“Earlier this week, fellow Fool Rick Munarriz wrote about Google CEO Eric Schmidt accepting a seat on Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) board. Rick suggested that Schmidt’s move was about making life miserable for Microsoft. I’ve got a different idea,” Jack Uldrich writes for The Motley Fool.
“In the short term, I think it’s more about Apple landing a spot for its iTunes digital media service on Google’s toolbar, and Google finding new ways to leverage its advertising network. In the longer term, though the picture begins to get cloudy, I have a sneaking suspicion that video content will play an increasing role in the two companies’ future relationship,” Uldrich writes. “Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I see a link here, in the person of former Vice President Al Gore.”
“A board member at Apple and “special advisor” to Google, Gore recently turned Hollywood star with a leading role in the global-warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth. In addition to his political and environment interests, Gore is also the founder and owner of Current TV, a current-affairs TV channel that shows user-generated programs,” Uldrich writes. “I find Gore’s roles at Apple, Google, and Current TV particularly interesting.”
Uldrich writes, “It could be true that Google, Apple, and Current TV won’t do anything together to rival television — but color me skeptical. For one thing, Gore was also at the Edinburgh event, where he said that he hopes his new channel will reach 50 million people by 2010. A little help from Google and Apple could only help to meet such an ambitious goal… If Google does have plans to eventually rival TV, I’d simply encourage the company to be more candid about them. But then again, showing its hand so early might be just the sort of strategy that Al Gore would advise Google against.”
Full article here.
You know, because “Current TV” is soooo very successful and Al Gore’s strategic advice is soooo tremendously valuable – almost as much as Naomi Wolf’s.
The usual late-August Apple news lull seems to have caused a particularly virulent strain of daftness this year.
We think Apple put Google’s CEO on the board because Steve thought it made the boardroom table visually balanced from his perspective: four per side. Having four guys sitting on one side and just three on the other was driving him absolutely crazy! It’s really that simple.
Plus, as anybody knows, 8 is better than 7: the 8 spokes of the Dharmachakra, the 8 dynamics of life, tarot card No. 8 means “strength,” turn an 8 sideways and you have ∞, Carl Yastrzemski’s retired number, 8 maids a-milking, etc.
Related articles:
Google CEO on Apple’s board opens up many possibilities, including outdueling Microsoft – August 31, 2006
Re: Google CEO elected to Apple Computer’s Board of Directors – August 30, 2006
Dvorak: Does Apple’s board addtion of Google’s Schmidt portend Apple-Sun merger? – August 30, 2006
Apple and Google cozy up to make Microsoft jealous – August 30, 2006
Google CEO to help shape Apple’s future – August 30, 2006
Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt joins Apple’s Board of Directors – August 29, 2006
LordRobin – agree with you. I too change the channel to Current just to see what is on. Some of the spots are very clever. Didn’t know AG owned the network either.
I am totally SURPRISED that Apple users are NOT bigger fans of Current given great tools such as iLife, Final Cut Express, etc. and how Mac users are suppose to be on the “creative” side. Who knew?
MDN – you must be having a bad day. IMHO – your take is well BELOW your usual standard. The only point you made – and not very clearly I might add – is that you disagree with the article. Sarcasm – without providing any additional information about why you disagree with the article – is unbecoming and does not provide the readers with any real value / information.
I’ll get off my soap box now. Peace.
iTunes digital media service into the Google Toolbar? I really don´t know who uses that toolbar. I use my mac every day for work and for home, and I don´t need that Google toolbar, and I really don´t think that getting the CEO of Google into Apple´s Board has to do anything with getting iTunes into the Toolbar….. it seems very stupid to me!
I really think that it is a good move to have the CEO of Google in apple´s Board, but I think it would be even better to have Steve Jobs in Google´s Board!!!!! That would mean awsome Google + Mac integration! leave the windows world behind! more than it is already!
Al Gore (as VP I believe) was instrumental in pushing through legislation that put financial backing into the internet – insuring that it would be what it is today.
I remember watching Al Gore on television talking about his legislation funding the Information Highway. Remember the Information Highway. Now it’s called the internet. Do a little reading.
Al Gore – Unlike that puppet George Bush – is on the Apple board because Steve Jobs finds him to be a great value to Apple. Because Al Gore is a brilliant man.
George Bush would no doubt be the kiss of death were he to find himself as a board member at Apple. Not to even bring up V.P. Cheney. Apple would be drained of all cash in a year.
Every business venture that GWB has ever been in – when it ran out of funded money – went bankrupt. Kind of like what he’s doing to the U.S.
Which also means that Ron is an idiot, who is prone to lie about anything that makes him feel a bit superior.
How’s this little bit of information ron?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_controversies#Influence_on_the_Internet
Granny,
Ollie North did not site Osama bin Laden as the terrorist out to get him. In fact, bin Laden was a U.S. ally at the time – a ‘freedom fighter’ in Afghanistan. The terrorist North named was Abu Nidal, a Palestinian guerrila leader.
As for Atta, this rumor originally sited Reagan as the president who let Atta go. But the truth is that no president forced anyone to release Atta. The Mohammed Atta involved in the Israel bus bombing in 1986 was actually captured by the FBI when he tried to come to the U.S. He was extradicted to Israel in 1990 and is serving a life term in prison. He is not the Mohammed Atta who was involved in the 9/11 attacks. Some name, different guy.
Facts should be checked before spreading such stories. It is easy to do.
Here are non-partisan articles debunking your bunk:
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/north.asp
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/atta.asp
You republicans make me sick.
Granny:
Yeah, too bad that Al Gore / Ollie North story is a complete hoax: http://www.snopes.com/rumors/north.asp
Oh, and so is the story about Clinton letting Atta go: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blatta.htm
Another case of the religious right spreading falsehoods to discredit the left.
ITMFA
m
I do not hate Al Gore. I do generally despise him. I also find Al Gore ignorant, arrogant, condescending, and hypocritical, but I do not hate him.
Rob,
So, you got any more of them thar facts to share?
MDN left out the ‘eight-fold way’!
Jay:
Yeah, baa-aaa-aah. I baa-aaa-aah agreeeee. Baa-aaah.
You are one of the chosen Gore sheeple.
“The 10 hottest years in recorded human history have all occured in the last 14 years.” (i.e. since the human race was carefully, properly measuring the temperature and writing it down)
This is the take home 1 liner from An Inconvenient Truth.
Am I the only person who finds this to be absolutely frightening?
I’m surprised nobody else has brought this up.
(if you haven’t yet seen the movie, see it or buy the dvd.)
I welcome logical, thoughtful, factual comment on this. This is the big Al Gore issue – try and get with the times here people.
Left or Right, the web has made the spreading of bogus info easier than ever. There are plenty of unsupportable “facts” coming from both sides. Rather than pointing fingers at those you don’t agree with and slamming them for being “liars” when they sincerely think they are being honest, we all need to put a check on tongues and typing fingers before speak or type something that we haven’t exhaustively substantiated.
I’ll tell you all what I hate. That is coming here for Mac news and seeing this spew of political bile.
Give it a rest.
What about me? I wanna be on the board too! I’ll be number, uh, nine. Let’s see, eight plus one equals… yeh.
Al Gore is “brilliant”? OMG, I had to read that three times to make sure I was reading it right.
And any idiot who believe “A Inconvenient Truth” is a “documentary” and not a bunch of bullshit propaganda probably also thinks Michael Moore really does write non-fiction movies.
>>Am I the only person who finds this to be absolutely frightening?
Unfortunately, no, you’re not the only moron gullible enough to believe it. Try doing some research on so-called “global warming” and find out the truth, not the Al Gore politics.
Oh, don’t get in the way of Bush-voting Republicans and their little worlds of Democratic-loathing make-believe.
The next thing you’ll be asking them to do is reconsider their support for “young earth” creationism or intelligent design.
Bush-voting Republicans hate Gore because they fear that he’ll influence the 2008 by endorsing a candidate who’ll catch a public mood of environmental concern. So they’ll ridicule him and his views and they’ll lie about him and spread disinformation about his family.
But when these people have the gall to talk about how Gore gets all of his money from oil, it’s worth pointing out which party’s candidates get the most funding from oil and gas companies or from the PR/lobbying firms that represent them (step forward, all those Republican politicians in Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Louisiana and all the the other oil/gas states).
And when they take potshots at Gore re: the Internet myth, the question they should really be asking is what the people they support have done to support innovation in the information technology sphere and to make sure that innovation was made available to the widest audience at the least cost. But that would require an analytical mind, hell it would require a mind.
AL GORE IS A “””FSCKEN IDIOT””” !!!!!!!!!
I am a conservative. Al Gore seemed like a very good senator(not as good as Howard Baker, though) and an average VP. It has always amazed me how quickly he went downhill after the 2000 election. He was hilarious on SNL, then he got scarey. Maybe that explains why he is the ONLY presidential candidate I can recall that did not win his home state. Maybe they knew him better than we. I bet that bothered him more than Florida, which after 3 recounts by the media, showed Bush clearly won. Gore had more popular votes nationwide, but the Framers saw the wisdom of the electoral college to help smaller states have an equal say in national politics. And don’t even mention the Supreme Court. That was a Federal election covered by Federal laws, of which the Florida Supreme Court had NO jurisdiction. Let’s see that on Current TV!
Spark:
Sorry, Sparky, I suppose that you could blame Al Gore for all public discourse here at MDN. Al did invent the internet, you know, and without Al none of this would have been possible. Therefore, if you have a beef, it’s with Al not with anyone here.
Seriously, the best thing for you to do is to learn to live with it, because you are not going to make anyone change his or her behavior. Alternatively, you can choose never come back to MDN because, in all probability, you will find more of the same. Something about freedom of the press, oppressed, repressed, depressed, impressed, distressed, confessed, accessed, undressed, and I digress. I don’t know, you figure it out.
“Google + Apple + Al Gore’s Current TV = ?”
A failed TV network with content on a failed web video distribution system (Google Video) edited by Final Cut?
It’ll still be crap.
Say Granny!…was it not Ronald Reagan who funded Osama bin Laden to defeat Moscow in Afganistan? Was ‘Oli’ in cahoots with the devil then?????
Since when did so many Mac users become 15 year-old rednecks? Must be all the Windows switchers. Explains why journalists and anybody not a Mac Zealot complains that anytime they criticize Apple they are electronically spat upon by Mac fanatics because of their non-belief. Makes me want to switch to Linux more everyday.
C´mon people get real, if it wasn´t for Bill Clinton picking Al Gore as VP, Al Gore would be long gone and disappeared from the celebrity politician landscape. Bill Clinton made Gore.
Gore failed (for whatever reasons of the political debate you want to be on). Gore is a loser – twice now. Why Steve Jobs got himself involved with Gore when there are so many better Democrats to choose from one has no idea.
What has Al Gore ever done for Apple? Please, somebody give me a concrete example. Are there any minutes of Apple board meetings where we could see what he contributed to the bottom line of Apple? Did Al maybe secretly gave Steve the idea for the iPod and Al is too humble to take credit? Did Al give Steve the “i” idea?
Interesting correlation, the more criticism liberal politicians receive at MDN, the more strident the comments from their supporters about the excesses of political discussions. Well, lads, get used to it, because, unlike some other countries, you cannot silence the voices the people.