Puppet on a string?

There was much hand wringing in the tech community over the past few weeks after Internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis announced that there would not be another TechCrunch50 conference. But he quickly recanted: It had been a joke.

Following the close earlier this month of the popular annual event, which gives Web 2.0 startups the chance to pitch their ideas to venture capitalists, Calacanis, the founder of Santa Monica Web directory Mahalo.com, said in a taped interview with a hand puppet (yes, really), "1 can tell you that this is the last TechCrunch50. It's over."

After news of the statement hit blogs and message boards, Calacanis, who co-founded the conference, claimed it was all a ruse.

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On his Twitter feed, he said, "Press People: Please stop calling me! There will be a TechCrunch50 next year. It was a *joke*... I was talking to a *puppet*--my gosh!"

Staff reporters Charles Proctor, Richard Clough and Daniel Miller contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [e-mail].