alto

Upstart.com aims to be a Kickstarter for college grads

When Dave Girouard worked at Google, he noticed a pattern. He met a lot of young people early in their careers taking the conservative route -- choosing a stable job in a big company instead of following their dreams, taking risks, and striking out on their own.

So Girouard, Anna Mongayt (also a former Googler), and Thiel fellow Paul Gu launched Upstart.com in 2012. Girouard describes it as a kind of Kickstarter for people. Instead of investing in a company or product, financial backers invest in a person and their potential over time. In return, investors receive a small … Read more

AOL's twist on e-mail: You've got stacks

Thursday's CNET Update is checking your away message:

Just when you've given up all hope of having an organized inbox, along comes AOL with a new e-mail client called Alto. Today's tech news roundup looks at how Alto manages multiple accounts and sorts messages into stacks. The service is in beta test now (so you have to sign up for an invite to try it), but it could be open to everyone by February.

In other news, Yelp is cracking down on companies that pay for reviews. If Yelp sees that a business is trying to inflate … Read more

Pigs fly: AOL's new e-mail client makes inboxes a happy place

It's probably the last company you'd expect to make using e-mail a better experience, but with its all-new e-mail client Alto, AOL is setting out to make your inbox a more organized and happier place than it's ever been.

Alto, which launches into a private beta this morning, is a client that works with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, and .Mac mail accounts. It's designed with the idea that since 95 percent of the general population doesn't use folders, many people are suffering from "inbox fatigue" as hundreds or thousands of messages flood … Read more

The 404 1,109: Where we're running low on memory (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- F-bomb makes it into mainstream dictionary.

- Someone broke into Steve Jobs' home in Palo Alto.

- Hair-raising 4D movie theater chair gives you goosebumps.

- The CNET iPhone 5 rumor roundup.

Bathroom break video: Opting out of Olive Garden's bread bowl.… Read more

Steve Jobs' Palo Alto home robbed by clueless thief

The Palo Alto home of the late Steve Jobs was robbed on July 17 of more than $60,000 in computers and other items, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office.

Kariem McFarlin, a 35-year-old man from Alameda, Calif., was arrested and charged with the burglary and selling the stolen property, CBS News reported today. The defendant is being held with bail set at $500,000 pending a court hearing on August 20.

Despite the large haul of personal computers, the alleged thief seemed unaware of the home's famous owner.

"Based on the evidence, it … Read more

Meet the tireless entrepreneur who squatted at AOL

It was 6 a.m. when Eric Simons was jolted awake by the yelling.

After working until 4 a.m, the 19-year-old entrepreneur had finally passed out. A few hours of sleep would help with the day ahead.

But unlike most people working at AOL's Palo Alto, Calif., campus who were surely still hours from showing up at the sprawling complex, Simons was already there. He'd been living there for two months, hiding out at night on couches, eating the company's food, and exercising and showering in its gym. And now, with an angry security guard bellowing … Read more

Mark Zuckerberg gets married at surprise wedding

By almost any standard, Mark Zuckerberg has had a week to remember. Yesterday, he started his day off by ringing the Nasdaq bell and taking his social-networking company public, raising $16 billion in the process. Earlier in the week, his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan graduated from medical school. And today, just for good measure, the two shocked a bunch of friends and family with a surprise wedding in the Facebook CEO's backyard.

A look at Zuckerberg's Facebook page reveals that he is now "Married to Priscilla Chan." That was not the case yesterday, the day that … Read more

Will Apple's upcoming 'prototype' store serve coffee?

Apple is planning to give its Palo Alto, Calif., retail store a reboot as part of an upcoming construction project that will build a new "prototype" store just a block away.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that construction on an upcoming $3.15 million, 15,030-square-foot store is imminent, and that the new location could serve as a replacement for its nearby predecessor.

"Our Palo Alto store was one of our first retail stores when we opened it nearly a decade ago and it's been incredibly popular," Apple spokeswoman Amy Bessette told the Mercury … Read more

Xerox PARC founder Jacob Goldman dies at 90

The famed Xerox PARC has lost its founder.

Jacob Goldman, a physicist who started Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, died on Tuesday in Westport, Conn., at the age of 90.

Goldman was lauded in a New York Times obituary as a "dynamic leader and ardent supporter of innovative technologies."

Launched in 1970, Xerox PARC is known in computer history as the hub that developed many of the technologies we take for granted today. Its scientists and researchers teamed up to design the Alto, the first modern personal computer; laser printing; the graphical user interface; the first WYSIWYG (… Read more

The art of putting out airplane fires

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.--The flames were raging, and the cries of people trapped inside the plane were audible, even from well over a hundred feet away.

Yet despite the fire crews wearing heavy-duty proximity suits, blasting water from a pair of hoses, and a collection of fire trucks gathered near the burning fuselage, no one looked particularly worried. No lives were actually at stake.

This was firefighter training at Moffett Field, part of an annual process that the crews from the NASA Ames Fire Department and the nearby Palo Alto and Sunnyvale Fire Departments have to go through in order … Read more