Irina Slutsky | |
|---|---|
 Slutsky in 2009 | |
| Born | |
| Known for | Journalism, web series |
Irina Slutsky is an American journalist, vlogger, and early pioneer in web series.
Irina Slutsky | |
|---|---|
| Slutsky in 2009 | |
| Born | |
| Known for | Journalism, web series |
Irina Slutsky is an American journalist, vlogger, and early pioneer in web series.
Irina Slutsky was born in Kazakhstan, [1] which was, at the time, part of the Soviet Union. Speaking of her childhood in 2007, Slutsky said "When I lived in the Soviet Union... we were told what we could read, what we could write, what we couldn't read, what we couldn't watch.... Needless to say, the Soviet Union isn't around any more; that stuff doesn't work." [2]
At a young age, Slutsky and her family emigrated to New York City, settling in the Parkchester section of the Bronx, where she learned to speak English. [3]
After the demise of the Silicon Valley magazine Red Herring , founder Tony Perkins sold the name and trademarks to Alex Vieux in 2003, who then revived the brand as a technology-news website with a short-lived companion magazine. In 2004 Vieux paid recent graduates of Columbia School of Journalism $2000 each to move to San Francisco to work as reporters, among them Irina Slutsky. [4] Although Slutsky represented Red Herring as a featured speaker at the 2005 South by Southwest conference, [5] [6] she did not enjoy her time with the magazine; in her words, "it totally sucked". [4] Editors did not allow bylines, as Vieux was allegedly worried that crediting the authors would give the young journalists "egos". Female employees were also not treated the same as their male counterparts; for Christmas 2004, Vieux reportedly gave the male staff each a Charvet necktie, while female staff (including the current managing editor) received nothing. [7] Slutsky quickly moved on. [4]
In November 2005, Slutsky teamed with Eddie Codel to form Geek Entertainment TV (GETV), a "snarky" [8] web video blog (or vlog) initially focusing on Web 2.0, "reporting from deep inside the bubble as it re-inflates." [9] Codel produced the series, and the majority of episodes featured Slutsky performing interviews. Occasionally episodes would feature guest reporters, such as noted sex blogger Violet Blue. [10] By February, the blog celebrated its 1000th subscriber. [11] [12]
In July 2006, Slutsky and Codel signed with PodTech (a podcasting company), to work under blogging celebrity Robert Scoble, [13] who had been hired-away from Microsoft the month before. [14] GETV became the company's first branded content. [15]
While with PodTech, Slutsky and Codel continued to produce weekly episodes similar to their independent work, only with an increased budget. [15] Slutsky helped sign independent vloggers to the company, as well as helped develop new content. [16] She also spearheaded and co-hosted the first ever online video awards show, the Vloggies. [17] [18] [19] She then starred in a new PodTech series (in addition to the other programs) called The Vloggies Show, focusing on video blogs and video bloggers. [20]
Slutsky and Codel worked on yet another series called LunchMeet, interviewing Bay Area internet companies during lunchtime. Early interviews included Wetpaint, Wesabe, Dogster and Instructables, among others. [21] Unlike the other series, Codel appeared in front of the camera with Slutsky in addition to producing the video. Scoble credited the two with first getting him to use Twitter, as LunchMeet had one of the earliest significant interviews with the original Twitter team. [22]
Although PodTech had raised $5.5 million in funding in 2006, and had developed a reputation for hiring respected bloggers, it was unclear to those outside the company how PodTech would raise the return on that investment. [23] [24] When PodTech was unsuccessful in their attempt at attracting a second round of funding, they started making cutbacks. In early 2007, they released GETV back to Slutsky and Codel. Codel was let go as a full-time employee, though he continued producing videos and hosting LunchMeet on a contracted basis. [16]
On July 18, 2007, Slutsky appeared (as MC Slutsky) in and produced a GETV parody music video in the style of Don't Cha by The Pussycat Dolls, celebrating the newly released iPhone. Titled "Dontcha (iphone remix)", the song was sung by Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg (as Randi Jayne), with assistance from David Prager (as MC Prager). [25] The video also features nerdcore rapper Doctor Popular, performing yo-yo tricks. [26] An advertisement for Motorola's Droid Pro later used a similar idea, though it was unrelated to Slutsky's video. [27]
It was later learned that the same day that she had published the music video, Slutsky had been let go from PodTech. PodTech founder John Furrier explained that he had been unable to monetize GETV as he had hoped, and that most of the company's revenue was coming from contracted work for corporations, rather than their original IP. He had hoped to continue working with Slutsky through contracted work, as had happened with Codel. He admitted that he had spent over $500,000 on GETV alone. Slutsky said that she understood the move, that her projects had been increasingly de-emphasized by PodTech, and that the company was spending too much of its limited resources on her. [16]
John C. Dvorak is an American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a regular columnist in a variety of magazines. He was vice president of Mevio, and has been a host on TechTV and TWiT.tv. He is currently a co-host of the No Agenda podcast.
Red Herring is a media company that publishes an innovation magazine, an online daily technology news service, technology newsletters, and hosts events for technology leaders.
CodeCon was an annual conference for software hackers and technology enthusiasts, held every year between 2002 and 2009. CodeCon was not intended to be a computer security conference, but a conference with a focus on software developers doing presentations of technologies, as computer programs, rather than products.
Boing Boing is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice won the Bloggies for Weblog of the Year, in 2004 and 2005. The editors are Mark Frauenfelder, David Pescovitz, Carla Sinclair, and Rob Beschizza, and the publisher is Jason Weisberger.
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts. Vlog category is popular on the video-sharing platform YouTube.
Robert Scoble is an American blogger, technical evangelist, and author. Scoble is best known for his blog, Scobleizer, which came to prominence during his tenure as a technology evangelist at Microsoft. He later worked for Fast Company as a video blogger, and then Rackspace and the Rackspace-sponsored community site Building 43 promoting breakthrough technology and startups.
Yonick, Kim. "'Keep dreaming' | Dan Rather inducted into SXSW Hall of Fame". kvue.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
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Broadcasting & Cable is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included Broadcasting-Telecasting, Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising, and Broadcasting. B&C, which was published biweekly until January 1941, and weekly thereafter, covers the business of television in the U.S.—programming, advertising, regulation, technology, finance, and news. In addition to the newsweekly, B&C operates a comprehensive website that provides a roadmap for readers in an industry that is in constant flux due to shifts in technology, culture and legislation, and offers a forum for industry debate and criticism.
Kevin Gamble is a filmmaker, animation producer, and co-creator/co-star of the internet podcast Tiki Bar TV, in which he plays the role of Johnny Johnny the bartender.
Mevio Inc. was an American internet entertainment network, founded in San Francisco, California in October 2004 by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom.
Natali Terese Morris is an American online media personality and co-founder of Morris Invest, a real estate investment company. She was formerly a technology news journalist with CNET and CBS.
Epic Fu was a web series created by producers Steve Woolf and Zadi Diaz. The show premiered on June 1, 2006 with Zadi Diaz as the host and ended in 2011.
Randi Jayne Zuckerberg is an American businesswoman. She is the former director of market development and spokesperson for Facebook, and a sister of the company's co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Prior to working at Facebook, she was a panelist on Forbes on Fox. As of May 2014, she is founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, editor-in-chief (EIC) of Dot Complicated, a digital lifestyle website, and creator of Dot., an animated television show about a young girl who uses technology to enhance both her educational experiences and recreational activities.
Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge is the fourth and final season of the Japanese anime television series Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The series originally had 26 episodes ordered, however, Nelvana announced that this series would be extended to 46 episodes total in length, with production by TMS Entertainment and Maxpire Entertainment. Unlike the other seasons, Mechtanium Surge is split into two separate stories. The series premiered in Canada on February 13, 2011, United States on March 5, 2011 and Australia on March 8, 2011 on Cartoon Network.
"Geek girl" is a 20th-century term, signifying a gendered subgenre within the modern geek subculture.
Tosca Musk is a South African filmmaker. She is an executive producer and director of feature films, television programs, and web content. Her work includes K. Bromberg's Driven, Rachel van Dyken's Matchmaker's Playbook, and her web series, Tiki Bar TV. Tosca is the younger sister of Elon Musk and Kimbal Musk, and daughter of Errol Musk and Maye Musk. She co-founded the streaming service Passionflix.
10,000 km is a Spanish romantic drama film directed by Carlos Marqués-Marcet. It film stars Natalia Tena and David Verdaguer as a couple trying to make their relationship work, while one lives in Barcelona and the other in Los Angeles.
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Den of Geek is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine.
...also, he used to live in Kazakhstan, where I was born.
My grandfather spent 8 years in prison because he said a joke about Stalin. He also sold some stuff on the side, so he was a capitalist, but, you know, he also said a few jokes.
Bronx." "That's where we moved from Russia, and I learned to speak English in Parkchester.
This...guy who bought the name Red Herring from Tony Perkins, when it went out of business... he hired all these people who graduated from Columbia.... He gave us $2000 to move here... and then, we're working at Red Herring, it totally sucked... we didn't have bylines.... He said he didn't want people to have egos, so, I had to go.
