Outsourcing the High-Tech C-Suite
High tech firms have been sending more and more engineering, programming, and science work to other countries. Where will it stop? Not with upper management.
Technology
The Death of Software Patents?
Software patents are vitally important to all companies in the high tech arena. Now an analysis by John F. Duffy -- the leading patent scholar who engineered the Supreme Court strategy for the ground-shifting KSR v. Teleflex decision -- suggests that the new U.S. Patent and Trademark Office position on what can be patented would "invalidate many and perhaps most software patents," like the search patents that Google owns.
Website Theft: Copycats and Plagiarists Have It Their Way
High tech online service ventures are facing a particularly sticky problem: site theft. When all you have between you and a competitor is some HTML code and a database, the barriers to entry are too low for safety, particularly in a borderless Internet environment. Look at the suit that Facebook has brought against German competitor StudiVZ, which claims 10 million members in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as the Financial Times reported.
VMware Reprices Stock Options
VMware, whose stock value has dropped 65 percent from its $124.83 peak in October, is seeking shareholder approval to re-price its stock options, according to the Financial Times (and, sorry, but it requires a paid subscription). The board has already approved the move.
Money Will Out: Venture Capital Stronger Then It Might Seem
Venture capital is one of the pulses of the industry, and so a headline that VC investments are dropping by double digits is enough to catch the eye of anyone involved in the high tech ecosphere. But when you look at more data, things don't look bleak.
Yahoo and Icahn Settle, and the Pressure Increases
Yahoo and Carl Icahn have settled on the makeup of the company's board. Hooray -- now we can find the next high tech crisis.
The State of High Tech Venture Capital: Q&A with Commonwealth Capital's Justin Perreault
Q&A about about industry fads and the need for greater patience with Justin Perreault, a general partner with Commonwealth Capital Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on early and growth stage companies.
Why Silicon Valley Should Stop Worrying â€" and Get Busy
You can feel the panic slowly build in Silicon Valley: chests tightening as people vainly fight for breath, fearful glancing about, looking for a way out. Movers and shakers are trying to brace themselves for a crash of reality. Unfortunately, in the process they will create their own worst nightmares and pass opportunities that could put them on top of the industry.
EU Charges Against Intel Could Make Wider Splash
Expanding an existing problem, EU officials are ready to file new antitrust charges against Intel. But while the battleground would be in Europe, there's a chance that the repercussions could make waves more widely.
Game Companies Might Have Broad New Horizons
Game developers have resources that might satisfy vast untapped markets -- in the b-to-b space. The expertise necessary for any competent title in today's competitive gaming market could play well in a number of corporate interests.
Internet Penetration: Six Insights from IDC
Last month, IDC released some details about its forecast of Internet use -- which the company expects to pass 30 percent of the world's population by 2012. I chatted with chief research officer John Gantz about the findings and some that might be a bit surprising.
Exploiting the "Market Gap": YouSendIt.com Gets $14 Million
YouSendIt.com just picked up $14 million in a third round of funding. If you don't know the company, the premise is simple: People go there to send big files, whether using the free service or buying a subscription. I've used the freebie version a number of times when I was struck trying to get a la...
When Giants Grumble about Unfair Competition
We must be hitting a change in psychological seasons, because there's an ironic air wafting down from the high tech upper echelon, as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Apple are all concerned about their underdog victim status.
Can Game Consoles Be All Things to All People?
Remember the concept of the entertainment center? It would be a single piece of furniture in which you could fit a television, audio system, video recorder, and whatever else into a corner of the living room or den. But then the flat panel mounted on the wall, the DVD player and set top box went elsewhere, and audio was distributed around the room. If you look at the direction that gaming consoles are going, you get the sense that the vendors are trying again to create the entertainment center â€" in the confines of a box that can even go with you as you travel.
Microsoft and Icahn: Who's Doing Whom?
The machinations of who is secretly manipulating whom in the I Can Microhoo saga can make your eyes cross.
Judge blocks construction on Trump's 250-foot arch for now
Stocks crater as midterms spur investor exodus from tech and AI
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