Free Republic

Is it wrong for an American to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas? Sounds like a crazy question, but it’s actually at the center of a lawsuit that’s on its way to court. Promila Awasthi is a US citizen, originally from India. She lives in Silicon Valley, and worked for software giant Infosys at its Fremont, Calif. office in 2008. When she was there, she claims, she was routinely teased by two of her supervisors for celebrating American holidays. “Why, as an Indian, should you be celebrating Thanksgiving?” she says she was asked. “You should not be doing that,” she was told.

I spent Columbus Day in Sunnyvale, fittingly, meeting with a roomful of new arrivals. Well, relatively new. They were Indians living in Silicon Valley. The event was organized by the Think India Foundation, a think-tank that seeks to solve problems which Indians face. When introducing the topic of skilled immigration, the discussion moderator, Sand Hill Group founder M.R. Rangaswami asked the obvious question. How many planned to return to India? I was shocked to see more than three-quarters of the audience raise their hands

The time is right for Silicon Valley -- style progressivism to woo independents into a political force under the Libertarian Party banner. Here's how. If the two-party system is ever going to be seriously challenged, this is the moment. The GOP, the stall-tactic party, is reeling. The Democratic administration is struggling to turn around the economy. And across the country, creative, engaged folks are increasingly feeling politically homeless. More Americans consider themselves independents (39%) than Democrats (33%) or Republicans (22%) -- and the gap is widening. Who will fill that void? Sarah Palin is rumored to be mulling the...

After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control over the way the network is run and allow foreign governments more of a say in the future of the system. Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government. The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes...

Maybe we need to wake up. The other day I went to the Web site of Bell Labs, one of the country's premier research outfits. I clicked at random on a research project, Programmable Networks for Tomorrow. The scientists working on the project were Gisli Hjalmstysson, Nikos Anerousis, Pawan Goyal, K. K. Ramakrishnan, Jennifer Rexford, Kobus Van der Merwe, and Sneha Kumar Kasera. Clicking again at random, this time on the Information Visualization Research Group, the research team turned out to be John Ellson, Emden Gansner, John Mocenigo, Stephen North, Jeffery Korn, Eleftherios Koutsofios, Bin Wei, Shankar Krishnan, and Suresh...

Billionaire was trampled during August trip to SerengetiSilicon Valley billionaire Tom Siebel says he's recovering from broken ribs and legs after an elephant charged at him and a tour guide in the Serengeti a month ago. Siebel on Wednesday told the San Jose Mercury News that the animal plowed into the guide and then attacked him, breaking several ribs, goring him in the left leg and crushing the right leg. "It was all happening so fast." Siebel told the paper. "There was no place to hide, no place to run." The 55-year-old Siebel Systems software founder said the Aug. 1...

Former EBay CEO Meg Whitman -- who's been under fire for skipping political debates and reporters' questions -- won't be attending a September Silicon Valley Leadership Group forum billed as the first major gathering of California's 2010 gubernatorial candidates. The SVLG event, titled "Leadership California: Solutions from the Innovation Economy,"' will include the two Democratic candidates, former two term governor and current State Attorney General Jerry Brown, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. And there will be just two Republicans -- State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former Rep. Tom Campbell at Projections 2010, which will be held Sept. 16...

There's no economic doom and gloom for Silicon Valley tech workers, those who who still have their jobs, that is. The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the health of Silicon Valley shows tech workers doing better now than they were during the dotcom boom -- much better. "While the employment picture may sound a bit negative, the wage picture was much more sunny," said Amar Mann, regional economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, who co-authored the report titled "After the Dot-Com Bubble: Silicon Valley High-Tech Employment and wages in 2001 and 2008." The BLS,...

Detroit was the Silicon Valley of the 1920s – the booming home of a glamorous new industry, a place where huge fortunes were conjured in years, sometimes months. But while the creators of the computer industry have as yet bequeathed very little to the built environment, the automobile industry piled up around it an astounding American city, in astoundingly little time. The Detroit of 1910 was thriving Midwestern milling and shipping entrepot, a bigger Minneapolis. The Detroit of 1930 had rebuilt itself as grand metropolis of skyscrapers, mansions, movie palaces and frame cottages spreading northward beyond the line of sight,...

Silicon Valley's unemployment rate soared in June to a record 11.8 percent as the region was hit by a loss of 2,600 manufacturing jobs, at least half of them in the high tech industries that make up the region's core employment sector. The unemployment rate is the highest rate on record going back to 1990, the period for which comparable data is available, the state Employment Development Department said. It released the new employment data today. The jobless rate hasn't been as bad since 1949-1950, based on records that are not comparable, according to EDD labor market analyst Janice Shriver.

San Jose/Silicon Valley Tea Party San Jose/Silicon Valley, California Sunday, July 5, 2009 1pm -3 pm Valley Fair Mall/Santana Row Intersection of Winchester Blvd and Stevens Creek Blvd On Sunday, July 5, 2009, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, the San Jose Tea Party will hold a rally protesting Obama's Government run Healthcare initiative. The rally will be at the corner of Winchester Blvd. and Stevens Creek Blvd. (Santana Row and Valley Fair Mall). In the spirit of limited government and fiscal responsibility, the protest is designed to get the "Stop Government Run Healthcare" message out to folks traveling the busiest...

A decade ago, the path to a successful future seemed sure. Secure a foothold in the emerging information economy, and your city or region was destined to boom. That belief, as it turned out, was misguided. In the decade between 1997 and 2007, the information sector --which includes jobs in fields from media, publishing and broadcasting to computer programming, data processing, telecommunications and Internet publishing -- has barely created a single new net job, while some 16,000,000 were created in other fields. The biggest losses have been in the telecommunications sub-field, which has shed 400,000 jobs nationwide since its peak...

The next Silicon Valley? You're kidding, right? Google the phrase, and you'll find an archive of old stories with titles like "India likely to be the next Silicon Valley," "Could the next Silicon Valley be in a developing country?" "Is Vietnam the next Silicon Valley?" Or my favorite: "Could Silicon Valley be the next Detroit?" Long the preeminent high-tech center in North America and the world, Silicon Valley saw unrivaled success that has proved very tough to clone or import. The Valley has done a great job over the years of attracting and retaining global talent and local capital, and...

Stanford University computer science professor Rajeev Motwani has died at his Atherton, Calif., home, San Mateo County, Calif., officials said. He was 47. Motwani apparently drowned Friday in a backyard pool, the San Jose Mercury News reported Sunday. Friends told the newspaper Motwani, who could not swim, may have slipped and fallen into the pool. Motwani was a well-known and beloved figure in the Silicon Valley community of high-tech companies and workers, where he was described as a kindly academic who was never too busy to mentor Stanford graduate students and officers of start-up companies -- including one started by...

Open Space Authority to Return Assessment Funds San Jose, CA, May 29, 2009 – Property owners who have property within the jurisdiction of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority will soon be able to claim refunds of an assessment charged by the Authority on their real estate tax bills between 2002 and 2008. In 2001, the Authority approved a $20 annual assessment on single-family homes located within the Authority’s territory to help purchase and maintain open space and parkland. Higher amounts were charged for multi-family and commercial properties. The Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and...

Silicon Valley companies are bracing for a tough new phase of antitrust scrutiny, responding to signs of heavier enforcement by the Obama administration and continued pressure from abroad. A stricter stance against companies that dominate their sectors is likely to test government-relations strategies that technology giants adopted during the Bush administration. Google Inc., one of the most prominent companies under the watch of antitrust regulators, says its lobbyists and executives since March have met with about 40 groups, including lawmakers, regulators and advertising agencies, to argue that its business practices don't reduce competition. A Google spokesman said the effort is...

Technology in all of its forms - social networks, smartphones, the Web, instant messaging, on-line gaming - is a net loss for today’s young people. At least according to one group of Silicon Valley 8th graders. “It’s bad for us, but it sure is fun,” says Eric Bautista, 13, one of the students in Sister Jolene Schmitz’s junior high school class at Resurrection School in Sunnyvale, California. Admittedly, this informal survey offers, at best, only anecdotal evidence. Still, it is pretty shocking that a group of young teenagers, all of them technologically very astute, and living in the very heart...

"Thirteen fourth grade students from a Pittsburg elementary school were either sent home or called in sick Tuesday with flu-like symptoms, prompting the district to alert county health officials due to swine flu concerns, the superintendent said. "The students — one who had a relative from Mexico visiting — all attended the same class at Highlands Elementary School, 4141 Harbor St. No cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Contra Costa County, but health officials predict it will happen." http://www.mercurynews.com/twitter/ci_12248023?source=rss "A 16-year-old San Jose girl was diagnosed with Santa Clara County's first likely case of swine flu on Tuesday,...

LAST week's audacious $US7.4 billion ($10.2 billion) play by Oracle to acquire Sun Microsystems has drawn comparisons with General Motors' moves in the 1950s to consolidate the US car industry. Oracle has touted the bid as a game changer that will help establish it as the first company to sell software and hardware products end-to-end. Rivals are sceptical of the rhetoric and believe the real motive is to kill off Sun's competing software products, which they say has been a theme of Oracle's buying spree, which has reportedly cost $US34.5 billion since 2005. If approved, Oracle will acquire Sun's global...

In a decision that could force Silicon Valley's largest water provider to refund millions — or perhaps tens of millions — of dollars to its customers, a judge on Thursday ruled that one of the Santa Clara Valley Water District's primary fees is illegal. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy found that the district's "groundwater extraction fee" requires voter approval under Proposition 218, a state law passed in 1996.

Over the past 13 years, Sun Microsystems' Java language has become one of the computer industry's best known brands—and underappreciated assets. The tension wasn't lost on Sun's new owner, Oracle, which on Apr. 20 said it will purchase Silicon Valley pioneer Sun for $7.4 billion in cash. If Oracle has its way, Java will emerge not only as a strong revenue source but also a key component of plans to keep customers loyal for years to come. During a conference call with analysts Apr. 20, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison called Java "the single most important software asset we have ever...

Silicon Valley became famous as a great incubator of partnerships that helped develop companies like Apple, Cisco, eBay, Google, Intel and Sun Microsystems. But if President Barack Obama has his way, Silicon Valley will be hammered. Obama outlined a budget that would more than double federal taxes on general partners — the entrepreneurs who incur the risk of assembling and managing partnerships for startups, distressed companies, real estate projects and other ventures. A significant part of their compensation is what is termed "carried interest" — generally a 20 percent share of what's left over after a portfolio company has been...

Silicon Valley's jobless rate leapt more than a full point to a stunning 9.4 percent in January, the biggest jump since at least 1990. Sohn, economics professor at California State University-Channel Islands, said to expect more job losses: He predicts that the valley's jobless rate could easily top 10 percent this year. The increasing unemployment rate in the valley tracks a rising trend in the state and nation. The state unemployment rate for January was 10.1 percent, up from 8.7 percent in December; nationally, it was 7.6 percent, up from 7.2 percent, with nearly 600,000 jobs shed. At the San...

... What draws people to Silicon Valley is the freedom to go out, commit industrial revolution and make the future. Thus it was odd that Silicon Valley voted for the most statist-inclined presidential candidate since Franklin Roosevelt. Make no mistake: Silicon Valley fell in love with Barack Obama! His youth and cool, along with the Web superiority of his 2008 campaign, had Silicon Valley going ga-ga for Obama. In the eyes of Silicon Valley, Obama was like the Apple Macintosh; John McCain and the GOP were like Windows. But now comes the reckoning. Obama may be the coolest guy ever...

President Barack Obama's tax plan, which would boost income taxes on those earning $250,000 or more a year, would affect about twice the share of taxpayers in Santa Clara County as in the state and nation. That's because there are more people here who earn high incomes, and the plan would take more of their income in taxes while cutting back on one of the few deductions available to them - mortgage interest. "Long term, there is going be some pain involved" for these taxpayers, said Michael Gray, a San Jose certified public accountant. That income class includes about 43,000...

Apple Inc. co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs still expects to return from his medical leave at the end of June, according to an Apple director who responded to an investor at the company's annual shareholder meeting Wednesday. The investor -- who was the only one to press for details on Jobs' health -- had asked when the board knew Jobs planned to step away from his daily duties. Apple director Arthur Levinson responded that since Jobs announced Jan. 14 that he needed to go on leave, "nothing has changed." Jobs, who turned 54 on Tuesday, was not at the meeting....

A tech guru from Facebook may jump into the Democratic race for state attorney general, joining potential candidates Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney, and Rocky Delgadillo, Los Angeles' city attorney. Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer at the social networking site and former education adviser under ex-President Bill Clinton doesn't have traditional AG credentials like Harris and Delgadillo. But supporters say Kelly is well-versed in information technology, white-collar crime, identity theft and other Internet-related issues. His candidacy in next year's election has been a buzz in the Silicon Valley. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said "neither Chris nor Facebook are commenting...

TECHTONIC SHIFTS Daniel Lyons Published Jan 24, 2009 Silicon Valley’s Fork in the Road Unless we spend more on technology and science, companies like Apple, Could Silicon Valley become another Detroit? It's hard to imagine as you crawl along the traffic-choked lanes of Routes 101 and 280 between San Francisco and San Jose, past office parks and gleaming campuses still buzzing with energy despite the recent recession-related layoffs and cutbacks. Yet some who work here see trouble on the horizon. These include top executives at HP, who are ringing an alarm bell about what they see as a looming disaster,...

You think solar electrical generation is going to save you or the Planet? Think again. While it is true that photovoltaic solar panels do not pollute while they are producing electricity -- what about the manufacturing process? What happens when these panels reach the end of their projected lifecycle in twenty-five years? (This is, by the way, an optimistic view of their useful life.) Those questions are addressed in a study by the watchdog group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Green Power" is being hyped as the "Safe Solution." It is anything but safe -- when all factors are considered. Here...

The massive fraud that threatens Indian software giant Satyam Computer Services has sent tremors 9,000 miles to Silicon Valley, long an investor, partner and promoter of the South Asian country's rising tech industry. The Satyam scandal, centered on $1 billion worth of falsified financial statements, is a severe blow to the image of India Inc. and is causing executives in the Bay Area to balance the risks of outsourcing against the cost savings. It highlights the dangers of U.S. companies handing over critical work to outsourcing firms halfway around the world that they cannot control. There is no evidence that...

In the lobbying community, America’s high-tech companies have always had a reputation for timidity. They have historically tried to stay out of policy fights that could sully their above-the-fray reputation, in favor of issues that lent themselves to bipartisan coalitions. The bread and butter of the tech sector lobbyist is in areas like funding for science and math education, and visas for a few thousand skilled workers. But as Card Check moves front and center in the policy debate, that may be changing. According to the San Francisco Business Times, organizers regard Silicon Valley as fertile ground for efforts to...

On Sunday, Chris O’Brien of the Silicon Valley Mercury News wrote about four dying Silicon Valley icons. For some reason, it wasn’t posted to the website Sunday or Monday, but it’s there now. He aptly summarizes the problems of three of these companies, and I recommend anyone interested in innovation (or the Valley) to read the analysis. In my reading, two of the companies are (effectively) single-product companies where their product is no longer compelling and increasingly no longer competitive. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) once was threatening Intel (INTC) on the performance front, and now they are asset stripping in...

Even as economic losses and unemployment levels mount, America's most effective engine for wealth and job creation is being dangerously -- perhaps fatally -- compromised.

Organized labor’s big legislative push next year might alter the nature of employment in the Bay Area’s tech-heavy regions. Major unions are backing passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a federal bill that would make it harder for companies to combat union-organizing drives. Some labor lawyers and union backers speculate that should the act pass ­— a likely scenario given support by President-elect Barack Obama and many Democratic lawmakers — it could spark rounds of organizing efforts at tech companies, which typically have not seen much union activity. The bill’s passage will lead to “significant organizing efforts in Silicon...

As a software developer who worked with NASA, Timothy Childs built vision-tracking systems for the space shuttle. Now the former techie has a new venture that he says is out of this world: chocolate. As demand for premium chocolate soars, a new crop of high-tech confectioners are changing the industry with Silicon Valley-style innovation, antique German equipment and an obsession with the simple cocoa bean. "The bean totally seduced me," said Childs, co-founder and "chief chocolate officer" of Tcho, a San Fransisco startup seeking to improve the quality of chocolate through scientific experimentation with flavors. "On a molecular level, making...

Two engineers from China were sentenced to a year in prison Friday for stealing computer chip designs from their Silicon Valley employers and trying to smuggle the secrets to their homeland to start a government-backed company there. Fei Ye, a U.S. citizen, and Ming Zhong, a permanent resident of the United States, had pleaded guilty in 2006 in San Jose federal court, becoming the first people convicted of the most serious crime under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. They were accused of trying to benefit China with their stolen chip designs, although prosecutors did not allege that the Chinese...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A man laid off recently from his job in Silicon Valley shot and killed three people, believed to be former co-workers, at an office park on Friday, police in the ailing U.S. technology hub said. The 47-year-old suspect, identified by police as Jing Wu, was still at large after gunning down two men and a woman shortly before 4 p.m. local time (0000 GMT), Santa Clara, California, police told local media.

Living in Silicon Valley, one is surrounded by friends and colleagues who love the risks and thrills of entrepreneurship. Most of these dreamers and doers would sooner call Jack Kevorkian than be forced to live outside an entrepreneurial climate. Yet many of them just did the unthinkable: They voted for the most left-wing candidate to ever be elected President of the U.S. When asked about this apparent contradiction they say fuzzy things like: "Well, Barack Obama is a symbol of the future" or "Obama is good for America's brand in the world." The best argument in this vein is put...

Michael Giluso stood with about 15 friends on a busy corner in Campbell on Sunday waving a sign high in the air for everybody to see. "Please save our marriage: Vote No on Prop. 8," the sign said. "This is a civil rights issue," Giluso, a Gilroy resident who married his husband in June. But just a few miles up the road, nearly a thousand people gathered on a muddy field in Cupertino to say that Giluso's marriage, and others like his, is wrong and should be nullified. Underneath a banner that said "Bay Area Christians for Traditional Marriage," and...

Job losses spread in Silicon Valley By Richard Waters and Chris Nuttall in San Francisco Published: October 19 2008 23:29 | Last updated: October 19 2008 23:29 A wave of job losses has started to spread across California’s Silicon Valley as the trademark optimism of the region’s technology start-ups has turned to pessimism amid the financial market rout. The rapid reversal in mood has reawakened memories of the dotcom bust in 2001. The entrepreneurs making the cuts, however, claim a much greater sense of realism than was shown during the first great internet shake-out, when many web companies reacted too...

'Plenty Of Room In Here,' Says One EmployerAmerica's economy may be slowing to a crawl, but in some parts of Silicon Valley, the job market is robust. There are companies looking to hire, even as much of America remains concerned about losing their job, or finding one. See Who Is Still Hiring In Silicon Valley At Ooyala, a company that spun off from google, the sales guys in white shirts are just settling into their new offices. "(There is) plenty of room in here," said founder Sean Knapp. "Nobody's rubbing elbows yet." You've got to be qualified though. Knapp said...

The oil crisis and the credit crunch mark the end of one epoch and the painful but promising beginnings of another that won't come from Wall Street or Washington.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was slated to attend a political fundraiser in Burlingame Sunday morning with more than 1,00 people paying as much as $2,500 each to sit down with her for brunch. Palin supporters and anti-war protestors were both expected to rally outside during the brunch at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Aiport. Palin has spent the weekend accusing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists" for his association with a former 1960s radical. Palin was referring to Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the Weather Underground. The group took credit for bombings,...

Since the credit crisis began gripping the financial world, Silicon Valley has watched from the sidelines, secure in the faith that it was insulated from the coming storm. That faith is now being seriously undermined. High-tech entrepreneurs, investors and executives now believe the question is when, not if, the financial chaos will hurt the country’s cradle of innovation. From San Francisco to San Jose, the effects are already palpable. This week, Apple, one of the Valley’s high-fliers, lost 16.3 percent of its value as investors reasonably concluded that consumers would shun expensive gadgets over the holidays in favor of lower-ticket...

Laid off from your Wall Street job? East Coast venture capitalists and start-ups want you to know they are hiring. Josh Kopelman at First Round Capital, a Philadelphia-area venture firm, started LeaveWallStreetJoinAStartup.com on Monday, after waking to hear the news that Lehman Brothers was filing for bankruptcy protection and Bank of America would buy Merrill Lynch. Like any good investor, he saw opportunity in the pain. His plea to the 150,000 financial sector employees who could be laid off: “You might want to consider joining a start-up. These days, start-ups are more stable than Wall Street (seriously).” He listed job...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is not only firing women up on the campaign trail but she is also exciting women on the Web. A dot-com startup is seeing a huge rise in traffic because it asked women what they think of Palin. In a Silicon Valley coffee shop, women were checking the latest political news wirelessly on Thursday. That is good news for Deborah Perry-Piscione. Her Web-based startup, bettyconfidential.com, just surveyed women about what they think of Palin. The company got a wide-ranging response. "Women are somewhat torn because they think she's terrific," Piscione said. "Incredible to have a woman...

To some women, Sarah Palin is the savior of the Republican party, a bona fide outsider who can multi-task with a BlackBerry and a breast pump. To others, she is a thief of Hillary Clinton's mantle, a little-known governor thrust into the limelight who doesn't agree with the majority of women on key social issues, like abortion. Whatever the sentiment, Palin has emerged as the most polarizing candidate since, well, Hillary Clinton. In Silicon Valley, which has been a fundraising stronghold for Democrats, a late September luncheon with Palin is so popular that the event in the garden of Tom...

WHILE CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS AREN'T COUNTING ON CARRYING CALIFORNIA IN NOVEMBER, THEY ARE SEIZING THE GOP VP CANDIDATE'S SUDDEN STARDOM TO RAISE CASH IN THE STATE.What plans do California Republicans have for Sarah Palin, the GOP's instant political supernova? Fundraising. The Republican vice presidential nominee will hold a lunch fundraiser at the Woodside home of Siebel Systems founder Tom Siebel on Sept. 25, according to an e-mail invitation. She'll be in the state for a two-day swing packed with fundraising events, said former California Secretary of State Bill Jones, chairman of the state's McCain campaign. He said he didn't know whether...

Sarah who? John McCain's decision to yank little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin from the obscurity of the great northern tundra and dub her his running mate had Silicon Valley Democrats and even some Republicans scratching their heads Friday. A brilliant end-run around opponent Barack Obama's mantra of change? A blatant attempt to throw a tantalizing bone to Hillary Clinton's more disgruntled female supporters? "Who's she?" asked Democrat and former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer. "I don't know what McCain's motives are, but I can't imagine any Hillary supporters supporting a conservative like Palin. She's pro-life and it seems she'd oppose...

McCain's pick puzzles many in valleyGOP LAUDS PALIN AS 'ROLE MODEL'By Patrick May Mercury News Article Launched: 08/30/2008 01:32:52 AM PDT Sarah who? John McCain's decision to yank little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin from the obscurity of the great northern tundra and dub her his running mate had Silicon Valley Democrats and even some Republicans scratching their heads Friday. A brilliant end-run around opponent Barack Obama's mantra of change? A blatant attempt to throw a tantalizing bone to Hillary Clinton's more disgruntled female supporters? "Who's she?" asked Democrat and former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer. "I don't know what McCain's...