An interesting paradox in the technology world is that there is both a shortage and a surplus of engineers in the United States. Talk to those working at any Silicon Valley company, and they will tell you how hard it is to find qualified talent. But listen to the heart-wrenching stories of unemployed engineers, and you will realize that there are tens of thousands who can’t get jobs. What gives?
The harsh reality is that in the tech world, companies prefer to hire young, inexperienced, engineers. And engineering is an “up or out” profession: you either move up the ladder or face unemployment. This is not something that tech executives publicly admit, because they fear being sued for age discrimination, but everyone knows that this is the way things are. Why would any company hire a computer programmer with the wrong skills for a salary of $150,000, when it can hire a fresh graduate—with no skills—for around $60,000? Even if it spends a month training the younger worker, the company is still far ahead. The young understand new technologies better than the old do, and are like a clean slate: they will rapidly learn the latest coding methods and techniques, and they don’t carry any “technology baggage”. As well, the older worker likely has a family and needs to leave by 6 pm, whereas the young can pull all-nighters. → Read More
Editor’s note: The following guest post is by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, the CEO of WatchMojo, a producer and distributor of premium video content.
Last week, Erick posted an article on TechCrunch titled “Industry Insiders Say Online Video Advertising Is Reaching A ‘Frenzy Point.’” It was a surefire way to get online video entrepreneurs excited, right? Not so fast.
The article quoted two CEOs of large online video businesses—namely Keith Richman of Break Media and Jason Glickman of Tremor Media—whose basic argument was as follows: It very well may just be the big ad networks and properties like Hulu that are seeing the vast majority of new ad dollars.
While one might think that the top 10 firms in a given industry will prevail, it’s important to think of legendary General Electric CEO Jack Welch’s rule that a company should be either No. 1 or No. 2 in a particular industry, or else leave it completely. Online video frequently draws comparisons to search, which today has become a two-horse race between Google and Microsoft. Considering that the high-profile and defunct Veoh was a perennial top-10 competitor in video, one wonders: is anything other than No. 1 or No. 2 in video really a winning a strategy? → Read More
One of the big problems with drug and prostitution transactions is that they tend to involve a lot of cash, and cash is hard to launder. Taking credit card payments has never been easier via Square, which lets anyone swipe credit cards with their iPhone.
Sure, it leaves one heck of a paper trail, but you have to wonder if at least a few of those person to person transactions aren’t being done via that sexy startup. I certainly have. → Read More
A unique spin on the concept of co-working space, Sunfire Offices was started three months ago by ex- Google engineering manager Niniane Wang and and ex-Facebook engineering manager Yishan Wong. While there are plenty of other co-working spaces in downtown Mountain View, like Hacker Dojo and Plug In Play, Wong and Wang, not satisfied with the available options, decided to create one of their own.
So they rented office space and got funding from a number of angel investors including Keith Rabois and James Hogan, who completely sponsored the space, meaning that Wong and Wang were then able to offer it rent free to other startups and individuals working on personal projects,“Our goal was to build a co-working space focused on top-tier talent.”
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Ricoh has a sort of aesthetic going on here. I only just realized what it is the recently-released CX4 reminds me of: one of those disposable cameras. This new G700, although it looks like a totally solid camera, definitely looks like you’d throw it away when you were done. → Read More
Some things just amaze me. Despite the fact that people are paying more for theater tickets then ever, the MPAA and their ilk are crying about how they aren’t making as much money due to piracy. I suggest that the real pirates here are the theater owners, who are raising ticket prices at the highest year to year rate ever. → Read More
As the video card wars continue, the as of yet unreleased AMD Radeon HD 6870 looks to be a serious weapon. How do we know? Well, the Chinese website PCinLife.com managed to get a benchmark showing some very interesting information about the new card. A 3DMark score of 11,500 is about 2,500 more then the previous high end card, the Nvidia GTX 480 and the HD 5870. This reflects what appears to be a serious performance increase, placing the advantage in AMDs corner once again. [via PC Perspective] → Read More
The Mac Pro isn’t exactly known for being a terribly loud computer, but I guess you can make it even quieter by adding liquid cooling. Of course, it’s not Apple approved so adding this type of technology will no doubt void your warranty, but it would give you the ability to overclock your machine. In fact, this is exactly what someone from Asetek did; added liquid cooling to an 8-Core Mac Pro, and then overclocked it from 2.8Ghz to 3.16Ghz. The end result? An extremely fast workstation that generates almost no noise. Check out the video (with a performance comparison) after the jump: → Read More
I promise this is my last word on the subject.
I had already promised myself, actually, that I wouldn’t write any more about my decision to quit Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare, Blippy, Yammer, Dopplr and every other social network other than Twitter. But then I added Twitter to the list – deleting my 10,000+ follower account and returning to more traditional blogging – and suddenly all (social media) hell broke loose.
For reasons I can’t quite understand – it’s not like I’ve quit food or oxygen – my inbox has since been flooded with emails. Some are just standard notes of congratulations for cutting the cord while others scream that I’m a Luddite who doesn’t ‘get’ Twitter (by and large these are the same people who describe themselves as “social media ninja”s on their profiles: the modern day equivalent of those “My other car is the Batmobile” bumper stickers).
The majority of messages, though, are from people who are strongly considering following my lead, but are worried that their body or mind might not be able to cope with the shock. How do I feel since quitting? Can I offer them any advice? → Read More
While the following research definitely falls under the category of “wait and see,” it’s certainly interesting, if only because of a completely different way of going about creating color and pixels. A team at the University of Michigan has put together a new display tech that uses incredibly thin slits in a sheet of metal to permit only light of certain wavelengths through. → Read More
Inventor: Paul Allen Filed: August 27, 2010 Abstract: A method for preventing innovation, specifically in the tech sector, by way of a dangerous misconception of what is patentable and a sadly overtaxed intellectual property regulatory system. Summary of the Invention: During a period of change and invention, ideas may occur to a person, and a few possible ways of manifesting those ideas. By instantly submitting a patent request, the person can secure as their own property not only the methods they have actually invented, but all possible derivatives and independent creations resembling said methods. After waiting a suitable period of time, during which the entire landscape of the industry may change, the patent holder then can exchange these patents for riches, while simultaneously nullifying the gains of a decentralized, idea-powered economy. → Read More
Yesterday, Facebook held a developer’s garage event at their headquarters in Palo Alto. To kick things off, CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to talk a bit about the history of Facebook. Notably, he focused on Facebook Photos as being a key catalyst that led to everything the social network is today.
He noted that when they launched the product, they didn’t have all of the features that their competitors did. For example, they didn’t have high-resolution photos and you couldn’t print them. But one thing they did have was the social element — and this changed everything.
“Those features by themselves were more important than anything else combined,” Zuckerberg said of the social elements of Facebook Photos. He then dropped the competitor bomb. “The photo product that we have is maybe five or six times more used than every other product on the web — combined,” Zuckerberg stated. → Read More
How do you recharge an electric vehicle in 59 seconds? Simple. You swap out the battery. Tokyo’s largest taxi company has been testing a rather surprising and innovative method of extending the range on their electric fleet: swapping out the battery. Makes sense really, if you think about it. → Read More
While not the biggest Microsoft-related lawsuit news of the day, Microsoft just announced that it’ll be taking its patent infringement case against Canadian technology firm i4i to the highest level, the US Supreme Court.
Last August a federal court of appeals upheld the decision of a lower court that Microsoft had in fact infringed i4i’s XML patent (’449), by introducing Microsoft WORD in 2003 and continuing the XML editing capabilities through 2007. Microsoft was ordered to pay i4i $290 million dollars in fees and change the disputed version of Word. → Read More
It’s no secret that social link sharing community Reddit isn’t singing the praises of its corporate parent Condé Nast, which acquired the company in 2006. Earlier today the two sparred over running ads in support of California’s Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana in the state. And Reddit has previously written about the shortage of resources that Condé Nast is willing to provide. Now Ben Huh, founder and CEO of the Cheezburger network, is offering to take Reddit off Condé’s hands.
In a letter published by The Daily What (a part of the Cheezburger network), Huh writes that he’s offered to buy Reddit before privately, and he’s now making it public. From the post:
Condé Nast, I’m publicly offering to buy Reddit. → Read More
Today on their blog, URL shortening service Bit.ly unveiled a cute new feature: Clickabit. It’s a Twitter account that surfaces some of the “surprising and bizarre” links being shortened and shared across their network. But the feature also hints at something we’ve been talking about for a while: Bit.ly Now.
“We’re currently hard at work on several systems that will expose some of the interesting data we’re playing with. In the meantime, we’d like to introduce @clickabit,” Bit.ly writes in the post. They key part is obviously the first half. We’ve known for a while that Bit.ly has been planning some sort of service to expose the best links being shared across the web — kind of like Tweetmeme or Digg. But Bit.ly links are shared on email and Facebook too; it would be about more than Twitter. → Read More
It’s pretty much an accepted fact that the iPhone is a great mobile gaming platform. What is also accepted is that the controls are somewhat less then optimal for some kinds of games. Enter the iControlPad. Now, I’m not 100% behind this idea, mainly because it takes a mobile gaming device and makes it decidely less mobile. I guess you could carry the iControlPad with you, and just put your iPod in when you want to use it, but that doesn’t sound very convenient either. Of course, the kind of games that support the iControlPad require a jailbroken iPhone, and some additional downloads to use them. No word on pricing or availability yet, but you can check out their website for details or to sign up to be notified when it’s available. [via Crave] → Read More
It looks like that Xerox IP isn’t the only thing Steve Jobs appropriated for Apple. Here he is in all his chubby 1997 glory, introducing the TBWA/Chiat Day produced “Think Different” campaign with an unattributed quote from poet Jack Kerouac, “People who think they are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who actually do.”
What’s most jarring about this video is the chasm between what Jobs holds as Apple’s core values in 1997 and those of the patent hungry-monopoly that is the Apple of today. As one commenter pointed out:
“Think different… as long as we approve your application for download on the app store.”
Are any of you intending to rock? Well then I salute you and offer one of two You Rock Guitars from InspiredInstruments. This $199 git-fiddle is actually a MIDI guitar that connects with either the Wii or the PS3 and can be used to play games like Guitar Hero, Band Hero, Rock Band, Klezmer Hero, and Konami’s upcoming Big Band Hero featuring a 28 piece orchestra for you and your friends. You get to be Django Reinhardt! It seems to do an amazing amount of stuff including: Is a real MIDI guitar that plugs into an amp • Acts as a cross-platform videogame controller for all Guitar Hero and Rock Band games • Plugs into an iPhone/iPad, you can record music on it • Can be uploaded to your computer and share with friends • So much more. So much more, indeed. But how do you win? → Read More
