If you've already hooked up a Web server to your garage door opener you're waaaaay down the path to madness, so you know, why the hell not build a mobile app to control it?

Sippey should be aware of just how far down the path to madness Fitzpatrick is; the two worked together until last year, when Fitzpatrick left to join Google and Six Apart sold LiveJournal to the Russians.

NEIL MCDONALD: So advertising and all that business model change that certainly has to be the driving force for why you were very interested in acquiring a company called Yahoo, whose stock we noticed has continued to drop. So we have to ask you if the acquisition made sense eight months ago, why wouldn’t it make even more sense now, now that the price would presumably be a lot lower?

STEVE BALLMER: Well, I don’t know if the price would be lower. We offered $33 not too long ago, and it’s $11-1/2 today, and so I don’t know what price might have really gotten the job done. It’s clear that Yahoo did not want to sell the company. It didn’t want to sell when we offered $33. You’ve got to believe they don’t want to–if they thought the company was worth more than $33 six months ago, they probably still think it’s worth at least $33 today. And so I think what we learned through that is, look, they want to remain independent. Perhaps there will continue to be opportunities to partner around search. We’re not in any discussions with them, but that was an offer we made after the acquisition had fallen through. We’ll see. I still think it would make sense economically for their shareholders and ours.

I had no idea idea it would fall this much but I finally decided to stop pushing a rope by calling for change from the inside (as a shareholder). I voted with my feet. This board has the blood of its shareholders on its hands, and I hope they wear that scarlet letter stigma for a long time.

The test was rigged deliberately. That's the kind of thing we've been up against here, and I find it despicable.

Google explained that the wireless microphone frequency was hidden behind broadcast television signals. When asked if Page felt the FCC aided in the subterfuge, Page demurred, blaming broadcasters instead. A spokesperson for microphone manufacturer Shure, Mark Brunner, shot down the accusation, "These tests were open to the public, and those who choose to discount the results — which have not yet been published — had every option to be present and to witness them for themselves." Just remember, Larry: It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)

It is interesting and important to point out that Google has always been a frugal company. We have always spent money in a way that made sense. We provide food to our employees largely for convenience so that they can stay closer to campus. When we were just starting the company and we were all working 120, 130 hours a week, having food on campus was something that was really convenient and fostered better culture because we all conversed over meal time. To have these perks might seem lavish on the outside, but there are usually common sense reasons why we are doing them on the inside. That said, we always want to be frugal and conscientious about money.

It's all in a refreshingly honest interview that makes no mention of "Don't be evil," and only a subtle pretension that the company is doing anything more than trying to make as much money as algorithmically possible. (Photo by Getty/Oliver Lang)

On Microsoft:

Microsoft can build software, when they choose to.

On investing in startups:

I usually put in $25,000 to $100,000 per company. My philosophy is to put in a small enough amount of money that I won't get mad at the founder if I lose it.

Translation: Marc Andreessen is so rich that he can lose $100,000 and feel nothing.

On the failure of Friendster:

Friendster was very restrictive on what users did. You were supposed to connect because you know each other in real life, not, as [founder Jonathan] Abrams said, 'because you both like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.' But sometimes you want to put your chocolate in her peanut butter.

Yes, he really said that.

On his deathwatch for the New York Times:

I don't want to become the crazy anti-New York Times guy. You have to do what Intel did in 1985. The Japanese chipmakers were killing Intel in the memory-chip market. It got out of memory chips and focused on the much-smaller microprocessor market. I would turn off the printing presses.

On his mentor and Netscape cofounder, Jim Clark:

I could tell you a lot of stories about his life [in Florida], but I won't. He's dating a 26-year-old Australian swimsuit model. I just ran into an entrepreneur who said, "I just ran into Jim Clark at a resort town in Italy. Jim was in a hot tub carved into the side of a mountain." I said, "Yes! That was Jim Clark."

On the iPhone's price:

Give it a year, it will be down to $99. Give it another year, it will be free.

On his motives for giving away his money:

My wife teaches philanthropy at Stanford Business School. I would be in big trouble if I weren't hugely committed to it.

On his relationship with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer:

He's my Facebook friend. He's my Facebook 'friend.' [makes air-quotes gesture] I'll stop there.

"I was never going to leave HP for life. That's where I wanted to be forever," but Apple co-founder Steve Jobs launched a campaign that eventually persuaded Wozniak to strike off on his own. "Steve Jobs got all my friends and relatives to call me."

[News.com] (Photo by Eric Rhoads)

What I’ve seen from Mike Arrington has just been classless,” he said. “I don’t understand what business objective he has other than to get notoriety.”

Arrington, for his part, admitted to enjoying a good wallow in the mud. [NYT] (Photo by Pete Jelliffe)