Results tagged “siliconvalley”

Though not nearly as important as Rachel Zoe (obvi), Apple CEO Steve Jobs is facing some of the same criticism as Hollywood's most stylish heroine, namely his pin-thin stature. "I probably need to gain about 30 pounds," Steve Jobs told the New York Times after his Norma Desmond-like comeback at yesterday's iPod Nano reveal. And, yes, for better or for worse, Jobs looked rail-thin. But the reaction on Wall Street, where Apple stock ebbs and flows depending on Jobs' perceived health, is the reaction that matters. Valleywag pointed out today, "Such is the demanding CEO's importance to Apple, and shareholders must now weigh Jobs' still-gaunt look and scratchy voice against his characteristically enthusiastic delivery." Did anyone attend yesterday's Jobsian revival? If so, how did he sound?

Since working for both Google and Apple is starting to look odd, Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently ditched his gig on the board at Apple. Being on the board since 2006, Schmidt thought it best to excuse himself, especially now as Google "develops products that compete with Apple's core businesses, including the popular iPhone." So, yeah, that's a wise move. Other noted members of Apple's board, according to CBS 5/AP, include "former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Genentech chairman Arthur D. Levinson and Andrea Jung, the chairwoman and CEO of Avon Products." Levinson, by thew way, serves on Google's board. No word as to whether or not he will step down soon.

Could the wheels of techie commerce once again be spinning? Two news items today suggest that yes, the powers that be are opening their wallets. First off, that long talked about Microsoft-Yahoo deal may be moving forward, with Microsoft execs in Silicon Valley all last week negotiating, and Microsoft now appearing primarily interested in Yahoo's search engine and advertising business.

Word on Wall Street is that Silicon Valley's Netflix, who in just 12 years has changed the way we rent movies while clobbering Blockbuster's power, might be bought out by Amazon. According to CBS 5, "[t]he Los Gatos-based Netflix recently began offering online streaming of some movies, which is why Amazon may be interested in buying the company." Neither company, of course, has yet to comment on Wall Street's rumors.

Chiseled Facebook investor and PayPal co-founder, Peter Thiel, doesn't have anything nice to say about Valleywag, the online internet website about the tender underbelly of Silicon Valley. In fact, he thinks they're no better than terrorists.

Peter Thiel -- noted gay Silicon Valley libertarian, PayPal co-founder, and the one of the first Facebook investors -- recently penned an essay in which he suggests that the last time one could be "genuinely optimistic" about U.S. politics was just before dames got the right to vote. In Cato Unbound, a site run by libertarian-ish Cato Institute, Thiel suggests the following.

Doing what IBM failed to do earlier this month, Oracle will purchase computer server and software maker Sun Microsystems for around $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of cash, 9.50 per share. Oracle megalord Larry Ellison boasted about the buy, saying in a statement, “Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system—applications to disk—where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves ... Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up.” This deal will also give Oracle control over Java programming language and Solaris. (Jason Brooks of eWEEK explains it all in finer detail, right here.)

In an attempt to compete culturally with more richly textured areas of California (i.e., San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Buttonwillow), San Jose is looking to land its first poet laureate. According to the Arts Council Silicon Valley (who knew?), there is "a vibrant poetry scene in Santa Clara County that doesn't get a lot of recognition." (Again, who knew?) Think you know what rhymes with purple? If you're a published poet who has lived in Santa Clara County for at least five years, you can give it a shot. The gig is a two-year term with a $4,000 stipend, which includes community outreach as well as churning out the occasional haiku or sonnet. The deadline is Feb. 17. You can apply at www.artscouncil.org.

While Silicon Valley sobers up from last night's news about Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang stepping down, the question on techies minds today is who's next? Valleywag and blogger Kara Swisher speculates that Peter Chernin, President and COO of News Corp., is at the top of the list. Yahoo's current President, Sue Decker, is also "being considered for the job." Another stab in the dark, at least according to Swisher, is highly unlikely future Governor of California, Meg Whitman.

It seems that over 1,000 custodial artists have gone on strike as of this morning at some of Silicon Valley's most prestigious hi-tech companies, including Cisco Systems and Apple, livid over a new contract. Accordng to the Mercury News:

• Silicon Valley whores less than pleased with Viagra. [Valleywag]
• That Nina "Bad Wife" Reiser trial is still going on, and getting interesting. [SF Gate]
• The rules of PDA during dinnertime. [CHOW]

So, you didn't like Microsoft, did you? Well, how about News Corp.?

According to a Valleywag tipster:

It looks like Sunnyvale-based Yahoo plans on rejecting the $44.6 billion rose Microsoft offered it earlier this month. A move that would have merged the two tech giants won't happen, it seems, and we were so sure this relationship would've worked out swimmingly. Sniff.

Help save your local Naval Historical Monument

After EarthLink and Google gave up on high-speed networks that would have seen San Francisco gain access to free wireless service, Meraki Networks Inc. is now taking a stab at it.

Photos from the San Francisco International Auto Show

A 3.7 aftershock in San Jose just shook the ground of Silicon Valley. According to our own Spencer Williams, it happened a little before 4 p.m. and It "only lasted a couple of seconds." So there you have it.

Oh man, it's moments like these that we miss working in an office. Almost.

We know there's no shortage of young, successful, smart people in this town, but we still turn a little green with envy when we hear about guys like Ben Keighran. The Australia native is only 25 years old. After successfully launching bluepulse in his native land in 2002, he took the show on the road and ended up here in the Bay Area. Like another young tech-maestro we recently spoke to, Keighran houses his company in Silicon Valley (in fact, in YouTube's former quarters), but lives here in the city by the bay.

Andrew Frame was recently named by BusinessWeek as a "top entrepreneur under the age of 30". He's aiming to fulfill that promise with ooma, a company he founded in 2005 that has a whole new take on telephony. It enables unlimited U.S. domestic calls to any wireless or landline phone number . ooma's gotten media play for a couple reasons -- for one thing, much has been made in the press and on the podwaves about the involvement of Ashton Kutcher in the company.

In a case closely watched by Silicon Valley corporate types, a federal jury in San Francisco returned a guilty verdict against Brocade Communications CEO Gregory Reyes for knowingly backdating stock options, so they would count as having been issued at a time when the stock price was lower. While backdating is not in and of itself against the law, the SEC says that backdating and not telling your investors about it constitutes criminal fraud. Reyes was convicted on all 10 charges filed against him; 9 of which call for a 20-year sentence. Reyes is 44.

It has been documented, in Nature no less, that listening to Mozart makes you smarter. Only for spatial reasoning, though. Only for 15mn afterwards. And the results got disputed later. Damn. And even worst, the same effect was observed with music from, hold on one second while we regain our composure, Yanni. Yanni!

Bless the Chron's heart, they know kvetching about traffic is going to move a lot of papers on the newsstand -- so they go above the fold with their article about the twenty worst bottlenecks on the highway. As you'd've guessed, that horrendous interchange at Emeryville for 80/580/880 where you have to get over five lanes just to go south ranks high on the list.

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian! Oh, Tim Redmond, we're so sorry to hear about your dad. [Moment of silence.] Okay. The Guardian's with Daly on the budget. They got a letter from someone saying Ed Jew is innocent. More info on the layoffs at the Merc News. A man with psychiatric problems gets no help from the city. More people upset with Newsom's proposed budget. They're going to crack down on pot clubs -- watch out, Ed Jew! Do you want to help Annalee Newitz run her blog? Sonic Reducer on Harry and the Potters. Cover article: Looking for the next cult revival star. Cheryl Eddy on Sicko. And Ed Jew's (.pdf) horoscope!: "In order to make the little details worth your time, you've gotta make sure they pay off in the long run."

And the Silicon Valley Metro: we must confess, we rely on the web-version, as we can't find the paper here in Oakland. The website still shows last week's issue.

In 1938, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started a company from a garage in Palo Alto. Hewlett-Packard is now a household name, a tech giant, and a Silicon Valley fixture. And now the place that started it all has been given a "Historic Place" designation by the National Park Service.

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Gosh, the Chron seems awfully enthralled with that Zodiac movie, doesn't it? Also, more on the Leno/Migden throwdown, quoting Paul Hogarth from Beyond Chron (who now supports Leno). Cover article: An awesome piece about mentally ill dogs. Who knew bordie collies got OCD? Meredith goes to the Presidio Social Club; SFist Ced gruffly concedes maybe she's been doing a good job lately. Let's Get Killed laments the new boring indie rock. Speaking of rock, why's the Clipse so into cocaine? And another independent magazine (Arthur, an indie rock anarchist publication) bites the dust.