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. But who, you ask, took the top spots for the Bay Area? Well, Oracle founder Larry Ellison (coming in at #14 with $25......

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". The issue now is Google's decision to censor search results on its Chinese site. In an interview with Reuters (vectored via CNet news.com), Sergey Brin acknowledges......

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....