Microsoft's $5 billion fix: Gist's new digs; NASA and more |
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Microsoft's $5 billion fix: Gist's new digs; NASA and more
Seeking Alpha offers a few ideas on "How to Fix Microsoft for $5 billion," including the suggestion of buying Seattle online ad provider Marchex for $100 million and gobbling up IAC for $3 billion.
Raise VC, move to larger office space. That's what happened at Gist, the Seattle Internet upstart which just moved into a bigger office at 419 Occidental South. It had previously shared space with another Paul Allen-backed startup: Evri. Gist also today announced an update to its beta program, with tighter integration with Google search and the Google Social API.
Microsoft today officially unveiled Bing Travel, with much of the functionality coming from its purchase last year of Seattle's Farecast. That includes airfare predictions and fare alerts. "Bing Travel has a simple goal: help people make smarter, more informed decisions regarding travel," Bing Travel general manager and former Farecast CEO Hugh Crean said in the release.
NASA has signed a deal to utilize the Capturx pen computing software from Seattle's Adapx to collect information about the facilities at the Langley Research Center in Virginia. Previously, employees at the research lab used printed floor plans and traditional pens to mark up wall outlets, floor drains and other facility locations.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had assets worth $27.5 billion as of April 2009, down from $38.8 billion at the end of 2007. It provided grants worth $2.8 billion last year, up from $2.01 billion in 2007, reports the PSBJ's Clay Holtzman.
The Washington Post looks into Google's ties to President Barack Obama's administration, and notes how a Microsoft-backed lobbying group last weekend raised flags over the appointment of former Google exec Andrew Mclaughlin to be deputy technology officer. Law Media sent a note to reporters saying: "looks like a full embrace of Google by the White House. We do not remember a time when one company had so many executives leave to serve a single administration."
Nintendo game developer Shigeru Miyamoto tells the BBC that they are "not worried at all" about new game controllers from Microsoft and Sony that simulate motion in a style similar to the popular Wii controllers.
Headline of the day comes via SiliconValleyWatcher: "7 Great Reasons Not to Take VC Money."
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