1.  Facebook IPO Goes Public

This week Facebook went public with a record $104 billion dollar IPO offering that’s sure to solidify their future success.  A lot of industry experts worry that this might be the second coming of the late 90s tech bubble, but so far Social Media is garnering a substantial payday on Wall Street.  Another interesting article on Facebook this week is from The New York Times about the trend of not flaunting wealth in Silicon Valley, which seems like a perspective that’s shared by the entire tech industry.

via Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times

http://stream.wsj.com/story/facebook-ipo/SS-2-9640/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/facebook-ipo-live-updates-fb_n_1526829.html?ref=technology

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/technology/a-start-up-is-gold-for-facebooks-new-millionaires.htm

2.  Pinterest Gets Valued at 1.5 Billion

After another recent round of additional $100 million dollar financing, the Visual Social Media platform Pinterest is now valued at over $1.5 billion dollars.  It recently crossed the 20 million user mark and that’s a massive increase from only one million users as of July 2011.  It’s nowhere near the recent record breaking Facebook offering, but it looks likely it could be purchased by one of the tech giants the same way Instagram was recently acquired by Facebook.

via Huffington Post

3.  The Next Big Tech Start-Ups

This is a really interesting piece in The New York Times about the next tech start-ups with the most potential.  Everything from file sharing sites like DropBox, mobile payment apps like Square, and even Uber, an instantaneous private car reservation app are all featured in the article.  These are definitely some of the best tech upstarts and new companies to look out for in the coming year.

via The New York Times

4.  Internet Week Kicks Off in NYC

Internet Week kicked off this week in New York City and immediately became a must-go destination for anyone who wants to see the future of technology and what tech trends that’ll become popular in the coming year.  Everything from conferences and guest speakers to parties, social events, and even the 2012 Webby awards which are presented for the best web has to offer are all part of Internet Week, which ends this weekend on Sunday May 21^st.  Check out Ad Week’s coverage for the best highlights and must see events from Internet Week.

http://www.adweek.com/internet-week-blog

https://www.internetweekny.com/

5.  New Animal Collective Album Announced

This week Animal Collective announced their new album Centipede Hz will be released in September on Domino as the follow-up to their critically acclaimed Merriweather Post Pavaillion, which was at the top of everyone’s best of the year list in 2009.  Centipede Hz seems like a return to AnCo’s more expansive jam band sound as evidenced in two new tracks “Honeycomb” and Gotham” that were also released this week.  Check out this interview on Pitchfork with AnCo member Dave Portner (Avey Tare) on the making of the  new album.

via Fader and Pitchfork

http://www.thefader.com/2012/05/14/new-animal-collective-album-centipede-hz/

http://pitchfork.com/news/46495-animal-collective-announce-new-album/

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13564-honeycomb/

http://pitchfork.com/news/46517-animal-collective-new-album-back-to-our-roots/

http://pitchfork.com/features/update/8842-animal-collective

6.  New Squarepusher Album Ufabulum

IDM and Drum & Bass forefather Squarepusher makes a return this week with his new album Ufabulum which mixes a lot of modern production touches with his signature jagged drum patterns and carnival gone mad buzzsaw synths.  He’s always been known  for his erratic but oddly controlled sound and his new album definitely doe not disappoint; even fans of EDM and Corey Feldman lookalike Skrillex might enjoy his new tracks, with their glitchy warbles and stadium sized rave-era synth lines.  Check out the interview in FACT Mag with Squarepusher on the making of his new record and his feature in XLR8R about his five favorite classic jungle and drum & bass tunes.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/05/13/squarepusher-on-grappling-with-pop-pomposity-and-leds/

http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2012/05/high-five-squarepusher

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13530-drax-2/

http://pitchfork.com/news/46108-video-squarepusher-dark-steering/

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16608-ufabulum/

7.  Loiter Squad Gets Renewed for a Second Season

Odd Future has almost become the de facto Internet rap group over the last year or so and they recently translated their mischief and merriment mentality to their amazing Adult Swim late night show Loiter Squad.  Their show just got picked up for a second season which solidifies another round of their signature style of Jackass style pranks, Tim & Eric esque parodies, and all around musically-tinged debauchery.  Even if you’re not quite a fan of their music, this show is really a must see.

via Pitchfork

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/loiter-squad/index.html

8.  New Azealia Banks track “Jumanji”

Tons of new cutting edge female MCs have been releasing music recently, and Azealia Banks might just have the most talent of all of them.  She’s gone from Harlem to performing in Karl Lagerfeld’s Parisian living room and then back to NYC playing the Met Gala draped in Alexander Wang.  On top of that her musical output is brimming with new releases: her full length album is dropping in the Fall, her 1991 EP drops May 29^th, and her mixtape Fantastic comes out on July 4^th.  Listen to this new Fantastic cut “Jumanji” with steller cross-genre production from Hudson Mohawke; it sounds the best Nicki Minaj mixtape track Nicki never made, and the HudMo beat really takes it to another level.

via Fader and Pitchfork

9.   New El-P Album and Performance on Late Show with David Letterman

El-P is probably one of the most legendary experimental rappers and producers and on May 22^nd he’s gearing up to release his new record Cancer4Cure on Fat Possum, but you can already stream it in it’s entirety over at Rolling Stone.  El-P is known for his stream of consciousness rhymes and Mad Max post-apocalyptic soundscapes and his new album is a perfect example of the evolution of his hard-edged sci-fi sound.  Check out the video of the album cut “Stay Down” he performed on Late Show with David Letterman this week and a great piece from Fader on El-P’s production style in making his new album.

via Fader, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone

http://pitchfork.com/news/46528-watch-el-p-perform-on-late-show-with-david-letterman-with-nick-diamond-of-islands/

http://www.thefader.com/2012/05/18/stream-el-ps-album-cancer4cure/

http://www.thefader.com/2012/05/14/beat-construction-el-p/

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/album-premiere-el-p-cancer-for-cure-20120518

10.   Wylie Dufresne Premieres New Menu at WD-50

Wylie Dufresne is known in the foodie world as one of the original molecular gastronomy innovators in the States and this month he look his bold and daring recipes one step further and created an entirely new tasting menu overflowing with his out of this world signature dishes.  Molecular gastronomy is known as one of the true avant garde facets of modern cuisine and Dufresne never disappoints with his original takes on classic dishes and wtf combinations that make so much sense on your palette, but sound outlandish in their conception.  The New York Times did a great piece and interview with Dufresne on the new menu and the unorthodox methods behind his madness.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/05/02/dining/20120502-WYLIE.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/dining/at-wd-50-wylie-dufresne-is-shaking-up-the-entire-menu.html

11.   Community premieres 8-bit Finale Episode “Digital Estate Planning”

Last night’s amazing finale episode of Community, “Digital Estate Planning”, was probably the first time that an entire primetime show took place inside of a fully rendered video game.  Almost the entire episode was in a classic Nintendo style 8-bit universe where the show’s signature characters controlled avatars of themselves on a quest to win an inheritance from Pierce’s father.  As always on Community, there were so many inside jokes, throwaway gags, and hyper-astute satirical jabs, and this episode was a special gift for video game fans with a non-stop barrage of inside gamer humor.  A.V. Club has a great in-depth review of all the episodes from last night’s three part Community finale.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/see-the-greendale-seven-as-video-game-characters-i,75182

http://www.avclub.com/articles/digital-estate-planning-the-first-chang-dynasty-in,73676/