TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

Online sales inched up just 1 percent on "Black Friday" as compared to the same day last year, according to numbers released today by comScore. It found that $534 million was spent on online purchases Friday, which compares to $531 million last year. The report also noted that $10.41 billion has been spent online during the holiday shopping season to date, which is a 4 percent decline compared to the same period last year.

Amazon.com's Web site slowed considerably Friday under the strain of holiday shoppers, but the Seattle online retailer held up better than Sears.com. The Associated Press reports that the Web site for Sears was inaccessible for two hours. Citing research from Keynote Systems, the AP says that the Web sites of Amazon.com and Target were taking about 40 seconds load versus 25 seconds last week.

We're split here at TechFlash when it comes to Black Friday. I am avoiding the shops, while colleague Todd Bishop is heading to Seattle's REI. Where are you going to shop this year?

Not every online service that Amazon.com touches turns to gold. TechCrunch reports today that the online retailer is shutting down Alexa Web Search, citing an email to developers which said they turned off the service yesterday for new customers with existing customers out of luck as of Jan. 26.

The reason for the closure: very few people were using it. Or, as TechCrunch succinctly puts it in this headline: "Amazon to Shut Down Web Search Service; Practically No One Affected."

What should Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Amazon.com and eBay do in 2009? That's the question that Alex Iskold of ReadWriteWeb tries to answer in this informative post on how the big Internet companies should position themselves amid the economic headwinds.

Iskold offers a couple tips for each of the tech titans, noting that Microsoft needs to "execute faster and better" while Amazon.com should "simplify and clean up the product pages."  A good read.

"Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" are just around the corner, which means shopping deals abound on all sorts of gadgets, gizmos and software. Attempting to jumpstart what could be a sluggish holiday retail season, the deals are starting early this year.

We've compiled a short list of hot products, so you don't have to. (Feel free to use the comments to point out any screaming deals you've seen.) I am in the market for a digital recorder and a headset for my phone. What are the cool tech gifts you are looking for this year? Happy shopping.

Don't look for the next-generation Kindle under the Christmas tree this holiday season. TechCrunch reports that the release of the next version of Amazon.com's electronic book reader -- originally slated for October -- has been pushed back until early next year.

It's hardly news that device won't be coming out this holiday season, since Amazon's VP for Kindle, Ian Freed, told us that  in a Q&A 11 days ago.

What's new is that TechCrunch, citing unnamed sources, says the device will be unveiled in "early Q1."  If that's correct, won't some holiday shoppers hold off purchasing the original Kindle knowing that a new version is just around the corner?

Photo by johannesfreund

Amazon.com is rolling out a bunch of new features and products this season to juice holiday sales. But will it also make its long-awaited foray into selling wine online? The company isn't talking. But many in the wine industry are anxiously awaiting Amazon's entry into the market -- which could give a huge boost to business.

Yieldex, a New York-based online ad optimization engine for web publishers, grabbed first prize in Amazon Web Services' startup challenge, entitling it to $100,000 in cash and credit and a potential seed investment from Amazon itself.

The competition featured seven web startups, each vying to show which was best leveraging Amazon's cloud computing services to build its  business.

Logo from trademark filing

It might seem like a strange time to plunge more deeply into online advertising with the economy in the shape it's in. But that's exactly what Amazon.com appears to be doing.

Seattle startup TeachStreet, which helps people find things like Spanish, yoga and knitting classes, is staking out a new geography: the San Francisco Bay Area. The company is backed by Madrona Venture Group and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.

Vogels

Fresh off the release of Amazon.com's new content delivery network CloudFront, Amazon chief technology officer Werner Vogels talked up the company's web services to a packed auditorium at the University of Washington.

Casually dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, the voluble Vogels told students and faculty about the history of Amazon's cloud computing efforts, and let drop a few interesting statistics.

A new batch of data on ecommerce spending contains some potentially bad news for Amazon.com and other online retailers.

Internet measurement firm comScore reports that U.S. online spending spending grew by just 1 percent in October from the same month a year ago -- the lowest monthly growth rate since comScore began tracking ecommerce in 2001. Those are grim figures as Amazon and other online retailers gear up for the holiday season.

Amazon.com today introduced CloudFront, the latest offering in its arsenal of online services. CloudFront is described by the online retailer as "a self-service, pay-as-you-go web service for content delivery."

The CloudFront service can be used to distribute online video, photos and music, areas where content delivery networks such as Akamai and Limelight also operate.

Less than a week after resigning from the CEO post at Targeted Genetics, H. Stewart Parker has resigned from the Seattle biotech company's board. Parker's departure -- accepted Nov. 14 -- ends a 19-year run on the Targeted Genetics board. Current CEO B.G. Susan Robinson has been appointed to the board.

Amazon.com has named a new board member. It's Alain Monié, president and chief operating officer of Ingram Micro, a company that has partnered with Amazon on logistics and fulfillment projects. Monié is also a director at real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. He'll receive 7,000 shares of Amazon common stock to vest in three equal installments on his first, second and third anniversaries.

The Sprint-Clearwire WiMax deal cleared a major legal hurdle when Sprint affiliate iPCS withdrew a request for a temporary injunction against the venture. [More after the jump]

Is Amazon up to something new with movies or music?

Last week I ran across an entity called Amazon Content Services LLC registered in Washington in March of this year. It describes its business as "content acquisition" but provides few other details. Its officers include Amazon executives in charge of movies and music, and print and disc on-demand services.