ce-oh no he didnt
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CE-Oh no he didn't!: Tesla's Elon Musk calls the Fisker Karma a 'mediocre product at a high price'
"I don't think very highly of Henrik Fisker," Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, told Automobile magazine in a recent interview. Musk was recalling events leading up to a 2008 lawsuit in which Tesla accused Fisker of pilfering its hybrid technology to build the Fisker Karma. Musk isn't a fan of the automobile, and suggests its creators put form over function. "It's a mediocre product at a high price," he says. "[Fisker] thinks the most important thing in the world -- or the only important thing in the world -- is design, so he outsourced the engineering and manufacturing." Still, Musk concedes that Fisker's eye for aesthetics paid off in some respects. "It looks good," he said. "Particularly from the side it looks good." The magazine gave Henrik Fisker a chance to respond, who said that he was "delighted that Elon thinks the Karma is a good-looking car," and stressed that Tesla and Fisker are targeting different customers with two "totally different technologies." He was quick to address the firms' previous legal squabbles too, "to set the record straight, Fisker won in court... a judge threw out the case and awarded costs to Fisker." True enough, but in light of recent events, we can think of at least one Karma owner who might agree with Musk.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Acer's JT Wang tells Microsoft to 'think twice' about Surface
Acer executives have criticized Microsoft's decision to build its own tablet in the past, but now the firm's CEO has offered Redmond a more direct warning. "We have said [to Microsoft] think it over," Acer CEO JT Wang told the Financial Times. "Think Twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction." Microsoft has acknowledged Surface's potential to frustrate its OEM partners, telling the Security and Exchange Commission that competing directly with manufactures might "affect their commitment" to the firm's platform. Not only does Wang agree with this admission, he seems worried that Microsoft will cause this damage for nothing. "It is not something you are good at," he continued, "so please think twice." Polite, but a bit bold. Then again, Acer has never been shy about telling Microsoft exactly what it thinks.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Valve's Gabe Newell says 'Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone'
Always-outspoken Gabe Newell, the big cheese at Valve, made quite a few interesting statements at this year's Casual Connect conference, including the quote above. Gabe believes Microsoft's impending update will drive manufacturers away from the OS and he reiterated Valve's plan to make the entire Steam catalog available on Linux as a "hedging strategy." During the onstage discussion, he also weighed in on the longevity of touch input, which he estimates at a decade, the possibility of tongue control and the future of wearable computers. Other classic quotes include "the next version of Photoshop should look like a free-to-play game," which Adobe apparently didn't quite understand -- and frankly, neither do we.
Sergey Brin clarifies Apple and Facebook critique, says statement was 'distorted'
Sergey Brin wasn't too happy with how his critique of Apple and Facebook was represented in the media following an interview he gave to the Guardian. In a post on Google+ (hey, if he won't use it, who will?) Brin lamented that, "my thoughts got particularly distorted... in a way that distracts from my central tenets." The founder believes that undue attention was given to his complaints about Facebook and Apple's "restrictive" walled gardens, when he sees oppressive governments and state-sanctioned censorship as much larger issues. Of course, while Brin does say he admires his competitors, he never truly backpedals from his criticism or says that it was taken out of context. To let Sergey explain himself, hit up the source link.
Sergey Brin says the internet is under attack by governments, Apple and Facebook
One of the qualifications for scoring a CE-Oh no 'round here is actually being a CEO -- so Sergey Brin does not receive that honor. We will, however, draw attention to what some might call his hyperbolic ramblings. In an interview with the Guardian, Google's cool uncle said he was worried about the state of the internet and that his company could not have flourished in an online ecosystem like today's. According to Brin, the threats are coming from all sides -- most notably governments. While oppressive regimes like those in China and Iran get top billing, the US doesn't escape without criticism thanks to SOPA and PIPA which seemed perilously close to passing with support from the media industry. The co-founder also took shots at Apple and Facebook, which he said have built "really restrictive" walled gardens. For more smack talk from one of the most influential men in the tech industry, hit up the source link. [Image via Thomas Hawk]
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Tony Fadell calls Honeywell out on patent claims
Smart thermostats might not be the cut-throat world of litigation like, say, mobile phones, but that doesn't mean the odd feather doesn't get ruffled from time to time. Nest CEO, Tony Fadell, is understandably protective of his company's product, so when competitor Honeywell laid a stack of patent infringement claims at his door, unsurprisingly he was none too pleased. How displeased? Well, enough for him to drop this clanger: "Honeywell is worse than a patent troll." Then going on to quantify with "They're trying to strangle us, and we're not going to allow that to happen." We think that makes his feelings on the matter pretty clear. Well, when you've been SVP of Apple's iPod division, it's easy to see how patience with such things might wear thin.
CE-Oh no he didn't: Steve Ballmer lays into Android
"You don't have to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone," said Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, "but you do to use an Android phone." He was addressing the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco, where we guess his audience must have included a large but silent population of Android-loving non-scientists. In any case, the Redmond CEO also revealed that he just can't get "excited" about Android phones, which proves that anything can be boring if you're rich enough -- including raking in up to $15 per Android handset in cross-licensing deals. On a serious note, though, HTC's latest Titan handset shows off the Mango experience at its best and it is simpler than Google's OS. If Windows Phone sales eventually pick up despite the buzz over Android 4.0, then the point beneath Ballmer's bluster might not seem so unreasonable.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Stephen Elop says 'Apple created Android,' the conditions necessary for its existence
Nokia's freshman CEO is speaking at the Open Mobile Summit right now. As expected, he's covering the same ol' ground, explaining why Nokia ditched Symbian and MeeGo to build the "third ecosystem" with Microsoft -- you know, after totally dominating the high-end smartphone market just three years ago. He's also being credited with the following quote: "Apple created Android, or at least created the conditions necessary for Android to come into being" We're on to you, Mr. Elop. It's a classic diversionary tactic. Get the one and two smartphone / tablet OS vendors squabbling and then execute a flanking maneuver while nobody's watching. Why else would the Nokia CEO make such an emotive claim? Unless it's true?
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Netgear boss calls 'game over' for Microsoft, Jobs' 'ego' reason iPhone doesn't support Flash (updated)
Can't say that Patrick Lo is a name that immediately rang any bells around here. He's certainly not as recognizable as Netgear, the company that he chairs and rules supreme. But boy did he hit our radar screens this morning. Lo had plenty of criticism to spread around the Microsoft and Apple camps today during a press lunch in Sydney. Oh where to even begin? Let's start with Microsoft, and Lo's claim that, "Microsoft is over -- game over, from my point of view," when comparing Windows Phone 7's chance to compete with Android and the iPhone. Doubtful, not with Redmond's Windows 7 and MS Office cash cows fueling Microsoft's intense desire to execute on its new mobile strategy. Lo then turned his sights on Apple, having this to say on the topic of Steve Jobs' refusal to support Adobe Flash on Apple's mobile devices: "What's the reason for him to trash Flash? There's no reason other than ego." Funny, we thought it was due to performance, security, and power consumption issues. Lo later added, "Once Steve Jobs goes away, which is probably not far away, then Apple will have to make a strategic decision on whether to open up the platform." Classy. Hit the source link below if you're just dying to hear how "closed" systems are inferior to "open" systems all over again. Update: We just received an email from Patrick Lo. While he continues to support his opinions expressed on open standards, he is backtracking from some of the comments. Notably, he regrets some of the words chosen, particularly those that seem related to Steve Jobs' health. Full apology after the break.
CE Oh no he didn't!: Time Warner chief likens Netflix threat to Albanian army
Think the relationship between Netflix and cable and content executives is amicable? Not. Even. Close. Certainly not after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings blazed a trail into the living room on the strength of the company's streaming television and movie content originally made possible by a shrewd 2008 deal with Starz. A move that netted streaming access rights to Sony and Disney content for an estimated $25 million -- next to nothing compared to the traditional licensing fees charged to cable operators. That deal is set to expire in 2011 and could cost Netflix as much as $250 million a year to renew. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes thinks that Netflix's days at the top are numbered having been made possible by an era of experimentation that's now ending. "It's a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?" said Bewkes, "I don't think so." According to the New York Times, the comments were made last week as UBS sponsored a media conference in New York that it says turned into a "platform for executives to express their grievances and emphasize that they will now aggressively try to tilt the economic balance between Netflix and content creators back toward the media conglomerates." Wow. Don't worry though Netflix subscribers, we're sure that the implied collusion is the good kind.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: NVIDIA chief calls Galaxy Tab 'a large phone,' can't wait to show you some real tablets
We've literally been waiting for Tegra 2 tablets since CES in January, but that isn't stopping NVIDIA boss Jen-Hsun Huang from extolling their virtues yet again, this time on a roadmap that points to just after next year's CES. In his company's most recent quarterly results call, Huang was bullish about the disruptive potential of tablets, but insisted that they can't simply be built like the Galaxy Tab (or the Folio 100, for that matter), which uses a smartphone OS stretched out to a larger screen. "A tablet is not a large phone," says Huang, and he's of course not alone in expressing frustration with Android's current immaturity for the tablet realm, but once Google's slate-friendly OS update drops, he promises NVIDIA will be ready to capitalize: "Our tablet and phone business is going to ramp. And it's going to ramp hard." We're looking forward to all this ramping, oh yes we are. Update: Later on the call, Jen-Hsun Huang dropped a bit of knowledge on his listeners, showing Apple's iPad some love. "You can't just put an operating system on a tablet and hope that -- on a piece of glass -- and hope that you can compete against the iPad. The iPad is a wonderful product, and if you're going to give that wonderful product a run for its money, you'd better build something absolutely exquisite." Huzzah!
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Acer founder characterizes Apple as a mutant virus
Wow, a mutant virus? This analogy may sound like a ringing bell for another cat fight on the playground, but Acer founder and retired chairman Stan Shih is actually semi-praising Apple here. Speaking at the launch of an Acer touch-themed design competition, Shih said that while Apple's taking the "revolution" highway to tackle the PC market, Acer's success has always depended on its time-consuming but more pragmatic "evolution" strategy, and it'll keep doing so to lay the ground for the next 30 years or so. Here's how China Times paraphrased Shih: "Apple is like a mutant virus, escaping from the traditional structure of the PC industry, but the industry will still eventually build up immunity, thus further blocking this trend, and we believe the size of the non-Apple camp will exceed Apple's, because this is how the industry normally evolves." Assuming the second half of Shih's quote refers to the tablet market share, this certainly echoes the words of his good friend JT Wang. That said, this is also the man who's boldly predicted that all American PC brands will be gone within 20 years, but there's no promise that Apple won't be kicking out a few more revolutions in the coming years. Anyway, doesn't Acer have more to worry about for the mean time?
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Foursquare's Crowley calls Places 'boring,' becomes mayor of Bittersville
You don't have to make a physical product to be a snippy CEO, and Foursquare co-founder and chief officer Dennis Crowley is proving that. He's been playing with the recently launched Facebook Places, saying "it's not that great or interesting," and that it offers "barely any incentives for users to keep coming back and telling their friends where they are." We're going to go ahead and figure that's because Facebook isn't in the business of making games, rather in creating APIs that let others create games that capture the minds and the clicks of its teeming masses of users. In other words, don't be surprised if mafiosos start competing to become Dons of this or that Italian joint, virtual farmers rush to plant their crops in the most verdant fields in your neighborhood, and your Feed gets way more annoying than you ever thought possible.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: LG's Ma promises Optimus tablet 'will be better than the iPad'
There's brave talk, there's foolish talk, and then there's the 5nm line that separates the two. While LG's Chang Ma didn't seem to be dabbling in either during yesterday's Wall Street Journal interview, some subsequent revelations from the financial paper do quote him straying into daring new territory. Having already described the upcoming Optimus tablet as something that will surprise us with its productivity and focus on content creation, LG's Marketing VP (we know, not exactly the CEO) has apparently gone the full way and straight up claimed that "our tablet will be better than the iPad." We'll let you judge on which side of the brave/foolish divide that falls, but it's certainly an indication of searing ambition on LG's part, and should, together with the promise that the US will be "a key market" for the tablet, make pleasant reading for Android slate aficionados.
CE-oh no he didn't!: Microsoft's Kevin Turner says iPhone 4 might be Apple's Vista
While not technically a CEO, Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner is not immune to a certain amount of executive level foot-in-mouth. Speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in DC and chatting up his company's upcoming slate of Windows Phones, he couldn't help a little iPhone bashing: "It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I'm okay with that." Should we point out to Kevin that attempting to criticize your competition by comparing it to your own flagship products is usually counterproductive, or leave him to figure it out on his own during some early morning magnificent moustache contemplation session?
ReQuest threatens to enable DVD piracy on its media streamers, announces one sans DVD
Enjoy copying DVDs onto $5,000 boutique home servers? If you've got the dough, ReQuest has got you covered -- CEO Peter Cholnoky says that even if California courts make the practice illegal, his firm isn't afraid to push back. When CE Pro asked whether he was concerned about the fallout from the Kaleidescape lawsuit, he said, "Nope, should I be?" adding that ReQuest could convert existing equipment to use third-party DVD-copying software "in two seconds" should the courts try to shut him down. Given that the company's new $1,200 MediaPlayer (above) doesn't have the requisite DVD drive for ripping discs anyhow, that sounds an awful lot like braggadocio, but we have to say we love Peter's stick-it-to-the-man tone. Oh, and in case you're wondering, that MediaPlayer is slated to ship in June; you'll find a full spec sheet at our source link.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Sony's Sir Howard says 'when you beat Apple, you're dominating'
Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has always been delightfully direct, and he didn't hold back at Google's I/O conference: talking about Sony Ericsson with Eric Schmidt during the Google TV launch, Sir Howard noted that the Xperia X10 is the best-selling handset in Japan, and that "when you beat Apple, you're dominating -- it's the new definition." Strong words from a gadget titan -- we'll leave it to you to debate their veracity.
CE-oh no he didn't!: Reggie Fils-Aime says the iPhone OS isn't a 'viable profit platform for game development'
We can't say we'd expect Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime to lavish praise on iPhone OS gaming and the abilities of the iPad, but we figured everyone had to at least acknowledge the effect of Apple's handhelds on the market and the potential of its tablet, you know? Nope -- ol' Reg just told Kotaku that Apple "is not having an impact on Nintendo when you look at our business, our volume, our hardware, our software," and that "clearly it doesn't look like their platform is a viable profit platform for game development because so many of the games are free versus paid downloads." Snap -- although we'd bet plenty of top-tier iPhone game devs like ngmoco would argue that their "freemium" model is working plenty okay. That's not all, though, as Reggie also had some choice words about depth: "If our games represent a range between snacks of entertainment and full meals depending on the type of game, (Apple's) aren't even a mouthful, in terms of the gaming experience you get." Double snap -- we'll leave it to you to argue that one out.
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LXVIII: Only Apple and dope smokers claim to know the future of tablets, says Dell VP
What we'd normally brush off as pretty standard mainstream tech piece became comedy gold thanks to the acerbic wit of Dell's John Thode. The VP of mobile devices was discussing its companies entry into the tablet industry (all the while promoting the Mini 5, of course) and seemed to downplay Apple's iPad momentum. "It's really hard to kind of do the same thing over again twice or three times... [Apple] is going to have more competition here." A rational statement, but here's where it gets interesting: "If anybody tells you they know exactly what's going to happen here, they're either Apple, or they're smoking dope." Don't tell John, but we hear Gartner just hired the entire cast and crew of Dazed and Confused for a special analytics department.
CE-Oh no he didn't? Part LXVII: Steve Jobs lashes out at Google, calls Adobe 'lazy'
According to a report in Wired (and a source whom the publication says "could not be named"), Steve Jobs spoke to an audience of Apple employees at a town hall in Cupertino and... pulled zero punches. If you believe what you read, Jobs tackled a handful of major issues that have been buzzing the company lately, namely its run-ins with Google on a number of topics, and the lack of Flash support in its mobile devices (most notably in the upcoming iPad). On Google, Jobs had this to say: "We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won't let them." According to the attendee, another topic was brought up but Steve wouldn't let the Google issue go, stating his thoughts on the company's famous 'Don't be evil' line. In Steve's words? "It's bullshit." Furthermore Jobs had a handful of choice words for Adobe, calling the company "lazy" and claiming that "Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it's because of Flash. No one will be using Flash. The world is moving to HTML5." Of course, these amazing nuggets of wisdom come from a source which Engadget cannot verify, so it's possible there are misquotes or items taken out of context, though from the sounds of things, this kind of talk falls right in line with what we'd expect from the man who said Microsoft "had no taste" and makes "really third-rate products." We eagerly await Eric Schmidt's response.
