Am I the only person reading about this wondering what's going on? I thought a major part of being a tech writer was getting free stuff, particularly laptops, cameras, and such?

I mean, come on - "TechCrunch" isn't exactly the New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal.

If someone had written "So and So intern got a laptop for writing an article at TechCrunch", I would have said "Awesome. Good on him. Hopefully he scores some more nifty electronics...."

I've never, ever, lived under the illusion that TC is some bastion of journalistic integrity... And I say this as an Avid and enthusiastic reader.