AllThingsD » Eric Schmidt

Try Googling That, Big Shot.

Voices — Tue, 14 May 2013 06:59:14 +0000

Well, it was invented by Larry and Sergey. And the idea was that we don’t quite know what evil is, but if we have a rule that says don’t be evil, then employees can say, I think that’s evil. Now, when I showed up, I thought this was the stupidest rule ever, because there’s no book about evil except maybe, you know, the Bible or something.

– Eric Schmidt, describing Google’s motto while on NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!”

How to Make Your Own Google Glass

Peter Kafka — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:43:05 +0000

Stephen Colbert asked Eric Schmidt to get him Google Glass. But, so far, no dice. So he made his own. Pretty sweet:

Accel's Breyer Leads Forbes Midas List of Top Tech Investors Again, While Kleiner's Doerr Leads in Media Scrutiny

Kara Swisher — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:12:13 +0000

Forbes magazine put out its much-watched Midas List today, which is kind of the Oscars for venture capitalists in tech. (Caveat: Think more khakis and dudes than glitz and glamour.)

On the Top 10 list of 100 of the best-performing and most influential tech investors, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz led the list at No. 1 and No. 2, as they did last year. And several others in last year’s list remained on it: Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital, Greylock Partners’ Reid Hoffman, and also David Sze, Peter Thiel and Bessemer Venture Partners’ Jeremy Levine.

Accel scored well on the rest of the list with nine partners named; Sequoia Capital had six VCs on the list; Benchmark, Greylock and New Enterprise Associates got five slots; Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer, Kleiner Perkins and Meritech Capital Partners had four; and Andreessen Horowitz, Institutional Venture Partners and Venrock each had three.

As usual, there were few women on the list — only three — reflecting the lack of gender equality in the top tier of the VC business, which solidly remains a boy’s club, despite a lot of noise about changing it (see the pictures here and become depressed once again). Those women who did manage to get on the Midas List were Jenny Lee at GGV Capital, who jumped from No. 94 to No. 36; Kleiner Perkins’s Mary Meeker, who dropped from No. 42 to No. 47; and Theresia Gouw of Accel at No. 82, up from No. 92.

One notable part of the massive Forbes package of VCs on parade was the intense and multipart focus on the travails of Kleiner Perkins and its longtime leader and legendary VC John Doerr. Doerr clocks in at No. 26 on the list, dropping from No. 12 last year, a significant fall.

He does address the nagging issues at the storied firm, including ill-conceived investments in clean tech, a late-to-the-game move into social media, and even its big stake in stock-declining online gaming giant Zynga, in a video (below) and in several pieces, one of which is titled ““John Doerr’s Plan To Reclaim the Venture Capital Throne.”

More like “Game of Thrones” from reading it; there is another, more critical article in the New York Times that appeared yesterday. That piece focused on Kleiner’s investment in the troubled green-car startup, Fisker Automotive, and also the firm’s ongoing sex-discrimination lawsuit with former partner Ellen Pao.

“It was a challenging year, one of my more challenging years in the venture business,” said Doerr to Forbes.

Indeed, although Forbes does hand Kleiner a hey-we-have-some-sharpie-young-folks-here-too! gimme with its focus on “new generation” partners Megan Quinn and Mike Abbott in an interesting Q&A, as well as yet another piece on Kleiner supporters — such as Google’s Eric Schmidt — touting the firm as perhaps down but definitely not out in the “mojo” department.

“John always wins eventually, and the reason he always wins eventually is because he has the processing power and human energy,” Schmidt told Forbes. “Whatever the set of challenges, he will drive the change in the firm. They’ll have a crisis meeting and another crisis meeting, but he will do it. It may be messy but he will get them there.”

Presumably, if Doerr and team can get some mileage out of its Twitter investment next year and somehow turn around Zynga’s moribund stock. (Kleiner has held on to a pile of it, which is why Doerr recently joined the board that already had Kleiner’s Bing Gordon on it.)

On problem for Kleiner, and boon to others like Accel and Greylock, was that the firm was not early in Facebook, whose IPO — as rocky as it was — gave many VCs making the top of the Midas List the needed turbocharge in terms of performance. Other key companies to help VCs look good this year, according to the Forbes report: Workday, LinkedIn and Skype.

Here’s Doerr, who is indeed a legend, even if more bruised and battered this year, talking about it all to Forbes’s Connie Guglielmo, in the video interview:

Speaking of media attention, here’s a more provocative video interview by Forbes with Sequoia’s Doug Leone (No. 4, up from No. 18 last year), in which he takes aim at VC firms that do too much self-promotion — three guesses which pioneering browser inventor he is referring to here, and the first two don’t count. He called it an “embarrassment,” although Sequoia did hire an excellent PR person from Google this year — nonetheless making the point that the focus should be on entrepreneurs and not investors.

Except, of course, when it comes to scoring high on the Midas List.

Eric Schmidt on the Future of Android, Motorola, Cars and Humanity (Video)

Ina Fried — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:00:50 +0000

Eric Schmidt is a man with a lot to say.

He just penned a 300-page book covering, you know, the future of technology and humanity. Speaking at last month’s D: Dive Into Mobile conference, Schmidt talked about those issues and more.

After beginning with reflections on his recent trips to North Korea and Myanmar, Schmidt also talked about the first crop of Motorola products due in the coming months, the impact of driverless cars, and where Android is headed.

“Our goal with Android is to reach everyone,” Schmidt told Liz Gannes and Ina Fried. “We’ll cross one billion Android devices in six to nine months. In a year or two, we’ll hit two billion.”

As for those Motorola products, Schmidt didn’t give away too much, saying only that they represent “phones-plus,” and that they are both “phenomenal” and “very, very impressive.”

We’ll hope to get a lot more specific when Motorola head Dennis Woodside takes his turn in the red chair at our upcoming D11 conference.

[ See post to watch video ]

Google Chairman Would Like Internet to Be Written in Pencil

Voices — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:08:14 +0000

“The lack of a delete button on the Internet is a significant issue. There is a time when erasure is a right thing.”

– Google Chairman Eric Schmidt

The New Motorola Is Still Looking to Accessorize

Ina Fried — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:40:24 +0000

Under Google, Motorola has exited markets, cut thousands of jobs, and sold its cable set-top box unit.

But the company has apparently decided to stick with its business of making accessories that complement its phones. Motorola is putting the finishing touches on a new lineup of Bluetooth headsets and other add-ons.

Twitter user @evleaks, known for accurately predicting past moves, posted a photo on Friday of several new audio accessories under the “Sonic” brand name. Products include the Sonic Boom and Sonic Sliver II earpieces, as well as a Sonic Hub and Sonic Buds Bluetooth headphones.

Motorola is also working on a new external battery unit, tentatively being slated to carry the Atomic brand name, according to sources. That unit is designed to play on the need for better battery life, a focus at Motorola that predates the Google acquisition.

However, both the Atomic and Sonic names are still subject to change before launch, a source cautioned.

While the arrival of a new lineup of headsets and a battery charger isn’t exactly earth-shattering, it suggests that the new Motorola is interested in continuing in the business.

Company watchers have been studying each move to get a sense for what the new Google-run Motorola will look like.

A Motorola spokesman declined to comment.

Without giving details, Google executives, including CEO Larry Page, have been talking up the company’s coming products.

Asked at the recent D: Dive Into Mobile whether Motorola would be focused solely on phones, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said: “Think of it as phones-plus.”

Expect to hear more about Motorola’s future at our D11 conference at the end of May, where Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside and SVP Regina Dugan will be interviewed onstage.

Schmidt: Talking to Google Glass Could Make You a Spectacle

John Paczkowski — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:18:29 +0000

Google has long had a “creepy line” that it likes to approach without actually crossing. But with its new Google Glass, it’s really tottering on the edge.

That’s the gist of Eric Schmidt’s latest comments on Google’s forthcoming facephone, whose launch the company is approaching with quite a bit of circumspection. Speaking at an event Thursday at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Schmidt said Glass requires a rethinking of social etiquette, and a heavy curative hand from Google with Glass app developers.

“There are obviously places where Google Glasses are inappropriate,” Schmidt said. “It’s so new, we decided to be more cautious.”

Seriously? Wearing Google Glass AT a urinal? That part of some off the books, scatological 20% project? OK Glass!

— John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) March 3, 2013

Wise move, and not just from a public relations standpoint, but from a regulatory one, as well. If Glass draws the same sort of scrutiny as Street View, even a single privacy misstep could very quickly turn into a grueling nightmare.

“We want to be very careful that this sort of new invention is not misused,” Schmidt said later. “It’s already been banned in Las Vegas casinos. They haven’t even seen it. I’m always concerned about premature regulation based on fear, as opposed to understanding what’s possible.”

Certainly a legitimate concern, given Google’s history.

What Assange, Slim, Kissinger and Others Told Eric Schmidt for His New Book

Liz Gannes — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:34:58 +0000

“It is hard to imagine de Gaulles and Churchills appealing in the world of Facebook,” said former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. “Unique leadership is a human thing, and is not going to be produced by a mass social community.”

Meanwhile, according to Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, “The danger we face in the future is that it will be far easier to be against something than for it.”

Those quotes come from “The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business,” the new book co-written by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

While every day brings freakouts about the privacy implications of wacky new devices Schmidt’s company is about to introduce, and concern about the perils of online mob reporting during a crisis, Schmidt is trying to take a step back and consider where we as a technological society are headed. And in the process he got some pretty powerful people to tell him what they think.

Schmidt has thought deep thoughts about how global connectivity will change the world. His take: Ultimately for the better, though increased government accountability and access to markets will be tempered by really scary stuff like government misuse of biometric information and terrorist drone attacks.

Written with Google Ideas director Jared Cohen, “The New Digital Age” was released today. It’s dense, though readable, and floats between visions of a hologram-and-robot-enhanced future for the developed world, and scarily specific predictions of how dictators will get hold of technology and use it for evil.

“The Internet is the largest experiment involving anarchy in history,” Schmidt and Cohen write, as they forecast all sorts of “painful liminal periods” while things like privacy, citizenship and reporting get figured out as the next five billion people come online, joining the two billion that already are.

Schmidt and Cohen are not going to spark a social movement or even an op-ed war, a la that other recent tech exec book, Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In.” But they did manage to write a surprisingly non-corporate book that talks about Twitter at least 10 times as much as it does about Google’s driverless cars.

As part of their research, Schmidt and Cohen traveled the world together, talking to all sorts of important people. (They apparently didn’t get to meet Kim Jong Un when they traveled to North Korea in January, though that would have been after the book went to print, anyway.)

Unlike many conversations between tech and global leaders that I’d love to eavesdrop on, these interviews were on the record and quoted in the book.

So here’s what Julian Assange, Carlos Slim Helú, Lee Hsien Loong, Henry Kissinger and Regina Dugan told Schmidt and Cohen.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says the people who are equipped to use social media to drive revolution are not necessarily equipped to lead democratic institutions:

“It is hard to imagine de Gaulles and Churchills appealing in the world of Facebook. [In an age of hyper-connectivity] I don’t see people willing to stand by themselves and to have the confidence to stand up alone. Unique leadership is a human thing, and is not going to be produced by a mass social community.”

After speaking for five hours with WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange — last week, the transcript of the “secret meeting” was published by WikiLeaks — Schmidt and Cohen said they think online whistle-blowing will continue, but something on the scale of WikiLeaks was probably a one-time thing, based on government unreadiness, a trusted brand to generate a constant stream of leaks and the charisma of Assange.

Here’s how they quoted Assange:

“There are all sorts of reasons why non-powerful organizations engage in secrecy, and in my view it’s legitimate; they need it because they’re powerless. Why are powerful organizations engaged in secrecy? If you take your information off paper, if you take it outside the electronic or physical paper trail, institutions decay. … If they internally balkanize so that information can’t be leaked, there’s a tremendous cost to the organizational efficiency of doing that.”

Meanwhile, Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, in a conversation where he also expressed skepticism that the Chinese government will be able to control an online citizenry, told Schmidt and Cohen:

“The Internet is good for letting off steam, but it can also be used to create new fires. The danger we face in the future is that it will be far easier to be against something than for it. This social experience of being against authority means young people no longer need a plan. It has become far too easy for very minor events to escalate into lots of online activity that is exploited by opposition groups.”

And here’s Schmidt and Cohen’s bit on Mexican telecom magnate and world’s richest person Carlos Slim Helú, whose parents were Lebanese immigrants:

“He described himself as part of a new group that he calls the ‘business diaspora,’ where, as a transnational businessman, he believes, ‘We are not going to countries just to put money in and pull it out. We are making business to stay and be part of the development of the country.’”

Former DARPA Director Regina Dugan is quoted at length in the book (she works at Google now, so access is relatively easy). She said:

“Most advances in technology, particularly big ones, tend to make people nervous. And we have both good and bad examples of developing the societal, ethical and legal framework that goes with those kinds of technological advances.”

For more Schmidt, here’s the full video of the 40-minute talk we had with him just a week ago at D: Dive Into Mobile about the book and Google’s role in the mobile world.

[ See post to watch video ]

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution

Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:46:57 +0000

How do you explain to people that they are a YouTube sensation, when they have never heard of YouTube or the Internet? That’s a question we faced during our January visit to North Korea, when we attempted to engage with the Pyongyang traffic police.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Google's Page Hints at Tougher, Long-Lasting Phones From Motorola

John Paczkowski — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:27:36 +0000

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt was pretty hot on the new phones the company’s Motorola division is working on during his interview at D: Dive Into Mobile Tuesday. “They’re very impressive,” he said. “Think of them as phones-plus.”

Phones-plus. What in the world does that mean? Hard to say, though recent comments from Google CEO Larry Page — who’s equally giddy about the devices — may offer some insight.

Commenting during Google’s Thursday earnings call, Page said he, too, is enthusiastic about the work the Motorola division has done so far, and his remarks suggest that the handsets it’s expected to soon debut will be more durable than their predecessors, with better battery longevity.

“Think about your device,” Page said. “Battery life is a challenge for most people. You shouldn’t need to carry around a charger with you to make it through the day. If your kids spill their drink on your tablet, the screen shouldn’t die. And when you drop your phone, it shouldn’t shatter. There’s real potential to invent new and better experiences, ones that are much faster and more intuitive.”

And presumably that’s exactly what Motorola has been working on. Said Page, “Having just seen Motorola’s upcoming products myself, I’m really excited about the potential there. In just under a year, they’ve accomplished a lot.”

We should expect to hear more about this at our D11 conference at the end of May, where Motorola Mobility’s CEO Dennis Woodside and SVP Regina Dugan will be interviewed onstage.

Time 100 List Is Packed With Techies -- From Musk to Systrom to Sandberg and More

Kara Swisher — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:38:29 +0000

While the tale of a print magazine embedded in a troubled media company makes for much better reading, everyone loves a listicle. So, Time has once again put out its annual countdown of the 100 “most influential people in the world, from artists and leaders to pioneers, titans and icons.”

And, as usual, global techies represent big-time on the list, including:

* Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk — about whom Virgin Group’s Richard Branson wrote, “It’s a paradox that Elon is working to improve our planet at the same time he’s building spacecraft to help us leave it.”

* Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom, who gets inexplicably feted by entertainment bon vivant Ryan Seacrest (we are down with this anyway).

* Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos (yay for Ted, who is Mr. Nice Guy, especially for Hollywood).

* Ren Zhengfei, CEO of China’s telecom giant Huawei.

* Oh-Hyun Kwon, Samsung CEO, about whom former Apple CEO John Sculley wrote, “As Samsung builds a campus in Silicon Valley, all eyes will be on Kwon to see if the CEO with a PhD from Stanford can be as successful with software as he has been with hardware.”

* Music manager and Internet talent discoverer Scooter Braun.

* Minecraft developers, Markus Persson and Jens Bergensten, whom my sons revere (and therefore are deserving of kudos!).

* OkCupid founder Sam Yagan, who is now CEO of Match.com.

* Microsoft and Apple irritant David Einhorn, who is the only hedge fund investor dude I like.

* Deservedly ubiquitous Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, whose “Lean In” is a bestseller.

* Apple design guru Jony Ive, about whom Bono noted, “Jony Ive is himself classic Apple. Brushed steel, polished glass hardware, complicated software honed to simplicity.”

* Coursera co-founders Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, who are among many in tech trying to change education.

* Chinese tech investor Kai-Fu Lee.

* Google Ideas guy Jared Cohen.

* Afghanistan entrepreneur Roya Mahboob, who gets praise from Sandberg.

* Kickstarter CEO Perry Chen, about whom “Veronica Mars” star (and user of the fundraising tool) Kristen Bell said, “There’s something so smart and magical about that idea — connecting consumers with creators and letting them vote with their own money.”

* And listicle Olympian and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, garnering a major feting from Google’s Eric Schmidt, who wrote: “Google was lucky to have her help us grow into what we became, and Yahoo is lucky to have her taking them someplace new.”

(Cover photo by Mark Seliger for Time)

Eric Schmidt Will Take Your Questions Now (Video)

Peter Kafka — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:23:03 +0000

Eric Schmidt sat down with Liz Gannes and Ina Fried for nearly an hour yesterday, and if you didn’t watch the livestream, you can see the whole thing over here.

Slightly time-pressed? Then watch the last 17 minutes of the talk, when the Google chairman took questions from the audience at D: Dive Into Mobile. It’s a freewheeling session, and one where Schmidt did everything from hyping Motorola’s next product launch to lecturing a reporter on the way he would like questions phrased. Good stuff.

[ See post to watch video ]

WhatsApp, Snapchat and the Real "Second Screen" — 10 Things You Missed at Day Two of Dive Into Mobile

Eric Johnson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:13:50 +0000

Asa Mathat / AllThingsD.com

And that’s a wrap! After Monday’s half-day kickoff to D: Dive Into Mobile — Global Edition, Tuesday saw a full day of great speakers on topics ranging from messaging to activism to driverless cars. In case you missed it, here’s a good place to start:

Starting at the end: “We’re big believers that this [phone] screen is the first screen,” said Bob Bowman, president of Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media, in the conference’s final interview. “Anybody that doesn’t believe that is living on another planet or doesn’t have children. Reality is the second screen.”
“Our goal with Android is to reach everyone,” Google chairman Eric Schmidt said. “We’ll cross one billion Android devices in six to nine months. In a year or two, we’ll hit two billion.” Schmidt also talked about Google’s self-driving cars and the company’s new gadgets.
Intel said it is getting the hang of mobile — which is good, because the company also reported bleak Q1 earnings today, with a 25 percent drop in profit as demand for PCs declines.
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said his messaging app is now bigger than Twitter, which officially claims 200 million monthly active users. WhatsApp has eight billion inbound and 12 billion outbound messages per day, Koum said.
Meanwhile, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said his photo- and video-messaging app has grown by three times in four months, and that users are now sharing 150 million ephemeral photos per month, versus 40 million permanent pictures per month on Instagram.
A mobile app called Better launched onstage, promising to provide 24/7 concierge medical care to paying users. Better’s offerings include the ability to directly contact doctors and nurses, through a partnership with the Mayo Clinic.
Twitter’s VP of Product Michael Sippey said the site is heavily investing in and focusing on improvements to Twitter’s once-poor search and discovery experience.
Microsoft’s Terry Myerson said Windows Phone is a global competitor, because it has had stronger momentum in markets where carriers do not subsidize phones. He also aimed more than a few potshots at the likes of Android and Facebook.
Nonprofit activism organization DoSomething’s Nancy Lublin announced that the company had reached one million teens via weekly text messages, with a 97 percent open rate.
And lastly — mobile security provider Lookout demonstrated how phones can be hacked via phishing emails with phony app-download links, urging users to be wary of unfamiliar download sources.

These 10 blurbs only scratch the surface, though. For more, please check out our full list of stories from D: Dive Into Mobile.

Riding in Driverless Cars With Eric Schmidt (Video)

John Paczkowski — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:36:51 +0000

What’s it like riding as a passenger in one of Google’s driverless cars? According to company chairman Eric Schmidt, it takes about 20 minutes to recover from the experience after a first trip.

[ See post to watch video ]

Google's Schmidt: "Our Goal With Android Is to Reach Everyone"

John Paczkowski — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:50:29 +0000

With Android, Google has claimed a significant portion of the smartphone market’s higher end. What are the company’s intentions for the OS with respect to the market’s lower end? Is there a market below Android? And will Google leave it to upstart operating systems from the likes of Mozilla?

Short answer, according to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt: Not a chance.

“Our goal with Android is to reach everyone,” Schmidt said during the second day of our D: Dive Into Mobile conference. “We’ll cross one billion Android devices in six to nine months. In a year or two, we’ll hit two billion. And the way that’s going to happen is with the debut of low-end devices from manufacturers, primarily in Asia. If low-end smartphones are inexpensive now, imagine just how inexpensive they’ll be a few years from now. … A relatively inexpensive smartphone with a browser is all you need to get the world’s information. And that’s how we’re going to hit the next billion devices.”

Google's Next Group of Gadgets Will Blow You Away, Says Eric Schmidt

Peter Kafka — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:29:19 +0000

Google chairman Eric Schmidt is spending a lot of time on the road right now — he’s got a new book to promote — but he has popped into Google’s Motorola unit to see what the phone company is working up.

It’s amazing stuff, he promises. And you’ll see it sooner rather than later.

“They have a new set of products, which are phenomenal,” he told Ina Fried and Liz Gannes at D: Dive into Mobile today. “Very, very impressive.”

Ah. Great! So, is he talking about a new generation of phones, or some other stuff that isn’t a phone? “Think of it as phones-plus,” Schmidt said, stone-faced.

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering when Google’s newest wonder product, its cool/creepy Glass glasses, will become mainstream, Schmidt says it has already happened — on the Google campus. It’s totally normal to see people wearing the all-seeing spectacles, all the time, he said.

But what about people who have insisted they want no part of Glass, and have started preemptively banning it from their premises? “I always love people who ban things they’ve never even seen,” Schmidt said.

Mobile Goes Global

Ina Fried and Liz Gannes — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:11:10 +0000

Around the globe, mobile technology is reshaping lives. For the affluent, the smartphone and the tablet have emerged as the dominant means of communication. The introduction of the iPhone six years ago forever changed what was imagined possible, and Apple now faces stiff competition from Google’s Android and such would-be rivals as Microsoft and Mozilla. On the device side, the pioneers of computing are pitted against traditional phone makers as well as startups that have emerged in the smartphone era. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, the rise of sub-$100 smartphones means that billions more will have their first connection to the Internet. And the basic cellphone not only delivers communication but also provides a channel for previously unavailable information about health care, weather and crops.

Like the signature D: All Things Digital event, D: Dive Into Mobile, running today and tomorrow, pointedly avoids the usual slides and speeches, instead spotlighting candid interviews with an array of the most interesting and outspoken execs in the business.

The first D: Dive Into Mobile event, held in 2010, explored the dawn of the smartphone era. This year’s Global Edition will look at the broader impact mobile technology is having on how day-to-day life is carried on across the world. This event was originally slated for last October, but Hurricane Sandy forced a sudden change in plans. We are immensely grateful to all of the speakers, sponsors and attendees who stuck by us. We promise that things will be even better than what we originally had planned for last fall.

D: All Things Digital founders Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher will spend time in the red chairs, to be sure. But they have graciously allowed much of the conference programming to be crafted by the two of us, Ina Fried and Liz Gannes, who spend much of our time reporting on and writing about the world of mobile. Together with Walt, Kara and the growing AllThingsD staff, we look forward to bringing you the stories and strategies behind this global mobile shift. Over the next two days, you’ll hear from some of the biggest names in mobile technology. Fresh from his travels to North Korea and beyond, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will be able to address Google’s wide-ranging mobile efforts, from Android and Chrome to AdMob and YouTube. Long dominant on the desktop, Microsoft and Intel have each had their own struggles in mobile. Intel’s Mike Bell and Microsoft’s Terry Myerson will appear separately to make the case why their company shouldn’t be counted out.

Facebook’s newly minted Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer will address the challenge — one that’s now closely watched by Wall Street — of following the migration of his company’s users from Web to mobile. Meanwhile, browser maker Mozilla is trying to shake up the phone market like it did the Web browser market, by introducing an open alternative to dominant operating systems. You will also hear from a range of speakers who will talk firsthand about how mobile is changing the lives of the young, the poor and those in crisis. We’ve invited Nancy Lublin from the teen activism organization DoSomething.org, along with Juliana Rotich, the Kenyan founder of open source crisis-information service Ushahidi.

Our Global Voices segment will give a place onstage to individuals whose lives have been personally transformed by mobile technology. This is a new project for D that aims to share some of our business and tech spotlight with the real-world people who are the reason all this technology is created in the first place.

And, of course, D: Dive Into Mobile will bring together some of the smartest people in the industry — in the audience. Our hope is that the talks onstage will be the start of a dialogue that continues into the breaks, over the meals, and long after the red chairs have been hauled away.

Please Welcome the ZuckerPAC to Capitol Hill

Mike Isaac — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:59:40 +0000

After weeks of rumors, Mark Zuckerberg pulled back the curtain on his political action committee, FWD.us, on Thursday morning. The Facebook founder’s personal political initiative is aimed at influencing changes to U.S. immigration policy. Spearheaded by Zuckerberg, the group is composed of Silicon Valley luminaries such as Reid Hoffman, Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer and John Doerr.

Watch Google, WhatsApp, Facebook and Ushahidi on Our Dive Into Mobile Livestream

Liz Gannes — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:47:45 +0000

Next week in New York, at D: Dive Into Mobile, we’ll sit down with some of the most interesting leaders in the mobile industry from around the world.

Tickets are scarce, and we understand that not everyone can make it there in person. But our editorial team will be covering the sessions live, and we will release full videos of every session in the ensuing weeks.

And, for one block of interviews, we are offering free live videostreaming.

These include some of our most timely speakers:

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, whose book “The New Digital Age” will be released later this month
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum (who says he’s not getting bought by Google), in one of his first onstage interviews
Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer, just a couple of days after the release of Facebook Home and the HTC First
Juliana Rotich, the executive director of Ushahidi, the citizen report mapping project that just helped facilitate a mostly peaceful Kenyan presidential election

Streaming starts at 9:45 am ET on Tuesday, April 16. There will be a short break between the Google and WhatsApp sessions. There will also be a demo of an exciting new health-care startup that’s currently in stealth mode.

Google's Schmidt Sees Opportunities in Myanmar

Shibani Mahtani — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:30:33 +0000

Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said the technology company will work with the private sector in Myanmar to help the country develop its sluggish telecommunications sector, which he said would be the “most profitable business” in the once-isolated country as it opened up to foreign investment.

“We will focus on getting the telecommunications industry as our partners” in infrastructure development, Mr. Schmidt said Friday to hundreds of students and technology entrepreneurs at a university here. He said repeatedly that the government must allow private-sector investment in the industry and allow faster, data-friendly third- and fourth-generation networks to modernize communication.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Apple Can't Approve Google Now App Until It's Actually Submitted

John Paczkowski — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:06:43 +0000

If Google’s Google Now for iOS app has been submitted to Apple for review, the iPhone maker doesn’t know about it.

Speaking at the Big Tent Summit in India today, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt suggested Google Now for iPhone and iPad has been submitted to Apple and that its release on the iTunes App store now rests solely in its hands. “You’ll need to discuss that with Apple,” Schmidt said, responding to a question about when Google Now will support iPhone. “Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted to its store. Some they approve and some of them they don’t.”

Well, turns out there’s nothing much to discuss with Apple. A spokesperson for the company says that contrary to Schmidt’s implication, Google has not submitted a Google Now app for review.

Tough to bring that policy of “approving or disapproving apps” to one that hasn’t been submitted.

UPDATE:

This just in from Google PR: “We have not submitted Google Now to Apple’s App Store.”

Google's Schmidt Says Executive Moves Don't Necessarily Mean Chrome OS and Android Getting Hitched

Ina Fried — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:25:17 +0000

When Google announced last week that responsibility for Android was shifting to Chrome head Sundar Pichai, it was an easy assumption that Google might be headed toward merging its two operating systems.

However, that’s not necessarily going to be the case, a fact reiterated this week by none other than Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

The two products will remain separate, though they may have more overlap going forward, Schmidt said during a talk in India, according to Reuters.

Indeed, the two have been growing closer, especially since Chrome finally became the browser inside Android.

But closer doesn’t mean one and the same.

Pichai himself said he’s okay with there being two operating systems, at the recent Chromebook Pixel launch.

“We’re comfortable at Google with two viewpoints, and we are doing both,” he said.

Of course, tech companies are famous for saying they aren’t going to do something, right until they do it.

We’ll be sure to ask Schmidt about this and other topics when he takes the stage next month at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference in New York.

Google's Schmidt to Visit Myanmar

Shibani Mahtani — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:15:06 +0000

Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt heads to Myanmar next week, a sign of the Southeast Asian country’s appeal to leading U.S. technology companies as it emerges from decades of secrecy and crippling western sanctions.

The visit on March 22 will be the first by a high-level executive from a U.S. technology giant, as many American companies have been held back by U.S. regulations that restrict their access to this market of 60 million people, giving international rivals an edge.

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San Jose Airport Searches for Google Boost

John Letzing — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:30:29 +0000

Mineta San Jose International Airport has been losing commercial traffic and carrying a heavy debt burden, but a potential new revenue stream from jets owned by top Google Inc. executives and others could give the city-owned facility a lift.

On Friday, San Jose officials will publicly review a plan, backed by airport management, for the construction of a private facility that would house jets belonging to Google Chief Executive Larry Page, his co-founder, Sergey Brin, and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. The city council is expected to vote on the project in the spring.

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The Science of Investing: Hearst's New Venture Arm in $30 Million Funding Deal With Los Angeles Tech Studio

Kara Swisher — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 02:40:05 +0000

Hearst Ventures, the investment arm of media giant Hearst Corporation, said it was making a minority equity investment in Science, the Los Angeles area tech “studio.”

Privately held Hearst is the sole investor in the new funding, although the company declined to reveal financial terms of the investment.

But sources with awareness of the deal said it was close to $30 million for a stake above 20 percent.

Somewhat akin to a startup accelerator, Science is attempting to quickly create and scale a number of promising companies in a variety of areas, and has launched 13 so far.

Among the Santa Monica, Calif., tech studio’s recent efforts: Dollar Shave Club, a subscription-based products company aimed at men; Ellie, which sells high-end activewear for women; and Wittlebee, a clothes club for kids.

Hearst Ventures is operated by Hearst’s Entertainment and Syndication unit, which is run by Scott Sassa and George Kliavkoff. Kliavkoff will join Science’s board of directors.

“It’s clear to us that, while we have these brands that resonate with consumers, we think there are some learnings we can get from these guys that are hard to get in a big company,” said Sassa. “Being able to be nimble with insight and guidance is important for us.”

Kliavkoff also noted that this was a way to get immediate ownership in a range of promising companies. “We are writing one check and will have an immediate stake in more than a dozen great startups,” he said. “[Science] has been very thoughtful in starting companies in smart areas.”

In a statement, Hearst CEO Frank Bennack said: “Hearst is continually looking for smart investments that bring value and intelligence to the company — our investment in Science does both. We’re excited to partner with Science to continue its trajectory of success, gain meaningful industry knowledge and utilize Science’s platforms for current and future Hearst investments.”

Though quieter than most, Hearst Ventures have made many successful investments over 15 years, including in Netscape and Broadcast.com. More recently, it has funded such companies as Brightcove and Pandora, as well as HootSuite and BuzzFeed.

Science was founded in late 2011 — with $10 million funding from big-name investors including Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners and White Star Capital. Its CEO is well-regarded entrepreneur Mike Jones, who was most recently CEO of Myspace. Prior to Myspace, he had started and sold Userplane to AOL in 2006. In addition, well-known entrepreneur Peter Pham is chief business officer at Science.

“I am very proud of work that the Science team has accomplished since launching,” said Jones, in a quick interview tonight (short enough so that his wife would not get angry at me for ruining Valentine’s Day). “I am extremely excited about opportunities for Science companies going forward.”

More to come, but here is the very clever viral video that Dollar Shave Club did on its launch: