Gawker
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googleplex
Google Moves in with Founder's Wife's Company
Google's complicated relationship with its founder's wife just got more tangled. Anne Wojcicki's genetic-testing startup, 23andMe, not only took a second round of funding from the company — it's now cohabitating with the search giant. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by TouchedByAnOctopus: Anne had irritable bowel syndrome through the whole pregnancy. You would be in a conference room with her and she... 2 Responses | Other threads
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valleyspeak
Jargon from Hell Rides in on Google's Wave
The open secret about Google's forthcoming product "Wave" is that no one knows what the hell it does. Here's the tech gibberish the Guardian used to describe the software after talking to Google co-founder Sergey Brin: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Motoko Kusanagi: Wave is not at all hard to understand. 1. It's a shared document format. 2. Collaboration happens in real time,... 5 Responses | Other threads
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panic
Google's New Paranoia
Former Intel chief Andy Grove famously believed that "only the paranoid survive" in Silicon Valley business. Co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page seem intent to inject this spirit back into fat, dominant Google. They're even worrying about Bing. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by noonecaresowen: What am I missing about Bing? I tried it a few times and was less than impressed. I... 3 Responses | Other threads
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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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23andme
Mrs. Google's Science Project Not So Scientific, Say Actual Scientists
23andMe, the Google-backed genetic-testing startup run by Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin, has everyone from Rupert Murdoch on down spitting into test tubes at parties. Too bad it's useless! More » -
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google
Google Venture Fund Run by Old Pal of Cofounder's Wife
Silicon Valley is a meritocracy. Yeah, right! Take a look at who's behind Google's new $100 million venture-capital fund, and you'll see how things really work in the cradle of technology. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Rock tha Hizzee: I'm assuming that they had a quota to fill: pasty white guy with a degree in Neuroscience from Middlebury College. He... 1 Responses | Other threads
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valley spawn
Google Founder Sacrifices Son, Last Shreds of Integrity to Science
Google cofounder Sergey Brin and wife Anne Wojcicki are so unconcerned with privacy that they're donating their newborn son's DNA to science. So surely they won't mind if we tell you the kid's name. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by tokenfemale: I have been told for over 10 years 'I could have parkinsons, but they can't test, so all they know... 3 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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conflicts of interest
WSJ Conference Organizer's Wife Secretly Running Google
Megan Smith, a Google executive little known outside Silicon Valley, is taking a high-profile role running the search engine's in-house charity. She's part of a power couple whose louder half is AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by JewelAlthaemenes: I think you are letting her off too lightly. Kara has a massive conflict of interest problem, not only does... 3 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] -
Benji Brin
Google Billionaire's Baby Benji Already a Web Mogul
Some Google users feel lucky. And others are born lucky. Benji Brin, the baby son of Google cofounder Sergey Brin and biotech entrepreneur Anne Wojcicki, falls in the latter category. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by CHIC NOIR: That baby has hair like a Kennedy. Is that really the baby's face? Not trying to crack on a baby but... 5 Responses | Other threads
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google
Sergey Brin's Weird, Weird Baby Shower
Googlers do things differently. But Google's founders are quirkier than you might imagine. Take the diaper-fetish party Larry Page threw to celebrate the coming birth of Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki's first child.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Cocotte: A baby-themed party hardly a fetish makes. Sounds like goofy fun to me. 5 Responses | Other threads
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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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Ingrates of Silicon Valley
Lazy Michael J. Fox discovered disease too late
If only Michael J. Fox, the actor and professional Parkinson's disease victim, had been an Internet genius like Google cofounder Sergey Brin, think of the good he might have done.
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By Owen ThomasComment by MissNormaDesmond: Look, I pretty much adore Michael J. Fox, and maybe I'm totally a horrible human being, but I was raised... 12 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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caption contest
I'm born lucky
Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Sergey Brin, is exceedingly pregnant — and Brin himself has been spotted at the maternity ward. What will their baby look like? Wojcicki's genetic-testing startup, 23andMe, lets you spit into a vial and get a map to your genetic future. MakeMeBabies is not nearly as scientific, but we thought we'd run the couple's photos through to get a glimpse of their future progeny. Can you suggest a caption for the billionaire baby to be? The best will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: "French blue shirt, khakis shortage hits Valley hard." (Image by MakeMeBabies) -
rumormonger
Google heir born? Sergey Brin spotted at maternity ward
What to expect when you're expecting a billionaire? A tipster reports seeing Google cofounder Sergey Brin running into a hospital, orange Crocs and all. Here's what that means: His wife, Anne Wojcicki, is nine months pregnant with the couple's first child — who will be born into a fortune still worth $10 billion or more, even with Google shares plummeting. The spot where Brin was sighted, El Camino Hospital, has one of the Bay Area's best childbirth practices, and is close to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. When we last saw Wojcicki, she was on Oprah talking about 23andMe, her genetics-testing startup, with the TV host herself begging Wojcicki to give birth already. It's possible that Brin was just there to tour the hospital, a common practice before birth, but his haste suggested otherwise, our tipster claims: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by dingdongditch: El Camino Hospital, not Stanford Hospital? 4 Responses | Other threads
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anne wojcicki
Sergey Brin's very pregnant wife on Oprah
How long ago did we learn Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin, was pregnant with the couple's first child? April, which was seven months ago. What a clever idea, to have a baby as a publicity stunt for her startup! It got her on Oprah. On the talk show, Wojcicki disclosed that she's nine months pregnant. "Please have the baby right now!" said the talk-show host. Wojcicki then jumped right into an infomercial for 23andMe's genetic-testing service and her nonprofit work on Parkinson's, a condition for which Brin is at risk. Free advertising for someone whose husband is worth billions of dollars: There is a reason the rich are rich.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Ted Dziuba: "There is a reason the rich are rich" ...because they married money? 1 Responses | Other threads
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great moments in journalism
Googler mom Esther Wojcicki's sideline job as Google publicist
What about the children? Palo Alto High School teacher Esther "Woj" Wojcicki took time away from educating future reporters to write about America's teens for the Huffington Post. In the piece, she promotes a nonprofit letter-writing project sponsored by Google and touts the use of Google Docs. No surprise there: Woj, whose daughter Anne is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin and whose daughter Susan is a Google executive, has been promoting Google's pet causes from the first. But only now, after Valleywag has twice pointed out Woj's failure to disclose family conflicts of interest, has she started to include a disclaimer. Too bad it's deceptive. More » -
great moments in journalism
Why Time gave 23andMe a prize
Time's Anita Hamilton is refreshingly honest about why the magazine has picked 23andMe, the mail-order DNA testing outfit, as one of its top innovations of 2008: Anne Wojcicki, the startup's cofounder, is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin. Few outlets are as forthright in displaying their motivations for celebrating 23andMe, arguably the least innovative and least scientific of the retail DNA tests on the market. Give Anne Wojcicki a prize, and her loyal husband will attend the awards ceremony. It's a great way to get Googler star power on the cheap.
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By Owen ThomasComment by GenevaRam: This insider-love has been going on forever. It's only because of the transparency of the Web (and those willing to... more » | 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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esther wojcicki
Google founder's journalist mother-in-law writes blimp infomercial
Esther Wojcicki, known as "Woj" at Palo Alto High School, where she teaches journalism, is a beloved figure on campus. She's also quite welcome at the Googleplex, as the mother of Anne Wojcicki, who's married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and Google executive Susan Wojcicki. I wonder if proximity to power and wealth has dulled Woj's reportorial instincts. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by VedetteLinglewood: I can also say that I was a former student of Woj's, and this article is at least offensive, if... 1 Responses | Other threads
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politics
Valley homophobes still drafting Yes on Prop 8 response ad
BoomTown reporter Kara Swisher rappelled from a skylight at Jerry Yang's secret hideout to score this draft copy of an ad, in which a bunch of tech bigwigs come out in favor of gay marriage — or at least in opposition to Proposition 8, a California state ballot initiative which would ban it. No Valley company in its right mind would be seen opposing gay marriage, so why bother? More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Apel Mjausson: Implying that people are homophobic based on a draft of an ad is skating on very thin ice. There are... 2 Responses | 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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politics
Apple, Google oppose gay marriage ban, while Yahoo stays silent
Google crossdresser-in-chief Sergey Brin got his company, after contentious internal debate, to express opposition to Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative which would ban the same-sex marriages rendered legal earlier this year by the state's Supreme Court. Now Apple, too, has expressed its corporate views, donating $100,000 to the No on Prop 8 campaign. Who hasn't weighed in? Yahoo. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Ted Dziuba: Why the disclosure? You can't exactly short Prop 8's stock. 2 Responses | Other threads
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antitrust
Google's Russian acquisition delayed by regulators
Why hasn't Google finished its acquisition of Begun, a Russian online-advertising startup? The country's antitrust authority has asked Google to provide lists of people who control the company. Or work there. Something may have been Sergey Brin was born in the Soviet Union, but antisemitism is alive and well in an increasingly nationalist Russia — and Brin, who is Jewish, and liberal, is no friend of the authoritarian state.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Migrant Blogger: Headline: Google Acquisition Fails And, the next day ... Putin Acquires Google, Poland and Both Georgias more » | Other threads
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sergey brin
Sergey's space obsession
Stop him before — whoops, too late. Over the weekend, Google cofounder Sergey Brin flew to Kazakhstan to meet with fellow space traveler Richard Garriott, better known as Lord British in the online game Ultima. Garriott and two other space tourists — Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke — flew to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz TMA-13 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sunday. The three are due back in about ten days. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by bloggerman: deluxe2000plus....you may get your wish. The last two Soyuz re-entries nearly killed their crews. One theory is all the EM... more » | 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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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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sergey brin
Google founder comes out for gay marriage
Google cofounder Sergey Brin has announced that the company is officially opposing Proposition 8, a California ballot proposition that would make same-sex marriages illegal. The reason? Gayglers: "It is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8." But Sergey, you still haven't spoken out for the robots. [Official Google Blog]
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By Owen ThomasComment by mpantone: LOL, I was thinking the same thing. He looks better than 95% of females waiting for an evening baby bullet on... 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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Mon Jul 6
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