Stanford-Rooted Companies have annual sales turnover more than India’s GDP: Almost 40,000 active for-profit companies trace their roots to Stanford University, and if they formed an independent country, it would be the world’s 10th largest economy, a study found. The companies’ combined annual sales of about $2.7 trillion have generated an estimated 5.4 million jobs since the 1930s, according to the study released last month by Charles Eesley, an assistant professor in management science and engineering, and William Miller, an emeritus professor of public and private management, at the college near Palo Alto, California. Read more here. 
Google Is Blocked in China as Party Congress Begins: All Google services, including its search engine, Gmail and Maps, were inaccessible in China on Friday night and into Saturday, the company confirmed. The block comes as the 18th Communist Party Congress, the once-in-a-decade meeting to appoint new government leadership, gets under way. Read more here.
Android Veterans Tom Moss, Mike Chan Head To Accel As Entrepreneurs In Residence: Tom Moss and Mike Chan, who were early leaders and engineers on Google Android, are heading to Accel Partners as entrepreneurs in residence. Moss just left Google for the second time, after his enterprise mobility startup 3LM was acquired by Motorola (which was then acquired by Google). Moss originally ran carrier partnerships and business development for Android, just as the project began to take off. This was years before Android became the force that it is today in a dual platform world. Chan worked on Android as a senior software engineer for nearly five years. Read more here.
Is Retargeting Coming to Twitter?: Is retargeting, one of the hottest areas of online advertising, coming to Twitter? If recent moves by the social platform pan out, it just may be. Twitter is sucking up data all over the Web via its tweet button and other widgets. Right now, that data informs its “Who To Follow” feature only, a Twitter spokesperson said, but it could use it to inform ads, too, as it continues to develop its advertiser offerings. Access to this off-site data could prove extremely powerful for marketers and extremely lucrative for Twitter itself if and when it makes it available to them. Read more here.
Apple still perched high, but seems vulnerable: Apple, the world’s biggest and perhaps most admired company, seems to have lost some of its luster.Despite the hugely successful launch of the iPhone 5 and iPad mini tablet, shares in the California tech giant have slid some 20 per cent from all-time highs, and analysts are questioning whether Apple remains the leader in “innovation.” Read more here.
