Google joins with Seattle angels to bankroll non-profit education microloan upstart Vittana

Kushal Chakrabarti

Vittana, the Seattle non-profit that’s facilitating micro-loans to students in developing countries, has received a $250,000 grant from Google. Others backing the organization include entrepreneurs Hadi and Ali Partovi; former Microsoft VP Mike Murray; Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman; BuddyTV co-founder Andy Liu; Founder’s Co-op’s Chris DeVore; TeachStreet CEO Dave Schappell and others. Vittana founder Kushal Chakrabarti… Read More…

Amazon founder and brainiac Jeff Bezos donates $15 million to Princeton Neuroscience Institute

Jeff Bezos

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen isn’t the only Seattle billionaire interested in the study of the brain. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos today announced that he’s donating $15 million to the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, creating what will be called the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics. Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, graduated from Princeton with honors. The new… Read More…

Serving beyond the innovation economy

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Many people in the innovation ecosystem believe in helping out fellow innovators.  They are willing to share their knowledge, experiences and insights with others on topics ranging from scaling a software application to managing a sales organization. Giving back to the community is part of the culture. As someone who helps build companies for a… Read More…

An ‘impatient’ Melinda Gates joins Twitter, tops 17,000 followers in a day thanks to Tweet from BillG

Melinda Gates

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates joined Twitter in January 2010, and has quickly assembled an audience of some 3.5 million followers. Now, Gates’ wife, Melinda, is joining the short-form communication channel. And — thanks to to a Tweet from her hubbie — she’s already attracted some 17,450 followers even though she’s just posted four Tweets to… Read More…

Bezos donates $10M to Seattle history museum, creating new ‘Center for Innovation’

An artist's rendering of the new MOHAI

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has often been criticized for his company’s lack of contributions to the Seattle community. But the tech billionaire took a step to correct that image today, announcing that he’s donating $10 million to create a new “Center for Innovation” at The Museum of History & Industry in Seattle. It marks the… Read More…

Geek of the Week: Adnan Mahmud, Jolkona co-founder

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Our latest Geek of the Week, Adnan Mahmud, thinks big about technology as a way to tackle the world’s problems. A Microsoftie by day, he’s also the co-founder of Jolkona, which provides an online platform for people to not only make philanthropic donations but also to track the impact. This month he’s engaged in a… Read More…

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bankroll project to turn ‘fecal sludge’ into biodiesel

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An environmental engineering professor at Columbia University has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a new sanitation facility that could convert human fecal matter into biodiesel or methane gas. Professor Kartik Chandran said that the project – to be tested in Accra, Ghana — creates a low-cost biodiesel refinery… Read More…

Bill Gates big on digital reading, voice recognition, ubiquitous screens

Bill Gates (GeekWire photo)

The Daily Mail of London’s Live magazine published an interesting and at times insightful interview with Bill Gates over the weekend. The purpose was to discuss an initiative to raise billions in funding for childhood immunizations. But the interview also delved into subjects including technology, Gates’ legacy and his post-Microsoft life. Some of our favorite nuggets … He… Read More…

Bono’s shout out to Bill Gates: Thanks for your passion, your brain power (and your cash)

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More than 70,000 people turned out Saturday night for the U2 concert at Seattle’s Qwest Field, listening as Bono belted out classics like “I Will Follow” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” But it was one Seattleite who got special mention by the lead singer of the Irish band: Bill Gates. During the encore,… Read More…

Video: Bill Gates wrote the checks, and Melinda drove the vision for foundation campus

Melinda French Gates discusses the foundation's new campus in Seattle

Bill Gates may have written the checks for his foundation’s beautiful new $500 million campus in the heart of Seattle. But it was his wife, Melinda, who brought the vision to life and drove the process over the past six years. In a lighthearted moment at tonight’s opening ceremony (video below), Bill Gates joked that… Read More…

Inside look at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s new Seattle HQ

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It spans 12 acres in the heart of the city, just a stone’s throw from The Seattle Center where the iconic Space Needle towers. Welcome to the new home of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is opening this week to much fanfare. About 1,000 dignitaries, media professionals and community leaders will arrive for… Read More…

Idea Man? Ex-Microsoft geek reviews Paul Allen’s memoir

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Guest Commentary: I want to thank Paul Allen for writing his memoirs. It’s great to hear the story of the formation of Microsoft in his own words. His candor is surprising to some, but I think he is just telling it like he saw it. That is not to say that this is a balanced… Read More…

Bill Gates: What technology (and baseball) can teach schools

Bill Gates (GeekWire photo)

The challenges facing the U.S. education system may seem intractable, at times, but schools looking for inspiration could do worse than following the example of the iPhone, the Xbox, and baseball nerds. That was one of the unexpected messages last night from Bill Gates as he returned to the Microsoft campus in Redmond — to… Read More…

Microsoft giving $2M in cash, services to Japan — no RT required

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Microsoft this morning pledged to support relief efforts in Japan with donations valued at $2 million, including $250,000 in cash, free “temporary software licenses” to its customers and partners, and free incident support to help its customers, partners and government agencies get their systems back up and running. The company also said it would appeal… Read More…

Amazon.com partners with the Red Cross for Japan earthquake donations

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Amazon.com has added a button to its home page where visitors will be able to quickly make donations to the American Red Cross in support of the relief efforts in Japan, following the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake which struck the country earlier today. You can access the donations page here. Amazon.com has added donation buttons to… Read More…

Bill Gates gives away fortune, no longer richest man, or is he?

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I drove by the new campus for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Sunday afternoon, and I was absolutely dumbfounded by the magnitude of the place. The 12-acre site — rising in the shadow of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle — kind of put things into perspective in terms of how much money Seattle’s best… Read More…