Gawker
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paul allen
Microsoft billionaire's low-profile MySpace page
"Merman" shares a birthday and a favorite musician — Jimi Hendrix — with chubby-but-hardrocking guitarist Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder behind Seattle's Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Hall of Fame. After Seattle-based blogger Todd Bishop posted on TechFlash this morning, Merman took his profile private. Here's what Bishop saw: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by DionPhoogle: His yacht is bigger than most countries' largest naval ships. It not only has a sub, but several other "toys"... more » | Other threads
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mysteries
What's wrong with tech billionaire Paul Allen?
Paul Allen, the gazillionaire cofounder of Microsoft who has spent his subsequent years frittering away his cash on tech startups, sports teams, and a cable company or two, is ailing, reports Seattle tech blog TechFlash. Allen missed a "First Citizen" awards ceremony thrown by local realtors in his honor because of "an undisclosed medical procedure." We're thinking it can't have been something minor, or at least not easily postponed. Bill Gates attended the event, as did Patty Murray, one of Washington's senators. Murray's praise for Allen's civic contributions — including the Experience Music Project museum and the purchase of the Seattle Seahawks — brought the crowd to its feet. In 1983, Allen was treated for Hodgkin's disease. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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By Owen ThomasComment by Marketing NYC: What is likely to happen now is - someone leaking it to the media for money because of pressures and... 1 Responses | Other threads
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real estate
Seattle baristas propose 300-foot colossus honoring Paul Allen
Kapow Coffee baristas have collected hundreds of signatures on a petition to erect a 300-foot statue of billionaire Microsoft co-founder turned real estate developer Paul Allen in Kapow's South Lake Union neighborhood. It's a backhanded prank: Allen's development firm Vulcan owns about a third of South Lake Union and has been relentlessly gentrifying the place. Kapow's rent has tripled in recent years. It's not their first poke in Allen's eye. After he convinced city officials to provide a South Lake Union trolley service, Kapow's staff stuck the streetcars with the nickname "S.L.U.T." On the statue plan, Allen made the faux pas of letting a spokeswoman handle reporters for him. Come on, big guy, go down there and order a triple shot. They'll be eating out of your hand in ten minutes. (Original photo by Randy Wick)
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By Paul BoutinComment by QADude: Here in the Bay Area the city of Fairfield has a transit service - F.A.R.T. (Fairfield Area Regional Transit). 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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the official filthy rich handbook
"The Technocrat"
He made his fortune — about $18 billion worth — "fundamentally altering the course of human existence." His patron saints are Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. And like his fellow geek, "the Nerdling," he's featured in Christopher Tennant's Official Filthy Rich Handbook, deliverable in June. An excerpt, below. More » -
sports
Microsoft CEO can blame politicians for his inability to save Seattle's NBA franchise
Seattle's only championship sports franchise, the Sonics, are headed to Oaklahoma City, much to the dismay of longtime fans now stuck rooting for the hated Portland Trailblazers, owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. Bilious billionaire and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, with his friends, pledged $150 million toward renovations of Seattle's coliseum and the cost of an NBA basketball team, but there was a catch. The state and the city had to come up with $75 million each for the venue upgrade. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Jackson West: Yes, my anti-Seattle bias -- bred into me by over fourteen years growing up in the city and returning twice... more » | Other threads
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sports
Why no rich techie should ever buy a sports team
Will Leitch is the editor of Deadspin, our sister sports site, and his book God Save The Fan is now available at bookstores everywhere. He makes a cameo appearance here discussing why rich techies should avoid the world of team ownership. More » -
wireless
Paul Allen wants to own everything, including wireless spectrum
Paul Allen, the Microsoft cofounder and prolific investor, has joined the list of bidders for available wireless spectrum under the FCC's January auction. It's not clear why Allen is entering the auction alongside established telephone carriers and Google, but what else do you get a billionaire for Christmas when he already owns a few sports teams, a megayacht, a submarine, and a spaceship? More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by Blackjack: @mandarin: No joke, he's worth billions and can't afford a toothbrush and a tube of Crest? That's the scariest grill... more » | Other threads
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space invaders
Paul Allen believes in aliens
Three minutes into an interview with Paul Allen on Boing Boing TV, Xeni Jardin asks the ultrarich Microsoft cofounder if he believes in little green men. And, well, he doesn't exactly say yes, but let's put it this way: You don't spend $50 million on an array of telescopes in the desert if you don't think there's a good chance. And what does Allen get for his millions? If it turns out there are, as the say, signs of intelligent life in the universe, he gets the first phone call. Take that, Bill Gates! You may be richer than your old college buddy, but he gets to hear about aliens first.
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By Owen ThomasComment by MINI Driver: So I'd heard that this array had picked up the signal from an old Russian sun probe mission, that was... more » | Other threads
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venture capital
Redfin gets cash, but no love, from star investors
Draper Fisher Jurvetson has led a $12 million investment round in Redfin, the Seattle-based online real-estate broker. But what does it say that Tim Draper and Steve Jurvetson, the venture capitalists behind such early Internet hits as Overture and Hotmail, have delegated new Web discoveries to junior partners in their firm? Emily Melton, a Stanford MBA with no big hits to her name, is joining Redfin's board, having "monitor[ed] Redfin's progress since early 2006," according to a company press release. Here's what that tells me about what investors really think. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by cynthiapang: Figaro,As of January 31, Redfin supports Safari 3. Enjoy!CynthiaRedfin more » | Other threads
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wealth
Paul Allen lives in a yellow submarine
Okay, okay. We don't know if Microsoft cofounder and tech-investing dilettante Paul Allen has actually moved into it. But the Dubai Luxury blog reports that he's shelled out $12 million on a yellow submarine. A 40-foot-long yellow submarine. You're a Beatles fan, Paul; we get it. But Paulie, baby, want to know why your net worth is only a third that of fellow Microsoftie Bill Gates? Dumbass purchases like this.
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By Owen ThomasComment by bob4022: Can a little submarine really save a person from a earth devestating meteor. more » | Other threads
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crash this bash
Loose Wires: Crash a VC party tonight
- Sources say venture capital firm Bridgescale is throwing a party for over 100 people at the Quadrus conference center on Sand Hill Road.
- Note to Alleywag applicants: We found writers for Friday and Sunday, thanks!
- Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sells a chunk of his share in Dreamworks Animation, giving the New York Post a chance to drag up the worst possible photo of him (shown here), even worse than the shot of Yahoo CEO Terry Semel they rant the other day. Really, are they paying a kid with a camphone to sneak into meetings with these execs, or are they just blowing up 16x16 images? [New York Post]
- By the way, if you haven't been watching Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder is spending his days saving the world from AIDS. In other news, Mac fanboys still call him a devil because he built a crappy operating system. [Sci-Tech Today]
- Another Microsoft exec leaves to "spend more time with his family." Can we get a new alibi already, or has no one in tech actually learned to spend time with their families before they get unpopular at work and are shoved into retirement? [Register]
- No tech mogul for prez — Nextel cofounder and former Virginia governor Mark Warner announced today he won't enter the '08 race. [Washington Post]
- Dear Motley Fool: Shut up and eat your Grand Slam. [Motley Fool]
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By Nick DouglasComment by David Quiec: Paul Allen = Uncle Fester http://www.addamsfamily.com/addams04/fester/img031c.jpg more » | Other threads
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paul allen
BusinessWeek breaks its rules just to trash Paul Allen's company
BusinessWeek gives writer Roben Farzad a special exception to the "don't cover what you have stocks in" rule to write that Paul Allen (pictured grinning like a Bond Villain) has become great at losing money. This isn't about the Microsoft co-founder's basketball team losing $100 million a year. Think big leagues, baby — Farzad's writing about Charter Communications. "Its $19.5 billion in debt dwarfs its market cap of $510 million. Its interest expense alone devours a third of its revenue," writes Farzad. That's after Allen sunk $8 billion into the company and became its chairman. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by Nick Douglas: Because he thought that would save him from ever writing about it. more » | Other threads
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paypal
Three Valley moguls dabble in humanity's future
Former Paypal CEO Peter Thiel recently joined the board of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a transhumanist org seeking to "help ensure a safe Singularity" by ushering in an age of self-aware computers. But he's not the only Valley exec investing in weird dreams of a super-intelligent race. Here are the top three: More »
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By ndouglasComment by Dimitar Vesselinov: Strong AI Future Salon http://www.futuresalon.org/2006/02/strong_ai_futur.html more » | Other threads
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slate
Slate 60: Valleywag edition
Slate published its 2005 Slate 60, the leaderboard for "competitive philanthropy." As always, the list of the top charitable donations and pledges includes a good showing from the tech industry. More » -
high rollers
Top tech mogul extravagances
Larry Ellison isn't the only one with multi-million-dollar real estate and a pleasure-dome on the sea. The billionaires of the tech industry have a proud tradition of ringing up ridiculous bills. More »
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By ndouglasComment by Peter Orosz: Not quite multi-million but very cool nevertheless: Elon Musk's McLaren F1. Here it is, parked in Palo Alto: http://urlx.org/exot... more » | Other threads
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