Facebook is about to launch a new ad feature called "Sponsored Stories," in which users who check into Facebook while, say, visiting Starbucks, will simultaneously become potential spokespersons for Starbucks. (It also applies to products you "like" on Facebook.) Corporations interested in this form of "organic advertising" will have the option of paying Facebook for users' profile images and product comments, to use as an ad that's seen on their friends' pages. Facebook users, however, won't have the option of opting out. Here's a friendly video explaining your new unpaid gig as a brand ambassador. more ›

Zagat's 10th Annual Nightlife survey dropped today, and the results reveal more about who participates in Zagat's surveys than about The State of Nightlife Today. 5,719 locals shared their thoughts about their favorite nightspots, and what they had to say may not shock you: these people still have money, and they like throwing it around at douchey clubs. Their five favorite places to do this are: more ›

Back in the '60s, ungrateful hippie protesters spat on soldiers coming back from Vietnam; today the ungrateful rabble hurls invective at brave, patriotic bankers in the financial sector. It's true, insists one "handsome" young banker "with slightly mean-looking eyes" in a priceless New York Observer profile. "I had these big dreams when I was a kid to help people," whines the anonymous young tool. "But it’s much harder than one might think. You have to do your job. You’re in the Army, and they send you to Vietnam. It’s not a good war, but they tell you to shoot. You shoot. It’s very complicated, but people don’t see that." Damn, if he thinks it's tough now, just wait until he rotates back to the world and the flashbacks start. Someday, this mortgage-backed derivative security financial crisis is gonna end. more ›

Here, pour yourself a morning cup o' contempt, courtesy Frank Bruni's review of Delicatessen (pictured), the overpriced, overcrowded Soho comfort food lounge where tools and over-privileged scenesters flock to judge each other. (You know, the place that's driving neighbors to urinate on it.) After conceding that "this seriously mediocre but ingeniously conceived restaurant" isn't catering to epicures, but rather "night crawlers looking for foodstuffs that double as alcohol sponges," Bruni decides that "many of these dishes are clever, but their execution is usually matter of fact and sometimes quite sloppy...How to pass the time? During dinner I enjoyed watching the Delicatessen pirouette, a 360-degree spin some patrons perform on the way to their seats, allowing them to appraise the room fully and be fully appraised by it." more ›