Microsoft CEO Ballmer in Silicon Valley to Visit Stanford (and Perhaps Yahoo CEO Bartz?)

Later this afternoon, BoomTown will be front and center–well, I will probably get seated on the far side and way back–for a speech to be delivered by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at Stanford University’s Memorial Auditorium on innovation and entrepreneurship, aimed at students there who are looking for some advice from tech’s big dogs. Ballmer is, of course, all that, with a blustery bark and an occasional bite. Of course, he’s probably channeling a more charming demeanor in another meeting sources say he plans to have with Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz on this visit to Silicon Valley. The second since Bartz took over Yahoo in January, it’s about whether or not the pair should make nice after a long period of useless acrimony, and strike a significant search and advertising partnership.
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The Entire D6 Interview With Sony's Sir Howard Stringer (3 of 4)

We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May. Here’s Part 3 of 4 of an interview Walt Mossberg did with Sony Chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer. The consumer electronics giant has been under enormous pressure to innovate and compete better in all its many businesses, and still has not proved it can knit them all together into a cogent whole. In this video, Stringer talks about craplets and digital music players, including the iPod and Walkman-enabled Sony Ericsson cellphones, and takes questions from the audience about YouTube and the challenge of maintaining innovation and entrepreneurialism at a huge multinational company.