Posts tagged First
Craig Silverstein, Larry & Sergey’s First Hire, Quits Google
Feb 10th
Craig Silverstein, the first employee hired by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, is leaving the company. Silverstein, who helped build the Google search engine, met Page and Brin while the three attended Stanford.
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GitHub Wants to Teach Kids to Code with the First US CoderDojo
Feb 10th
If you have kids (or you are one) and you’re in or near the San Francisco area, you might want to sign up for the GitHub-sponsored CoderDojo coming on February 25th. CoderDojo is a free, not-for-profit movement with a strong open source emphasis on open source that seeks to teach young people how to code and make learning “a fun, sociable, kick ass experience.”
The organization was founded by James Whelton and Bill Liao, and has focused mostly on Ireland until now. (There’s also a CoderDojo in London.) The program is for kids between seven and 18, and according to GitHub’s Cameron McEfee has been teaching “HTML, CSS, Javascript, iOS app development, and pretty much anything else they think sounds awesome.” Kids also get guest lectures from tech mentors and tours of tech companies, in addition to instruction on development.
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The sessions cost nothing, and kids that can’t bring their own laptops will be provided with one. McEfee says “Each class is taught by a professional in the given topic. To help create the best environment for kids to ask questions, there is a mentor for every three kids in a session. For all this awesome learning potential there is only one requirement: ‘Above all, be cool.’”
CoderDojo uses a series of badges and belts to recognize ability and achievements. Kids earn badges in categories like HTML or JavaScript by meeting criteria like creating a Web site using certain Javascript features. After a certain number of badges, kids level up in the belt system.
The session is from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the GitHub HQ in San Francisco. You can sign up via the CoderDojo site but space is limited. Follow the @CoderDojoSF Twitter account for more info, and see McEfee’s talk about CoderDojo to learn more about the program.
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First Glimpses of Office 15 Are Minus the Ribbon
Feb 9th
As part of a carefully timed preview of the forthcoming Windows on ARM (WOA) operating system, which borrows the new “Metro-style” usage model from Windows 8, Microsoft released a video showing WOA running what were described as technical previews of four “Office 15″ applications – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. But the key question for which Desktop application developers have been seeking an answer may have been obscured: As Microsoft adopts a new usage model with elements gleaned from the “Metro” style, will Office be moving away from the ribbon? The first clips of the new Office in action deliberately obfuscate the answer.
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What we do see from shots of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as demonstrated by Windows Principal Program Manager Scott Seiber, completely obscures the title bar, assuming one is even present. Along the top edge are menu categories that are now presented, for the first time, in ALL CAPS, reversing a design decision made a quarter-century ago to avoid making software seem like it was SHOUTING at its user.
The full-color shading for the File menu suggests that Microsoft will continue its full-screen approach to loading, saving, and converting files, which premiered in the current Office 2010. Such an approach would be in keeping with the company’s new “Metro” design approach, where options are made very clearly visible with plenty of white space.
But as these screenshots clearly show, Office 15 will not be a “Metro-style app,” running in the fast and fluid new WinRT-driven environment being grafted onto Windows 8. Although technically these shots do not show an Office 15 preview for AMD- or Intel-based PCs, they were described by Microsoft Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky today as fully feature-compatible as their x86/x64 PC counterparts.
“The new Office applications for WOA have been significantly architected for both touch and minimized power/resource consumption,” Sinofsky wrote. “This engineering work is an important part of being able to provide Office software with WOA, as these are not simply recompilations or ports, but significant reworking of the products with a complete and consistent user experience and fidelity with their new x86/64 counterparts.”
At one point, the video (snapshot above) does depict the user right-clicking on a graphic object in PowerPoint (which, in multitouch, is accomplished by a tap-and-hold). This brings up a drop-down list, but also makes a pastel-shaded “FORMAT” menu appear. This behavior appears consistent with how PowerPoint 2010 works today. When you right-click on a graphic object, a new “Format” category appears, under a main heading “Drawing Tools” that extends into the title bar area. In the clips provided today, the title bar was obscured, so the “Drawing Tools” heading may actually be present and may also have been obscured.
Also in Office 2010, the Ribbon may be minimized until needed by way of an up/down carat button that appears in the upper right corner. That button does not appear in any part of today’s video, though conceivably it may also have been moved to the obscured portion of the title bar.
The Ribbon screen device, which first premiered with Office 2007, is not exactly compatible with the “Metro” layout approach, and for some users has proven to be more difficult with multitouch than it is for the mouse. Rather than the traditional drop-down menu that at one time was “written in stone” by the Common User Access specifications, the Ribbon divides a horizontal strip into segments by category, and places command buttons of varying sizes into each segment. The size apportioned to each segment may vary according to the width of the window, and may shrink itself as that width is reduced.
The reasons this issue is so important are twofold: 1) Developers of functions and add-ons for Office 2010 need to know whether they must begin the long, arduous process of redesigning for Office 2013 – or instead just give up and develop for some other platform. 2) An entire industry devoted to training employees depends on the stability of the Microsoft Office platform. If Microsoft made cosmetic changes to the Ribbon that we’re just not privileged to see yet, publishers can use in-house staff members to make new screenshots and quick rewrites. If it instead they scrapped the tool altogether in favor of a menu bar that looks more like Metro, those publishers will have to make significant new investments in completely rewritten content.
A Microsoft spokesperson declined all further comment on Office 15-related issues for now.
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Google’s First Hired Employee, Craig Silverstein, Quits
Feb 9th
Kara Swisher reports Google’s first employee, Craig Silverstein, has decided to leave Google after about 14 years at the company. He is leaving Google to join the Khan Academy. Craig helped Google’s co-founders, Larry and Sergey, build the original Google search engine. He did this…
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Groupon’s First Earnings Call Missed the Mark, But It May Not Matter
Feb 8th
Today in its quarterly earnings call, Groupon reported that it did not meet fourth quarter expectations. The company posted a $43 million loss, or $0.08 cents per share.
Despite the loss, Groupon’s revenue in the fourth quarter 2011 grew 194% to $506.5 million, up from $172.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. In fact, the fourth quarter 2011 was the company’s first quarter of operating profitability since it opening international operations in the second quarter of 2010. This brings everyone back to the same question: Is the daily deals model a real, legitimate business, or is it just a trend? Only the numbers will tell.
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On the earnings call, CEO Andrew Mason mentioned the company’s expansion into Silicon Valley. In regards to the losses, Mason pointed out that Groupon is “still in the early days” of personalized commerce. It is an area that Groupon is rapidly expanding into. Earlier this week, it acquired Adku, a start-up focused on big data for ecommerce. Last month it acquired personalization service Mertado, which is focused on providing a better social shopping experience. With more personalized data comes two things: Greater responsibility surrounding privacy, and additional opportunities for Groupon to know its users.
On the earnings call, Groupon reported that the Grouponicus holiday promotion, which hit 40 North American markets, helped boost fourth quarter 2011 earnings. CFO Jason Childs said that because Grouponicus was such a success, Groupon is considering “occasional themed promotions throughout the year.”
Groupon also mentioned why it had a 1600% effective tax rate. Apparently, this was a result of building its international headquarter in Switzerland and profits in overseas countries. It expects that to to eventually drop into the “low 30s.” Keep in mind that the U.S. corporate tax rate is 35%.
The company says that it will be spending big on technology hires, referencing the new Silicon Valley facility but also mentioning an “initiative we’ve yet to announce.” Groupon says it is not planning on acquisition-related expenses in the near future.
And what of high marketing costs, the area that concerned many? Marketing spent as a percentage of revenue was only 31% in the past quarter versus more than 100% a year before. Will it shrink even further? “Whether it will get down to the 5-10% you see at Amazons or Netflix…that’s going to take a little while,” says Groupon’s CFO Jason Childs.
When Groupon went public last November, it raised $700 million in its IPO. That number is now up to $1.1 billion. One year ago, that number was a mere $119 million.
For the first quarter 2012, Groupon expects revenues between $510 and $550 million, which is 73%-86% more than first quarter 2011. Will Groupon make their goals? Either way, it’ll be interesting to watch.
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The Sponge & The Trailblazer: Making the Most of Your First Job in Search
Feb 7th
About two months ago I wrote my first article for Search Engine Journal about getting your first job in SEO. Well now the dust has settled and I feel it is important to share what I have learned thus far during my young career in search marketing. This article will be broken down in halves [...]
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Charles Dickens’ 200th Birthday Marks First Google Doodle as Promotional Vehicle
Feb 6th
Google’s latest Doodle marks the 200th Birthday of british novelist Charles Dickens but also marks the first time that the company has used their logo change to specifically promote a product or service.
View full post on Search Engine Watch – Latest
Capital Innovators Graduates First Class of Entrepreneurs
Feb 1st
Tonight in downtown St. Louis the second group of companies to be funded by Capital Innovators will be announced. These will receive $50k in seed funding, free office space and credits toward other useful services as part of their acceleration program. We wrote about their innovative program last fall.
Some of the first companies have launched products or services or are in the process of getting there, according to their entrepreneurs. Most have felt the program worthwhile and given them a jumpstart on their operations.
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For example, Sam Glines says, “Effectively, NorseCorp, while led by me, born and raised in St Louis, was a stranger in its own town. I spent very little time here in my professional life, so my local business connections were limited. Capital Innovators accelerated access to and recommendations for vetted service providers, two of which we have brought on. One of them is serving a critical role in a new Norse service offering in Web security.” The company has some innovative security offerings for payment card processors that we will cover in the near future. They also signed Global eTelecom as a customer, one of U.S.’ largest check processors at the end of December. “Our plan is to have seven figure revenues and be profitable by Q3, in addition to to seven new hires by end of the year,” he says.
Jim Dolan, the CEO of Action Online, is looking to launch in May and redo their YoJo.com site. Since joining the program, he has seen an increase in ad sales and also received new investment capital.
Anthony Favazza, CEO of DiningCircle has hired a CTO that will be overseeing a rebuild of our product in early 2012. “We also have an intern from Washington University helping with customer satisfaction and retention, and one of the marketing partners from the program was able to deliver a comprehensive marketing plan for us that included a new logo, website, print marketing, mailers, and a clear message.”
Ryan Bell, the CEO of Gremln.com says, “We continue to have advisory meetings to discuss how we will convert free users into paying customers. We have begun the sales cycle with a number of potential clients and are nurturing these relationships during private beta stage and are looking to white label our product.”
Jim Eberlin, the CEO of Jbara says, “We are continuing to make enhancements to our current product as sales are increasing. Current customers have helped to improve our analytics. Our customer base pipeline is growing as we’re in the process of closing several contracts. We are currently the sole sponsor of a meetup and users group for customer success executives. The group is led by Marqueto, and Exactly, one of our current customers. We have two strategic partnerships in the works that could lead to potential exits. These are in addition to our currently existing partnership with SalesForce.”
The new ventures include:
- Bonfyre is a location-based mobile application exclusively for college students that helps them find what’s hot around campus, keep up with friends and save money. Bonfyre was created by Off Campus Media, a company focused on creating value for college students and highly relevant advertising opportunities for local merchants and national brands.
- BusyEvent is a profitable live event CRM company monetizing some of the 10 million annual face-to-face transactions at conferences, trade shows and business to business events. They track buyer behavior and present that data as actionable information that multiple stakeholders pay for.
- Click With Me Now makes 1-click Web-sharing for consumers possible; with no cost, no downloads and no frustrations. Supporting businesses that connect with consumers online, they provide tools that let their customers instantly invite friends to co-browse with them. Their SaaS-based, platform-independent solution results in richer experiences, greater conversion and increased sales.
- Material Mix owns and operates an exchange for reusable industrial byproducts. Each year, U.S. manufacturers pay to dispose of 176 million tons of waste, 34% of which is reusable. The online trade of these recoverable materials represents an unrealized $13.2 billion market opportunity.
- RollSale is reducing the need for expensive middlemen in the used car supply chain by providing dealers with a simple, inexpensive, mobile-centric social network for buying and selling inventory.
- Systematic Revenue provides growing businesses with an easy to use and affordable marketing automation software application to consistently follow up with all prospects and customers in a meaningful and relevant way.
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Top Tech Video of the Day: AT&T Customers Rave About the First Public Cell Network, 1979
Jan 30th
Back in the late 1970s in Chicago, Bell System built the first mobile phone system that could support hundreds of concurrent connections. That was a big deal compared to, for instance, New York where only a dozen or so people could use the cell network at a time. When this video was made in 1979, Bell had 1,300 customers using its mobile network, and, if you believe them, their calls were clear and the connections never, ever dropped. Maybe they don’t make them like they used to.
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Select Testers Get First Office 15 Preview, New Cloud Services Emphasized
Jan 30th
Whether Windows 8′s radically re-imagined usage model catches on with tablet and PC users will depend in large part upon the role Microsoft Office apps will play. If it looks too much like Office 2010, then having Windows 8 relegate Office to the “Desktop” side while mobile-style apps take over the “Metro” side, won’t make much sense.
This morning, Microsoft gave out the first signal of how the shift will happen. The first technical preview of The Software Probably Known as “Office 2013″ has made its way to select testers, in advance of a public beta now scheduled for this summer.
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With the Windows 8 public beta scheduled to begin next month, Microsoft will need some window of visibility for Office on Windows 8 in order for customers to evaluate whether the migration will be worth it. In a carefully crafted blog post this morning, the company’s Corporate Vice President for Office, P. J. Hough, listed four categories of distribution vehicles for Office-branded services, with #1 on that list being “cloud services.”
“With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio,” Hough wrote. “Quite simply, Office 15 will help people work, collaborate, and communicate smarter and faster than ever before.”
Listing “cloud services” first implies that “Office 15″ (its temporary code name, although there was never an “Office 13″) will be more centered around functionality delivered from the cloud. Theoretically, this could be done by delivering “Metro-style” versions of Office apps that are optimized for Windows 8, and that are licensed to customers of Office 365 for use anywhere. This while the “classic” Office apps continue to be maintained and licensed as part of the same package.
Still, judging from the company’s long prior history with Office beta programs, a late January milestone for the Technical Preview implies that general availability may not yet be feasible until at least Q1 2013. With tremendous importance being placed on Windows 8′s ability to show up in time for the 2012 holiday season – if not for back-to-school – then the company may need to consider making the Office 15 public beta available for pre-installation on new tablets and ultrabook PCs (Intel’s new, thinner form factor) directly through retail outlets.
We’ve asked Microsoft for further comment on the news, which may yet be forthcoming.
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