Leaders in Silicon Valley, entertainment, and professional sports are remembering Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who died after a battle with cancer at 65

Paul Allen

Paul Allen, the cofounder of Microsoft and billionaire philanthropist, died Monday afternoon after battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The 65-year-old Seattle native is best-known for having launched Microsoft with Bill Gates, but he also operated the venture-capital firm Vulcan Ventures, and staked his claim on sports franchises as the owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers.

Allen previously overcame a bout of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the 1980s, but he was later diagnosed with cancer in 2009, which returned after a period of remission.

As a titan in the tech industry and the world of sports, Allen influenced his colleagues to inspire millions of others through their work.

Here’s how Allen’s friends and associates are responding to his death.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen dies at 65 after battle with cancer

Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and philanthropist

“I am heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends,” Gates said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “Paul was a true partner and dear friend.”

Gates and and Allen were high-school friends; they founded Microsoft in 1975.

“Personal computing would not have existed without him,” Gates said.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO

“Our industry has lost a pioneer and our world has lost …read more

Source:: Businessinsider – Finance

      

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says employee protests against the company’s work with US military had little impact on management: ‘We don’t run the company by referendum’ (GOOG, GOOGL)

Sundar Pichai

At a tech gathering in San Francisco on Monday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai remarked on an internal protest that rattled the company earlier this year.
The protest stemmed from opposition over the company’s work on a military project.
Pichai downplayed the influence those demonstrations had on management decisions.
He also said Google will work with the US armed forces in the future and “greatly respects what they do to protect our country.”

Thousands of Google employees participated in an internal protest against the company’s participation in a high-tech military project earlier this year, but the unprecedented revolt at the company had little influence on management’s decision-making, according to CEO Sundar Pichai.

At a gathering to celebrate Wired magazine’s 25th anniversary, Pichai was asked whether Google’s employees had anything to do with the company’s announcement last week that it will not compete for a much sought-after $10 billion cloud-computing contract offered by the Pentagon.

“Throughout Google’s history we’ve given our employees a lot of voice and say in it, but we don’t run the company by holding referendums,” Pichai said. “It’s an important input. We take it seriously. But even on this particular issue it’s not just what the employees said. It’s also about …read more

Source:: Businessinsider – Tech

      

Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews taking quantum leap with record start

TORONTO – The way last season ended did not sit well with Auston Matthews.

There was the seven-game series loss to Boston in the opening round, but also an uncharacteristic dry spell in the spring. For the first time as an NHLer – perhaps the first time in his life – Matthews saw his play come under intense question and scrutiny. He had a terse exchange or two in front of the cameras.

In the big picture, it was no big deal. All of it was perfectly understandable in the context of professional sports. But for Matthews it was a reminder that there was still room for growth; still steps to be taken in his pursuit of becoming the best in the game.

It has only been a month since Matthews returned to work with the Toronto Maple Leafs and instead it looks he’s taken a quantum leap. The team’s best player has gotten significantly better.

“Just the most in control. Just completely in control,” said goaltender Garret Sparks, when asked what stands out about his teammate.

…read more

Source:: Sportsnet.ca

      

Stephen Colbert notes that not even Saudi Arabia is buying Trump’s ‘rogue killers’ defense of Saudi Arabia

Stephen Colbert started Monday’s Late Show by half-joking that he missed having an audience to share the crazy news with when he was off last week, in part because he wasn’t sure if Kanye West really proposed repealing the 13th Amendment in the Oval Office with President Trump, or whether that was just an absinthe dream. “But one of the strangest and most horrifying stories last week was the disappearance and presumed murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi,” who Turkish investigators say was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, he said.

One of the more gruesome details involves the alleged 15-man Saudi hit squad that arrived in Istanbul with a bone saw shortly after Khashoggi vanished, one of the 15 apparently a Saudi intelligence autopsy expert. “He’s also star of the CBS procedural, CS-I Am the Murderer,” Colbert joked, darkly. “Very short episodes — they find the body, he did it, roll credits.” The Saudis long denied killing Khashoggi, “but the evidence is overwhelming that Saudi Arabia committed a horrific, violent act,” he said, “which can mean only one thing: We’re invading Iraq!”

“No reasonable person would take …read more

Source:: The Week – Lifestyle