Jonathan Sposato: ‘Everything I need to know about design I learned in a hotel’

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Jonathan Sposato is a serial entrepreneur, the former CEO of photo editing site Picnik and the only person to have sold two startups to Google. And if you’ve ever worked with Jonathan, as we do in his role as GeekWire chairman, you know that he has deep insights into the world of design. He talked… Read More…

Jonathan Sposato leaves Google as Picnik winds down

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Google closed the lid on Picnik last Friday, shutting down the popular online photo editing service that it acquired two years ago. With the decision, Picnik co-founder and former CEO Jonathan Sposato has stepped down from Google. His last day also was Friday. “I don’t know if this is the right analogy. But it is a… Read More…

With Picnik set to shut down, former Picnik engineers scratch itch with PicMonkey

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Google’s decision earlier this year to pull the plug on Picnik caught many by surprise, causing anger, frustration and sadness for the millions of users who loved the simplicity of the online photo editing service. Justin Huff and Brian Terry felt the pain more than most. After all, they were two of Picnik’s earliest engineers,… Read More…

After Google pulls the plug, vultures flock around Picnik

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Users of Picnik were none too happy when Google decided to pull the plug on the popular online photo editing service last week. At last count, there were more than 1,400 comments on the Picnik blog announcing the closure, a decision that was made nearly two years after Google decided to buy the Seattle company…. Read More…

SOPA is a lobotomy, Google’s cutbacks are heartless … and other fun quotes of the week

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The best observations, quotes, comments and zingers we heard this week. “There’s a fundamental difference between people who want to see the Internet and say — ‘Let’s lobotomize and censor parts of it because we need to control it’ —  and those like us who see the Internet as a method of growing the economy… Read More…

GeekWire Radio: Summify, Picnik, SOPA, PIPA — and doing good with your old PC

Charles Brennick of InterConnection with one of the group's $149 refurbished laptops for low-income households.

What happens when big tech companies acquire your favorite online services? Increasingly it seems, they shut ‘em down. At least, that was the case this past week with two of our favorites, Summify and Picnik. We lament their impending demise as we recap the week’s tech news on this week’s GeekWire radio show and podcast, along… Read More…

The Picnik is over: Google plans to shutter popular photo editing service, other products

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Google is shutting down Picnik, the popular online photo editing service that it acquired nearly two years ago. The closure comes as part of a larger strategy by the search giant to focus on core products. In a blog post, Google also said that it is merging, open-sourcing or phasing out several other products. Those… Read More…

Flickr cleans house, plans to ditch Picnik and other features

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Flickr announced Friday that it plans to dump a number of features, part of a “New Year’s cleaning” that the Yahoo-owned online photo service said will bring a “renewed sense of focus.” Among the casualties is Picnik, the Seattle online photo editing service that Google purchased in 2010. In a blog post, Flickr said that… Read More…

A night at the Seattle 2.0 Awards: Watch the speeches of the 10 winners

Cliff Kushler, left, and Mike McSherry of Swype at last year's Seattle 2.0 Startup Awards

Seattle’s startup community partied Thursday night at the annual Seattle 2.0 Awards, a celebration of the region’s top tinkerers, geeks, designers and investors. Team GeekWire was there in full force, recording a special podcast from the red carpet and shooting some video of geek fashion (Check out Estately CEO Galen Ward’s pink shirt, SEOMoz founder… Read More…