Sennheiser CEO on fashion 'phones and battling Beats

Last year I had the chance to interview Luke Wood, the boss of Beats headphones, about the bass-heavy company's meteoric rise to prominence -- a fashion-focused bombardment that left traditional audio companies struggling to keep pace. This year, at the IFA trade show in Berlin, Daniel Sennheiser of German firm Sennheiser is having his say.

Sennheiser is one of the many manufacturers caught off guard by the popularity of Beats' celebrity-endorsed fashion 'phones. I wanted to know how the company was coping with the competition, and the challenges of selling headphones in a post-Beats world...

Read the full story here... Source: CNET

Google CEO on NSA spy program: We're definitely not involved

Google CEO Larry Page has flatly denied involvement in a secret spy program operated by the National Security Agency, calling into question recent news reports that alleged the company gave spooks a backdoor into its servers.

Google's statement was also signed by David Drummond, the company's top legal officer, who oversees the entire legal department.

PRISM gives the federal government surreptitious access to customer information held by Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Google, Facebook, and other Internet companies, according to reports from the Washington Post and The Guardian newspapers yesterday.

The program, code-named PRISM, allegedly allows NSA analysts to peruse exabytes of companies' confidential user data by typing in search terms. PRISM reports have been used in 1,477 items in President Obama's daily briefing last year, according to an internal presentation to the NSA's Signals Intelligence Directorate that the newspapers obtained.

Those allegations about companies' participation in PRISM remain unconfirmed, and thecompanies listed in the supposed presentation have denied any participation. Today's statement from Page, Google's co-founder, is the most detailed to date -- and, crucially, comes from someone who would be in a position to know or investigate rather than an unnamed corporate spokesman who would not be...

Read the full story here. Source: CNET

Go Daddy hires former Microsoft and Yahoo exec Blake Irving as next CEO

Just in time to stand behind what will undoubtedly be the most grotesque Super Bowl ad of the 2013 contest, Blake Irving is taking the top seat over at Go Daddy. The infamous, flip-flopping domain registrar has confirmed that Irving will begin duties as CEO starting January 7th of next year, succeeding interim CEO Scott Wagner. Prior to this, Irving spent a grand total of 15 years in various hallways at Microsoft, most recently as Corporate Vice President of the Windows Live Platform. He also served as the Chief Product Officer at Yahoo, while he presently serves on the Board of GolfLogix. Mum's the word on whether or not his introductory video will be too risque for American television.

[Source: Engadget]

Intel CEO Paul Otellini to step down in May, leaves a legacy of x86 dominance

Intel has just announced that CEO Paul Otellini will be stepping down in May of 2013. The long time executive will be retiring from the company and industry that he has dedicated the last 40 years of his life to, leaving behind a legacy that has seen Intel's dominance in the x86 field grow to almost unapproachable levels. As the fifth chief executive in the company's history he's overseen not only the processor reboot that followed the inefficient Pentium 4, but also played a roll in Apple's famous transition from PowerPC to Intel. Otellini and the board of directors will work together over the next six months to ensure a seamless transition of power, however a successor has yet to be chosen.

[Source: Engadget]

One year of Tim Cook as CEO of Apple

Exactly one year ago today, Tim Cook took over the leadership of Apple from Steve Jobs. CNET's Josh Lowensohn reports that his first year at the company has been a huge success.

Not everyone believed that Cook, who had filled in for Jobs twice during his battle with pancreatic cancer, would keep the company on its incredible journey. When the announcement of his appointment as CEO was made, Apple's stock dropped more than $6 a share. But now the stock is up 44 percent over its value at this time in 2011 and Apple was recently named the most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization.

During Cook's first year, the company continued to see revenue growth outpacing the rest of the industry during a worldwide recession, continues to fight patent battles against rivals in court to assure that Apple (in the words of Cook) "not become the developer for the world," and has released follow-ons to its highly successful products.

However, some Wall Street analysts believe that Apple's future is bleak without the charisma of Jobs at the helm. Forrester CEO George Colony was quoted in April as saying that "Apple's momentum will carry it for 24 to 48 months, but without the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company."

[Source: TUAW - Read more here]