If a breathless car chase wasn't cinematic enough to make you care about Bitcoin, how about a whistleblower threatening to publish an expose about corrupt elders and ominously signing off: "You have 72 hours"?

The corporate narrative around WhatsApp's obscurity-to-billions story centers around values. The company's founders, we're told, respect our privacy above all else—except $19 billion dollars from a company no one trusts to respect our privacy. Now one group is asking for government intervention.

On stage at SXSW, Wired's Steven Levy asked Eric Schmidt whether companies like WhatsApp lead to more inequality. Here's Schmidt's response: "Let us celebrate capitalism," he said, opening his arms. "$19 billion for 50 people? Good for them."

Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, just began their South by Southwest panel addressing "issues of technology and privacy, war and intervention, diplomacy and revolution around the world."

As anyone who scrolled through Secret knows, California's polyamorous roots are alive and licking with the early adopter set. Naturally, someone had find way to scale that, and who better than William Winters, "the de facto king of the East Bay polyamory scene"? (Updated)

Facebook billionaire conservationist Sean Parker just stepped down from his investor gig at Founders Fund, where he worked for years within one of tech's most prominent venture capital machines. So, what exactly will he do every day now?

The Silicon Valley creation myth is now Diet Coke advertising fodder. [via Paolo Sambrano]

Besides air, nothing good can come from having something present in all places at all times. Not even Wi-fi. But that didn't stop Eric Schmidt from trying to make a case for Google's artificially intelligent offspring.

Republicans in Hudson Valley, where Sean Eldridge is running for Congress, allege that their new neighbor accepted in-kind donation from a local economic group. In a complaint to the Federal Election Committee, Eldridge's political rivals use YouTube footage to try to make the case that this violates election law.

The biggest problem with Facebook is all the shootouts, unsolved mysteries, and occult strangling attacks at its massive Menlo Park campus. Worry no more: the San Jose Mercury News reports Facebook will privately fund a police officer all on its own.

The latest stop on Marc Andreessen's can't stop, won't stop loquacious world tour is this obsessive-compulsive evisceration of Carl Icahn (The third in a series.) With bloggers like this, the news business is going to be a-okay.

Do you want to live with the people behind "Clash," an "urban scavenger hunt" startup? Really? OK, well now, "ask yourself if you would thrive in a living condition that's A) very urban B) bright & colorful C) boasts stunning views of the Google shuttle protests."

Silicon Valley had a lovely time at the Oscars, part two: this one featuring Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, his girlfriend, Frontback community manager Elissa Patel, Airbnb investor and advisor Ashton Kutcher and his fiancée Mila Kunis. Duh, of course, Patel forced them to do a Frontback.

There was a time when news that Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss just bought spaceship tickets using Bitcoin would have been completely surprising. That time is long, long gone.

Yesterday, the Council for American Job Growth, the left-leaning arm of FWD.us, released an ad attacking House Republicans for blocking immigration reform. According to TechCrunch, the Council will spend $500,000 to run the ad in all 50 states.

Completely legitimate business entity, self-made woman, Davos guest, author, and technologist Randi Zuckerberg is now hitting Broadway with a two-week stint in "Rock of Ages." This is not a drill.

A startup called The Dating Ring has taken its inspiration from an unlikely source: the "comfort women" of World War II. How else can they explain this crowdfunding campaign to help fly New York women "in dateable ages" to San Francisco to service the Bay Area's soldiers of code.

Dextroamphetamine/Amphetamine has long been the friendly pocketable crutch of the so-called "creative class" (yuck!) and college overachievers. But what about tech? I hear more and more about startup folk leaning on stimulants to get by (like this Secret user above). Are you?

When the team behind Connect—a generically named, beautifully designed social app—won a recent pitch competition, they were ecstatic. Nabbing $200,000 and the oozing love of venture capitalists is a reason to keep living. Now let's blast some fucking electro.