Tech
Apple's Tax Hypocrisy
Tech says there's a shortage in homegrown talent—but tax avoidance only makes it worse
It’s remarkable how quickly the storm of outrage over Apple’s epic tax avoidance has passed over Washington. All it took was for Apple CEO Tim Cook (2011 compensation: $378 million) to share some yuks with senators about their love for his company’s products (“I love Apple. READ MORE >>
Julius Genachowski: The Exit Interview
The outgoing FCC boss on net neutrality, political polarization, and free speech
In a 6-3 decision on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Communications Commission has broad power to decide what kinds of communications it oversees—including the internet, which didn’t exist when the commission was first set up. The ruling delighted those who want the FCC to watchdog things like net neutrality, the principle that internet service providers have to treat all sorts of traffic equally. READ MORE >>
It's possible that no chief executive going before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has had a more friendly hearing room than Apple CEO Tim Cook. READ MORE >>
How Republicans Can Raise Millions in Silicon Valley
Chris Christie's template for milking the tech sector
Silicon Valley is raising its voice in Washington these days. The tech industry has been interested in the federal government for decades, but now it’s demanding things more loudly: Google spent $18.2 million lobbying in 2012. Mark Zuckerberg and a pack of executives launched an advocacy group that’s tackling immigration reform. READ MORE >>
Mark Zuckerberg’s Cynical, Necessary Washington Strategy
FWD.us is playing a familiar game to get immigration reform passed
For championing a cause most techies and liberals agree with—reforming America's immigration system—Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sure has taken a lot of flak. READ MORE >>
Obama's New FCC Head Is a Lobbyist. And That's OK.
Why Tom Wheeler's appointment hasn't sparked outrage
After months of rumors about who’ll be the next leader of the Federal Communications Commission—or even whether the last head, Julius Genachowski, would ever leave—the White House has finally confirmed that Tom Wheeler’s the guy. READ MORE >>
Foursquare's Struggle to Remain Relevant
At TechCrunch conference, CEO Dennis Crowley says his app is about more than mayorships
It's been a rough few months for Foursquare. The four-year-old location-sharing app, best known for making you the "mayor" of a place if you "check in" there more than anyone else, generated only $2 million in revenue in 2012; a research firm pronounced in January it would be dead or purchased by the end of the year. READ MORE >>
On a sunny, freezing cold January at the main entrance to Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, with cabs jostling for position to drop passengers off, Travis Kalanick searched his pockets and black backpack for his iPhone—the same one that he, the CEO of sedan-hailing app Uber, had used to summon the black SUV that just dropped us off. Phone located, we forged past a scrum of people waiting for people to be paired with taxis. READ MORE >>
The Delete Squad
Google, Twitter, Facebook and the new global battle over the future of free speech
A year ago this month, Stanford Law School hosted a little-noticed meeting that may help decide the future of free speech online. It took place in the faculty lounge, where participants were sustained in their deliberations by bagels and fruit platters. READ MORE >>
The Driskill Hotel, a Romanesque brick and limestone hulk at the corner of Old Pecan and Brazos streets in downtown Austin, is the closest thing the Texas capital has to old-world glamour. The hotel also happens to be haunted, supposedly, by the ghost of the man whose portrait hangs at the stairs to the bar just off the lobby: Colonel Jesse Driskill, a cattle baron who made a fortune during and after the Civil War peddling longhorn to a famine-stricken region. READ MORE >>
