As far as technophiles seeking political office go, Jack Dorsey is taking the opposite approach from Sheryl Sandberg.
Ms. Sandberg’s new book may read like the source material for a campaign platform, but on a recent 60 Minutes appearance, she evaded questions about leaning in to the White House. Mr. Dorsey, on Read More
Just when we all thought the furor about whether Yahoos! can work from home might finally die down, Mayor Michael Bloomberg weighed in on the matter–siding with Ms. Mayer. During his weekly radio show, reports Capital New York, he noted that, “I’ve always said, telecommuting is one of the dumber ideas I’ve ever heard.”
Well, Sir Richard Branson, for one, could not believe his ears. Absolutely aghast at this latest turn of events, the gallivanting founder of Virgin Group employed his blog once again to preach the gospel of working remotely and/or butt into the business of other major moguls: Read More
Because Angel Investors Can Live In Dorms Too The New York tech scene can never have too many venture capitalists, but sometimes it can be difficult for student entrepreneurs to bridge the age gap between themselves and their investors. Enter the Dorm Room Fund, an investment team started by firm First Round Capital, which is run and Read More
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is teaming up with a group of high-profile investors, including Fred Wilson, Ron Conway and Paul Graham, to “push for smart immigration reform to attract and keep the best, the brightest and the hardest-working to fuel innovation and American jobs.” [March for Innovation]
It wasn’t so long ago that the Nook was the key to Barnes & Noble’s future. Now the bookseller is planning to back off of its efforts to sell its own e-reader, and is working on strengthening partnerships with tablet suppliers. [NYT]
It’s not that Julian Assange isn’t giving interviews—it’s just that he’s leading a busy life inside the Ecuadorian government’s London embassy, and it’s a question of fitting reporters in. [Ars Technica]
Kara Swisher leans into the backlash against Facebook COO’s Sheryl Sandberg’s new book. [AllThingsD]
In case you can’t wait for the competing biopics currently in production, here’s what it’s like to go on a double-date with John McAfee. [PandoDaily]
Senator Chuck Schumer dropped an interesting factoid this morning at a breakfast co-hosted by The Association for a Better New York and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association. Mr. Schumer was there to discuss recently authorized recovery funding for Hurricane Sandy, but offered some remarks on the state of New York’s tech industry.
During the Q&A period, Dawn Barber, cofounder of the New York Tech Meetup, asked Mr. Schumer what he thought of the role of the technology community would play in the city’s future. Read More
Mayor Bloomberg is scheduled to exit stage left this year, which means it’s time to elect someone to take his place. Since there are no other billionaire tech evangelists waiting in the wings, local techies are being courted for their votes by candidates eager to prove they’re the all about Silicon Alley.
Wall Street? Where’s that? Read More
A fair bit of Mike Bloomberg’s third and final term has been devoted to improving New York City’s educational offerings in the practical hard sciences. Besides the creation of Cornell Tech, he also helped broker city support for beefed-up programs at NYU and Columbia.
But there’s one science-focused school that has clearly has the mayor’s heart, and it’s in Baltimore, of all places: His alma mater, Johns Hopkins, where he got his engineering degree. He’s showered the university with cash for years, and the New York Times reports that his latest gift (a cool $350 million, the largest individual gift in the school’s history) brings the total to $1.1 billion. Read More
Earlier this week, Betabeat reported on New York Tech Meetup’s plans to host a series of candidates forums ahead of the upcoming citywide elections, as the local tech community seeks to reshape the city in the image of its own fast-Internet, open-data, science-in-schools algorithmic fantasy.
As we noted, plans for the forums followed news Read More
For many in the New York City startup community, it’s been nice having Mayor Michael Bloomberg around. Not only does the third-term mayor double as the city’s most successful tech entrepreneur, Mr. Bloomberg has championed policies aimed at turning New York into a hotbed of innovation.
With Mr. Bloomberg’s time in office coming to a Read More
This morning, on his weekly Friday radio show with John Gambling, Mayor Bloomberg discussed the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s vote in favor of a year-long pilot program to test out e-hailing apps, which let riders flag down a cab with their smartphone.
As we noted yesterday, the pilot was a last-minute compromise when it seemed like lobbying from black car and livery car incumbents would prohibit the passage of permanent rules to open up the taxi market to any app with a license. (Black cars and liveries worry that the ability to “pre-arrange” taxi rides with an an app will hurt their business.) Read More
