HP’s Autonomy Deal Highlights Pattern Of Bad Ideas

English: Autonomy building at Cambridge Business Park. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Michael Liedtke – It’s the latest in a cavalcade of costly blunders at HP. The Silicon Valley pioneer has squandered billions of dollars on ill-advised acquisitions, compounding the challenges it already faces as it scrambles to adjust to a world that is shifting away from PCs to smartphones and tablets.

Autonomy, which was based in Cambridge, England, had been known for a “dog-eat-dog” sales culture that drove employees to do whatever it took to hit their quarterly targets or risk incurring the wrath of CEO Mike Lynch, Pelz-Sharpe said. “It was never a happy company,” the analyst said. “It was always a place where people were frightened to speak out.” more> http://tinyurl.com/bctpog8

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New start-up hubs challenging Silicon Valley

English: Apple’s headquarters at Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Tarmo Virki – Silicon Valley remains the world’s most attractive spot for technology start-ups with other locations around the world catching up.

Phil Liblin, chief executive of Silicon Valley-based writing app maker Evernote, said in a recent interview: “Silicon Valley does have a lot of magic in it. It is still the only place you can get $20 million without owning a suit, but you do not need 20 million any more.” more> http://tinyurl.com/a3vndnm

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Dropping out: Is college worth the cost?

CBS News – Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist, is beseeching students to drop out of a university system he says is broken — churning out too many half-educated graduates seeking too few jobs. Thiel put his money where his mouth is and pays selected students $100,000 each to drop out and focus on ideas that will benefit themselves and the world at large. Waiting for graduation, he says, is an expensive waste of time.

Peter Thiel: “We have a bubble in education, like we had a bubble in housing in the last decade. Everybody believed you had to have a house. They’d pay whatever it took. Today, everybody believes that we need to go to college, and people will pay whatever it takes.” more> http://tinyurl.com/7a8m5s6

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