Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

01 Oct 2011 15:35

tags

Politics, Tech: Eric Schmidt on Google’s antitrust case: We’re not that bad, really

  • So we get hauled in front of the Congress for developing a product that’s free, that serves a billion people. Okay? I mean, I don’t know how to say it any clearer. I mean, it’s fine. It’s their job. But it’s not like we raised prices. We could lower prices from free to…lower than free? You see what I’m saying?
  • Google Chairman Eric Schmidt • Proving to be a bit cagey in an interview after taking questions at a Senate hearing a week ago. Google is facing antitrust questions that they’re abusing their power in the search market, and Schmidt claims that there’s a disconnect at play between Washington and the tech culture of Silicon Valley. “The press is so young, they don’t understand the history here,” he said. “We’re still a small component of what a whole bunch of other companies have done, and certainly most other industries. So I reject all such charges.” Think he’s right about all this? source

18 Feb 2011 12:27

tags

Tech, U.S.: Obama meets with everyone TechCrunch cares about all at once

  • Finally. Most of the people we write about were in a single room last night, having alcohol together. Obama. Mark Zuckerberg. The Twitter guy. Steve Jobs. And if you’re stretching it, that @$$hole Larry Ellison. If a nuclear bomb hit this restaurant last night, we would have nothing to write about and would probably have to shut down the blog. We’re glad it wasn’t. source

24 Sep 2010 09:09

tags

Culture: “The Social Network” early reviews are in! Here’s a sample

  • one “Despite its insistently unsexy moving parts (software, algorithms), the movie is paced like a thriller, if one in which ideas, words and bank books blow up rather than cars.”
  • two “Thanks to lightning-fast line readings by Eisenberg and other actors, there is probably more dialogue in “The Social Network” than all of [David] Fincher’s other movies put together.”
  • three“[Fincher’s] portrait of campus life among America’s elite is pitch-perfect, every bit as much as the drug-and-party excesses of Silicon Valley and the war rooms of corporate attorneys.”

12 May 2010 10:24

tags

Tech: Ho-hum: Another iPhone 4G prototype found in the wild

This one showed up in Vietnam and apparently was further along in the design process than the one lost in the Silicon Valley bar. It uses Apple’s A4 chip. source

11 May 2010 23:07

tags

Tech: The Facebook backlash among techies is heating up

  • Over the past month, Mark Zuckerberg, the hottest new card player in town, has overplayed his hand. Facebook is officially ‘out,’ as in uncool, amongst partners, parents and pundits all coming to the realization that Zuckerberg and his company are–simply put–not trustworthy.
  • Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jason Calacanis • Discussing the apparent Facebook backlash that already seems to be afoot amongst techies. Many are feeling that Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, has overplayed his hand with recent his recent moves, and companies once reliant on the social network’s ecosystem, namely “Farmville” creator Zynga, are trying to find alternatives. Calacanis goes further, and suggests that Facebook has stolen key features from other Silicon Valley companies, screwed their users over in terms of privacy, and built their company’s entire basis on lies and unethical behavior, and lost a lot of goodwill in the process. We should note, by the way, that Calacanis is a somewhat controversial figure because of the link-spammy nature of his Mahalo business, but he’s not alone in this feeling. source

03 Mar 2010 21:16

tags

Tech: HTC: Apple’s patent lawsuit couldn’t have happened to a nicer company

  • This is what happens in Silicon Valley. When you’re big enough to become a threat, I’ll slap a suit on you sometimes just to slow you down.
  • Yuanta Securities head of Greater China research Gary Chia • Regarding the lawsuit Apple brought against HTC. The Taiwanese company, best-known for making cell phones for Google’s Android software (including the Nexus One), is considered one of the island’s best-managed technology companies. The patent suit could really hurt their profile, which has been rising lately. It’s totally unfair, too, because it’s clearly a proxy war against Google, who is the REAL source of Apple’s patent grief. source

26 Feb 2010 14:45

tags

Biz: Google’s rich employees are paying their money forward

  • 200 Google-worker-rooted startups since 2005 source
 

17 Feb 2010 20:29

tags

U.S.: Silicon Valley in mourning after death of Tesla Motors workers

  • The future of electric cars may have been on the plane that crashed in this Silicon Valley neighborhood. Three Tesla Motors employees were on board, and they all died. “We are withholding their identities as we work with the relevant authorities to notify the families,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Tesla is a small, tightly knit company, and this is a tragic day for us.” The crash created a huge power outage in the region, which made a horribly depressing situation even worse. source

07 Jul 2009 16:29

tags

Biz: Generally speaking, money is growing on trees over at Facebook.

  • Generally speaking, people who are selling their stock in Facebook now are making a mistake.
  • Facebook board member and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mark Andreessen • stating the obvious. With money coming out its a** and more than 225 million registered users, we think you would have to have a serious brain fart (or some killer insider information) to sell any of its stock.  • source

07 Jul 2009 16:15

tags

Biz: Facebook to world: What recession? We still rock.

  • $500 million is their lowball estimate of what Facebook will be raking in this year for revenue. source