Tech Musings - Jun-07-2006

Here are some tech musings for Wed, Jun 7, 2006: Intel’s most unwired cities list; the $1 salary:

Intel lists their 100 most unwired cities in the US, based on how widespread wireless access is in a city. At the top of the list are Seattle- Bellevue- Everett- Tacoma in Washington state, followed by San Francisco- San Jose - Oakland, California, in #2. They also list their 2nd annual most unwired college campuses in the US. Number #1 is Ball State U in Muncie, Indiana, followed by Western Michigan U in Kalamazoo.

Intel’s new Centrino dual-core processor has wireless capabilities built right in.

Yahoo CEO Terry Semel earned $56.8M last year, including a salary and bonus of $600K, plus stocks and options. He received a total of $131.2 mln in 204. Now through 2008, he’ll only receive $1/yr, according to the U.S. SEC. In addition, he might receive a yearly bonus of 1 million shares, and options to purchase 6 mln at $31.59 each. Steve Jobs (Apple CEO), Eric Schmidt (Google CEO), and Sergey Brin and Larry Page all receive $1/yr as well - voluntarily. [via CNET]

This is interesting considering that one retiring American CEO just received a US$400 million package. Should CEOs work for performance? For that matter, should athletes? Bravo to those who take $1/yr and shares + options in lieu of a larger salary. Should any executive earn millions of dollars per year in any fashion? Absolutely. But only provided that they earned it. I think that the $1 salary for CEOs is an interesting experiment. Any thoughts?