About John Cook

John Cook writes about startups, entrepreneurs, mobile technologies, social networking, online commerce, geek culture and many other topics for GeekWire. He has been covering the technology beat in the region for more than a decade, working for the Eastside Journal and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer before co-founding the Puget Sound Business Journal’s technology news site, where he worked as executive editor.

A native of Wooster, Ohio, he got his start in journalism in high school, with a part-time job compiling obituary and election information for the Akron Beacon Journal, where his mom was a reporter. He graduated from Gettysburg College with a degree in history, earning Phi Beta Kappa recognition and Academic All-American honors in soccer.

John’s interests include backpacking, bicycling, running and watching English Premier League soccer. He lives in Seattle with his wife Holly, son Jack and dog Henry. Follow on Twitter: @johnhcook

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Bootlegs 2.0: Lively app allows you take concert memories home for $9.99

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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… Read More…

Paul Allen procures V-2 rocket for aircraft museum

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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… Read More…

Strong debut: Tableau closes first day of trading up 63%

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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… Read More…

Report: Facebook and Microsoft eyeing Tumblr as Yahoo sets Monday press event

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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… Read More…

Q&A with Tableau CEO Christian Chabot: ‘We’ve been working our whole lives to become an overnight success’

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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… Read More…

Video: Watch the very happy Tableau team ring the opening bell on the NYSE

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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…. Read More…

Shares of Tableau Software surge more than 50% as IPO sparkles on Wall Street

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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… Read More…

Amazon.com and Google employees bullish on future, but 25% of Microsofties say things will get worse

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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… Read More…