Pirq’s CEO James Sun found a way for the company to give back after a challenge from Bill Gates. Sun said the company was tight on cash, but Gates challenged tech entrepreneurs at a United Way of King County conference to give back.

In response, Pirq is releasing Deals for Meals, a mobile app that gives users discounts at 130 area restaurants. Pirq will then donate 10 percent of revenues from the app to United Way of King County. The app was announced awhile back, but after Gates’ challenge, the giving back program was implemented.

We’ve written about Sun in the past. He is probably best known as a former employee of Donald Trump on “The Apprentice.”

Opscode co-founder Jesse Robbins was named one of the top 35 leaders in tech under 35 by “Technology Review” magazine. Robbins and Opscode developed Opscode Chef, a database of instructions (or “recipes”) to build backend infrastructure. Robbins also started the Velocity Web Performance and Operations Conference.

Bezos Expeditions, which manages Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos’ personal investments, is among a group of investors lead by Foundry Group that has invested $10 million in MakerBot. Brooklyn, NY-based MakerBot has developed a low-cost commercial 3D printer.

T-Mobile is now offering better connectivity for government employees during a natural disaster with its Persistent Communication Solutions. Cell service is often knocked out during natural disasters, and government employees and first responders often have a difficult time communicating. T-Mobile's service will use deployable Wi-fi networks to help fix this issue. The service will be rolled out Thursday.

RealNetworks announced the release of a video-on-demand platform, now available on certain Verizon Wireless Android phones. Some NFL and IndyCar clips are free, but the service will cost $10 a month. Access to shows from ABC, CBS, NBC, MTV and others will be available.