Webwonk

Jason Calcanis of Weblogs Inc. and Nick Denton of Gawker Media were the first blog network moguls, and have long had an (apparently) friendly rivalry that celebrated their different approaches to blogging for bucks. Jason went for many blogs in AdSense-relevant niches and then sold to AOL. Nick focused on a smaller number of blogs with a distinctive snarky voice, and has insisted he has no intention of selling. Jason was always skeptical of Nick’s allleged independence, perhaps because some folks (although not me) find the distinction relevant to their blogosphere cred.

Now it seems Jason is finally convinced that Nick has no intention of selling. The reason? The newest Gawker Media blog, ValleyWag, which has scorched Silicon Valley with insider gossip of the Internet economy’s rich and powerful. ”Watching Valleywag alienate 90% of the industry over the past couple of days in such a personal and vicious way, Nick’s convinced me that he could really care less,” Jason writes on his weblog. To which Nick quickly responds with the first comment: “Jason, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever written.”   

Dashlog is a web-based app for creating ”simple weblogs that point readers to cool pages on the Net.”  It’s quick, simple to use, and free. Who’s behind Dashlog? The official version: “We are two programmers trapped in a cubicle in New Jersey. The boss says he won’t let us out until we finish the next version of the site. Please send pizza!” I found Dashlogs through Ed Felten’s blog and the domain is registered to Ed, so I gather he’s one of the coders in question (or, alternatively, the stern overseer of the cubicle-dwelling coders). Either way, it’s a great app for link blogs, like the Webwonk Dashlog.