The chilling Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), drafted by Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, would have catastrophic affects on how you use the web and who (namely the U.S. government) controls it. Think China, Malaysia, or Iran. SOPA also represents another reality-estranged attempt attempt from "Hollywood, the Recording Industry Association of America, and their allies to counter what they claim to be rampant piracy online, especially from offshore sites such as ThePirateBay.org," notes CNET. The act would essentially let the Justice Department make any "allegedly piratical Web sites virtually vanish from the Internet." more ›

While searching for an appropriate Sergey Brin link to use in today's "Google's Eric Schmidt Nets $100 Million" article, we came across one of Brin's old world wide web sites, a personal one he created while at Stanford. While we're sure loads of tech geeks and their countless hanger-ons have already chortled over this bit of antique web design (cira 1998-ish), we just found it. more ›

In a sign that the recession might -- might! -- be over, Google CEO Eric Schmidy and the lovely/talented/benevolent Sergey Brin told reports this morning that the company is partying like it's 1999. That is to say, according to Ryan Tate at Valleywag, "the Mountain View, California company is through with its recent belt-tightening, which included layoffs and cutbacks in the company's famously posh perquisites." more ›

Forbes annual list of billionaires around the world came out today. Jealous? And for the first time in 14 years Warren Buffett (at $62 billion) snatched the number one spot from Bill Gates (who came in at a dismal $58 billion.) This post was created using Explorer, not Firefox, in condolence. more ›

We've been using our research time to ruminate on the growing importance of public perception of technology companies. As the most closely-watched technology company in the Bay Area, Google is getting criticism for supposedly not living up to its philosophy of "You can make money without doing evil". more ›

The last five or ten years have seen the Bay Area go from boom to bust, and while SFist didn't have to pack up a truck and move back to Palookaville like some of our friends, we weren't exactly sipping Cristal at an Industry Standard party, either. We knew people who were worth millions and lost it all; others were paid for work with now-worthless options instead of cash; even SFist is getting paid nearly half what they were making just four years ago. more ›