Startup Site Wants to See Your Paycheck

Microsoft co-founder refiles suit after judge's dismissal

(NEWSER) - Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has re-filed his mammoth patent lawsuit targeting a host of major web companies including Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, eBay, Aol, and Yahoo. Allen’s original lawsuit, filed in August, was dismissed because it was too vague, failing to name specific products or services. The refiling, which you can see at the Seattle Times , rectifies that, in part by including 40 exhibits, most of which consist of website screenshots with the allegedly offending module highlighted. More»

From the improbable to the top secret, it takes all kinds

(NEWSER) - The Business Insider figures you've also wanted to know how your favorite high tech concern got its name. Well, you're in luck! Here goes:

1. SUN Microsystems: It's actually an acronym for Stanford University Network, the school where the founders met.
2. Cisco: Actually not an acronym, as often assumed. It's just San Francisco without the San Fran, which is why the "c" was not capitalized originally.

Young, liberal workers at Google and Yahoo like him

(NEWSER) - Google and Yahoo workers who have donated to presidential campaigns support Barack Obama, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports, donating significantly more to him than any other candidate. Obama does well with the tech industry as a whole, though his edge is less pronounced at older companies like Microsoft and Apple. Obama took in a whopping $264,800 from Google employees to Hillary Clinton’s $75,500. More»

Ballmer says Google's Internet-ad dominance won't last

(NEWSER) - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did an animated, sometimes antic, on-stage interview yesterday at Mix, Microsoft’s annual conference for web developers, emphasizing that he has every intention of taking some of Google's advertising business and using Yahoo to do it, the Seattle Times reports. "Advertising on the Internet is a big thing, and will be the next super-big thing," he said. "Search ... at least today and for the foreseeable future, it is the killer application for online advertising." More»

Obama leads Silicon Valley donations; Seattle giant's workers skew toward Clinton

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama leads presidential hopefuls in Silicon Valley donations, but Hillary is tops among Microsoft employees, Reuters reports. Residents of the valley that Google, Yahoo, and Apple call home are interested in change, one analyst said: "It is absolutely the case that Obama is seen as different, and therefore appealing to Silicon Valley." Computer-industry workers have sent $940,459 to Obama, compared to $883,125 for HIllary. More»