All Things Digital

Over the last year, as he has sought to revive the flagging fortunes of Yahoo, CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang has ferreted himself away from the spotlight and has seldom made himself available to talk to investors or reporters about what he has been up to.

I dubbed it the “cave” strategy, mostly because that’s what many around Yahoo called it. Since Yang really didn’t have anything good to say about the troubled Internet giant, he didn’t say anything at all.

I always thought that a big mistake, since it was very insular and defensive. Like my politicians, I like my Internet execs able and willing to take on all critics (and for all the grief I have been giving Facebook, in stark contrast to Yahoo, its execs are very willing to go a round with anyone who questions their moves).

So you might have thought that the surprising unsolicited bid to grab Yahoo by Microsoft might have brought out the fighting spirit in Yang.

That’s especially true, since it has been widely reported (and entirely true) that he had rebuffed such advances many times and was actually not shocked (despite what has been reported, Yang had to know it was coming given the weak, stock-depressing quarter he turned in on Tuesday) by the $31 per share offer he received on Thursday.

But, no.

“So they are now deeper in their cave than ever,” reports one frustrated person close to the top execs at Yahoo yesterday, echoing a widespread sentiment at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ.

Deeper? Is that even possible? If so, Yang must now be living in the Mariana Trench of the Web world.

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Yes, indeedy, this is about as insider as you get in Silicon Valley. But we are just addled enough by all the spiked eggnog we drank this weekend to think you might be interested in this video we did at a variety of industry holiday parties BoomTown attended.

They include a stop at angel investor Ron Conway’s Pacific Heights (San Francisco) apartment, where we talked to Ron, entertainer and entrepreneur MC Hammer, blogger Om Malik and The Wall Street Journal’s Kevin Delaney.

Then, a visit to investor Ram Shriram’s home in Woodside, Calif., where VC James Joaquin and YouTube’s Chad Hurley are harangued by our Flip camera.

And also, a sojourn at the downtown San Francisco abode of Google’s Marissa Mayer, where we interfaced with her, as well as Google’s Sergey Brin, WSJ’s Rob Guth and, yes, someone we can only call Hot Santa.

No surprise, but BoomTown just could not resist that one.

Here’s the video:

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Well, it’s about time Microsoft’s Bill Gates amounted to something. Just being one of the most powerful figures in technology (and, oh yes, the world’s richest man) is all well and good, but you’re nothing without that Harvard diploma hanging from the wall of your gigantic and luxurious Seattle compound.

Check that task off for Gates, who got his honorary degree yesterday after dropping out of Harvard in 1975 to found what would become the software giant. He also delivered the commencement address to 15,000 graduates in Harvard Yard (you can access the text here) and gave The Wall Street Journal’s Rob Guth an interview about that and a lot of big issues.

Guth did a piece and also a video interview right below. Both are yet another example of the famously aggressive tech mogul’s more reflective bent, as he moves from running Microsoft to guiding his ambitious philanthropic efforts.

That softer side of Gates was also much in evidence in his recent joint interview with Apple’s Steve Jobs that we did last week at D5. We have a post on the interview and the video of the encounter is up in many parts on this site.

It is also available in its entirety for download for free on Apple’s iTunes, where it remains the No. 1 video and audio podcast. The link to the joint interview on iTunes is here and it will connect you to the Gates/Jobs interview page on iTunes, but only if you have downloaded the iTunes software.

Also below, courtesy of Harvard, we have embedded the whole speech (in five parts, including Gates shown in one of those goofy graduation outfits) by Gates, whose family can finally relax now that he is a college grad and has the paper to prove it.