Steve Perlman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steve Perlman is an entrepreneur and inventor with over 60 patents in an array of multimedia and communications technologies.
Perlman initially attracted notice as a principal scientist of Apple Computer, Inc., where he led the development efforts for much of the underlying multimedia technology incorporated into the color Macintosh, including the underpinnings of QuickTime technology.
Perlman left Apple with other employees to join General Magic, where he designed its second-generation technology.
Perlman co-founded Catapult Entertainment and was its CTO. Catapult developed proprietary modems for Sega and Nintendo video game systems that online-enabled existing multi-player games.
One weekend in 1994, he built a thin client for surfing the web, using a television for display. He recruited the late Phil Goldman and Bruce Leak, with whom he had worked at Apple and General Magic, to join with him in founding WebTV Networks, Inc. With funding from a variety of sources (including Paul Allen who with Bill Gates founded Microsoft), WebTV Networks went live in late 1995. Instead of manufacturing and selling the hardware, WNI provided manufacturers like Sony and Philips with reference designs, and concentrated on operating the WebTV online service. WNI was bought by Microsoft in 1997, but the founders continued to operate it as a separate corporation for years.
In 1999, Perlman left WebTV to found Rearden Steel, now known as Rearden Companies, a foundry for new companies in media and entertainment technology. In 2000, Rearden spun off Moxi Digital, Inc., which produced a combination digital video recorder, DVD player, digital music jukebox, and television set-top box. Moxi merged with Microsoft founder Paul Allen's Digeo in 2002. Moxi is currently deployed by Charter, Comcast, and Adelphia cable systems.
Rearden's Mova subsidiary currently offers state-of-the-art motion capture services in the San Francisco Bay Area.
