the internets

15 posts

Crasstalk’s Worst Internet Commenters Tournament 2013

Welcome weary citizens of the Internet! We all know how soul-sucking internet comments can be. Racism, stupidity, and harsh judgements abound. The grammar is enough to make any intelligent person cry. However, not all awfulness is created equal. Some sites have comments that sink to a special level appalling and we here at Crasstalk are ready to determine just who really is the worst of the worst. Continue reading

Horrible Bosses: Marissa Mayer’s Ban on Telecommuting at Yahoo Won’t Work

Certainly, not-so-new Yahoo! chief Marissa Mayer is no stranger to popping up in the headlines. She made a name for herself in the tech world as Employee #20 at Google, then grabbed a lot of attention for her Killers-headlined wedding.

The move Mayer, who has been CEO at Yahoo! for less than a year now, made Friday to ban telecommuting at the old (in Internet years) web giant is the latest attention getter for the first-time CEO. And it’s a move that seems likely to ultimately backfire.  Continue reading

Yelp Users Will Review Pretty Much Anything

Reviews are the stuff of life nowadays. Very rarely do we encounter anything anymore where someone hasn’t written an opinion about it. Of course there are reviews for every place or event you can think of, but what about the places or things that you’d never consider? Who the hell would go to their computer or phone, load up Yelp and start typing out a tome to the DMV? Well, ok, everyone knows why someone would do that but still?

Out of curiosity, I’ve done some completely random, non-comprehensive, non-scientific research to find out who these people are and some of the places they felt the need to share their view of the world for: Continue reading

Disgraced Rhode Island State Legislator Harnesses Power of the Internet to Act Like 14 Year Old Boy

Yesterday this writer was on Twitter when I saw a tweet from Rhode Island state legislator Dan Gordon (R-71) about the US House vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Admittedly, I was cranky, and after a day of reading bad economic news I felt a little fed up with the GOP’s continued bitching about the health care bill when Americans need some real leadership. I shot back a cranky response.


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Charles and Tara Carreon Drop the Lawsuits But Turn up the Crazy

By now most of you are familiar with the internet dispute between TheOatmeal.com creator Matt Inman and FunnyJunk.com lawyer Charles Carreon. I won’t rehash the whole episode here, but you can find a good recap at Arstechnica.com. Last week Carreon dropped his defamation suit against Inman, but apparently his internet campaign is just beginning. Continue reading

Will You Attend? Yes, Maybe, No

I have a friend who when she receives an Evite to an event or party, always answers “maybe.” Not that she is any busier than the rest of us Connecticut housewives, but regardless, the initial answer is always maybe. It isn’t until the day of the event, or if you prod her with an email because you need to firm up your plans, that she finally give you a definitive answer. Her constant waffling drives my friends and me positively crazy. Continue reading

Brian Moylan Leaves Gawker

In a brief post on the front page of Gawker this afternoon, it was announced that Brian Moylan is leaving Gawker Media. The post was short and did not give a reason for the separation or outline Moylan’s future plans. The announcement was followed by praise for Moylan from some of the other members of the Gawker staff but management was noticeably absent, whereas with Richard Lawson’s goodbye post Remy Stern had a few nice words. Continue reading

Libraries Are Saving Your Tweets and Facebook Statuses

Ever think that Tweet or Facebook status or Crasstalk comment is just going out into the webosphere void to be swallowed up and eventually forgotten? In most cases we pray for this after a night of drunken internet ramblings. Or do you ever think you are just wasting your time writing into this void that gives you so little in return? Well fear not! You can now rest assured that many libraries are on the job making sure that your contribution to the “social memory” of our times is being preserved for future generations! Continue reading

Anonymous Takes Down Justice Department and Entertainment Industry Websites


Late this afternoon hackers identifying themselves as members of various Anonymous groups attacked and disabled the website for the US Justice Department, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Motion Picture Association of America. The move came after the FBI raided the popular file sharing site Megaupload earlier today and arrested 7 of its operators.It appears that the FBI may be the next target of the hackers. Continue reading

Join Code Year and Become a Super Hacker Type (Kind Of)

This year nearly 200,000 people across America have committed to learn computer programming through the Code Year Project. Sponsored by Code Academy, with lots of tech companies joining the project, Code Year seeks to help people learn the basics of computer coding so they can design their own web pages. Even New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is along for the ride. Continue reading