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Amazon axes Zombieland, keeps Alpha House and Betas for original comedy shows
By Taylor Soper at 9:56 am on 05/20/2013 | Leave a Comment
The geeks are in and the zombies are out. That's what Amazon has reportedly decided for the first rounds of cuts of its original comedy TV content. About a month ago, Amazon's TV production leg made pilot episodes for eight comedy shows available on Prime and asked the public to pick its favorites. Zombieland writer-producer Rhett Reese recently tweeted that … Read More...

Take a picture with your voice? Microsoft wants a patent on it
By Todd Bishop at 9:47 am on 05/20/2013 | Leave a Comment
Tired of using a timer to snap a picture? Microsoft has a solution for you. Well, it's not a particularly original solution, at least not at this point. But the company is hoping to patent the approach. A newly surfaced patent application, first reported by Patent Bolt, describes a method for "voice-controlled camera operations," in which a person can use voice commands … Read More...
Wave Welcomes New Seattle Regional Business Solutions Director!
Wave Business Solutions would like to welcome Michael Villanueva as the newest member of the Wave Business Solutions leadership team. Michael will lead the Seattle West Division sales executives in Wave’s fastest growing business segment. Michael comes to us from Time Warner Cable Business Services in LA. Welcome to the Wave Business Solutions family Michael!

Tech Moves: Joanna Lord named CMO at BigDoor; Brian Arbogast joins the Gates Foundation; and more
By John Cook at 9:23 am on 05/20/2013 | Leave a Comment
—Online marketing whiz Joanna Lord has left her VP job at SEOmoz to become chief marketing officer at BigDoor, the Seattle gamification startup. In her new role Lord will oversee branding, content, community and other functions for the Seattle-based company. Keith Smith-led BigDoor raised $5 million last year, bringing total funding to $13 million. "The first thing … Read More...

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on $1.1 billion Tumblr deal: ‘We promise not to screw it up’
By John Cook at 7:55 am on 05/20/2013 | 2 Comments
Well, this kind of says something. In her first public remarks about the blockbuster $1.1 billion cash purchase of Tumblr, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer promises "not to screw it up." Meanwhile, Tumblr CEO David Karp notes that the fast-growing blogging platform, which boasts 300 million unique visitors per month and 120,000 signs up every day, will get "better faster" with … Read More...

Bootlegs 2.0: Lively app allows you to take concert memories home for $9.99
By John Cook at 12:01 am on 05/20/2013 | 1 Comment
Has this ever happened? You just saw an amazing musical performance at one of your favorite concert venues, and you'd like to relive the action. Up until now, you've pretty much had to rely on low-quality YouTube clips if you wanted a replay of the show. But a new Seattle startup called Lively is looking to transform that experience, launching an app … Read More...

3 copywriting tips for startup entrepreneurs
By Carol Schiller at 8:32 pm on 05/19/2013 | Leave a Comment
In a perfect world you’d probably hire a professional marketing copywriter to write all the copy you need for your start-up business; your website, emails, blog posts, even your investor pitches would all be crisper with a pro doing the heavy lifting. But the reality is that many entrepreneurs are stuck writing their own copy until they can afford to hire help. So if … Read More...

Report: Yahoo buying blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion
By John Cook at 10:59 am on 05/19/2013 | 9 Comments
Yahoo is reportedly buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, a deal that was first reported by All Things D. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that the Yahoo board has approved the deal. It would mark the biggest deal yet for Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and it would give the company a big shot-in-the-arm when it comes to reaching … Read More...

Kubrick meets Bing: Why this promotion missed the mark
By Mark Firmani at 8:31 am on 05/19/2013 | 4 Comments
On my way to lunch last week, I saw what looked like a cross between an oversized moving crate and that big black obelisk from 2001 – A Space Odyssey. The box sat in an awkward position on a sloping parking lot, right in the middle of Seattle's South Lake Union, or Geek Town as we call it, thanks to the thousands of Amazon developers that work in a series of … Read More...

Paul Allen procures V-2 rocket for aircraft museum
By John Cook at 3:47 pm on 05/18/2013 | Leave a Comment
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is selling some of his abstract art, and buying a historic rocket. The eclectic Seattle billionaire has procured a rare Werner von Braun designed V-2 rocket, the first man-made object to fly into outer space. Allen's Flying Heritage Collection — located at Paine Field in Everett — is taking possession of the rocket on Monday. The … Read More...

Dogfooding: Find a way to be your own customer
By Alex Weinstein at 12:15 pm on 05/18/2013 | 1 Comment
In early ‘90s, while working on Windows NT, Microsoft popularized an idea to make everyone on the team use early builds of their own software. Back then, it was quite a painful request — imagine developing an operating system on a box prone to crashes, where your basic tools don’t quite work right. This setup undoubtedly causes loss of productivity and … Read More...

Anticipating where crime happens: Seattle rolls out ‘Predictive Policing’ across city
By Taylor Soper at 11:07 am on 05/18/2013 | 2 Comments
Back in February, Seattle rolled out a new “Predictive Policing” software in the East and Southwest Precincts, hoping to keep the city safe by using data that better predicts where crime may happen. Now, after "anecdotal success" with the software so far, it's being expanded across all five precincts in the city, Mayor Mike McGinn announced yesterday at a … Read More...

GeekWire Radio: Startup Weekend CEO Marc Nager spreads the startup gospel
By GeekWire at 9:18 am on 05/18/2013 | Leave a Comment
This week on the GeekWire radio show we speak to Startup Weekend CEO Marc Nager who is building a global empire of 54-hour entrepreneurial bootcamps. The Seattle non-profit organization, backed by the Kauffman Foundation and others, has hosted Startup Weekends in 113 countries and 325 cities. It plans to hold more than 800 events this year, including upcoming 54-hour … Read More...

Startup Spotlight: Localblox is like Facebook, but for your neighborhood
By Alisa Reznick at 6:37 pm on 05/17/2013 | 1 Comment
Facebook is nice and all, but with one billion users, it's hard to feel like there's any more than a pool of statuses and food photos. Sure, it's great for keeping in touch with old friends, but what about people who live right next door? When Sabrira Arefin and Ashfaq Rahman created LocalBlox, that's exactly what they had in mind. The Bellevue-based startup was … Read More...

InterConnection refurbishes, distributes computers to fellow non-profits for cheap
By Alisa Reznick at 4:43 pm on 05/17/2013 | 2 Comments
Whether you're Amazon or the corner doughnut shop, it can be a long, lonely road without a website or up-to-date computer these days. But for non-profits, finding the funds for these devices and tools can be tough. Thankfully, though, InterConnection has an answer. The Seattle-born non-profit refurbishes monitors, laptops and desktop PCs, selling them to non-profits … Read More...

Strong debut: Tableau closes first day of trading up 63%
By John Cook at 4:38 pm on 05/17/2013 | Leave a Comment
Champagne corks were popping this morning at Tableau Software offices as the Seattle-based company celebrated the biggest tech IPO so far this year. And I am sure the bars in Fremont — the quirky Seattle neighborhood that Tableau calls home — are crawling with newly-minted paper millionaires tonight. (Tableau execs are under a lock-up, preventing them from selling … Read More...

Amazon should introduce AWS to China the Microsoft Way, says China VC
By Robert O'Brien at 2:45 pm on 05/17/2013 | 1 Comment
What’s the best way for Amazon to take its vaunted cloud computing platform to China? Follow Microsoft’s lead. That’s the opinion, anyhow, of famed China venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee. More by contextChina • Cloud Computing, Amazon and China: An Insider’s Perspective • China’s E-Commerce Market Grows in Size, Importance and … Read More...

Microsoft: Global video-game market hits $65 billion, and consoles still lead the way
By Todd Bishop at 1:40 pm on 05/17/2013 | 5 Comments
Microsoft is getting ready to reveal the next generation of the Xbox next week, and despite signs that the console market is struggling, the company this afternoon released a big batch of stats to make the case that the industry is very much alive and kicking. Spending on all types of video games (including hardware in some cases) reached $65 billion last year, up 7 … Read More...

U.S. Air Force deploying 18,000 iPads to replace bulky paper flight manuals
By John Cook at 1:22 pm on 05/17/2013 | 4 Comments
The U.S. Air Force is hoping to save as much as $50 million over the next 10 years by outfitting pilots and crew with iPads as part of an effort to replace paper-based flight manuals, reports TheStreet. "We're saving about 90 pounds of paper per aircraft and limiting the need for each crew member to carry a 30 to 40 pound paper pile [of flight manuals]," Major Brian … Read More...

Report: Facebook and Microsoft eyeing Tumblr as Yahoo sets Monday press event
By John Cook at 1:01 pm on 05/17/2013 | 1 Comment
Where is Tumblr going to end up? Reports have been circulating that the New York-based microblogging and social networking powerhouse is in the crosshairs of Yahoo, with a potential price tag hanging on Tumblr over $1 billion. Adding some mystique to the reports, Yahoo just announced that it plans to host a product related news conference on Monday in New York. An … Read More...

GeekWire Calendar Picks: Sales for non-salespeople, HTML for beginners, and here comes Crypticon!
By Emily Shahan at 12:38 pm on 05/17/2013 | Leave a Comment
Hopefully you're gearing up for UFO Fest and Animation Fest coming up this weekend that we mentioned in the last Calendar Picks. When you're fully recovered from that, get ready for a week of seminars and conventions. Be sure to check out the GeekWire Calendar, and continue reading for our picks from what's coming up next week: Authentic Selling - Growing Your … Read More...

Microsoft’s Windows Phone inches past BlackBerry for #3 in IDC’s global rankings
By Todd Bishop at 12:03 pm on 05/17/2013 | Leave a Comment
Microsoft's Windows Phone is making modest but steady progress in the smartphone market, according to the latest numbers from the IDC research firm. Shipments of Windows Phone reached 7 million units in the first quarter, the firm says. That gave Microsoft 3.2 percent market share and put Windows Phone ahead of BlackBerry, which came in at 6.3 million units, or 2.9 … Read More...

Q&A with Tableau CEO Christian Chabot: ‘We’ve been working our whole lives to become an overnight success’
By John Cook at 10:30 am on 05/17/2013 | Leave a Comment
Seven years ago in small office space in the Fremont neighborhood, Tableau Software CEO Christian Chabot boldly told me that his 25-person enterprise software company would be the next billion dollar company from Seattle. "We believe it, like we believe anything," Chabot said at the time. Today, that belief finally became a reality as Tableau skyrocketed in an initial … Read More...

Video: Watch the very happy Tableau team ring the opening bell on the NYSE
By John Cook at 9:44 am on 05/17/2013 | Leave a Comment
It doesn't get much better than this for a group of entrepreneurs. Tableau Software made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange this morning, with CEO Christian Chabot ringing the opening bell after their IPO priced at $31 per share. Wall Street obviously liked what they saw in the maker of data visualization products. The stock is up more than 50 percent in … Read More...

When your startup feels less like a hockey stick and more like a hip check
By Nick Hughes at 9:34 am on 05/17/2013 | Leave a Comment
We all love to talk about the "hockey stick" moment for a company, referring to the point when users and usage really starts to take off. It’s fun. It’s exciting. And it’s so elusive we all want to dissect what the specific company actually did to achieve the stratospheric growth. But what about the hip check? What’s that you say? Never heard of … Read More...

The next Xbox: Why this launch is so critical for Microsoft
By Todd Bishop at 8:16 am on 05/17/2013 | 6 Comments
Next Tuesday, May 21, is a Very Big Day for Microsoft. With the rest of the technology world watching, the company will take the stage at 10 a.m. Pacific time in Redmond to reveal the new generation of Xbox, whatever form (or name) it may take. This is the world into which this new Xbox will be born: Windows Phone is in single digits. Windows 8 is still trying to find … Read More...

Shares of Tableau Software surge more than 50% as IPO sparkles on Wall Street
By John Cook at 7:56 am on 05/17/2013 | 5 Comments
Tableau Software is starting on the New York Stock Exchange today with a bang. After pricing its initial public offering Thursday night at $31, the stock took off in early-morning trading. Shares jumped more than 50 percent, with the stock now trading at more than $47 per share. Tableau, a Seattle-based maker of data visualization products, couldn't have picked a … Read More...

Amazon.com and Google employees bullish on future, but 25% of Microsofties say things will get worse
By John Cook at 7:29 am on 05/17/2013 | 4 Comments
Microsoft just hit a five-year stock high, and during the last quarterly financial report posted profits of $6 billion. But still a quarter of employees at the software giant think things are going to get worse, and just 35 percent say the business is going to improve over the next six months, according to a survey out today by Glassdoor.com. Microsoft's stock is up 15 … Read More...

Shopping, sword-fighting and silliness: Meet the first-ever WIN Reactor graduates
By Taylor Soper at 12:26 am on 05/17/2013 | Leave a Comment
From a retro-futuristic driving game to a healthy shopping and eating app, more than six months of stealth startup work going on at the Washington Interactive Network (WIN) accelerator was shown off at a demo day on Thursday afternoon. It's been nearly two years since WIN was awarded a $1.2 million grant for what's now called the WIN Reactor, also known as an … Read More...
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