Yesterday 3,000 people filled an arena at Boise State University in Idaho to remember Micron Technology Chief Executive Steve Appleton, pictured left. The death of Appleton in a smal l plane crash earlier this month shook the small technology community in Boise as well as Micron's 20,000 employees. In attendance at the memorial service were U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, and Idaho governor C.L. Otter.
Employees reflected on how Appleton took pay cuts and sometimes no pay at all to show solidarity with the company's workforce even as the company laid off workers, the Idaho Statesman reported. As the only remaining memory chip maker in the U.S., Micron has struggled with lower demand for computers and the rise of smartphones and tablet computers.
Known for his philanthropy and affable demeanor, friends and colleagues also remembered a fierce competitor who once sparred with a Micron executive over who got to the office earliest. Appleton won the battle by getting in before 4:30 a.m. Despite Appleton's stature, employees said, he always went out of his way to talk to rank and file employees.
"He was CEO, but on our level. We always called him by his first name," Micron manufacturing technician Bentley Cleverly told Reuters.
Insurgents (FINS)
A group of young tech start-ups are looking to disrupt the financial services industry in the same way that Amazon upended the retai l publishing world. It's good news for technologists, but could be harmful to the careers of Wall Street workers.
Replacement (Bloomberg)
Google will appoint one of its own executives, Dennis Woodside, to replace Motorola Mobility Chief Executive Sanjay Jha once the companies' merger is approved, according to a report.
Chomped Up (Sydney Morning Herald)
Apple has acquired San Francisco-based start-up Chomp, a mobile app search engine company. Chomp was founded by two Australian-born entrepreneurs and has about 20 employees. The purchase price wasn't disclosed, but Bloomberg says it was $50 million.
Prove Yourself (TechCrunch)
A new start-up called Interview Street has given technologists a new route to a job: online coding contests. Its most recent challenge had more than 5,000 contestants, and 100 of them are now in the final rounds of interviews with companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Quora.
Focus (AllThingsD)
Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Meg Whitman says one of her company's problems is it produces too many variations of the same products. It's a lesson Steve Jobs hammered home all the time.
Frat Boys (Business Insider)
Tech is known as the domain of introverted nerds, but a number of the industry's most important executives spent their college years attending fraternity parties, including IBM's Sam Palmisano and Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com.
Seminal Investor (Technology Review)
Paul Graham is one of the most important people in Silicon Valley. His start-up incubator, Y Combinator, which invests small amounts of money and large amounts of time in would-be entrepreneurs, has spawned 380 companies. That's why he can't walk down the street in San Francisco without bumping into someone he's funded.
In Perspective (Reuters)
Foxconn is often vilified over the working conditions at its factories, but that doesn't stop thousands of Chinese migrants from spending weeks trying to find jobs there.
Starting Anew (Reuters)
George Kurtz and Dmitri Alperovitch, two former McAfee executives, have founded their own cybersecurity start-up called Crowdstrike which will help hunt hackers. The two left McAfee last year after it was acquired by Intel.
Buzz Around the Office
Slowed down for your enjoyment.
List of the Day: Staying Awake
You've got a 3 p.m. meeting and you're in the middle of an REM cycle. Here's how to get chipper in a flash.
1. Participate so you're forced to talk.
2. Sit on an uncomfortable chair.
3. Eat something to give you a burst of energy.
(Source: The Daily Muse)