All Things Digital

We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.

But–as many readers have requested–they will all be available in their entirety over the next few weeks in this column.

Here’s Part 5 of 6 of our discussion with Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, who were interviewed together by Walt Mossberg and me on the conference’s opening night.

(I will be posting one video part of the Gates/Ballmer interview every day this week, including Saturday.)

In this video, Gates and Ballmer talk about Apple (AAPL) and the mobile market and also answers questions from AllThingsD readers sent via the Internet about healthcare and whether Microsoft’s (MSFT) hostile bid for Yahoo (YHOO) has tarnished its reputation.

Recently, Julie Wainwright came to visit AllThingsD HQ (also known as BoomTown’s abode) to talk about her newest venture.

Wainwright, as many recall, was the former CEO of Web 1.0’s most memorable flameout–Pets.com.

While a lot of the attention it garnered was probably undeserved–after all, Pets.com was no worse than a lot of goofy start-ups out there, except for its irksome sock puppet mascot–Wainwright will forever be linked with the failed e-commerce company.

Nonetheless, the longtime Web exec–before Pets.com, she was CEO of Berkeley Systems and also Reel.com–has just launched SmartNow.com.

The site is a far cry from shipping bags of kibble–aimed at women 35 to 55 and using Web 2.0 features and lots of video to deliver information on health issues, self-improvement, spirituality, nutrition, fitness and a range of other topics.

SmartNow uses experts–such as doctors, dieticians, diet coaches, inspirational writers, psychologists, fashion and beauty professionals, and even humorists–as well as letting users and women’s groups deliver personal stories.

That includes, for example, Melissa Bates, who tells of her bout with breast cancer in a gripping video.

The 51-year-old Wainwright got the inspiration for the site from her own personal efforts and challenges–including shutting down Pets.com and struggling through a divorce right after that.

While looking for helpful info, she noticed that there were few sites aimed at women like her, so she decided to start one. Self-funded, Wainwright says she is now talking to some angel investors.

Here’s Wainwright talking about her new start-up:

Today, we debut our new redesign of the home screen of AllThingsD.com.

It is, in fact, our second redesign since we launched the site in late April of 2007, although it is a much more drastic redesign, with a lot more elements added.

Why did we do it? No, we are not hyperactive (OK, we are, but we are taking medication for that).

Actually, it is because we in the ATD brain trust (that would be Walt Mossberg and me), along with our many much-more-intelligent staffers and advisers, wanted to bring even more digital news and analysis to our readers by making more stories available on the front page from us and also from around the Web.

Our aim was simple: Now newsier than ever!

In fact, we hope you will find our new look linktastic, as we try hard to embrace the notion that ATD’s audience wants to be able to find great tech and media stories anywhere and everywhere.

Just fyi, the inside sections remain exactly the same–it is only the front page that has undergone the renovation.

Here’s a quick tour, from the top to the bottom of the page:

Megablog: We combined the BoomTown and John Paczkowski’s Digital Daily blogs in one rolling one in the center rail.

We felt that it allowed us to feature a lot more of our stories on the main page longer, up to 20 typically, and also made it easier for readers to find stories before they dropped off the front.

We will be adding more material to this section soon, as we develop our content further.

Walt Mossberg: Walt’s weekly Personal Technology and Mailbox columns and Mossblog, as well as Katherine Boehret’s Mossberg Solution, move up and to the right in a high-profile spot.

As ever, Walt is the site’s amazing anchor and a tech consumer’s greatest adviser, telling it like it is and writing reviews that matter.

Tech Headlines: On the top left, we wanted to bring in the stellar work from our Dow Jones brethren at The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, as well as from the Dow Jones newswires, to give readers links to as many stories as we can as news breaks.

This section will be updated every nine minutes to keep it fresh and new.

Voices: This section on the left remains the same, except it goes vertical. We try to hand-select (no stinkin’ algorithm for us) from across the digital blogosphere, so we can feature blog posts we think you need to see to keep up.

Also, expect more guest bloggers who write original posts just for ATD, like one tomorrow from Slide’s Keith Rabois, giving BoomTown a hard time for our problem with juvenile widgets.

The Tech Top 10: Also on the left, just below Voices, we keep our edited Tech Top 10, a list of the stories we think you need to know about every day.

Video: On the right is our featured video. We do a lot of video at ATD and we will feature our latest-posted here.

Tech Around the Web: Also on the right, we are posting, via RSS, the feed from four digital news sources we like and think are useful for our audience.

Two are editorially driven sites, paidContent and GigaOm, who we believe are combining the energy of the blogosphere and also providing readers with trusted reporting that also adheres to the standards of accuracy and ethics we try to operate under too.

This is a big focus for us at ATD and we want to point readers to high-quality material. They say you are judged by the company you keep and we could not agree more.

Both Digg and Techmeme, of course, are the key news aggregators of the sector and we like how helpful they are in surfacing important tech and media stories for readers.

Just click on each tab to get to each section. This section will also be constantly refreshed throughout the day.

More ads: Well, we have to pay the bills, don’t we? We hope you do find them useful and don’t find them too intrusive.

There will be even more to come from us in the coming weeks, especially as we gear up for the sixth edition of the D: All Things Digital conference, which is taking place May 27 to 29.

So, please let us know what you think of our new look, as we would love feedback.

And special thanks to all who worked on the redesign, including Mike Monteiro of Mule Design Studio and especially the tireless and multi-talented Adam Tow, our Web genius.

I am headed to Dublin, Ireland, right now to check out the digital scene there with my AllThingsD and D partner, Walt Mossberg, and so posts might come at weird times over the next week, as I am also traveling to London.

Hopefully, I will find a Web connection in my travels there to post really interesting videos I did last week with Business.com’s Jake Winebaum and Polaris VC Mike Hirshland for tomorrow.

May the road rise to meet you!