X is perhaps the only enterprise on the planet where regular investigation into the absurd is not just permitted but encouraged, and even required. X has quietly looked into space elevators and cold fusion. It has tried, and abandoned, projects to design hoverboards with magnetic levitation and to make affordable fuel from seawater. It has tried—and succeeded, in varying measures—to build self-driving cars, make drones that deliver aerodynamic packages, and design contact lenses that measure glucose levels in a diabetic person’s tears.
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The purpose of X is not to solve Google’s problems; thousands of people are already doing that. Nor is its mission philanthropic. Instead X exists, ultimately, to create world-changing companies that could eventually become the next Google.
Category Archives: Business
October 15, 2017
December 18, 2015
Hideo Kojima’s Mission Unlocked
For Kojima, the future involves ridding himself of distracting responsibilities. “When working in big companies, especially Japanese companies, every little thing has to be approved beforehand, and you need paperwork to do anything,” he said. “Now that I’m independent, I can do what I want with much more speed. I don’t need to invest time in unnecessary presentations. I shoulder the risk.” He also relishes the chance to speak his mind. “When I was in a company, my personal statements could be taken as the over-all direction of the company. As such, I couldn’t say just anything.”
Godspeed, Hideo.
October 25, 2015
Uber Said to Plan Another $1 Billion in Fund-Raising
If successful, the round of fund-raising would make Uber the world’s most valuable private start-up by far. A round this summer valued the company at more than $50 billion, a bit more than Facebook was valued at after its last big round of private capital fund-raising in 2011.
Really? Really?
July 30, 2015
Sony Posts $780M Profit On Strong PlayStation And Sensor Businesses
Sony today reported a $780 million operating profit for Q1 2015, up 39 percent annually, as the company’s camera sensor business and PlayStation 4 arm pushed it past analyst expectations.
Well deserved.
August 26, 2014
Startups Move Away From Cloud
Frenkiel said that if they had continued with Amazon, MemSQL would have spent roughly $900,000 over the next three years. This validates his decision to switch to physical servers at a cost of $200,000. “The hardware will pay for itself in about four months.”
“The public cloud is phenomenal if you really need its elasticity,” he said. “But if you don’t — if you do a consistent amount of workload — it’s far better to go in-house.”
August 18, 2011
Hewlett Packard to exit computing and buy Autonomy
Hewlett Packard has confirmed plans to exit PCs, tablets and phones, in order to refocus on software.
HP also said it was considering a sale of its personal systems group, which includes the world’s biggest PC-making business.
Aside from the potential purchase of Autonomous, what software of major significance does HP have?
[Update] The Financial Times has the details on how large a role software plays in HP now:
Former SAP chief executive Léo Apotheker, who took the top job at HP last year, has said that the company wants to expand in software, an area that accounted for only 2.4 per cent of HP’s $32.4bn revenues in its latest quarter, and 4 per cent of its operating profit, or $154m.
If it decides to sell its PC business, the company is in for a major change in how it operates.