Home / Quotes / Quote by Nathan Myhrvold

Quote by Nathan Myhrvold

“In market research I did at Microsoft Corp. in the early 1990s, I estimated that the 'Wall Street Journal' took in about 75 cents per copy from subscribers, $1.25 at the newsstand and a whopping $5 per copy from ads. The ad revenue let them run a far bigger newsroom than subscribers were paying for.”

Quote by Nathan Myhrvold

Author

Nathan Myhrvold

Nathan Myhrvold is an American computer scientist, entrepreneur, and author. He is recognized for his contributions to artificial intelligence and his role in co-founding Microsoft. Myhrvold has been involved in various business ventures, serving as the CEO of Intellectual Ventures. more

You May Also Like

“In politics, religion and other areas of culture, people disagree on the worth of competing ideas. There is no equivalent to the scientific method that can determine in a robust way which ideas match the real world, and which ones can be ruled out. So conflicting ideologies persist indefinitely.”

People World Way Ideas Real Culture Areas Method Determine Ideology Real World Disagree Persist Competing Robust Scientific Method Conflicting Ideas

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“It's very hard for individual inventors to get paid. For the same reason that private equity is valuable - broadly, that's a good thing - in the case of patents, many that own them aren't in a good position to take the next step.”

Hard Reason Next Individual Steps Cases Position Paid Good Things Valuable Equity Inventor Next Steps Patents Private Equity

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Micropayments are great if you use them for a product or service with certain properties. It must be one where you can get away with usage-based pricing, and where there is a strong rationale for making it cheap, yet not free.”

Ifs Use Certain Strong Products Property Get Away Usage Rationale Pricing

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Most estimates of the mortality risk posed by asteroid impacts put it at about the same risk as flying in a commercial airliner. However, you have to remember that this is like the entire human race riding the plane - it is one of the few risks that really could wipe us all out.”

Humans Remember Race Risk Impact Flying Planes Human Race Mortality Riding Wipe Asteroids

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Most visions of extraterrestrial life are actually steeped in human hubris. The fictional extraterrestrials of 'Star Trek' or a hundred other space operas are less alien than many of my neighbors. And funny, the ones running the place are mostly WASPish men.”

Men Humans Running Stars Space Vision Hundred Neighbor Aliens Opera Hubris Extraterrestrial Extraterrestrial Life

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Movies such as 'Citizen Kane' and 'The Front Page' portrayed an era when driven newspapermen would do anything to get a story. The U.K.'s rough-and-tumble Fleet Street remains something of a throwback to that era, as demonstrated by the recent phone-hacking scandal - which led to the demise of yet another century-old paper, the 'News of the World.'”

World Stories Streets Century Fronts Citizens Paper News Pages Remains Phones Driven Eras Rough Scandal Demise Hacking Throwback Citizen Kane Fleet Street

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“My company invents all kinds of new technology in lots of different areas. And we do that for a couple of reasons. We invent for fun - invention is a lot of fun to do - and we also invent for profit. The two are related because the profit actually takes long enough that if it isn't fun, you wouldn't have the time to do it.”

Ifs Kind Long Two Different Reason Enough Fun Company Technology Couple Areas Profit Invention All Kinds Related New Technology

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Near Marseilles in the south of France, bouillabaisse is a cult food. In Toulouse and Carcassonne, the bean-based stew cassoulet is a cult food. Spain has paella and a number of others. Italy has so many, its cuisine is practically defined by them.”

Numbers South Defined France Cult Spain Beans Cuisine Stew Marseille Toulouse

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“New online formats gutted the newspaper-ad business. Why pore over tiny print looking for a job in the want ads when you can tap a few keywords into monster.com, then click through and apply? Why pay a steep per-character rate for a classified when you can hawk a whole garage full of used stuff on EBay or Craigslist for free?”

Want Whole Character Jobs Used Stuff Pay Rate Tiny Monsters Newspapers Online Print Ads Clicks Format Garage Hawks Steep Ebay Looking For A Job Craigslist Keywords

Author:Nathan Myhrvold

“Now, to find dinosaurs, you hike around in horrible conditions looking for a dinosaur. It sounds really dumb, but that's what it is. It's horrible conditions, because wherever you have nice weather, plants grow, and you don't get any erosion, and you don't see any dinosaurs.”

Grows Sound Nice Conditions Plant Horrible Weather Dumb Dinosaurs Erosion Really Dumb Nice Weather

Author:Nathan Myhrvold