Link roundup

1. Long, interesting article about Paul Budnitz and kidrobot. I suspect some of his former employees have a less glowing take on the relocation of the business from New York to Colorado:

All employees were invited to make the move, but most had no interest in moving, and because Kidrobot's retailing has always been mostly Web based and thus location agnostic, the collision of circumstances provided for a kind of crazy kismet—a successful and still-ambitious company was able to hit Reset without actually changing its business.

He started selling fireworks to classmates when he was 15, and now has many different businesses:

During this particularly fecund, halcyon period of his life, Budnitz has started so many different companies that he forgets about some of them, and they slip out into conversation only when something reminds him of one. For instance, we were eating sushi below the Kidrobot offices when he happened to mention that he started and still owns one-third of the most successful nonmusic ringtone company in the iTunes store.

And he's not afraid to break the rules or brag about doing so:

Being a hacker, Budnitz manipulated the site's search engine and ensured that his albums ranked at the top.

2. Zeppo Marx sounds like an interesting guy.

3. Conveniently for her blog, when Penelope Trunk's life isn't a trainwreck, her friends provide the cringeworthy moments. Part 1, part 2.