The best insights, observations, comments, tweets and random zingers we heard this week.
“This is much more than a building for us. This is a flag raising exercise. This is an opportunity for us to say that this is an important part of what we do.”–University of Washington president Michael Young commenting on the opening of the new startup incubator on campus where faculty, students and researchers can work on spinning out new technologies into commercial businesses.
“It doesn’t hurt to have a few extra Porsches in the faculty parking lot. I don’t deny that for a moment.”–UW President Young — at the same ribbon-cutting ceremony — commenting on the potential wealth generation that comes along with successful startup companies.
“When it’s raining 300 days a year, I’d bunker with my compiler too.”–GeekWire reader Mark Brewster commenting on a study by Travel + Leisure magazine showing that Seattle has the most tech-savvy people in the country.
“The largest Etch-a-Sketch of all time.”–A GeekWire reader commenting on a Boeing 787 test flight in which the flight path traces the numbers “787″ and the company’s logo from Washington state to Iowa.
“Kill Junk Mail, Save Trees.”–The motto of a PaperKarma, a new mobile application that wipes out paper-based junk mail with a simple photo click from a Smartphone.
“…Rhapsody has generated significant revenue for Mr. McCartney, his label and his publisher over the years, and has provided a compelling alternative to piracy. We have a great relationship with the label and Eastman Management, so this development was a shock.”–A statement by Rhapsody following news that singer Paul McCartney had requested that his songs be removed from streaming music services.
“It’s sad to see a social music site that once boasted 60 million users (more than Spotify, or Pinterest), reduced to nothing. Rupert Murdoch squandered a lot of tech assets under his management, the fall of iLike is just scratching the surface. Given how much money Rupert makes off spreading the evil cancer of Fox “News,” I think he deserves the bad rap he gets for this mismanagement.”–Former iLike president Hadi Partovi commenting on the decision this week by News Corp.-owned MySpace to shut down iLike, a one-time popular social music service.
“It is not a matter of Diverse Solutions, it is really a question of how many vendors can you have, and should the number be unlimited? Metrolist director of marketing Melissa Olson commenting on the decision by Colorado’s largest multiple listing service to part ways with Diverse Solutions, a unit of Zillow.
“If you ask me, this feels like a thinly-veiled attempt to keep Zillow out of their membership base, probably spurred on by the large brokers in the area who control the MLS board.”–Findwell CEO Kevin Lisota, commenting on the move by Metrolist.
