Google Announces Android Event |
SAN FRANCISCO - Google will host a press event next Tuesday pegged to its Android mobile phone operating system, sparking speculation the Internet search giant will unveil its own cell phone to compete with Apple’s popular iPhone. |
In an email to reporters, Google said its Android system, which appeared in phones about a year ago, had spurred innovation in the mobile device market, adding “this is just the beginning of what’s possible.” |
The timing of the event, which comes just days before the start of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, takes a page from Apple’s playbook. In 2007, Apple stole the trade show’s thunder by announcing the iPhone. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
Apple, Google Vie for Start-Ups
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Google Inc. and Apple Inc., which have long thrived without treading on one another’s turf, are vying to acquire some of the same Silicon Valley start-ups and developing products that put themselves in more direct competition. |
The twin pursuit of the start-ups reveal that the two tech titans have further plans to move deeper into each other’s business: Apple wanted to get into advertising, while Google sought a music service. |
For years, the two giants focused on different parts of the tech market, with Google dominant in Internet search and Apple making computers and consumer electronics devices. |
More acquisitions could be in the works as Silicon Valley dealmaking heats up overall. As the worst of the recession appears to have passed, tech companies are eager to pick up promising technologies before prices climb. Read more at online.wsj.com |
An inside look from VentureWire at high-tech start-ups and their investors.
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For VCs, Tax Hike Threatens Innovation, But Also Fairness |
The venture capital industry is engaged in an urgent effort to ward off Congress from significantly increasing the taxes on profits made by venture firms. |
The House today voted in favor of the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 that would raise tax rates on carried interest earned by investment managers – including venture firms – to ordinary income rates, or around 35%, from a lower capital gains rate of 15%. While venture firms collect management fees of about 2% committed capital, carried interest - or the profits made when portfolio companies are sold or go public - is the big money maker for VCs. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
Google’s Schmidt on What Sets Silicon Valley Apart
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Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has snapped up Bay Area talent for years, first as an executive at Sun Microsystems Inc., then as CEO of computer maker Novell Inc. and now as the 54-year-old boss at Google. |
The hiring has been particularly fast and furious at the Internet search giant, which has grown to more than 19,600 employees world-wide. Roughly a third of those workers live in the Bay Area, according to Google. |
Here’s what Mr. Schmidt, a 33-year resident of the Bay Area, had to say about Silicon Valley hiring and the role of the weather in the local labor market: Read more at online.wsj.com |
A coveted visa program that feeds skilled workers to top-tier U.S. technology companies and universities is on track to leave thousands of spots unfilled for the first time since 2003, a sign of how the weak economy has eroded employment even among highly trained professionals. |
Companies that use H-1B visas argue the market, rather than Congress, should dictate the number of visas issued. The fact that the 65,000-visa cap hasn’t been reached this year shows that the market will temper demand when necessary, said Jenifer Verdery, director of work-force policy at Intel Corp., who represents a coalition of companies that use the visas. |
“Contrary to the claims of H-1B critics, if importing cheap labor were the goal of H-1B visa employers, these visas would have been gone on the first day applications were accepted last spring,” Ms. Verdery said. “In slow economic times, such as today, the demand decreases and the market takes over, which is as it should be.” Read more at online.wsj.com |
- BUSINESS
- OCTOBER 28, 2009, 12:21 P.M. ET
Bartz Vows Yahoo Will Regain Respect
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Yahoo Inc.’s Chief Executive Carol Bartz said Wednesday that the Internet giant’s 6% operating margin is “unacceptable” and she vowed to regain the respect the company has lost over the past several years. |
“Today is the beginning of a journey back to respect,” she said in an introductory presentation during the company’s meeting with analysts, which was webcast. |
Referring to ongoing questions about Yahoo’s vision and direction, Ms. Bartz reiterated that the company shouldn’t be thought of as a search or display company. She said Yahoo is a broad-based Internet technology company that competes with a wide range of content sites, including social network Facebook, news provider CNN, sports titan ESPN and gossip page TMZ. Read more at online.wsj.com |
The Daily Start-Up: Senate Extends SBA Programs…Again |
| Just In Time For Christmas - U.S. senators are beginning to look like a bunch of procrastinators when it comes to deciding the fate of Small Business Administration funding programs. For the fourth time this year, the Senate passed legislation to temporarily extend the programs, this time through April 30. As Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, notes, “This temporary reauthorization will help keep America’s 29 million small businesses running through the holiday season.” The House and Senate earlier this year passed bills reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research program, which was set to expire this Saturday. But the two bills differ on key issues, in particular the amount of access that venture-backed companies would have to the SBIR funds. The programs have previously been extended three times, to March 20, July 31 and Oct. 31.Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
In order for our country to re-emerge as the world’s greatest economy, we need more individuals with this type of spirit and zeal for innovation–not more government programs and regulation. The government needs to “get out of the way and stay out of the way”. Launching LinkedIn From a Living Room
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If anyone knows the value of connections, it’s Reid Hoffman. In May 2003, the former Apple Inc. and PayPal executive launched LinkedIn out of his living room, inviting 350 of his contacts to join his network and create their own profiles. By the end of that month, LinkedIn had 4,500 members. Today, the 500-employee private company – valued by investors at $1 billion – has some 50 million users. Mr. Hoffman, 42 years old, now enjoys a reputation as a Silicon Valley heavyweight, investing in more than 60 start-ups (including Friendster, Facebook and Digg) and serving on the boards of Mozilla and eight other companies. Read more at online.wsj.com |
The Daily Start-Up: Wonderful World Of Web 2.0 |
Innovation reigns in the tech industry! This Year’s Top 10 Largest Venture Funding Deals |
Twitter Inc.’s $100 million funding round drew considerable attention for its massive size, but it’s not the largest venture deal so far this year. That round actually tied for the fourth largest, according to data compiled from Dow Jones VentureSource. |
Here’s a list of the Top 10 venture capital rounds through the third quarter. The deals are impressive considering the cloud hanging over the venture industry. Besides Twitter and another dot-commer, Facebook Inc., these companies range from massive clean-technology projects and health-care plays to wireless equipment makers and, in one case, a waste-collection service. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
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Google to Unveil New Phone?
