TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

Windows 7 Burger from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

What exactly did Bill Gates discuss with Barack Obama in the Oval Office in March?

OK, it was probably something innocuous, such as a simple get-to-know-ya or a discussion of education or global health -- the primary subjects of the Microsoft chairman's work through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But as noted by the Associated Press, the White House didn't disclose the focus of the Obama-Gates meeting when it released a broader list today of past Oval Office visitors -- lending an air of mystery to the situation.

It's far from a complete reversal, but Microsoft this afternoon informed shareholders that it would be changing its relocation benefits policy after hearing criticism over the company's money-losing purchases of the homes of Stephen Elop, the Microsoft Business Division president, and other top executives.

Have you seen the video of students from Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pa., doing the Microsoft Bing Dance? The fact that it was apparently a grassroots student phenomenon makes it slightly less disturbing than it would appear on the surface, but still, you gotta wonder how the parents of these children will feel.

Even better is this factoid from the official Microsoft Bing blog: "Stacy, the school’s cheerleading instructor spent 12 days teaching the sixth graders the 'Bing dance' with the grand finale being an all-school assembly where the school’s new mascot was announced."

It was great to see so many people at the TechFlash: Women in Tech event last night. It was a packed house, and we learned a lot from a fantastic panel and illuminating conversations in the halls.

Before things got rolling, we took some time to ask a few of the women in attendance how they got interested in technology and what advice they'd offer to young women looking to break into the tech business now. Read on for excerpts from their answers.

New comments from CEO Barry Diller make it pretty clear that IAC/InterActiveCorp would be interested in at least exploring the possibility of selling its Ask.com search business, and Reuters reports that analysts are interpreting his remarks as an open invitation for acquisition talks with Microsoft.

Thanks to all of you who joined us last night for our first TechFlash Women in Tech event. It was a great night, packed with Seattle-area technology leaders and lots of insights into the technology industry. Here's a video with highlights from the night, including one of the most interesting and engaging panel discussions we've heard in a while.

Ben Fathi

We heard rumblings a few weeks ago that Ben Fathi, one of Microsoft's top Windows executives, was contemplating a career move, and today we were able to confirm through sources that Fathi is leaving to take a senior executive position with Cisco Systems Inc.

Microsoft declined to comment, but the timing would be right: It's not uncommon for the Windows division to make internal adjustments after a major release. With the debut of Windows 7 last week, Fathi's move might be the start of a series of shifts by executives and engineers as the division gears up for the development of Windows 8.

There are some great and very telling quotes from city officials in this Los Angeles Times blog post on the city's decision to shift to Google Apps for email for 30,000 employees.

Councilman Tony Cardenas: "The City of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the nation, made a world-class decision today to support a state-of-the art e-mail system."

Councilman Paul Koretz: "It's unclear if this is cutting edge, or the edge of a cliff and we're about to step off."

Microsoft tonight gave notice of plans to discontinue the MSN Direct service, its system for delivering data over FM radio signals. The service, which dates to the company's ill-fated foray into smart watches, has more recently been focused on delivering real-time traffic information and other data to GPS navigation devices.

It's the latest in a series of Microsoft consumer services to be discontinued. But it's not happening right away. Microsoft says MSN Direct's official death notice will come on January 1, 2012, more than two years away. Here's how the company is explaining the decision in an FAQ posted on the MSN Direct site.

People visiting Microsoft's new store in Scottsdale, Ariz., have started noticing something interesting, apart from its shameless similarities to Apple's retail outlets. The computers on display in the Microsoft Store come without any run-of-the-mill "crapware" -- the derisive term used for generic trial software and other unwanted programs that commonly clog new PCs when they're shipped by computer makers.

Under a new initiative called "Microsoft Signature PCs," the company has removed those programs from the computers it's selling and loaded them instead with full versions of its own Windows Live software and services, plus programs such as Silverlight, the Zune software, and Adobe's widely used online technologies.

It's an interesting move by Microsoft on multiple levels.

Here's an unexpected development. Microsoft has pulled the plug on Windows 7's high-profile and somewhat controversial sponsorship of a TV special developed by "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane. Variety reports that the deal-breaker was the show's contents -- including "typical 'Family Guy' style jokes, including riffs on deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest."

We're gearing up for the TechFlash Live: Women in Tech event, which will take place this Wednesday October 28 at the W hotel in downtown Seattle.

We're thrilled about our expert panel -- which includes University of Washington computer science professor Yoky Matsuoka, OVP Venture Partners managing director Lucinda Stewart, Microsoft's Lili Cheng and Technology Access Foundation director Trish Millines Dziko. Former Q13 news anchor Christine Chen, now a principal at Chen Communications, will lead the discussion.

The event will likely sell out some time today or tomorrow, so if you are interested in attending please go here to register.

Microsoft says it plans to publicly release documentation for the .pst format commonly used to archive messages, contacts and other data from Microsoft Outlook. The idea is to open up the format for other developers to use it in other programs, the company says.

"This will allow developers to read, create, and interoperate with the data in .pst files in server and client scenarios using the programming language and platform of their choice," writes Paul Lorimer, a Microsoft Office Interoperability group manager, in a blog post this morning explaining the move. "The technical documentation will detail how the data is stored, along with guidance for accessing that data from other software applications. It also will highlight the structure of the .pst file, provide details like how to navigate the folder hierarchy, and explain how to access the individual data objects and properties."

Windows 7 launch promotion in Japan. Credit: Burger King

Would you avoid those fries at lunch if you could see exactly how the calories would expand your waistline in 10 years? That's the concept behind a newly surfaced Microsoft patent application, which proposes to motivate people to get healthy through a computer program that would project how they'll look based on factors including their current diet, exercise routine and genetics.

"Many people out of sheer laziness refrain from partaking in physical activity and consume unhealthy food," reads the application. "This avoidance is borne out by the soaring demographic of persons who can be classified as being obese and who continually and incessantly eat fast foods (e.g., hamburgers, french fries, pizza, hot dogs, etc.) and then proceed to 'supersize' the order for a marginal increase in price, for example. In most instances, if people were pictorially or visually made aware of the consequences of their choices and actions, many, if not most, would modify their behavior and life style selections to comport with a healthier body image."

Yes, this is from the same company that teamed with Burger King last week to celebrate the launch of Windows 7 in Japan with a seven-patty hamburger weighing in at more than 2,000 calories.