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Off-topic: The Asays ski Grand Targhee

Remember that one day when I had fewer than 20 posts? You know, the day when you actually had something less than a novel to read on The Open Road?

Well, here's where (and how) I was slacking that day:

Asays - Grand Targhee 2009

Man doth not live by blog alone. There must also be skiing.

Note: Vimeo seems to be having some problems serving up the video here. If you're interested in watching my Napoleon Dynamite ski moves, follow the link.

Daily Tidbits: $594 million for virtual worlds in '08

Virtual Worlds Management, a company that provides research on the growth of online virtual worlds, said $594 million was invested in 63 virtual worlds during 2008. Gaia Online and PlayFish were two of the most prominent recipients of venture funding during the year. That said, investments in virtual worlds declined as the year wore on. In the first quarter of 2008, virtual worlds received $184 million in funding. By the fourth quarter of that year, investments dropped to $101 million. Virtual Worlds Management expects a further decline in funding in virtual worlds during 2009.

Fuzz.com, a social-networking site for … Read more

HomeAway opens door to $250 million funding round

Vacation home rental site HomeAway announced Tuesday it received a substantial $250 million fourth round of funding.

HomeAway, which has raised $405 million to date in private equity, received its latest round from lead investor Technology Crossover Ventures, along with existing investors Institutional Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures.

HomeAway's $250 million third round represents the largest U.S. venture stake for an Internet company over the past eight years, according to Venture Source.

Companies that tend to raise sizable venture rounds in excess of $100 million tend to be in capital intensive industries, such as networking company Santera Systems … Read more

The 404 160: Where we're Ogg at heart

On the show today: Erica Ogg from CNET's Crave takes time out of her NY vacation to chat with us about the Olympics, hockey, Chinese smile deficiencies, Facebook spam, Barack Obama's twitters, Antivirus XP, and Batman spoilers!>

Even though the Montauk Monster has thrown New York into a typhoon, our buddy Erica Ogg still makes it to the studio to join us for today's show. And what a great change of pace from our normal Monday show, huh? This is just what The 404 needs to brighten up our day. Erica writes for Crave, CNET's … Read more

The 404 148: Where MTI is livid and covered in toilet paper

Mark is finally back from his 10 year sabbatical, so we have him on as a guest on today's show to talk about the much deserved practical joke we pulled on him (see post below). He also gives a shout out to Papa Licea and tells us a few stories about his trip. The rest of us get into a rather heated discussion about RoboCop and Batman, give a public service announcement on child abuse, reminisce about a time not so long ago when we worked for pennies, and daydream out loud about all the sinister things we could … Read more

EFF YO CUBE

Mark is an associate producer on Loaded. He took a three week vacation during the busiest time of the year for our team. We had to redesign the set, film off site, move all office furniture for re-carpeting, and cover the 3G iPhone launch all without him. We haven't slept in weeks. This is a little friendly retribution!

I'm back in the saddle again

After toting 7 pounds of camera gear and 30 pounds of toddler around Argentina and Chile for a month, I'm back to work.

I had a grand trip. And so far at least, I've lost none of the oodles of photos I took. (The one here is of the iconic Patagonian peak Monte Fitz Roy.)

I'm digging out of a giant pile of e-mail now, but later on, you can expect my thoughts about the merits of the Olympus E-3 as a travel camera and an update on the best way to store photos while traveling.

My March vacation: Not all fun and games

I'll be on vacation for all of March, so except for a couple posts timed to pop up later, the activity on this blog is going to be awfully light.

I'll be trying out an Olympus E-3, to see if a weatherproof Four Thirds camera really is better for traveling. And for those of you who helped steer my thinking on my plea for help on how best to store photos while traveling, here's what I settled on.

I know I said I wasn't going to lug a PC, but I am after all. I can … Read more