Chris O’Brien

O’Brien: Silicon Valley style romance blooms in World of Warcraft

// August 8th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

Is World of Warcraft the next Match.com? For at least one San Jose couple, it turned out the perfect place to meet, court, and start a friendship that blossomed into a real world romance.

O’Brien: The mysterious circumstances of Hurd’s departure

// August 7th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

After listening to the vague explanations of why Mark Hurd resigned, I’m still left wondering:Did he really have to go?

Interim CEO expected to keep HP on course

Source: Hurd paid accuser to settle claim

More Hewlett-Packard news | Track HP stock

O’Brien: Globalstar leaves for Louisiana without a fight

// August 4th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

With unemployment at 12.3 percent, I have to wonder how a company like Globalstar moves its headquarters without so much as a peep from state officials?

O’Brien: BitTorrent and the reason things are changing slower than you think

// July 30th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

We still watch almost 99 percent of all video on our televisions. Despite the hoopla about the online video revolution, our viewing habits remain stubbornly resistant to change.

O’Brien: Silicon Valley giving boost to Middle East startups

// July 28th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

The region has lagged much of the world when it comes to startups. There are some signs that’s changing. And Silicon Valley is playing a big role.

O’Brien: Jerry Kaplan and the iPad of the ’80s

// July 26th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

Back in the late 1980s, Go tried to build a keyboard-less computer that foreshadowed in many ways the iPad. I caught up with co-founder Jerry Kaplan to get his take on the era of table computing and how innovation in Silicon Valley can be about evolution and timing.

O’Brien: Lessons from the rise of Facebook

// July 23rd, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

Founder Mark Zuckerberg has built one of the most important companies on the Web in just six years. And the company has succeeded by making decisions that often riled users and popular opinion, but ultimately made the site even more popular.

O’Brien: The death and rebirth of Spansion

// July 11th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

Spansion CEO John Kispert explains the reasons behind the memory chip maker’s mysterious bankruptcy last year, its sudden firing of 3,000 employees.

O’Brien: Supreme Court decision still leaves us wondering: What can we patent?

// July 4th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

Supreme Court left many questions unanswered

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O’Brien: With the IPO behind it, let’s look ahead to Tesla’s uphill battle

// June 30th, 2010 // Comments Off // Mercury News Columns

The first-day trading of Tesla’s stock defied every bit of financial logic as investors rode a wave of emotion. But if listen to our heads, and not our hearts, Tesla’s chances of success are slim.