You might call them bodegas, corner stores or convenience stores, but you’re probably familiar with that one locally owned store that has exactly what you need at the odd hour when you needed it. They’re more common in cities than elsewhere, but there’s a startup out to replace them entirely — with giant minibars. [More]
silicon valley
Silicon Valley’s Newest Resident: John Deere
By 6.26.17
When most of us think of high-tech companies, we tend to think of the outfits that make software we can use on our phones: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Uber, and all the rest. But the computerization trends of the past decades have affected agriculture and industry just as much as anyone else, and now famous farming company John Deere is planting its flag in the heart of Silicon Valley. [More]
You Can Really Download The Not HotDog App From ‘Silicon Valley’
By 5.15.17
Have you ever sat down to a meal and asked yourself, “is this a hot dog?” In the only slightly fictionalized world of HBO’s Silicon Valley, a programmer receives funding to create a mobile app that identifies all types of food from an image, but instead develops one that identifies whether a food item is a hot dog or not. This app is real. [More]
7 Things We Learned About The Rapid Expansion Of Meal Kit Service Blue Apron
By 10.3.16
If you haven’t yet tried the meal kit service Blue Apron, you’ve probably read about it somewhere, or seen one of its many, many ads online or on TV. Yet who is on the other end of the transaction, making sure that you have your tiny bag of cilantro and packing the ice with your catfish filets? An army of blue-collar workers in one of three chilly warehouses make these meal boxes happen. [More]
There’s A High School Opening Inside Oracle Headquarters In Silicon Valley
By 8.24.16
Schools come in all shapes and sizes: private schools, small rural schools, charter schools, and online schools. That list will grow by one soon, as the first public charter school prepares to open inside a corporate campus of tech giant Oracle. [More]
Google Pauses Plans To Build Google Fiber In Their Own Backyard
By 8.9.16
There’s a funny thing about silicon valley: the place in the country synonymous with high-tech, internet-based industry is not one of the places with the fanciest, most modern broadband networks. And now it’s going to have to wait even longer to get its turn. [More]
Some Banks Offering Tech Employees Mortgages With No Down Payment
By 7.28.16
Usually when you hear about banks offering home loans with low down-payment requirements, it’s intended to attract first-time homeowners who may not have the tens of thousands of dollars it can take to make the full 20% upfront payment. However, some banks in high-priced areas in and around Silicon Valley are using 0% down-payment loans in an attempt to attract well-heeled tech employees. [More]
Target’s Secret “Goldfish” Project Is “Bent On Disrupting The Way People Shop”
By 3.10.16
Target isn’t exactly a brand most people associate with the mysterious codename-shrouded antics of Silicon Valley, but the retailer is cooking up something fishy with a new super-secret project in California.
[More]
Someone Is Planning A Drive-Thru Grocery Store In Silicon Valley: Maybe Amazon
By 7.27.15
A real estate developer has filed building plans for an 11,000-square foot grocery pickup facility in Sunnyvale, CA, but won’t say who their client is. Sunnyvale is the Silicon Valley town where Yahoo is based, but word in the local real estate community is that their new grocer isn’t a local startup: it’s Amazon. [More]
Banana Republic’s “Startup Guy” Has Half-Tucked In Shirt, Cool Belt, No Female Counterpart
By 7.21.14
You know who dresses like this guy in a Banana Republic promo? Bradley Cooper, Jude Law and possibly Robert Pattinson, when he’s not busy being a sparkly vampire ingenue. Men accustomed to a certain amount of leisure, the sort who may encounter perfectly fine beach sand at any moment, thus requiring them to unshod their feet so they walk toward the frothy, cool water lapping at the shore near their villas. No socks required in that lifestyle! You know who probably doesn’t so much dress like this? Startup guys, despite Banana Republic’s attempt to convince us otherwise. [More]
Tiny, Printed Semiconductors Will Help You Buy Wine
By 8.10.09
One problem with wine is it’s impossible to remember what type goes with what food. Thankfully smart people are working around the clock, or at least 9 to 5, to solve this problem, by developing super-cheap semiconductors that can be printed with inkjets.
HealthSouth Paid For Someone's Fake Boobs
By 5.22.09
Most medical company execs get dinged for being too stingy with their company’s funds. But it’s quite the opposite for former HealthSouth bossman Richard Scrushy, who was quite the giver.
Gawker’s Newest Gossip Sheet: Vallywag
By 2.2.06
The inherent nepotism of the Gawker elite requires us to point out that we’ve launched a wonderful new site, Valleywag. Their blurb: “Valleywag is a tech gossip rag. You people in Silicon Valley are far too busy changing the world to care about sex, greed and hypocrisy. But if you ever need a break, come visit us at Valleywag.”
