Silicon Beach Startups Spawn From the Ashes of MySpace 44
McGruber writes "The NY Times reports how the alumni of distant also-ran social network Myspace have created an impressive number of spinoff internet companies. These companies have so significantly changed the Los Angeles area's tech scene that the area has been dubbed the 'Silicon Beach.' The article also provides details about the demise of Myspace under the ownership of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. When YouTube launched in February 2005, many at Myspace wanted to introduce a similar feature. Travis Katz, who had joined Myspace as general manager of international business just after the acquisition, said he remembered telling News Corporation representatives that they would need to hire 40 developers immediately and 200 the next year. 'That was much faster than anything they were accustomed to,' Mr. Katz said. 'They said, "We're going to do a hiring freeze for six months and take a deep breath and determine then what we really need." But we couldn't wait six months. In six months, YouTube went from two million to 80 million users.'"
Silicon Noun (Score:5, Funny)
Remember when that stood for chip manufacturing? Me neither.
This is news, how? (Score:5, Funny)
This just in: Throwing a ridiculous amount of money into a tiny geographical area may cause the money to remain in that area for longer than the momentary stupidity that brought it there.
Okay.... In other news, "Silicon beach"... the first thing that crossed my mind after hearing that was, ... you guys DO know where silicon comes from, right? Sand. So you're basically calling it something like Water Lake.
Re:MySpace facelift (Score:3, Funny)
You're quite right. It's the prettiest ghost town in all the land.