TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

From checking sports scores and playing Angry Birds to ordering a private-car service after a night on the town, local business executives are making heavy use of smartphone apps in their everyday personal lives.

As part of a special "App Report" coming Friday in the Jan. 10 print edition of the Puget Sound Business Journal (a sister publication of TechFlash), we surveyed several executives to see how they use their mobile devices – for both business and personal purposes.

This week we're running their answers to four questions. Yesterday, we asked what apps they use most often for business purposes. Today we focus on the more personal side.

Roy Bostock

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock is stepping down, the company announced Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 7).

In a letter to shareholders posted on the Yahoo corporate website, Bostock praises new CEO Scott Thompson and touts an ongoing strategic review by the company. But he writes that efforts to find new investors and partnerships have not been fruitful:

“The complexity and unique nature of these transactions is significant. While we continue to devote significant resources to these discussions, we are not in a position at this time to provide further detail or to provide assurance that any transaction will be achieved.”

Paul Allen

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported Monday that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was the third most generous donor in America last year, and the most generous one still alive.

This is Allen’s 10th year on the list. Only two donors have made the list more times: software billionaire Larry Ellison, and Eli and Edythe L. Broad, whose background is in finance and real estate.

Last year, Allen committed $372.6 million to a variety of foundations, including $295 million to his own Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which supports the arts, culture, education and social service programs.

Microsoft ranks No. 4 on a list of the top stocks owned by members of Congress, according to a report by The Center for Responsive Politics.

Stock ownership by members of Congress has been an issue recently after several media reports that were critical of what some viewed as politicians capitalizing on inside information about the financial crisis, including a featured report on CBS news program "60 Minutes."

On Thursday the U.S. Senate approved a bill that prohibits legislators and their family members, as well as staffers, from trading stocks if they have non-public information.

There also are provisions for reporting of stock sales.

Shares of TiVo were up more than 4 percent after an article in Barron's made the case that the company is undervalued and could be a takeover target for others including Microsoft.

Shares of the San Jose-based digital video recorder company rose to around $11.70 before the opening bell. They closed Friday at $11.23 and have traded in a 52-week range of between $7.06 and $12.65.

Microsoft photo

Microsoft’s Brad Smith (right), joined NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other Seattle-area business leaders in a Friday forum organized by the Business Higher Education Forum

Microsoft’s chief council Brad Smith joined other local leaders from tech and venture capital Friday morning to talk with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about how to better prepare students for careers in science, technology and engineering.

Smith has been the face of Microsoft’s efforts on education issues. In November, Smith called for state leaders to avoid more cuts to higher education funding.

There is less than one week left to help the Puget Sound Business Journal identify the best in-house counsel in Washington state for the 2012 Corporate Counsel of the Year Awards. Nominations are due Feb. 8.

Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS both made gains in the number of mobile phones using the operating platforms in the U.S., while rivals Microsoft, RIM and Symbian slipped, according to comScore.

Overall, smartphone adoption exploded during the 2011 holiday shopping season, much of it driven by Apple’s sale of 37 million iPhones last quarter. Forty percent of all mobile subscribers now own smartphones in the U.S. That's 97.9 million people.

Amazon is joining other local tech companies in backing a proposed state law to legalize same-sex marriages.

In a statement, Seattle-based Amazon said the “spirit of these bills is consistent with our long-standing employment practices.”

The statement, reported by The Seattle Times, comes a couple of weeks after Microsoft, RealNetworks and Concur said they were endorsing a move to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington.

Robert Youngjohns

Microsoft is no slouch when it comes to cloud computing.

The company has a full suite of products and services to help businesses that want to store data and software applications offsite and access them through the Internet.

So it was a little surprising when Robert Youngjohns, president, Microsoft North America, told a room full of IT vendors that their corporate customers should take several factors into consideration before moving to the cloud.

Layoffs at a local tech company seem like a strange occurrence these days. But Microsoft appears to be pulling the trigger on layoffs affecting a couple hundred marketing folks.

The layoffs are said to to focus on Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group. But marketing groups in other departments also could be affected.

“Microsoft to announce major layoffs today as a result of marketing org restructuring,” tweeted Commercial and Communications Sector Lead Maher Al-Khaiyat. The tweet was reported by ZDNet.

Two new reports Wednesday added to speculation about how Apple might seek to revolutionize the television this year.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has bold TV plans of its own, involving Bing, Xbox and its Kinect voice and motion technology. as well as content partnerships with Verizon, HBO, Comcast and Bravo and others.

Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster, who has been predicting Apple's entry into the TV market since 2009, laid out three broad scenarios on how it could do that.

Microsoft has launched an ad campaign against Google

Microsoft is taking out full-page ads today in major newspapers, warning customers about new Google privacy policies and urging consumers to consider Microsoft products such as Hotmail and Bing.

Bloomberg reports that the ads explaining Google's changes in policy appear in Wednesday's New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. "If these changes rub you the wrong way, please consider using our ... products and services," Microsoft writes in its ad.

Microsoft posted a copy of the ad on its website.

It’s been a while since we blogged about Limeade, the startup with the online program that helps companies improve the health and well being of their workers.

But now we hear that the Bellevue startup led by former Bocada executive Henry Albrecht has landed three new executives with prior experience at Microsoft and ShapeUp.

And the company has doubled its workforce since the beginning of 2011 and is seeking more talent.

Mercy Corps photos

A young woman presents a new business idea at the first Startup Weekend in Gaza, part of the new Mercy Corps Arab Developer Network Initiative.

Mercy Corps , Google and Seattle-based Startup Weekend are gathering in Seattle on Thursday to talk about how investors and philanthropists can contribute to global business development in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.

The event is designed to create a sense of urgency about creating job growth for youth in the Middle East and North Africa; economic conditions were part of the motivation for the uprisings sparked in January 2011 in Tunisia.

Google engineers and business development experts have traveled to the region with Mercy Corps to offer technical and business training and mentorship opportunities.