Netizen

Monday, July 16, 2012

Mayer Shoots For Yahoo, Google Stock Drops

Marissa Mayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It has been heard over the grapevine that Google CEO Larry Page - who is not in the habit of reading news four times a day like the rest of us - was taken aback when he received a text alert on his Google Nexus phone - yeah, he is still on Nexus 1.0 - that the Google stock had nosedived. At first he thought the market was reacting to his long sick leave. But that was days ago, he said to Sergey Brin.

When Sergey Brin - who does read news four times a day - gently apprised him that maybe it was something to do with Marissa Mayer.

"What did Marissa do?" Larry Page asked.

Sergey Brin found himself at a loss for words. He did not quite know how to put it. But before Page took wild guesses, Brin volunteered.

"She left," he whispered.

"To launch a startup? How could she? Who did she take with her? What space is she looking at? I hope not local.... Did she tell you? How long have you known this?"

"It is all over TechMeme, Larry," Sergey whispered.

Yahoo appointed Mayer CEO, and a lot of people googled up her name. Some of them were lead to a 2010 blog post of mine on Mayer. And this blog got a spike in traffic.

Mayer As Chief Yahoo: Surprising And Exciting

SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 08: Google Vice President of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Mayer speaks during an announcement September 8, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Google announced the launch of Google Instant, a faster version of Google search that streams results live as you type your query. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

New York Times: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

This is surprising and exciting. I guess Yahoo does not have to pretend it is a media company and it can now go back to being a technology company. Yahoo still has a lot of visitors that come back month after month. At some level it never really went away.

It can play for a strong number two position in some key areas. And with its resources it should be able to attract the talent to innovate.

Education For The 99%

Ruchit Garg: Why you need to go to good college?

“What is the value add of a college/school in the era where you have almost everything available on web, free or paid?” Answer is “World works on relationships and there are no better alternatives to learn, experience and make them work for you, than going to meet and interact with real people”.

Forbes: M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All

the success of M.I.T.x, OCW, and Academic Earth may push dramatic technological innovation at for-profits, so that they can maintain a unique selling proposition versus their free competitors .... against this country’s sizable need for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates, M.I.T.x is nothing short of revolutionary. This is especially true if you aren’t a credential freak and, like me, just want to improve your chops in a marketable subject area