In Your Brain, Inc.

Busy day yesterday with the announcement of Google Instant (and writing a quick article for stern.de). Here’s Google’s VP for Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, speaking at the press event in San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art.

The best illustration of what the search giant aspires to do comes from Google itself... (This is picture was projected onscreen shortly before the presentation started.) 

Saviors of the Inbox?

When Google announced its “Priority Inbox” feature for Gmail this week, I couldn’t help but feel that the Internet giant took a cue from a small but innovative start-up called Xobni (that’s “inbox” in reverse, in case you’re wondering). The company, co-founded by Adam Smith and Matt Brezina, pictured here in the company’s original San Francisco office, has become a cult favorite of many heavy Outlook users. By constantly analyzing the user’s e-mail traffic in a multitude of ways, Xobni manages to show at a glance what’s important and who’s important – even if the torrent of new messages never seems to let up.

By now, Xobni has become successful enough to move into a newer, bigger, sunnier office, which became available when former tenant Twitter moved a few blocks across town. Here’s Brezina, with appropriate office mural, posing for the photographer.

Dr. Innovation

 

Among Silicon Valley pioneers, Dr. Thomas Fogarty is in a class of his own: Rather than pushing the boundaries of bits and bytes, the Stanford professor helped many patients avoid open-heart surgery by first inventing the balloon catheter and later the “stent graft”, a tiny implant that strengthens weak arteries to keep them open. Today’s New York Times article about stents potentially being as effective in preventing strokes as surgery reminded my of my own interview with Dr. Fogarty for Earlybird Magazine (page 16 here). And if you prefer a glass of wine over worrying about health issues, the good doctor can help out, too – as he happens to be not just a renowned surgeon but also the owner of Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vineyards. Here’s to good health!

The Sound of Money

A trio that keeps brewing up hits: Apple boss Steve Jobs, turning 55 today, brought in British singer K.T. Tunstall and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz to present the newest generation of iPods at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center, back in September 2007. (More here.) Since then, Apple has added some $12 billion in revenue and made the iPhone almost as ubiquitous as the green Starbucks mermaid. (Who got a chastity makeover long before Apple decided to do the same with the App Store.)