Simon was multitasking, carefully reviewing the business plan in his hands when another sound reached his ears. D-girl Deborah Lipman walked in as well.
He gestured for Deborah to sit on the other side and raised Claire's business proposal with a smile. "Got any ideas yet?"
Deborah shook her head sheepishly. "Not yet."
As she spoke, the D-girl could not help glancing at Claire on Simon's other side, worried she might expose her.
In truth, Deborah had already submitted her own business plan. She wanted to start a cosmetics company.
However, after the proposal was sent to the trophy fund team under Cersei Capital, it was quickly rejected and returned.
Janet had made it clear that the girls could only submit one proposal every six months. If none of their submissions were approved during the five-year contract period, they could forget about the one-million-dollar investment.
Janet had also forbidden them from bothering Simon with rejected proposals.
Anyone caught doing so would be fired immediately.
After the initial excitement, the girls quickly realized that Westeros family money was not easy to get at all.
Simon was unaware of these behind-the-scenes details, so he did not know that besides the housekeeper Alice Ferguson's two proposals closely tied to Ygritte, the only one approved recently was Claire's card camera plan.
The business proposal in his hands was clear and thorough, covering market research, future outlook, investment budget, development timeline, and operational strategy.
Among the attached materials, Claire had already reached an agreement with a senior engineer at Kodak who specialized in digital camera development.
As long as the project was approved, the engineer would leave Kodak to co-found the company with Claire. He would focus on camera development while Claire handled finance, marketing, and other operations. Each would receive twenty-five percent of the company shares, with the trophy fund investing one million dollars for the remaining fifty percent.
The card camera was essentially a consumer-grade digital camera, as opposed to professional DSLR models.
At this time, top DSLR digital cameras already reached over 1.5 million pixels, with prices naturally matching the six-thousand-dollar Panasonic model Simon had once given Sandra, sometimes exceeding ten thousand dollars.
Claire's planned card camera, however, would only have 100,000 pixels at 320 by 320 resolution.
Such image quality was more than sufficient for early 1990s PCs, since mainstream monitors at the time had roughly the same resolution. Even several years later, a 100,000-pixel card camera used mainly for uploading web photos would not be considered outdated.
Since it was designed purely as an internet camera, there was no need to worry about print quality.
Moreover, instead of the mainstream CCD sensors of the era, Claire planned to use the often-overlooked CMOS sensor for the camera's core component.
Both CCD and CMOS sensors had been invented in the 1960s and already had decades of development history.
Their strengths and weaknesses were clear: CCD sensors offered better image quality but were complex, expensive, and power-hungry. CMOS sensors had lower image quality but were simpler to manufacture, consumed far less power, and most importantly, were much cheaper.
Of course, even with CMOS's simpler process, one million dollars was nowhere near enough to develop the sensor from scratch.
The card camera in Claire's plan would use off-the-shelf customized components from various suppliers. In other words, it would be an assembled product.
Even the early Apple computers, in Simon's memory, had essentially been assembled machines.
The senior engineer planning to leave Kodak would mainly develop the camera's control system, integrating all the components and optimizing everything within the target cost range for a card camera.
In the proposal, Claire hoped to keep the production cost around three hundred dollars while maintaining acceptable image quality and features, with a retail price of five hundred dollars. Five hundred dollars was still somewhat expensive for a simple card camera, but it fell within the spending power of middle-class users who could afford internet access in this era.
And if market demand was strong enough to achieve economies of scale, both cost and price could be lowered further.
The initial one-million-dollar investment would mainly fund prototype development and the production of the first batch for market testing. Claire also planned to market the product directly through internet platforms to keep costs as low as possible.
If market feedback met expectations, they would seek a second round of funding from the trophy fund.
The entire business plan was scheduled for three months.
After reading the proposal, Simon found he had little to add.
Claire's thinking was definitely on the right track. Even if this attempt failed, her far-sighted choice of the CMOS sensor alone was enough for Simon to support her continued efforts.
CMOS sensors would later become the mainstream in camera phones.
In many ways, this card camera plan had the same spirit as the camera phones that various manufacturers would widely develop many years later.
Both products tapped into people's desire to show off. Years later everyone would move to mobile social platforms, while this card camera focused on PC-based social platforms.
Since Simon had already pioneered social networking on PCs, this card camera had considerable market potential.
Imagine someone at a party, on vacation, spending time with their children, or playing with their pet, casually snapping a photo with the card camera, removing the floppy disk, quickly transferring it to their computer and uploading it online to share the little moments of their life, receiving likes and comments from many people. It would definitely bring social satisfaction and pleasure.
If card cameras became popular and users uploaded large numbers of photos, it would also rapidly enrich online content resources.
Simon closed the business proposal, hesitated for a moment, and decided not to mention his intention to give the project extra support just yet. He would wait until Claire produced results. Instead he asked, "Three months for development, isn't that a bit tight?"
Claire shook her head. "Neil already built a simple prototype in his spare time and even submitted his design to Kodak. Kodak just never took digital camera development seriously. The three months are mainly for further optimization of the prototype, component customization, procurement, and assembly."
The "Neil" Claire mentioned was Neil Brantley, the senior engineer planning to leave Kodak.
Simon thought for a moment and quickly understood.
Many everyday electronic products were not as sophisticated as people imagined. Apple's earliest personal computers had been built by the founders buying components with pooled money and soldering them together by hand in a garage, pure DIY.
Only after they sold well did they receive investment.
Neil Brantley developing the card camera in his spare time was roughly similar to what Steve Wozniak had done when inventing the personal computer.
For a highly skilled technical expert, independently developing some electronic products was not particularly difficult.
Besides, a card camera was far simpler technically than a professional DSLR.
In Simon's memory, once technology advanced further, ordinary people could even DIY digital cameras by buying parts, just like assembling PCs. Of course, homemade cameras could not compare to professional ones.
"In that case, I don't have any suggestions regarding the business plan itself," Simon said, handing the folder back to Claire. "However, you might consider developing a companion image editing software. Since this is a basic consumer model, the image quality will naturally have limitations. A simple image processing program that lets users crop photos, adjust brightness, or add text would be very practical."
Claire had full confidence in her proposal. Unlike some of the other girls who rushed to submit anything just to get investment quickly, she had done thorough preparation.
She had only brought it tonight to let her boss know what she was working on.
Still, the suggestion about image editing software made her eyes light up.
For a consumer-grade card camera, many professional features had to be sacrificed for cost reasons, inevitably affecting image quality. Using computer software for secondary processing and enhancement would be an excellent way to compensate for the camera's shortcomings.
Claire quickly added, "But boss, that would require extra time and budget."
Simon vaguely remembered that Photoshop had appeared around these years.
However, the planned image editing software would not need Photoshop's complex functions. Something closer to the later [?] style would suffice.
"You can first check in Silicon Valley to see if anyone is already developing similar software. If so, you can cooperate directly with them to save development time. If not, apply for an additional budget."
As Simon chatted with Claire, Deborah, who had been worried earlier that Claire might expose her, now felt a little jealous at being completely ignored. She pretended to listen attentively while repeatedly pressing her body closer to Simon's.
If she could successfully "conquer" her boss, the potential value would far exceed one million dollars.
Just look at Jennifer Rebould.
That woman was clearly only the boss's lover, yet her treatment in front of him was almost the same as the lady of the house, and she was even more prone to jealousy, often ruthlessly driving them away from the boss.
While talking with Claire, Simon reached for the glass of water beside him, but his arm brushed against Deborah's chin as she leaned almost against him.
He understood the girl's intentions perfectly.
He casually lifted her delicate chin with one finger before picking up the glass.
The vases around him all had outstanding looks to begin with. After joining, they also received expensive daily skincare and maintenance that only wealthy wives could usually afford. They could all be described as exquisite.
When Simon caught her chin, Deborah instinctively shrank back, her face slightly flushed, but she quickly leaned in again without a word.
Simon took several sips, set the glass down, and felt the soft body pressed against him. He smiled. "That's enough for tonight. Both of you should go rest."
Deborah asked, "Boss, do you want to take a bath?"
"I've already showered."
"Another one wouldn't hurt," Deborah said, her eyes sparkling. "Shall I go run the water for you?"
"No."
Simon stood up and smiled, extending his hand toward the D-girl. "Come on, give me a goodnight kiss."
Deborah obediently held his hand and kissed the back of it. "Good night, Master."
"Good girl."
After praising her, Simon turned and left the computer room.
Watching her boss's figure disappear, Deborah withdrew her gaze and noticed Claire staring at her. She lifted her chin slightly. "What?"
Claire curled her lips. "You're interfering."
Deborah did not mind at all and made no attempt to hide it. "If I can get into the boss's bed, it'll be way more useful than completing a hundred projects."
"Have you gotten in yet?"
"I'm still working on it," Deborah said, then complained, "If you'd joined me earlier, we might have succeeded."
Claire felt no particular objection to Deborah's outrageous suggestion. After all, they had tried similar things before. She simply asked, "And then what?"
"What do you mean, then what?"
"After you get into the boss's bed."
Deborah tilted her head.
That was indeed a very serious question.
Working by Simon's side for some time, they had heard quite a few upper-circle stories.
There were countless cases of nannies or maids rising to become the lady of the house. For example, Robin Williams, who had become popular in recent years, had started an affair with his housekeeper and then abandoned the wife who had been with him for ten years. It was said that CAA had worked very hard to prevent major damage to Robin Williams's public image.
However.
Deborah realized that trying to take Janet's position seemed extraordinarily difficult.
Even if she managed to push Janet aside, there was still Jennifer.
The best scenario was becoming his mistress.
Thinking of this, Deborah rested her chin on her hand and murmured, "Actually, even my current life as a maid, I wouldn't mind continuing forever. Being the boss's lover seems pretty good too."
Claire rolled her eyes, shut down the computer, picked up her documents, and walked out.
Deborah followed closely behind. "Hey, Claire, am I wrong?"
"You're right."
"So let's work together. A man as outstanding as the boss definitely won't be satisfied with just two or three lovers. We still have plenty of chances."
"You get into his bed first."
"Why don't we just go to the master bedroom right now?"
"Go by yourself."
"My success rate alone is too low. Together we'd be more tempting. Hmm, isn't the boss's birthday coming up soon? We could say we're delivering birthday presents in person."
"..."
Claire simply stopped responding to the nonstop chatter beside her.
After spending a long time around Simon, Claire had gradually figured out her boss's personality.
For example, the boss actually had little interest in pretty vases with nothing but good looks. Keeping them around was mostly for visual enjoyment. He had very little physical desire toward them.
Although the ABCD girls were quite close, Claire had no intention of sharing these private insights with the others.
Over the next few days, Simon put together a brief memo about building a PC peripheral hardware ecosystem through a new data interface and sent it to Ygritte, asking Bezos and Bartz to begin looking for relevant technical talent.
The handover and integration of MCA also proceeded in an orderly manner.
Time quickly arrived at February 22.
It happened to be a Friday.
Compared to the wild extravagance of Simon's twentieth birthday party, this one was much more low-key.
Of course, with Simon's ever-growing wealth and influence, even though he tried to keep things understated, this birthday party still attracted significant attention.
Simon had no intention of opening up the Dume Point estate. Like his twentieth birthday, the party venue was the mansion halfway up the Palisades hills.
This decision disappointed many guests, as the villa at Dume Point had become an object of envy and discussion ever since it was completed. Still, when they thought about the countless people who had tried desperately but failed to obtain an invitation, that disappointment seemed insignificant.
The party was scheduled for seven o'clock in the evening.
Before six, guests had already begun converging on the Palisades hillside from all over Los Angeles.