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Tesla CTO and co-founder JB Straubel will step down
During Tesla's earnings call today, the company announced that one of its longest-tenured executives -- outside of CEO Elon Musk -- is leaving the company. CTO JB Straubel is credited with helping to create the company's battery technology, and according to his company bio helped launch programs like its Supercharger network and the Tesla Energy business. More than a decade ago, when the company had only produced 27 vehicles, he was talking about building a $20 - $30,000 electric car, and Tesla has come considerably closer to doing just that. On the call Straubel said he wanted to make sure people knew this wasn't " some lack of confidence in the company or the team or anything like that." He joins a long list of executives to leave Tesla in recent weeks, months and years, however many weren't announced so publicly. Elon Musk announced that former VP of technology Drew Baglino will take over his duties.
FCC Chairman Pai appoints a new chief technology officer
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that Eric Burger would be joining the commission as its new chief technology officer. He's set to take over the position this month. Burger will be replacing Henning Schulzrinne who is returning to a Columbia University professorship after serving a second round as CTO since the end of 2016. He was also the FCC CTO from 2011 to 2014.
DNC hires ex-Uber engineer as its chief technology officer
The Democratic National Committee has selected ex-Twitter VP Raffi Krikorian as its chief technology officer. Krikorian was until recently the senior director of engineering at Uber's Advanced Technologies Center, but left the company in February.
Hillary Clinton recruits a Google exec as her chief tech officer
Hillary Clinton may not have even formally announced that she's running for President yet, but that isn't stopping her from gearing up for what should be a very tech-heavy election. Both the Washington Post and Reuters claim that the former Secretary of State has hired Google executive Stephanie Hannon as her campaign's chief technology officer. The higher-up will reportedly watch over a team building apps, websites and other tools to help enchant voters.
White House appoints first ever chief data scientist
The White House has a new employee: Chief Data Scientist and Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy, DJ Patil. His high-level job description, according to the White House blog, is that he'll help "shape the practices and policies to help the United States remain a leader in technology and innovation." On a more granular note, newly appointed US chief technology officer Megan Smith says that he'll be working on the Precision Medicine Initiative that uses data to help physicians provide better care while protecting their privacy.
Google's Megan Smith named America's new CTO
After the announcement that America's current CTO Todd Park was stepping down, rumors swirled that Google X VP Megan Smith would be next to take the reins. Well, the White House has just made that official -- the Washington Post reports that Smith was named the United States' Chief Technical Officer today. Meanwhile, former Twitter lawyer Alex Macgillivray (who was also reportedly being considered for the spot) has been installed as the country's Deputy CTO.
Google's Megan Smith rumored as America's next CTO
The United States found itself without a Chief Technology Officer yesterday when Todd Park relinquished his post to go trawl Silicon Valley for IT types, but that spot may not stay open for long. Bloomberg claims that there's already a frontrunner for the job: Megan Smith, the 49 year old vice president of Google's moonshot-loving X division. If the rumors hold true, Smith would become the country's third CTO (succeeding Park and his predecessor Aneesh Chopra), and the first not to trade one government job for another.
America's CTO steps down to become government adviser in Silicon Valley
Reports circulated last week that the US Chief Technical Officer would step down soon, and now the White House has confirmed the news to Wired. Todd Park, the man who led the charge to retool the government's use of tech, will remain an adviser to the administration from Silicon Valley, where he'll work to reboot the federal government's IT systems. "Todd has been, and will continue to be, a key member of my administration," President Barack Obama told the site in a statement. Prior to his post as US CTO, he worked under the same title for the Department of Health and Human Services. Park oversaw the much-maligned relaunch of Healthcare.gov and hired some of the Valley's talent to government positions. Family reasons were cited as the main cause for the move as Park and his wife sought to relocate back to the San Francisco area. [Photo credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Report: Square Enix CTO leaves company
Yoshihisa Hashimoto has left Square Enix, citing personal reasons for the departure, according to a Game Watch report that was confirmed by Polygon. Hashimoto worked as the company's Chief Technology Officer, most recently serving as technical director for Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, the manager of Square Enix's Advanced Technology Division and the head of development for the Luminous engine, which powered the Agni's Philosophy tech demo we saw at E3 2012. Hashimoto's departure continues a restructuring trend involving notable members of Square Enix. It reaches back to 2010, when Final Fantasy 13 composer and FF7/FF10 contributor Masashi Hamauzu bowed out to create his own studio. Long-time producer and designer Hiromichi Tanaka's departure followed in 2012, with Tanaka citing desire to work as a "single creator" on future projects. It continued in 2013, with Yoichi Wada stepping down from his role as CEO (and upgrading to Chairman of the Board). Square Enix America ex-CEO Mike Fischer left his role months later to join Amazon's Japan team, with former Eidos Montreal head Stephane D'Astous calling out a "lack of leadership, lack of courage and lack of communication" during his July departure. Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy 12 character designer Akihiko Yoshida also ducked out in December of that year. Former vice-president of marketing Karl Stewart left in April of this year, opting to join Petrol Advertising agency, which collaborated with Square Enix for Tomb Raider and is currently working with Activision for Destiny. [Image: Square Enix]
EA hires Microsoft Bing founder as CTO
Ken Moss, founder of the program that became Microsoft's Bing service, is now Chief Technology Officer at EA. As CTO, Moss is in charge of EA's Digital Platform and Information Technology divisions. "Ken joins us at an important time in EA's journey, as technology continues to transform the experiences we deliver to our players," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a blog post. "We're designing games as live services, with gamers playing more and for longer than ever before. Our digital platform provides the underlying infrastructure to deliver fun, seamless and curated journeys for our players." Moss was with Microsoft for 20 years. Most recently, he was head of the Marketplace Technology, Science and Data branch at eBay, and he co-founded social-media-based search organization CrowdEye.
Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch steps down, reportedly leaving for Apple (updated)
CNBC has reported that Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch is stepping down. According to All Things D, the executive submitted his resignation just yesterday, with plans to "pursue other opportunities." An Adobe spokesperson, however, confirmed to All Things D that Lynch will be leaving the company at the end of the week, and will be taking a position at Apple. The announcement, made this afternoon, comes alongside the company's earnings report and 8-K filing. Interestingly, Lynch hasn't been Apple's biggest supporter, speaking out against the company at 2010's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. We've reached out to both companies for comment -- we'll keep you posted as we find out more. Update: Apple has since said that Lynch will be joining the company as a VP of Technology. He'll be reporting to the group's Senior VP, Bob Mansfield. Update 2: Adobe has provided us with a statement that confirms Kevin Lynch's departure as of March 22, and has added that his position won't be filled by a successor. You'll find the complete statement after the break.
Apple doesn't invite Kaspersky Lab to examine Mac security (Updated)
Update: Engadget smelled something funny in this story, and turns out they were right; Kaspersky is now saying that the comment about "working with Apple to analyze OS X" was taken out of context, and that Apple has not invited the security firm to analyze its desktop OS. Full statement is here. The CTO of computer security firm Kaspersky Lab says was quoted as saying that Apple has asked them to take a look at Mac security, and the malware targeting it. Nikolai Grebennikov says that the "Mac OS is really vulnerable," and that the company's "first investigations show Apple doesn't pay enough attention to security." Go figure -- the head of a security firm claiming that people should spend more money and time on security. Who knew? But the recent small outbreaks of malware targeting Macs gives a little more credence to these claims, and if Grebennikov (whose firm has publicly gone after Apple on this before) is to be believed, then Cupertino is finally ready to hear about possible improvements. Grebennikov agrees that there hasn't been any iOS-specific malware spotted yet, but he says we'll probably see it in the next year or so. Hopefully, if Kaspersky is working with Apple, they'll be able to keep the OSes completely secure anyway. [via MacRumors]
TiVo co-founder, CTO Jim Barton resigns
Co-founder of TiVo and CTO Jim Barton has long outlasted our deathwatch, but his time as an executive at the DVR maker quietly came to an end this week according to documents filed with the SEC. CEO Tom Rogers thanked Jim for his "commitment to innovation" in a statement, and the filing indicates he will stick around as a $25,000 per month consultant in "patent matters and litigation" among other things -- nice work if you can get it -- until March 15, 2015, but his reason for stepping down is unspecified. As Multichannel News notes, Barton was working with fellow co-founder Mike Ramsay (who left in 2007) at Silicon Graphics on a project for Time Warner when they had the idea for the DVR and eventually founded TiVo in 1997. That early movement may not have resulted in dominance over pay-Tv provided DVRs, but some favorable legal settlements and successful partnerships like its deal with Virgin Media mean he's leaving the company with its prospects looking a bit better than they did back in the dark days of '05.[Thanks, David]
White House appoints Todd Park as new Chief Technology Officer
The White House hasn't wasted any time replacing the vacancy left by Aneesh Chopra, who recently stepped down as our nation's first appointed Chief Technology Officer. Following in his well-accomplished footsteps is Todd Park, a federal employee who's no stranger to the position at hand given his former role as CTO of the US Department of Health and Services. Park is credited with the launch of HealthCare.gov and is now tasked with "applying the newest technology and latest advances to make the Federal government work better for the American people." While we're sure those tasks don't include setting up Sasha and Malia's personal Pinterest accounts, he certainly has a long road ahead, dragging 'ol Pennsylvania Avenue kicking and screaming into our digital age.
GamersFirst sees a management shakeup
GamersFirst is in the minds of gamers for its successful relaunch of APB: Reloaded, which went from a lightning-fast shutdown to a successful free-to-play title. The company is also developing new games based on original IPs for future release. But there's some rumbling going on behind the scenes at the company, as the company's parent corporation, K2 Network, saw the resignation of its CEO, Joshua Hong. Bjorn Book-Larsson, former COO and CTO, has been promoted to the CEO position, with Hong's future uncertain. The official statements claim that the transition of power was amicable and pre-arranged, but it also comes on the heels of worldwide layoffs from K2 and rumors of a power struggle behind the scenes. Rahul Sandil, the company's public relations chief, claimed that there was no truth to these rumors and that the plan was to move forward from simple localizations of titles developed in foreign markets. Sandil went on to confirm that APB: Reloaded continues to be a large-scale success for the company and that further development will be centered around work that Book-Larsson had already seen during his time as CTO and COO.
Dan Stahl takes back the captain's chair in Star Trek Online
Remember in Star Trek: The Motion Picture how Kirk returns to the Enterprise and shoehorns his way back into the Captain's chair, leaving the previous job-holder to be absorbed by an interstellar entity that was really a relic of NASA's space program? What a hoot that was, and it's in no way relevant to today's story of former Star Trek Online Executive Producer Dan Stahl resuming his duties from Stephen D'Angelo after vacating the position in 2011. Stahl left Cryptic in September 2011 for a job at Zynga, at which point D'Angelo assumed the producing role. Interestingly enough, Stahl quickly returned to Cryptic last December but was assigned to heading up the Foundry team. The saga has come full-circle as Stahl returns to executive producing and D'Angelo resumes his command as Cryptic's CTO. Stahl posted a short re-introduction letter to mark his comeback: "After several eventful away team missions and a desk position training cadets in San Francisco, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be back at the helm of this very important title."
First White House Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, steps down
He was appointed with a fair bit of fanfare as the United States' first Chief Technology Officer back in May of 2009, but it looks like Aneesh Chopra has decided that it's now time to make room for the nation's second CTO. The White House confirmed today that Chopra is stepping down from his position, noting that he has amassed a "dizzying array of accomplishments." Among those are his contributions to the Obama administration's national wireless strategy, a set of internet policy making principals, and a number of efforts related to the President's open government strategy, including the Data.gov platform. No word on his successor just yet, nor is there any official word on what Chopra plans to do next -- although The Washington Post reports that he's expected to run for lieutenant governor of Virginia.
T Mobile CTO: next iPhone chipset 'will support AWS' (updated)
T-Mobile's now the lone national player in the US telecom market that hasn't enjoyed the success of the iPhone, and we've heard on several occasions that its top brass isn't oblivious to the effect that its exclusion from Apple's graces has had on the company, going as far to say that the ball is ultimately "in Apple's court." But in a recent interview, it sounds as though T-Mo CTO Neville Ray has seen some of Apple's roadmap, and the next chipset -- the one that ideally would be included in the next iteration of the iPhone -- will be offering support for Magenta's AWS radio. If true, we'd certainly expect the carrier's bad fortunes to turn around... unless Apple chooses to keep T-Mobile out of its club regardless, which Ray mentioned was a distant possibility. If LTE is also included, the fourth-largest US carrier will still be a bit behind by simply not having the next-gen network connectivity -- although Ray did specify that it isn't impossible to deploy LTE in certain areas by repurposing spectrum -- but we have a feeling there will be plenty of people willing to forego that bullet point on the spec list in order to get their hands on an iPhone with genuine T-Mobile HSPA+ support. Update: T-Mobile gave us some nuggets of clarification on Ray's statement. Apparently he was actually referring to the fact that Apple has the option of adding AWS support when considering the current roadmap of chipsets available on the market.
HP's chief strategy officer to retire next month, won't have a successor
Remember Shane Robison, the HP exec who advocated for the survival of webOS following the company's decision to dismantle its hardware unit? Yeah well, he's about to make an exit. HP confirmed yesterday that Robison will retire from his position as executive VP and chief strategy and technology officer on November 1st, after spending eleven years at the company. In a statement, HP praised Robison for spearheading much of its R&D and several high-profile mergers during his tenure there. "In his role, he was responsible for shaping HP's corporate strategy and technology agenda," the company said. "He was instrumental in steering the company's multibillion-dollar research and development investment and has led many of the company's largest merger and acquisition activities." Newly minted CEO Meg Whitman, meanwhile, described Robison as a powerful innovator and lauded his role in guaranteeing "that innovation continues at HP." Perhaps the bigger story, however, is the fact that the firm doesn't plan on filling Robison's shoes. In the announcement, HP confirmed that his position will be dissolved as part of "an effort to drive strategy, research and development closer to the company's businesses." The implications, of course, remain to be seen. Full PR after the break.
Sprint's unlimited data plans aren't going anywhere, CTO confirms
Sprint may have plenty of changes in store for its upcoming "strategy update," but it looks like one crucial policy will remain in place -- unlimited data plans. Speaking to reporters at Mobilize in San Francisco yesterday, company CTO Stephen Bye confirmed that even though competitors like Verizon and AT&T are phasing out their unlimited plans, Sprint remains committed to providing its customers with infinite data. Doing so won't come without costs, since, as Bye explained, not all unlimited subscribers eat up the same amount of data. But the exec pointed out that these efforts are counterbalanced by the relative simplicity of managing unlimited schemes, and don't seem quite as prohibitive when compared with the hidden customer support costs involved with more complex, tiered plans. Yet despite all this optimism, Sprint seems fully aware that some major expenses are on the horizon, especially with a revamped 4G LTE network in the pipeline and, perhaps, with the iPhone 5 on the way. "Is there pressure? Yeah," Bye acknowledged. "There's a challenge for all engineers to work on how we get the cost structure down." Bye went on to reiterate, however, that although a new data network may attract new investors, it's ultimately Sprint's unique data plans that will keep its customer base intact.
