TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

Bing Travel back, 36 hours later

Cloud computing | Corporate IT | Seattle | Technology | Bing | Microsoft

Microsoft's Bing Travel site came back online at 11 a.m. Saturday, after one-and-a-half days of downtime following the fire and power outage at Seattle's Fisher Plaza East data center facilities. That was longer than other sites affected by the fire. Why the delay?

"Bing Travel is a complex system of servers, databases and networking hardware that runs at massive scale," explained Microsoft spokeswoman Whitney Burk via email. "It takes a bit of time after an interruption of power such as this one to bring it back online. Given power was restored at 2am today, we feel we had the service back up as quickly as was possible."

Web sites creep back after Seattle fire, but Bing Travel still down

Bad news | Corporate IT | Bing | Microsoft

[Update, Saturday afternoon: Bing Travel is now back online.]

Many of the Web sites knocked offline Friday due to the Fisher Plaza data center fire were back up as of early this morning. However, Bing Travel -- the high-profile online travel site of Microsoft -- remained down as of 8:10 a.m. Bing Travel, formerly Farecast, says in a message on the Web site that they are "hard at work to restore service." In the meantime, it is passing consumers on to its travel partner, Orbitz.

We've asked the company to comment this morning, and will update the post when we hear back. But it is perplexing that other sites -- including AllRecipes.com, Big Fish Games, Authorize.net and others that were knocked out Friday -- are back up while Microsoft's travel site remains offline.

How one CTO avoided a Web site disaster after data center fire

Bad news | Corporate IT | Redfin

Most Seattle geeks probably didn't think they'd be spending a portion of their 4th of July holiday dealing with broken Web sites, back-up generators and damaged servers. But the small fire at the Fisher Plaza data center in downtown Seattle late last night knocked a number of sites offline for most of Friday, raising questions on TechFlash about how companies handle disaster planning and server co-location.

We actually first learned of the problem around 1 a.m. when Seattle-based Redfin posted a message on Twitter noting that their real estate site was offline because of problems at the data center. But by 4 a.m. Redfin's site was back online, purring along whereas other sites struggled.

We asked Redfin CTO Michael Young how they avoided the catastrophic failure that other sites are experiencing today. Turns out, the company learned some important lessons after a similar electrical fire hit the same data center last June.

Here's what Young told TechFlash today.

Seattle data center fire knocks out Bing Travel, other Web sites

Bad news | Broadband | Business | Corporate IT | Web

A fire last night at Seattle's Fisher Plaza data center has knocked out service to some top Web sites, including Bing Travel and Authorize.net.

We first got word of the fire early this morning from the online real estate service Redfin, which suffered an outage last night. Redfin's Web site was back up this morning, but we've noticed other sites that are experiencing problems. KOMO TV and radio broadcasts also were impacted, and we've noticed that Seattle's AllRecipes.com was offline too.

A blown transformer appears to be the culprit.

Post updated at 11:25 a.m. with details, photos, and status update sent by Internap Network Services to its tenants at the facility.

What type of leader are you: Moses, Trump or Socrates?

Business | Seattle

Editor's Note: Excerpt reprinted with permission from "Inspiring Excellence," a new book on leadership from former Classmates and RealNetworks executive Michael Schutzler. The book is available on Barnes & Noble.

Since your primary purpose as a leader is to inspire and motivate a group into sustained action toward a common goal, how do you get people to agree on a common goal? You can certainly impose your will and authority and declare the goals for your organization.

Many leaders have done so, with some success. Are you sure you know the right goals?

You probably have some really good ideas, but leadership is not a solo performance. You are trying to inspire and motivate others to work hard. By creating an open forum for the exchange of ideas in your organization, you are able to forge agreements and build the relationships that make consistently successful leadership possible.

Venture capital firm invests in dog treats and tortilla shells

Money | Startups | Venture capital

You don't often see a venture capital firm invest in dog biscuits. Or, for that matter, a company that makes tortilla shells. But Buerk Dale Victor has found some interesting opportunities in areas that traditionally don't end up in a venture capitalist's portfolio. The Seattle venture firm earlier this year led a $7.5 million recapitalization of Blue Dog Bakery, a Seattle maker of all-natural, low-fat dog treats.

That followed a deal with Fresca Mexican Foods in 2007, a Boise tortilla company. What gives?  Andy Dale, a managing partner of Buerk Dale Victor, said that that their growth equity strategy has always included small buyout oriented deals.

Voyager, Steamboat Ventures line up behind secretive Ground Truth

Mobile communications | Startups | Technology | Venture Deals

Last week, we reported on the secretive mobile analytics startup Ground Truth, noting the involvement of some heavy hitters from the Seattle tech startup scene. At the time of that post, we reported that a venture round was nearing completion with Voyager Capital.

Well, today documents were filed with the SEC indicating that the company has raised $2.6 million. Listed in the filing as directors are Erik Benson and Tom Huseby, investment professionals at Voyager. Also listed as a director is Beau Laskey of Burbank, Calif. Laskey is listed as the managing partner of Steamboat Ventures, the venture arm of The Walt Disney Co.

WTC awards research funds

Innovation | Technology | University of Washington

The Washington Technology Center has announced its latest round of Research & Technology Development Grants, providing $376,454 to five researchers. The program -- which awards about $1 million in state funds each year -- matches academic researchers with commercial enterprises.

The five winners are posted below with descriptions from the WTC.

Zillow's traffic soars

Advertising | Real estate | Zillow

Is this a sign that the real estate market is bouncing back? The Seattle online real estate company Zillow.com said that its Web traffic grew by 67 percent during the first half of the year to an average of 8.3 million unique visitors per month. Meanwhile, its page views were up 44 percent.

Post updated with Zillow's comparisons to Trulia and Realtor.com.

Niftybrick attacks Loopt and Whrrl with HeyWay iPhone app

Mobile communications | Startups | Technology | iPhone

Big money has flowed to iPhone app startups that are helping people track the whereabouts of friends or find nearby restaurants, clubs or bars. The two most prominent players in the category right now are Palo Alto, Calif.-based Loopt -- backed by Sequoia Capital, NEA and others -- and Seattle-based Pelago -- backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bezos Expeditions, etc.

Those are some of the biggest names in venture capital.

But a new entrant called Niftybrick Software -- a tiny bootstrapped company led by developer Mark Aiken -- is making some early progress with a new application called Hey Where are You? or HeyWay for short.

With ties to Cargill and Shell, Heracles Energy lands $10 million

Clean Tech | Energy | Seattle | Startups | Venture Deals

A Redmond company with ties to two of the largest multinational corporations on the planet has reeled in $10 million. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Heracles Energy raised a $10 million equity financing round on June 29, with the option to bring in $10 million more if milestones are met in the next nine months.

Very little is known about Heracles, though I've been able to piece together some information that connects the company to agricultural giant Cargill and energy titan Shell. An SEC filing also suggest that the company is led by Kirt Montague, who served as CEO of Seattle liquid natural gas upstart Prometheus Energy.

It is unclear whether Heracles is a restart of Prometheus, and calls to Montague's Redmond office were not returned. But whatever they're up to, it appears that big money is lining up behind them.

Venture investors pump $102 million into iPhone app startups

Mobile communications | Money | Startups | Venture capital | iPhone

As you know, we spend a lot of our time checking out new applications for the iPhone. And while many of these apps are created by independent developers, some companies are actually raising venture capital in an effort to try to profit off Apple's mobile ecosystem.

It is a risky strategy to build on the back of another's platform, as was pointed out in my story last week by Seattle venture capitalist Bill Bryant.

Nonetheless, venture dollars are flowing into iPhone app startups at a decent clip. A new study by ChubbyBrain indicates that 17 startup companies -- whose iPhone applications are core to what they do -- have raised $102 million.

It is bleak out there

Economy | IPOs | Mergers and acquisitions | Venture capital

Here's the good news. Three venture-backed companies actually were able to complete initial public offerings during the second quarter, ending a dry spell that stretched all the way back to the summer of 2008.

But despite that positive nugget, today's Dow Jones VentureSource report was filled with more bad news for the venture industry. Take this for example: Venture-backed liquidity -- IPOs and M&A deals -- fell 57 percent to $2.8 billion during the second quarter.

Comcast rolls out WiMax service in Portland with Clearwire's help

Broadband | Cable | Clearwire | Comcast

Comcast is introducing its WiMax service in Portland this week -- a new offering called High-Speed 2go that relies on the network of its Kirkland partner, Clearwire. As part of the offering, Comcast will provide a data card for laptop computer users at a trial price of $49.99 per month for the first year. For $69.99 per month, customers also will be able to access the Internet over Sprint's 3G network when they travel outside the WiMax territory.

Maveron's Somberg off to Europe

On the move | Seattle | Venture capital | Maveron

Maveron's Debra Somberg has moved to Germany where her husband has accepted a faculty position at the University of Hamburg's medicine department. The former investment banker, who joined the Seattle venture capital firm in 2000 as a managing partner, plans to continue with the firm as a venture partner. In that role, Somberg will continue to advise companies and sit on boards.

(Too bad there's not a direct flight between Hamburg and Seattle).

Timu, a social network for sports

Matt Heaton knows what it takes to build a social networking platform for a targeted audience. After all, he co-founded the popular Active Rain real estate network in 2003 -- a Bellevue network that boasts more than 150,000 real estate professionals as members.

Now, Heaton -- who left his day-to-day duties at Active Rain last summer -- is giving it another whirl in a completely different arena: amateur sports. This week, he's launching Timu, a new service that he says is designed to help baseball, basketball, soccer and other amateur athletes more effectively communicate with their teammates.

Does the world really need another social network -- especially one that is tailored to recreational sports? Heaton -- an amateur athlete himself who came up with the idea after growing frustrated trying to stay connected with his sports teams -- certainly thinks so.

AdmitOne; Zillow's iPhone app; networked VCs; and more

Philanthropy | Security | Startups | Technology | Venture capital | Zillow

Former Microsoft executive Scott Oki and former AskMe Chief Technology Officer Digvijay Chauhan have created a new non profit called SeeYourImpact, which utilizes camera phones and other technologies to get a glimpse at how their donations are helping people in need. Kristi Heim of The Seattle Times has the story, which also notes a similar effort from Microsoft Research's Adnan Mahmud who has established the Jolkona Foundation with his wife.

VentureBeat has details on the latest offering from AdmitOne -- the keystroke analysis security company formerly known as BioPassword. The Issaquah company is now touting an analytics business called Scout Analytics that indicates how and when people log on to the corporate network.

Bellevue's DreamBox Learning -- a maker of online math games for Kindergartners to second graders-- has named education experts Dr. Francis "Skip" Fennell and Dr. Catherine Fosnot to its advisory board.

Self-described Web geek Keith Vance pulls the plug on the Seattle online news publication, The Seattle, Courant, and explains why it did a "belly flop." 

TechCrunch lists the top 100 most "networked" venture capital firms and finds that Draper Fisher Jurvetson -- which has an outpost in Seattle led by Bill Bryant -- is at the top of the list. Others who have strong networks include familiar names such as Sequoia, Accel, Intel Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The first and only true Seattle firm on the list is Bezos Expeditions, the venture arm of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. It ranked 73rd. Meanwhile, VentureBeat's Matt Marshall wonders if this is the best way to rank VC firms.

Web hosting provider Rackspace encountered some technical issues today, knocking some Web sites offline.

Zillow's app

Zillow.com says that more than 500,000 people -- including quite a few real estate professionals -- have downloaded its iPhone application since it was released in late April.

With news that Yahoo's Maven Networks will be shutting down, Seattle upstart Delve Networks is offering customers of the online video company a "bailout program" so that they can continue to offering online video capabilities.

Inrix, the Kirkland provider of real time traffic data, is working with GeoDecisions to assist the U.S. Military and Department of Homeland Security with logistics planning in order to ensure that sensitive materials are properly routed.

Headline of the day comes via A Smart Bear: "Sacrifice your health for your startup."

VCs say industry is 'broken'

Economy | Startups | Venture capital

The venture industry is broken. At least that's what the majority of venture capitalists think, according to a survey from executive search firm Polachi. PeHub.com has the details, noting that 52.9 percent of the VC respondents called the industry "broken," while another 60 percent said they are less confident today than they were six months ago.

Rand Fishkin on why VCs made his life and company better

Seattle | Startups | Technology | Venture capital

There's been a lot of chatter on this blog and others recently about the merits of bootstrapping a business, with some of the discussion taking on a bit of an anti-VC perspective. That's why I found Rand Fishkin's recent writings on venture capital so fascinating.

In one of the more candid blog posts I've read from an entrepreneur, the SEOMoz co-founder lays out the positives (accountability, connections, long-term thinking, etc.) and the negatives (loss of control, time suck, dilution, etc.) of taking on venture capital. But, at the end of the day, Fishkin says he's glad he took outside money. (And it turns out, he's now considering another round of financing.)

Al Roker, Twitter and more in msnbc.com's new iPhone app

Advertising | Media | Mobile communications | iPhone

Msnbc.com has released a free iPhone application -- built in conjunction with Seattle startup Zumobi -- that allows users to quickly access the news of the day by clicking on a colored peacock feather. For example, if you're looking for sports news just click on the green peacock feather. Politics is shown in blue, while science and tech appears in yellow.

It is an interesting way to display and segment the news, with the main menu showing 12 categories.

RealNetworks battles big rivals

Seattle | Software | RealNetworks

The New York Times has an interesting read on RealNetworks, and how the 15-year-old Seattle software company has stagnated over the years despite being one of the original leaders in distributing audio and video over the Internet. Reporter Brad Stone does a nice job of capturing the history of Real -- noting its missed opportunities and chutzpah in taking on big rivals such as Microsoft, Apple and -- most recently -- the Hollywood movie studios.

This Week in Reader Comments

Seattle | Startups | Technology | Bing | Twitter

It's been another active week of discussion on TechFlash. Here are some of the comments that caught our eye. Keep up the chatter.

Anonymous on Startups and venture capitalists look to profit on Twitter mania: "The VC desire to latch on to Twitter reminds me of the VC craze for Facebook apps a year or two back. Any winners come out of the fbFund or other Facebook app funds?"

Mike on Is Bing Travel copying Kayak's popular travel Web site? "Microsoft is not copying Kayak any more than Expedia and all the airlines are copying one another. You have to display departure and arrival cities, dates, etc. to function as a travel site. And Kayak's approach is not very "innovative"...creating a list is nothing new."

Timothy James on Microsoft search execs reunite at eBay:  "I didn't know anyone still used eBay. No joke."

Mike Mathieu on Bill Gates wants a better beer keg: "Just a guess, but it probably came in a brainstorm related to cold-supply chains, which are needed to deliver some types of perishable vaccines to places without broadly reliable electricity, like sub-Saharan Africa. The ice cold beer is just a happy side effect."

Anonymous on Top sirloin and Twitter? "Hello Twitter. Meet the Shark. You just jumped over it.

Brainstorm: Green web apps

Energy | Environment | Microsoft

Seattle-area Internet geeks and environmental groups came together on Microsoft's Redmond campus today to brainstorm about environmentally oriented Web applications in what was billed as a "Green & Geekalicious Hackday." Here are a couple whiteboards where they wrote down some of their ideas. (Click for larger versions.)

What do you think? See anything interesting? What would you add? People at the event focused on using the Microsoft Bing application programming interface, but don't limit yourself if you chime in below.

MySpace bungles final check payments to laid off staffers

Bad news | Layoffs | Web | Microsoft

What is it with technology companies screwing up payroll for those workers getting the ax? According to TechCrunch, recently laid-off employees at MySpace have been asked to refrain from cashing their final checks due to errors in how the payments were calculated.

That's similar to an unfortunate situation earlier this year when Microsoft overpaid severance to some workers and then asked for the money back. The company changed its mind a few days later and allowed workers to keep the extra money.

Dendreon plans massive biotech expansion in Seattle

Biotechnology | Life sciences | Real estate | Seattle

Earlier this week, we told you about Dendreon's plans to spend $50 million to upgrade its New Jersey manufacturing and lab facility. Well, the Seattle biotechnology company -- which is on the verge of commercializing its prostate cancer treatment, Provenge -- also has some ambitious expansion plans for its hometown.

Our sister publication, the Puget Sound Business Journal, reports that the company is looking to double the size of its downtown Seattle headquarters as well as obtain about 250,000 square feet of lab space along the Seattle waterfront or in the South Lake Union Neighborhood.

Reporter Jeanne Lang Jones notes that the expansion comes at a good time for Seattle's struggling life sciences sector, which has been shedding jobs as companies such as Targeted Genetics, Northstar Neurosciences and ZymoGenetics reduce staff.