‘Do-or-die’ time for VCs as funding levels drop by 35%

   

     

       

         


         


       



       

   


   

   

     

       
         
       
       

         
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‘Do-or-die’ time for VCs as funding levels drop by 35%

A number of venture capital firms — including Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group and Voyager Capital — are looking to take advantage of the positive momentum in the economy to raise new funds. Even so, the first quarter numbers out today from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association indicate that not as many firms... Read More...
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After awkward holiday launch, Nokia and Microsoft look to build Lumia 900 buzz
Monday, April 09, 2012 9:45 PM
Did anybody at AT&T, Microsoft or Nokia check the calendar before picking a launch day for the Lumia 900 Windows Phone? That’s the obvious question after the New York Times discovered that nearly all of the AT&T stores in the heart of New York City were closed for Easter yesterday just as the wireless giant... Read More...
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Microsoft buying 800 patents from AOL in $1 billion deal
Monday, April 09, 2012 7:52 PM
Microsoft will pay AOL more than $1 billion to buy 800 technology patents and license another 300 from the early Internet leader under a deal announced between the companies this morning. AOL’s patents include some that outside analysts consider fundamental to core online activities, such as web-based messaging, multimedia and data retrieval. The deal promises to... Read More...
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CrunchFund, Madrona invest $3.4M in dog-sitting service Rover
Monday, April 09, 2012 6:30 PM
Dog-loving venture capitalist Michael Arrington is among the new investors in Rover.com, the Seattle online service that helps pet owners find lodging for their canine companions. The company, started by venture capitalist Greg Gottesman at a Startup Weekend event in Seattle last year, just closed a $3.4 million series A financing round. In addition to Arrington’s... Read More...
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Video: What if Google’s glasses were made by Microsoft?
Monday, April 09, 2012 10:34 AM
Google caused a stir in the tech world last week with the concept video above for its augmented reality glasses, being developed under the name Project Glass. GeekWire readers are decidedly mixed on whether they’d actually wear the things. Also, as reported by Wired, augmented reality experts say Google’s video might promise more than the technology can actually... Read More...
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How to find that special someone: Your co-founder
Monday, April 09, 2012 10:16 AM
My fiancee isn’t the jealous type but she likes to joke that I’m already married to my co-founder. Paul and I are three weeks into working full-time on our startup (details TBA), and we’re spending a ridiculous amount of time together. We’re bootstrapping, so that means working everyday out of his living room. We buy groceries together,... Read More...
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A Kindle e-reader with a front-lit screen? Yes, please
Sunday, April 08, 2012 11:19 PM
One of the down sides of traditional E Ink, used in devices such as Amazon Kindle e-readers, is the inability to read in the dark without some kind of accessory. As an owner of an official Kindle Lighted Leather Cover — which sells for a whopping $50 — I can attest to the fact that... Read More...
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Productivity Porn: 8 key steps to going paperless
Sunday, April 08, 2012 8:25 PM
I love paper. I hate paper. Independent of format, print or digital, what I want is information at my fingertips when I need it, wherever I am. I want instant capture of ideas, to-do’s and notes (which for me still requires paper) but I want that paper to disappear as quickly as possible. Less paper... Read More...
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GeekWire Radio: Google’s crazy glasses, text-spresso and predicting the price of your next gadget
Saturday, April 07, 2012 7:00 PM
This week on the GeekWire radio show and podcast, we debate the merits of Google’s augmented reality glasses, talk about the world’s geekiest coffee machine, and assess the prospects for the Nokia Lumia 900, and its chances for helping Windows Phone. Our guest in the studio is Mike Fridgen, the CEO of Decide.com, the Seattle... Read More...
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Name that Tech Tune for a chance to win Kinect Star Wars
Saturday, April 07, 2012 2:06 PM
Sure, the reviewers universally panned ‘Kinect Star Wars,’ but hey, how often do you get to see Han Solo doing the latest dance moves? We’re giving away a copy of the new Xbox 360 game from LucasArts to one lucky winner this week in our weekly Name that Tech Tune challenge. You’ll need more than... Read More...
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Advanced content marketing strategies to take your brand to the next level
Saturday, April 07, 2012 5:10 AM
You can’t be a marketing professional and NOT create content. In fact, the Content Marketing Institution said so when it published this interesting statistic: “93 percent of marketing professionals create, or plan to create content marketing as part of their overall programs in the next year.” The question is…are you creating that content in such... Read More...
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Ex-Isilon, Amazon engineers start stealthy Qumulo
Saturday, April 07, 2012 2:45 AM
Isilon System is one of the biggest startup success stories of the past 10 years, with the Seattle storage company rebounding from tough times to sell for a whopping $2.25 billion to EMC in late 2010. The company has continued to grow in its new Pioneer Square headquarters, even gobbling up Bellevue-based Likewise Software last month.... Read More...
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Poll: Would you wear these Google glasses in public?
Saturday, April 07, 2012 2:15 AM
Google co-founder Sergey Brin caused a stir at an event in San Francisco last night, sporting a prototype of the company’s “Project Glass” augmented reality glasses, which were just unveiled by the company earlier this week. Apart from proving that the devices are real, Brin’s move gave a sense for what the glasses would actually... Read More...
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GeekWire Update: Where we stand, one year later
Saturday, April 07, 2012 1:58 AM
GeekWire’s one-year anniversary was March 7, but we were so busy with the GeekWire Summit that we didn’t get a chance to continue our tradition of providing updates on the state of GeekWire as a startup. Recently, however, Chris Roush of Talking Biz News – a popular news blog about business journalism — reached out to... Read More...
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Geek Weekend: Sakura-Con and Norwescon on tap
Saturday, April 07, 2012 12:11 AM
If you like science fiction or anime — or both — it’s shaping up to be a great weekend, at least if you live in the Seattle region. Sakura-Con 2012, the largest Japanese anime convention in the Pacific Northwest, will be held at the Washington State Convention Center today through Sunday. The weekend is full... Read More...
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Estately’s copyright notice knocks one of Canada’s largest real estate firms offline
Friday, April 06, 2012 11:16 PM
Earlier this week, we told you the story about Estately sending a cease-and-desist letter to one of Canada’s largest real estate companies, alleging that Sutton West Coast essentially ripped off code, images and design elements in creating its new Web site. The story attracted a lot of attention, in part because Sutton West Coast’s site... Read More...
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Exclusive: Visible Technologies buys Cymfony to bolster social media offerings
Friday, April 06, 2012 10:10 PM
Visible Technologies is buying Cymfony in a deal that brings together two long-time players in the social media monitoring and analytics space, GeekWire has learned. As a result of the deal, Cymfony president Richard Pasewark will assume the CEO role of the combined company, relocating from Boston to Seattle where the company will be based. Meanwhile,... Read More...
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HTC profits decline, overshadowed on both Android and Windows Phone
Friday, April 06, 2012 10:09 PM
HTC, the mobile phone giant with North American headquarters in Bellevue, posted a decline of 70 percent in profits this morning, after one of its top executives acknowledged that the company “dropped the ball” on its products in the fourth quarter. Here’s the bigger problem: In its competition with Apple, the company is at risk... Read More...
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Microsoft uses cash to boost Windows Phone, but some app developers aren’t biting
Friday, April 06, 2012 10:04 PM
One of the big challenges Microsoft faces in mobile phones is that developers don’t have the time — or resources — to make new applications for the emerging Windows Phone platform. The software giant is using its checkbook to help jumpstart that ecosystem. But as it turns out, even that financial incentive doesn’t always work.... Read More...
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Chart: Amazon S3 grows, with 905 billion objects now stored
Friday, April 06, 2012 9:06 PM
Amazon has released new numbers showing continued growth for its Simple Storage Service, better known as S3, one of the core components of Amazon Web Services for third-party web developers. Between the fourth quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2012, the number of objects stored in S3 rose 19 percent, from 762 billion... Read More...
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Startup Spotlight: Ex-Google engineers guide Schedulista to profits after just 6 months
Friday, April 06, 2012 8:29 PM
Seattle entrepreneurs Felix Livini and Lowell Manners are lean startup acolytes. And that philosophy is already paying dividends for the founders of Schedulista, a six-month old Seattle startup that helps hair salons, accountants and other small businesses accept appointments online. The company turned it first profit last month, and Livini and Manners, who got to know each... Read More...
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The top Tweeters in baseball
Friday, April 06, 2012 11:42 AM
There’s perhaps no American pastime filled with as many data geeks and stat hounds as baseball, a sport where every aspect of the game is analyzed and dissected in great detail. So, it just goes without saying — as the bats start to crack around Major League Baseball parks this week — that somebody would... Read More...
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Hey, startups, users aren’t free
Friday, April 06, 2012 4:29 AM
“Seattle’s great at building technology, but we don’t understand marketing. San Francisco’s great at marketing. That’s why great B-to-C companies come out of San Francisco and not Seattle.” A managing partner at a VC firm said this to me several months ago. It solidified, in my mind, something I’ve been wanting to scream at Seattle... Read More...
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Amazon Kindle gets 62% of U.S. e-reader usage, and Kindle Fire is 14% of tablets
Friday, April 06, 2012 4:28 AM
The Pew Internet & American Life Project is out today with an epic report on the “rise of e-reading” — showing, among other things, that more than 20 percent of Americans have read an e-book in the past year, up from 17 percent at the end of last year. There are tons of interesting... Read More...
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Where’s your #geekspace? Show us your work zone
Friday, April 06, 2012 3:20 AM
I am fascinated by our connected culture, watching the way communities grow and change online.  As a photographer with a background in sociology, one of my favorite ways of soaking up cultural and visual information is on the Instagram photo sharing platform. Amazing clusters of inspiring photos have sprung up from Instagram in the form of hashtags, one... Read More...
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