Surfing Silicon Valley

By San Francisco Bureau Chief Greg Lefevre

e-mail: greg.lefevre@turner.com

January 30, 1998

Apple valley smirks

(CNN) -- Apple Computer, the big star around here, still doesn't have anyone to take over as CEO from Steve Jobs.

We're learning why. Incoming CEO candidates have always wanted control. But Steve Jobs won't give it. Look at the job titles:

• Chief Joberating Officer
• Chief Stevecutive Officer
• Director of Stevetegic Planning.

Steve's been searching for his replacement for how long? It's six months since Gil Amelio's diamond encrusted parachute popped open and Apple still does not have a new CEO. Some wonder if it needs one. If last quarter's profit is a portent, the company may be emerging from its long dark winter. Smaller, wiser.

Mustard seeds

Watch these guys. Michael Girard, and Don Chadwick of Unreal Pictures, the inventors of the Dancing Baby and of Kinetix Character Studio the plug in that goes with Kinetix' 3D Max animation software. Watching these folks work over at Multimedia Gulch in San Francisco is a blast. Tons of news airplay and two spots on Ally McBeal.

They are the white hot media rage right now and yet are so cool, so realistic about it. No monster egos here. Eager to make sure the credit goes around to all who contributed.

For the record: Girard created the cha-cha dance steps. Chadwick applied the cha-cha to a model of the baby. The air guitar came from Robert Lurye. And a customer, Ron Lussier, "enhanced the animation" and rendered it as a video clip.

Rants

I'm the shopper in our family. In general the retail industry needs some lessons in intelligent treatment of customers.

The men's shop at Norstroms treats you best, though it takes a while to get the Visa balance down afterwards. Nearly any computer shop is the worst. I'm not a digital genius, but just 10 minutes in most stores and I see wooden noses a yard long.

PC World talks about some of the most egregious lies: "You don't need a CD-ROM with that." Whereyoubeen?

Personal tales

I'm in the process of converting my office from Mac to PC. Corporate mandate. I'm learning a lot about computers. Worming my way through all the little drives, maps and routes just to print a page is an adventure I never experienced before.

I wish my computer would ...

...tell me what the "illegal operation" was so I don't hear from the PC cops in the morning.

This week's buzz

Conventional thinking never worked here and conventional political thinking certainly doesn't. Witness the Silicon Valley Technology Network, a truly bipartisan political arm in the Valley.

Cynical students of politics will tell you that the purpose of government is to make its friends rich. Here in the West we've seen that from the days of the rancho grants through the railroad grants to the defense industry of the Reagan years. That created a dependence of industry on government. Something Washington enjoyed.

But the zillionaires of Silicon Valley earned their money the old fashioned way. They found a real market need and filled it. Many believe the apolitical Valley only began to care about Washington politics when Washington started getting in the way with encryption embargoes, antitrust actions and pollution probes. Admittedly the valley also sought DC's help in dealing with counterfeiting overseas.

Now Al gore comes to town again, most notably to shake the money tree. It worked for Bill Clinton, but Al needs it more.

The GOP will no doubt give Gore a run for his money in the next election and The vice president will need plenty of it to stay in the fight.

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Greg Lefevre is CNN's San Francisco bureau chief and correspondent. Lefevre joined CNN in August 1983. His assignments have included three tours in the Middle East. Lefevre covered U.S. naval actions in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war, reported from Jordan after the invasion of Kuwait and reported from during the Iraqi Scud missile attacks. Closer to home, he covered medical and social developments in the fight against AIDS, the Walker family spy trials and the San Francisco earthquake. Lefevre has been honored with numerous awards, including a Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival for his coverage of the Yellowstone National Park fires and a CableACE, the cable industry's highest honor, for his reports on the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

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