experience

Here Are Some More Yahoo CEO Choices: Liddell, Rosenblatt, Desmond

Kara Swisher in News on December 27, 2011 at 4:12 am PT

Let’s throw a few more names on the fire!

With No-Yahoo-CEO Pledge, David Kenny Back in the Strategic Fray

Kara Swisher in Media on November 8, 2011 at 12:42 pm PT

What will David Kenny do? Maybe get something cooking in the whole what-will-Yahoo-do stakes, now that one of Yahoo’s more active board members is back.

Yahoo’s Product Runway: Are You In or Out?

Kara Swisher in Media on November 2, 2011 at 10:41 am PT

I am here at Yahoo HQ in Sunnyvale, Calif., to check out “Product Runway,” which is the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s attempt to show that it can still innovate.

On The Verge of a New Tech Site, Which Finally Debuts

Kara Swisher in Media on October 31, 2011 at 7:18 pm PT

Tonight at 1 am PT, techies who have nothing else to do — that would be me! — can click onto a brand new tech site called The Verge.

Google Confirms That Groupon COO Will Be Google's Margo Georgiadis

Kara Swisher in News on April 21, 2011 at 11:14 am PT

Margo Georgiadis, VP of Global Sales Operations at Google, will be COO of Groupon, Google confirmed. She is currently located in Chicago, where the social buying site is headquartered. Besides COO, BoomTown will officially bestow the title of “Chief Cat Wrangler” on her in recognition of the massive organizational job ahead of her at the notoriously chaotic start-up.

Yahoo Hires Tim Parsey as Head UX Designer

Kara Swisher in News on March 30, 2011 at 3:43 am PT

In an interview BoomTown did yesterday with Yahoo’s Chief Product Officer Blake Irving–the video of which will be posted later today–at the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s HQ in Sunnyvale, he managed to actually give me some news to report: the hire of crackerjack user experience designer Tim Parsey as SVP of User Experience Design.

Wanted: Groupon COO. Must Like Cat-Wrangling, Lack of Spotlight and International Travel (Post-Samwer)

Kara Swisher in News on March 29, 2011 at 10:37 am PT

Of all the many job openings in tech, perhaps the most interesting to watch will be who Groupon selects as its next COO, after the recent announcement that it was parting ways with President and COO Rob Solomon. Requirements for running the Chicago-based social buying site: epic cat-wrangling of thousands of employees in far-flung locations; deep marketing and advertising prowess; high-level technology, product, mobile and e-commerce chops; and international experience. Also, please stand in the shadows.

Nokia's Stephen Elop Didn't Start the Fire–But His "Burning Platform" Certainly Lights One

Kara Swisher in News on February 9, 2011 at 6:15 am PT

Memo to tech CEOs everywhere: Now that’s how to write an internal memo. That would be the 1,300-word one that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop apparently penned for employees at the Finnish telecom giant, which inevitably leaked to the media. In it, he uses the harsh but cogent metaphor of a burning oil platform to take a bracing opening shot at turning around Nokia.

Facebook Sets Mobile Sights on HTML5

Liz Gannes in Social on January 25, 2011 at 12:15 pm PT

“Mobile is our primary focus for our platform this year,” Facebook CTO Bret Taylor told an audience of developers at the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco today.

If (When) Goopon Closes, Remember Her Name: Google's Commerce Chief Stephanie Tilenius

Kara Swisher in News on December 2, 2010 at 4:45 am PT

As the possible acquisition of Groupon by Google chugs along–sources tell me bankers are starting to swan around annoyingly, which could be a sign of fruition, but we shall see–BoomTown realized that I have been remiss in mentioning one likely key person in the deal strategy. And, I am only guessing, that would be the search giant’s relatively new head of commerce, Stephanie Tilenius. That’s because the unassuming former longtime eBay exec–you won’t see her all over the scene swanning, for sure–is one of the few at the company sharp enough to have seen Groupon’s copious local retail data as a strong fit into Google.