AllThingsD » D9

"Goofy" CEO Andrew Mason on "60 Minutes" This Week

Kara Swisher — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:58:32 +0000

Of course, this infamous kooky cat-on-his-head photo from a Vanity Fair magazine shoot made it into an upcoming profile of Groupon CEO Andrew Mason. Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” has done a piece on the Chicago-based social buying phenom, set to air this Sunday.

And, naturally, Stahl trots out the “goofy” description of Mason.

In addition, said the preview caption for the CBS television news show: “Groupon’s Andrew Mason says he may not be as smart, mature or experienced as other CEOs, but being company founder is his edge.”

Dumber, juvenile and just-arrived — but I created this three-ring circus with my own two hands? Sounds good to me!

Here is a preview of the Stahl-Mason segment, as well as my own wacky interview with Mason from last year’s D: All Things Digital conference:

[ See post to watch video ]

(Photo credit: Martin Schoeller, exclusively for Vanity Fair)

Horse Flash: Apple's Steve Jobs on Adobe Vendetta in 2010 at D8 (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:30:29 +0000

At a 2010 onstage interview with Walt Mossberg and me at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs spent a lot of time — and with considerable passion — talking about his company’s decision to dump Adobe’s popular Flash technology in its iPhone and iPad devices.

While he insisted that he wasn’t out to crush Adobe — instead using the metaphor of “choosing what horses to ride” — Jobs explained that the software technology was buggy, no longer useful, and, therefore, needed to be put out to pasture.

“We try to pick things that are in their springs … sometimes you just have to pick the things that are the right things going forward,” said Jobs plainly. “Flash looks like a technology that had its day and is waning.” According to Jobs, HTML5 was the new colt to back.

As to the implications on Apple’s mobile devices if consumers did not agree with his choice, he noted that “it all works itself out,” adding that a new iPad was then selling every three seconds.

“People seem to be liking iPads,” said Jobs with his patented grin.

It’s an interesting video to watch now — along with this one on Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen talking about the issue a year later at D9 — because of reports that first surfaced last night, that the high-profile software company — whose Flash technology has been a flagship product — was halting development on the mobile version of its browser plug-in.

Adobe confirmed the move this morning, noting it will focus its PC Web browser business and on tools that allow Flash developers to create mobile apps by packaging their code to run on Adobe’s AIR platform.

The move has big implications for Adobe going forward and also for mobile device makers, such as Google and Research In Motion. But not Apple.

As Ina Fried wrote:

“The move, if true, would be a major blow to Android device makers, who have long touted Flash compatibility as a key competitive advantage over Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

It would also mark a posthumous vindication for former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who took a controversial stand by not supporting Flash on Apple’s mobile products.”

Adobe now apparently agrees.

Here’s the video clip of Jobs talking trash about Flash:

[ See post to watch video ]

(And, here’s a video from a year later from D9 of Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen talking about the same topic.)

The Fate of Flash on Mobile Devices: Here's the Adobe CEO Talking About It at D9

Kara Swisher — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:05:45 +0000

When Walt Mossberg interviewed Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen in June at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference about the future — or lack thereof — of Flash, and about the software company’s ugly fight with Apple over not supporting the technology on its mobile devices, Narayen declared the battle over.

“It’s an argument that the press likes to continue bringing up,” said Narayen, noting that all was fine with its development for Google Android and Research In Motion mobile offerings.

But now, as Ina Fried writes: “Adobe is apparently ready to throw in the towel when it comes to getting Flash to run on mobile devices.”

As it seems to have turned out, even Adobe now might be agreeing with the late Apple icon Steve Jobs on the issue.

Until we have more clarity on the plans, here’s Narayen on the topic at D9:

[ See post to watch video ]

(And, to even out the score, here’s a video of Jobs talking about Flash at D8 a year before.)

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman Being Considered for HP CEO Job to Replace Apotheker

Kara Swisher — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:05:59 +0000

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is being considered by Hewlett-Packard directors as a possible candidate for CEO, in a move that would replace its current leader Léo Apotheker, according to several sources close to the situation.

The appointment of Whitman — a longtime and experienced Silicon Valley exec, who joined the board of Hewlett-Packard in January — to the top job at HP is by no means a done deal, sources said.

But a significant contingent on the board is keen to remove Apotheker after what some directors consider a series of management mishaps.

If it occurs, it would be the second major CEO ouster in a short time — Yahoo recently fired its CEO Carol Bartz due to lackluster performance.

[UPDATE: Wall Street seems to like the Apotheker-gone idea, with HP shares spiking almost eight percent on our news, as well as a simultaneous Bloomberg report. The rise has added almost $3 billion to HP's market valuation.]

In addition, sources said Whitman has been contemplating taking another big exec job, after a 10-year stint at eBay, which was followed by an unsuccessful run as the Republican nominee for governor of California last year. Since then, she has been a part-time consultant at top venture firm Kleiner Perkins.

Her role there — which has largely been seen as a temporary one — has included acting as a strategic adviser to start-ups and evaluating investment opportunities.

Sources said Whitman — who has also been active with her family foundation — has shown some interest in talking about taking the HP job.

Turning to Whitman would not be a surprise, given there are few execs in tech experienced enough to run such a large and complex organization as HP.

Still, her expertise has mostly been in the consumer space and she has never run what is largely a hardware company and one with major enterprise clients.

So, if appointed, Whitman would need a lot of help, especially to fix one with as many troubles as HP has seen of late.

That is why the board has been meeting by phone and in person this week to talk about a range of issues, focused in part on how to spin the company out of its current cycle of bad news and what to do about the situation.

Its most recent spate of trouble was the announcement of layoffs of hundreds of employees in its Palm division.

This inevitable move to jettison Palm employees came after HP’s sudden news in August that it was shuttering its webOS hardware business.

Add to that a proposed class action lawsuit, filed Sept. 13 in the U.S. District Court for Central California, along with another handful of law firms that are launching their own investigations of HP over the move.

In the suit, according to a report by Arik Hesseldahl, an “HP shareholder named Richard Gammel alleged that comments by CEO Léo Apotheker — concerning the company’s earnings expectations, the importance of its personal computer business and plans to move ahead with devices running the webOS operating system — gave a vastly different indication of actions HP took on Aug. 18, when it killed the webOS hardware business and announced plans to spin off the PC business and spend $10 billion to acquire Autonomy.”

In other words, lots to discuss for HP’s directors, who have been under siege, essentially, ever since the former CEO Mark Hurd resigned under pressure more than a year ago over a variety of allegations about expense reports related to a sexual harassment inquiry. The board found no evidence to support the sexual harassment claim.

In the wake of that scandal, HP appointed Apotheker to take over for Hurd.

It has been a bumpy ride, as HP’s stock has plummeted almost 43 percent in a year’s time. By comparison, rival Oracle’s shares are up more than three percent in the same period, and Apple stock has risen more than 50 percent.

That share decline, given a series of major moves and just as many gaffes, has put Apotheker — who has been trying to reposition HP largely as an enterprise company — in the hot seat.

An HP spokeswoman declined to comment. I have several calls in to reach Whitman and have not yet heard back.

More to come, obviously. But, until there is more news, here is the video of the full interview with Apotheker at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference this summer.

At D9, the former SAP chief declared that he would not ship the now-doomed TouchPad until it was perfect. Ooops!

Enjoy:

[ See post to watch video ]

There's Some Cheese in My Tech: Jonathan Kaplan's The Melt Opens Its Doors

Liz Gannes — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:13:08 +0000

Last week, I found myself at the secret preview opening of a grilled cheese restaurant.

That would be Flip creator Jonathan Kaplan’s The Melt line of grilled cheese restaurants, which was first announced at this year’s ninth D: All Things Digital conference.

It is Kaplan’s next act, after Cisco shut down the Flip handheld videocamera line in April.

Kaplan had actually left Cisco in February, and soon was planning this orthogonal and highly unusual move.

I stopped by The Melt’s first location at 115 New Montgomery in San Francisco on Friday, just after the restaurant had invited its Twitter followers and Facebook fans in for a free trial lunch. Needless to say, the atmosphere was festive.

The sandwich menu has changed since D9. No more The Walt and The Kara, although the “experienced gruyere” found in The Walt has now been relabeled “aged gruyere” and is part of The Wild Thing, which comes on white wheat with creamy wild mushroom soup.

(I sampled “The Mission,” which is jalapeno jack on sourdough, accompanied by sweet corn tortilla soup. I have no professional qualifications or training to assure you of this, but it was yummy.)

Both of the combos I described cost $8.95 each.

The Melt aims to be the cheesier version of Chipotle, the fast, casual and highly successful Mexican restaurant chain, and is backed by Sequoia Capital.

Kaplan said he’s well aware that many in the technology industry are rolling their eyes. But he said, “The reality is, tech gets you food and out the door.”

Thus, customers can create an order for their grilled cheese from their computers or mobile phones and receive a QR code that they then bring to a Melt location and scan at the counter. Only when the sandwich is ready does the customer’s credit card get charged.

Each sandwich takes two minutes to cook, and has a shelf life of about half an hour, Kaplan said, so time is of the essence, and the QR code system helps make everything happen fast.

As for the connection between sandwiches and personal videocameras?

“Flip was also a crazy idea,” said Kaplan. “It was equally nutty to compete with Sony.”

With a restaurant, it’s much easier to get feedback and make quick changes than with a gadget that has to be manufactured and distributed, he noted.

Kaplan said he’s aiming for 500 company-owned restaurants with 20,000 employees in five years.

Two other ways The Melt sets itself apart: Everything served is compostable or recyclable, so you won’t find a trashcan in the store. And the combos contain only about 615 calories, Kaplan said.

Here’s the video of Kaplan at D9:

[ See post to watch video ]

DARPA: That's Mach 20, Baby

Kara Swisher — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:50:21 +0000

In an onstage interview at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference in June, Regina Dugan — who is director of the federal government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — riveted the crowd by talking about a plane in development that can fly at a speed of Mach 20.

That would be 13,000 miles per hour, or 20 times the speed of sound.

Now DARPA is trotting out the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 for its second and final launch this morning at 7 am PT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

According to the DARPA site, the aircraft will be boosted into the atmosphere via a rocket, and will blast around for 30 minutes. (See the chart below for the info as to how it does so.)

On its first outing, the plane already proved it can maintain Global Positioning System (GPS) signals while traveling 3.6 miles per second. But DARPA also lost contact with the vehicle, which had a controlled landing in the ocean.

The goal of the second flight, said DARPA, “is to validate current assumptions and increase technical understanding of the hypersonic flight regime. More than 20 test assets will collect continuous flight data to achieve this goal.”

Cool.

Here’s a video of the full interview at D9, with DARPA director Dugan talking about the Mach 20 flight and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

Viral Video: ATD CEO Jane Lynch Is NOT Ellen DeGeneres

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 07:11:36 +0000

This is a very funny promo for the upcoming Emmy Awards, the annual television fest which is being hosted in September by “Glee” star Jane Lynch.

Lynch, as you recall, declared herself the acting CEO of News Corp. at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference (see that video below, too).

Now, she is apparently impersonating daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to seal her Emmy gig.

But it’s all in good fun, folks:

[ See post to watch video ]

The James Franco of the Internet -- Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:43:57 +0000

Jack Dorsey has certainly had a multifaceted career, from plotting bike messenger routes to inventing microblogging giant Twitter to his newest payment start-up, Square.

He talked about all this and more in this interview with me at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference, in a serious and thoughtful manner that revealed a young man in a hurry to change the world.

[ See post to watch video ]

And if you can’t get enough Dorsey, here’s an earlier interview I did with him in late May at the Commonwealth Club:

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen Is Not a Flash in the Pan: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 13:17:24 +0000

Adobe Shantanu Narayen did a very funny video for the ninth D: All Things Digital conference about how he needed to become a flashier speaker.

Get it? For those who did not, Flash is the name of one of the software company’s highest profile offerings and the one most under siege by fast-changing trends, especially the explosion of mobile devices.

Narayen talked about that and more in a bracing interview with Walt Mossberg, which also covered Google’s Android, HTML5 and, of course, Adobe’s battle with Apple.

[ See post to watch video ]

Nokia's Stephen Elop Jumps Off Burning Platform Onto D9 Hot Seat: The Full Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:02:01 +0000

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has not had the best of times since he left a top job at Microsoft to take over the reins of the Finnish mobile giant.

What with layoffs, executive shakeups, an earnings scare and stock drops, along with a need to completely overhaul its offerings, he’s had a lot to wrangle with.

Oh yes, there’s also that big deal with Microsoft and its Windows Phone that had better work.

No wonder Elop penned that memorable missive to Nokia about jumping off of burning platforms.

Elop talked about all this and more with Walt Mossberg in a wide-ranging interview at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference:

[ See post to watch video ]

Fanhattan, the iPad Navigator: The Full D9 Demo

Kara Swisher — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:06:10 +0000

With the piles of entertainment content available on the Apple iPad, it makes sense that someone was going to try to make sense of it.

That would be Fanhattan, which is aiming to be an overall navigator for the popular tablet device, browsing across site such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and iTunes.

Here’s its demo at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference, in which we put it through its paces:

[ See post to watch video ]

HP's Léo Apotheker Talks webOS, TouchPad and More: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:21:02 +0000

Léo Apotheker got to Hewlett-Packard less than a year ago, but what a year. From a board shake-up to executive shuffles to new strategic directions to layoffs and — oh, yes — a new tablet offering, called TouchPad and based on webOS, he’s been a busy man.

As head of the world’s biggest maker of PCs — Hewlett-Packard last year acquired Palm for its webOS operating system — Apotheker is in a crunch position, as Apple iOS and Google’s Android race ahead.

Here’s his take, in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference:

[ See post to watch video ]

Disney's Bob Iger Makes Me Dis "Bambi": The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:02:16 +0000

Disney CEO Bob Iger is a very crafty guy, turning the tables on me many times in this wide-ranging interview about the iconic media giant and its challenges in the digital age.

He tried to press me on my love of Disney fare, which is, well, nonexistent.

In all seriousness, Iger is one of the most digitally savvy media execs, and he shows it here, talking about everything from Netflix’s role, to Hulu, to Disney’s Apple relationship, to social networking, to how its newest theme park in Shanghai is going high tech.

Here’s the video:

[ See post to watch video ]

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo Is Ready for His Close-Up: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:02:56 +0000

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is well known in Silicon Valley as a funny guy, but he trotted out some serious stats in this onstage interview with Walt Mossberg at the recent ninth D: All Things Digital conference.

Among the many topics: Acquisition interest by Google and others; its new photo sharing service; the evolving business plan of Twitter; and how Costolo does not have a super-secret Mach 20 government plane to impress the crowd, even if the microblogging service is growing fast.

Still, as you will see, Costolo is pretty quick.

[ See post to watch video ]

The Death-Stare Stylings of Groupon's Andrew Mason: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:02:30 +0000

It is indeed true that when he did not want to answer any question I posed, Groupon CEO and co-founder Andrew Mason stared at me in hopes that laser beams would come out of his eyeballs.

They didn’t, but that does not mean it’s not worth watching his attempt.

In fact, if you want to get a good idea of the shaggy, goofy and unique personality of Groupon, this interview with Mason at the ninth D: All Things Digital earlier this month should provide some insight about the social buying phenom.

How it navigates its upcoming IPO and deals with competitors such as Google going forward are some of the many topics I covered with Mason in the video below:

[ See post to watch video ]

DARPA's Regina Dugan Takes It to Mach 20: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:02:39 +0000

From planes that fly across the country in an hour to explosive detection based on a dog’s nose to photoluminescent polymers, I dare you not to be riveted by Regina Dugan, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Rocking a leather jacket and a t-shirt with the logo “I-cubed” — meaning “impossible, improbable, inevitable,” which Dugan said is the natural progression of discovery — she said in an interview with Walt Mossberg that DARPA’s “singular mission is the prevention and creation of strategic surprise.”

As you’ll see below, she is one of our nation’s best secret weapons:

[ See post to watch video ]

How to Control Your Laptop With Your Eyeballs: Tobii's D9 Demo (Video)

Peter Kafka — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:52:51 +0000

Look, Ma, no hands!

OK, some hands: Tobii’s astonishing eye-tracking technology doesn’t allow you to operate all of your computer using your eyeballs alone. But it allows users to manipulate part of the machine, hands free.

This stuff is already in some specialized machines but widespread adoption could be a few years out, Tobii general manager Barbara Barclay said at the D9 conference this month.

[ See post to watch video ]

Ralph de la Vega Says AT&T Can Get Better as It Gets Bigger: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Peter Kafka — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:00:54 +0000

AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile. But since customers already give the carrier poor marks for service, why should things improve if it gets bigger?

That’s one of the first questions that AT&T wireless boss Ralph de la Vega had to face at the D9 conference this month. Good thing he came prepared!

Also on the agenda for the wide-ranging discussion: The Verizon iPhone, the company’s LTE rollout, the impending spectrum crisis and the role of the carrier in the age of mobile ecosystems.

[ See post to watch video ]

Reed Hastings Insists: Netflix Won't Kill Cable! The Full D9 Interview. (Video)

Peter Kafka — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:00:59 +0000

Reed Hastings keeps getting asked about it, and he keeps saying the same thing: Nope, he doesn’t want to replace cable. He’s just marketing Netflix as a little ol’ $8-a-month service, which people pay for in addition to their cable subscription.

So how come everyone’s convinced that Netflix is going to be a huge problem for Comcast, et al? Hastings tries to make his case during this D9 interview with Kara Swisher. He also takes time to explain why Apple TV, not the iPad, is a big deal for his company, and why he may or may not be able to revive “Firefly.”

[ See post to watch video ]

Marc Andreessen vs. the Bubble: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

Peter Kafka — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:00:40 +0000

All that money going into all those startups? No big deal, says Marc Andreessen. And it’s definitely not a bubble, says the man who helped kick off the Web 1.0 bubble with Netscape, way back in the ’90s.

Andreessen made his case at the D9 conference earlier this month, but he didn’t spend all of his time talking about valuations. He’s an entrepreneur-turned-investor with a unique perspective on Silicon Valley’s history and future, and he was happy to share that, too.

Andreessen doesn’t give many public interviews. Pay attention:

[ See post to watch video ]

Google and the Gang of Four: Eric Schmidt's Full D9 Interview (Video)

Peter Kafka — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:00:21 +0000

Apple. Amazon. Facebook. Google. That’s the “Gang of Four” dominating consumer technology today, says Eric Schmidt.

The Google chairman laid out his theory at the D9 conference this month, and he had plenty more to say during the keynote interview: Schmidt wanted to talk about privacy, politics, and even his failings — chiefly, his inability to create a plausible alternative to Facebook.

This one runs long, and is worth it:

[ See post to watch video ]

Windows for the App Age: Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky's Full D9 Interview (Video)

Peter Kafka — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:13:49 +0000

Microsoft’s Windows operating system is still dominant but creaky. It needs to adapt to a world where tablets and cloud computing are going to be a very big deal. Steven Sinofsky, who runs Windows for Redmond, thinks his upcoming release will solve that.

Sinofsky unveiled Windows 8 at the D9 conference earlier this month. Here’s the full video of his appearance, including his demo of the upcoming OS, as well as questions and answers with Walt Mossberg and conference attendees.

[ See post to watch video ]

Here's Why Sequoia Thinks Melt Is Worth Millions: The D9 Demo (Video)

Peter Kafka — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:11:56 +0000

In the fall of 2008, Sequoia Capital declared “RIP: Good Times” and told entrepreneurs to batten down the hatches because it was now going to be next to impossible to get venture money.

Flash forward to present tense: Sequoia is now putting millions into The Melt, a new grilled cheese shop chain from former Flip CEO Jonathan Kaplan. Kaplan demoed the concept — and talked a bit about the demise of his last company after it was acquired by Cisco — earlier this month at the D9 conference.

[ See post to watch video ]

How to Charge Your iPhone Over the Air: uBeam's D9 Demo (Video)

Peter Kafka — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:09:32 +0000

Technology gives us miraculous smartphones, tablets and other wondergadgets, but none of them will do a thing if they don’t have an electric charge to power them.

uBeam wants to tackle that problem in a novel way: It says it will let gadget owners power up their devices over the air, without ever plugging into an electric charger or any kind of docking station.

Co-founders Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck showed off the technology at the D9 conference earlier this month, and managed to impress Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

Also impressive: The two women just got their undergraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

[ See post to watch video ]

Viral Video: D9 Acting CEO Jane Lynch on the "R-Word"

Kara Swisher — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:38:41 +0000

“Glee” star Jane Lynch opened the ninth D: All Things Digital conference last week in a terrific bit of stand-up, posing as the acting CEO of News Corp. and making all kinds of comical proclamations.

But one thing she thinks should not be made fun of are loaded words that denigrate those with intellectual disabilities, as you will see in this video below that she made with Lauren Potter, one of her colleagues on the hit Fox television show.

In this PSA against the use of the R-words — retard and retarded — a comparison is made with racial slurs and it’s effectively jarring to watch.

Here it is, along with her opening night appearance at D9:

[ See post to watch video ]