Time 100's Top Techies

This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.

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You're reading it here first ... the tech-related members of the much-hypedTime 100 due to be announced on Time.com overnight (check back here for a link) and at newsstands Friday: Jay Adelson, Paul Allen, Michael Arrington, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy; Mark Zuckerberg. Who's missing? To start, anyone missing a Y chromosome; we're now accept nominations in the comments.

In addition to its occasional quirkiness mixed in with the usual suspects, one of the list's conceits is the pairings, those asked to write about those who made the list. Warning: some are close to gooey. And, yes, we know we're only adding to the hype but hard to resist Stevie Van Zandt writing in Time or Guy Kawasaki on Steve Ballmer.

Update: Add Radiohead to that list with Edgar Bronfman Jr. as the author, even though Thom Yorke stressed today elsewhere that's the pay-as-you-like plan was a one-off.
Excerpts after the jump:

Old guard:
-- Paul Allen, co-founder, Microsoft: And not for any reason most of you could have guessed: the Allen Institute for Brian Science, which created a "free neural GPS" by mapping the brain and making the results public.. Thomas Insel, head of the National Institute on Mental Health, and Story Landis, head of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke write: "Allen founded the institute in the belief that with the right tools you can transform the speed of science itself. Not many people can accomplish that even once. Allen is doing it yet again."

-- Steve Jobs, Chairman & CEO, Apple: Barbara Kiviat: "He is always in character and always on message ... Jobs gets called mercurial, egomaniacal, a micromanager. If that sounds a little like a CEO doing his job, maybe that's because he isa mighty fine one."

-- Steve Ballmer: Guy Kawasaki writes: "If you want 95% of the wallets of every market that you're in, then you want this Steve. If you want the 95% of the mind share of every market that you're in, then you want the other Steve (Jobs). ... Whether you like the company or not, give credit where credit is due: Steve Ballmer kicks ass."

New guard:

-- Jay Adelson, co-founder and CEO, Digg: Lev Grossman: "So if the people choose the news, what exactly does Digg's CEO do? He manages the community, grows the business and curates the arcane algorithms that translate votes into ranking and placement."

-- Michael Arrington, TechCrunch: HuffPo's Arianna Huffington dubs blogging's rep with a rep "an accidental power broker." He is the "quintessential blogger: intense, passionate, consumed with his subject, opinionated, sleep-deprived, forward-thinking, easy to irritate and apt to air his grudges in public."

-- Radiohead: Edgar Bronfman, Jr., whose Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) wound up helping to sell In Rainbows through online stores, writes of the experiment: "Does that mean we view the future as a giant tip jar? Not exactlyand I suspect Radiohead doesn't either, particularly in light of the commercial successIn Rainbows had after the "pay any price" offer ended.

-- Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, creators, Guitar Hero and Rock Band: Then again, Steven Van Zandt, suggests the music industry Chicken Littles call Alex and Eran: "Face it, folks. Rock Band is one of the ways kids will find music in the future, and the future is now."

-- Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook: Craig Newmark writes that Facebook became a social network that mattered "because Zuckerberg has remained true to his vision, focusing on building a community rather than a mere exit strategywhich is why those buyout offers have been deline." But Newmark also warns: "investors are patient, but not forever."


By Staci D. Kramer

[moonlight_to]

First, if you are accepting nominations..and if I understood the quote correctly ..."To start, anyone missing a Y chromosome; we''re now accept nominations in the comments." So if "in the comments" refers to this, right here, the comment section for the article? Ok let''s proceed under that assumption.

First and foremost, we as readers, presumably the people doing the nominations, need to know some basic rules of the game. First, spell out what the definition of a "techie" is. And once we have that, it should narrow down our choices, possibly even increase them depending on the actual definition itself.

Would Ted Kaczynski...the Unabomber qualify? After all he was a "techie" in a sick, twisted sort of way.

[aardvark99]

I have to agree with moonlight_to with the exception of Jobs. My understanding is that he''s still highly technical. As for Balmer, he has a background in Math from Harvard and in business from Stanford but apparently abandoned all things technical when he started his career marketing cake mixes for Proctor and Gamble. This alone makes it pretty clear that he''s abandoned all things technical in favor of sales and marketing.

The problem with this list is that it ignores many people that are "building" the future in favor of people that are easy to see but that are simply riding on the backs of the real geniuses.

[moonlight_to]

These people are great choices if you wish to honor them for their ability to manage a company a special project...but to honor them as "Techies"?...that''s just plain silly. I bet my bottom dollar if you were to put Steve Ballmer or Steve Jobs into a "Real Job", say in their one of their own product developmet departments and assigned them a task to program interfaces, or design a program from the ground up for a special task, or perhaps put them into the hardware department...How well do you thinks these guys are going to do?

They know how to run a company...not work within one as a fellow "Techie". You can''t get any further than the truth.

[brianbwb-2009]

"...the Allen Institute for Brian Science,..."?

They are studying me now?

I should be flattered, but I''m actually thinking "royalties"... ; )