Bravo unveiled a new batch of must-see shows for the fall season. One in particular, Silicon Valley, produced by Randi Zuckerberg, Mark's sister, will take place here in the Bay Area. (Regarding the new series, she told NBC Bay Area, "I'm a strong believer in innovation and entrepreneurship and hope that through this series other people will be inspired to build the next break out companies and technologies.") And like all Bravo shows, Silicon Valley promises to feature a cast of characters that are dynamic, wealthy, unapologetic, insufferable and, with varying degrees of success, camera-ready. more ›

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus is funny. Why? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, he wants his early employees to return some of the stock they own before the company's initial public offering. With games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, the San Francisco-based company grew. Grew big. Billions of dollars big. However, now Pincus some of that sweet-nectar stock back. more ›

In her first interview since being fired as CEO of Yahoo on Tuesday, colorful Carol Bartz didn't hold back when discussing her former employers. "These people fucked me over," she said to CNN. And it only gets better/worse. Here's how Bartz's impersonal firing went down. more ›

One of Facebook's earliest employees, Randi Zuckerberg, sister of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, resigned from the social networking company. Randi "is leaving her position as director of marketing at the Palo Alto-based website after six years with the company," reports the Oakland Tribune. more ›

Scoring a major coup for the gay agenda, new Apple boss (and future CEO if Steve Jobs never returns from his medical leave of absence) COO Tim Cook will mark "a new era not only for Apple but for gay progress." more ›

Aside from publishing what history will look back on as the single most misguided and thoughtless arts & entertainment article ever written, we almost always respect Slate. So when they post a piece called "Why Steve Jobs Won't Return to Apple, we listen. more ›

Raising concerns again about his health, 55-year-old CEO Steve Jobs will take a medical leave of absence while remaining involved in “major strategic decisions” for Apple. Yikes. Jobs announced the decision in the following email to employees: more ›

First, Hewlett-Packard had one of the worst CEOs of all time, GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina. And now, according to SFGate, current HP CEO and President Mark Hurd has resigned effective immediately. Why? Allegations of sexual harassment. more ›

Ever been stuck in traffic coming up Third Street and wished you could be riding in your own 20-car motorcade with nary a Muni bus in sight? That's how Russian prez Dmitry Medvedev came into town yesterday after landing at SFO (see SF Sentinel for photos of the arrival). He was headed to the Fairmont Hotel. more ›

by Amy Crocker According to the Wall Street Journal, it's increasingly likely that Mountain View-based Google will cancel operations in China as negotiations with the government over censorship stall. There's a lot of legal drama in a story like this and we think it is much more fun when imagined as a Western showdown... more ›

Though not nearly as important as Rachel Zoe (obvi), Apple CEO Steve Jobs is facing some of the same criticism as Hollywood's most stylish heroine, namely his pin-thin stature. "I probably need to gain about 30 pounds," Steve Jobs told the New York Times after his Norma Desmond-like comeback at yesterday's iPod Nano reveal. And, yes, for better or for worse, Jobs looked rail-thin. But the reaction on Wall Street, where Apple stock ebbs and flows depending on Jobs' perceived health, is the reaction that matters. Valleywag pointed out today, "Such is the demanding CEO's importance to Apple, and shareholders must now weigh Jobs' still-gaunt look and scratchy voice against his characteristically enthusiastic delivery." Did anyone attend yesterday's Jobsian revival? If so, how did he sound? more ›

Since working for both Google and Apple is starting to look odd, Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently ditched his gig on the board at Apple. Being on the board since 2006, Schmidt thought it best to excuse himself, especially now as Google "develops products that compete with Apple's core businesses, including the popular iPhone." So, yeah, that's a wise move. Other noted members of Apple's board, according to CBS 5/AP, include "former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Genentech chairman Arthur D. Levinson and Andrea Jung, the chairwoman and CEO of Avon Products." Levinson, by thew way, serves on Google's board. No word as to whether or not he will step down soon. more ›

Could the wheels of techie commerce once again be spinning? Two news items today suggest that yes, the powers that be are opening their wallets. First off, that long talked about Microsoft-Yahoo deal may be moving forward, with Microsoft execs in Silicon Valley all last week negotiating, and Microsoft now appearing primarily interested in Yahoo's search engine and advertising business. more ›

Word on Wall Street is that Silicon Valley's Netflix, who in just 12 years has changed the way we rent movies while clobbering Blockbuster's power, might be bought out by Amazon. According to CBS 5, "[t]he Los Gatos-based Netflix recently began offering online streaming of some movies, which is why Amazon may be interested in buying the company." Neither company, of course, has yet to comment on Wall Street's rumors. more ›

Chiseled Facebook investor and PayPal co-founder, Peter Thiel, doesn't have anything nice to say about Valleywag, the online internet website about the tender underbelly of Silicon Valley. In fact, he thinks they're no better than terrorists. more ›

Peter Thiel -- noted gay Silicon Valley libertarian, PayPal co-founder, and the one of the first Facebook investors -- recently penned an essay in which he suggests that the last time one could be "genuinely optimistic" about U.S. politics was just before dames got the right to vote. In Cato Unbound, a site run by libertarian-ish Cato Institute, Thiel suggests the following. more ›

Doing what IBM failed to do earlier this month, Oracle will purchase computer server and software maker Sun Microsystems for around $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of cash, 9.50 per share. Oracle megalord Larry Ellison boasted about the buy, saying in a statement, “Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system—applications to disk—where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves ... Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up.” This deal will also give Oracle control over Java programming language and Solaris. (Jason Brooks of eWEEK explains it all in finer detail, right here.)
more ›

In an attempt to compete culturally with more richly textured areas of California (i.e., San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Buttonwillow), San Jose is looking to land its first poet laureate. According to the Arts Council Silicon Valley (who knew?), there is "a vibrant poetry scene in Santa Clara County that doesn't get a lot of recognition." (Again, who knew?) Think you know what rhymes with purple? If you're a published poet who has lived in Santa Clara County for at least five years, you can give it a shot. The gig is a two-year term with a $4,000 stipend, which includes community outreach as well as churning out the occasional haiku or sonnet. The deadline is Feb. 17. You can apply at www.artscouncil.org.
more ›

While Silicon Valley sobers up from last night's news about Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang stepping down, the question on techies minds today is who's next? Valleywag and blogger Kara Swisher speculates that Peter Chernin, President and COO of News Corp., is at the top of the list. Yahoo's current President, Sue Decker, is also "being considered for the job." Another stab in the dark, at least according to Swisher, is highly unlikely future Governor of California, Meg Whitman. more ›

It seems that over 1,000 custodial artists have gone on strike as of this morning at some of Silicon Valley's most prestigious hi-tech companies, including Cisco Systems and Apple, livid over a new contract. Accordng to the Mercury News: more ›

• Silicon Valley whores less than pleased with Viagra. [Valleywag]
• That Nina "Bad Wife" Reiser trial is still going on, and getting interesting. [SF Gate]
• The rules of PDA during dinnertime. [CHOW]

So, you didn't like Microsoft, did you? Well, how about News Corp.? more ›

According to a Valleywag tipster: more ›

It looks like Sunnyvale-based Yahoo plans on rejecting the $44.6 billion rose Microsoft offered it earlier this month. A move that would have merged the two tech giants won't happen, it seems, and we were so sure this relationship would've worked out swimmingly. Sniff. more ›

Help save your local Naval Historical Monument more ›

After EarthLink and Google gave up on high-speed networks that would have seen San Francisco gain access to free wireless service, Meraki Networks Inc. is now taking a stab at it. more ›

Photos from the San Francisco International Auto Show more ›

A 3.7 aftershock in San Jose just shook the ground of Silicon Valley. According to our own Spencer Williams, it happened a little before 4 p.m. and It "only lasted a couple of seconds." So there you have it. more ›

Oh man, it's moments like these that we miss working in an office. Almost. more ›

We know there's no shortage of young, successful, smart people in this town, but we still turn a little green with envy when we hear about guys like Ben Keighran. The Australia native is only 25 years old. After successfully launching bluepulse in his native land in 2002, he took the show on the road and ended up here in the Bay Area. Like another young tech-maestro we recently spoke to, Keighran houses his company in Silicon Valley (in fact, in YouTube's former quarters), but lives here in the city by the bay. more ›