Live from the Nike Accelerator Demo Day

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PORTLAND, Ore. — We’ve arrived at the beautiful Nike campus just outside of Portland for the big Nike Accelerator Demo Day. More than 900 investors, mentors, Nike leaders, friends and family are expected here. Three months ago, ten startups arrived here for an accelerator program put on by Nike and TechStars. GeekWire has featured all of the… Read More…

Nike Accelerator Spotlight: Totem helps tell stories of your outdoor adventures

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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. Check out past Spotlights below.  The team at Incomparable Things arrived in… Read More…

New Xbox 360 looks like the Xbox One, is available today

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At the big E3 video-game convention today, Microsoft just unveiled a new-look Xbox 360, which is available to purchase today. The console, first debuting in 2005, mimics the bland, box-like design of the new Xbox One, which is set to hit shelves in November 2013. Many were underwhelmed with the Xbox One design, comparing it to… Read More…

Report: Xbox One to hit shelves in November 2013

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It looks like you’ll be able to buy an Xbox One this November. That’s what Rare development director Danny Issac just said during an interview with Geoff Keighley on the GameTrailers’ E3 pre-show. I guess Xbox One launches in November! Guy from Rare just said it on the pre-show during Kinect Sports Rivals demo. #GTE3 —… Read More…

Advice from Glenn Kelman: Entrepreneurs need to be tough, but must also show lots of love

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Glenn Kelman is a smart guy. He graduated summa cum laude from Berkeley, helped found Plumtree Software back in the 90s and is now running one of Seattle’s most successful startups. But over the years, the Redfin CEO began to realize that in the startup world, it’s not all about how quickly you can analyze a problem… Read More…

Mathletes: Students solve 375K algebra equations in 4 days with iOS app

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Students across Washington did some serious algebra work this week — and I mean serious like 400,000 problems in four days kind of work. As part of the Washington State Algebra Challenge, K-12 students used an iteration of a learning app called DragonBox to try and solve 250,000 equations in just one week. They did that and much more, as 4,000 students… Read More…

Hey, lady hackers: $10K scholarship fund available for women-only bootcamp

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For all the ladies interested in attending a Ruby on Rails bootcamp in Seattle next month but just can’t afford the $4,000 tuition, there is now help in the form of scholarship money. Seattle’s Women in Technology group has put together a $10,000 scholarship fund for the women-only, month-long class. Seattle companies SeedIP, Affinity, Zealyst, Tred,… Read More…

Business budding for marijuana startup as investors change attitude after legalization

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With the former president of Mexico beside him high up in Seattle’s tallest skyscraper, Diego Pellicer founder Jamen Shivley announced to the world last Thursday plans to turn his commercial marijuana company into the Starbucks of Pot. While the press conference produced headlines across the globe, it also drew the ire of Washington’s “Pot Czar” Mark Kleiman, who called Shively… Read More…

Nike Accelerator Spotlight: GeoPalz motivates kids to exercise with reward system

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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. Check out past Spotlights below.  As technology becomes more prevalent in today’s world, seeing… Read More…

Amazon launches Indie Game Store for PC, Mac and web games

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Indie game developers have a new way to market and show off their latest creations. Amazon just debuted an Indie Games Store to help promote PC, Mac, and browser-based games. It mimics just like an ordinary Amazon storefront with a couple additional goodies. There’s an Indie Spotlight, a weekly Q&A with a featured game company, as well as… Read More…

Microsoft addresses Xbox One used games, always-on, privacy policies

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Microsoft today cleared up some of the questions surrounding Xbox One issues, including those about always-on requirements, used game policies and Kinect privacy. Some of the newsworthy tidbits: The console will need to be connected to the Internet at least once every 24 hours for games to work, or else you won’t be able to play… Read More…

Advice from a former Apple director who coined the term ‘user experience’

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Having worked on Apple’s User Interface Technologies and introducing the term “user experience” to company execs in the early 90s, Mitch Stein knows a thing or two about how humans interact with computers. “The term ‘user experience’ is more than just aesthetics to me,” Stein said. “We have relationships with our technology. User experience is not… Read More…

Bing Translator App out for Windows 8, lets you understand foreign words with a camera

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Microsoft launched the Bing Translator for Windows Phone last November, but today it’s now available on Windows 8 and supports more than 40 languages. The Windows 8 version includes several of the same features, like text translation, text-to-speech and offline support. My personal favorite is how the app combines augmented reality with a camera and speech/text translation so that you… Read More…

Exo Labs crowdfunding iPad-enabled microscope cameras for schools

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Exo Labs, the Seattle startup that developed a microscope camera that can link to your iPad, now wants to put its product in the hands of students and teachers at no cost to them. The company is close to hitting its Kickstarter funding goal and once reached, Exo Labs plans to give 40 cameras to teachers and… Read More…

Reading revolution: e-book market set to pass print books by 2017

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As the e-book battle between Apple and the U.S. Justice Department continues in court this week, new reports are out showing the rapid growth of the e-book market itself. New projections from PwC indicate that the consumer e-book market will reach $8.2 billion in sales by 2017 and pass that of the printed book market for… Read More…

Big Fish launches first mobile social roulette game

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Roulette, like many casino table games, can get a little boring if you’re playing alone. For those who want an audience watching their big money wheel spins but can’t make it to the casino, Big Fish now has an answer. The Seattle game maker, founded by former RealNetworks employee Paul Thelen in 2002, just added the… Read More…

Mobisante raises $4.2M for smartphone-based ultrasound imaging system

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Mobisante, the Redmond-based company that makes ultrasound technology viewable on a smartphone or tablet, just pulled in $4.2 million in fresh funding to continue providing customers with a low-cost alternative to other expensive high-end portable ultrasound systems. Founded in 2009 by Sailesh Chutani — a former Microsoft mobile exec — and David Zar — a researcher at Washington… Read More…

Welcome back: Amazon selling Kindle DX again

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The Kindle DX is making a comeback. After disappearing from the Amazon storefront last October, it looks like the Seattle online giant is once again selling the 9.7-inch tablet for $299. The DX, which debuted in 2009 and features a keyboard with an e-ink display, was first spotted late last month by Digital Reader. We’ve reached… Read More…

‘Xbox One: Space Odyssey’ parody video pokes fun at console’s apparent shortcomings

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Some gamers are undoubtedly disappointed with what Microsoft has shown thus far for its next-generation console, the Xbox One. If you’re one of them, you’ll certainly like this hilarious parody video a Seattle video production company just put out today to illustrate these frustrations. The clip, produced by the creative three-man team at Cinesaurus, is called “Xbox… Read More…