Several days ago, a Los Angeles Uber customer decided to leave a party for home early via UberX, the company's affordable taxi replacement. Instead of taking her home, the driver took her on a nightmare ride to an abandoned lot—and Uber doesn't seem to care.

In Hollywood, a botched career often takes many years to reverse—if it turns around at all. But in tech, where failure is worshipped, the men who fail spectacularly don't have to worry about history. Each new day is a new chance to play with someone else's money, no matter how badly you fucked up the last time. Just ask Peter Pham.

When you can afford something like this, why not turn down $3 billion? Ha ha, joking, that's still baffling. At least Bobby Murphy, the other, 25-year-old, slightly less Machiavellian guy behind Snapchat, can ponder his business moves in a new, $2.1 million, ultra-modern Venice Beach fortress. [via Curbed]

This is the face of the New Meritocracy: Snapchat founder and CEO Evan Spiegel is atop a startup valued at $800 million after a lifetime of wealth, nepotism, favors, and fun. L.A. Weekly takes a look at the founder's charmed boyhood, and reminds you, life is always fair.

Silicon Valley alchemy doesn't just create dazzling new things—it dazzles us into thinking mundane old ideas are new again. Take the idea of hauling away someone's dirty clothes: at LA startup Washio, you're actually a "kickass laundry ninja." What a difference a smartphone makes.

PayPal billionaire, electric car zealot, and one man NASA Elon Musk has had it with his L.A. commute on the 405. But instead of just bitching about it like the rest of us plebes, he says he'll pay out of pocket to get a massive lane-expanding project over with.