Latest news

Paul Allen procures buys 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. … Read More...

Dogfooding: Find a way to be your own customer
By Alex Weinstein at 12:15 pm on 05/18/2013 | Leave a 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...
2013 State of Technology Luncheon featuring Rich Barton
Join Washington’s innovation community on May 29th at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel for a keynote conversation with one of Seattle’s most prolific and successful entrepreneurs: Rich Barton, co-founder of Zillow and Glassdoor and founder of Expedia. Networking begins at 11 am; program is 11:30 am – 1:30 pm. Presented by the Technology Alliance.

Anticipating where crime happens: Seattle rolls out ‘Predictive Policing’ across city
By Taylor Soper at 11:07 am on 05/18/2013 | Leave a Comment
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 | Leave a 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 | 1 Comment
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 | 4 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 | 2 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...

Nike Accelerator Spotlight: Coachbase lets you draw up plays, strategies with an iPad
By Taylor Soper at 6:30 pm on 05/16/2013 | Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: Nike Accelerator Spotlight takes a look at the ten startups participating in the Nike+ Accelerator, a three-month startup program based in Portland, Ore. and put on by Nike and TechStars. GeekWire is featuring each company leading up to the June 10 demo day. Toss out those felt pens and washable clipboards — Coachbase is making it easy for coaches … Read More...

Big offering for big data: Tableau prices stock at $31 per share
By Taylor Soper at 5:36 pm on 05/16/2013 | 1 Comment
Tableau Software had been boosting its proposed price for Friday's initial public offering for the past few weeks and now we've got a concrete number. The company will price its shares at $31 for Friday's IPO and offer five million shares, while stockholders are offering 3.2 million shares. It marks the biggest tech IPO of the year, with Tableau valued at more than … Read More...

Xbox 360 marks 28 straight months atop U.S. market; industry sales sink 25%
By Taylor Soper at 4:22 pm on 05/16/2013 | 1 Comment
Just days before we get our first look at the next-generation Xbox, Microsoft's Xbox 360 continues to dominate the U.S. video game industry. The latest numbers from NPD market research firm are out and the Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in April, marking the 28th straight month atop the U.S. console market. Microsoft sold 130,000 Xbox 360′s last month … Read More...

This tech startup just turned a hip Seattle bar into an amazing hang-out space
By John Cook at 3:07 pm on 05/16/2013 | 3 Comments
You've heard the stories of the amazing perks now being offered to employees of tech companies, from massages to paid vacations to free lunches. Not to be outdone by its big-company rivals, Seattle startup HasOffers just opened a new kitchen area and hang-out space a block away from its headquarters in a former Belltown bar. The quirky space, formerly the Twilight … Read More...

Microsoft stock hits 5-year high as Gates reclaims world’s richest title
By Taylor Soper at 2:47 pm on 05/16/2013 | 4 Comments
It's a good day to be Bill Gates. According to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, Gates' reclaimed the title of world's richest man for the first time since 2007, as his fortune reached $72.7 billion this afternoon and pushed him $600 million ahead of second-place Carlos Slim. And on top of that, Microsoft's stock hit a five-year high today, closing at $34.08. The … Read More...

Students to solve 250,000 algebra equations in one week with iOS app
By Taylor Soper at 12:59 pm on 05/16/2013 | 1 Comment
Video games are making their way into Washington schools early next month and for all the right reasons. Using an iteration of a learning app called DragonBox, the Washington State Algebra Challenge is a one-of-a-kind campaign to get students across the state to solve 250,000 equations in just one week. Scheduled for June 3-to-7, participating classes will get a … Read More...

Bill Gates: Like athletes, teachers need their Vince Lombardi or John Wooden
By Taylor Soper at 10:42 am on 05/16/2013 | 3 Comments
To improve upon something, we must learn, and to learn, we often seek guidance from others. For example, Michael Jordan received hoops help from his incredible coaches Dean Smith and Phil Jackson. To sharpen his bridge skills, Bill Gates sought out the advice of professional Sharon Osberg. But, as Gates details in his latest TED talk, teachers don't enjoy the same … Read More...

Patent gurus weigh in: Is the market for deals cooling off?
By Todd Bishop at 10:25 am on 05/16/2013 | 2 Comments
Patents are one of the central topics at the spring meeting of the Licensing Executives Society of the U.S.A. and Canada, taking place in downtown Seattle this week. Many of the executives are heavily involved in patent licensing, acquisitions and sales. When you get them together, they talk about the patent market in much the same way that homeowners might discuss the … Read More...
First Hill Partners: Capital raising and M&A for innovative high growth companies.
Mary Jesse: Ivytalk. Powerful OTT messaging for business.
Seattle Interactive Conference 2013: Bringing our industry leaders back together Oct 28-30
Nat Burgess, Corum Group: Techmergers.com & World Financial Symposiums
David Niu, TINYpulse: Measure and Improve Company Culture
JP Nicols, Clientific: FinTech Future: Leadership, Advice, Innovation
Perry Atkins – Not Just Another Investment Geek
Spoken Communications: Keep every customer with our zombie-proof cloud. Save me.
Methodologie: Consulting in market strategy and brand differentiation. Stand out.
Bizible: Revenue attribution for offline purchases
Compensation Venture Group: Conscious Compensation ©, changing the workplace.
Redapt: Innovative Cloud and Data Center Infrastructure Solutions.
Matt Hulett, GameHouse: Entrepreneur turned casual game executive turned casino pit boss.
Context Relevant: Turning the big data dial to 11!
Carter Rabasa, Twilio: Changing business communications forever by empowering software people
Brad Sturgill, MarketFitz, Inc.: Maximizing returns on go-to-market investments.
Arrow: Private jet service to Silicon Valley, business class prices.
Brett Greene: Thoughts on society and our digital lives.
Lon McGowan, iClick: Be Remarkable
47 Degrees: Locally grown iOS & Android design and development, ready for the picking.
Matt Lucas: JobMonkey.com – Coolest Jobs on Earth!
Geir Hansen, Silicon Valley Bank: Supporting Geeks around the World since 1983
Patrick Husting, Extended Results, Inc. Personal Business Intelligence.
Paul Suzman, OfficeLease: We negotiate office leases for tenants.
William Carleton: America's #1 startup financing law blog is the daily Counselor@Law
Solveig Whittle: Social Media, Music and Marketing.
9Mile Labs – Pacific Northwest’s B2B startup accelerator.
Kent Hollenbeck: Be nice. Enjoy every sandwich. Create your own offense. Ok?
Madrona Venture Group — We support you, the builders of tomorrow
Andy Shawber, Summit Law Group: A different view from the Summit
Rich Barton: Zillow homes, Glassdoor jobs, Trover discoveries, Nextdoor neighborhoods, Avvo, Realself
Glenn Walcott: Double Down Interactive – Fun? Ohhhh Yeah!
PipelineDeals: Track Your Leads, Manage Your Sales Pipeline, and Sell More
Jawfish Games: Stop Playing With Yourself!
Institute for Systems Biology: How's your molecular health? Our science will reveal your future.
Alchemy Computer Solutions: WordPress theme developer Linux Sysadmin































Most commented