Wednesday, May 28. 2008
When I first arrived in Silicon Valley, I observed a curious behaviour at work. Every so often, my coworkers would receive unsolicited phone calls from head hunters (recruiters). The head hunters promised them riches and shiny jobs in obscure start-ups. I starred in awe and amazement as coworkers cursed at the head hunters for the unsolicited calls; I sat there thinking, wow, my coworkers must be rock star programmers because people are actively trying to recruit them, I wish I could be famous like that. Looks like that wish has come true.
On Tuesday, I came into work and noticed I had a voice mail on my work phone. This was very odd because I never use the phone, and no one ever calls me. I playback the voice message, and it's a head hunter. He was looking for engineers that worked in Search for positions in New York, and he wanted to network with me. While this was all happening, I thought to myself, oh wow, I'm not as cool as my coworkers, I'm on the map, people know about me! Then, I promptly deleted the message as I was totally not interested.
Apparently the head hunter had gotten my phone number through my mom? (Mom and Dad, PLEASE don't give people my work phone number.) This was very odd because I don't use my Canadian phone number for anything. I'm really curious to know how recruiters were able to get my contact information, and how they knew I worked in Search. I haven't passed out my resume or anything on any job boards or anything.
In either case, the head hunters now know I exist. I feel special, but I'm sure that feeling is going to go away, and turn into blind hatred to them.
One of my coworkers has an awesome blog post about a really creepy recruiter who called him. Make sure to listen to the actual phone message that the recruiter left (it's at the end of his blog article). It's awesome!
Thursday, May 15. 2008
Just when you thought the Yahoo/Microsoft merger was over, a new menace has emerged. Activist/Corproate Raider Carl Icahn has thrown his hat into the ring, and is declaring war on the Yahoo board of directors. For those unfamiliar with Icahn, he's a billionaire investor who buys up shares of struggling companies, and install directors to do his bidding. Recently he installed a puppet regime in BEA Systems (who didn't want to merge with Oracle), and steered the company towards the merger.
Here's an article from TheStreet.com entitled, " Icahn Targets Yahoo! Board of Directors."
Carl Icahn is treading over familiar ground, formally launching a proxy fight in a move to replace 10 seats on Yahoo!'s board of directors.
In a letter to Yahoo!'s Chairman Roy Bostock Thursday, Icahn said the Internet search giant "acted irrationally" and has lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft, which tried to acquire the company at a price of $33 a share, an offer that Yahoo!'s management said was too low.
Icahn said that many investors have expressed dissatisfaction with Yahoo! for failing to reach a merger agreement with Microsoft, pushing him to lead a proxy battle against the company's board. Microsoft has given no indication that it would be interested in reviving talks with Yahoo!, as many shareholders have been hoping. Still, a vote to oust the Internet giant's current board could at least get the conversation going again.
"It is quite obvious that Microsoft's bid of $33 per share is a superior alternative to Yahoo's prospects on a standalone basis," Icahn wrote to Bostock. "I am perplexed by the board's actions. It is irresponsible to hide behind management's more than overly optimistic financial forecasts. It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72% premium over Yahoo's closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer."
Basically how this works is, he'll propose his directors, and if shareholders hold his view, they'll elect his directors onto the board. The more of them he has on the Yahoo! board of directors, the bigger the pain in the butt he can be. Some of the things he can do can include forcing Yahoo! to reopen talks to Microsoft, or even get the CEO/Founder fired.
More coverage at Silicon Alley Insider.
Tuesday, May 6. 2008
Today, my team helped launch a new feature on Yahoo! Search which goes by the name of SearchScan. (Shameless plug, I got to help work on this.) With the help of popular computer security company, McAfee, we can now warn users about dangerous websites when they search. I think this is a really useful feature as the Internet can be a dangerous place. I've jokingly been saying that the only way you can keep your computer safe these days is getting a computer science degree. That reflects the sad state of computer security.
Just two weeks ago, one of my friend's computers was infected by a trojan virus because he visited an unsafe website. I had to spend a couple hours fixing his computer. I am now highly recommending to my friend, and other not so computer literate friends to try out Yahoo Search with SearchScan.
The Yahoo Search Blog has an article entitled " A Safer Way to Search."
SearchScan leverages McAfee's SiteAdvisor technology to alert users if risky websites appear in Yahoo! Search results. Starting today, SearchScan will be turned on by default for all users in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain, and will scan for three types of risks in our search index:
- Browser Exploits -- These are sites that can stealthily harm a user's computer or install malware simply by visiting the site. Beginning today, any such sites or pages included in McAfee's data will be removed from search results automatically.
- Dangerous Downloads -- SearchScan will display warnings next to search results for sites that offer potentially dangerous software, such as viruses, spyware or adware. Users often may be unaware that these can be passed along with the screensavers, games and other software downloads.
- Unsolicited Email -- SearchScan will alert users to scanned sites that send unsolicited emails or inappropriately share email addresses with third parties.
Here's a screenshot of the feature in action:
To try SearchScan out, go to http://search.yahoo.com and run a query on "system-defender" (evil evil malware), and you'll see the warnings.
Oh, and for my fellow Canadians, there's always http://ca.search.yahoo.com as well, we made sure you guys got the feature too 
Saturday, May 3. 2008
We've got some late breaking news. The Microsoft-Yahoo deal has collapsed and Microsoft is withdrawing its bid, and will not go hostile against Yahoo. The Silicon Valley Insider has full coverage.
Microsoft (MSFT) is withdrawing its bid for Yahoo (YHOO). It will not pursue a hostile proxy battle. Microsoft raised its bid to $33. Yahoo's board wanted $37 (Jerry Yang and David Filo reportedly wanted $38.) Microsoft's release and a gracious letter from Steve Ballmer hit the wires at 7:56 ET.
Click on the article above to view Steve Ballmer's letter to Jerry Yang. Some open questions remain. First, people are wondering how much Yahoo's stock is going to drop when Monday comes, and the stock markets open. The other is, will Microsoft return again in the future to try to buy Yahoo again. Last year, there were private negotiations between Yahoo and Microsoft about a potential merger, but it went nowhere.
The New York Times has an article entitled, " Guessing Yahoo’s Opening Stock Price.
The company managed to fend off Microsoft’s unwanted advances, even after the software giant sweetened its bid by $5 billion — an amount Yahoo felt still wasn’t enough. It’s hard not to read that sentiment into the company’s statement on Saturday, in which chief executive Jerry Yang describes the Microsoft drama as a “distraction.”
Now the Internet pioneer has preserved its independence, although it may still strike an advertising partnership with archrival Google. But Yahoo still must deal with one big question: By how much will its stock drop when the markets open on Monday?
It’s almost beyond doubt that Yahoo’s shares will fall, and possibly by a lot. [...]
Ms. Martin also had harsh words for Yahoo’s management’s “unbelievable” actions. “This is management putting its employees and its job security ahead of current Yahoo shareholders’ interest,” she told the news service. She also told Reuters that she expects several shareholders lawsuits to be filed against the company on Monday.
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