san francisco

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee banks on tech startups

SAN FRANCISCO--"San Francisco is the innovation capital of the world," Mayor Ed Lee proclaimed to more that 3,000 techies gathered here at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. He was preaching to the choir as he previewed a map showing more than 800 startups located in San Francisco. The map is part of InnovateSF, a month-long series of events in October to promote tech innovation in the city.

Legendary angel investor Ron Conway echoed Lee's cheerleading for San Francisco as a capital of Silicon Valley. "When Pinterest moved to San Francisco (from Palo Alto, Calif.) a … Read more

Apple's Jony Ive reportedly buys $17M home in SF

Jony Ive has put to rest rumors of an imminent departure from Apple with the purchase of a $17 million house in San Francisco.

Apple's senior vice president of industrial design purchased a six-bedroom, eight-and-half-bath house on one of the city's most exclusive blocks in the Gold Coast neighborhood, people familiar with the deal tell The Wall Street Journal.

The house, which was built in 1927 and features views of the San Francisco Bay, appears to be a property that went on the market in February for $25 million. The official MLS for the property has been pulled … Read more

Square's Jack Dorsey to tech founders: Question everything

SAN FRANCISCO -- Square and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey said today that founders must be willing to accept new ideas -- which can come from anywhere -- if they want their companies to evolve and to keep disrupting existing industries.

Opening his keynote address at TechCrunch Disrupt here today, Dorsey noted that he didn't grow up wanting to be an entrepreneur. Now that he's helped start two of the most important companies in Silicon Valley, though, Dorsey said he wanted to share some of the lessons he's learned during his career, ideas that he clearly thinks can … Read more

Showtime nears as Apple spruces up venue for iPhone 5

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ahead of its much-anticipated news event next week, Apple is already preparing the inside and outside of the venue.

That event, which is widely expected to bring the next version of the company's iPhone, is being held in the theater at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Just as it's done with past events there, Apple has begun covering the front of the building with colorful window dressings. Where March's iPad event brought splatters of paint, this time around Apple has gone with a decidedly more controlled style with what look … Read more

The 404 1,113: Where there's a ghost in the wires (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Restaurant offers a 5 percent discount to eat without your phone.

- China is building an army of noodle-making robots.

- Melky Cabrera (SF Giants) created a fake Web site to explain failing drug tests.

- Infrared palm scanners at elementary school are the Mark of the Beast.

- Teenager uses fake ID with picture of Bobby Hill to buy alcohol at six different shops.… Read more

Neighbors to Twitter co-founder: Cease and desist

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and his wife were trying to find a nice San Francisco neighborhood for their young family to call home. A year and half ago, they found what they were looking for, a 6,300-square-foot lot occupied by an early 1900s home that they now want to demolish to make way for a new house.

Not so fast. This is San Francisco, after all, where even little changes are hard, especially in old neighborhoods like this one, which sits near the peak of a picture postcard hill just south of famous Golden Gate park. The planned tear-down … Read more

Wireless industry attorney: San Francisco phone law 'laughable'

Updated at 12:56 p.m. PT: with additional information and background

An attorney representing the wireless industry said Thursday that San Francisco's attempt at educating the public about cell phone radiation was "laughable," asking the court to put a hold on the city's ordinance requiring cell phone merchants to distribute the materials until the industry is able to challenge the information.

The city's representatives continued to stand behind the ordinance, adopted in 2010, that created these fact sheets.

The two sides laid out their arguments before a judge during a hearing in the federal … Read more

San Francisco cell phone law may be tip of legislative iceberg

Later today, a Federal Appeals Court judge in San Francisco will hear arguments in the long-simmering legal battle between the city and the wireless industry. The outcome will be significant, not only for San Francisco, but also for states and other cities around the country.

As CNET's Maggie Reardon reports, the tussle started two years ago when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a groundbreaking resolution mandating that cell phone retailers display a handset's Specific Absorption Rate (or SAR) at the point of sale.

That quickly irked the CTIA, the cell phone industry's lobbying arm, which … Read more

San Francisco faces wireless industry in court over radiation warnings

The City of San Francisco will face off in court with the wireless industry today in a hearing that may determine if the local government will be allowed to force retailers selling cell phones within city limits to disclose possible health risks to consumers before they buy mobile devices.

In 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and then-mayor Gavin Newsom approved legislation that would require manufacturers to provide information about the potential health risks associated with using cell phones.

Specifically, the ordinance required retailers to put up posters in stores that sell cell phones warning of potential risks. It … Read more