Yahoo hired CEO Marissa Meyer to lead the company into a brave new world of changing technologies and evolving consumer habits—all during a prolonged and crippling global recession. So the public wants her, and the company, to do well. We just do. These have been tough times, and we’re all in the mood for a success story.

However, most the news the public has heard about Yahoo’s resurrection have been on relatively unimpressive issues such as not allowing Yahoo employees to telecommute. For many in the public, Yahoo’s next move had to be substantive, innovative and sweeping in scope. A prolonged and much ballyhooed logo change just doesn’t cut it. Sorry Yahoo.

Yes, as PR experts we understand how critical logos are and how obsessed people in our industry can be about logos, but the truth is logos by themselves are just that: logos, symbols of values and belief systems. Without penetrating and dramatic internal changes, Yahoo—which hasn’t changed its logo since the company was founded 18 years ago—is simply hoping the public will believe in the power of suggestion. Read more

Visitors won’t find advance prototypes of the next model of Apple’s iPhone or iPad at Mountain View, California’s Computer History Museum. Instead, its Revolution exhibit takes a look back at the first two thousand years of computing. The twenty galleries contain an awe-inspiring display of computer related lore from the early abacus, slide rule and punched cards to programming languages, super computers, robots, and video games to more recent tablets and mobile devices.

As the multimedia collection demonstrates, these inventions were used in nearly every facet of life: by governments during wartime to crack enemy codes, by healthcare companies for breakthroughs such as electronic pacemakers, as well as for automobile dashboards, synthesized music and sneakers with microchip technology. Several reminders of short-lived companies, brands and products are also on hand, namely DEC/Digital Equipment Corporation, and Atari’s Pac-Man game.

Colorful visuals abound for those who are less tech-inclined. Among these are the Google Street Views car with a camera and GPS on top and the Noogler propeller cap given to new Google employees. At the museum’s entrance is a statement about fashion, entrepreneurship and capitalism. It’s a dress covered with red dollar bills, worn by Sandy Lerner, co-founder of Cisco Systems, to celebrate the startup’s IPO in 1990.

An article in Sunday’s New York Times focused on female Silicon Valley executives, including Marissa Mayer of Yahoo! and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, preferring more fashionable work attire than their predecessors. Lerner’s dress was an even more striking commentary about the Silicon Valley lifestyle.