Show your quirky side: Vizify unveils new bite-sized infographics just about you

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Whether looking for a job or a spouse, it’s more important than ever to be able to differentiate yourself and easily express what’s important to you. But, sometimes, words just can’t do the trick. And for those times, Portland startup Vizify thinks it has the solution. Their latest offering is something they are calling Vizcards… Read More…

Pinterest just ‘acqui-hired’ Seattle startup Livestar, dev team moving to San Fran

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Pinterest, the fast-growing social networking startup that raised a $200 million funding round last month at a reported $2.5 billion valuation, just gobbled up tiny Seattle startup Livestar for an undisclosed price. What’s interesting is that many are already labeling the deal an “acqui-hire” — meaning Pinterest was more interested in the people than the… Read More…

Layoffs hit Memory Lane, operator of Classmates.com

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Memory Lane, the social networking site that operates Classmates.com, has laid off staffers at its offices in the Seattle area, sources tell GeekWire. We’ve reached out to Memory Lane’s parent company, United Online, for comment and we will update this post as we learn more. We’re hearing that positions were eliminated in a number of… Read More…

Seeking a new combination, social commerce startup Lockerz confirms cutbacks

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Lockerz, the heavily-funded social commerce startup, has reportedly laid off a chunk of its staff and closed down an office in San Diego. TechCrunch reports that about 30 percent of the staff at the headquarters in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood lost their jobs in the restructuring, including chief product officer Michael Walton. We’ve reached out… Read More…

The time suck economy: Let’s start building value

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Time is our most precious asset. Yet, we’re wasting far too much of it. It’s called the time suck economy. And it’s available on a smartphone near you. You can waste time these days in unlimited ways — online and offline. Let’s just focus online, and more specifically from your mobile device which you carry… Read More…

Microsoft’s ‘Socl’ search experiment takes a new turn

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Microsoft’s experimental social network, Socl, is rolling out a new design and updated tools more closely aligned with what early users have been doing on the site, according to the Microsoft researchers behind the project. The overhauled site, pictured above, is available here. The new design still lets users quickly create vivid posts with images and… Read More…

Sports social network Fanzo enters a very crowded field

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Paul Ingalls readily admits that there’s no shortage of players trying to carve new businesses in the arena of social sports. But so far, at least in his view, no one has quite “nailed it.” As the co-founder of Fanzo, Ingalls hopes his startup is the first to make it to the end zone. The… Read More…

Härnu lets you discuss global events with people from around the world

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The world is becoming a smaller place, yet even with communications and social media technologies you can still feel cut off from the experiences, fears and desires of those living in far-flung places. Härnu, a six-month-old Seattle startup led by former employees of aQuantive, DS-IQ and StartupRocket, are looking to bring people closer together through… Read More…

Messages superimposed on images may be less mind blowing than they appear

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I was scrolling through my news feed, minding my own (friends’) business, when I was hit with the blinding orange glow of a someecard. I tried to look away, but it was no good. Against my will, I hit share. “Dammit, this is too true,” I wrote. Along a signature image of Victorian era courtship was… Read More…

After CEO departs for Yahoo, Lockerz raises more cash

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Seattle startup Lockerz lost its founder and CEO — retail and PR vet Kathy Savitt —  to an executive role at Yahoo in August. But that’s not slowing the company’s enormous appetite for capital. The social shopping service — in which teenagers and twenty-somethings earn points for sharing content or watching videos — has pulled in an additional $7.5… Read More…