Postcards

Recovery, reset, or economic "flip up"?

A gloomy outlook as we head off for the long weekend. Today's monthly jobs report was worse than May's, worse than expected, and worse than we've seen in 26 years. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.5%...and is bound to go past 10%.

So when will the pain ease? Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer told me last week: "I don't think we're in a recession. I think we've reset. It's very MORE

Microsoft CEO's big bets on the future

On Friday I told you about Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer's riff on Bing and Yahoo. I asked him: How much market share do you need to gain in search to not need to do a deal with Yahoo (YHOO)? Ballmer called my question "back-handed" and went on to give a really interesting answer. Check out the video or my Friday Postcard if you missed the Microsoft boss's take on MORE

Microsoft CEO Ballmer: Open to Yahoo deal

by Patricia Sellers

As speculation ever swirls about Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) joining forces to give Google (GOOG) a better run for its money in search, one party in the on-and-off  negotiations has been notably evasive this week. "If we ever have a deal with Microsoft, it will be announced publicly and until we do, we have nothing to say," declared Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz at the company's shareholders meeting MORE

Power Point: Farewell to print!

"All content consumed will be digital...social...and interactive."

- Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer, predicting the death of print yesterday at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. After Ballmer, in a talk to 1,000 or so ad and media folks, floated this prediction about the world within 10 years, I interviewed him on stage. Stay tuned to Postcards these next few days. I'll share some of what the always boisterous Ballmer said, about Bing MORE

Power Point: Keep it simple

"His ability to boil things down, to just work on the things that really count, to think through the basics... It's a special form of genius."

-- Bill Gates on what he's learned from mentor Warren Buffett, as told to Fortune in this week's Best Advice issue. Of all the great advice the Microsoft (MSFT) founder has gotten from Buffett -- his greatest mentor besides his dad -- "one of the MORE

Ex-Microsoft exec lands a big gig at Juniper

Gerri Elliott, one of Microsoft's (MSFT) star execs, left the company early this year to spend more time with her family. Yes, seriously to spend time with her family. As I wrote in January, her departure was a major loss for Microsoft, according to senior executives there, and it was also a case of a powerful woman asking, "Why kill myself and miss my kids growing up?"

Now Elliott, who spent 22 years MORE

Power Point: Give 'em a showdown

"People like to see showdowns."

--Usain Bolt, Jamaican track and field star, as he was being honored with the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award in Toronto this week. Bolt predicts that American sprinter Tyson Gay's return to competition will make for a lively season, "He knows what he has to do to beat me, or compete with me."

Bolt's words make us think of another contest that's heating up: the MORE

Power Point: Take the first step

"I'm optimistic that we're taking a big first step. And yet I want to be realistic. We've got to take a lot more steps."

-- Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer in the New York Times today. Ballmer unveiled Microsoft's new search engine to the public at a technology conference Thursday. The search engine, named Bing, assists users with specific online tasks, helping them refine their searches or extracting the most commonly MORE

Guest Post: Andrew Carnegie, version 2.0

By John Wood, Founder & Executive Chairman of Room to Read

Here's a quick history quiz. If someone mentions Andrew Carnegie, what image immediately comes to mind? Greedy capitalist union-busting robber baron? Benefactor of thousands of community libraries? Or both? No matter what people think of old Andy's business ethics, historians agree that Carnegie's focus on creating community libraries is one of MORE

Amazon: thinking beyond the Kindle

We love companies that underpromise and overdeliver. Apple (AAPL) is one. Another is Amazon.com (AMZN). Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos thrives on overdelivering.

I had my own Jeff Bezos multimedia experience last night as I sat in my living room and played with my new Kindle 2 while watching Bezos on the Charlie Rose show. (Click here to see the show from late February--yes, I was playing DVR catchup.) The Amazon MORE