TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

[Update: AT&T blames software upgrade and says problem has been resolved. Details after the jump.]

We've been experiencing ongoing problems trying to connect to the Internet using AT&T's 3G network via our iPhones over the past two days. As it turns out, we're not alone. iPhone users in Seattle report sporadic service, according to messages on Twitter. "Experiencing ATT 3G suckage since yesterday. Only EDGE seems to be working all over Seattle," wrote one user about an hour ago.

Tech site Pocket-lint quotes a representative of PC maker Acer saying that Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7, will be available Oct. 23. If it's accurate, it would be the first time the release date has been nailed down. Microsoft isn't commenting on the report yet. The company, which issued the first Windows 7 Release Candidate today, has so far declined to give a specific release date or even to confirm that the new operating system will be available this calendar year.

Bill Gates writes about his fellow Seattle billionaire, Jeff Bezos, in a piece for Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. It is a short, but fascinating essay. Gates calls the Amazon.com founder "one of those insatiable pioneers of business and technology." He finishes the piece by comparing Bezos to Johannes Gutenberg, writing that the Kindle may change how people read books.

Microsoft's servers have been overwhelmed this morning as subscribers to its MSDN and TechNet services scramble to download the newly issued Windows 7 Release Candidate. The continued demand is another good sign for the next version of Microsoft's flagship product, following generally positive reviews for early builds.

But the Windows team is being careful not to declare victory yet.

"We feel very confident about the quality of the product, the path we're on, and being able to meet our goals," said Jeff Price, senior director of Windows product management. At the same time, he made it clear that the team is doing its best to keep that confidence in check. "We're trying to be cautiously optimistic," he said.

We had a great time Wednesday night at the second TechFlash Live, and we're glad so many of you could join us. Lots of great people, conversations, food and drinks. Thanks to Ben Huh of I Can Has Cheezburger for sharing insights into one of Seattle's more unusual startups. And thanks to event sponsors SolutionsIQ, Seattle University and Microsoft BizSpark.

Stay tuned for details on the next TechFlash Live, scheduled for this summer. In the meantime, here are a series of photos from tonight's event, taken by photographer Matt Hagen.

Hunter

State Rep. Ross Hunter, a former Microsoft general manager, announced today that he's running for King County Executive, competing against four other candidates for the position. He's one of many former Microsofties now in the political arena -- and he's pointing to his experience at the Redmond company as a major selling point.

This couldn't have come together better if we had planned it. We're looking forward to seeing many of you at tonight's sold-out TechFlash Live event, starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Palace Ballroom in Seattle, at 2100 Fifth Ave. And afterward, the revival of the free Ignite Seattle event is taking place at the King Cat Theater, a short walk away at 2130 Sixth Ave.

Wetpaint plans to create more than two dozen "fansites" in conjunction with MSN Entertainment as part of a deal announced today. Seattle-based Wetpaint, which operates a wiki-based Web site publishing platform, offers social media tools that allow readers to contribute photos, stories and other content.

Voice-recognition technology from Microsoft's Tellme subsidiary will provide an alternative way of controlling and interacting with Windows Mobile 6.5 phones when they come out later this year, the company announced today.

Microsoft is touting voice as a competitive advantage for Windows Mobile. The company took the unusual step of singling out the iPhone in its news release today, saying it "requires four touches and more than 20 keystrokes to find a business with the Apple iPhone, while it only takes one button push and one verbal command to find the same business with Tellme."

Here's a video showing the technology in action.

Microsoft's Windows 7 Release Candidate is due out later this week. It's the last big milestone before the next version of the flagship product hits the market. However, the company hasn't yet announced a final release date. If that seems unusual, that's because it is.

A new report adds to the evidence that Microsoft is getting closer to bringing its long-rumored "Pink" mobile-phone project to market. The Wall Street Journal says today that Microsoft is "in discussions with Verizon Wireless to launch a touch-screen multimedia cellphone on the carrier's network early next year." The news follows an AdWeek story indicating that Microsoft is picking an ad agency for the project.

Microsoft is expanding its "Amalga" line of health-care software with a new product that aims to help scientists and doctors navigate available research -- quickly understanding, for example, how different treatments and diseases relate and interact with one another.

It's like GPS for life-sciences research, said Jim Karkanias, a senior director in Microsoft's Health Solutions Group, comparing it to the transition from manual map-reading to automated course-charting.

Job interviews are more difficult at Microsoft than at Apple. But interviews at Amazon are the toughest of all. And job candidates feel a lot better about the interview experience at IBM than at Google.

Those are some of the unscientific nuggets gleaned from a new Interviews section launched tonight by Glassdoor, a site that offers inside details such as employee salaries and executive approval ratings at major companies. The new section uses information from job seekers to rate companies on such factors as the difficulty of their interviews and how people felt about the process afterward.

Microsoft is testing a new product called Vine that aims to connect Facebook, Twitter, text messages, traditional phone calls, email and other forms of communication into a system for sending and receiving urgent information during natural disasters. It could also come in handy during more mundane emergencies -- such as making sure someone is picking up the kids from school.

In the case of an earthquake, for example, a Vine user could send a single alert to a preset list of emergency contacts, who would receive the message in whatever form they chose -- such as text or email -- and send replies to the same list from whatever tool they were using. The Vine system could also be used for routine events, such as a youth sports coach who needs to alert players and parents that a game has been rained out.

Trying to revive a case that has given Microsoft chronic headaches, lawyers for PC buyers are asking an appeals court to review a federal judge's rejection of class-action status in their long-running lawsuit over Microsoft's "Windows Vista Capable" program.

Their petition, filed late last week in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, disputes U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman's recent ruling denying class-action status in the case. The decision meant the case could proceed to trial just on the claims of the six named plaintiffs. In seeking to make the case a class action again, the appeal aims to open it back up to thousands of people.