Views Archive
D3: Scott Swipes Carly
Kara: “Do you have any final words about Carly Fiorina?” Scott: “Oh, just this. I tried to tell her that Microsoft was every one’s nightmare, and that we should partner. But she didn’t want to partner.” Now, Carly is gone,…
D3: Scott McNealy's Information Utility
Kara Swisher is chatting to Scott McNealy, the Chief Executive of Sun Microsystems. Scott seems entirely unchanged from how he looked when I first met him ten years ago: he is stilll the smartest guy in the Frat House. He…
Creation Museum in Kentucky
After my postings about Appalachia last week, I’m a little dismayed to be back there again. This time from the home of my family: Kentucky and Ohio. Seems there is a $25 million Creation Museum being built in Northern Kentucky,…
D3: Geek Mastermind
UPDATE: 5.05 PM. The questions got harder–and as if he were the product of secretive experiment in genetic engineering, Mitch Kapor pulled into a convincing lead. The other geeks–even billg–fell uncomfortably silent as Mitch entered into an eerie trance. “What…
Notes from E3
The Electronic Entertainment Expo came and went last week, and there were, surprisingly, few surprises. This was, for my money, the most subdued show in the past few years, which is surprising since there seemed to be far more people…
D3. Mel Karmazin is Digital. Honest!
Mel Karmazin, the Chief Executive of Sirius Satellite Radio, is talking to Kara Swisher. He is a traditional New York media executive–indeed, a former prince of CBS and Viacom–whose face is sunburnt and mottled from the golf links. Karmazin has…
Malcolm Gladwell Book Review on Games and Popular Culture
My copy editor, Paul Angiolillo, forwarded me this book review from the New Yorker, which has Malcolm Gladwell dissecting Everything Bad Is Good for You by Steven Johnson. The basic premise of the book is nothing new to the digerati:…
D3. billg Parades XBox
Audience is nonplussed. Walt asks, “It’s just another games machine. What’s the big deal?” Billg says, “Well, it’s important to be the best games machine.” You can hear the audience think, “But you’re not. You’re just not.”…
D3. billg, Demo God
Billg is demoing the new Windows search functions. Even his detractors have to admit, the man drives a very nice demo. He’s not as infectiously enthusiastic as Jobs, but he takes you through all the features of a product very…
D3. billg Gets Snippy about MP3 Players
Billg says he’ll “play nice” with the large telephone carriers in order to displace Apple from the market for downloadable music players. Walt counters, “Most people don’t think of Microsoft and ‘nice’ in the same breath.” Billg gets quite angry…