Rice On Tech

Watching Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Hewlett Packard and Tesla Motors yesterday, I was struck by how believable the visit seemed. While many politicians come to the Silicon Valley and sort of muddle through the tech demos, Secretary Rice made the whole visit look more than just the dog and pony show that these things typically are.

It wasn't just because she understood what the chips do, or quickly grasped how the Tesla Roadster can be so fast while cutting down on emissions .. it was what she said afterwards that really struck me,

Rice spoke about the need for more education in California, specifically because it will make the Valley, and its companies, more competitive. Her words echoed what I've heard in the past from dozens of high tech CEOs. The Valley needs more educated workers.

Without even dipping a toe into the hot-button issue of immigration, Secretary Rice managed to rise above the staged photo opportunities, and get to the heart of a big issue around here. Without more trained engineers, the Valley could lose its edge. That's something Californians don't want, and it's something Washington doesn't want.

As one of the HP executives told me, Rice "gets it." How lucky, then, for future Stanford students that Rice also called herself a "future professor."

Google's Future


If there is one single company that will define the Silicon Valley over the next several years (and I admit that's an eternity in tech time), it's probably Google. The company is run well, firing on all cylinders, and, if you've never been on campus, trust me - it's a pretty amazing place to work.
So where does it go from here? Well, that's the thing .. Google is also very secretive. Which is why is was nice when the company's executives invited members of the press to gather information on what lies ahead.
After everyone was briefed on how Google search will become more far-reaching (videos, etc), we were invited to pick a table during lunch to drill down into one specific area of Google search. I chose personalization. This is how Google is going to try to keep you online once it has you. The new iGoogle, and all its choices, will let you create a (dare I say it?) web portal, where you can branch out to find, and do, just about anything you could want to do online.
I found myself thinking about how Google, for all its hype and growth, hasn't even been public for three years now. That's a lot of attention in a short time.
And a lot of potential still to be tapped.

A Right To Surf


Today, one of those stories where you think, "where was the PR person?"
The military, mired in a pair of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, announced that soldiers will no longer be able to use eleven websites, among them YouTube and MySpace.

Military officials were quick to say that all these surfing soldiers were using up too much bandwith. It's a bit ironic to hear this, since about three months ago, we reported that the military itself was recruiting soldiers by making YouTube videos.

But what really surprises me about this move is the affect on soldiers themselves. We've asked them to serve in miserable conditions. Now, they can't see the latest videos on YouTube? Or use the most popular social networking website? Come on.

As for the military, it seems that the soldiers themselves are the one thing America is united behind when it comes to the war. Is it really a good move to take something away from those working to defend our country?

I say, if they're willing to serve, let 'em surf.

Share-ing The Wealth

It used to be said that the best place (well, at least the safest place) to put your money was your mattress.
Who would have thought that a dot-com, along with a company left for dead not too long ago, would be the best places to invest?

Those two companies, Google and Apple, by cosmic coincidence, had their annual shareholder meetings on the same day today .. one just up the road from the other. While each has issues to iron out before shareholders can be completely satisfied -- Google doing business in China, Apple sorting out its stock option backdating mess -- the return each company has seen in the last couple of years is staggering.

Can they sustain their shareholder growth? It's one of the great questions faced by the tech industry today. My answer: Why not? Apple could still hit another home run with its iPhone, and Google seems to be coming up with something new every week. Each company could also stumble -- Apple, at least, has had several speed bumps getting to where it is now -- but each will be interesting to watch, and will largely define where the Silicon Valley goes from here.