TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

Ryan Wuerch

Motricity is the Seattle area's newest publicly-traded tech company. But it is also a relative newcomer to the scene, having moved to Bellevue from North Carolina in 2008 after purchasing the mobile assets of InfoSpace. The company's stock price has picked up a bit in recent days since a tough stock market debut four months ago. CEO and founder Ryan Wuerch remains optimistic about the mobile software company's prospects even as it faces threats from Apple and Android.

Tell us a little bit about Motricity: "Over the course of the last nine years we have grown into being one of the largest global pure-play mobile data services solutions for some of the largest carriers and largest enterprises in the world. We have four carriers here in the U.S. that represent almost 90 percent of all the mobile subscribers in North America... Our mCore platform is the platform that these carriers are using for some of their primary mobile data services offerings."

Andrew Maguire

Andrew Maguire: A little over a year ago I graduated from college, jammed all of my belongings into my co-founder’s (Nathan Parcells) 1989 2-door Acura Legend, and zig-zagged my way 3,000 miles from my hometown in Maryland to Seattle. We had a vision and a plan to change experiential education on a massive scale with InternMatch – a company that connects students with internships.

This past year, which feels like ten, has been a life changing experience as we’ve launched, brought on our third co-founder and CTO Kyle Wilkinson, and continue to grow, discover challenges, listen, adapt, and improve.

Considering where we started, I would like to believe we've come a long way so far. Although many people deserve serious credit (co-founders, family, early investors, a killer board of advisors), I’m going to concentrate this post on a couple of pivotal relationships we’ve developed with entrepreneurs in the Seattle startup community – and what it has meant for our growth both as a company and as individuals.

There are certainly no shortage of companies trying to make it easier for groups of employees to collaborate online -- from Jive to Yammer to OneHub. Nonetheless, a three-year-old Bellevue startup by the name of MangoSpring believes it has developed a better (and cheaper) mousetrap that its many rivals. We chatted with MangoSpring co-founder and CEO Anup Kejriwal for the latest installment of "Startup of the Week."

What’s your elevator pitch in 140 characters or less... Collaboration is more than a buzzword. It’s how businesses will drive productivity and innovation. MangoSpring is collaboration with a purpose.

Microsoft's board boosted CEO Steve Ballmer's overall compensation by slightly less than 6 percent for the 2010 fiscal year, to $1.34 million in combined salary and bonus, based on a performance review that took into account high points such as the company's record revenue and low ones such as the failure of the Kin mobile-phone initiative.

The numbers were disclosed in the company's annual proxy statement, made public today in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Here's how the filing characterizes Ballmer's performance.

Amazon.com has been showing greater interest lately in so-called social commerce, the concept of tapping online social networks to drive sales. The online retailer in July started letting people connect their Amazon and Facebook accounts to generate gift recommendations for themselves and their friends.

Now Amazon has begun selling stuff directly through Facebook, though it's starting with an unglamorous product: diapers.

Several technology companies -- including Google and Apple -- are among the corporate giants that have filed briefs in support of Microsoft's petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to ultimately overturn a $290 million verdict in a patent dispute with Toronto tech company i4i Inc.

The companies aren't so much supporting Microsoft as they are endorsing its effort to fundamentally change the burden of proof for defendants in patent cases, lowering the requirement for proving a patent invalid from the current standard of "clear and convincing" evidence to the lesser "preponderance of the evidence."

Joe Mullin of Corporate Counsel does a great job explaining the issues, and the arguments, with links to the filings in the case. While looking through the roster of companies filing briefs in support of the lower standard, something clicked: Several of them are being sued by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for ... patent infringement.

Can the flight mechanics of birds, bats and insects show humans how to make better unpiloted vehicles? A consortium led by the University of Washington has received a $7.5 million, five-year grant from the Office of Naval Research to study biological flight for that purpose.

The grant was announced by the UW today.

Back in the day, the preinstallation of Movie Maker and other Microsoft applications on Windows PCs wasn't news, it was a matter of course. But times have changed -- Internet Explorer notwithstanding -- and the Redmond company said today that Dell is the first global PC manufacturer to agree to install Microsoft's Windows Live Essentials 2011 software on computers shipping in time for the holiday season.

"Many other PC manufacturers are also planning to make Windows Live Essentials 2011 available and we’ll continue to keep you updated as they start releasing," said Chris Jones, the vice president for Windows Live engineering, in a blog post.

Clearwire said this morning that three Sprint executives -- including Sprint CEO and Seattle wireless veteran Dan Hesse -- have resigned from Clearwire's board of directors "out of an abundance of caution to address questions raised by Clearwire regarding new developments in antitrust law."

The surprise move comes as the Kirkland-based wireless broadband provider searches for a new strategic investor to provide a new infusion of capital. Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA is reportedly a candidate. Sprint will still have four appointees on the Clearwire board after the departure of Hesse and fellow Sprint execs Keith Cowan and Steven Elfman. But that's down from Sprint's previous majority of seven.

Big decisions such as bringing aboard new investors require approval of 10 members of Clearwire's board.

Weighing in on an issue that has divided the state's technology community, the Washington Technology Industry Association today announced its opposition to Initiative 1098, the proposal to impose an income tax on high-income earners in the state. Washington currently doesn't have an income tax.

"While we respect the opinions of both sides, a significant majority of our members are not in favor of this particular initiative which is why we have chosen to take this position as an organization," said Susan Sigl, president and CEO of the WTIA, in a news release. "The absence of a state income tax gives Washington companies a competitive advantage in their efforts to recruit and retain the best and brightest from across the country. In addition to potentially diminishing this advantage, the measure raises the concern that funds may not be used to finance education and health programs as the measure's supporters intend."

The University of Washington's Master of Communication in Digital Media and UWTV have kicked off a new program called Media Space TV in which program director Hanson Hosein interviews leaders from the digital media world. The first guest, Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh, appeared on the premiere last night to discuss everything from cat allergies to user-generated content to death threats.

Speaking of Cheezburger's mission, Huh says that "we are going to try to define what Internet culture really is."

Port

Wetpaint is continuing its transformation into a full-blown online entertainment news hub. Today, the Seattle company announced that Whitney Port -- the star of MTV's "The Hills" and "The City" -- will provide fashion advice related to TV shows such as "Grey's Anatomy," America's Next Top Model," "Glee," and other shows.

“Fashion and TV are inextricably linked and consumers can learn a lot just by watching their favorite shows,” Port said in a news release. “I’m looking forward to translating the fun we see on screen for fans who want to know more – and even look like their favorite characters. The beautiful Wetpaint sites show off the looks, and I love to be able to share my opinion and advice.”

Want to get the latest tech, sports, music or celebrity gossip news? A new set of iPhone and Android applications from Evri -- branded under the "EvriThing" moniker -- allow mobile phone users to get their daily news fix on the go. For example, the "EvriThing Baseball" app aggregates content from a variety of sources -- ESPN, AP, San Francisco Chronicle and other sources -- in order to provide users with a comprehensive view of the latest baseball news. It also allows the user to customize the news feed, so they could just get Seattle Mariners or San Francisco Giants headlines.

Evri's line-up of free apps are being released in conjunction with GigaOm's Mobilize conference in San Francisco. GigaOm first reported on the Evri release earlier today.

Just five months after raising $6 million in venture capital from a diverse syndicate of investors that included Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, Drew Carey and others, Seattle-based health care provider Qliance Medical Management has laid off administrative staff. The four-year-old company has not been opening clinics as rapidly as it originally planned, which led to the cutbacks. Nine people lost their jobs, including some who volunteered to be let go.

No clinical medical staff were impacted by the cuts, and Qliance continues to deliver care to patients every day at its three clinics in Seattle, Mercer Island and Kent. The company said that patient growth is up 60 percent at those clinics year-over-year. But the timeline for rolling out clinics -- one of the reasons for the capital infusion -- has slowed.

Tony Hsieh

Tony Hsieh, CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos.com, has been heavily promoting his book "Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose." TechFlash recently caught up with Hsieh in the midst of his book tour. In a wide-ranging interview, Hsieh talked about his business philosophy, how he runs Zappos while on the road, and life under new corporate owner Amazon.com. Hsieh also talked about his ambitions for Zappos beyond shoes (a Zappos airline, anyone?), and what's keeping him at the company after the $1.2 billion acquisition by Amazon. Other topics: the pricing error that cost Zappos $1.6 million earlier this year, and Zappos' tradition of wild parties. Read on for excerpts.