Gawker
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the rich
Bill Gates in Cambridge Slob Shocker
Notice something about Bill Gates in the attached video? Shuffling along a procession at Cambridge University, the Microsoft founder is the only dignitary without a tie. And he looks plenty sheepish about it. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by uncle_wiggly: Thank god someone's putting a stop to this necktie madness. I've never understood the purpose of the necktie except to... 6 Responses | Other threads
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the rich
Inside 'Buffalo' Bill Gates' New Ranch
Bill Gates might be ready to truly retire: The Microsoft founder reportedly acquired Buffalo Bill Cody's old ranch in Wyoming. We've got picutres, and it looks like the perfect place for riding off into the sunset.
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By Ryan TateComment by daveyjonesisdead: When you're retreat has a retreat, you've gone too far. 4 Responses | Other threads
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branding
Microsoft Wants You To 'Verb Up' And 'Bing It'
On Thursday Microsoft unveiled Bing, its new search engine thingie. They're hoping that before long you'll forget how to "Google it" and will instead "Bing it." Unfortunately we think the name reminds us mostly of Sopranos strippers and the guy who knocked up Elizabeth Hurley. Microsoft FAIL! More »
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Comment by nathanst: All I can think of is Chandler from friends. I'm betting Matthew Perry could use a paying role right now. *contemplates the... 5 Responses | Other threads
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nerdfight
Bill Gates's Wife Outruns Marissa Mayer
Google executive Marissa Mayer, best known for her ballgowns, cupcakes, and whimsical designs, feels that the media has ignored her athletic achievements. But how does she compare to rivals like Mrs. Bill Gates? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Wrapitup: First person to make a catfight joke is a douche. Also, Owen, how is Mrs Gates a rival to Marissa Mayer?... 7 Responses | Other threads
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wtf
Bill Gates Unleashes Mosquito Swarm
TED, the annual gathering of the most pretentious people from the fields of technology, entertainment, and design, just got punk'd. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates released a swarm of mosquitos into the crowd. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Niall Lynch: Well, anyone who uses M. Gates' products already knows he has no shortage of bugs to spread around. 8 Responses | Other threads
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bill gates
The Man Behind Microsoft's Overdue Layoffs
Microsoft is shedding 5,000 jobs from its 95,000-person workforce, the company's first-ever mass layoff. It's about time. And let's put the blame where it belongs: Bill Gates. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Moff: So...Microsoft expanded on its success in one area by branching out into other areas. Which is what, like, every company... 7 Responses | Other threads
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predictions
The Next Gadget Gods
This past year, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs began to focus on priorities other than tech. Who will fill their winged sandals and become the new Gadget Gods? [Gizmodo] -
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Kumo
Microsoft's quest for meaninglessness
Bill Gates has been trying to own the Internet for 13 years. He couldn't beat Google. He couldn't buy Yahoo. So now he wants to start with a clean slate. Enter "Kumo"! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by TedEx: Xbox sounds much cooler than Microsoft Gaming System. 2 Responses | Other threads
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stocks
Why founders win
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs like to talk about their hopes of "changing the world." Yes, of course: Changing the world from one in which they are poor to one in which they are fabulously wealthy. The question in the air is whether the founders of companies do a better job at creating wealth, for themselves and their investors, than professional managers. With Yahoo announcing Jerry Yang's plans to step down as CEO, it would seem like a losing time for founders. But Yang is an exceptional case; he took his hands off the steering wheel when Yahoo had a mere five employees, and never really ran anything until he stepped in as CEO last June. Most founders of successful startups eagerly seize power, and have to be forcibly dislodged from the driver's seat. The best never let go. Just take a long-term look at the stock market, and you'll see why. More » -
BGC3
Bill Gates's third act
Oh, surely you didn't think Bill Gates would fade away into saintly obscurity after retiring from his day job at Microsoft, did you? Techflash reports he has a new company, a sort of think tank called BGC3. The letters stand, roughly, for "Bill Gates Catalyst". The three? Possibly a reference to the companies he's founded. Microsoft was Gates's first company; Corbis, the photo-licensing agency, his second. (Should we count the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, since it's a nonprofit.) BGC3 will house Gates's intellectual musings, with the resulting innovations to be funneled largely to Microsoft or to his foundation. It sounds a bit like former Microsoft research chief Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures, minus the controversial accumulation of patents.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Mycroft8: From what I've read about him -MS was Gates 2nd company, his first was TrafOData - an unsuccessful attempt at... more » | Other threads
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badvertising
Bill Gates is a dick (NSFW)
A Belgian condom ad, discovered by alt-culture magazine Coilhouse, features Bill Gates as a penis, wrapped in what the ad calls an "efficient antivirus." Here's the uncensored version (NSFW): More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by TheDestructionator: Here's raincoaster's comment: Oh, so that's why he's always screwing customers. 1 Responses | Other threads
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geek love
The bromance of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett
Like any good ro-man-on-man-tic comedy, before Bill Gates and Warren Buffett had their first encounter at Gates's parents' home in 1991, they didn't want to meet each other. Says Buffett: "While we're driving down there, I said, 'What the hell are we going to spend all day doing with these people? How long do we have to stay to be polite?" Says Gates: "I told my mom, 'I don't know about a guy who just invests money and picks stocks. I don't have many good questions for him; that's not my thing, Mom." Both showed up at the appointed time anyway — Buffett in a economy-sized car, Gates in a helicopter. It was love at first bluster, according to the Financial Times. More »
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Comment by Elizabeth Mohr: MacBeach, Why does it bother you so much that others succeed in what they pursue? If only YOU had thought... more » | Other threads
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superficial
Power geeks do not age well
As the seasons change and we settle into autumn, I'm reminded once more that yet another year will soon pass and that we're all getting older. Or at least, the old people are. Check out the images below, picturing tech luminaries in their youths juxtaposed with more recent photos. You might find yourself in disagreement with the English poet John Donne, who wrote: "No spring, nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face." More »
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Comment by ScalaWag: Andreessen's transformation is the most monstrous. 3 Responses | Other threads
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stocks
Forget Yahoo, Microsoft buys more Microsoft
Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo for around $40 billion. That didn't work. Microsoft now plans to spend that much buying back stock, while it also increases its shareholder dividend by 18 percent. The company will take on as much as $6 billion in debt to pay for the buyback, which seems to rule out any major acquisition in the near term. Conveniently, the buyback also helps Microsoft founder Bill Gates with one of his biggest problems: selling his $20.3 billion stake in Microsoft in order to fund his nonprofit without killing the company's stock price. More »
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Comment by giddieup: this is how you creat shareholder value, not buying some company that is going downhill. 4 Responses | Other threads
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advertising
Microsoft ad agency confirms: New Seinfeld ad produced, yet not running
The doublespeak coming from Microsoft and its ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, in the wake of its "icebreaker" ad campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, is amazing. Yesterday, Valleywag learned that Microsoft PR was revving up a spin campaign to go along with the ad campaign. Its aim: To make sure no one interpreted its shift to a series of anti-Mac ads as an abandonment of the Seinfeld spots. But Crispin Porter tells Gizmodo that it did, indeed, have another Seinfeld and Gates spot already produced. It's just not scheduled to air. Anytime. As of yet. It could air. Some day. If Microsoft wants it too. So does this mean Seinfeld will return? As a Microsoft flack told us yesterday, "possibly" and "potentially."
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By Owen ThomasComment by Drummer_Boy: So what you're saying, Owen, is that your initial article was wrong and you're too embarrassed to admit it hence... 1 Responses | Other threads
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microsoft
Ad campaign gets everyone talking about how bad ad campaign is
The new ad campaign from Crispin Porter & Bogusky for Microsoft, which has been rolled out in two parts so far, are "'icebreakers' designed to start a new kind of conversation." Which mean instead of everyone talking about how terrible Windows Vista is, they're talking about how little sense the new ads from Microsoft make. Ultimately, the plan is to get us talking about how Microsoft seems to be screwing up not just Vista and its brand, but "Windows in all its forms." [Windows Vista Team Blog]
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By Jackson WestComment by Duncan: The only icebreakers in this campaign is the methamphetamine being snorted in the offices of Crispin Porter + Bogusky more » | Other threads
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microsoft
Bill Gates spending retirement awkwardly starring in commercials
It's time for the second spot in the Crispin Porter & Bogusky-produced advertising campaign for Microsoft and Windows Vista. Unlike the last one, there's even a computer! Premiering in two parts during tonight's episode of Big Brother on CBS, the premise posits mundane comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates staying in a Seattle home with "real people" (like veteran actor David Costabile) in order to connect with consumers. Cue the hijinx. The question is, will the campaign work? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by michaellamb: they're amusing b/c seinfeld is funny... everyone else sucks.. I can do a fake teen girl pout & flounce better... 1 Responses | Other threads
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clips
Steve Jobs doesn't get the Seinfeld Microsoft ad either
In this clip, CNBC's Jim Goldman asks Apple CEO Steve Jobs what he thought of Microsoft's new ad featuring Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Watch the clip: Jobs answers Goldman's question politely, but the CEO's body language says what he won't. He shakes his head. He throws his hands up in the air. He grins and laughs. Like the rest of us, the guy who greenlighted the Mac vs. PC series, the Think Different campaign, and the infamous anti-IBM 1984 ad doesn't get what Microsoft was thinking running that thing either. -
advertising
Madison Avenue circles wagons to defend unfunny Microsoft-Seinfeld ad
"Most companies would have to spend a billion dollars on advertising to get this kind of attention," a brand consultant insisted to the Wall Street Journal in response to Jerry Seinfeld's what-the-huh 90-second TV spot for Microsoft. "The fact that they have the blogs, the business community and mass media talking about it means they hit a nerve," says another. "It's exactly what we were trying to achieve, which was to drive buzz," says Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla. Three's a trend! But ask yourself how many other companies will now intentionally develop campaigns designed to get people talking and talking about how disappointed they are with the whole thing?
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By Paul BoutinComment by Lawrence: The whole thing is monotonous - it has an overall pale, slated feel to it. Their acting sucked. Poor jokes. Too... 1 Responses | Other threads
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clips
The 5 goofiest computer ads
Microsoft's new Seinfeld ad campaign proves you can't predict success. Here are five goofy ads that worked — plus the clip that probably sold Microsoft on Seinfeld. Above: A parody of Jacques Cousteau's undersea documentaries for Sun Microsystems. More » -
microsoft
Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Gates star in nonsensical new ad campaign
Long-time Macintosh enthusiast Jerry Seinfeld kicks off the new Microsoft campaign by spotting company cofounder Bill Gates at a fictional discount shoe store. The 90-second spot makes a lot less sense from there. Can't say for certain if this is the spot that Michel Gondry directed, but it certainly has the loopy narrative touches, playful music and one giveaway visual cue: A shot of someone wearing shoes and socks in the shower. It makes no mention of technology until the end, when Seinfeld asks when Microsoft will make an edible computer — and then the audience is treated to Bill Gates adjusting himself in his boxer shorts, hands-free. The whole production says "quirky," not slick or cool, but then Windows Vista is full of maddening quirks.
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By Jackson WestComment by supersynic: this ad and ms products have a lot in common: difficult to understand, pointless, useless, and really expensive to... 1 Responses | Other threads
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mark penn
Hillary's flack told Bill Gates not to bother "being human"
Mark Penn, the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, will likely never work in politics again. He's in hot water over his advice to Hillary Clinton. A series of memos obtained by The Atlantic show Penn offering Clinton unsavory advice. (For example: highlighting Barack Obama's childhood abroad as a way of suggesting he was too foreign to be president.) But the fallen flack has a promising career as consigliere to tech CEOs, based on his advice to Bill Gates: "Being human is overrated." More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Shadowlayer: I'm not human, I'm a robot! I run on corn! more » | Other threads
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Tech Tyrants
The 10 most terrible tyrants of tech
Here's to the screaming ones. The chair-throwers. The death-threat makers. The imperious gazers. The ones who see things differently — and will stare you down until you do, too. They're not fond of rules, especially those outlined by the human-resources department on "treating your employees with respect." And they have no respect for conversational decibel levels. You can cower before them, hide from them, quote them behind their backs, or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they're so damn loud. They've worked at Google. Apple. Microsoft. AOL. They've ruled the industry — or they've failed, loudly. Below, we present you tech's 10 most tempestuous bosses — the ones who scream different. While some see them as sociopaths, Valleywag sees genius. More » -
crime
Bill Gates praised Canada's skilled murderer immigration program
A grisly beheading on a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg, Manitoba may well have been committed by an immigrant admitted under a skilled-worker program in 2001. While riding the bus, a reportedly unprovoked Vince Weiguang Li stabbed carnie Tim McLean twelve times, beheaded him, and began eating parts of the corpse. A laptop which Li sold to teenager Darren Beatty had a letter which said "he felt guilty for leaving China, and that everything in Canada was not as he expected," according to a Google translation. Why are we subjecting you, dear reader, to this gory tale? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by notyoutool: ydmos is correct though, the image deserves an A++ more » | Other threads
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nerdfight
Bill Gates finally meets worthy nemesis — Bill Gates
Trash hauler Republic Services was set to be acquired by Allied Waste Industries in a stock transaction worth $6.2 billion. But then Waste Management Inc. stepped in, matching the $6.2 billion offer but in cash. Turns out that through Cascade Investment, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates owns a stake in both Republic and WMI — pitting Gates in a bitter hostile takeover bid against Gates. [Earth2Tech]
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By Jackson WestComment by CaliforniaCajun: I'm so tired of the constant trash talk on Valleywag. more » | Other threads
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exits
Bill Gates's relevance — and irrelevance
The Economist tidily sums up billg's career this week, now that Microsoft's Rain Man (see video) has walked away from the company after 33 years. I've whittled the piece down to its talking points. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by dorian: Microsoft succeeded indeed in helping bring the PC into the mass market - and have been duly rewarded. I suspect,... more » | Other threads
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microsoft
With Bill Gates gone, Microsoft to stop selling the last operating system he actually liked
Microsoft's Vista apologists no longer have to worry about former chief software architect Bill Gates letting slip an admission that its latest operating system sucks, sending computer makers and users back to Windows XP. As soon as Dell, HP and other major manufacturers sell their current-supply of XP-loaded PCs, no more will come off the shelves as Microsoft ends production of the aging but quite functional operating system today. But instead of moving on to Windows Vista, large corporate clients like General Motors intend to purchase Vista-loaded computers and "downgrade" them to XP. Meanwhile, only 8 percent of all software developers are working on applications for Vista, while 49 percent continue to develop for XP.
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Comment by sample032: The new laptop I recently ordered had the option to include a free Vista -> XP Professional downgrade disc. I opted. more » | Other threads
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exits
Bill Gates third act a story of redemption for the fallen geek hero?
Microsoft co-founder, former CEO and executive chairman Bill Gates should be just about wrapping up his last day as a full-time employee of Microsoft and moving on to head up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. While I never met the man, he certainly loomed large in my life growing up in Seattle and beyond. While the classic "Tiger Beat" style photo here tried valiantly to make Gates appear a little sexy for the publicity machine surrounding the launch of the original Windows operating system, it failed where Gates succeeded. While Gates was a ruthlessly competitive capitalist who used and abused Microsoft's monopoly position to maim and sometimes kill the competition, he did make being a computer nerd something to aspire to, if not exactly cool. More » -
exits
Gates gives Yahoo deal the nay-no
The Bill Gates media express rolls on as Gates powers down his infernally unusable computer at Redmond today, but he's leaving as a prophet. In an interview with Tom Brokaw, he notes that any Yahoo deal (which he was never enthusiastic about in the first place) probably won't happen. [CNBC] -
quotable
Bill Gates privately declared Windows usability "an absolute mess" in 2003
Five years ago, which is probably about when Microsoft started announcing shipping dates for Vista, Bill Gates wanted to play with Windows Movie Maker. Thanks to the power of Windows XP and Microsoft's online support, it took him over an hour in frustration downloading software, installing it and rebooting and, in the end, still without the software he was looking for. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by raincoaster: I'm like, and I had to sign in to Vallywag twice, biotch!!!!! more » | Other threads
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quotable
Bill Gates looks back at the competition Microsoft annihilated
Putting media naysayers in their place, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates continued his farewell tour by pointing to old press accounts of companies like Ashton Tate and Lotus as worthy competitors into the perspective only the ultimate winner can enjoy. When asked by CNET's Ina Fried about the early presumptions that IBM would eat Microsoft's lunch and how that turned out, Gates used the opportunity to challenge those who would similarly presume that Google will eventually destroy Team Redmond. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Uncle-Sam's Littlle Helper: Face it Bill Gates is out of business. A relict. Why do you cite that moron? more » | Other threads
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microsoft
Bill Gates, Paul Allen reunite with employees from original Albuquerque office
As co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates prepares to soft-retire from Microsoft, he indulged in a feel-good photo op with his former business partner Paul Allen and the remaining staff from Microsoft's startup days when the company was based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The team's fashion sense rather explicitly demonstrates the transition from innovative upstarts to staid conservatives over the last thirty years. [Newsweek]
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By Jackson WestComment by agogoo: In write-ups she was the receptionist, how did the mystery wo man promote herself to office manager?? more » | Other threads
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microsoft
Bill Gates reveals his tricks for getting chicks
While a young student at Seattle's snootiest private prep school, Lakeside, dweebish Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was asked to write the computer program that arranged students' class schedules. Having just absorbed the student bodies from a private girl's school, Gates gamed the system to make sure all his classes had nothing but the hotties, even though males outnumbered females 3-1. He may not be the sexiest CEO out there, but points for trying.
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By Jackson WestComment by BartKela: Actually, it could have been the first time that happened. It wouldn't have been the *only* time though... more » | Other threads
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google
Street View finally coming to Seattle
The Google Street View car was Spotted in Microsoft Country last week after launching in many smaller markets around the country first. Apparently the drivers, rather than use some fancy, newfangled Internet doohickey, simply burn the data captured by the rooftop camera array onto a CD and mail it back to Mountain View. The fact that Portland, Oregon and Juneau, Alaska were added to the list of Street View cities before Seattle inspired an April Fools article in local publication Naked Loon quoting a fictional Google spokesmonkey as saying the addition of Seattle was "extremely unlikely, save for some kind of highly localized disaster centered somewhere in Redmond." More »
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By Jackson WestComment by CosmoGolem: This is really creepy technology. I wonder when we'll see people through the walls of their homes! My 85-year-old... more » | Other threads
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geek love
Bill Gates hasn't always been Steve Ballmer's BFF
After meeting at Harvard, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer have been working together for so long, "they often complete each other's sentences," according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal in a frontpage feature for Gates's last month working full-time at the Redmond software giant. But it wasn't all smiles and sunshine over the years. After handing over the title of CEO to Ballmer, "In meetings Mr. Gates would interject with sarcasm, undermining Mr. Ballmer in front of other executives." And at one point, Gates even pitched a fit! More » -
cleantech
Bill Gates divesting from Pacific Ethanol at a loss
Cascade Investment LLC, the fund managed by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, has made good on its November promise to exit from its investment in Pacific Ethanol. What's surprising? He's doing it at a loss, converting his preferred shares to common shares worth $8 apiece and selling them for less than $4 apiece. With 1.4 million shares sold in three days, that's a loss of over $5 million. Pocket change for Gates, certainly, but in almost halving his original 20 percent stake it's a strong vote of no confidence in the ethanol business. While Accel Partners Joe Schoendorf has said that "a good way to lose money is to bet against Vinod [Khosla]" who's been bullish on ethanol, I'm going to side with Gates on this one.
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By Jackson WestComment by Shadowlayer: Ethanol only works with a cheap-ass crop in a country where slave labor is almost legal: brazil. more » | Other threads
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developers, developers, developers
Bill Gates last move at Microsoft is to replace Steve Ballmer with robot
Speaking at Microsoft's TechEd conference in Orlando, Florida, Bill Gates said some stuff about Internet Explorer 8, blah blah blah. More importantly, he rolled out the latest version of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a Windows-powered machine that waves its arms and shouts "Developers, developers, developers!" It can even throw eggs in order to fend off ruthless Hungarians when necessary. Presumably it can also throw chairs to fend off larger predators like Google. However, any attempts to buy Yahoo inevitably result in a blue screen of death. We hear Steve Ballmer 2.0's first decision was to hire Lloyd Braun.
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By Jackson WestComment by Churchill: Man Balmer is getting fat! He needs to retire before he goes toes up of a heart attack! more » | Other threads
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facebook platform
Facebook's new profile: "Orwellian"
Welcome to the Silicon Valley hype cycle: One year, and you're over. That seems to be the consensus on Facebook's vaunted platform, whose one-year anniversary went largely unremarked. The company itself didn't blog about it until today, and sources tell us an open-bar party Facebook held in Palo Alto was low-key to the point of despair. It can't have helped that Google was throwing a massive party in San Francisco the same day to close out its conference for developers. How different a scene from a year ago, when the F8 launch event of Facebook Platform won comparisons of the company to Microsoft and of founder Mark Zuckerberg to Bill Gates. More »
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