PunditGuy

Conservative Commentary

You are here: Home / Archives for Technology

Technology

$17 Million Per Year

by Leave a Comment

The lawyer whose role it was to be Twitter’s chief censor might just be on her way to collecting a pink slip if new owner Elon Musk has his way.

Vijaya Gadde, who earned $17 million last year as Twitter’s top legal counsel, could be on the chopping block as Musk is reportedly planning to slash jobs and reduce executive pay as he looks to secure financing for his Twitter bid.

After disclosing plans to acquire the company earlier this month, Musk expressed “no confidence” in Twitter’s current management — which doesn’t bode well for their future once he takes the helm later this year.

$17 million dollars. One employee’s salary.

Makes you want to know the other salaries of Twitter’s existing management. I’ve said that Silicon Valley pay is crazy. But does the average American really know how crazy? They’re getting a look at it now. Will Elon expose the outrageous pay rates for other Twit’s in leadership? Unlikely given his net worth. But if more stories like the one above are written in the coming days, we’ll likely end up getting a peak into more than just take home pay.

I wonder what those unqualified board members get paid?

At least Twitter is fun again.

Netflix Rocket Ship Slowly Falls to Earth

by Leave a Comment

I’ve followed certain Netflix employees on LinkedIn and through Rand’s Leadership Slack channel. For years, the place seemed like “heaven on earth” for people smart enough to be employed there. Great compensation. Great severance (if you don’t work out). Seemed to be the ultimate place to work (along with Apple, and Google). The culture had the typical silicon valley elitist atmosphere. So, it’s fascinating to watch now as Netflix experiences their first major subscriber loss in years. This adjustment has had some employees wondering why the party is over. Compensation plans are changing. Teams are being cut. Confidence about the future is waning.

All the weeping and gnashing of teeth seems typical of the millennial coder who lives in an alternate universe where a mid-six figure salary is adequate but not great. Couple that with free food, free laundry, free haircuts, and, well, almost free everything, and these individuals are accumulating life expectations that can’t possibly be sustained.

I Don't Want An Apple Watch, and You Shouldn't Either

by Leave a Comment

screen-shot-2014-09-09-at-2-02-57-pm

I could easily point to this article on Engadget and be done. Go ahead an read it, because many of the arguments made there resonate with me. My honest thoughts are these:

  • Apple Watch needs a separate charging plug. That’s just another I need to carry with me.
  • The device requires an iPhone. Do you have to have it in your pocket? In proximity? Why wouldn’t I just pull out my phone instead of looking at my wrist?
  • Aside from my wife, why would I want to send my heartbeat to anyone? And even with my wife, wouldn’t that get old after awhile? “Yeah, honey, love you too…ok, right…now, shut that heart beat off…I’m busy.”
  • Won’t my arm start to ache after holding it up for long periods of time? Isn’t that the beauty of a wrist watch? You only have to raise your arm for a split second to see what time it is, then you’re done. Now, I’m going to be holding my arm up for how long? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? If it’s only a minute or two, that’s an expensive device for a quick look. Again, I should just take out my phone.
  • Since when does anybody want a version 1.0 of ANYTHING Apple releases? Early adopters, that’s who. In a year, that watch is going to be half as thick. And you won’t need an iPhone either. And it will do more.
  • I stopped wearing a watch 8 years ago. Why will Apple Watch make me want to wear one again? I really can’t think of a reason.

So, there you have it. My blog, my feelings. I’ll be in line for Apple Watch 2. Or…maybe 3.

Apple Employee, Dr. Dre, Questioned for Suge Knight Shooting

by Leave a Comment

Probably false, but, a delicious report nonetheless.

Dr Dre 113012

Billionaire to be Beats headphones founder Dr. Dre was questioned earlier today after a man apprehended for shooting Suge Knight says the former Deathrow artist paid him $100,000 carry out the hit.

“He gave me $50k upfront and promised me another $50k and lifetime supply of Beats headphone once Suge was dead,” said the man accused of shooting Mr. Knight at a party with singer Chris Brown and many other celebrities in attendance.

As of right now Dr. Dre has only been brought in for questioning to prove he’s innocent, but if sufficient evidence for a prosecution is provided he could face up to 15 years in jail.

Welcome to Apple.

What is Your 13 Year-Old Sending on Her Mobile Device?

by Leave a Comment

So you bought your daughter an iPhone or an Android mobile device because, well hey, all the kids have them and it’s dangerous for kids to be outside the house without a way to communicate with you, right? What if there is an emergency? What if they’re in trouble and need your help?

What if they are sending nude pictures of themselves to other pre-teens?

A Dinwiddie mother got a nasty shock when she went through her daughter’s cell phone and tablet. The pictures she discovered were so disturbing that she turned the girl in to sheriff’s deputies.

The parents discovered their 13-year-old daughter, who is about to enter the eighth-grade, had been sending and receiving naked pictures of other teens using her tablet.

And the deeper they dug, the worse it got. In fact, things got so bad they called in the sheriff’s department to investigate.

“What scares me is, this is much bigger than we realize. How many others are doing this and you don’t realize it,” asked the Dinwiddie County mother of two.

Parents need to wake up. The $500 device you bought for your teen is most likely a conduit for pornography. It could be racy pictures sent by Snapchat and destroyed seconds later, sexting, solicitation, bullying or worse yet, full on child pornography. Don’t be naive. If you have teens with phones or tablets, it’s happening in your house.

Take charge and fix it. Put filters on your home internet. It’s easy and effective. Monitor the online activity of your child. Tell them the expensive device you gave them can be taken away as fast as they can delete a snapchat. Be informed. Look for ways to protect your kids. Go on — use Google and take action.

Steve Jobs Left an Easter Egg in Every Mac Since 2005

by Leave a Comment

Have a Mac? Do this:

Press Command + Shift + G while in Finder to open the Go To Folder box, and then paste the following path:

/Applications/Pages.app/Contents/Resources/

In this folder you’ll see a file called Apple.txt. Open it. What’s inside? The full text of his famous commencement speech given at Stanford University in 2005. It’s in every Mac computer.