| Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley’s Leading Weekly

DECEMBER

There will be blood

In Silicon Valley’s aspirational parlance, they’re called “unicorns”-unlisted startups valued at a billion bucks or more. Theranos emerged as the most prominent of these mythical creatures, as founder Elizabeth Holmes claimed her technology could run dozens of tests with a pinprick of blood from the tip of the finger. But a damning Wall Street Journal investigation accused the company of being little more than VC blood suckers.

Scott Weiland dies

Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland had a long and well-documented history with hard drugs, which ended up costing him his life. What many locals may not know, however, is that Weiland was born in San Jose. He died in his sleep-apparently of a heart attack-at the age of 48.

Marty McFly guys

They call them “hoverboards,” though they don’t actually hover. Over the past six months, the it gift of two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicles-like Segways without handlebars-have exploded in popularity. Unfortunately, the batteries in some models are faulty so they’re also exploding, literally.

Karma’s bitch

Martin Shkreli has been called parasitic trash, a morally bankrupt sociopath and everything wrong with capitalism, after he hiked up the price of a life-saving HIV drug by 5,000 percent. But karma circled back something fierce. Days before Christmas, the feds busted the entrepreneur on suspicion of running a Ponzi scheme at his old company.

The year we killed each other

There was a point in time in December when the US had more mass shootings than days in the year. The definition requires at least four or more people to be injured or killed by gun violence. The biggest tragedies of 2015: Charleston; Lafayette; Roseburg; San Bernardino. If those don’t immediately ring familiar, it’s because we’ve become accustomed to atrocities. Gun violence should be the number one issue of next year’s presidential race or we will have failed as a humane society.