Gizmodo

Apple and Kleiner Perkins launching $100 million iFund for iPhone Developers

At Apple's iPhone SDK announcement today, Steve Jobs had "one more thing..." to reveal. Venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins came onstage to announce a $100,000,000 "iFund" to help "young developers with funding." This is a huge amount of money for developers, but no details on how it will be invested or allocated. Compare this to the $10 million Android programming contest that Google introduced with its Android mobile phone platform. Thanks to the dedicated gadget-hounds at Gizmodo for the pic and info. More »

12:37 PM on Thu Mar 6 2008
By Jordan Golson
9,316 views, 18 comments

Latest by umbrae: Thanks for the news, but how about NOT putting spoilers in the title of your post? (referring to "Big Boss In MGS4?") Thank you~ more »

apple

Who should replace Steve Jobs? He has two suggestions

At Apple's shareholder meeting today, Steve Jobs said the Apple board has many potential successors to choose from should something happen to him. "We've got great talent ... we talk about it a lot." Candidates include COO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer. Have you ever seen either of those guys talk? Jobs is said to be worth $16 billion in market cap to Apple. Apple PR could spend that much on media training for Apple's stiffs-in-waiting, and they still wouldn't fill the seats at a Macworld keynote. Our vote is for design guru Jonathan Ive, who'll shut up and let the gadgets speak for themselves.

4:00 PM on Tue Mar 4 2008
By Jordan Golson
8,773 views, 36 comments

Latest by Admore: What's that Scully guy up to these days? He could restore Apple's lost irrelevance like no one else. more »

hardware

Sony turns to Sharp for LCD supply

Do most flat-screen TVs strike you as numbingly similar? That's because under the hood, they are. LCD production is consolidating into an ever smaller number of suppliers. Sony and Samsung compete on store shelves, but they buy their LCDs from the same company — S-LCD, a joint venture. Now Sony is forming a new joint venture with Sharp, another fierce rival. Why? Moore's Law, the overlord of chips, is moving into the TV world. Making an LCD screen requires skill in handling silicon, and billion-dollar investments: Sharp's latest plant costs $3.5 billion, an expense Sony will now subsidize. More »

10:09 PM on Mon Feb 25 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,981 views, 4 comments

Latest by Jhonka: Don't forget the other major LCD panel producers if for computer screens. Most of your LCD panels are from Samsung ,AU Optronics or LG. more »

comebacks

Yahoo's board rebuffs Microsoft

Belief is a powerful thing in this valley of hopes and dreams. Yahoo's board is set to reject Microsoft's offer to buy the company at $31 a share. Instead, Jerry Yang and Yahoo's other directors are seeking at least $40 a share, or nearly $60 billion — a price Microsoft may not be willing to pay. This is incredibly gutsy. It may wreck the hopes of a deal. And yet it may save the company. More »

10:14 AM on Sat Feb 9 2008
By Owen Thomas
9,828 views, 54 comments

acquisitions

Google offers to help Yahoo thwart Microsoft

A source inside Yahoo says the company is reconsidering a previously discussed business partnership with Google as an alternative to Microsoft's $44 billion hostile takeover offer. Yahoo believes that offer, at $31 a share, significantly undervalues the company. Private equity firms and News Corp. have been named as other possible suitors for Yahoo, but neither are seen as realistically able to get a deal together. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Google CEO Eric Schmidt called Yahoo cofounder and CEO Jerry Yang to offer Google's help in thwarting an unwanted Microsoft takeover of Yahoo. More »

7:20 PM on Sun Feb 3 2008
By Jordan Golson
7,654 views, 7 comments

Latest by Magister: That's awfully nice of Google - They can look like a white knight and save poor pitiful Yahoo!, all while stopping Microsoft from using their platform with millions of built-in users as a springboard for online apps. more »

mike bell

With latest hire, Palm's poaching at Apple comes to a boil

Palm has hired Mike Bell, a 16-year Apple veteran, as its SVP of product development. But you'll never hear that from Palm. The hiring of an industry veteran for a top executive spot is something normally trumpeted as loudly as possible. But Palm is desperately trying to keep quiet the fact that it won over Bell shortly before Christmas. Why the silencing effort? Jon Rubinstein, Palm's chairman, was part of Steve Jobs's turnaround team before he left Apple in 2006. Since he joined Palm last year, the smartphone maker has been hiring a number of Apple engineers. There have been "screaming matches and threats of lawsuits," says a plugged-in source. More »

12:37 PM on Fri Jan 25 2008
By Owen Thomas
7,380 views, 19 comments

Latest by labillyboy: Let's see... I am an engineer or manager at AAPL where the stock has maxed out and I can now cash out and go to a company where the stock is at $5 with the potential to go to $100 more »

lisa brennan-jobs

What if Steve Jobs were a girl?

It's long been known that Apple CEO Steve Jobs fathered a daughter, Lisa, out of wedlock, and did not acknowledge her until later in life. (Apple's ill-fated Lisa is apocryphally said to be named after her.) Now, Lisa Brennan-Jobs is an accomplished magazine writer. Her latest assignment: a story in February's Vogue. But my eyes stopped on the magazine's contributors page, which featured a striking photo of Brennan-Jobs. She is the very image of her father. More »

6:00 AM on Thu Jan 24 2008
By Owen Thomas
38,254 views, 63 comments

Latest by elvenjewel: Q. How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb? A. That's NOT funny! more »

party report

Gizmodo, Ars Technica party all night

Poor Ars Technica and Gizmodo. The gadget sites invited San Francisco's thirsty class over for some pre-Macworld booze at Harlot in SoMa last night, and the assembled crowd drank the hosted bar dry in 35 minutes flat. I ran into a host of familiar faces there, including a certain Farker who goes by the unforgettable login of "catbutt." So unforgettable that I called him ... well, something else instead. And no, I'm not throwing David Ulevitch the shocker — just a gesture that looks a lot like it. Fake Steve Jobs blogger Dan Lyons, making his Macworld debut, drew a tight bubble of fans around him everywhere he went.

Photos by Randal Alan Smith

4:01 PM on Tue Jan 15 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,293 views, 11 comments

Latest by AJ_Syrinx: A bar sucked dry in 35 minutes? That's poor open bar management right there. Cheap, cheap, cheap. more »

rumormonger

Can Apple save WiMax?

Our sources tell us that Apple may include WiMax, the high-speed, long-range wireless broadband technology, in an ultraportable 13" notebook computer, and possibly across the entire MacBook Pro line. Just part of the rumor mill flying in preparation for Steve Jobs's Macworld keynote next week in San Francisco, of course, but our source gives it a "60 percent chance." AppleInsider has pictures of Apple's banners inside the Moscone center with "There's something in the air" as a slogan. If true, this could be a risky move for Apple. More »

1:23 PM on Fri Jan 11 2008
By Jordan Golson
36,384 views, 39 comments

Latest by polle: "Wimax avoids much of the Telco infrastructure cost...." No it doesn't, if the network operator wants to get paid for the service! They have to have the exact same infrastructure as the Telcos, including a subscriber database, subscriber ID authentication, billing more »

100-word version

The real untold story of the iPhone

In its February issue, Wired promises "The Untold Story" of the iPhone. But as typical for the magazine, they instead deliver a rehash of things you mostly already know, spread over 3,336 lavish words. Here, instead, are 378 words, in bullet points, containing the truly juicy tidbits Wired writer Fred Vogelstein was able to turn up. My favorite? That when Steve Jobs gets really mad, he doesn't scream. He stares. More »

10:03 PM on Wed Jan 9 2008
By Owen Thomas
23,093 views, 24 comments

ces 2008

Tips from a CES veteran

A veteran CES attendee sent us her tried-and-true tips to having a successful CES 2008 trip:

1. Wash your hands. There is a reason one PR firm constantly told everybody to carry anti-bacterial sanitizer — you shake all those hands, after a while, it gets gross. You can avoid a lot of stomach problems, cold sores and pink eye by either not shaking any hands or being neurotic about washing/cleaning your hands. I am not joking. There was a decline in people getting sick after it was pushed to do this.

2. When leaving the Las Vegas Convention Center, don't wait in the cab line — walk straight up the cross street it's on and there's a hotel. Never a wait for cabs. It's about two blocks away. Zero line.

Get lots more after the jump. More »

7:00 AM on Mon Jan 7 2008
By Jordan Golson
4,721 views, 7 comments

Latest by Owen Thomas: @transparency: Good catch, though the reference was to the "Aladdin shops area" -- they're now called the "Miracle Mile Shops," and yes, they're near what's now Planet Hollywood. more »

ces 2008

What to do at CES: The lazy hack's guide to Las Vegas

There are plenty of conference events and parties to go to at CES 2008. The bloggers here never stop working, but what are bored mainstream-media hacks to do after they've filed their perfunctory handful of stories? Our short list of things to do in Vegas after the jump. More »

5:04 PM on Sun Jan 6 2008
By Jordan Golson
4,037 views, 11 comments

Latest by sample032: If you're willing to leave Vegas, prostitution is legal (and very regulated) in Nevada. more »

nerdfight

Mac vs. PC in the CES press lounge

Having plenty of time on my hands while my compatriots at Gizmodo blog blog blog it all at CES 2008, I took a walk around the press lounge to check the ratio of Macs to PCs. The latest numbers peg Apple with a 7.3 percent market share in the world at large. Will the the press lounge be full of fanboys or stodgy old corporate types? More »

2:20 PM on Sun Jan 6 2008
By Jordan Golson
21,717 views, 32 comments

holiday non-cheer

Millions of New Year text messages overwhelm system

Millions of text messages were sent simultaneously at midnight on New Year's. Many were delayed, or didn't arrive at all. A delay in holiday greetings is not a big deal, but what about during a real emergency? Emergency personnel and government officials are automatically given priority on landline and cellular networks, leaving the average consumer in the lurch. After 9/11, cell-phone traffic in New York was at a standstill for days. Cellular networks, like highways, aren't designed to have everyone use them at once. When everyone tries to make a call at once, for a holiday or emergency, communication breaks down. The communications infrastructure, as it is currently designed, will never be able to handle calling patterns thousands of times heavier than normal. Your best bet? Send an IM. (Photo by PhotoOptik)

6:10 PM on Fri Jan 4 2008
By Jordan Golson
4,012 views, 21 comments

Latest by till: SMS is by no means a dedicated and guaranteed service. You can't rely on it. Ever. It's totally ridiculous that you get charged 10c/msg and more, because it's worth nothing. If you want reliance, dial. ;-) more »

geeks gone wild

Idiot jumps onto subway tracks to save iPhone

Bijan Rezvani dropped his iPhone on the subway tracks in New York City. Instead of contacting the transit authorities like a sane person, he braved oncoming trains, the electric third rail, and plague rats to jump down and snatch it. His exuse? "I needed my phone, so... I got it." Even though we call it the Jesusphone, people, it's not going to save your life.

1:20 PM on Fri Jan 4 2008
By Mary Jane Irwin
7,504 views, 19 comments

apple

Apple and 20th Century Fox strike digital movie rental deal

The Financial Times reports that Apple and News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox film studio have signed a deal for digital movie rentals. Consumers will be able to rent the latest Fox DVD releases from iTunes for a limited time. The deal, which will likely be announced at Macworld in January, would likely be matched with an upgrade for the woebegotten Apple TV which has been de facto dead on arrival since it was released. It is suspected that Disney, which has extremely close ties with Apple — Steve Jobs is its largest shareholder after Mickey bought his Pixar animation studio — will be on board at launch as well. More »

5:18 PM on Wed Dec 26 2007
By Jordan Golson
14,667 views, 11 comments

Latest by Owen Thomas: @hungarian33: As we mentioned, Disney bought Pixar from Jobs. more »

poll

The top 10 Genius Bar whale tail captions

With over 160 entries at last count, we've given up trying to decide on a winning caption for this photo taken in Apple's new 14th Street store in New York. Instead, we narrowed it down to 10. Choose your favorite in our latest Valleywag poll. Feel free to write in candidates you think deserved to make the cut. (Photo by Meredith Scardino) More »

9:40 AM on Fri Dec 21 2007
By Nicholas Carlson
37,468 views, 40 comments

Valleywag

Facebook CTO leaves a company that's graduating from high school

Valleywag team

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