bills

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is holding an "ask me anything" session on Reddit at 10:45 a.m. today.

To get a few things out of the way, he's posted a YouTube animation that answers three popular Reddit questions: How much money do you have in your wallet? Can I have a million dollars? And -- now this is the important one -- would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck.

Gate's answers? $100; only if you are a starving farmer or a poor child living without medicine; and a horse-sized duck. Duh. … Read more

Rumors of a cheaper iPhone on the horizon may come as welcome news for fans of the device -- especially because iPhone users reportedly pay the highest monthly phone bills, no matter the carrier, according to AllThingsD.

Android, Windows, and BlackBerry users spend less per month to use their smartphones, according to data by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners that was acquired by AllThingsD. It seems that the higher costs come from carriers charging more for iPhone data plans and additional wireless fees.

"We think it has to do with their data plans and carriers, rather than their usage habits,&… Read more

It's fun to sit around and play "What if?" What if Google acquired Microsoft? What if Superman and Spider-Man made a movie together? What if "Downton Abbey" were a Super Nintendo game? We have a pretty good answer to that last question.

YouTube user Bill Kiley posted a video showing what the imported PBS megahit would look like as an SNES game. It comes complete with an insanely catchy digital ditty that's perfect for the SNES period. As a new footman at Downton, you're faced with a myriad of tasks that come fast and furious.… Read more

Kids can be ruthless, contrary human beings.

They see a parent's weakness and they go all "Twilight" on it.

Which is why you have to be firm with them. An example of this was Melinda Gates who declared quite forcefully in 2010 that, while her kids had asked to use Apple products, she had explained that this would be impolitic.

Yet now, in an interview with Fox Business Network, her husband Bill has placed a certain kink upon her tale.

"They never asked," he said. "So I don't know. It would be interesting … Read more

A new draft bill published today aims to increase privacy for mobile app users.

Led by U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), the bill aims to legally require app developers to publicize how they gather information and also let users request deletion of their stored data.

To create the draft language for the bill, Johnson and his Web-based initiative, AppRights, held meetings with members of the Internet community, public-interest groups, app developers, and other industry stakeholders. Dubbed "The Application Privacy, Protection, and Security Act of 2013," or the APPS Act, the bill "addresses the public's growing … Read more

Google's Eric Schmidt is now in North Korea on a junket that the State Department has frowned upon.

Schmidt is accompanying Bill Richardson, former N.M. governor and former ambassador to the U.N., on what the latter has described as a "private humanitarian mission." Among other things, Richardson plans to make inquiries about Korean-American Kenneth Bae, who has been detained by North Korean authorities.

The U.S. State Department last week expressed dismay at the prospect of the trip, with a spokesperson saying: "We don't think the timing of this is particularly helpful" … Read more

Former Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M -- who has announced that he will travel to North Korea with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt as early as this month -- brushed aside the State Department's expressed disapproval of the trip Friday on "CBS This Morning," saying, "I don't work for the U.S. government; neither does Eric Schmidt."

"I know the State Department is a little nervous," Richardson said, "but we did postpone this trip already. Eric and I were going in December, and at the request of the State Department, we … Read more

It's said that the rich get richer. And that's certainly true at the moment in the tech world.

Grabbing Bloomberg's No. 2 spot among the world's top billionaries, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has an estimated worth of $63.4 billion as of yesterday. Despite donating a hefty amount of money to charitable causes, Gates' net worth managed to rise 1.1 percent over the past year, making him the richest tech mogul on the list.

Worth $40.7 billion, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison saw a 3.6 percent gain in his fortune last year. The largest … Read more

Wielding both wealth and influence, Bill Gates is the world's fourth most powerful person, as ranked by Forbes.

Rising to fourth place from fifth last year, Gates was cited by Forbes for his vast fortune. The Microsoft co-founder is worth $65 billion even after donating more than $28 billion toward various causes.

But it's also his mission and his influence that make Gates a powerful man.

As co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he's been on a quest to stamp out a variety of diseases around the world. As Forbes notes, Gates estimates that the … Read more