TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

There is less than one week left to help the Puget Sound Business Journal identify the best in-house counsel in Washington state for the 2012 Corporate Counsel of the Year Awards. Nominations are due Feb. 8.

Craig McCaw

So far, Washington’s tech titans and other wealthy individuals are mostly sitting on the sidelines when it comes to contributing to the “Super PACs” that are playing such a major role in the presidential race.

But there are a few examples of big contributions coming from Washington donors, according to a TechFlash search of the top super political action committees supporting Republican presidential candidates, as well as PACs backing President Obama’s re-election efforts.

Wireless pioneer Craig McCaw and his wife, Susan, of Kirkland contributed a total of $75,000 to Our Destiny, a PAC that backed former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. before he dropped out of the GOP primary race.

Concur Technologies, which bought TripIt for up to $120 million last year, has now invested in Room 77, a hotel search and booking website.

Concur, the Redmond maker of travel and entertainment expense management software, did not disclose the amount it was investing in Room 77. Concur joins other investors, including Rich Barton, founder of Expedia and co-founder of Zillow.

Room 77 says travelers can go online and compare prices across major travel sites and shop a variety of room types at more than 120,000 hotels.

Amazon is buying TeachStreet, a Seattle startup that helps people find tutors and online classes in subjects ranging from cooking to guitar lessons to preparation for graduate school admissions examinations.

TeachStreet blogged about the move Thursday, saying the company was closing and that employees were joining the AmazonLocal team:

Jason Herman

Kirkland-based technology consulting firm Allyis has promoted Jason Herman to CEO.

Herman has been with the company more than a decade in various jobs.

Current CEO and company co-founder Richard Law will remain chairman of the board.

Globys has hired Chek Lim as senior vice president of engineering.

Related coverage: Facebook files for $5 billion IPO; saw $1 billion profit in 2011

Facebook's 27-year-old founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has signed The Giving Pledge, the campaign led by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that urges the super wealthy in the U.S. to pledge at least half of their fortunes for charity.

However many billions of dollars the Facebook initial public offering turns out to raise for the social networking giant, the IPO is expected to create millions of new wealth for its early employees and investors.

That is leading to speculation about where they will spend or invest in the coming years with Silicon Valley, businesses, banks and charities expected to be among the big beneficiaries.

A report Monday listed Santa Clara-based Silicon Valley Bank, San Jose's Bridge Bank and San Jose-based Heritage Bank of Commerce as likely big winners among the region's locally based financial institutions.

A host of luxury home sellers, high-end car dealers and the like in Silicon Valley are also hoping to help the 1,000 or so new millionaires in the region spread their wealth around.

One unnamed former Facebook employee even told Reuters in December that he planned to book a trip to space that is likely to cost $200,000 or more.

Layoffs at a local tech company seem like a strange occurrence these days. But Microsoft appears to be pulling the trigger on layoffs affecting a couple hundred marketing folks.

The layoffs are said to to focus on Microsoft’s Central Marketing Group. But marketing groups in other departments also could be affected.

“Microsoft to announce major layoffs today as a result of marketing org restructuring,” tweeted Commercial and Communications Sector Lead Maher Al-Khaiyat. The tweet was reported by ZDNet.

Facebook will reportedly file for a $5 billion initial public offering Wednesday with Morgan Stanley as its banking lead.

Reuters cited unnamed sources who said that the world's biggest social networking company is filing for a smaller than expected IPO target that could be increased depending on demand. The Menlo Park based company had been expected to seek a much larger $10 billion IPO.

Angel investors with Keiretsu Forum Northwest provided $24 million in funding for 36 early-stage startup companies in 2011.

A total of 29 companies were from the Northwest were funded, including 4-Tell, BroVo Spirits, LoanTek, Pacific West Land and Vizit .

The Northwest chapter of the Keiretsu Forum includes angel groups in Seattle, Bellevue, Portland and Boise. Funding for startups from the angel forum ranges from $250,000 to $3 million.

The 2001 funding level was the largest annual funding amount since the Northwest chapter was established in 2005.

“In has been a banner year for Keiretsu Forum Northwest,” said Nathan McDonald, president of Keiretsu Forum Northwest. “We are pleased to be steadily growing our membership and due diligence resources to provide vital funding to growing companies.”

Overall, technology companies received 30 percent of the funding in 2011, real estate companies received 38 percent, and consumer/retail startups received 16 percent.

It’s been a while since we blogged about Limeade, the startup with the online program that helps companies improve the health and well being of their workers.

But now we hear that the Bellevue startup led by former Bocada executive Henry Albrecht has landed three new executives with prior experience at Microsoft and ShapeUp.

And the company has doubled its workforce since the beginning of 2011 and is seeking more talent.

Mercy Corps photos

A young woman presents a new business idea at the first Startup Weekend in Gaza, part of the new Mercy Corps Arab Developer Network Initiative.

Mercy Corps , Google and Seattle-based Startup Weekend are gathering in Seattle on Thursday to talk about how investors and philanthropists can contribute to global business development in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.

The event is designed to create a sense of urgency about creating job growth for youth in the Middle East and North Africa; economic conditions were part of the motivation for the uprisings sparked in January 2011 in Tunisia.

Google engineers and business development experts have traveled to the region with Mercy Corps to offer technical and business training and mentorship opportunities.

EMC Isilon Storage Division president Sujal Patel (from left), EMC chairman and chief executive Joe Tucci and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn at recent event where Isilon announced ambitious growth plans for Seattle. (PSBJ photo / Anthony Bolante)

The tech industry has become the new stable source of jobs, luring workers from other sectors who would have shied away from tech following the volatility of 1990s-era startups.

Tech giants including Amazon.com, Apple and Google increased their work forces by at least 50 percent over the past two years, according to Bloomberg News.

The competition for qualified workers has promoted these companies to look to people with non-technical backgrounds, and has drawn many from other sectors to pursue tech careers.

PSBJ photo / Anthony Bolante

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna is putting the resources and expertise of his office behind a problem that is plaguing social media giant Facebook: spam that is targeting Facebook members.

Feisty fights over online spam, rising tech salaries, Apple earnings and a few major deals dominated the news this week.

Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna has teamed up with Facebook to fight spam that targets Facebook uses -- a.k.a. clickjacking -- by lobbing suits against Adscend Media LLC, a Delaware-based online ad network.

Adscend responded to the lawsuits on Friday, saying it complies with state and federal laws and is being falsely accused of clickjacking and "friending" users on Facebook as a deceptive means of spreading spam.

Good news for local techies: The average tech salary in Seattle is now $90,362 -- up 5 percent from one year ago -- and one out of three reported receiving a bonus in 2011. Another sign of a (potentially) healing economy: tech job postings have grown every month over the past two years.

Sensors, Energy, and Automation Laboratory chart

The Dietary Data Recorder System uses 3D modeling to estimate food volume, analyzing user-recorded videos that are obtained with a simple “swooping” motion

Can your smartphone help you lose weight and stay healthy?

University of Washington researchers have developed a device that uses a smartphone to help people watch what they eat and maintain a healthy diet.

With a swooping motion, a user can take an image of a pear, apple or other food item and the device’s 3D modeling estimates the food’s volume and calculates and logs the caloric content. It works for more than 9,000 types of food.

The Sensors, Energy, and Automation Laboratory at the University of Washington worked on the project with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Cozi has raised an additional $3 million in equity funding, according to a regulatory filing.

Cozi said the $3 million investment round is an extension of Series C funding that brings the total raised to $25 million. The funds will be used to build out the company’s Cozi Gold offering, launched last September.

Cozi said its year-over-year sign ups increased by more than 100 percent in 2011, with more than 1 million new family members joining the service.