Gawker
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valleywag
Google Mentor Dead in Swimming Pool
Rajeev Motwani, a computer science professor who mentored Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford, was found dead in the pool of his Atherton, California home. He was 47. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Steverino Begins: Maybe Gawker should disable comments for these types of posts. 2 Responses | Other threads
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software
'Page's Law' Is Google Founder's Next-Best Shot at Immortality
Speaking at Google's developer's conference in San Francisco today, Sergey Brin launched some fresh nomenclature into the jargony culture of computer programmers: "Page's Law." He was trying to make a point about the speed of Google's Web apps; instead he's done co-founder Larry Page a huge favor. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Conchie Birdie: "Page's Law" seems a too obvious to be a "law". 1 Responses | Other threads
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housekeeping
Valleywag: An Instruction Manual
Dear Ryan:
As I head to NBC to run its Bay Area site, I'm leaving you one Silicon Valley gossip blog, used but in good condition. A few thoughts on how to keep it that way. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RheaPollstry: Is that Owen? Mmmmmm, I do luv me some bears. And working in a bar, no less! My heart is... 4 Responses | Other threads
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valley spawn
Google Founder Larry Page Has Impregnated Model-Ph.D. Wife
Larry Page, the dorkier half of Google's founding duo, has mastered at least one basic human function: His wife, former model and Stanford bioinformatics Ph.D. Lucy Southworth, is pregnant. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Widget Economist: She has been seeded. It's amazing how these guys choose ultra-petite snobby PhD's. Those woman are basically made to be bought... 7 Responses | Other threads
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real estate
Google's Larry Page Goes on Eco-Friendly Construction Rampage
To build the new, Google must tear down the old. As must its billionaire cofounder Larry Page, whose neighbors believe he's illegally tearing down houses in Palo Alto to make room for a gargantuan eco-mansion. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by QADude: Any house that size isn't eco-friendly, no matter what fancy materials are used. This is just another one of those... 1 Responses | Other threads
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free
Google, No Longer the Land of the Free
The accountants have taken over the Googleplex, once a hotbed of amiably unprofitable innovation. The notion that ads would pay the way for everything has been dropped — and "fee" is replacing "free." More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by unclevanya: What the hell is Google Checkout? I use the Web, Image, Video and Map searches. Anything else is delusional meat... 4 Responses | Other threads
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Googlefreude
Marissa Mayer: Google's Biggest Failure
Google's perfectionist cupcake princess is totally misunderstood! That's the claim Marissa Mayer, the VP who oversees Google search, makes to a credulous New York Times, which licks up the frosted version of her career.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Wrapitup: "Good students are good at all things." But a good student is not necessarily a good software engineer or a good... 5 Responses | Other threads
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google
Google Cuts Off Its Big-Media Dreams
Like Napoleon marching into an abandoned Moscow, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have led Google's advance into traditional advertising only to find nothing to loot. Now begins Google's long imperial retreat, starting with 40 layoffs. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by CheapCynicism: Is that analogy right, Owen? If I remember AP Euro History, the march to Moscow and its occupation cost Napoleon... 5 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] -
geeks gone wild
Googlers' Pilots Are Real Boobs
The Google Jet really is a party plane. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin travel the world on a Boeing 767 they bought and tricked out. But who flies it for them? A wild bunch. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by fugazi: To be fair - they give you the rubber gloves in ice bars (if you didn't bring your own). Pragmatically... 6 Responses | Other threads
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Inaugural Cash
Google Execs Pay $150,000 for Obama Bash
It's Google's presidency. We're just watching it. Six Google executives, including CEO Eric Schmidt and cofounder Larry Page, have donated $25,000 apiece to fund President Barack Obama's swearing-in party.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Goose Spruce: First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the president. 1 Responses | Other threads
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perks
Google's austerity campaign
The best place to work in America is becoming like every other big corporation. Google, at its heart an overgrown advertising agency, is most famous for its lavish perks. Now those are disappearing.
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By Owen ThomasComment by its_a_feature: And so it begins! I'll be curious to see the fallout when googlers realize their perks have fallen back... 3 Responses | Other threads
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halloween
No costume? No problem
Some readers have told us our Halloween masks were a little too frightening. If you're still scrambling to pull together a costume, here are four options that are more treat than trick. Best of all, you'll be able to get what you need from your own closet. More »
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Comment by sample032: There should have been a Paul Boutin one. Black clothes, boots, cowboy had, and, most importantly, sunglasses. Be... more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Google secretly investing in zeppelins?
Zeppelins went out of style when the Hindenburg went down in flames over New Jersey. But Airship Ventures, a startup backed by quirky angel investor Esther Dyson, is trying to bring them back. With a little help from Dyson's friends. Airship's Zeppelin NT, the first to fly over the U.S. in 70 years, has just completed a transatlantic journey and is scheduled to touch down this afternoon at the Nasa-operated Moffett Field, where it will be permanently stationed, operating aerial tours of the Bay Area. Curious — a private enterprise making use of public lands. Nasa's excuse for hosting the zeppelin: It will be used for scientific investigations and other public-spirited purposes. Where have we heard that before? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by WagCurious: Am I the first one to notice that the array of armaments that Google has assembled in Santa Clara could... 2 Responses | Other threads
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explainer
Global economic collapse actually Larry and Sergey's fault
Davos, baby! The partying at the World Economic Forum, the annual conference held in a Swiss resort town that has become synonymous with the event, was "out of control," organizer Klaus Schwab now admits. The Wall Street bosses and Beltway bandits were too busy having a ball to keep their eye on it, even as the economy lurched towards the abyss. This strikes me as revisionist history; the Times reported on the nervous mood at this year's Davos So who kept the event festive? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by madox: Google could have held a key-role in demonstrating what a company needs to do during a serious economic downturn; instead... more » | Other threads
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party plane
Why Larry and Sergey bought a fighter jet
Larry, Sergey, and Eric have a fighter jet, and you don't. They also have a sweet place to park it: Moffett Field, the airstrip closest to the heart of Silicon Valley. Even Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has to get chauffeured down to San Jose to board his private plane. Remind us, how did the Googlers get such a sweet deal? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by dotcomburnout: Might as well use Moffett for something, it is a ghost town. Charge them and all the other guys... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Googlers in Space
Larry and Sergey yanked party plane from space mission
Nasa may be regretting a sweetheart deal it cut with Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In exchange for a 90-year lease on land at Nasa's Ames Research Center adjacent to Google's headquarters, the space agency made a side agreement with Page and Brin to let them park their fleet of private jets at Nasa's Moffett Field. The only requirement: That the Googlers loan out their planes for space research missions as needed. But it turns out that for Larry and Sergey, partying with politicians is more important than studying space. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by YMMV: This would be some laughable and ridiculous reporting if it weren't a serious topic. could "Owen Thomas" be any... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Not Booth Babes
The 15 hottest CEO wives
Lucy Southworth made the cut at AOL's Asylum blog, even though hubby Larry Page isn't the CEO of his company. If you don't want to click through Asylum's pop-up interactive preso, I searched our photo databases to find real-world shots — not Photoshopped promo pictures — of Asylum's two other Valley-related picks. Both have a certain something once considered unsightly on a trophy wife: careers. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Patricia2: Not like any of the men are all hot... just saying... ;) 2 Responses | Other threads
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lists
BusinessWeek scrapes Techmeme for its latest list
Loic Le Meur! Gabe Rivera! Joi Ito! Don't feel bad if you've never heard of them. BusinessWeek.com's latest 25 Most Influential People on the Web is a mashup of billionaire powerbrokers with a randomized handful of those folks you run into at that same little tech conference that happens under a different name every month. I'm guessing they left out TechCrunch's Michael Arrington to create buzz. If you don't want to click through 27 pageviews on BusinessWeek's site, here's the entire list in alphabetical order: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by newtonke: I think it is much more the people 'behind' those people you should watch. If your a gagbillionairre, or your... more » | Other threads
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commenter of the day
WagCurious
Google's world-domination plans involve airwaves where neither television nor wireless devices play. This issue is so important that Larry Page personally went to Washington to complain to the FCC. Today's featured commenter, WagCurious, weighs in with some field knowledge. Stick around and learn something: More »
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Comment by cowboytwopointoh: no that was not. Firstly, hopping is used all the time by CDMA for cellular access type networks. In fact,... 1 Responses | Other threads
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google
Larry Page calls FCC wireless tests "rigged"
Google cofounder Larry Page brought his shaggy, salt-and-pepper mop to the Dirksen office building in Washington, D.C. to complain to federal regulators about television broadcasters. Google wants access to the dead air between television stations for wireless devices like the new G1 phone from T-Mobile running Google's Android operating system. But an odd alliance of broadcasters and wireless microphone manufacturers oppose opening up the "white spaces" due to concerns over radio frequency interference. Referring to FCC tests held at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins, Page declared: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Hyloka: What I don't get is why the wireless microphone manufacturers should get a free-ride on the public airwaves when they... 1 Responses | Other threads
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the way we were
Ten years on, Google cofounders' homepages frozen in time
Say what you will about Hubert "Third Google Founder" Chang, at least he dropped some links to the old homepages of Sergey Brin and Larry Page back when the pair were teaching Computer Science 349 at Stanford, "Data Mining, Search, and the World Wide Web." What's there? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by ResearchZilla: say what you will, but getting on winograd or garcia-molina projects is a BIG deal...that alone set them up for... more » | Other threads
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Googletards
Larry, Sergey, and Hubert? NYU grad claims he invented Google
Google's tenth anniversary seems to have tweaked Hubert Chang into posting this video. He claims to have co-invented Google's PageRank formula, business model and more along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1997. But Chang says he chose to complete his Ph.D. at New York University instead of dropping out to found a startup. He also claims to have passed on a chance to put his name on a conference paper — again to remain focused on his Ph.D. thesis. By the time Chang got his sheepskin in 2002, he says, Page and Brin didn't respond to his enquiries to join the company. After the jump, a second, more produced video from Chang in which he gives his version of the Google creation myth. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by UniComp: His story is another great reason for not staying in the academic system. more » | Other threads
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clips
Brin and Page show up late, wing it at Googlephone launch
T-Mobile today launched the G1, the first phone loaded with Google's mobile operating system, Android. (Just don't call it a "Googlephone"!) Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page showed up late to the press conference and Brin began his speech with an excuse: "We had to rush here a little bit today from the Google Transit launch, and, uh, you know with all the streets being shut down and all, I don't think wheels were the best way to go." The pair winged it from there on. More »
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Comment by thickzeal: Maybe Page was lost in thought about his massive new residential compound that nobody seems to know about. more » | Other threads
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death of print
Google cofounders' wealth dwarfs newspaper business
According to Wall Street estimates, the entire American newspaper business is worth $20 billion and sinking fast — and that includes the non-newspaper business like test prep, television and radio holdings. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google's cofounders, are worth nearly $16 billion each according to Forbes (though that number has been shrinking of late as well). No wonder fishwrap publishers hate Google so much. [reDesign] (Photo by Joi Ito)
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By Jackson WestComment by Carlos: damn larry's got a big ole bababooey set of lips and teeth on him more » | Other threads
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google
In 1999, Google cofounder dreamed of a second startup
Ubergizmo writer Karsten Lemm visited Google headquarters in 1999 — Apt. 106 in a building on 555 Bryant Street, Palo Alto — and sometime during the interview, Google cofounder Larry Page handed him this card, printed from an inkjet printer. Check out the Google logo and its exclamation mark — an artifact of a time when the brightest future Page and cofounder Sergey Brin could imagine was "to be on par with Yahoo, or Amazon, AOL." In recognition of Google's 10th anniversary, Lemm republished the entire interview. My favorite part is when he asks the cofounders, "Where do you see yourselves in, say, five years from now?" and Brin answers in a way that reminds you Google wasn't always the obvious success it is now. More »
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Comment by macbeach: "That's a long way down the sea."? Odd expression. Maybe he thought the company was going to sink. Although maybe it... 1 Responses | Other threads
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spy photos
Larry and Sergey brought wives to watch Google satellite launch
Google helped pay for this weekend's launch of a satellite which will take high-resolution imagery for its Google Earth service, and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were on hand to watch the rocket lift off at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Serious business, right? Not when you see our spy photos of the billionaires. Brin wore bright orange Crocs and Page wore a red windbreaker. More tellingly, Brin brought Anne Wojcicki, his pregnant wife, and Page brought his wife Lucy. Both women also dressed informally. Wojcicki carried a plastic water bottle — funny, I thought Larry and Sergey had gotten rid of those at the Googleplex. It all looked like a lark for the billionaire couples, rather than a visit to a high-security military installation — paid for by Google's shareholders and U.S. taxpayers. At least Larry and Sergey seem to have flown their on their own dime — the photos show a Gulfstream V, one of the models in the Googlers' fleet of party planes. Admit it, you all wish you were Larry and Sergey, Crocs and all.
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clips
Kite-surfing too gnarly for Larry and Sergey
Thrill-seeking Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin regularly kite-surf off San Mateo, we've heard in the past. Below, a video clip of one trick the pair should not attempt — kite-surfing during a hurricane. Can you imagine the hike in the billionaires' insurance rates? More »
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Comment by dogcat: @bernielomax: First, I actually said myself above that it was a dumb thing to do. If the clip were being... more » | Other threads
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real estate
Larry Page's $7 million manse
Eager to expose Google's threats to our privacy, the National Legal & Policy Center proved so inept at technology that it ended up exposing Google cofounder Larry Page's street address in a publicity stunt. Hidden in plain sight within the NLPC's PDF document: Waverley Oaks Court, the Palo Alto street on which Page lives. (Last year, Valleywag published a Google Maps view of Page's home, but not the address.) It only took a little digging through publicly available records to turn up the actual house number — 100 Waverley Oaks Court, Palo Alto, Calif. So how much is it worth? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by sample032: @the_gdude: A comment that short could only come from someone close to a search engine with a homepage that short. Don't... more » | Other threads
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Mine Flies Higher
Google's other party plane revealed
How did invited guests from the Bay Area for the Newsom-Siebel wedding make it to tiny Stevensville, Montana on a budget and at the last minute? On a private jet from Google, of course. But not the Boeing 767 with the king-sized bed that you've all come to know and love — it was a slightly smaller 757 that revellers boarded at Moffett field. Besides the regular seats, there were reclining thrones and couches mounted along the side of the plane. Larry Page deigned to join the hoi polloi with his paramour Lucy Southworth on the flight back to California. "So warm, lovely and friendly," said our source of the sweet pair with their Hollywood dentistry. (Photo by Cubbie_n_Vegas)
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By Jackson WestComment by DaveyPenn: Hey if the plane was full of party goers whats the problem? more » | Other threads
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wedding announcements
Gavin Newsom selects Jennifer Siebel as gubernatorial running mate
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom is running for higher office again, so it was time for another wedding. The latest bride is actress Jennifer Siebel. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were happy to lend the Google party plane to ferry guests from the Bay Area, so apparently no hard feelings about that whole San Francisco-wide Wi-Fi thing. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by bernielomax: wasn't this douche banging a 19 year old just a few months ago? you know what they say about dudes... more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
Report: Google and Digg talks on again
Google cofounder Larry Page and Digg CEO Jay Adelson were all smiles at Allen & Co.'s Sun Valley retreat. Was it because they had just wrapped up a long-rumored deal for Google to buy Digg, with the price in the neighborhood of $200 million? TechCrunch says talks are on again. (Photo by Reuters)
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By Owen ThomasComment by Tim Faulkner: @jaydot: Seems so. Unless Google is so mellow they don't mind Digg's new tie-up with Facebook. more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
Will Art Levinson leave Genentech after a Roche takeover?
South of the City and hard by the shores of San Francisco Bay, Genentech rarely attracts the attention of the founders of flashy Internet startups as they drive past its offices on the way to the airport. But the biotech company's longtime CEO, Art Levinson, is an integral part of the Silicon Valley scene, serving on the boards of both Google and Apple. That's why Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche's move to buy the 44 percent of Genentech it doesn't already own for a price north of $38 billion could have reverbations well beyond the world of automated pipetting systems. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Shadowlayer: "They see the human genome as just another part of the world's information, which they've made it their mission to... more » | Other threads
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larry and lucy
Sister outs Mrs. Larry Page as ex-model
Lucy Page, the bioinformatics-expert wife of the Google cofounder, would seem to fit the Forbes template for billionaires' wives: "Looks are great — but brains are even better." Unlike husband Larry — shown here kissing his bride at their Necker Island wedding — the former Lucy Southworth actually completed her Ph.D. at Stanford. But a revelation from sister Carrie Southworth, an actress, may mar Lucy's Valley-brainy reputation. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by debbydeb: Well, well, how sweet it is...Is it for love, talent or status? Winning combo...! May it last... more » | Other threads
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photoshop
The sad thing is, we think Digg CEO Jay Adelson might actually think he's Tom Cruise
A recent photo of sunglass-sporting Digg CEO Jay Adelson with slightly more nerdy Google cofounder Larry Page sent reader theodp on an '80s nostalgia trip. (Photo by Reuters, photoillustration by theodp)
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By Owen ThomasComment by MikeTy: LOL!... that's hilarious. They do look alike. more » | Other threads
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google
Sergey Brin cares about the children
Google CEO Eric Schmidt and cofounder Larry Page sat down with reporters for over an hour during an impromptu press conference while playing Bilderbergers at Allen & Co.'s exclusive Sun Valley getaway yesterday. There was talk of Google's Android cell-phone operating system; of China; of the search-ads deal with Yahoo. But it was fitness enthusiast Sergey Brin, rushing in late after a reported flat bicycle tire, who stole the show with feel-good blather: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Tiki Tonga: buzzkill said it best. Just wait until his wife (the wife who's venture was funded by her husband's company)... more » | Other threads
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yahoo
Photos: Jerry Yang not having much fun in Sun Valley
What's Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang thinking in these photos from Reuters? Carl Icahn has no plan B. Microsoft is both confusing and sort of mean. Mean! The Google guys sitting across the table are trying to relate, but can't. They're talking about Richard Branson's beach house again. Don't know they know I wanted to be invited? Life is hard. It's Jerry's Fucking List, people!
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Comment by Shadowlayer: Picture 1:"I'm in a company full of useless morons like me! I'm screwed!" Picture 2 :"Oh why, WHY I DIDN'T TAKE... more » | Other threads
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nerdspotting
Digg CEO and Google cofounder smiling so hard, it's like they just wrapped up a deal
This year's Sun Valley retreat, put on as usual by investment bank Allen & Co, will be Digg CEO Jay Adelson's second. But it marks Adelson's third or fourth trip around the block trying to sell Digg — with Allen & Co's help, naturally. Most of Digg's prior suitors — IAC, News Corp. and Al Gore's Current TV among them — are regulars at the Idaho resort. Glancing at Dealbook's photo of Adelson and Google cofounder Larry Page, we wonder: After months of lobbying from Google VP Marissa Mayer, has Google's top management finally decided to buy Digg and relieve the New York-based Adelson of his wearisome bicoastal commute? Adelson and Page's all-smiles body language in this photo strongly suggest it's so. (Photo by Reuters) -
nerdspotting
Four moguls walk into a bar
Google cofounder Larry Page, Yahoo president Sue Decker, ex-Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, and Legg Mason fund manager Bill Miller, who owns large stakes in Google and Yahoo, sat and talked at a corner table at the Sun Valley Lodge, the site of Allen & Co.'s power media conference in Idaho. Page and Miller reportedly dominated the conversation. [DealBook]
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By Owen ThomasComment by dingdongditch: Since when did Sue Decker become a mogul? more » | Other threads
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larry and sergey
Don't want to be evil? Better get rid of the Google plane
Lefty think tanks Essential Action and the Institute for Policy Studies have a new study out titled “High Flyers: How Private Jet Travel is Straining the System, Warming the Planet and Costing You Money." It implies some not-so-nice things about jet owners and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin — even if they are left-leaning, Prius-driving friends of Bono. According to the report, private jets negatively impact: More »
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Comment by DirigibleDiva: Actually the detectors carried by some of the H211 planes have already provided some very useful data. The information on... more » | Other threads
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Fri Jul 10
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