Mayor McGinn promises high-speed Internet for parts of Pioneer Square

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Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn today laid out a proposal to encourage broadband Internet in a four-block area in Pioneer Square, allowing telecom and cable companies to lease some of the conduit that the city is now placing under First Avenue South. McGinn said it is a small, incremental step in a larger plan to bring… Read More…

Pioneer Studios closure: So long to some of Microsoft’s sweetest digs ever

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Good scoop from Jay Greene of CNet News.com this afternoon, reporting that Microsoft has shuttered Pioneer Studios, a group in Pioneer Square that was started to incubate new consumer experiences for the company — including the ill-fated design for the Courier dual-screen tablet. It isn’t so much the end of an era as the end of… Read More…

GeekWire Podcast: 60 Minutes, Zynga, and what’s hot in computer science now

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we talk about the time we spent with a “60 Minutes” crew, the opening of Zynga’s new office in Pioneer Square, and the city’s plan to bring better Internet connectivity to the Seattle neighborhood, to the potential benefit of the many startups headquartered there. Our guest in the studio… Read More…

Is the ‘Seattle Underground’ the key to solving Pioneer Square’s Internet woes?

Seattle Underground (Photo via Rennett Stowe)

The solution to Pioneer Square’s Internet connectivity problems may be found in a cavernous, mid-19th century underworld. The City of Seattle is currently engaged in a plan to bring high-speed Internet to buildings in a four block area along First Avenue South, using the subterranean passageways in the neighborhood’s famous underground to string fiber optic cable… Read More…

Seattle’s hottest tech neighborhood offers crappy Internet service, drug dealers

Zynga's new home at the Washington Shoe Building (Keith Tyler photo)

Pioneer Square is undergoing a major transformation as high-tech companies such as Isilon, Zynga and Blue Nile set up shop in the historic Seattle district. KING 5 takes a deeper look at what’s going on, noting that despite cruddy Internet service and a “lingering reputation as a haven for drug dealers” the neighborhood continues to… Read More…

Exclusive: Zynga picks historic Pioneer Square building for office

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Zynga, the fast growing maker of FarmVille, Mafia Wars and other social games, plans to establish its new engineering center in the Washington Shoe Building in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood, GeekWire has learned. A Zynga spokeswoman today confirmed that the company plans to move into the six-floor brick building at 159 Jackson Street some… Read More…