Dean’s chat with Mark Bernstein, director of PARC, on how not to fumble the future




Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center showed off 10 fascinating projects this week, everything from eraseable paper to solid-ink printers, but such moments always raise the specter of the past.

Xerox famously failed in the 1970s to commercialize the personal computer, instead letting others, such as Apple’s Steve Jobs, lead the way.

I met with Mark Bernstein, the director of PARC this week as Xerox showed off the fruits of its latest research. In our talk (see audio post), he said he’s determined not to fumble the future the way it did in the past. He talked about the spin-out of the research arm PARC from Xerox, and how it is structured to commercialize the best ideas. He says journalists always ask that question about that Steve Jobs visit and its aftermath. I couldn’t let him down.


Next Story: Sezmi to launch TV 2.0 in competition with big players
Previous Story: Sponsored Post: PartnerUp’s Weekly Opportunities

Bookmark and Share

Tags: ,

Photo of Dean Takahashi

About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.