At least that is how the system is supposed to work. But lately social scientists have come up against an exception that is, true to its name, huge. It is “big data,” the vast sets of information gathered by researchers at companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft from patterns of cellphone calls, text messages and Internet clicks by millions of users around the world. Companies often refuse to make such information public, sometimes for competitive reasons and sometimes to protect customers’ privacy. But to many scientists, the practice is an invitation to bad science, secrecy and even potential fraud. The issue came to a boil last month at a scientific conference in Lyon, France, when three scientists from Google and the University of Cambridge declined ... Continue reading →
By Yuliya ChernovaEven as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers focuses its attention on a new early-stage fund and pursues more consumer and enterprise technologies, the firm’s vast clean-technology portfolio continues to need money. Lots of it. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm has more than 60 clean-technology companies, several of which are raising capital at a difficult time. They can’t access the IPO market, and private capital is growing thinner for this sector. That sets the stage for write-downs. One of Kleiner Perkins’s best-known clean-tech portfolio companies, Fisker Automotive, maker of a luxury plug-in hybrid, retained bankers months ago to explore an IPO, but instead had to turn to private investors for more capital. Luca Technologies, which converts coal into natural gas, pulled its IPO recently. ... Continue reading →
By Deborah GageOne of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has been sued by a female investment partner, Ellen Pao, for gender discrimination and retaliation. Pao, who joined Kleiner in 2005 and is currently a member of the firm’s Digital Team, claims in a lawsuit filed this month in San Francisco Superior Court that she suffered multiple instances of sexual harassment, retaliation and sexual discrimination over the last six years and that Kleiner failed to resolve them, despite her repeated complaints about the matter to partners including John Doerr, Ted Schlein and Ray Lane. Kleiner did engage an outside investigator, the suit says. Pao also claims in the suit that discrimination is integral to the operation of the firm, and ... Continue reading →
By Deborah GageSequoia Capital’s Michael Moritz, one of Silicon Valley’s best known and most successful venture capitalists, disclosed that he has a rare and incurable medical condition and is stepping back from daily management at the firm. Moritz, who as an investor placed early, lucrative bets on companies such as Yahoo and Google, will continue managing Sequoia’s existing funds and will maintain his responsibilities with current portfolio companies, he told Sequoia’s limited partners in a letter released to VentureWire that the firm said was sent this morning. He will also be “deeply involved with nurturing the fresh investments, ideas and relationships that can be of significant long-term benefit for all of us,” the letter said. However, Moritz will become chairman of Sequoia Capital and plans ... Continue reading →
By Lizette ChapmanEric Phillips has never sent an email or even gone online. The men of Last Mile, with MC Hammer and friends. Having been incarcerated for second-degree murder for the past 18 years, he’s missed a lot. He’s missed seeing his family and friends, he’s missed four presidential administrations, and he’s missed the technological tsunami of always-on Internet, social media and mobile devices that has transformed the way society functions. Now Phillips, 44, and four other inmates at San Quentin State Prison, just north of San Francisco, are participating in Last Mile, a pilot program designed to help them catch up. The program is designed to train selected inmates to potentially work in technology jobs after their release. The current crop of five men–ten ... Continue reading →
Don’t buy what any of these guys are selling. Eight years after its IPO, Google is still quirky, still sometimes surprising, and still wildly successful, but it is not at all unconventional. Just like any other company, Google has been swayed by pressure from investors to do things that once seemed unlikely—buying a phone company, for instance, or starting a social network. By many accounts, Mark Zuckerberg came kicking and screaming to Wall Street. He had no reason to take more cash from investors—Facebook is highly profitable as a private company—and he worried that his firm would be changed by Wall Street. That’s a legitimate concern, and he’s not the only one who should be concerned. You, humble user of Facebook, should be worried, too. Continue reading →
By Zoran BasichWith Facebook set to enter the public markets tomorrow–it just priced its IPO at $38 per share–we took a trip through the VentureWire archives to check out some of the stories about the company dating back to its earliest days. Here’s a sampling: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images MAY 4, 2005 – NEW COMPANY, WEIRD NAME Headline: “Thefacebook Raises $12M First Round For Expansion” Why it was important: Accel Partners invested $12 million in the year-old company’s first round of financing. That turned out to be a wise decision, as Accel’s stake now figures to be worth around $7.7 billion. Money quote: “(Accel Partners Managing Partner Jim Breyer) said that several consumer Internet companies as well as media companies were interested in investing in Thefacebook, ... Continue reading →
By Deborah GageDriver licenses, credit cards and other forms of permanent identity are taken for granted in the developed world, and they are essential to getting a loan. Reuters Yet there are billions of people who don’t have official identities, even though they may live in countries with rapidly growing economies and a growing middle class. Enter Lenddo, which has raised $8 million in Series A funding to provide loans to these people, enabling them to use their online identities on social networks to show how credible they are. Investors include Facebook-backer Accel Partners, Blumberg Capital, Omidyar Network, iNovia Capital and Metamorphic Ventures. Not all the money came in at once–co-founder and Chief Executive Jeff Stewart said the company is financed through an open instrument ... Continue reading →
Politicians have accused them of destroying "the fabric of this country." In fact, as one daughter attests, their powerful example is holding society together. Left to right: The author with her mother; with her best friend and fellow "Mothers' Club" daughter, Brenda Cameron Spaulding, on the first day of school; and in a dance costume at age 5 or 6. (Gayle Tzemach Lemmon) A lot has been said about single mothers. Most of it has been less than flattering. In a notable nugget Senator Rick Santorum said at a town hall meeting, "We are seeing the fabric of this country fall apart, and it's falling apart because of single moms." Not long after that, in a public appearance in Erie, Pennsylvania, he accused single mothers ... Continue reading →
