Items tagged with Bill Gates
It seems everyone is turning to Zoom these days, whether it because they are working from home and video conferencing with colleagues, or chatting with friends while practicing social distancing. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Dallas Mavericks owner turned Shark Tank star Mark Cuban hopped on for another reason—to share their insights with students. They were part of two different "Code Break" sessions, which is the title of Code.org's live interactive classroom. It is the world's largest of its kind, and is hosted by the organization's co-founder Hadi Partovi and his daughter Sofia. These sessions are neat ways to keep students engaged while stuck at home during the Coronavirus pandemic,...
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Microsoft announced a significant change with co-founder and Technology Advisor Bill Gates stepping down from the company's Board of Directors. Gates resigned from his position on the board to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities, such as global health, development, education, and to focus more on tackling climate change. Gates will continue to serve as Technology Advisor to CEO Satya Nadella and other leaders within Microsoft. It's been many years since Gates had a day-to-day role in Microsoft, the company he helped found. Gates transitioned from his day-to-day role in the company on June 27, 2008, when he announced that he would be spending more time with his work in the Bill...
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There may exist a parallel universe where Android is second fiddle to Windows Mobile. Or maybe Microsoft's ill-fated (in this universe) mobile operating is so dominant that Android falls by the wayside, relegated to a footnote in the history of tech. Things did not work out that way in the universe we reside, though according to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Windows Mobile could have won the war, had he not been distracted with an antitrust case brought forward by the US Justice Department. It is a relevant topic, particularly in today's political climate where presidential candidates debate on whether big companies like Facebook should be broken up. Microsoft faced a similar scenario back...
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In a recent interview, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates described his one-time arch nemesis Steve Jobs as a wizard of sorts, saying he was adept at "casting spells" during his time at Apple. Gates was not speaking literally, of course, but to the style of leadership that Jobs used, compared to his own. Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. Before his unfortunate demise, however, he built one of the most successful technology companies ever, and helped create a consumer culture that is somewhat unique to Apple and its various products. According to Gates, Apple was "on a path to die" before Jobs started casting spells. "I was like a minor wizard because he would be casting...
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Only two people in the entire world have a net worth of more than $100 billion. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, is one of them. He earned his fortune by spearheading the world's largest PC software company, and with his vast wealth, it's hard to fathom him having many regrets. Even so, he does readily admit to the "greatest mistake ever" during his heyday at Microsoft, and it is a big one. He regrets not building Android, or more specifically, the equivalent of what Androids represents in the mobile world. "You know, in the software world, in particular for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets. So, you know, the greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that...
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There are plenty of uncertainties and grey areas currently lurking around the cryptocurrency market. From wild fluctuations in valuations, to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin being used on the black market, to government institutions that are looking to get in on a piece of the action, we're still in the "Wild Wild West" days and far from mainstream penetration. Image Source: Flickr via Sebastian Vital With that in mind, Bill Gates gave his thoughts on cryptocurrencies when asked in a reddit "Ask Me Anything" session that was held on Tuesday. To put it bluntly, he is not a fan... at all. Gates stated: The main feature of crypto currencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing. The...
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Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft who now spends his days on philanthropy through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, made some comments that might ruffle a few feathers in the tech industry. Speaking to Axios, Gates warned that big tech companies should be careful not to put their own needs so far ahead of the government's that they essentially end up shooting themselves in the foot, or hurt the public interest at large. Image Source: Flickr via Gisela Giardino While Gates did not get into specifics, his comments seemed aimed at companies like Apple and Google resisting government requests to unlock mobile devices in certain situations. This has been a point of contention...
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Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, knows a thing or two about predictions. After all, he correctly surmised the explosive growth of personal computers and helped shaped the landscape with Windows. He also made some observations about the Internet before it became a mainstream thing, and those mostly turned out to be true as well. Fast forward to today and Gates is now predicting that artificial intelligence will replace humans in the work place, and he doesn't necessarily think that is a bad thing. Image Source: Flickr via Sebastian Vital One of the arguments Gates makes is that AI technology can perform tasks more efficiently than humans, which will ultimately lead to flesh...
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If you were alive in 1985, it was a pretty good year to be around. The movies that came out that year are some of the most popular and classic of '80s films like "The Goonies", "Back to the Future", "Weird Science", and "The Breakfast Club". 1985 also happens to be the year that version 1.0 of Windows rolled out. Someone has dug up a complete version of Windows 1.0 that is signed by no other than Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. The eBay seller, Badastheblues, claims that the Windows 1.0 box set is an original copy that was handed out at an event in Las Vegas in November of 1985. The description of the software reads, "This is an original copy, dated and signed by Bill Gates, of the first ever...
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Let the record show that Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft who forever altered the computing landscape with Windows, has a tremendous amount of respect for the late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. He also thinks Apple is doing "good work." Be that as it may, you will not find Gates wielding an iPhone—his mobile device of choice these days is actually an Android handset "with a lot of Microsoft software" installed. The former Microsoft boss turned full-time philanthropist (through is Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) revealed his phone of choice during an interview with Fox News. Prior to the revelation, it would have been reasonable to assume that Gates was using a Windows...
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William Henry Gates III, better known to the world as Bill Gates, spent several decades building Microsoft into the software (and hardware) empire that it is today. His legacy outside of the philanthropy world is Windows. If he had to do it all over again, do you think he would do things differently? Sure he would, though one of his biggest regrets might surprise you. What still eats away at Gates to this day is how to force a reboot in Windows.Image Source: Flickr (World Economic Forum)More specifically, Gates laments the Ctrl-Alt-Delete combination to restart Windows. During a speech at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in Manhattan this week, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft says...
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Amazon stock has been on a winning streak over the past month, and that upward momentum means that there is a shakeup afoot when it comes to the ranking of the world’s richest people. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has consistently been at the top (or near the top) of the list, thanks to his [still] heavy investment in the company’s stock, for the past three decades. However, Amazon’s stock performance — capped off by another surge this morning — means that CEO Jeff Bezos is now ranked as the world’s richest person. Amazon shares are up over 2 percent this morning (to $1,078 as of this writing), and Bezos holds roughly 80 million shares in his company. This would push Bezos’ net worth to about...
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It is almost tax season again here in the United States, but in the future, your fellow Americans might not be the only ones giving away a "pound of flesh" to the IRS. Bill Gates believes that robots should also pay their dues. The Microsoft co-founder recently stated in an interview that governments should tax companies that replace human workers with robots. Gates remarked in the interview, “So if you can take the labor that used to do the thing automation replaces, and financially and training-wise and fulfillment-wise have that person go off and do these other things, then you’re net ahead. But you can’t just give up that income tax, because that’s part of how you’ve been funding...
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When it comes to Christmas Secret Santas, every tech nerd would love to be on the receiving end of Bill Gates’ graciousness. The Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist, billionaire and all-around good guy once again brought Christmas joy to a redditor via the site’s annual Secret Santa festivities. Redditor Arrex explains that a giant box was dropped off on her doorstep by FedEx on December 16th. Needless to say, once she opened the package, her level of excitement shot through the roof at lightning-fast speed. “Under the first layer I see a picture...and my jaw. Just. Drops. I will let the picture speak for itself!” The picture, of course, is of none other than Gates, sitting in front of a Christmas...
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Microsoft is riding high these days under CEO Satya Nadella. The company is firmly entrenched in the cloud business, has deftly transitioned its software products to a subscription model for its most profitable customers, invested heavily in deep learning and advanced AI technologies, and is finally seeing some of the fruits of its investment into the Surface family of first-party hardware. As a result, Microsoft shares closed at an all-time high of $61 in late October (the company is still not far off that mark today at $59.15). With all that is going right at Microsoft these days, Bloomberg decided to have a talk with the man that previously headed Microsoft: Steve Ballmer. Ballmer took over...
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Look, I've seen a lot of things on the Internet, some of it real and some if it obviously not. I've watched knife-wielding crabs (wasn't real, but let's not be party poopers), a rat stealing a piece of pizza, a dad in a Batman mask teaching his kids hilarious life lessons, dancing babies, Hitler overreacting to everything, two girls...well, let's not go there. But folks, never say you've seen it all, because you haven't. Bill and Melinda Gates just reminded us of that. The philanthropic duo appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote GatesLetter.com, an annual letter encouraging change for the greater good. This year's letter was addressed to the kids of the world, challenging them...
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There’s a new voice speaking up in the battle between FBI and Apple over unlocking an iPhone that belonged to one of two San Bernardino terrorists that killed over a dozen people back in December. While tech giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google quickly came to Apple’s defense, a tech pioneer is striking a different tone in the increasingly thorny discussion. In a report posted yesterday entitled “Bill Gates Backs FBI iPhone Hack Request,” Gates is on camera expressing his opinion on the matter, which doesn’t exactly mesh with the thoughts and wishes of Apple CEO Tim Cook. Gates says that this case doesn’t involve anything close to what could be considered a backdoor, adding, “This is...
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The two men arguably most responsible for the technological landscape we find ourselves in today will be the subject of a new comedy musical set to open on Broadway next April. We're of course talking about Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, and Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, two of the most influential men who took different albeit parallel paths. Appropriately enough, the musical is called "Nerds," a term that wasn't always said with affection. Both Gates and Jobs come from an era when calling someone a nerd was considered somewhat derogatory, and advanced technology to the point where "nerd" and "geek" are both commonly used as terms of endearment. At the very least, it's no longer uncool...
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Smartphones have invaded nearly every aspect of our lives. We use them to email, surf the Internet, text, check our bank statements, play games, and **gasp** actually make phone calls. These personal devices are our computers away from home (or the office) and in the case of developing nations; smartphones are often the only access that people have to the Internet. That’s what makes this latest research effort from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science so intriguing. A team of researchers led by Columbia Engineering associate professor Samuel K. Sia have developed a low-cost smartphone dongle that can detect if a person is infected with specific diseases using just...
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You've probably seen friends and family members willingly pouring chilly buckets of ice filled water over their heads, the latest social networking trend intended to draw attention to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a neurodegenerative disease affecting nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and which over time can lead to total paralysis. Not only are average Joes and Janes participating, but so are some heavyweights in the tech industry, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. When doing the challenge, it's customary to call out other people to do the same. Gates was challenged by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and when finished, Gates issued a...
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When the world's richest person offers an opinion on a business strategy, it's a good idea to listen to what he or she has to say. In this instance, that person happens to be Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and also currently the world's wealthiest person. In a recent interview, Gates said he would "absolutely" support Microsoft's newly minted CEO Satya Nadella's decision to spin-off the company's Xbox division, if in fact he went that route. Gates made the comment to Fox Business, which was first picked up by Eurogamer.net. During the interview, Gates talked about bringing PC gaming and Xbox gaming closer together, and that even though spinning off the Xbox division might not be an obvious...
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It's hard to imagine a world where Bill Gates isn't directly vested in Microsoft, the company he co-founded and that made him a multi-billionaire. But as weird as that may be to fathom, Bill Gates may be all out of Microsoft shares within the next four years if he keeps selling them off at the pace he's been on for the past 12 years. As part of a pre-set trading plan, Gates has been selling off 20 million Microsoft shares every quarter. In doing so, former CEO Steve Ballmer just surpassed Gates as the company's largest individual shareholder with 333 million shares versus 330 million, Reuters reports. Each of them now own about 4 percent of the total outstanding shares, far more than any other...
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