Innovation of the Year? Vote here in the GeekWire Awards

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It’s time to vote in one of the most hotly contested categories in the GeekWire Awards: Innovation of the Year. Our five finalists are below, as selected by our panel of judges from your nominations. These homegrown Pacific Northwest technologies include an innovative application of social media, an ambitious commercial space venture, a novel input technology for iPhone… Read More…

This Kickstarter campaign is a puzzle fan’s dream — and a puzzle unto itself

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Puzzazz, the Redmond-based puzzle technology startup, is turning its creative energy loose on Kickstarter with a new campaign to fund a year-long “puzzle hunt” — aiming to bring a puzzling tradition to a wider audience and support the ecosystem of independent puzzle constructors. A puzzle hunt is a collection of unique puzzles that combine to… Read More…

Puzzazz debuts puzzle bookstore for iPhone, iPad — with handwriting recognition

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Puzzazz, a Seattle-area puzzle technology startup, is making the leap to iPhone and iPad with a new app for trying, buying and solving digital puzzle books on Apple iOS devices. The app includes unique handwriting recognition technology, developed by Puzzazz, that lets users enter characters into a puzzle by writing on the screen with a finger…. Read More…

Kindle Touch breakthrough: Startup debuts handwriting recognition in puzzle book

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Puzzle technology startup Puzzazz is giving Amazon’s Kindle Touch a capability that even Amazon didn’t envision — letting users input numbers and letters by writing them naturally with a finger on the screen, rather than tapping at the e-reader’s tiny on-screen keyboard. The new TouchWrite technology, developed internally by Puzzazz, recognizes those invisible scribbles and… Read More…

GeekWire Radio: Apple’s big quarter, Bill Gates’ legacy, and the world of digital puzzles

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This week on the GeekWire radio show and podcast, we recap the gigantic quarter posted by Apple, hear Bill Gates reflect on his final meeting with Steve Jobs, talk about an innovative new solar charging attachment for the iPhone, and assess the possibility of putting Kinect sensors into laptops. Our guest in the studio is… Read More…

Books are books, and Apple gets it

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Guest Commentary: In 1981, when IBM introduced the IBM PC, Apple ran a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal that said “Welcome, IBM. Seriously.” The ad was controversial at the time, the mouse tweaking the lion. But Apple actually needed IBM to legitimize the business. Before IBM shipped the PC, it was still possible… Read More…

Can ebooks fuel innovation? Startups explore the potential

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A group of startups met up this week in Redmond for the first Ebook Innovation Summit, a small gathering of companies involved in different aspects of the electronic book business — spending the day demonstrating their latest projects and talking about their common challenges. The summit highlighted the emergence of an innovative segment of the startup… Read More…

Geek of the Week: Chip Brown of Puzzazz on puzzles, bees and making a clock from scratch

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Chip Brown, our latest Geek of the Week, spends his days immersed in puzzles and technology as the chief architect for Puzzazz, the Seattle-area startup known for products including puzzle e-books for Kindle. But his personal life is just as interesting, with hobbies ranging from beekeeping to a playing a challenging variation of Scrabble known… Read More…

Puzzle technology startup Puzzazz raises $400k in funding from industry vets

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Puzzazz, the Seattle startup founded by puzzle creator and entrepreneur Roy Leban, has raised its first outside funding — about $400,000 in angel investment from an impressive group of technology and games industry veterans. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate its business of making puzzle books for Amazon.com’s Kindle, and expand to… Read More…