PropertyRazzi

PreservationWatch: Should SaMo Tear Down Its Mid-Century Civic Auditorium?

May 22, 2013 | PropertyRazzi

Santa Monica is considering bulldozing their Welton Becket -designed Civic Auditorium after shutting it down June 30–the glory days of the 55-year-old performance venue (it hosted the Oscars for most of the sixties) are long gone, and now it mostly serves as a backdrop for small trade shows. It currently operates $2 million in the red, annually, , the Santa Monica Daily Press reports . Columnist Bill Bauer bemoans the placement of the Broad Stage near Santa Monica College, arguing it should’ve been built closer to the auditorium to create a “world-class arts venue” downtown. While the auditorium could get refurbished, it would cost $50 million to properly renovate the space and the city has no money for that . Instead, Bauer says, tear the old girl down and build a “modestly sized, outdoor amphitheater or architecturally exciting, flexible, indoor creative space for community meetings, music, dances and performances.” · Curtains for the Civic [SMDP] Read More

Rumormongering: Did Ellen and Portia Just Buy a $26M Villa by John Saladino?

May 22, 2013 | PropertyRazzi

TMZ is reporting that all-star real estate collectors Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi have added yet another seven-figure purchase to their portfolio, purportedly dropping $26.5M on a farmhouse-cum-villa in Montecito, Calif., recently revamped by famed designer John Saladino. As the story—or brokerbabble, as it were— goes, in 2001, Saladino fell so hard for the “mix of grandeur and modesty” of the house, originally built in the ’20s from “local stone quarried onsite,” that he bought it up immediately, embarking on a years-long reconstruction and restoration passion project —an undertaking that included, among many luxurious, time-consuming schemes, installing some 14,000 18th-century Italian tiles. Considering Elle Decor revealed in a recent issue that DeGeneres is something of a design obsessive—”I can only change the furniture so much and I get bored, then I need a new structure to work on”—it’s not a total shocker that the couple would be drawn to the well-loved and well-pedigreed Saladino Villa. While the windows, doors, and mechanical systems are all new, the home still boasts old-school touches, with 18th-century Spanish entry gates, a stone motor court, and an antique Venetian statue—in all an aesthetic that seems warmer and more sumptuous than DeGeneres’ and de Rossi’s antique-filled horse estate, if not quite as sleek as the pad they sold a year ago to Ryan Seacrest for $37M. Included in the supposed sell? Read More

Twitter Ups Web Security With Two-Factor Authentication Via SMS, But It May Not Help Shared Accounts

May 22, 2013 | PropertyRazzi

After scores of accounts were potentially  compromised a few months ago, Twitter today launched two-factor authentication through SMS to protect people from hacks and phishing scams on the web. Unfortunately, it may not help shared accounts like big brands and news agencies where multiple people need to be able to log in and out but only one phone number can get the login verification codes. Following the Twitter security incident in February  where hundreds of thousands of accounts had to have their credentials reset, the tech world demanded Twitter offer two-factor authentication. Wired’s Mat Honan reported last month that Twitter was internally testing the feature. But since then, several prominent accounts including the Associated Press had been hacked through phishing tricks that the security feature could have prevented. With two-factor authentication now in place, we’ll hopefully see fewer compromised individual accounts. However the brands and news outlets whose accounts are the most valuable to hackers may not benefit from the feature. They can only set one phone number as the recipient of the two-factor authentication codes, but may have several staff members who need to access the account. If they enabled it, whoever carried the phone registered with Twitter would have to relay the code out to all the other staffers to get it to whoever needed itRead More

Twitter Ups Security With Two-Factor Authentication Via SMS, But Big Shared Accounts Still In Danger

May 22, 2013 | PropertyRazzi

After scores of accounts were potentially  compromised a few months ago, Twitter today launched two-factor authentication through SMS to protect people from hacks and phishing scams on the web. Unfortunately, it may not help shared accounts like big brands and news agencies where multiple people need to be able to log in and out but only one phone number can get the login verification codes. Following the Twitter security incident in February  where hundreds of thousands of accounts had to have their credentials reset, the tech world demanded Twitter offer two-factor authentication. Wired’s Mat Honan reported last month that Twitter was internally testing the feature. But since then, several prominent accounts including the Associated Press had been hacked through phishing tricks that the security feature could have prevented. With two-factor authentication now in place, we’ll hopefully see fewer compromised individual accounts. The feature is rolling out now. If you don’t see it in your account settings , you should soon. To enable two-factor authentication, check the box next to Account Security that explains “Require a verification code when I sign in.” You’ll need to enter your phone number if you haven’t already saved it with TwitterRead More

Twitter Introduces Charts By Genre And Popularity For Its #Music Service

May 22, 2013 | PropertyRazzi

We’ve confirmed with Twitter that it has rolled out a new part of its #Music service for the web, charts that we were accustomed to from the company We Are Hunted, that it acquired and now powers the service . The charts are broken up into a few areas: the familiar genre breakdown, as well as some categories like “Superstars” and “Unearthed” that appear to be built based on current Twitter trends and trajectory of artist mentions. This is leveraging all of the data that Twitter is collecting from tweets that include links to tracks from popular and emerging artists. As you click on each category, the tiles on the page shift quickly, letting you click around to find new artists and songs as you could before: These are the types of charts that will get artists themselves more engaged on Twitter, as well as catch the attention of record labels who want to know what people are saying about the musicians that they’ve signed. Everyone in a band wants to know how well they stack up against others. In fact, some artists didn’t see the service coming at all, and were pleased with all of the new attention that they were getting Read More