I like how just 30 seconds prior, he mentions somewhat off-handedly that he doesn't care if anyone leaks anything to the press.

I noticed that too, I guess he does care.

There's evidence that power can change how the brain functions - tending to make those in power less able to experience things from the perspective of others. This guy is clearly another corporate sociopath

Here was the HN thread on that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6197081

What was the context there? Was abel part of the group being fired in the call? Or was he fired on the spot with that remark?

It seems that Abel was part of Patch and Tim Armstrong is CEO of AOL. This second call was from some time last year and not related to the OPs link other than it's the same set of companies, and another dubious action made on a conference call.

I see that, let me rephrase: was abel being fired anyway, or was he literally fired for the impudence of taking a photo?

I guess it must be the latter, or the clip wouldn't be so interesting.

He was fucking around and not taking the meeting seriously.

If I was a CEO trying to get the house in order and at that very second Instagram is more important to you... you're gonna have a bad time.

I don't think anyone is debating whether taking a photo during a serious meeting is a good idea

It's wrong to unnecessarily fire someone in front of their colleagues. It destroys morale and it's essentially a form of public humiliation. A better response would have been to ask to put the camera away and remind people it's a serious meeting.

But testosterone.

He was on a call about not leaking information related to Patch and was using/playing with a camera while Tim Armstrong was speaking on the topic.

yea, what a dick!

At least that guy later apologized and didn't actually fire Abel.

Edit: I guess he was actually fired.

I didn't see that anywhere, is there a source?

Edit: Found one: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/08/13/aols-tim-armstrong-apolog...

Edit again: "Tim Armstrong has publicly apologized for the firing of [Abel] since then, but did not offer to reverse the firing or any compensation"

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Armstrong_(executive)

Sorry but that was hilarious.