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Filed under: Business, Design, Microsoft

A peek inside the Gates house

bill gates estate

Everyone most likely knows about that little shack in the woods in the Seattle suburb of Medina on the shores of Lake Washington that Bill Gates created in 1997, but have you ever been inside?

The $53 Million dollar, 66,000 square foot estate has all the technological goodies that you might not even be able dream up. With tons of centrally controlled music, lighting and video you can bet that this is the one of the most technologically advanced homes in the world. US News has put together a tour of the estate, from the pool building, to the library, to the underground garage so that you can drool over where the Forbes number one billionaire lives.

Some interesting tidbits:
  • 104 electricians used
  • All timber used in the house are perfectly finished and nearly perfect with almost no knots.
  • All woodwork is flawless
  • Acoustics were a big concern. Woods and fabrics were used to ensure perfect acoustics throughout the house.
  • Flooring is heated, even in the driveway and walkways throughout the estate.
  • Security system is monitored from the Microsoft campus.
  • There is a salmon hatchery on the estate.
  • 52 miles of communication cable
  • Hidden cameras are everywhere, including some hidden inside stone walls.
  • Floor sensors can track a person within 6 inches.
  • The bathtub can be filled and temperature can be controlled by Gates as he drives home from work.
Was the Bill Gates estate designed on a PC? Well, not exactly, we can thank rival Apple for having a hand in it. (Not to worry, doesn't Microsoft own a small % of Apple anyway.) Check out some additional pictures of the estate here.

Also, check out the money face off, Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates on Blogging Stocks.

Filed under: Business, Microsoft

Bill Gates moves down on the Billionaire list

carlos slim surpases bill gates on the worlds richest listBilly may not be the world's richest man anymore. Is he sad? Not a chance, he still makes more than you.

Carlos Slim, who was number 3 on the Forbes World's Richest People list last year breezed right by Gates on the global wealth chart recently. The Latin American tycoon dumped his shares in MCI and Altria to use the proceeds to fund his buyout of the Mexican telephone lines from the government. He has also increased his wireless carrier company to control over 80% of the countries cellphones, with over 100 million subscribers.

Mr. Microsoft has been at the top of the Forbes list for more than a decade. He has recently been donating large sums to the Bill and Melinda Gates charity.

Filed under: Business, Fun, Office, Microsoft

Former lead Word developer heads to space

Former lead Word developer heads to spaceIts time for some space travel for a former Word Doctor.

This is no usual day at the office for a former Microsoft employee. Dr Charles Simonyi will be headed into space today from Kazakhstan at 1731 GMT.

The 58 year old Dr Charles Simonyi made his money working a program that most of us have installed on our computers, Microsoft Word. The billionaire has spent $20m on the space trip, as well as over six months in an intense and physically strenuous training program at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City Russia in preparation for the journey.

He will be headed up with two other Russian crew members in a trip that will take two days to reach the International Space Station. There, the team will spend ten days onboard and complete 200 orbits of the Earth while performing a series of experiments on radiation in the space station.

The program was put together by US-based Space Adventures who have already sent up four other private trips to space. People interested in keeping track of the 450th person to write their own check to get to space can track his journey on his blog at charlesinspace.com.

[via BBC]

Filed under: Business, Microsoft

Gates is finally going to get his Harvard degree

bill gates will receive his harvard degreeIt's never too late to go back to school, and the same goes for billionaire's like Bill Gates.

Bill Gates might not have to go back to take classes, but he will finally receive his degree. As many know, Gates dropped out of Harvard in 1973 during his junior year to run with a dream and create Microsoft with his pals Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer.

Bill Gates will be speaking at a Harvard commencement ceremony on June 7th, and will receive an honorary degree that day. It's not yet known what the degree will be for as Harvard likes to surprise its honorary degree recipients, and will not divulge any information in advance.

I wonder if Bill has saved a little special space on his office wall for this? However, it will only be there for the next year or so, as Gates plans on leaving Microsoft to devote himself to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation full time.

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