David Needle

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Steve Ballmer had [a fine old time at Stanford ](/search/article.php/3819201/Ballmer+Microsoft+Is+Like+a+Startup+in+Search.htm)yesterday. The Microsoft CEO entertained a packed hall of students with tales of how he joined Microsoft 29 years ago after getting a call from his friend, and former Harvard undergrad dorm mate, Bill Gates, who said he needed “a business guy.” […]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addresses an audience last night at Stanford University.Source: Microsoft PALO ALTO, Calif. — Steve Ballmer never got around to finishing his graduate work at Stanford’s business school, leaving after a year to join his pal Bill Gates at then-startup Microsoft. That was 29 years ago, and you’d have to say things […]

SAN FRANCISCO — Is the mobile market too hot for its own good? While mobile devices remain one of the IT segments least affected by the recession, the frenzied activity in the space has analysts saying it’s become so fragmented that it poses a challenge for developers and would-be buyers alike. They might have a […]

How big is the World Wide Web? How about 20 x 8 x 8 feet? And let’s weigh it in at about 26,000 pounds. Okay, maybe that’s not the size of the Web, but those are the dimensions of the [Sun Modular Data Center ](http://blog.internetnews.com/apatrizio/2008/09/sun-updates-its-mobile-datacen.html)that now houses the “The Wayback Machine,” an historical archive of […]

Chris AndersonPhoto: Eileen Bramlet SAN FRANCISCO — Advocates of free content have long rallied around the slogan that “information wants to be free.” But to author and Wired editor Chris Anderson, content is only the tip of the free iceberg. “With the Internet, we created the most competitive market the world has ever seen,” he during […]

Red Hat CEO Jim WhitehurstSource: Red Hat SAN FRANCISCO — Which of these doesn’t belong: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Red Hat. If you said Red Hat, the company’s CEO would beg to differ. “These are all about the power of participation and collaboration, and Red Hat is the open source version,” said Jim Whitehurst, the company’s […]

Gwabbit, an e-mail utility for Microsoft Outlook users that’s designed helps simplify contact management, will soon be available to BlackBerry users. Gwabbit for Blackberry was announced today with release slated for May 25. The program will cost $9.95 a year on an annual subscription basis. Technicopia, publishers of Gwabbit, positions it as the world’s first […]

A cynic might ask: ‘Is there a place I can’t find search on the Web?’ It’s easy enough to keep a Google, Yahoo or other search engine page open and most browsers include toolbars from all of the major search engines. But then you’re either leaving the page you’re working on or at least the […]

Proving that even popular technology isn’t immune from the recession, IDC research released today said the mobile phone market took a pretty good hit in the first quarter of 2009. IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report says vendors shipped a total of 244.8 million units in the first quarter of 2009 (1Q09), approximately 15.8 […]

“He’s dead Jim.” It’s a line made famous by the original Star Trek’s Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy after he waved the seemingly magical medical Tricorder over someone just blasted by an advanced alien weapon. Science fiction? Sure, but so were the little discs Kirk and Spock would pop into the Enterprise’s “computer banks” to get information. […]

Maybe it does payoff to have a lot of friends on Facebook. Chris Kelly, Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Global Public Policy, has just announced he’s formed a committee to explore running for California Attorney General in 2010. How serious is this bid? Hey, he’s already got a [Kelly2010 ](http://Kelly2010)Web site devoted to […]