directors

In today's show, Google search gets smarter, Verizon ends its unlimited data era, and E.T. tweet home?

Google search results will now look a bit different. Google has launched the Knowledge Graph, a database of 500 million people, places, and things, and it will show up in your search to give you more info on a topic and help you find related items. Google is rolling it out in the next few days to desktop, mobile and tablet users.

You can't always count on iPhone rumors being true, but here's one that's looking pretty solid: … Read more

Facebook is under fire once again for lack of women in its leadership. The FACE IT Campaign launched today to draw attention to the fact that as the world's largest social network readies itself to go public, after announcing a $5 billion IPO in February, its board consists only of white men.

"We believe that this board of white men should include women of all colors," states the FACE IT Campaign's mission. "Because Facebook should go public with a board that reflects its own mission--to make the world more open and connected."

Facebook's … Read more

For nearly three years, "Star Wars" fans everywhere have been coming up with their own takes on the beloved film's many famous scenes--15 seconds at a time.

This is "Star Wars Uncut," a project to remake George Lucas' 1977 classic, entirely from fan-made scenes. And while the in-progress results have been available all along for all to see, the project's developers had never publicly released their finished product. Until now.

Today, as Laughing Squid wrote, Casey Pugh, who conceived of the "Star Wars Uncut" project, finally released his director's cut of … Read more

Yahoo has reportedly hired an executive search firm to find possible replacements for several members of its much-criticized board of directors.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Web giant has hired Heidrick & Struggles to help it identify "several new board candidates" who could replace long-term directors that have served on Yahoo's board. The board has faced biting criticism in recent years for rejecting a lucrative takeover bid from Microsoft in 2008, as well as for its hiring--and then its ham-handed firing--of former chief executive Carol Bartz.

The Journal reported that board member Patti Hart … Read more

Veteran Time Inc. journalist Josh Quittner completed his defection from print media by joining Silicon Valley startup Flipboard--the popular social-magazine app for the iPad--this past July. Quittner is Flipboard's first editorial director. Before joining the company, he directed Time Inc.'s digital magazine strategy and ran editorial for Time.com. In the mid-1990s he was the first writer to cover the Internet exclusively for Time. And he's also had stints running editorial for Fortune and Business 2.0. So why leave a namesake publishing conglomerate for an unproven social-media experiment? Anyone familiar with consumer technology knows Flipboard … Read more

Facebook has appointed Erskine Bowles to its board of directors, the social network announced today.

With him, Bowles is bringing serious political power to Facebook's board. In 1993, Bowles served President Bill Clinton as administrator of the Small Business Administration. In 1994, Clinton promoted him to deputy White House chief of staff before giving him White House chief of staff duties from 1996 through 1998. Most recently, Bowles served as the co-chair for President Barack Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

All that political experience could come in handy for Facebook. As the company continues to … Read more

Carol Bartz is a big girl with a potty mouth who can take the heat. And rest assured, there will be no shortage of criticism directed her way now that Bartz is out as Yahoo chief executive officer (fired on the phone, no less.)

But as Bartz's name gets inscribed onto the lengthening list of failed Yahoo CEOs--a roster that also includes Tim Koogle, Terry Semel and Jerry Yang--there are a couple of salient points to remember as revisionist versions of this chapter in the company's history start turning up.

Ultrabooks are coming. The first wave of superslim laptops are expected to hit in force by the holiday season. Earlier this week, I spoke with Greg Welch, director of Intel's Ultrabook group, to get a better idea of what an Ultrabook is.

Though Intel won't make Ultrabooks, it will supply the core components, so it is intimately involved in the platform. And, as Welch, describes it, the Ultrabook is "an initiative to advance the state of the art of the notebook experience across several years."

Question: Can you talk about some of the new technologies Intel … Read more

Longtime Googler Tom Stocky is Facebook's newest director of product, AllThingsD has learned.

Stocky posted about the move on his online profiles and Facebook confirmed he'd been hired.

Facebook and Google's hiring wars are vicious, but seem to always end well for the employees in question, with considerable signing or retention agreements.

Stocky, who has multiple degrees from MIT, had helped start Google's developer products team and had recently been Google director of product management for search, client, and infrastructure products based in Zurich. He joined Google in January 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile, and … Read more