AllThingsD » Pacific Northwest

Headless Lawsuit in Topless Blog!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:46:02 +0000

On some level of journalism, I guess anything could happen.

At least that’s according to a recent article by Business Insider’s Henry Blodget about an alleged “mole” at Twitter who was allegedly spying for Google, specifically about an exec the microblogging service was trying to poach from the Silicon Valley search giant.

In a decidedly splashy, hello-traffic, ALL-CAPs headline–THE SEARCH FOR THE “TWITTER MOLE”: All Eyes On John Doerr“–Blodget pointed his J’accuse finger at the legendary venture capitalist as the culprit.

Based on…

Well, based on nothing, it appears, except rank speculation and what appears to be no attempt to get Doerr to comment.

And, while it’s not my cup of tea, whatev, I suppose.

Except when I read down to the bottom and landed on this gem:

We have talked to several sources familiar with aspects of the situation. Thus far, we have not been able to confirm either assertion.

First, no one has even confirmed that Google was tipped off in advance of Twitter’s poaching effort, much less by a Twitter mole.

This doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

And later still:

So we haven’t been able to confirm the “high-level mole at Twitter” story. And we think there’s a good explanation for why there might not be a mole at all.

Secondly, we have talked to no one who has any evidence other than the logic above that, even if there is a Google mole at Twitter, the mole is John Doerr. One insider we spoke to, in fact, dismissed the idea out of hand.

Say what?

It’s kind of like thinking that a sparkly Civil War-era vampire falling in love with a moody chick in the Pacific Northwest and flying through the pines all day and mooning over their cruel fate was real.

Okay, that was a Hollywood movie called “Twilight,” but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen!

Thus, Doerr–a tough customer to be sure, capable of all kinds of sharp-elbowed behavior–is guilty until proven innocent?

Or just not guilty at all, but let’s just say he might be anyway, without a shred of evidence, because it could have happened!

(Courtroom confession: It was All Things Digital‘s Liz Gannes, who did it on the blog with scoop on the Twitter talent raid effort of Sundar Pichai!)

Speaking of evidence, less than a week later, Javert–oops, I mean, Blodget–was back in another kangaroo court performance with another terrifically loud headline:

“The Guy Who Says He Owns 50% Of Facebook Just Filed A Boatload Of New Evidence–And It’s Breathtaking.”

Breathtaking, I guess, if you are in that fantasy teenaged girl mode, but deeply suspect if you are anyone with a modicum of journalistic responsibility.

It is perfectly fine for Blodget to dredge up the copious emails from a man named Paul Ceglia–who alleges he possesses a contract that he struck with Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg at the time of its creation–and analyze them.

And it is certainly notable that a credible law firm, DLA Piper, has taken on the case for Ceglia and it does seems unlikely that it would have done so without doing some level of due diligence.

In fact, in an interview with Am Law Daily, DLA partner Robert Brownlie, international co-chair of the firm’s securities litigation, said: “At first I shrugged it off as incredible. I would not have gotten involved and DLA would not have gotten involved if we had any doubts about the facts or evidence in the case.”

That was, of course, countered by Facebook’s lawyer Orin Snyder at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, who said in a statement that the Ceglia allegations were part of “a fraudulent lawsuit brought by a convicted felon.”

By the way, in fancy-lawyer parlance, that translates to a liar-liar-pants-on-fire defense.

So, microwave the popcorn and get ready for the drama, because no question, it is clearly going to be juicy all around with a whole lot of social networking poking!

In fact, such a case is tailor-made for Blodget, who has always been a very gifted writer with a nose for sharp-edged analysis.

It’s too bad, then, that he did not hone his knife to such an edge when it comes to Ceglia, giving him much too much credibility based on what could be fake emails, especially since they come from a man with a history of fraud.

History, in fact, that Ceglia is depending on in this case, since Zuckerberg most definitely has one in regards to partnerships gone bad.

Thus, Zuckerberg has been sneaky before, ergo he’s sneaky here.

That’s no surprise as a legal tactic, of course, and I threw in the “ergo,” since I too want to play Perry Mason in a blog.

But. More to the point, while Facebook was certainly hard-nosed in dealing with both protracted and high-profile legal challenges from the Winklevoss twins and also Eduardo Severin, I don’t think I have ever seen the company explicitly say evidence was completely fabricated, as it is alleging Ceglia’s emails are.

As I said, I have no idea if they are or they’re not, but I do know this: While those emails are certainly bombshell in nature, they are designed to be so precisely because it is a lawsuit in which the principal is trying to shame Facebook into settling.

None of that seems to concern Blodget, who concludes at the end of the post:

“In short, to us at least, the emails don’t read ‘fake.’”

In short, to me at least, that’s for fake-email experts and the courts to decide.

The real fact of the matter is, who knows? I certainly don’t, although I do know it’s terrifically easy to file a lawsuit and claim just about anything you like.

And the same seems to be true–more and more these days and not for the good–for blogs too.

As for me, I need to get back to my goal of proving that sparkly vampires do exist.

ATD Adds Tricia Duryee (Who Will Add It All Up for Our Readers)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:42:49 +0000

And the hit reporters/bloggers keep on coming at All Things Digital.

Today, we are honored to add Tricia Duryee to the staff of our site, where she will be covering commerce, online payments, gaming and more.

In other words: She’ll show us the money.

Or not, in some cases.

The broad commerce beat is important to ATD, as we focus on what we think is another key space on the Web–a topic that straddles retail, mobile, social and virtual, as companies old and new try to come up with sustainable business models online.

While Amazon and eBay, as well as new upstarts such as Groupon and Square, are the obvious candidates for Tricia’s coverage, how commerce is innovating on the Internet is a wider-ranging story we aim to cover closely.

And Tricia is just the kind of superb beat reporter we were looking for to pioneer the coverage for us.

She comes to ATD from her recent job as Editor of mocoNews.net, an online site dedicated to covering the wireless industry. MocoNews is a sister publication of paidContent.org, and both are owned by the Guardian News & Media.

Tricia joined mocoNews in February 2008 and has written about how the Apple iPhone has changed the cell phone industry, how ringtones are giving way to mobile TV and how the carriers are building out the next-generation of networks.

Prior to mocoNews, Tricia spent eight years at the Seattle Times. In her first five years, she covered venture capital and Seattle’s start-up scene.

And, in her final three years, she wrote about the regional wireless industry, which included stories such as Cingular’s $41 billion acquisition of AT&T and how T-Mobile’s Sidekick was a must-have among celebrities, including NBA All-Stars such as Ray Allen.

The Seattle native attended the University of Oregon, where she received a degree in journalism and a minor in business.

Tricia is located in Seattle still, in a 102-year-old house, with a 10-year-old dog and a more recent husband.

We’re also thrilled Tricia is reporting from there and hope she’ll give our readers a flavor of what’s going on in tech in the Pacific Northwest, which is one of the key digital hubs in the U.S.

ATD Adds Tricia Duryee (Who Will Add It All Up for Our Readers)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:42:48 +0000

And the hit reporters/bloggers keep on coming at All Things Digital.

Today, we are honored to add Tricia Duryee to the staff of our site, where she will be covering commerce, online payments, gaming and more.

In other words: She’ll show us the money.

Or not, in some cases.

And Tricia is just the kind of superb beat reporter we were looking for to pioneer the coverage for us.

Prior to mocoNews, Tricia spent eight years at the Seattle Times. In her first five years, she covered venture capital and Seattle’s start-up scene.

The Seattle native attended the University of Oregon, where she received a degree in journalism and a minor in business.

Tricia is located in Seattle still, in a 102-year-old house, with a 10-year-old dog and a more recent husband.

BoomTown Checks In at the Online-Only Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Kara Swisher — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:05:14 +0000

A little more than a week ago, while I was in the Pacific Northwest for a Microsoft (MSFT) event, I decided to pay a visit on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Or, as its brand is known now: seattlepi.com.

That would be the pixel-only version of the newspaper that was founded in 1863 as that city’s first, publishing a print version until March of 2009.

It was then that the presses stopped and the computing began at the unit, owned by Hearst Corp. The media giant, weary of increasing losses and declining circulation, tried first to sell the P-I and then–with no buyers in sight–transformed it into an Internet-only operation.

This includes a heavy emphasis on hyper-local, breaking news and partnerships and trying to knit together a regional identity for the Seattle area online.

And lots and lots of interaction with readers, via blogs and other ways for them to contribute.

Thus, it’s been chugging away, trying to increase traffic–about four million monthly uniques and 40 million page views–and make some bank, too, via its local digital marketing and advertising services of Hearst Seattle Media, the business arm.

While, as a private company, Hearst declined to give me any actual financial figures, its PR dude wrote me in an email, “We are on track with our business plan and have an aggressive timetable for profitability which we expect we will reach in the next couple of months.”

Let’s hope that happens, as it would be nice to see experiments like these live happily ever after.

Until then, here is my video interview with the seattlepi.com’s Executive Producer Michelle Nicolosi on how it’s going so far, as well as a short tour of the place:

[ See post to watch video ]

BoomTown Gets Ping-Ponged in Seattle by TechFlash

Kara Swisher — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:33:32 +0000

On my trip to Seattle this week to attend Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting, the fine folks at the most excellent tech news site TechFlash dragooned me into a ping-pong tournament they were holding.

The Second Annual TechFlash Summer BBQ and Ping-Pong Tournament, held at the Showbox SoDo, is really a big schmoozefest for techies in the Pacific Northwest.

While a little more laid back–well, less frantic, at least–than the relentless glad-handing of Silicon Valley, it’s still the same promising start-ups, enthusiastic entrepreneurs, aggressive venture capitalists and a dousing of big company types from locals Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and RealNetworks (RNWK).

Except they have better coffee.

I made it through one round in the tourney, which is not that bad since I have not played ping pong for any length of time since I had braids.

(Yes, braids–and also matching ribbons. I try to erase the nightmare of it all every day.)

Here’s a video I did of the event, to which I am going back next year after some rigorous training.

I also added TechFlash’s video of the event, in which I convince the gullible editors that Walt Mossberg plays polo rather than ping pong.

Enjoy:

[ See post to watch video ]

Liveblogging Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting (Morning Session): It's a Beautiful Day?

Kara Swisher — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:24:42 +0000

BoomTown took the corporate All Things Digital jet–aka Virgin America, seat 10A–up to Redmond, Wash., today to attend Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting, which also includes a passel of media drones like me.

I will be liveblogging the event all day, which is essentially a cavalcade of top execs from the software giant taking the stage and showing off their wares.

There should be a little bit of swanning, since Microsoft (MSFT) turned in very good financial results last week, posting a huge increase in earnings and revenue due to the uptick in PC sales and the intro of the Windows 7 operating system. Losses at its Online Services division remained high, so thank goodness for servers and tools!

Here we go:

8:15 am PT: I was late due to the completely confusing streets of suburban Redmond, all of which look exactly alike, as does every building on Microsoft’s sprawling campus. I am a streets of San Francisco girl, obvi.

In the Conference Center, though, things had not started well past the 8 am start time, as we await the entry of investor dude Bill Koefoed.

U2′s “Beautiful Day” was playing over the sound system, which it was not up here in the Pacific Northwest this morning–it was kind of cold and gloomy, a la “Twilight”–but hopefully will be for sparkly Microsoft execs. We’ll see!

Finally, Koefoed came out and started in on feedback, touting the newly renovated investor relations site, which he is “pretty proud of.” It is nice looking, as are most of Microsoft’s hand-out materials.

In fact, he sent me an excited note last week, because I posted Microsoft’s pretty fourth-quarter slides.

Dear Bill: You need much better things to get excited about! Like the new Magic Trackpad from Apple (AAPL)! Wait, I mean Windows Phone 7!

Koefoed moved quickly to point out last week’s strong results, which is no surprise. When you’ve got lemonade, make more lemonade!

Then he outlined the various Microsoft’s eight “core” businesses, such as Xbox, Bing, Microsoft Office, Windows Azure and, of course, Windows, that the company will be going over.

That’s a lot of core, isn’t it?

Some questions to be answered: Business PC refresh and share momentum? Impact of iPad/slates? Windows 7 phone? Expense control?

Beautiful or not, it was going to be a looooong day.

8:42 am: A jaunty Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s COO, bounded out. He tried to get the crowd more lively, but this was not to be unless there was a lot more coffee.

I had great hopes for a goofy quote this morning from Turner, who declared at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference earlier this month about Apple’s antenna controversy: “It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that.”

I don’t know about you, but insulting a competitor by shooting off your own foot is a gift that keeps on giving to me.

In any case, Turner said Microsoft was now “leading with the cloud,” a move that the company had been resisting in the past. Now: All in!

He outlined all the various services for business customers. “We are the market leader in cloud services for business,” said Turner, noting Microsoft had been too quiet about the inevitable move of data and software services to big services in the digital sky.

(Actually, in its secret heart, Microsoft was hoping this whole Internet thing would go away and it would be back to a PC on every desktop, but that horse has left the barn, so it’s cloud time!)

Next up for Turner: The much deserved popularity of Windows 7. Of course, since Vista was Microsoft’s Antennagate–except much, much, much worse–it was not hard to be better.

Turner then moved on to bashing Google (GOOG) and other competitors. Turner put up some quotes from Jaguar employees, after the car company switched to Google for email and other services.

One said Google was like vinyl seats. Ziiiiing!

Next Turner victim: VMware (VMW)! He claimed its products were pricier and not cloudy enough.

As for Linux: Meh!

Oracle (ORCL): Customers don’t want to be locked into the land of Larry Ellison!

Cisco (CSCO): Just you wait, John Chambers!

9:19 am: Turner headed off and Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie started in on his speech, titled “Reimagining Microsoft’s Future.”

That would be the client plus the cloud, natural user interface and something he called “working on your behalf.”

Mundie launched into his future-dude schtick, but he’s not exactly Alvin Toffler, so I started desperately mainlining the caffeine.

He talked about movable data centers, the “Internet of Things” and other cloud innovations, but there is no new idea here to blow your mind.

Is it too much to wish Mundie would talk about an invisibility cloak? Instead, it was the orchestration of data authority.

That will apparently be a new data marketplace product, codenamed Dallas, to shop for giant data sets and more.

Mundie than showed off some personalization-driven features in the Bing search service, which are also not new concepts.

For example, he showed a menu, embedded in a table, that might know what you like to eat at a particular restaurant you frequent.

This is what would be on my table and there is no need of a fancy computer table to know this: Donuts, donuts, donuts.

Speaking of which, FAM minions: Where the heck were my donuts?

Mundie then moved onto Kinect, once called Project Natal, the actually cool gesture interface for gaming that will be available for Xbox soon.

Finally, he finished up with a video clip of a medical triage assistant. Great, even less customer service from hospitals. The demo was flatly freaky.

The morning session wrapped up with a visit to the technology showcase to “expect the unexpected,” although I was not expecting that in any way, and then it was off to lunch.

Next up in the afternoon session: CEO Steve Ballmer at 1 pm PT.

RealNetworks Founder Glaser Becomes a VC at Accel–The Venture Firm That Backed Him 15 Years Ago

Kara Swisher — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:50:06 +0000

Rob Glaser, the founder of RealNetworks, is joining Accel Partners as a part-time venture partner.

Ironically, it was Accel that first funded the digital media pioneer, leading a critical $5.7 million round for RealNetworks (RNWK) in 1995.

Glaser said in an interview with BoomTown this afternoon that he will focus on digital media, as well as social and mobile start-ups, especially in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest area where he lives and where he founded RealNetworks.

As for becoming a VC after years of being an entrepreneur, Glaser (pictured here) said he was looking forward to being on the other side, especially at Silicon Valley-based Accel.

“I have never seen a more entrepreneurially-aligned venture firm,” he said. “And it is a really exciting time to be investing in a firm with that kind of high-density intelligence.”

The rest of Glaser’s time will be devoted to his board duties, as well as other political and charitable pursuits, including focusing on new baby: 10-day-old son, Max.

Glaser stepped down as longtime CEO of RealNetworks earlier this year, but has remained its chairman and owns more than one-third of its shares.

Although the company has struggled in recent years, RealNetworks has been a genuine and innovative pioneer in Web audio and video software and an early player in Web music services, although not everyone was a fan of the technology, because of its aggressive deployment.

The company was originally called Progressive Networks after Glaser’s political bent.

There have been several well-known entrepreneurs who have turned into VCs–most recently, Netscape Communications founder Marc Andreessen, who started a firm.

Here’s the official press release:

Rob Glaser, Founder of RealNetworks, joins Accel Partners

Palo Alto, CA, May 25, 2010: Accel Partners, a leading global venture capital and growth equity firm operating in Silicon Valley, Europe, Israel, China and India, today announced that Rob Glaser has joined the firm as a Venture Partner. At Accel, Rob will focus on digital media technology, social media, and mobile service investments.

Rob currently serves as Chairman of RealNetworks, which he founded in 1994. Rob has been a member of the Accel Partners family since it invested in Real(Nasdaq: RNWK) in 1995. In addition to his role as Chairman, Rob served as Real’s CEO from February 1994 through January 2010, leading the company from scratch to over $500 Million in revenue. Real went public in 1997.

Rob’s extensive experience as a digital and social media pioneer should prove to be an asset for Accel’s renowned and growing technology portfolio. Jim Breyer, a Managing Partner in Accel’s Palo Alto office, said “We have been delighted to work with Rob as an entrepreneur and CEO since 1995. His thought-leadership in the world of digital media and the consumer internet are well known, and we are very excited to have him join the Accel team in his new role as “Venture Partner.”

“After years of working with Accel as an entrepreneur, I look forward to working side-by-side with the Accel team to help identify companies which will benefit from the same kind of resources and partnership RealNetworks was so fortunate to have,” said Rob. “There are a wealth of promising startups in the world of digital media and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Accel to help them succeed.”

Prior to founding RealNetworks, Rob worked for Microsoft for 10 years in a number of executive positions, including Vice President of Multimedia and Consumer Systems. Before joining Microsoft, Rob founded his first company, Ivy Research, in 1981 to make games for the newly launched IBM PC. Rob has also been an early stage investor in several successful technology companies including TellMe, PlanetOut, and SmileBox. Rob’s relationship with Accel is parttime, enabling him to keep time open for other engagements, including continuing to serve as Chairman of RealNetworks.

Rob is a 1983 graduate of Yale University, with a B.A. and M.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Computer Science.

RealNetworks to Lay Off Four Percent of Staff Today

Kara Swisher — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:34:22 +0000

The Seattle area is going to get another jobless jolt today, with RealNetworks planning to lay off four percent of its workforce, sources said.

That’s a small number–just about 70 people out of its 1,700-person staff–but the move comes on the heels of layoffs of another 800 employees at nearby Microsoft yesterday.

The software giant has cut thousands of jobs over the last year, part of a move to eliminate 5,000 positions by mid-2010.

While the dismissals–which are likely to be announced by managers to affected RealNetworks (RNWK) employees sometime this morning–will be global, both companies are tech leaders with headquarters in the Pacific Northwest.

According to sources, the reasons for the layoffs at RealNetworks are, as was the case at Microsoft (MSFT), to realign the workforce after the recent economic downturn and to control costs.

But RealNetworks could also hire back some of the laid-off employees, as other parts of the company are expanding.

The company had signaled the possibility of staff cuts previously, but had not been specific.

The last staff cuts at the company, which makes digital media software and tools, were larger, about 130 employees sacked about a year ago.

RealNetworks announced better-than-expected third-quarter earnings last week, barely returning to profitability by cutting costs to make up for weaker revenue.

(Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski contributed to this report.)

Microsoft Execs Got Compensation Axed, as Ballmer Touts "The New Efficiency" (Which Sounds Painful!)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:34:07 +0000

BoomTown happens to be in the Seattle area today, deep in the heart of Microsoft territory, which apparently is now living in a state of “new normal” according to a missive by the software giant’s CEO, Steve Ballmer.

Well, it all looks the same to me, but in an “executive e-mail” post yesterday titled “The New Efficiency,” Ballmer has continued to stress a theme he has been sounding since earlier this year about how the entire business ecosystem has to reset itself.

Of course, the “new efficiency” is also the new buzzword around the upcoming launch of Windows 7 and part of an event Microsoft had in San Francisco yesterday, as well as a Web site.

Now, that’s efficient!

Wrote Ballmer in the long post:

“So what is the nature of this shift? After years of economic expansion fueled by unrealistic rates of consumption and unsustainable levels of private debt, the global economy has reset at a lower baseline level of activity. Today, people borrow less, save more, and spend with much greater caution.

“This is the new normal and it will be with us for some time to come. The issue now is how to respond.”

At the same time, in its proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in advance of its Nov. 19 annual meeting, Microsoft (MSFT) also revealed that the direct compensation of its top execs had been cut rather significantly in 2009 compared to 2008, even though the figures are still large to most average people.

Previously, Microsoft had announced that it had frozen merit-based raises for these execs.

Noted the proxy:

“Reflecting the company’s performance during the severe economic downturn, our executive officers, taken as a group, received Incentive Plan awards equal to 77% of their target awards and 29% lower than the comparable cash bonus and stock awards for fiscal year 2008.”

This was mostly due to declines in the “fair market value of the stock awards at grant,” which Microsoft tried to compensate for in a small way, mostly via increased cash incentive payments.

Ballmer, for example, took in $1.265 million compared to $1.34 before, while COO Kevin Turner’s take-home went from $8.6 million to $5.4 million.

And CFO Chris Liddell–who has been sounding the economic alarm at Microsoft over the last year as its results have weakened, but in a jauntily charming Kiwi accent–took in $3.5 million, down from a previous $4.8 million.

Said the filing about the exec haircuts, which you can read about in detail here:

“In each case, financial results were less than expected due to the impact of worldwide economic conditions on our business. As a result, the Incentive Plan awards to our named executive officers for fiscal year 2009 were below both the target level for their awards and their actual fiscal year 2008 incentive compensation awards.”

Pretty glum overall, much like the rainy winter-is-coming weather that has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest.

Still, in his post–in which he touts the upcoming Windows 7 and other Microsoft products as helpers to ease the economic pain, natch–Ballmer (pictured here at a recent analysts meeting) noted the silver lining in the dark clouds:

“I’m optimistic because I believe we are entering a period of technology-driven transformation that will see a surge in productivity and a flowering of innovation.”

Until then, apparently, as Ballmer also wrote: “With less, do more.”

Yahoo to Get 110 Percent of Search Revenue in First Two Years of Deal With Microsoft

Kara Swisher — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:17:02 +0000

[CORRECTION: My sources, unusually reliable, were off on the 110 percent figure; as announced by Yahoo and Microsoft, "Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88 percent of search revenue generated on Yahoo!'s O&O sites during the first five years of the agreement."]

Oh, the details keep rolling in about the terms of the Yahoo-Microsoft online advertising and search deal, which is expected to be announced sometime tomorrow.

According to several sources close to the situation, as part of the pending deal–in which Yahoo (YHOO) would sell search advertising for its sites and some of Microsoft’s, while Microsoft’s Bing search technology would power it–Yahoo would get to keep pretty much all the revenue and even more for the next three years.

This might be the “boatloads of money” that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said–in an interview with me at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference in May–the company needed to strike the partnership with Microsoft (MSFT).

Sources said that in the first two years of the deal, Yahoo would keep 110 percent of all revenue. And, in the third, Yahoo would get 90 percent.

That could represent many billions of dollars, since Yahoo will be selling for both.

For Microsoft, the payment will–within four years–allow the software giant to become the de facto No. 2 search technology player after Google (GOOG).

It is not clear if there have been any guarantees on revenue made by Microsoft, but there is no upfront payment being paid to the Silicon Valley-based Yahoo.

As previously reported, the pair have reached an agreement that would link the Internet giants into close partnership.

More to come as it develops, of course–as I wing my way to the Pacific Northwest for Microsoft’s annual meeting for analysts on Thursday in order to annoy as many top execs as possible.

And, in case you are interested, here is a highlights video of the interview that I did with Bartz at D7, in which she talks about Microsoft and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

Would Microsoft's New Search Name Smell as Sweet if It Were Named After a Cherry or a Soprano?

Kara Swisher — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:03:40 +0000

What’s in a name?

Well, a lot, actually, and BoomTown supposes it would be just like those Pacific Northwest types at Microsoft to name the new version of its search service “Bing,” presumably after the cherry that is a big product in the company’s home state.

That moniker is one of many being bandied about in a group the software giant could be considering for the big relaunch of its search service, which the company has been prepping.

Microsoft’s search service is currently called–zzzzz–Live Search.

“All About Microsoft” crack blogger Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet recently wrote about the Bing name, which is registered to the company, as well as “Hook” and the one that Microsoft is using now as its test name, Kumo.

Kumo means “cloud” and “spider” in Japanese, which seems a wee bit esoteric.

Today, paidContent.org dropped “Sift” into the mix, although it seems to be related to mobile phones, along with “Swivel.”

I, for one, am feeling both like flour and getting dizzy at the thought of those names.

Foley at ZDnet feels the same, noting today in a post:

“(Would Microsoft be crazy enough to trademark its general Web search engine and its search engine for mobile with two different names, say Bing and Sift? As Windows Live has shown, truth can be stranger than fiction….)”

Microsoft (MSFT), of course, is keeping the name for its search service under tight wraps, but it is obviously going to be spending a shipload of money on its branding in another attempt to catch market leaders Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO).

Microsoft has been recently talking to Yahoo about a search partnership deal, although they are likely both to keep their brands and search products in any event.

Nonetheless, execs and minions in the know laugh at me loudly when I ask them to leak it to me.

(Note to anyone at Microsoft: Pretty please, someone leak it to me, even if it’s in the form of a memo from the leaky cauldron that is Yahoo.)

I doubt someone will, though. “It’s like Fort Knox secret,” said one Softie source, referring to the Kentucky fortress where the largest amount of the United States gold reserves are stored.

Hey, if Auric Goldfinger, OddJob and Pussy Galore could get into Fort Knox in that most excellent James Bond film, I can certainly find out the name of Microsoft’s search service!

Personally, I like Bing, and cherries from Washington state are indeed tasty (and coming soon too!)

According to the Heart of Washington Web site, its state’s cherries rate. Some fun factoids:

- Washington State produces more than 50 percent of all the sweet cherries in the United States.
- The Rainier cherry, which is yellow with a red blush, was made from a cross between two dark red cherries, the Van and Bing.
- Americans eat approximately 2.6 pounds of cherries per year.
- There are approximately 53 pitted cherries in one pound of cherries.
- The Bing cherry, which all cherries are measured against, was first developed in 1874 in Milwaukie, Ore.
- The Bing cherry was named after one of Seth Lewelling’s workers. The Bing cherry was developed by Seth Lewelling.
- Washington cherries are shipped around the world; the top three foreign markets are Canada, Taiwan and Japan.
- In 2001, there were 29,000 acres of sweet cherries in the state.
- The Washington cherry season begins in late May with some product seen at farmer’s markets. Commercial shipping begins around June 5, and will continue until mid-August. The peak of the season runs from June 20 to Aug. 1.

Plus, if Microsoft uses Bing, they could also rebrand their MSN online service, “Bada” and their email product, “Boom.”

Then, they can get Tony Soprano as their spokesman with the motto: “Bada Bing, Bada Boom, Notta Bada Algorithm!”

Or better still: “If you use Google, we’ll whack you!”

Now, that’s more like it.

Kara Visits iLike in Seattle!

Kara Swisher — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:39:22 +0000

On my recent trip to Seattle, I visited the offices of iLike in the Capitol Hill section of that lovely Pacific Northwest city to take a video gander at one of the more interesting start ups to emerge from the social-networking arena.

The music discovery site, unlike a lot of others in its sector, has been plugging away for several years with much less funding–about $16 million from the founding Partovi twin brothers, former AOL (TWX) wunderkind Bob Pittman and a big slug from Ticketmaster (IAC)–but with a lot more impact.

Like its competitors, such as Last.fm, it has forged its popularity by focusing on linking its users with one other and musical artists via what they like to listen to.

Kind of like that old shampoo cliché: She told two friends and she told two friends and so on and so on and so on.

It’s actually quite an infectious app and also Web site, with 30 million registered users, and it’s one of the few that is useful on social-networking sites like Facebook, hi5, Orkut and Bebo.

So useful, in fact, that Facebook has selected the service as one of only two “preferred” partners, a designation Facebook announced today at its second developers conference in San Francisco.

iLike was the brainchild of Ali and Hadi Partovi, longtime Web entrepreneurs who have also worked at big companies like Microsoft (MSFT), and whose interest in music and online delivery was the inspiration for the site.

To make money, iLike has a number of businesses.

First and foremost it is essentially a lead-generator for sites like Amazon (AMZN), iTunes, Ticketmaster, and more recently, the Rhapsody subscription music service, with which it just added a somewhat restricted full-song playback offering.

And iLike has just launched an ad platform for concert promoters.

The brand itself, although focused on music right now, obviously has extension possibilities (iLike movies? iLike TV? iLike tacky theme parks?).

Most observers of iLike assume it will sell to a larger entity eventually, such as Ticketmaster, for whom the site has become a major referrer.

But the Partovis–who have sold start ups before–insist they want to build the iLike brand.

Here’s a video interview with Hadi Partovi in which we talk about all this and more, along with a tour of iLike’s offices:

[ See post to watch video ]

Who Has Stolen the Old Jerry Yang? (But No Need to Return Him!)

Kara Swisher — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:38:00 +0000

Could the new and improved Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang actually manage to beat back the proxy fight being waged against him by activist investor Carl Icahn?

It increasingly looks that way, with only 12 days to go until Yahoo’s annual meeting on Aug. 1.

But exactly which Yang will be running Yahoo (YHOO), if he does win, is probably the most important question shareholders need to ask.

Will it be the seemingly energetic Yang of the past two weeks, invigorated by the battle with Icahn and his new best friend and Yahoo foe, Microsoft (MSFT)?

Or will it be the other Yang?

Because for months and months now, since Microsoft waged its takeover bid on the Internet company he founded, the woe-is-me vibe emanating from Yang has been working the last nerve of anyone paying attention to the proceedings.

Given that this vibe was combined with a kind of cave dweller PR strategy of not speaking publicly–other than releasing an indignant, noncapitalized letter every now and then about the situation–some questioned Yang’s ability to gin up the kind of passion needed to bring Yahoo back from its current straits.

Even before the Microsoft parry in February, the ho-hum mood had trickled down to the troops, causing lower morale, too many departures and a general feeling–deserved or not–that Yahoo has been circling the drain for much too long under its current lackluster leadership.

And, let us not forget the drippy stock performance either.

And while BoomTown, especially, has to give both Yang and also Yahoo President Sue Decker much credit for appearing onstage at our sixth D: All Things Digital conference in May, most who saw the appearance (we posted the whole thing last week, starting here) were not blown away by the performance, considering it too enervated.

What then, do we make of the current round of pugnacious, dare-we-say, passionate, and, as it seems, pretty effective moves Yang has made this week to ward off the attacks of Icahn and Microsoft?

I should have gotten clued-in to the shift when Yang actually made contact with me on July 9, after being out-of-touch for many, many moons, presumably due to pique over my 100-day Sacred Cow Countdown (he started it!).

As it happened, I was in Seattle visiting a lot of Pacific Northwest companies, including Microsoft, when he called.

After our discussion, I published these choice quotes from Yang in a post on July 10, titled “Jerry Yang’s Pledge: Not on My Watch”:

“I think handing over the company to Carl Icahn for the express purpose of hoping he can negotiate a complex deal with Microsoft is a big mistake for shareholders. This is particularly true since Icahn has no plan B and therefore will have no leverage and will be dealing with Microsoft from a position of weakness.

“Furthermore, Microsoft’s interest in Yahoo has been inconsistent at best and they refuse to even put a firm proposal on the table. Their motivations are suspect and there is simply no good reason to think they will actually show up at the end of the day. And then what will shareholders be left with? A weakened, Icahn-controlled Yahoo.”

Then Yang went into overdrive over that next weekend as Yahoo managed to make a new Microsoft search proposal–which was really very, very generous–look radioactive by loudly declaring that Icahn’s taking over of Yahoo was crazy-glued to the plan.

It was not, but no amount of Microsoft spinning could undo the damage of what looked like a goofy power play by Icahn and Microsoft.

That was followed at the end of last week by the news that Yahoo had convinced one big investor, Bill Miller of Legg Mason Capital Management (who has always been a supporter of Yang and especially, Decker), to back the current board.

Legg Mason owns about 4.4 percent of Yahoo.

While not saying it was final, Miller noted that it was his intention to stick with Yahoo’s leadership, adding that he also wanted Yahoo and Icahn to settle their differences before the annual meeting.

Of course, Miller still tried to get Microsoft back to the table, noting, “If Microsoft wants to acquire Yahoo, it can make the terms and conditions of its offer public.”

One can hope, Bill! (Actually, as I have written many times, Microsoft should make that move if it really intends to compete against Google.)

But, best of all, was Yahoo sticking a big fat banner on its much-trafficked home page Friday, alerting its users–most of whom were really just minding their own business and trying to get their daily horoscopes.

Nonetheless, in a box that flashed various outrages about the proxy fight, Yahoo linked to a presentation that pretty much called Icahn a Luddite. It included a quote attributed to him from The Wall Street Journal: “It’s hard to understand these technology companies.”

You can say that again, Carl!

And Yang did say it again in video message to Yahoo employees, noting, “We’re taking full advantage of the power of our network to remind our stockholders why voting for Carl Icahn’s board of directors is a bad choice.”

Ah, there is nothing like a technically clueless billionaire as an enemy to get Yang’s blood boiling!

Apparently, that has helped employee morale too. This weekend, I have heard from several execs contemplating leaving, tired of waiting for the 12th shoe to drop, who noted that more passion from Yang was helping.

“People feel like he is showing some strength, which you never see,” said one. “It sounds corny, but we want someone we believe in.”

Well, we’ll see if institutional investors believe, after they get a recommendation midweek from the large proxy-advisory service ISS Governance Services, which Yang and other Yahoo execs and board members visited last week to make their case.

That will come one day after Yahoo releases its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, which I am sure will be decent, as they just have to be, considering the hubbub around Yahoo.

(And you can be sure Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen is working overtime this weekend, adding in all he can to make the picture as pretty as possible.)

It’ll be a big week for Yahoo, as usual, made bigger if Icahn does not mount an effective offense, such as releasing a cogent plan of his own and showing he has some managers in the wings who can run Yahoo if he were to get the reins.

Which Yang is not showing any signs of giving up anytime soon.

I fully expect Yang to get even more hopped up this week with more speeches to employees, more visits to shareholders and perhaps even more calls to the press. (BoomTown is waiting by the phone!)

Of course, this is all just show. And while it’s a good one, as I said, the most important thing everyone has to keep in mind is what this all means after Aug. 1.

So I have some questions for Yang:

Does he have the energy and vision and, most important, management chops, to really move the needle at Yahoo and make the kinds of changes it needs?

And what are those changes? More of the same direction (more social, more open) or perhaps a much more radical focus on core businesses like content and communications?

And what about search, a losing game as Yahoo inevitably will be crushed between Google (GOOG) and Microsoft? And what about fending off that pair’s new focus on display advertising, where Yahoo does excel?

Will Yang, if he does not think he has what it takes, be willing to step aside? And does that mean Decker will become CEO, or will he bring in new outside execs who have not been part of the problems of the past?

I could go on and on, of course, but it pretty much boils down to one key question:

Is the Yang who acts like he can win really here to stay?

Kara Visits Seattle (No Sign of Carl Icahn at Microsoft Though!)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:18:59 +0000

Over the last two days, BoomTown has been enjoying the perfect Pacific Northwest summer weather, visiting several Seattle-based Internet companies and also Microsoft HQ in nearby Redmond.

Seattle is still essentially Silicon Valley North, except a lot more laid back and with much less of an egregiously opportunistic, what’s-the-next- hot-start-up tone one feels any day of the week in Palo Alto.

I used to come to Washington state a lot about a decade ago, while covering Microsoft’s MSN, RealNetworks (RNWK) and Amazon (AMZN)–which continue to be the major trio of digital bigwigs here–as the Internet beat reporter at The Wall Street Journal.

I plan on coming back a lot more over the next year, focusing more closely on Microsoft’s (MSFT) still uncertain Web efforts and also on a wide range of other companies here.

So far, it seems to be off to a good start.

While here I had a blabby dinner with RealNetworks’ Rob Glaser, where we talked about online games and music and Sen. Barack Obama (Glaser is a big supporter).

I also went to see Delve Networks (or, as I like to call it–Not-Brightcove), social networking facilitator WetPaint and the music social networking service iLike (which I really like).

Also on the agenda was a day-long visit to Microsoft, to get updated on some thankfully non-Yahoo products and services and what the company’s research and Live Labs units are working on.

Of course, there was Yahoo talk too, but–even up here–it’s hard to avoid.

All this and more will be part of postings and videos next week in this column on what the geeks in this coffee-inundated city are up to.