Ah, finally, the Twitter IPO. The big news this week is that Twitter has delivered the important S1 SEC document that defines its intended IPO launch. Before we get to that however, let's touch on a couple of very interesting things going on in the world of robotics. First, it was quite interesting to hear this week about Intel developing an entirely 3D Printed robot. It's dubbed the Jimmy 3D Printed Robot Project, and has a goal of bringing robotics to kids. Hmm, this could prove a scary thing.
Less scary and in our humble opinion far more interesting is the newest toy from Boston Dynamics -- a DARPA funded new robot called the Wildcat that gallops on four legs at 16 MPH and literally turns Star Wars science fiction into full-fledged reality. Check it out; there is a video included that is not to be missed.
Actually, before we get to Twitter, it is worth getting out of the way that Samsung is once again up to its old tricks of flouting basic court rules and patent etiquette. This time around it isn't a case of copying Apple's iPhone 3 designs but a perhaps much more worrisome case of actually -- and we believe arrogantly -- flouting a variety of court-driven rules concerning proprietary and highly confidential patent-licensing documents. In this case Samsung not only illegally gained intimate knowledge of a Nokia-Apple patent licensing agreement, but then sought to use the knowledge to drive a hardball licensing bargain with Nokia. It is a court-sanctions-level of offense and we hope the courts do indeed take serious action!
OK, finally, on to Twitter. Late in the week Twitter finally announced the availability of its S1 SEC document. This is the first real step in launching an IPO and the S1 provides all of the relevant financial data necessary to evaluate Twitter as a viable IPO entity. There is a great deal of interesting information in the S1 -- including real revenue numbers, real user numbers, and the detailed outlines of what Twitter hopes to accomplish by going public. There is the little matter of a hoped-for $1 billion infusion of cash as well. And of course there will be a collection of people and companies that stand to make a good many dollars from the IPO too. For the curious among us, we've provided a handy list of who will become very rich Twitterati.
Speaking of the very rich, there was noise earlier this week that three Microsoft board members, who together own roughly five percent of Microsoft's outstanding shares, have pooled their voices to urge the board to remove Bill Gates from his role as Microsoft chairman. Gates, who still owns 4.5 percent of Microsoft, has long been selling his shares off and is in fact slated to sell all of his remaining shares by 2018. That ownership still makes him a hugely important board member. Nevertheless, we ourselves believe that Gates should relinquish his role, but only because we've come to believe his true passions are now to be found outside of Microsoft -- something he really should be congratulated for achieving.
While we are on the subject of Microsoft, as we all know by now, the company has released its newest collection of Surface tablets. Microsoft has some very clear perceptions in hand of how the new tablets will play in both the consumer and enterprise space. The insights come straight from an influential Microsoft blog post, and we've added our own perspectives to the blog post as well.
We’ll sign off for the week with several interesting things. First, we’ve been hearing an awful lot about Intel wanting to seriously get into the streaming TV space. We've heard a lot and yes, Intel has developed its OnCue Internet TV service capability. And we keep hearing about various partnerships that Intel talks about but that never actually seem to develop into anything real. Here's a suggestion - perhaps Intel needs to make a serious acquisition.
Next, do you have any idea what Yahoo values your Internet e-mail security at? Would you believe exactly $12.50? That actually seems rather generous to us, but others apparently disagree!
Finally, we thought we would take a moment to introduce you to a cool and an entirely electric scooter -- one that also happens to have a slot on the dashboard to snap an iPhone into. It comes from a Japanese startup, Terra Motors (sounds not unlike Tesla Motors, doesn't it?), and we think it offers some rather compelling reasons to exist. Aside from a speedometer there are no other controls on the dash -- your iPhone handles everything. You just rev up a near-silent motor and off you go.
