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Start-Ups: Silicon Valley episode 5: The birthday party favor

The other night I met someone who is utterly riveted by "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley."

It was Windsor, the stellar barperson at my local restaurant, Sushi Ran.

"Why do you like it?" I asked.

"Because it's great," was her excited reply. I probed. She insisted it was great "because it is."

I wonder how great she would have found last night's episode 5. It began with Hermione (British, blonde) embarrassed at her drunken psychotic behavior last week.

It's just the stress of getting funding, explains her brother Ben (short, pretty, … Read more

How to manage downloads in iTunes 11

Last week Apple released the much anticipated, and delayed, update to iTunes. iTunes 11 has a new look and feel, as well as some new features such as "Up Next." Along with the new look and feel comes new methods of interacting and accomplishing once familiar tasks in iTunes. One of those tasks, managing downloads, isn't as obvious as it used to be.

When iTunes 11 was first released I had a few apps with updates available, so I started the downloads. In the previous version(s) of iTunes you could manage active downloads in the sidebar, … Read more

How to use the new 'Up Next' feature in iTunes 11

After delaying the release of iTunes 11 by a month, Apple has released the much-anticipated update for both Windows and Mac users. The new iTunes is redesigned from the ground up, with a completely new look and feel. Along with the new look comes some new features: deeper iCloud integration, a new MiniPlayer, and a feature called "Up Next."

Up Next is more or less a living playlist within iTunes. You're able to add, rearrange, edit, and delete songs from the Up Next queue at any time.

To get started with Up Next, update to iTunes 11 … Read more

Syria goes dark

Early this morning, Syria went offline.

Some more scary news is coming out of Syria early this morning. Apparently the entire country has gone dark, completely vanishing from the Internet over the course of just a few minutes. According to Renesys, a company that operates a real-time Internet-monitoring grid, all of Syria's IP connectivity has become unreachable.

Today Google has announced the acquisition of Incentive Targeting, a maker of coupon programs that tailor to users' behaviors and likes. The company has worked with retailers to design trackable coupons that help gauge their performance and usefulness.

CNET has a review of the Jawbone Up … Read more

Start-Ups: Silicon Valley Ep. 4: Lose it, drink, lose it again

Those watching "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley" will have learned many things over its first three weeks.

They'll have learned that you can't get money from VCs just by knowing their phone numbers and fluttering your acronyms. They'll have learned that doing a start-up is so hard that you need to party a lot. And they'll have learned that date-cheating just isn't on if you're a lifecaster.

Last night's Episode 4 began with Sarah (fake blonde lifecaster) kissing her dog. This was presumably to make up for the fact that last week she didn't get to kiss Jay, … Read more

Kill mobile ads with Adblock Plus for Android

Released yesterday, Adblock Plus for Android offers a no-nonsense way to completely remove ads from your mobile computing experience. Simply download and install the app, and let it run behind the scenes. From there, you should notice that display ads, video ads, push notifications, and even many in-app ads are no more.

So far, I've seen AdBlock Plus kill ads on several Web sites, including Google, and within the ad-supported Pandora app. According to its developers, though, AdBlock Plus does not work when browsing with Firefox for Android, since Firefox does not support Android's system proxy settings.

Adblock … Read more

'Start-Ups: Silicon Valley' episode 3: A glass totally empty

I spent a little time last week trying to persuade my colleague Shara Tibken to audition for the second, New York series of "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley."

She seemed reluctant. I'm not sure whether it was the compulsory bikini shots or having to access a vast egotistical madness within that seemed to put her off.

Worryingly, viewers seem to be increasingly put off too. The Bravo Ratings site, which monitors performance, suggested that a fulsome 50,000 fewer bright young things cared to watch last week's second episode.

This led to Randi Zuckerberg, the show's executive … Read more

How many balloons would it take to float Batman's house?

Some eternal questions vex us through history. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? How do cats purr? How many balloons would it take to lift my house into the air like in the "Up" movie? That last question is no longer a mystery.

An online calculator from real estate blog Movoto will tell you how many helium balloons you'll have to order from Party City to get your house off the ground. You tell it how big your house is and it gives you the number. For the record, my 1,100-square-foot house will require a mere 28,470,200 balloons to battle gravity.… Read more

Silicon Valley: Start-Ups episode 2 -- babies, incest, babies

Episode Two of Bravo TV's "Start-ups: Silicon Valley" began with Hermione (blonde) and Ben (short), the pretty British brother and sister dismissed last week by Dave McClure, uttering a primal scream.

This is apparently something of which Steve Jobs was very fond.

It also began with David (gay) and Sarah (fake blonde) working out with a private trainer.

Being a gorgeous entrepreneur is very hard. Staying a gorgeous entrepreneur is even harder.

And then Kim (brunette, frightfully self-confident), employee of Ampush Media, which sells fascinating online ads -- or online ads in a fascinating way -- wonders … Read more