The serious power and glam passions of Marissa Mayer, the gorgeously geeky Googler who’s generating a new kind of Silicon Valley notoriety.
A week before Christmas, Marissa Mayer, the most closely watched woman in the most closely watched company in the world, stands in the bedroom of her $5 million, 38th-floor penthouse at the Four Seasons, surrounded by Googlers who work for her. She is not what you expect.
(…)
But whatever else there is to say about Mayer—who is rumored to be worth several hundred million dollars—there’s no doubting her influence at Google. As vice president of search products and user experience, Mayer manages 150 product managers, who direct the efforts of nearly 2,000 software engineers; levels criticism and praise with the same cool gaze; and is an arbiter…
Continue reading here.
Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer at Microsoft, on Google’s success and its “dependance on Microsoft”:
If we didn’t succeed at the PC, they wouldn’t have a business.
Microsoft didn’t really invent the PC and they aren’t the only company offering an operating system, but it’s always interesting to look at things from a different perspective, isn’t it?
Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the world wide web in 1989, shares my opinion on design versus usability:
Web users ultimately want to get at data quickly and easily. They don’t care as much about attractive sites and pretty design.
I don’t want web 2.0 sites that look pretty but are terrible to use. Keep your sites simple, with not too many links and content per page. If a commercial website is easy to use, that is the first step towards successfully converting visitors into buyers. Same concept that helped Google become popular so fast.
Seth Godin, marketing guru and author of several books, on the importance of domains for the corporate world:
The internet has taught people what to do when they see a domain. It’s not just an address, it’s the first bit of marketing. (…) If you’re looking to start an online business, consider finding a great domain and build the business around it, not the other way around.
Source: Thinking about domains
Vint Cerf, who is considered to be one of the Internet’s founder fathers, will step down as the chairman of ICANN’s board of directors after the ICANN Los Angeles 2007 meeting. He will remain “chief Internet evangelist” at Google, though, and the Associated Press reports that Cerf is also currently working on five books, only one of which will be about the Internet. In the AP article Cerf says he has spent 25-40 percent of his time on ICANN business and that he is looking forward to having the time back. On ICANN having to get along without him he says:
“I absolutely need this time back, and I don’t want to hover over the process. I want them to feel the pressure to organize themselves and not imagine they can turn back and look for guidance from me. They really should demonstrate that the organization is sufficiently strong and can survive the changes.”
The Register has another interview with Vint Cerf about his views on the future of the Internet and of ICANN.
Elliot Silver writes:
On my blog this morning, I have a special interview with Calvin Ayre, CEO of Bodog Entertainment, one of the largest online entertainment companies in the world.
Calvin took some time to answer questions about Bodog’s recent legal issues, current marketing trends, and domain name situation. I hope you will take a few minutes to read this interview this morning:
http://www.elliotsblog.com/index.php/2007/10/23/5-with-calvin-ayre-ceo-bodog-entertainment/
Best,
Elliot
Bodog Entertainment, which was founded in 1994 and is a big entertainment and online gambling company, recently lost its domain name Bodog.com due to a Nevada court’s ruling. Calvin Ayre then decided to rebrand the company under the domain name BodogLife.com.
Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine and former presidential candidate, on domain names:
Internet traffic and domains are the prime real estate of the 21st century. This market has matured, and individuals, brands, investors and organizations who do not grasp their importance or value are missing out on numerous levels.
Source: TRAFFIC East 2007 Press Release
The Financial Times will have a video interview with Vint Cerf on August 30. Vint Cerf, who holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA and more than a dozen honorary degrees, is one of the Internet’s founder fathers and he has played an important role in the development of the Internet’s infrastructure. He is also vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. Few people know the possible futures of the Internet as well as Vint Cerf, so if you have any questions regarding the key infrastructure of the Internet, the DNS, net neutrality, privacy or future uses of the Internet, send your questions to the Media Editor of The Financial Times, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson. He will review all questions and if you’re lucky he will decide to ask Vint Cerf your question.
You can send questions here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/edbaadba-524b-11dc-a7ab-0000779fd2ac.html
(via DomainNews.com)
Long-time domainer Michael Bahlitzanakis launches BPHG Media. Michael owns some great generic domain names, which he has developed or which he is going to turn into full businesses in the future. Michael Bahlitzanakis has partnered with Michael Mann (WashingtonVC) for the launch of SEO.com. Another project of BPHG Media, Weblog.com, is slated for release on August 01, 2007.
BPHG Media is just one of the several media companies which are currently built around quality domain portfolios. Other companies which are busy developing generic domains are Kevin Ham’s Reinvent Technology and Sahar Sarid’s Recall Media Group.
BPHG Media press release:
New York City, NY 7/16/2007 - BP Holdings Group, Inc. an aggregator of premium Internet domain names has just recently re-branded their company as BPHG Media. Michael Bahlitzanakis, interim CEO and co-founder says, “We’re still the same great company, we simply adjusted our name to be more reflective to that of our strategy.”
BPHG Media, as a whole and through partnerships, holds some of the most exclusive Internet assets under development, over 4000 premium generics to be exact (weblog.com, city.com, prices.com, cellphones.com). “Our strategy has never wavered since our inception. We believe long-term value appreciation has always been expressed in the development of individual domain-independent businesses,” states Bahlitzanakis
This summer, BPHG Media is slated to release the long awaited upgrade for WEBLOG.COM. Debuting in Fall-Winter 2007 will be their b2b and b2c file hosting, imaging and archive engine conveniently dubbed FILES.COM.
Published July 14, 2007
in People.
Guy is, well, he is a smart guy. Guy Kawasaki has been Apple Macintosh evangelist for years before he founded the venture capital firm Garage Technology Ventures which makes direct investments in technology companies and Internet start-ups. I’ve learned a great deal on Guy’s blog, where, as he says, he wants to empower entrepreneurs. In fact, many of his blog posts teach you more than you could ever learn in school. For example, take his August 2006 blog post “Ten Things to Learn This School Year“:
It seems to me that schools often teach the opposite of what’s necessary for the real world. Perhaps in school people have plenty of time and no money, so long papers, emails, and presentations are not a problem. However, people in the real world have plenty of money (or at least more money) and no time. This is a list of what I wished I learned in school before I graduated.
What follows is a list of ten great advices like “How to explain something in thirty seconds” or “How to write a five-sentence email”. In school they teach you how to write ten-page essays, but what they don’t teach you is how to get all your important arguments into one page or less. It’s always been my opinion that what you learn in school is much more theoretical than it is practical (read: useful).
Therefore, take ten minutes of your time and read Guy’s blog post mentioned above, because it will be ten minutes well-spent.
Link: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/08/ten_things_to_l.html
By the way, also make sure you watch Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start” speech, which he delivered at the TiECon 2006:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3755718939216161559&q=guy+kawasaki&total=147&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
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