a bad thing.”

Earlier today Techcrunch’s MG Siegler demanded blood be spilled on the front lines of the location wars. Thus far contender Gowalla’s Read-only API is less a weapon than a shield — and pretty much the only thing stemming the power of Geo-local aggregators like Britekite and possibly Twitter and Facebook once they get their shit together.

The Austin based start-up may be protected by its closed data policy for now, but these apps have yet to reach far beyond the early adopter crowd. When they do, Gowalla will be overpowered by the formidable “If you ain’t first you’re last” momentum of Foursquare, unless it’s got something stronger than “I’m pretty!” in its arsenal.

There’ll never be a Foursqualla just like there never was a Myfriendface — because there’s no such thing as friends, in business or in social media.

And war is good, because it lets you know you’re still alive.

iPhone Announcement at Macworld, January 9th, 2007


Google Phone “Announcement,” December 14th, 2009

If anyone needs their memory refreshed, Steve Job’s original speech below:

I especially like the “Cheap Cell Phones” advertising on this particular embed.

Yes, the rumors are true.

I am moving to San Francisco to become web editor of the S.F.Weekly, which, much like the L.A. Weekly is part of a group of websites known as Village Voice Media.

I am extremely thankful for all the support I have received from the technology sector in both Los Angeles and San Francisco and gratefully hope that we can continue to work together and grow under the auspices of my new role.

So if you live in San Francisco and see me around (I am that girl in the picture) come up and say hi; I always like to make new friends.

And in the coming weeks, be looking for me on S.F.Weekly.com, because it’s always fun to watch someone fail or succeed.

During the President’s health care speech two days ago, the shared experience that is the realtime Internet reacted to a perfect Twitter-fodder event — Joe Wilson’s “you lie” outburst — with a surprising amount of conversation about the real issue in the room, health care reform.

This realtime 24-7 Internet did not exist in 2001. We had the earliest versions of social media, instant messaging and blogs. But we had nowhere near the household use of many-to-many communication channels like Twitter and text messages. For the most part we spent 9-11 watching CNN. The Web in ’09 is more about doing rather than watching. Twitter asks, “What are you doing RIGHT NOW?”

Here’s an exercise for today: Ask the people on your social networks what they were doing today in 2001. Get ready for lots of responses.

Read more in “What Would 9-11 Be Like in the Age of Social Media?”

Just when you thought the “two memes one shirt” phenomenon had hit its last iteration (how long before we see a “Three Wolves with Dead Kittens in their Mouths on a Moon” shirt?), The Mountain — the company behind the world’s first viral T-shirt — is apparently looking for a book deal.

The proposal for Sheep in Wolves Clothing, co-authored by Gregg Turkington and Michael McGloin, found itself in our inbox the other day and we thought we’d share some of the highlights:

Read more in “Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt: The Book?”