Datonics partners with ...

Online data firm Datonics has partnered with digital media workflow company TRAFFIQ to provide proprietary keyword and segment-based data to all TRAFFIQ clients, Datonics CEO Michael Benedek said in an email. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MG Siegler Will Become ...

When I first reached out to MG Siegler to join TechCrunch two and a half years ago, I knew he was an amazing talent who could help cement our place as the premier technology blog on the Internet. Ever since Michael and I hired him, he has not disappointed. As his TechCrunch power has grown, others have noticed his talents as well. Everyone from the New York Times to every one of our competitors has tried to recruit him away, but he’s always stuck with TechCrunch. Over the past few months, a lot of venture capital firms have been trying to hire him as well. This time, the lure was too great. He decided to change careers and will become a VC, just like Michael Arrington. In fact, Michael is the one who is hiring him as a general partner at the CrunchFund (beating out offers from several other top-tier VC firms MG was considering). But MG will be the first to tell you that his decision to become a VC predates all the recent drama around Michael leaving TechCrunch (and I will let him tell you so himself in his own post later). While MG will only be working full time as a writer at TechCrunch for another month, I am pleased to announce that he will continue to write for us after that on a regular basis as an outside columnist. The scope of what he will write about will be very narrow: Apple. He won’t write about startups or venture capital. And just like he has always done, he will continue to follow our editorial standards, which require strict disclosures for any kind of conflict whatsoever—financial, business, or personal. Apple is a big enough company and a big enough story to keep him busy as a columnist. MG is one of the top journalists in the world writing about Apple already. (Check back tomorrow when he will be covering Apple’s iPhone event). As our first official columnist, MG’s new role will also mark another change at TechCrunch. We are going to have a lot more columnists. In fact, you already know many of them because they are currently regular contributors—people like Chris Dixon, Mark Suster, Andrew Keen, Steve Gillmor, Cyan Bannister, and Jon Evans. (You can find them here ). Some are also investors, others are journalists, we’ll even have a few founders and CEOs. Stay tuned for more announcements. And, yes, I am also hiring more full-time writers, but more on that in a future post.

The End Of TechCrunch: ...

At the risk of not only beating a dead horse, but cremating it with self-reflective posts , this video is too good not to post. Jonathan Mann , our favorite singer/songwriter is back with a song about what else: the end of TechCrunch . As we begin this new era, it’s a fitting tribute to the old one.

British Rapper Buys Fir...

Just… wow. It was sort of a given that Nike’s limited edition, McFly-inspired Air Mag sneakers would be fetching pretty pennies on eBay , but TMZ reports British rap act Tinie Tempah spent more than he thought he would on the first pair up for grabs. The cost of his impulse decision: a cool $37,500. Mr. Tempah, a reputed Back To The Future nut and sneaker geek, received the sneakers and a nifty “plutonium” carrying case for his trouble. Meanwhile, prices for the long-awaited sneakers on eBay run quite the gamut: the cheapest pair to be found at time of writing is size 7, and is sitting pretty at $4,000 . At the top end of things is an especially popular pair of size 12s, with an $8,100 price tag . All auctions will be open for another 6 or so hours, so these prices will probably climb ever higher, but you need not worry if your size disappears. Nike is listing 150 pairs a day for 9 more days, so you still have a few chances to buy the kicks of your dreams. All proceeds will benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation, so rest assured that any purchases made will serve a dual purpose: not only will they (temporarily) assuage the shoe-lust felt by sneaker aficionados with too much money, they’ll also be helping a good cause.

Nike’s Mag Sneakers Unv...

Nike made a legion of sneaker geeks’ dreams come true when they sent out their Back To The Future-themed invitations , but the official word has now come down from on high: the Nike Mag is real, and they’re all going on eBay tonight. First things first: the Mags sadly don’t auto-lace. Aside from that, only subtle changes have been made from the original, film-friendly reference design, but it’s likely all for the sake of comfort. Retro-future aficionados will be glad to know that the tri-color, LA Gear-esque lights remain true to the original, as does the electroluminescent Nike logo embroidered on the side. The limited-edition kicks will only be produced in a small 1,500 unit run, but hopefully that scarcity will up drive up demand a bit. While we normally enjoy a good deal around here, all of the proceeds will be going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease Research. Speaking of the fantastic Mr. Fox, he’s currently scheduled to make an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight — the timing seems almost too good to be true, so keep your eyes peeled for a surprise appearance. This reveal has been a long time coming for Nike fans, who have obsessively been tracking the shoe from the grassroots campaign that inspired everything to its more recent appearances. One of the first big clues to the shoe’s existence came from an EA Sports interview with Tinker Hatfield , one of Nike’s most prolific sneaker designers. At about 13 minutes into the video, an assistant tosses Hatfield the shoe just after the interview changes focus onto Nike’s future. Video of a commercial being filmed in the style of the original film’s classic mall parking lot scene also popped up on YouTube back in June, making today’s announcement the culmination of a whole lot of work.