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It’s been fashionable for years to knock Microsoft for not being hip, cutting edge, innovative. Choose your dart. The folks at Redmond have heard it all. But, of course, the picture is more complex. In its most recent fiscal year, Microsoft spent $8.2 billion on research. That sum makes it one of the largest research organizations in the world. So when I was offered the chance last month to chat with Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, I jumped on it.

Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission was in Silicon Valley this week. I got him on the phone for about 15 minutes to discuss a wide range of subjects. We covered the big move by the FCC this week to approve use of the so-called white space for wireless broadband. He also discussed some the initiatives he s taken to expand access to broadband, and to encourage deployment of faster broadband speeds. And finally, we talked about some of the big issues and opportunities the new president will face in January 2009.

Most of us are familiar with the story of Craigslist.org, the online community and classifieds site that is one of the 10 most visited places on the Web. And its founder, Craig Newmark, is something of an Internet icon. But less familiar is the Craigslist Foundation. Back when Craigslist started charging for job listings, it had to drop its non-profit status. But it created the foundation to continue giving back to the community. Specifically, the foundation focuses on advising, educating, and supporting non-profit start-ups. On October 18, the foundation is holding a day-long Boot Camp in San Mateo for non-profits. I spoke with Darian Rodriguez Heyman, executive director of the foundation to learn more about the history of the organization and the boot camp this weekend.

A few weeks ago, I got a chance to sit down with FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor. If you haven t heard of FriendFeed, well, it s been getting tremendous buzz this year as the next Facebook, Twitter, or whatever. It hasn t drawn a huge mainstream following, but like Twitter, it s attracted a lot of hardcore, social media types. What makes this (maybe) more than hype, though, is that the four co-founders all have strong pedigrees. Each spent time working at Google and made significant contributions. Taylor, for instance, was a product manager who helped launched Google Maps; Jim Norris was a software engineer who helped develop Google Maps; Paul Buchheit was one of the main engineers behind Gmail; and Sanjeev Singh also worked on Gmail. FriendFeed launched a little less than a years ago. Essentially, it s a place that aggregates all of your social media activity. As people join more and more social networks or Web 2.0 sites, they face a problem of tracking all their activity across all these platforms. FriendFeed tries to pull all of that together in one place. In a way, it s like Facebook stripped of all the social networking tools (no profiles, for example). Instead, it solely focuses on the feed aspect. What s interesting though, is that users have decided its also a great spot to discuss their various pieces of content, a development that the founders had necessarily intended or expected. One thing we didn t anticipate is that conversations would be a driver in the growth of our product, Bret Taylor. But it makes sense. One of the things you want to do when you discover something interesting is that you want to talk about it. I discussed the background of FriendFeed with Taylor and where he sees the service going next.

T. Boone Pickens has launched a national campaign to create support for his radical plan to solve the country s short-term energy crisis. In short, Pickens wants to take much of the natural gas being used to generate electricity, and use it to power new fleets of natural gas vehicles, primarily buses, trucks, and government-owned vehicles. Then he wants to construct massive wind farms in the Midwest to generate enough electricity to replace what was being created by natural gas. More details on the Pickens Plan can be found at www.pickensplan.com. On Monday, Mercury News business columnist Chris O Brien spoke with Pickens about his plan and the campaign.

Last week, the Associated Press reported that Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said he would recommend that the other four commissioners rule that cable giant Comcast had violated the agency s principles regarding open access to the Internet. While the ruling is not final, the statement marks a major victory for Free Press, a non-profit advocacy group that filed the original complaint against Comcast, the nation s largest cable company. On Monday, I interviewed Marvin Ammori, general counsel for the Free Press. We talked about what happened last week, what happens next, and why we should all care. For background, the original complaint is here. And more background on the history of the fight can be found here. Going forward, Martin needs two more commissioners to sign on to his proposed decision within the next couple of weeks for it to become official. While the FCC is not recommending a fine, Ammori said his group would be satisfied with the ruling that Martin has proposed.

Earlier this month, I interviewed Mari Kuraishi, one of the founders of the GlobalGiving Fund. She and Dennis Whittle, chairman and CEO, left their jobs at the World Bank back in 2000. The idea was to create an online marketplace to connect donors with philanthropic projects around the world. The fund continues to grow, but not necessarily in the way originally planned. Kurishi and Whittle have had to make adjustments and do some rethinking along the way.

Trutap is a new mobile social networking application whose aim is let people stay connected with friends. Company CEO Doug Richard demonstrated the tool for the Mercury News at the recent TechCrunch40 conference. Tags: Trutap, social networking, Doug Richard, TechCrunch40

The Computer History Museum is a fascinating visit for anyone interested in the history of computing and Silicon Valley. But there's more there than meets the eye. Literally. Hidden from public view is a huge back storeroom with hundreds of artifacts, including a prototype tablet computer called the Apple "Cadillac," an AT&T picture phone, Apple Lisas and the Altair 8800, a popular kit computer, which a young company called Micro-Soft wrote programming tools for. Also get a peek at a rare Canon Cat PC, designed by Jef Raskin of Apple fame, as well as wooden wheels from the famous Wagon Wheel bar, a Silicon Valley institution. Tags: Computer History Museum, Silicon Valley, Apple Lisas, Altair 8800

We have quick profiles of two companies that launched at the TechCrunch40 conference last week. Metaplace lets users build their own virtual worlds and put them on their Websites. Founder Raph Koster takes us through a demo. And Musicshake is a Korea-based service that lets users create their own music. Kihong Bae and Blue Yun do the demo, starting at about 6:00. Tags: TechCrunch40, Metaplace, virtual worlds, Raph Koster, Musicshake, Kihong Bae, Blue Yun

So you didn't make it to the TechCrunch 40 conference, where Mint.com won the honors as the top start-up? Fear not, the Mercury News sat down with Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint, for a quick demo of how the online money management tool works. Tags: TechCrunch 40, Mint.com, Mercury News, Aaron Patzer, online money management

Online speed dating? Indeed. And WooMe, a San Francisco start-up, is hoping it's big business. The company launched at the TechCrunch40 conference this week, along with Orgoo, a service that lets users merge all their email and IM accounts into one dashboard. In this video, WooMe's Stephen Stokols explains to the San Jose Mercury News how WooMe will "revolutionize the way that people will meet." And Orgoo CEO Michael Kantor explains how Orgoo's "communications cockpit" is a must-have for communication junkies and multitaskers. We start with WooMe and then jump to Orgoo at about the 9:30 mark. To see more TechCrunch40 videos, visit http://video.mercurynews.com. Tags: Online speed dating, WooMe, TechCrunch40, Orgoo, Stephen Stokols, Michael Kantor

The San Jose Mercury News spent a day at the TechCrunch40 conference talking to companies and getting demos of new products. This interview, with Flock CEO Shawn Hardin, is one of several videos we're publishing from the conference. Tech-watchers will remember two years ago when Flock was being hailed as the next great Web browser, built on the Mozilla core and able to let users integrate publishing tools such as WordPress and Flickr from one place. The company released an early test version of the browser in the fall of 2005. Now the browser is nearly ready for its official full public release. Hardin, formerly head of Yahoo's Youth, Health & Games, gave us a look at the newest version of what he calls the world's only "social browser," which now integrates Facebook and other services. To see the rest of our TechCrunch40 videos, go to http://video.mercurynews.com or browse this site. Tags: San Jose Mercury News, TechCrunch40, Flock, Shawn Hardin, publishing tools, social browser

It's no secret in the valley that venture capitalist Roger McNamee is a rocker at heart. By day, he does deals from his Elevation Partners office on Sand Hill Road. But in his spare time, he writes songs and plays guitar for Moonalice (his "old" band was called The Flying Other Brothers). We caught up with him last week at a midday gig in Union Square in San Francisco, where he and his bandmates entertained a lunch-time crowd for more than hour. The band is packed with noteworthy musicians, including G.E. Smith, Barry Sless, Pete Sears, Jimmy Sanchez, as well as McNamee's wife, Ann McNamee. This isn't just a hobby for McNamee. The band will play about 60 gigs this year; it just got back from several shows and radio appearances in Alaska and has been playing around the Bay Area the past week. "We've been able play well enough over the years that we can make it work as a business,'' he said. McNamee didn't utter his own name once while on stage at Union Square, and it's a safe bet that few in the audience recognzied the long-time investor. And that suits McNamee fine. McNamee says he wants to succeed as a musician in his own right. Watch the video for musical clips and an interview. Tags: Roger McNamee, Elevation Partners, Moonalice

Last week, we talked with Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen and Mike Minardi about the cookbook they've written that is aimed at start-ups. This week, we learn about their San Jose start-up, called BzzyBee. It's an online collaborative writing tool for classrooms that lets teachers see how much students have contributed to particular projects. The trio talk about the product itself and the challenges of penetrating the budget-conscious and not always tech-savvy education market. Tags: Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen, Mike Minardi, start-up, BzzyBee

Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen and Mike Minardi are trying to launch a start-up into a tough market with just modest funding. Which means they're cutting costs at every turn. But they've found that a low-budget lifestyle doesn't mean eating ramen every day. The San Jose trio have discovered how to eat well inexpensively, and they're sharing their discoveries in a new cookbook called Eat, Drink, Breath Like a Start-up. From Rubba Dub Rubs to Boostrappin' Beans and Rice, this is food that won't tip the balance sheet in the wrong direction. The Mercury News talked with the three about the book and their soon-to-launch web site aimed at entrepreneurs called Start-up Living. Also, tune in to next week's episode of Inside Silicon Valley, where we chat with the team about their new start-up. Tags: Nick DeMonner, Lisa Hansen, Mike Minardi, Mercury News, entrepreneurs

A handheld cube that lets you browse your Flickr photos. A headset that uses brainwaves to control how fast a bicyclist pedals. And Megaphone, a game that lets users play against each in public spaces with their mobile phones. Those were some of the concepts on display at the recent Yahoo Design Expo. Originally conceived by Joy Mountford when she was at Apple, the event brings together out-of-the-box design ideas by students from around the world. In this video, the Mercury News speaks with Mountford, now vice president of User Experience Design at Yahoo, and demos some of the projects. Tags: Flickr, mobile phones, Yahoo Design Expo, Joy Mountford, Apple, Mercury News

The tech media and blogs buzzed recently over the launch of ooma, a Palo Alto start-up that's promising free long distance calls for life. CEO Andrew Frame explains how ooma works (you need to buy a $400 box, first). And he answers questions about the cost of the box (they could have charged more, he says), the state of the Internet calling industry, ooma's security and whether now is the right time to be launching a landline phone service. Frame also takes us on a tour of the start-up's Palo Alto offices, where engineers work on the company's devices. Tags: ooma, long distance calls, Andrew Frame

There's no one right or wrong way to launch a start-up. But there are smart moves an entrepreneur can make - and mistakes to avoid - that can boost the odds of success. STIRR, the valley entrepreneur network, reinvented its monthly mixer this month to showcase something called Founder Hacks, where several local entrepreneurs shared stories from their start-up expriences. The Mercury News talked with STIRR founder Sanford Barr, and spotlighted some of the stories from Riya founder Munjal Shah and Loomia founder David Marks. Tags: start-up, entrepreneur, STIRR, Founder Hacks, Mercury News, Sanford Barr, Riya, Munjal Shah, Loomia, David Marks

Mercury News columnist Dean Takahashi takes us on a quick tour inside Google's Mountain View headquarters. Tags: Mercury News, Dean Takahashi, Google, Mountain View

Andy Sternberg interviewed Wired editor and The Long Tail author Chris Anderson at the 2007 O Reilly Tools of ChangeConference. Anderson described the premise for his upcoming book project titled Free to be published in mid-2008 by Hyperion. He also discussed future plans for Wired s Web site and introduced his new start-up, BookTour, which was launched at the conference. (We apologize for the subpar audio quality. We had some technical problems.

Just a week after the debut of the iPhone, about 300 developers gathered at the Adobe offices in San Francisco this weekend for a three-day developers camp/hackathon. The goal was to hack together applications for the iPhone. Apple doesn't allow developers to write applications for the phone itself, so developers created Web-based applications that iPhone users will experience by visting Web sites in Safari. The applications spanned the spectrum, from games to apps that help you find nearby gas prices, shop on Amazon and iTunes, create word processing documents or use IM. We talked with event organizers Raven Zacahry and Chris Messina and got a peek at some of the applications, including TeleMoose, gOffice, and AppMarks. Tags: iPhone, developers, Adobe, Raven Zacahry, Chris Messina, TeleMoose, gOffice, AppMarks

One of the more talked about valley start-ups in recent months is Spock. Founded in 2006 by Jay Bhatti and Jaideep Singh, Spock is a people search Web site that aims to be the most comprehensive source of information about just about anyone. Spock crawls the Web looking for information about people famous and non-famous. And in wiki-like fashion, it lets users add tags and relevant links to its search results pages. The company demonstrated its product at the recent Web 2.0 Expo, and has been chatted up in numerous blogs and tech sites. Spock is still in private beta, but Singh gave the Mercury News a demo in this video. Tags: Spock, Jay Bhatti, Jaideep Singh, search, Mercury News

Botnets, phishing scams, password-stealing trojans they're all part of an increasingly professionalized world of online crime that's costing Americans billions every year. Oliver Friedrichs, director of emerging technologies at Symantec Security Response, tells Mercury News software reporter Ryan Blitstein what the company is doing to protect its customers from Web-based threats. He also provides an exclusive look at Dark Vision, an experimental Symantec project designed to track and catch cyber criminals in the act. Tags: Botnets, phishing, trojans, Oliver Friedrichs, Symantec, Mercury News, Ryan Blitstein, Dark Vision

Nicole Wong, Google s deputy general counsel in charge of compliance, is the point person for growing criticism of Google s privacy practices. More than two dozen European privacy regulators have launched an inquiry into Google s data protection practices. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission is probing Google s pending $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, an online advertising company. Last week, Privacy International, a London group, ranked Google s practices the worst among 23 top Internet services, including Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL. Wong spoke with the Mercury News about her job and Google s approach to privacy.

Nicole Wong, Google's deputy general counsel in charge of compliance, is the point person for growing criticism of Google's privacy practices. More than two dozen European privacy regulators have launched an inquiry into Google's data protection practices. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission is probing Google's pending $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, an online advertising company. Last week, Privacy International, a London group, ranked Google's practices the worst among 23 top Internet services, including Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL. Wong spoke with the Mercury News about her job and Google's approach to privacy. Tags: Nicole Wong, Google, compliance, privacy, DoubleClick, Mercury News

We sit down with Technorati s CEO to discuss why he s stepping aside as founder, whether the company is for sale and what plans exist to grow the San Francisco blog search engine into a media powerhouse.

The valley venture capitalists thought they brought their A-game in this historic 1st Annual Labor vs. Capital Dodgeball Tournament. But the tournament ended up being hard-fought, as the laborers from Google, Ustream, jaxtr, BitTorrent and elsewhere showed up ready to do battle. Tags: Google, Ustream, jaxtr, BitTorrent

LinkedIn founder and angel investor Reid Hoffman talks with Mercury News venture capital reporter Connie Loizos about where he sees the social networking space headed, as well as his investment strategy these days. Tags: LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, Mercury News, Connie Loizos, social networking

Why is the CEO of blog search engine Technorati stepping aside? Is the San Francisco company really not for sale? And what are its plans for growing into a new media powerhouse? In this interview with the Mercury News, company CEO Dave Sifry answers those and other questions. Sifry defends arguments by some that Technorati has stagnated and says the company can grow to ten times its current size with the right leadership. "I'm not a consumer Internet guy. I'm not a guy who's built a Yahoo or a Google," he says. Tags: Technorati, Mercury News, Dave Sifry