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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley stories: 69 news summaries

1 - 20 of 69 Stories | 1 2 3 4 Next >>

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(Newser) - Facebook’s recent deal to let employees sell some of their stock to private investors has sent Silicon Valley scrambling, as workers at other start-ups ask for similar deals, the Wall Street Journal reports. Start-ups rely on the promise of future stock sales to lure and retain talent, but... More »

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Silicon Valley • Facebook • venture capital • Internet startups • startup • private companies

 Netscape Founder 
 Reenters Browser Battle 

Details hushed on RockMelt project

Aug 14, 09 10:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Stung but not discouraged by Netscape's loss to Internet Explorer in the browser battles of the 1990s, Netscape’s founder is getting back in the game, the New York Times reports. Marc Andreessen is funding a startup called RockMelt, which is developing a new browser of its own. “We... More »

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Silicon Valley • Facebook • web browser • Internet Explorer • Netscape • Marc Andreessen • RockMelt

Silicon Valley Unemployed
Turn From Tech 

With jobs in short supply, many shift to health care, energy

Jul 31, 09 8:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - After holding its own against the economic tide, the tech industry is hurting—and many jobless in Silicon Valley are heading to other sectors, the Wall Street Journal reports. One group that helps job-seekers grew to capacity this year, from 180 to 225 members, with 450 on the waiting list;... More »

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Silicon Valley • unemployment • tech industry • second career • jobless

Fact-Challenged Facebook Book Not Making Many Friends

Author Mezrich defends his reporting methods

Jul 15, 09 1:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Not everybody is friending a book detailing the birth of Facebook, Reuters reports. BusinessWeek calls Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires a “tawdry mismash,” amounting to “a fictionalized account of the founding.” The book is full of over-the-top scenes—like one in which Facebook founder Mark... More »

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Silicon Valley • Facebook • Mark Zuckerberg • book • nonfiction books • Danielle Steel • Ben Mezrich • Jackie Collins

PROFILE

 Google Exec 
 Reinvents 
 Geek Chic 



Marissa Mayer can't be compartmentalized

Jul 15, 09 12:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - Marissa Mayer is Google’s 20th—or maybe 16th—employee, responsible for such household names as Gmail and Google Maps. But the 34-year-old exec is also addicted to cheese and Oscar de la Renta, and carries an iPhone “to have a non-Google product to better simulate the user,”... More »

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Google • Stanford • Silicon Valley • Gmail • Oscar de la Renta • Google Maps • Marissa Mayer • designer fashion • Omega De Ville • Zack Bogue

(Newser) - Marc Andreessen, the tech pioneer who co-founded Netscape, launched a boutique venture capital firm today, intent on investing in “anything that involves chips and computers.” Though Andreessen and business partner Ben Horowitz have been dropping angel investments around Silicon Valley for years, they’ll now have much more... More »

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Silicon Valley • venture capital • venture capitalists • Netscape • Marc Andreessen

(Newser) - Stanford physicists have discovered a chemical compound that could replace silicon and transform the computing industry, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Jet-black bismuth telluride has a unique ability, researchers discovered: Electrons can travel across it without resistance, losing no energy. So far the material can only carry small currents,... More »

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Silicon Valley • Stanford University • silicon • silicon chip

Backward 'Brain Drain' Calls Indians Home From US

Economy exerts pull on well-educated thirtysomethings

May 19, 09 2:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - While much of the world suffers economic meltdown, India’s economy is comparatively healthy—and that may be reversing a longstanding “brain drain” of Indians to American shores, Sandip Roy reports for NPR. “It’s the hottest topic at potluck dinners all over Silicon Valley—which friend or... More »

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Silicon Valley • India • culture • reverse brain drain • brain drain • economy

Police Hunt Silicon Valley Phone Vandals

50K lose service in attack that highlights systems' vulnerability

Apr 10, 09 11:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Authorities in Silicon Valley are hunting for saboteurs who cut fiber-optic telecom cables, leaving more than 50,000 customers—including police and hospitals—in parts of three counties without phone and internet service, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Ten cables were severed, crippling 911 operations, cellphone service, and businesses depending... More »

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Internet • Silicon Valley • San Francisco • cell phones • sabotage • telephone • emergency responders • cellphones

(Newser) - IBM withdrew a $7 billion offer to buy Sun Microsystems this weekend after Sun's board called the bid too low, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sun also worried that IBM sought too much leeway to walk away from the deal if antitrust regulators challenged the merger, insiders say. People expected... More »

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Silicon Valley • mergers and acquisitions • IBM • Sun Microsystems

(Newser) - Silicon Valley’s tastemakers are trading coffee for the soothing sensation of fine tea, reports Wired. The same tech giants who helped fuel the Starbucks craze are flocking to expensive teas, and tea lounges are popping up in the Bay Area to meet the demand. “It’s the new... More »

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Silicon Valley • Starbucks • coffee • Digg • tea • Kevin Rose • Peet's Coffee • trend

Google Launches $100M Venture Capital Fund

Investments will be in non-Internet fields

Mar 31, 09 5:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Google will launch a venture capital fund next year with an initial capitalization of about $100 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. Unlike other corporate funds that back companies in their own industries, Google Ventures will look beyond the Internet to also invest in biotech, health care, and environmental technology.... More »

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Google • Silicon Valley • venture capital • investment • investment fund

OPINION

 Time to Give Netflix 
 Its Dot-Com Due 

Disciplined growth has helped it through many setbacks

Jan 28, 09 4:47 PM CST
(Newser) - Despite plenty of naysayers, Netflix boasts success like few other dot-coms, Chris O’Brien writes in the San Jose Mercury News. The movie-rental service reported record earnings despite the recession, “a neat trick that eBay and Yahoo could only dream of emulating.” Netflix’s innovative distribution system, inventory... More »

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Silicon Valley • Apple • Blockbuster • online videos • video • innovation • Netflix • Xbox • TiVo • movie rentals • movies

 Sun Micro to Cut 5,000 Jobs

Software giant slashes 15-18% of workforce

Nov 14, 08 8:19 AM CST
(Newser) - Sun Microsystems intends to lay off 5,000 to 6,000 employees, amounting to 15-18% of the computer maker’s workforce. The cuts should shave about $800 million off Sun’s costs, as the company struggles to compensate for swiftly declining sales. Sun lost $1.68 billion last quarter, as... More »

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Silicon Valley • layoffs • Sun Microsystems • unemployment • tech sector • job cuts

Startups Seek Ways Around Venture Capital

Twitter, others explore other revenue streams to avoid investors' raised demands

Nov 12, 08 4:25 PM CST
(Newser) - While Wall Street investors have taken advantage of the tanking economy to nab low-priced stocks, Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists have likewise enjoyed a buyer’s market, demanding larger ownership stakes in startup outfits in exchange for their coveted funds. Companies like Twitter—initially funded with $22 million in venture... More »

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Silicon Valley • investors • recession • venture capital • startup • venture capitalists • economy • Twitter • financial crisis

ANALYSIS

Wall Street's Woes Will
Breed Cheaper Gadgets

Luxury brands will drop prices; digital media apt to boom in downturn

Oct 7, 08 7:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - Wall Street's current tremors will be felt in Silicon Valley for years, "worst case, the next decade," John Biggs writes in TechCrunch, and that could be good news for gadget freaks. Though pinched consumers probably won't "be able to stomach even mild extravagances," luxury brands—Apple... More »

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Wall Street • Silicon Valley • recession • tech industry • financial crisis

GLOSSIES

This Xoogler Might Be the
Next Bill Gates

Former Googlers make ever-widening waves
across Silicon Valley

Oct 4, 08 2:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - In the past few years, Google has lost some serious firepower to the startup frontier, Luke Dittrich writes in Esquire. With self-styled Xooglers  providing the brain power not only for two dozen or so startups, but for the venture-capital firms that fund them, it’s likely “the next big... More »

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Google • YouTube • Silicon Valley • Gmail • venture capital • Internet startups • venture capitalists • Esquire

 Start-Ups
 Hungry for Cash
 in IPO Drought 

Private funding hunt under way in Silicon Valley

Jul 1, 08 1:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - Silicon Valley IPOs are suddenly an extremely rare beast, driven nearly to extinction by the sputtering economy, the Wall Street Journal reports. The first quarter has seen just five venture-backed offerings, compared to 31 last quarter. “The economics have been destroyed for small-cap IPOs,” says the co-founder of... More »

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entrepreneurs • Silicon Valley • IPO • recession • venture capital

Silicon Valley, Big Apple, DC Remain Top US 'Cybercities'

51 of 60 major metro areas found by industry survey to have added tech jobs

Jun 24, 08 3:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Silicon Valley, New York, and Washington, DC, still have the most tech workers among US metro areas, a new report shows. New York has the most techies, but when San Francisco and the greater Bay Area are combined with Silicon Valley, it tops the list, MarketWatch notes. The Valley is... More »

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technology • Silicon Valley • New York • Durham • employment • Bay Area • Washington, DC • Boulder • Huntsville

Economy Has Venture-Capital Scene Looking in Mirror

Return on investments sags with stock uncertainty, credit woes—but money still there

May 12, 08 11:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Economic troubles that have meant fewer IPOs and less-lucrative mergers have the venture-capital industry in upheaval, the San Jose Mercury News reports after last week's Silicon Valley gathering of VC players. Many believe the moneyed backers must treat entrepreneurs better for prospects to remain lively. Yet, though returns have turned... More »

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entrepreneurs • Silicon Valley • recession • venture capital • venture capitalists

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