Automattic

The Company Behind WordPress Invests in Newspaper Toolmaker OwnLocal

Liz Gannes in Media on October 19, 2011 at 7:00 am PT

The open source blogging start-up Automattic has made its first investment with OwnLocal, which offers tools for newspapers to help local businesses with their Web presence.

WordPress.com Slows While Battling DDOS Attack

Liz Gannes in Social on March 3, 2011 at 11:03 am PT

WordPress.com, which hosts this site, was targeted by a distributed denial of service attack today. Users reported extreme slowness this morning, and Automattic switched hosted blogs into read-only mode while combatting the attack, according to a post on its support forum.

Real-Time Web Analytics Start-Up Chartbeat Tallies Up More Investors

Peter Kafka in Media on September 22, 2010 at 9:16 am PT

Chartbeat, the real-time Web-publishing analytics service adds a few more celebrity angels to its funding round. And General Manager Tony Haile explains what, exactly, Web publishers are supposed to do with real-time data, anyway.

Sphere Leader Has Exited AOL–But Staying on as "Special" Venture Advisor

Kara Swisher in News on November 4, 2009 at 9:30 am PT

Tony Conrad, CEO and co-founder of Sphere–the contextually relevant content engine AOL bought in the spring of 2008 for upward of $25 million–left the Time Warner online unit last month, several sources have told BoomTown in recent weeks. But, in an effort by AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong to hold onto entrepreneurial talent, Conrad has agreed to become “Special Advisor” to its AOL Ventures Unit. Apparently, he is also mulling a new start-up and remains a VC too.

NPR's Honchos Talk Digital at "Think In" in San Francisco (Also, Scoble!)

Kara Swisher in News on October 12, 2009 at 6:14 pm PT

Last Friday, National Public Radio top execs came to San Francisco for a “Digital Think In” to pick the brains of some Silicon Valley types about where the public radio icon should go, digitally speaking. While NPR actually has been pretty fast-forward with podcasts and a robust Web site, it still has to think about what social networking means to it and whether a day is coming when broadcasting online will be bigger than offline. Also, what’s up with Twitter?

They Will Survive–Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Talk Downturn!

Kara Swisher in News on October 30, 2008 at 2:32 pm PT

Earlier today, BoomTown posted a video of star venture capitalist John Doerr’s 10 tips to start-ups for surviving the econalypse that he ticked off at a roundtable in Silicon Valley on Wednesday. Beside the words of wisdom from the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner, I also trolled for advice from the panel of well-known entrepreneurs I moderated at VentureBeat’s “How to manage your start-up in the downturn” event. The message: They will survive! (Cue the disco ball.)

The Entire Video of John Doerr Giving 10 Tips for Start-ups to Avoid the Econalypse

Kara Swisher in News on October 30, 2008 at 2:29 am PT

Here’s a video of star VC John Doerr reciting his 10 tips for start-ups to follow in the economic downturn, dispensed at a VentureBeat roundtable event on the downturn yesterday. And the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers VC didn’t need a massive, noisy PowerPoint like Sequoia Capital to make his quick and clear points, which he delivered in four minutes flat.

"How To Manage Your Start-Up in the Downturn"? Well, Come to This Event and Find Out!

Kara Swisher in News on October 28, 2008 at 5:05 pm PT

Tomorrow, BoomTown is trying to find a silver lining from a group of entrepreneurs at VentureBeat’s “How to manage your start-up in the downturn” roundtable event. Toni Schneider, chief executive of Automattic will join Max Levchin of Slide, Jason Calacanis of Mahalo, O’Melveny & Myers’ Sam Zucker, and Nirav Tolia of Web 1.0′s Epinions. Along with my group, for whom I am planning all sorts of verbal tortures (“Exactly how much do you make?”), there is also a star-studded investors panel.

WordCamp 2008 San Francisco

Voices, Digital Media Producer in News on August 18, 2008 at 11:26 am PT

The third annual WordCamp San Francisco was held this past weekend, bringing together WordPress users and developers to discuss the past, present and future of their favorite Web publishing platform. Since its humble beginnings as a fork of the b2\cafelog blog software in 2003, WordPress has grown to become one of the most popular blog publishing platforms.