Amid the 55-inch, ultra-high definition TVs and the platoons of smart mobile devices with which the world’s consumer electronics makers hope to wow punters at their annual gadget-fest in Las Vegas this week, there is one thing they hope no one will ask: the price.
The tumbling prices of everything from flatscreen TVs to ereaders have become a bane for makers of digital hardware, even as they enjoy soaring interest in their widening range of mobile devices.
The letter that got Mark Hurd sacked
Eighteen months after landing like a bombshell on the desk of HP’s then-CEO, the letter alleging sexual harassment against Mark Hurd has finally seen the light of day. But, for HP’s long-suffering shareholders, this will do little to answer what remains the most important question: Was the company’s board right to force out its highly-regarded CEO?
Does the solution to the US’s looming technology skills crisis lie in letting 15-year-olds play with computer-directed laser cutters?
To a growing band of enthusiasts such as Mark Hatch, who is just as happy to thrust welding torches into the hands of adolescents and simple computer programming tools in front of pre-teens, this is the best way to reverse the waning interest in science and technology among America’s children.
Networking the classroom
When a company nabs high-profile social networking names like Reid Hoffman of Greylock and Matt Cohler of Benchmark Capital as directors with its B funding round, it’s a pretty good sign that it’s on a viral tear.
Edmodo, which just raised $15m, has taken off in the last year and offers a tantalising opportunity: a way to break into school classrooms.
Kleiner boosts its engineering cred
Kleiner Perkins doesn’t admit new partners often. Last year it was the turn of former “Queen of the internet” Mary Meeker, the first to get a seat at the table of one of Silicon Valley’s top VC firms since video games star Bing Gordon in 2008.
So the appointment of Mike Abbott, former vice president of engineering at Twitter, looks like an important hire.
Facebook may IPO in Q2. Or then again, it may not…
Until now, it has been advisable to take rumours of an imminent Facebook IPO with a large pinch of salt.
Yet according to one person familiar with the company’s planning, all the pieces are now in place for a Wall Street debut that could come in the second quarter of next year – even if that timing has yet to be finalised.
There are not many chief executives who would volunteer the results of their personal psychological tests. But Scott McGregor, the boss of chipmaker Broadcom, is clearly into brutal honesty. “My personality tests show my conflict-avoidance score is zero,” he confesses. “I have to be careful about it; I will upset people and I will cause unneeded friction.”
The comments say a lot about the 55-year-old as well as the company he heads. He relishes directness. While his manner comes across as amiable – perhaps partly a result of the effort he says he has made to pay more attention to “the human aspect of things” – there is a precise and carefully controlled edge to his delivery.
Zhao Jing recently suffered an unexpected parting of the ways with his alter ego. The Chinese political journalist and blogger is better known as Michael Anti, the name under which he writes. The pseudonymous character was deemed “real” enough for Harvard university to award Mr Zhao a fellowship in that name.But Facebook decided earlier this year that Michael Anti did not exist. Under rules that require the social network’s members to use their real names, he had to go. No matter that the fictitious Mr Anti had more than 1,000 Facebook “friends”, his account was suspended without notice.
US solar company looks to Europe
The collapse in solar panel prices has not been bad news for everyone: installers are having a field day. But how do you create a large-scale business quickly in an industry that has always favoured local operators?
US solar installer Sungevity has one answer – it is about to venture into Europe, making it the first to make the move.
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