For a company that is regularly scowled at by the tech media, Microsoft’s introduction of Windows 10 over the last 48 hours has been amazingly smooth, and reviews are overwhelmingly positive. In what for Microsoft is a paradigm shift, the
Every rain cloud has a silver lining–and nowhere is that more true than in California, even though there haven’t been many rain clouds overhead in some time. California’s record four-year drought is driving a new technology boom, with several startups
Hundreds of Cal Water customers in a portion of Los Altos were at risk of being sickened by traces of the E. coli bacteria and total coliform in their water this weekend.
In its last quarter that will be impacted by innovation on Steve Jobs’ watch, Apple booked strong quarterly revenue and earnings yesterday. But the company had to admit that existing Apple customers were slow to upgrade to new iPhone releases and Apple as a status symbol in China may be coming to an end. The stock plunged by -10 percent, or about $80 billion, before recovering somewhat today. But as Breitbart News warned last month, ‘Apple Products: Without Steve Jobs, the Thrill is Gone.’
Former Florida Governor and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush arrived in San Francisco on Thursday as part of his latest fundraising binge, during which he met with members of the tech sector and reportedly fielded “tough questions” from those present.
On Friday, Lincoln Labs, a liberty-oriented technology thought leadership group, opens its second annual conference: #Reboot2015. Featuring an array of experts from across technology, politics and the ideological spectrum, attendees will discuss how technology can and should impact our politics and how we can harness innovation to improve government, society and life for all Americans.
One of the problems faced by Republican campaigns is that Silicon Valley tends to lean left, giving Democrats substantial support in a variety of forms from the big tech companies. There are plenty of great tech people out there ready to work for Republican campaigns, though. Recruiting them early and folding them into a well-organized campaign is essential. Gov. Scott Walker seems to have done just that.
Conservative talk radio host and scholar Mark Levin called in to Breitbart News Sunday and blasted “criminal politicians” on both sides of the aisle who keep praising illegal immigrants. Levin emphatically stressed that Republican voters must reject presidential candidates who will not block the left from enacting their radical goals.
Microsoft’s dumping of 7,800 employees and taking a $7.6 billion write-down related to its purchase of Nokia’s phone manufacturing operation was a cheap price to pay to vanquish the ghost of the Steve Ballmer era.
Silicon Valley Business Journal just reported that “Ellen Pao is resigning from Reddit after eight months of drama as interim CEO.” Having kept her Reddit position despite losing America’s highest profile sexual discrimination lawsuits against what she called Silicon Valley’s “boy’s club,”
If it weren’t for the excessive spending of late ’90s Silicon Valley startups, one of TV’s most iconic shows would likely have been axed by network executives. “Silicon Valley put the West Wing on television,” the show’s creator, Aaron Sorkin, tells The Ferenstein Wire.
Given that the world is full of hunger, volatile food prices, and social unrest, a pair of recent MIT Sloan Business School graduates have launched a mobile application called Spoiler Alert to make it quick and easy for companies to sell or donate millions of tons of surplus food.
“San Francisco: It’s the New Rome.” That’s the anonymous comment overheard by Politico’s Mike Allen–or one of his sources–at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the summer gathering of the nation’s intellectual elite (and the people with enough money to be seen with them). It is an acknowledgment of the city’s new power–and its decadence.
We need a new Bond. No need to be tied to convention here; the era of middle-aged white British men is over. In the spirit of the Jenner clan, the 21st Century cries out for an androgynous Bond. Maybe Miley Cyrus? Also, the name “James” is too 20th Century. Something like “Jamey” would be more appropriate, and allow Bond to swing easily between male and female, as necessary or desired.
Global venture capitalists invested $56.31 billion in 4,894 deals during the first half of 2015–the lowest number of deals recorded by the Pitchbook blog over a six month period in the last 25 years. The major reason for a smaller number of companies being funded is that venture capitalists are throwing huge amounts of money at a small number of “unicorns.”
As Uber and other Silicon Valley startups come under legal pressure for employing an army of full-time freelancers, a well-funded new startup has decided to completely switch its workforce to staffed employees with full benefits (“W2” workers).
There was a long line of advocates claiming responsibility for same-sex marriage’s victory at the Supreme Court on Friday, but a key driver was the support two years ago from 278 mostly multi-national tech companies that included Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, eBay, Electronic Arts, Intel, Intuit, Oracle, Twitter and Zynga.
“Live under the stars in the great outdoors of Silicon Valley for a mere $900 a month.” A Mountain View, California man is renting out a tent in his backyard.
On the heels of Apple Music’s $9.99 streaming service getting the bodyslam from a 99-pounder named Taylor Swift, Google has just rolled out “Play Music,” which will offer a free, ad-supported streaming music service. Combined with their “All Access” subscription product released in May, Google appears positioned to crush both Spotify and Apple Music.
Marketing company Turn Inc. of Redwood City has been sued in what looks to be a huge mass tort lawsuit alleging a conspiracy with telecommunications giant Verizon Wireless to engage in undisclosed tracking and storing of Internet browsing histories.
If Robin Leach visited the headquarters of Fibit, Inc. in San Francisco today, it would be all “champagne wishes and caviar dreams” as the leading wearable fitness tracker raised $793.5 million at a stunning valuation of $4.1 billion in the largest initial public offering (IPO) by any consumer electronics company in history.
The California Labor Comission just ruled that Uber must treat its drivers like normal employees, rather than independent contractors, potentially forcing the company to pay benefits and cover expenses. The decision is being hailed as a victory for worker rights and a major blow to the growing billion-dollar transportation startup.
What do you suppose is more likely to get you banned from a tech conference: Endorsing violence against your political opponents? Or writing abstract blog posts critical of egalitarian theory?
Dick Costolo was ousted as Twitter’s CEO on Thurday, after a disastrous year that saw active users stagnate and the company make earnings promises it could never have met.
Google has just announced a brand new initiative to improve city life, Sidewalk Labs, which will tackle cost of living, transportation, and the environment for urban citizens. While details are scant, it’s worth noting that suburban-based Google is just the latest influential tech giant to join the “cities” bandwagon.
The Blue Bottle Coffee, the Bay Area foodies’ favorite coffee house, merged with the Tartine Bakery and Café in April. Now, the combined artisan food company has raised $70 million in venture capital to be the “next big thing.”
San Francisco, home to a plentitude of left-wing ideologists contemptuous of one percenters, commands a hefty average median rent of $4,225 a month, prompting one to suspect that the enemy must lie within.
Democrat Ro Khanna has appointed Joe Trippi, a Fox News Channel contributor, to help him lead his second attempt to unseat eight-time incumbent Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) in 2016.
It has been just two months since a San Francisco jury of six women and six men ruled against former junior partner Ellen Pao on all four of Pao’s claims of gender discrimination and retaliation against the prestigious Silicon Valley venture capital firm of
Prices for homes in the Bay Area have increased to the point where hi-tech workers are fleeing to the Pacific Northwest to find affordable housing, according to the real estate site Redfin. The median home price in the Bay Area has surpassed $1 million, and Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman told the San Francisco Chronicle that one-quarter of Bay Area searchers are checking areas elsewhere–a steep hike from the one-seventh of searchers looking elsewhere in 2011.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A woman at the center of a high-profile gender bias lawsuit against an elite Silicon Valley venture capital firm filed an appeal on Monday of a jury verdict against her.
With San Francisco offering massive tax incentives to redevelop 77 dilapidated warehouse buildings into a “Twitter Town” for the “digerati” venture capital crowd, the adjacent Mission District community is now in turmoil, as the city’s poor are being booted to make room for new buildings and Airbnb vacation rental conversions.
Democrats and Silicon Valley are locked in a head-on collision course; this week, New York City regulators proposed rules requiring Uber and other ride-hailing startups to get pre-approval each time they make major changes to their apps and pay $1,000 to cover the government’s labor costs. The battle between Uber and New York is a perfect example of the fundamental conflict between Democrats and Silicon Valley.
Bay Area employees are trading in their caffeine for dancing with a new trend that has hit San Francisco: early morning dance parties, minus the booze.
A new economic analysis finds that Santa Clara Country could completely end its homeless problem at zero net cost by providing public housing for every single person living on the street. The study, from the Knowledge for Greater Good Economic
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel revealed Tuesday at the California Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes that the company is planning for an initial public offering (IPO). He said the company, recently valued at $15 billion, had no desire to be acquired in a merger like the Facebook’s $3 billion offer two years ago. Then, in a refreshing twist for such a young captain of industry, Spiegel warned that the Fed’s “easy money policy” and low interest have created a tech bubble and it’s only a “matter of time till it bursts.”
Former congressional candidate Ro Khanna will try to defeat fellow Democrat and incumbent Rep. Mike Honda–again.
Up-and-coming tech titans are shelling out massive salaries to retain the best immigrants in the world. Netflix is paying an average of $239K per year, and Airbnb is dolling out $163K, up from $134K and $106K in 2012, respectively.
This week it was Silicon Valley versus the entire transportation sector. Scrappy startups and tech behemoths battled entrenched industries and government regulators throughout the globe, in what has become a fascinating illustration of how an entire social sector responds to
Leaking information to reporters in Silicon Valley is an everyday occurrence. But a former employee at Yahoo is being sued for actually leaking passwords to confidential computer files inside the company to help a financial industry journalist write an unauthorized biography titled: “Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!”
