Aren't things getting a little silly over in the Valley? Someone spat at Michael Arrington of TechCrunch (we don't know why) and then we learn the poor guy has had to spend $2000 a day on protection for him and his family after he had received death threats.
Is it a result of the nosediving economy combined with increasingly desperate nature of startups? When Arrington won't talk to them, they panic as they see any chance of getting their grubby little fingers on a sliver of the teensy VC pie that is left out there slipping away. Has desperation turned the once spend happy start up folks into potential homicidal maniacs?
Either way - no one should have their lives threatened.
Valleywag are in the canine crap house after publishing a tip that the Sainted Steve Jobs was under the knife at a private hospital. Given the current hoo-haa, it's plausible, but apparently Mr Jobs was actually attending a meeting at Apple HQ at the time. Oops! Now, I have been to some boring meetings in my time, but never felt like my guts were being cut open....We say "valleywag, give the guy a bit of space, already.."
The World Economic Forum meeting has given the worsening financial situation proper respect. It's participants were spotted wearing "more muted colours", and "less bling" it seems. I don't know about you - but I feel more confident already! Where's my credit card so I can spend my way out of the mire? Wait..rich economist type people wear bling? What next, accountants not wearing ties?
Yesterday was probably the worst day in terms of job losses in the US, since the start of the downturn in October 2008. A staggering 55,000 jobs were lost, and a majority of these losses were in the IT/Tech sector. As my boss said, when the US sneezes, we are quick to follow - are we due a Black Monday?
The Washington Post gives a rundown of what happened yeterdaySun loses headcountWhilst the number of losses that hit Europe and the UK yesterday was around 7-8,000, it's not got quite the shock value of 55,000.
Are we going to catch the same cold the US has?
News on the web that disgraced former Satyam chairman may have lied about the $1bn accounting fraud to cover the fact that he siphoned the money into two other firms.
A report by the Economic Times in India said B. Ramalinga Raju has confessed to the police that he diverted funds of the IT company to the two real estate firms promoted by his family.
This would change things a little. It would mean the money on the accounts was actually there and that Satyam is as strong as it said it was.
I'd start this week's round up of all things juicy and LOL-worthy in the Valley with a headline like Yahoo! Has! A! New! Big! Boss!, but it's getting tired after The Mighty Register (sainted be it's name) rolls it out at every opportunity..
It's been a busy week over in the Valley, Carol Bartz has been named as the new Yahoo boss, and she appears to be a force worth reckoning with, if reports from the all hands she spoke at the day after her appointment are anything to go by - promising to drop kick any <expletive deleted> who blogs about company business - this comment was then leaked to a well known tech blog of course, so those naughty geeks at Yahoo are still pushing their boundaries it would seem.
They should be careful though, it appears that Bartz didn't like her leaving present from Autodesk very much, as they announced job cuts numbering 750 yesterday. Starbucks vouchers aren't always appropriate for every job level, guys...
Another twist in this juicy tale is that Steve Ballmer (you know, the Microsoft boss), and Roy Bostock (the head of the board of directors of Yahoo!) were seen at Time Warner Towers (you know, the people who don't really want to own AOL anymore), leaving a lift together and going to lunch, a couple of days after Bartz was named as new boss of Yahoo!. I don't think they were there to get tech support for their AOL accounts..
Got a hot tip that I could use? Email me...
The World Bank has handed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) much of the work previously carried out by Satyam which it barred from working with it.
The World Bank cut ties with Satyam on December 25 On the World Bank barred Satyam for eight years for "providing improper benefits to World Bank staff and failing to maintain documentation to support fees charged for its subcontractors," said the World Bank.
According to India based website DNA the World Bank has transferred the business that Satyam had with it to TCS. The World Bank was unavailable for comment despite numerous attempts to contact it.
TCS said it would not comment until after it released its results for the third quarter tomorrow.
Satyam would not disclose the amount of business it previously did with the World Bank.
Satyam is at the centre of a $1bn accounting fraud after its former chairman admitted to fixing the books. Customers are closely monitoring the situation and weighing up their options.
Indian Suppliers Wipro and Megasoft Consultants have also been barred from working directly with the World Bank because of conflicts of interest.
The appointment of TCS shows that The World Bank is not targeting Indian firms.
Well, a very impressive keynote! The main points:
iWork has been revamped, including the inclusion of iWork.com - a document sharing site, to make collaboration in business easier. the iPhone and iPod touch get an app that will allow them to be used with iNotes to control presentations.
iLife also gets a revamp with iPhoto getting a redesign and facial recognition to aid photo grouping, and gps tagging to make albums easier and more fun. iMovie get s aream of new features that put it a notch closer to it's more advanced relatives Final Cut Express and and Pro, including real time rendering for effects. GarageBand gets a revamp, along with the addition of downloadable (for a fee $4.99 - no UK price yet) lessons from well known musicians to help you learn to play an instrument.
iTunes goes completely DRM free from the end of Q1 09 - all 10m songs - this is a huge announcement.
From today all songs will be available for download for the iPhone via wireless or 3G (previously you had to have the phone attached to iTunes).
And the biggie? The new MacBookPro 17'. Unibond body, like it's smaller brother the 15', upgradeable to 8gig of ram - it now comes with 4 gig, and the battery lasts up to a staggering 8 hours. The price stays the same $2799 (no UK price). Apple have developed a new battery system that is said to last for 1000 charges at least.
Not a bad keynote - the new battery techniques look set to keep Apple at the very forefront of laptop technology for a long time to come.
So it's Macworld time again. Steve Jobs' health is no longer in question (although he's not too well, poor dear), and rumours abound as to what treasures await us in the keynote speech from Philip Schiller (Senior VP of Worldwide Product marketing, Apple, to you).
So there's talk of a mac mini with 1TB of storage, unibond MacBook Pros, with no replaceable batteries (the shock, horror!), to new quad core iMacs (yummy).
So, how are we going to find out about this epiphanous speech?
Well, I'll be covering the keynote and blogging the results right here, from 5pm GMT.
Personally I want
this to be announced.
Be there, or be stuck in the hell of your Windows operating system for all eternity...
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