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As Yahoo turns 10, Silicon Valley gears up for convergence

Web portal Yahoo usually offers its millions of users a comprehensive guide to the Internet. But on Wednesday it was offering its loyal devotees something else entirely.

Yahoo users who clicked on the site's home page could download a coupon for a free ice cream to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the company's founding.

Back in March 1995, the Internet was still an obscure technological system that was unknown to even tech savvy geeks. Three years earlier British scientist Tim Berners Lee had drawn up the protocols to allow the easy transmission of interactive data between computers. Gradually, new-fangled browsers were starting to hit the market to allow even non-techies the ability to roam the thousands of web pages that were starting to appear.

That's when Jerry Yang and David Filo decided to form a company around the list of their favorite sites on the fast-growing net. They gave it the name Yahoo -- "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the general definition of a yahoo -- as "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth."

Yahoo has since amassed an audience of 345 million people around the world, including 165 million registered users who rely on the company's Web sites for e-mail, e-commerce, news, entertainment, driving directions, matchmaking, weather forecasts, job leads and search results.

Now it is setting its sights on Hollywood, convinced more than ever that the golden age of convergence is about to dawn, taking it from one of the world's leading Internet companies to one of the world's leading media companies -- a destination and source for movies, shows and music that will reach its users over the Web.

The company's critics say that such visionary ideas have a history of leaving believers deeply disappointed and out of pocket. But that argument fails to convince Yahoo executives.

Veteran Silicon Valley watchers say that the high-tech hotbed is about to bloom afresh as venture capital pours in at rates not seen for five years. Inspired by the success of Silicon Valley stalwarts like Apple and Google, venture capitalists are pouring millions into companies aimed at the digital living room through devices and software that customize searches and content, and allow you to watch it on any device, in any place at any time.

"There's a buzz in the air again after many years of gloom," says longtime tech executive Daniel Thomas. "But there's a difference. People are more mature now. They know that companies need profits to survive. They've learnt the ultimate lesson of tech: that we underestimate the changes that new technology will bring, but also the time that it takes to happen."
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