Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Silicon Valley Users Guide: Go shine your sales guy's shoes

  Published: October 8, 2007, 11:30 am

  Tags: Sales, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Top

  in, sales teams all over the Valley gathered for "Q4 kickoff." They're getting trained on the latest version of their company's late, buggy products. They'll be handed their "comp plan" -- the sales quota, commission, and bonus -- for the year's final quarter. The stragglers who didn't make last quarter's quota? They're gone already. In

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• Silicon Valley Users Guide: The funniest site you're still not reading

  Published: October 24, 2007, 8:30 am

  Tags: Silicon Valley Users Guide, Uncov

  Uncov is a hot little site that posts cruelly funny reviews of the same Web 2.0 companies and products that appear on TechCrunch. People who read it think everyone else does, too. They're wrong. So: A newbie's intro to Uncov.Ted is the site's star writer. A computer scientist by training, he's naturally repulsed by the flimsy, poorly executed

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• Silicon Valley Users Guide: Gossiping to reporter backfires -- hurray!

  Published: October 24, 2007, 4:25 pm

  Tags: Dave Winer, Feature, Great Moments In Journalism, Michael Arrington, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Techcrunch, Top

  out by a member of the Valley's most know-it-all caste: a software engineer.Anyone talking to media knows that telling a journalist something "off the record" ... clearly means that the comments aren't to be used a primary source. The point of "off the record" is to steer a journalist the right way so they can dig in deeper and get the real

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• Why no one's searching for your Web 2.0 site [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: November 6, 2007, 1:55 pm

  Tags: Search, Silicon Valley Users Guide

  You've built a shiny new website. But Google's steadfastly ignoring you. Why? SearchEngineLand's Chris Silver Smith has the explanation. Your Ajax-ridden site couldn't lasso a search engine spider if it stood there blinking at you. Here's what you need to do to cajole Google and Yahoo's robotic Web-crawlers over to your site, and get them to feast

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• How to coast to a writing career [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: November 7, 2007, 8:08 am

  Tags: Great Moments In Journalism, Media, Silicon Valley Users Guide

  the only Valleywagger who writes for the Wall Street Journal, I get lots of email from readers who want to know Sweet, how can I land that gig next time you're busy? Careful what you wish for. Freelance writing is hard work. Unless, that is, you follow my easy guide to slacking your way to the top -- well, not really the top, but sort of

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• 8 steps to getting fans on Facebook [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: November 8, 2007, 2:55 pm

  Tags: Facebook, Lifehacker, Robert Scoble, Self Promotion, Self Referential, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Social Networks, Top

  you a fan of Valleywag? I am. (Do sign up. It feels a bit lonely by myself. After Facebook launched its new ad offerings, I had three thoughts:(1) Well, this means more spam!(2) Scoble's going to be all over this.(3) How do I get in on the action?Facebook doesn't provide a do-it-yourself guide to the new offering, but it turns out anyone can

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• What the Valley can learn from Barry [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: November 16, 2007, 7:19 pm

  Tags: Barry Bonds, Silicon Valley Users Guide

  trick prosecutors used on Valley execs with backdated stock options.In short: They got Barry to lie while under oath three years ago. Now it doesn't matter whether or not he doped up. Like Eliot Ness jailing Al Capone for tax evasion, modern prosecutors look not for the crime, but for the cover-up. Bonds has now joined Martha Stewart and

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• How to demonstrate software, the 100-word version [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: November 20, 2007, 8:00 pm

  Tags: Joel Spolsky, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Software

  Seattle, Austin, or Boston. Silicon Valley finds tech demonstrations boring. Get the nicest venue. Look for libraries, museums, and universities. Get a room the right size. OK if people have to stand in the back. Get a high-ceiling room so everyone can see. Serve coffee. Play upbeat music loudly. Give people name tags. Cover the place in logos

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• How to have your boss over for dinner -- the 100-word version [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: November 28, 2007, 8:09 pm

  Tags: Silicon Valley Users Guide

  It's the holiday season and you know what that means. Time to invite the CEO over for dinner. The move from VP to SVP didn't come cheap, pal. But don't panic. The Financial Times -- of all places -- has the recipe you need to survive this meal. Here's our 100-word version. Here's FT columnist Lucy Kellaway's advice, condensed:My husband once

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• They're annoying. They're tragic. They're Apple fans [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: December 4, 2007, 9:02 pm

  Tags: Apple, Feature, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Top

  are far and away the Valley's most exasperating demographic. Yet I feel sorry for them.There are zealots for anything interesting in tech -- blogging, Wikipedia, digital media sharing, Facebook -- but Apple evangelists put everyone else to shame. Why? It's the cross product of two powerful factors: Most evangelists are one-trick

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• The miserable millionaires [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: December 5, 2007, 10:10 am

  Tags: Christine Comaford Lynch, Feature, Google, Microsoft, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Top

  Fortune photo) has gone from Valley millionaire to bestselling author with her memoir-slash-business book, Rules for Renegades. But making a million or two in stock options could be the worst thing that ever happens to you. Why?Because if you're rich, you don't have to work hard. So you probably don't, so you accomplish nothing, so no one in

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• How to spot a golddigger [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: December 5, 2007, 3:57 pm

  Tags: Jason Calacanis, Silicon Valley Users Guide

  From this morning's link to a New York Observer article about up-and-coming Net moguls including Jason Calacanis:One dotcom chief executive claims there is a sure-fire way to tell if a woman he meets is only interested in his money. "The women start talking to him about charities," she said. "They want to be the next Melinda Gates."

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• How to turn off Facebook's Grinch [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: December 6, 2007, 1:40 pm

  Tags: Beacon, Facebook, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Your Privacy Is An Illusion

  You've heard the horror stories about how Facebook's Beacon ads can ruin your Christmas. Even though Overstock.com -- the online retailer whose use of Beacon caused most of the uproar -- has turned Beacon off, there's no telling who Zuckerberg might sucker into installing the ads next. Take action now. Use Facebook's new privacy options to turn

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• Productivity, here I come! [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: December 6, 2007, 11:27 am

  Tags: Jordan Golson, Paul Boutin, Self Referential, Silicon Valley Users Guide

  Valleywag very special correspondent Paul Boutin has been touting the advantages of huge computer monitors for years. He's been encouraging me to pick up a 22" Dell monitor ever since I started writing full time. Did you know that they're almost identical to Apple's fancy screens -- for half the price? I didn't. Today's PhD comic lets me know just

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• If you love your employees, set them free [Silicon Valley Users Guide]

  Published: December 7, 2007, 5:40 pm

  Tags: Facebook, Michael Arrington, Silicon Valley Users Guide, Techcrunch

  from "my" employees is a Valley faux pas. Such posturing is seen as a sign of weakness. If you want your tech workers to stay, you just offer them a better deal. Right, boss?

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