AllThingsD has gotten a lot of requests for the full interviews from the ninth D: All Things Digital conference, which took place last week.

It was indeed a crackerjack series of tech and media top players on stage, as well as a handful of amazing demos (more grilled cheese please!).

And, as promised, we’ll start posting them in their entirety, starting some time next week. We already posted one I did with Alibaba Group CEO and co-founder Jack Ma over the weekend, to get those interested in our upcoming AsiaD conference in October in Hong Kong familiar with our style.

Until we start posting the interviews — including the comedy stylings of Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, sayings from Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, Disney CEO Bob Iger trying to get me to go to his theme parks again and more — you can read some of the transcripts here in this special Wall Street Journal section from earlier this week.

The Pasadena, Calif.-based company also acquired the independently developed BlackBerry application UberTwitter, adding to its acquisition of Echofon (the Twitter client for iPhone and other Mac devices) at the beginning of the month and Twidroyd (Twitter for Android) in September. Update: On Monday UberMedia said it had acquired an additional company, Mixx, the former competitor to Digg that now curates social media channels for brands.

UberMedia, despite its seemingly perpetual identity crisis, has particular notoriety because its founder and CEO, Bill Gross, first popularized paid search advertising with his company GoTo.com in the late ’90s. When Gross first launched the company last April, he said he’d do the same thing for Twitter.

Since then, Twitter has launched its own ad system and tightened up on permissions for rival ad networks.

UberMedia has let its Twitter account recommendation widgets languish, but says they will be relaunched soon as a new product called FollowMe. Meanwhile, the Twitter clients the company has acquired have a combined three million active users. They are some of the leading independent options, despite somewhat precarious positioning now that Twitter has launched its own official clients for most every platform.

Gross is traveling in Europe this week, but UberMedia COO Jon Kraft got on the phone with NetworkEffect over the weekend to say that there is indeed a method behind all this name-changing and client-acquiring madness. Here’s an edited transcript:

NetworkEffect: Why the name UberMedia?

Kraft: Obviously we’re very excited about the acquisition of UberTwitter, and we felt like our mission had expanded a bit since we first launched. It was really all about this paid search platform, and PostUp was a great name….

And before that you had another name, TweetUp.

Yes, but as we started to grow our business on the client side, we saw ourselves increasingly as a media company. We’re not crazy about the fact that we’ve changed our name twice now, but hopefully we’ll build a company around that brand.

How did this acquisition strategy come about?

We first bought Twidroyd seven months ago, and we really loved what we learned about the way consumers use Twitter.

What is the involvement of the founders of the companies you bought? Are they all running their respective apps?

Obviously a big part of what makes those companies exciting is the passion of the founders, so we encourage them to operate fairly independently.

Who is the staff of UberMedia?

We have some business development to create partnerships, but the vast majority is engineers. We have a little over 40 employees as a distributed team.

And what’s happened to the sponsored Twitter accounts and tweets?

We’re still very excited about what we’re doing with the marketplace, but there are a number of other innovations that we’re planning. The bigger vision is to innovate inside the Twitter ecosystem.

What does that mean in the context of Twitter competing within its ecosystem, especially through Twitter clients? That doesn’t seem like a category other start-ups and investors are investing in as much today.

It’s not easy to organically grow a new Twitter client from scratch, it’s a real challenge. But I think the Twitter platform is still greatly under-leveraged, and there’s surprisingly low penetration of Twitter users today.

But it’s not as if Twitter allows application makers to just make whatever money they want on its platform.

Twitter has been understandably conservative about wanting to protect the user experience across their platform, so we’re being conservative as well and thinking of other ways to innovate and monetize.

What is your company’s relationship with Twitter?

It’s a great relationship. I can’t talk details about what we’re discussing, but the relationship is quite good.

Are you raising more funding? [UberMedia, which launched out of Gross's Idealab, had previously raised $3.5 million from Index Ventures, Betaworks, Revolution, First Round Capital and others.]

We’re not talking about our funding right now, but obviously you have to raise money in order to grow aggressively.

Will you keep acquiring? It seems like you have Twitter clients for most of the major platforms now.

It is possible, but not top of our priority list.

One things you have not had is a problem with agility.

That’s a concise way to put it.

What about Bill Grosss involvement? Is he still CEO or is he doing other Idealab stuff?

Absolutely. He’s head-down 100 percent on this project.

Among the topics we discussed were the rise and fall of social networking sites and whether that makes them fads, the implications of oversharing from a young age and the potential for social networks to become more productive and engaging.

It was a fun chat, and you can now listen to it and read the transcript online.

You can also read my recent trend story about multiple online identities that helped spark the conversation.

Today, The Wall Street Journal published its special tab, both online and offline, featuring edited transcripts of some of the interviews Walt Mossberg and I did at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference last week.

The excerpts come from interviews we did with Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer, Hollywood megadirector James Cameron, Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski, NPR CEO Vivian Schiller and Ford (F) CEO Alan Mulally.

Also: A look back at quotes from past D conferences, which just makes BoomTown feel old.

Check it all out here.

And you can also see the full video of the interview with Jobs here. All Things Digital will be posting all the videos from D8, with a new one going up each Monday and Thursday.

Good day everyone … and thank you for joining us. For the past few years, we have been very open in outlining the major steps for AMD’s transformation into a processing powerhouse:

• From the acquisition of ATI Technologies;
• To the formation of GLOBALFOUNDRIES; and
• The creation of AMD-The Product Company,
  o with a single business unit,
  o a reinvigorated roadmap,
  o a new business model,
  o And a close relationship with a world-class leading-
  edge foundry.

Today, I am pleased to announce the last major component of that transformation–in the form of a transparent and public agreement with Intel to create a level playing field in the x86 processor industry–taking us one big step closer to achieving our bold vision.
There are three key components to the agreement:

• First, Intel has agreed to an important set of ground rules that we hope will define the path to a free and open market in the microprocessor industry;
• Second, we have agreed to a new patent cross-license agreement that gives AMD broad rights and the freedom to operate a business utilizing multiple foundries,
• And third, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has agreed to terms that allow them the freedom to operate as an independent world-class leading-edge foundry company, going forward, without being a subsidiary of AMD.

In addition, Intel has agreed to pay AMD $1.25 billion.

Today marks the beginning of a new era… one that confirms that the game has changed for AMD. It is an important milestone for us, for our customers, our partners, and most important–for consumers and businesses worldwide. In addition, it represents the culmination many years of litigation and regulatory engagement.

And we are optimistic that it will usher a new era for our industry. We recognize that it will take time for people to understand how operating conditions in the processor business have changed–but make no mistake–they have changed.

I would like to thank the regulatory agencies around the world for their diligence and consistency. Their work has enabled us to achieve this milestone. We are optimistic they will continue their vigilance in maintaining a level playing field, especially with respect to exclusionary practices in our industry.

Looking forward to three keys to our continued success: Compelling offerings; Access to customers and channels, And a winning business model.

We are optimistic this agreement addresses concerns about customer and channel access and our business model. We look forward to healthy competition with the mutual respect one would expect between world-class competitors.

Can the paper cut costs even more? It’s going to try, starting with a 100-person cut in its newsroom, which will bring headcount down by eight percent. But the Times is also counting on the ad market to pick up at some point, and it says it can now see the faint outline of a recovery taking shape.

During the paper’s earnings call yesterday, it offered a bit of insight into who was buying ads and who wasn’t. In the latter category: Banks, mutual funds and insurance companies, which were burning cash a year ago in an effort to convince customers that things were okay; movie studios and telcos also pulled back. But health-care spending was up, via big pharma and hospitals. Were they pitching consumers or legislators?

Bear in mind that ad revenue dropped 26.9 percent for the quarter, so all of this is relative. So when the Times talks about seeing “encouraging signs of improvement,” as CEO Janet Robinson mentioned in a press release yesterday, what exactly does she mean?

Here’s Robinson’s answer to that question, delivered during yesterday’s call. Transcript via Seeking Alpha:

We’re seeing improvement, a modest improvement. We’re seeing certainly more requests for proposals across the board. We’re seeing a modest growth in regard to commitment. We still are seeing just in time commitments, so the visibility continues to be cloudy, but I think we are encouraged that indeed we see advertisers telling us that their business is improving and consequently requesting more information from us in regard to rates and placement and certainly customized programs.

I’ll give you an example. The retailers in September as noted in my remarks, we started to see a little bit of a pickup. We have had in depth conversations with them in regard to their improvement. So we do see traffic improvement in regard to the stores and consequently when that’s the case, they tend to want to do more in regard to building even more traffic.

Same holds true in regard to some of the national advertisers with technology and national automotive, with certainly the bankruptcies behind General Motors and Chrysler and some activity certainly in technology and healthcare, we are seeing more commitments coming our way in regard to national schedules as well.

At the seventh D: All Things Digital conference in May, in an onstage interview, Palm’s major investor, Roger McNamee, and I got into a minor tussle over the mirror on the back of the just-launched Pre smartphone and his assertion that the ladies in particular would love it.

Take that, reflectively-challenged Apple (AAPL) iPhone!

Here is a picture of McNamee at D7, talking about the mirror, and here’s the partial transcript of the exchange:

MR. MCNAMEE: It has a mirror on the back. Remember, there has never been a smart phone designed for the needs of women before.

MS. SWISHER: Wait, wait. Women need mirrors more than, say, you?

MR. MCNAMEE: No, I am saying if you have the opportunity to stick a mirror on here, why wouldn’t you do it? If you are making it for 25- to 40-year-old nerds, you would have put a black thing back here. But we are sitting here going, “Look, it costs nothing. Why don’t we do it because you know what, people actually do need mirrors from time to time.”

Later, I joked, “Nice, Roger. Perhaps someday it will include a blow dryer as well,” and McNamee tried mightily to poll the crowd to see if I was being too politically correct for questioning his–oh, that crazy Roger!–borderline kooky mirror-as-innovation theory.

All in good fun!

In any case, Palm (PALM) is certainly not backing away from the female demographic with its latest television commercial, which features an unusually pale woman with a sing-song and vaguely creepy voice.

Rather than hawking a Silicon Valley nifty gadget, it feels more like a perfume advertisement or one for a new shampoo that promises lustrous locks.

All the better to look good in a mirror, presumably.

Here’s the new commercial, as well as a similar one from June, which feels like an ad for yoga clothes (and below it is a video of the full interview–including the mirror debate–with McNamee and also Palm Chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein):

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090715/palm-pre-commercial-keeps-mirroring-the-ladies/feed/ 5 http://allthingsd.com/20090519/google-cofounder-larry-pages-advice-to-the-class-of-2009-be-more-lazy/ http://allthingsd.com/20090519/google-cofounder-larry-pages-advice-to-the-class-of-2009-be-more-lazy/#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 15:39:44 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=7499 It’s back-to-school time for Google’s executive team, which is fanning out across college campuses to impart words of wisdom to the classes of 2009. Via Google’s YouTube, here are clips of co-founder Larry Page, CEO Eric Schmidt (twice!) and search boss Marissa Mayer.

Page at the University of Michigan, May 2:

Schmidt at Carnegie Mellon University, May 17:

Schmidt at the University of Pennsylvania, May 18:

Mayer at the Illinois Institute of Technology, May 18:

In case you don’t have time to slug through this stuff–perhaps because you have a job–Google (GOOG) has helpfully provided a transcript of Page’s talk, which is pretty good. My favorite excerpt:

As a Ph.D. student, I actually had three projects I wanted to work on. Thank goodness my advisor said, “why don’t you work on the web for a while”. He gave me some seriously good advice because the web was really growing with people and activity, even in 1995! Technology and especially the internet can really help you be lazy. Lazy? What I mean is a group of three people can write software that millions can use and enjoy. Can three people answer the phone a million times a day? Find the leverage in the world, so you can be more lazy!

And if you’re really pressed for time, here’s the ultimate post-college advice in 57 seconds, via “The Graduate”:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090519/google-cofounder-larry-pages-advice-to-the-class-of-2009-be-more-lazy/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090423/the-limits-of-steve-jobs-powers-even-the-apple-ceo-cant-make-options-interesting/ http://allthingsd.com/20090423/the-limits-of-steve-jobs-powers-even-the-apple-ceo-cant-make-options-interesting/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:06:45 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=6605 Congrats to the folks at Forbes for a journalistic coup: They’re the first media people to get their hands on sworn testimony Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave last year in a civil lawsuit. A lot of testimony: Jobs talked for three hours, and the resulting document is 119 pages long.

It is, as Forbes notes, “a rare look at Jobs in his own words.”

Alas, Steve Jobs in his own words–at least when he’s being deposed in an options-backdating lawsuit–is mind-numbingly boring. “Just like us!” as they say in the celebrity gossip magazines.

Forbes has taken what it says are the highlights of the transcript and assembled them into an online slideshow, but the best stuff appears to be this bit, where Jobs explains why he asked his board for a giant options grant:

At some point in 2001 Jobs went to his board and asked for a big option grant. In the deposition Jobs said he had simply wanted a pat on the back. “It wasn’t so much about the money,” The Forbes 400 member told an SEC lawyer. “Everybody likes to be recognized by his peers. … I felt that the board wasn’t really doing the same with me.” With all of his prior stock options underwater from the dot-com bust, “I just felt like there is nobody looking out for me here, you know. … So I wanted them to do something, and so we talked about it. … I thought I was doing a pretty good job.”

Wouldn’t it have been nice, he was thinking, if the board had come to him and said, “‘Steve, we got this new grant for you,’ without me having to suggest anything or be involved in anything or negotiate anything. … It would have made me feel better at the time.”

Takeaway: Even billionaires need a back-pat occasionally. But if you’re looking for insight into the psyche of the world’s most famous business leader, that’s about all you’re getting here.

I haven’t seen the deposition myself, so it’s possible that there are other great nuggets buried in the 119 pages, and that Forbes is hoarding them in order to wring out as many stories as possible.

Then again, 119 pages of boredom is exactly what Jobs was trying to produce here in order to avoid further legal trouble with the SEC. Bad for headline writers and voyeurs. Good for him.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090423/the-limits-of-steve-jobs-powers-even-the-apple-ceo-cant-make-options-interesting/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20070524/hate-voice-mail-new-services-turn-recordings-into-text/ http://allthingsd.com/20070524/hate-voice-mail-new-services-turn-recordings-into-text/#comments Thu, 24 May 2007 00:01:00 +0000 Sarmad Ali http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20070524/hate-voice-mail-new-services-turn-recordings-into-text/ Punching in a password and listening to voice mails on hand-held devices is inconvenient — or rude if you’re in a meeting, at a party or in a restaurant.

A slew of new services using voice-recognition technology aim to eliminate the hassle of checking voice messages on wireless devices. These services transcribe recorded messages into text, which then is sent as email to email-equipped devices such as personal digital assistants and BlackBerrys, or as a short text message to phones that don’t have the email function. If in doubt about transcripts’ accuracy, you can always click on the attached audio files or dial in to hear the original voice mail.

To see how efficient these services are at transcription, I tested two voice-recognition applications: one from start-up SimulScribe, based in New York, and another from Atlanta-based SpinVox, a subsidiary of SpinVox Ltd. of the U.K.

Overall, both services work pretty well and are easy to use. I was able to read transcribed texts in a fraction of the time I would have spent dialing in to hear them. I was also able to sift through my messages and go directly to the ones I wanted to check, as opposed to having to listen to every single one sequentially. And the transcripts end the hassle of having to jot down names, numbers or addresses.

Another advantage is that the transcribed messages are sent immediately after the voice mails. When I was on a train and passing in and out of reception areas, I got my written messages faster than if I had tried voice mail only. Users can forward the messages to others or reply by calling back, sending an email or text messaging.

Signing up with SimulScribe.com took just minutes. After setting up an online account naming a cellphone carrier, I got a confirmation email with instructions on how to activate the service on my phone. SimulScribe, launched this past September, costs $9.95 a month for 40 transcribed messages plus 25 cents for each additional message. The service is compatible with all wireless carriers.

Currently, SimulScribe transcribes English voice mails only. A voice mail left on my phone in Spanish wasn’t transcribed at all. The company says it’s testing a Spanish system to add to the service in a couple of weeks.

Activating SpinVox’s Spin-my-Vmail on the phone was easy, too. After signing up on spinvox.com, the company sends subscribers a guide to using the service on the phone. I was able to activate “call forwarding busy/no answer” to divert messages to my SpinVox voice mail just by changing a setting in my T-Mobile’s cellphone settings menu.

I received an email in my mailbox whenever someone left me a voice mail. Each had the number of the caller, the transcript, date and time the message was received, plus a message code I could type into the keypad after accessing my voice mail to hear the original audio.

U.S. customers can get a free one-year trial by sending an email to gamma@spinvox.com, during which time the company expects to launch the service in the U.S. first through Cincinnati Bell and later through other carriers. Bloggers can also test Spin-my-Blog, which lets users speak a posting to their blogs from any phone. Sign-up for that is also at spinvox.com.

SpinVox, first launched in the U.K. in May 2005, transcribes in English, French, Spanish and German. Unlike SimulScribe, messages left to me in Spanish were successfully transcribed.

One friend who left me a voice mail on both services said she was pleased to be reminded by SimulScribe that her message would be transcribed so she should speak slowly and clearly.

Users of SimulScribe get unlimited inbox storage so they don’t have to delete old mail. Both services work better with hand-held email devices such as Treos or BlackBerrys than with the cellphones that don’t have the email capability. The number of characters that can be transcribed into SMS text is limited.

With SimulScribe, long messages delivered by SMS are parsed over multiple text messages. The same happens when customers use SpinVox on CDMA cellphones. Customers using SpinVox on GSM phones like those from Cingular or T-Mobile fit three-minute calls on one text.

Sometimes, the transcriptions contain misspellings, missing words or unnecessary punctuation marks. A friend left me a voice mail on my cellphone with SpinVox’s Spin-my-Vmail service. She ended it by asking me if I was sick of Thai food, but the transcribed note, amusingly, turned it into: “Hi Sarmad, it’s Kain(?). I’m calling at 4:09(?). I just wanted to see what the plans were for tonight. Are you interest in dinner, are you up for Lasagna(?).”

Words — mostly names — spelled phonetically, some numbers and undecipherable words are usually followed by a question mark.

Aside from sporadic imprecision, I liked SimulScribe more, mostly because it eliminates the need to dial in any passwords to get a voice version of transcribed messages. But it’s hard to beat the free trial of SpinVox and its multiple-language transcription capability. Both services are a nice addition to hand-held devices if you can overlook a few nuisances.

• Email me at sarmad.ali@wsj.com. Walt Mossberg is on vacation.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20070524/hate-voice-mail-new-services-turn-recordings-into-text/feed/ 0