Pixar

real estate

Pixar veteran plans for massive treehouse in Lafayette

Pete Docter, the writer-director of Pixar production Monsters, Inc., wants to build a home in the sky nestled in the branches of a giant, fake oak on a $950,000 piece of land in Lafayette, nestled in the hills behind Berkeley. More »

4:20 PM on Fri Aug 8 2008
By Jackson West
1,459 views, 3 comments

books

Steve Jobs ruthless, Michael Eisner clueless according to new Pixar history

Pixar, the computer animation company and digital film studio, was undervalued by everyone in Hollywood, from George Lucas who formed the original team at Skywalker Ranch to Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney. Steve Jobs, however, understood the potential for the company — and how to milk it for every penny. After buying the company for a mere $5 million, after Katzenberg balked on a $15 million price tag, Jobs hovered over the company like an "ominous cloud," according to Michael Hirschorn's review of David Price's new book detailing the company's history. At one point, Jobs squeezed more stock out the company so that the company could stay afloat — shortly before production on breakout hit Toy Story started production. "I’m sitting around here trying to make Steve Jobs richer in ways he doesn’t even appreciate," one employee quips. (Photo by AP/Eric Risberg)

2:20 PM on Mon Jun 23 2008
By Jackson West
2,161 views, 1 comment

Latest by TheChris2.0: "I'm sitting around here trying to make Steve Jobs richer in ways he doesn't even appreciate," one employee quips Great quote more »

10 best workspaces

Tech's best workspace: Digg

When we first listed tech's 10 best workspaces, we downplayed the importance of design and amenities. The crowd disagrees. It favors beer. Digg's beer, to be exact. 1,505 voted in our poll, and 28 percent chose the social news site's workspace and its fridge full of beverages as the best workspace in tech. Were the poll's results skewed because it hit the Digg front page? Possibly. But maybe second and third place finishers Pixar and Google should have thought about such consequences when they decided what businesses to get in. The full list, selected from Office Snapshots, ranked by readers: More »

1:20 PM on Thu May 15 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
21,213 views, 11 comments

Latest by Brady Brim-DeForest: Fat Tire is my favorite beer. I'm jealous. more »

10 best workspaces

Rank tech's 10 best workspaces

After reviewing our post "Tech's top 10 workspaces" commenter Dweezil complained that our choices were full of "to much modernism bullshit." Commenter Web2PointOhShit tore at everybody:

Six Apart's offices seem pretty ordinary to me. Their meeting space is *tiny*. Googleplex's niceties are all about enticing their workers to stay at work longer — yeah, that's real HAWT!. Valleywag offices look like a dump to me.

So, OK, not everybody goes for our taste in brick, exposed ceilings and Googley amenities. Let's find out who's in the minority. Below, vote for your favorites and help us rank tech's 10 best workspaces. More »

7:00 AM on Tue May 13 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
31,348 views, 16 comments

Latest by webwebweb: just visited the UGO Networks offices in the east village, coooooooooooool. more »

cubicle culture

Tech's top 10 workspaces

What makes for an appealing workspace? The envelopes they leave in your mailbox every two weeks. But after that, it comes down to design and amenities. Also, we like windows and brick. Lots and lots of brick. After spending some time on Office Snapshots, we present the ten best-looking offices in tech, below. More »

6:00 PM on Tue May 6 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
207,237 views, 23 comments

Latest by Rhett Glauser: We watch the dolphins swim by from the conference room. Service-now.com headquarters is located in Solana Beach, Calif. about 75 more »

10 best workspaces

Pixar's Emeryville headquarters look like a set from one of their movies, except the humans look real. Photos by Moriarty at Ain't it Cool News

5:55 PM on Tue May 6 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
16,189 views, Comment

hires

Pixar's Wall-E photographed in the wild by departed Revision3 host

Nearly a year to the day after signing up to co-host of Revision3 geek how-to show Systm, David Randolph has left the show to pursue a gig with an unnamed new client — that a tipster is guessing to be Pixar, based on a blurry phonecam picture of the studio's latest creation, Wall-E. It makes sense on two levels: One, Pixar is incredibly secretive. And two, having been behind the gates once myself, the place is littered with models of movie characters past and present. Hope this little peak behind the scenes doesn't get Randolph fired by an enraged Steve Jobs.

8:00 AM on Tue May 6 2008
By Jackson West
591 views, 2 comments

Latest by boneill428: This looks like it might be from the MakerFaire from this weekend. They had a Wall-E robot there. more »

lawsuits

Google discloses ex-Pixar CFO's legal trouble -- but Disney doesn't

The stock-options backdating scandal, which bored Silicon Valley the day the SEC first announced its investigations, continues. The latest to disclose a brush with the law: Google. Google has not been accused of misleading investors by moving up the grant date of stock options, making them more profitable for the executives who received them. But Google board member Ann Mather, the former CFO of animation studio Pixar, has, and the SEC is now initiating legal proceedings against her. More »

3:40 PM on Mon Apr 28 2008
By Owen Thomas
883 views, 2 comments

Latest by Owen Thomas: @WagCurious: Exactly. more »

oscars

If a rat can do it, so can San Carlos mayor Brad Lewis

In Los Angeles, everyone goes to the Oscars. But Silicon Valley remains so starstruck that a local dignitary's attendance at the ceremony makes news. Brad Lewis, San Carlos's newly installed mayor, is going to the Academy Awards. When not out furthering his political career, Lewis moonlights as a Hollywood producer. His most recent flick, Pixar's Ratatouille, is up for four awards, including best animated film. At last, he can regain the dignity he lost while working as "a dancing monster" in the national stage production of Sesame Street Live!

11:40 AM on Thu Jan 24 2008
By Mary Jane Irwin
224 views, 2 comments

Latest by Owen Thomas: @grantmd: Fixed, thanks! more »

pixar

Steve Jobs nearly killed "Toy Story" sequel -- and a baby

According to a new book titled The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company, excerpted today in the New York Post, Apple CEO and Pixar founder Steve Jobs didn't want his studio to make Toy Story 3. His reluctance stemmed from a distrust of Pixar partner Disney and its CEO Michael Eisner. In the book, Jobs says he felt "sick about Disney doing sequels [to Pixar films] because if you look at the quality of their sequels, like The Lion King 1 1/2 and their Peter Pan sequels and stuff, it's pretty embarrassing." More »

9:15 AM on Thu Jan 17 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
2,141 views, 12 comments

Latest by Davey D. David: I was lucky/unlucky enough to have worked at Disney's "Circle Seven Animation Studio", while they were doing Toy Story 3. more »

pixar

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