Do you know Sundar Pichai? You should. In August 2015, he was named the Chief Executive Officer of Google, the most popular and powerful company in the world today. Shouldn’t we get to know somebody like that?
He attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He was so incognito that very few people recognized him. This is despite Pichai being one of the biggest tech heavyweights of our time. He seemed to enjoy it that way. In 2015, Pichai led a restructuring of the company and helped form Alphabet. His leadership in that restructuring is what helped get him to CEO. Something tells me Pichai is going to be Google CEO for a long time. Google alone made 74.5 billion dollars in revenue. It also owns powerhouse franchises like You Tube and Android. Think about how many billions of people use these products and services on a daily basis. I’m using Chrome right now. Google has had their share of trials and tribulations, just like any company. When Prism came out, people wondered were Google and the NSA in cahoots. They’ve dealt with protesters in Silicon Valley, complaining about wealth inequality and exploitation. They’ve been in courts with Europe over antitrust allegations.
One thing I admire about Pichai is his humility. The fact that he could attend a conference and not be mobbed says something about his character. He should keep that up. He said he wants to be the nice guy in the tech world. This is how you do it. Pichai is concerned about with lack of technology in his home nation of India. For example, only 26% of the people of India own a smartphone, compared to 70% of Americans. Some would say this is strictly for business reasons, since India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and Pichai wants a piece of the action.?That’s part of it. Let’s not be naive.?But I think Pichai sincerely wants his nation to catch up with the rest of the world technologically. Should more tech leaders follow Sundar Pichai’s example?
Former Intel CEO Andy Grove passed away. He was 79 years old.
He was born Andras Istvan Grof in Hungry, and grew up when during World War 2, when his nation was occupied by the Nazis. His father barely survived a concentration camp. He had dreams of becoming a journalist. But in 1956 Russian Communists leaders took over Hungry and arrested his free thinking journalist uncle. This shattered Grove’s journalist dreams. In 1957, he escaped the Iron Curtain, fleeing first to Austria, then to the United States. Within six years, he would marry his wife of 58 years, study chemistry at City College at New York, obtain his Doctorate at Cal-Berkeley, and landed a research job at Fairchild Semiconductor.
In 1968, his bosses founded Intel. Grove was hired as an overseer. He gained the reputation as a strict law-and-order disciplinarian, even keeping a ‘late list’. But employees respected him for being personable. He was at Intel when they pioneered DRAM (dynamic random access memory). But under Grove’s guidance, they refocused on micro processing, and turned Intel into a tech business powerhouse. In 1979, Grove became Intel’s president and became CEO in 1987. He served as board chairman from 1997 to 2005. During the Grove era, Intel revenue went form $1.9 billion annually to $26 billion annually. Intel beat out dozens of competitors and became the dominant microprocessor company. By 1994, when Intel launched Pentium, Intel wasn’t the leader; it was the dominant one in the field. Grove’s ‘take no prisoners’ attitude caused lots of friction, even massive drawn out lawsuits. But Intel still came out on top.
Andy Grove’s business philosophy can be summed up in his best selling books High Output Management (1983) and Only the Paranoid Survive (1999). It explains a Darwinian mentality of if a business doesn’t constantly evolve and improve, it will eventually fail. That mentality had a huge impact not only on Intel, but all of Silicon Valley. In fact, one could call Grove a founding father of Silicon Valley. Tributes are pouring in. Tim Cook remembers him as an American patriot and tech giant. Venture capitalist John Doerr called him a great mentor and educator. Mark Andreessen said Grove was the best company builder in Silicon Valley history. And he was. Grove rose up from a childhood and adolescence of hardship and dictatorship, and rose to be a tech giant and business revolutionary. He encouraged others to do the same: To rise up from what you were given and strive to where you want to be. This is why Andy Grove has my utmost respect. What would you say about Andy Grove?
It’s that time of year again. In the next two or three weeks, people who haven’t watched a college basketball game all year are suddenly basketball aficionados. Welcome to March Madness. There’s an app for that. There are several of them.
The obvious two are CBS Sports and ESPN Tournament Challenge. Since the early 1980s, CBS Sports has given us the NCAA tournament. This year is little exception. Catch the games, view the schedule and see which game you’ll see. The ESPN Tournament Challenge app has what it suggests: a bracket challenge and a great prize for the winner. But it also has deep information and statistics on all teams, whether they be Duke and Kansas, or more obscure teams like CSU Bakersfield or Middle Tennessee State. There are apps you probably know little, if anything about. There is Bracket the Madness. It helps create pools and brackets through Facebook and emails. There’s FanCake, which will reward you with tickets and prizes if you get enough points through them. With theScore, you can personalize your tournament chase by choosing scores that matter strictly to you. If a 2-secede is going to upset a 15-secede, theScore will alert you. Not all apps are free. Tuneln Pro will cost you $10, but you can get for free just about anything this one charges you for.
In the old days, if you didn’t have a TV, you missed out on the tournament. Now, thanks to smartphone apps, you can watch on the phone when you’re working (not giving anyone ideas) or listen on your device. You can do so much more than watch. You can fill out brackets, challenge others, and win great prizes. Most of these apps are either free or very inexpensive. Did you know March Madness is the second biggest sporting event in America, next to the Super Bowl? Who is in your Final Four bracket?
For years, Amazon entity Blue Origin has pushed the limits with space travel. Founded in 2000, they have successfully launched two ships. Now they’re ready to take on the ultimate in space travel.
Yesterday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced Blue Origin will be ready to send humans into space in 2017. He stated thousands have expressed interest and even willing to shell out big bucks for this space trip. The trips would be on a suborbital craft. He’s investing billions of dollars and using over 600 employees and a former Boeing facility in Greater Seattle to make this dream a reality. Some money can be made in selling tickets to go outer space. Nobody is saying how much these tickets will be. They’re not even taking down payments yet. The real money maker should come selling rocket engines to launch satellites and spaceships. A company called United Launch Alliance has already contracted Blue Origin’s services. They want Blue Origin to build them engines so they can be less dependent on Russia. Bezos is deeply involved in the project, as he’s been obsessed with space travel since he was a small child. Other companies, like Elon Musk’s Space X and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic?, are racing to put civilians in space.
But Jeff Bezos doesn’t seem worried about competition. And he shouldn’t be. Travel in space is a fascination with many people. Some have paid over $200,000 to travel in space. In some cases, applications for space travel have filled up quickly. So there’s plenty of competition to go around. This is a good thing. This will keep prices down, quality up and these guys accountable. While it’s good to have hands on experience with this project, Bezos should realize these are experts in the space craft. Will he get humans into space in 2017? Who will win the race of civilian space travel?
On March 22, Apple’s confrontation with the FBI will reach a showdown. But the day before that, the company will hold it’s first media conference of 2016. At this conference, they’re expected to showcase their new products.
These products include the much anticipated new iPad and 4-inch iPhone. Sources from BuzzFeed News said the date was moved from March 15 to March 21. But on March 22, Apple will turn it’s attention from the conference to the courtroom. The 4-inch iPhone will be about the same size as the iPhone 5s. But this new one will have a four inch display and a faster chip. Another selling point will be the support of Apple Pay, a mobile pay service that’s all the rage. Some new iWatches are also expected to be revealed. Sources say this will be a down scaled event compared to the one they had at this time last year. That one was at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, a venue in downtown that holds up to 7,000 people. Rumor has it this conference could take place at Apple’s town hall meeting in Cupertino, CA. That way, Apple won’t even have to leave their own campus.
I’m sure many are looking forward the new 4-inch iPhone and the new set of iWatches and other new Apple products. But I find it peculiar that this event would be moved to March 21, the day before a critical court date. It’s a court date that I’m sure the whole world will be watching. This must be made clear: Apple’s time, date and venue for this upcoming conference is strictly speculation. Apple has not confirmed anything and nobody is talking. Did they want to get the conference out of way before the March 22 magistrate hearing? Did they want to send the Feds and Apple’s critics a message? Why do you think Apple made this conference move?
Do you think your workplace is too strict? ?You might want to work at Zenefits.
Zenefits, based in San Francisco, is a prosperous multi-billion dollar human resources software company. Apparently, it’s infamous for debauchery. Employees were sent letters to stop having sex on the stair steps. These letters circulated only after used condoms and other pieces of evidence were found, like cigarette butts and empty beer cans. One Zenefits letter The Journal obtained went even further. In this one, employees were told not to eat, drink, smoke or have sex on the stairwell. The ‘party’ culture got so intense Zenefits had to find a new CEO and co-founder, after unlicensed salespeople were allowed to sale and trade. In fact, there are pictures of employees pouring hard liquor shots and riding on party buses (carrying bottles of Fireball Whiskey) ?floating all over social media. But Zenefits’ experiences aren’t unique in Silicon Valley. It’s fairly common to offer happy hours and beer on tap, sometimes even in the office. There’s a book accusing Facebook of a ‘fraternity house culture’.
First off, I am not condemning Zenefits at all. In fact, I think they’re onto something. What happened with Zenefits is they took it too far. Some employees got careless and sloppy, and hey, if you abuse privileges, you often lose them. But I think going out for a few beers or glasses of wine could be a good thing, so long as it’s done legally and tactfully. This is a stressful world we live in, and it’s not getting any more relaxing. If it takes a beer cooler, meat lovers pizza and doughnuts, or an designated smoke area to calm nerves, strengthen comrade, and do a good job, then so be it. Just be dignified and responsible about it. I am not advocating Animal House here. But with Americans stressing more than ever and working longer for less, I think it’s time we loosen up some. What would you do if your office turns into hedonism?
Disclaimer: We at Computer Geeks will NOT be held liable for lifestyle choices made by the reader! Please act with responsibility, class and dignity.
