Clearwire has applied for federal funds as part of the U.S. government's new broadband stimulus offering, though a spokeswoman for the Kirkland wireless broadband carrier told Unstrung that the grants would have "no significant impact on our funding or our existing build-out plans."

The Open Book Alliance, which includes Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo as members, formally launched its campaign against Google's book settlement with authors and publishers. News of the effort leaked out last week.

Amazon.com has extended the deadline for its web services startup challenge to Sept. 25. Entrepreneurs from the U.S., U.K., Germany and Israel compete to show who can best leverage Amazon's cloud computing services. Prizes include $50,000 in cash and $50,000 worth of web services credits.

Nearly 700,000 people have downloaded Zillow.com's free iPhone app since it launched in April, making it the top free application in the real estate category in the app store. The Seattle company also released an upgrade today, including faster loading maps and new ways to email listings to friends or real estate agents. 

The CEO of Jive Software, one of Oregon's highest profile technology startups, has decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to family. Dave Hersh tells the Portland Business Journal that "where I live has become less important" and notes that the headquarters will remain in Portland.

Seattle biotech Omeros, which filed to go public in January 2008 but never completed the deal, may be getting more serious about an initial public offering this fall, reports Xconomy.

Redfin, Amazon.com and Microsoft's Photosynth have been named to Time magazine's list of the top 50 Web sites of 2009. Descriptions here, here and here. [Update: Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope also made the list, as noted in the comments below.]

Just a few days after MySpace completed the acquisition of Seattle online music startup iLike, TechCrunch reports that Facebook (where iLike compiled millions of users) may be looking to partner with European music service Spotify.