3:50 PM -- Have you been watching this Pulvermedia stuff?

Two months ago, Pulvermedia gave two men the exact same title: VP of strategic accounts. The job description? "Each executive is chartered with serving as a single point of contact for Pulvermedia's customers, to help them seamlessly leverage all of Pulvermedia's integrated lead generation programs... ", the press release stated.

From the outside looking in, I'd say the two gents were hired to help Pulvermedia CEO Jason Chudnofsky put out a dumpster fire. Chudnofsky, if memory serves, is one of the executives who helped COMDEX become what it is today.

One month ago, blogger Om Malik reported that Pulvermedia Inc.'s financial backers had "seized control of [Pulvermedia's] bank accounts" and looked to be forcing a liquidation of some of once mighty VON empire.

So where was founder Jeff Pulver while all this was going on? Breakfasting while Rome burned? Speaking of Rome, vendors are asking: What happens to companies that have already paid for a VON Italy booth?

Anyway, Jeff Pulver resigned from his own empire last Thursday.

Now without an empire, the man who both built and destroyed the VON brand has taken to coaching up the blogosphere on the finer points of social networking:



Watch the whole video. I dare you. Jeff Pulver wants to give you a plastic bag with social networking tools in it. The tools include a Bic Pen and a name tag. Words fail me.

Video closetalking aside, Pulver's camp hasn't offered an explanation of its status. From Carl's Corner, a blog hosted on Pulver's site, we get only this defense of Pulver and his company: "The truth is VoIP won. But like Bush on the Air Craft carrier the victory is not concluded."

Sigh. Carl's always had a way with words.

I can't blame these guys for being quiet in a time of crisis. After all, in the words of our President, they were just trying to put food on their families.

— Phil Harvey, Editor, Light Reading