TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

Wetpaint is putting on a new coat, transforming itself once again as the heavily-funded Seattle Internet company looks to become the premier destination on the Web for entertainment news. The new direction -- which includes a revamped logo, an editorial staff of 30 writers, editors and freelancers and 15 micro sites built around TV shows like Glee and Gossip Girl-- puts Wetpaint squarely in competition with giant publishers like Entertainment Weekly as well as online brands like Seattle's BuddyTV.

Wetpaint CEO Ben Elowitz believes that there's an "insatiable demand" for entertainment news and that his team has simply figured out a more compelling way to deliver it to targeted niche audiences. That method includes old-fashioned news gathering -- hence the New York-based editorial staff -- and a smart use of digital media technologies. If done properly, the combo may result in the chance to build a "media company of the future," Elowitz says.

I love college football. But I hate the timeouts, the penalties. Lou Holtz' half-time chatter and the other constant time wasters which tend to turn an hour-long game into a four-hour marathon.

But there was a technology -- which at least until today -- made some of the more boring gridiron games tolerable. My Comcast digital video recorder was a trusty ally during football season, allowing me to fast-forward through recorded games to the exact moment that I wanted to watch.

However, to my frustration and apparently the frustration of other sports fans across the Seattle area, Comcast has meddled with this more time-efficient method for watching games and all other TV programs. I noticed this today while attempting to watch a recording of the Florida-Miami (Ohio) game on ESPN. I'd fast-forward to the beginning of a play, and auto-correct would kick-in setting me back to a place I didn't want to be. That might have been the end of an interview with Florida head coach Urban Meyer, an inane sideline report or an ad for Bass Pro Shops.

Subjects covered this week: AT&T rolls out Seattle network upgrades, Clearwire targets the Internet generation, Paul Allen contemplates a title for his autobiography, and guest Marcelo Calbucci of Seattle 2.0 stops by the studio to talk about the upcoming Startup Day, and his own entrepreneurial roots.

As a special bonus, Marcelo also offers up two tickets to the event as prizes for this week's TechFlash Trivia contest. Listen to the final segment for the question, and see this post to submit your answer.

Listen below or subscribe to the podcast using this RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/techflashpodcast), or via iTunes or Zune. Call 206-876-5465 to leave a message for our next show, and continue reading for links related to this week's episode. Archive available here.

Ben Elowitz

Aspiring entrepreneurs in the audience will want to pay close attention to this week's TechFlash Trivia contest, because it comes with a special prize, courtesy Marcelo Calbucci, our guest on the latest TechFlash Podcast. Submit the correct answer to the question below for a chance to win a ticket to Startup Day on Saturday, Sept. 25, in Bellevue. We'll pick two winners at random from the pool of correct answers.

[We've also updated last week's post with the answer to our previous question about the unusual piece of furniture that Google's co-founders wanted to install on their jet. Go here for the answer, and the winner.]

This week's question is about Seattle tech entrepreneur Ben Elowitz, the co-founder and CEO of startup Wetpaint, who will be delivering the Startup Day keynote address. Here it is ...

Should I take that job? Should I marry that guy? Those are among the important life decisions that Wisemuv wants to help people make. The year-old startup, with operations in Seattle and Mountain View, California, is described as an online "decision helper." We chatted with Wisemuv founder Chirag Pancholi, who came up with the idea for Wisemuv prior to proposing to his girlfriend, for the latest installment of Startup of the Week.

What’s your elevator pitch — in 140 characters or less... We help people tackle vexing situations in life with a neat tool that builds confidence when making decisions.

MOD Systems, a maker of digital media kiosk technology, has raised more than $6 million from existing investors as the Seattle company looks to enter an "aggressive expansion phase." In a blog post announcing the financing, CEO Anthony Bay said that MOD is entering one of the most "exciting times in the company's history" as it looks to bring the technology to entertainment kiosks at airports and other retail locations.

The capital infusion comes at a critical time. In July, MOD -- which has been engaged in ongoing litigation with co-founder and former CEO Mark Phillips -- said in a court filing that it was running out of cash in the next 30 to 60 days. Despite that filing, Bay told TechFlash at the time that he was confident in the company's ability to remain a going concern.

Bellevue-based HomeSavvi, an online repository of home remodeling tips and professionals, has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with The Seattle Times Company. As part of the deal, The Seattle Times has agreed to boost exposure for the startup through links and other marketing efforts on the Times' network of Web sites. HomeSavvi Chief Executive Villette Nolan called it a "significant" partnership, expanding the company's reach in Western Washington and possibly opening the doors to partnerships with other media companies.

Janice Roberts

The transformation at RealNetworks continues, with the Seattle company announcing today that a Silicon Valley venture capitalist has been appointed to the board of directors. Janice Roberts, a managing director at the Mayfield Fund, a 41-year-old firm with more than $2.8 billion under management, will become the ninth board member at the company.

Roberts previously worked at computer networking giant 3Com, heading up the firm's investment arm. It's a bit unusual to see a venture capitalist join the board of a publicly-traded company, since many VCs reserve those slots for emerging companies in their portfolios. But Roberts said that she's pleased to be joining Real at "this very important time in the company's transformation."

Rumors have circulated for months about a potential partnership between Clearwire and T-Mobile USA, two wireless giants which are located just a few miles apart just east of Seattle. Now, The Wall Street Journal has the inside track on what's going on behind the scenes. The report indicates that Sprint -- which owns 54 percent of Clearwire -- is a little woozy about letting a competitor partner or invest in Clearwire.

The report indicates that some Sprint directors are supportive of a Clearwire-T-Mobile match, while others are against it.

Venture capital can be a brutal, brutal game. Just ask John Connors, the former Microsoft chief financial officer who now serves as a partner at Ignition Partners in Bellevue. Ignition had the foresight to bankroll one of the Seattle area's most promising up-and-comers when it invested in Apptio, a fast growing Bellevue startup which helps chief information officers at major corporations get a better handle on IT costs.

But when Apptio announced its $16.5 million third round of financing this week, Ignition was nowhere to be found. What happened? Quite simply, Connors admits that he screwed up.

Get those oversized beanbag chairs ready. PAX is back, and it's sold out once again, which means that tens of thousands of people will be descending on downtown Seattle starting on Friday for one of the biggest cultural events on the gamer's annual calendar.

In case you've never heard of it, the formal name is the Penny Arcade Expo, but formalities have no place at this thing. It's a three-day convention/festival/competition and around-the-clock party for game geeks, created in the Seattle region in 2004 by the guys behind the popular Penny Arcade webcomic. There's now a separate PAX East in Boston, but the original Seattle event -- PAX Prime, as it's now known -- remains a destination for people from around the country.

I've been there from the start, and it has been amazing to watch PAX grow. Check out the embedded videos for highlights from last year, and keep reading for some of the stuff we're looking forward to this year.

MOD Systems co-founder Mark Phillips was indicted today on multiple counts of fraud for allegedly embezzling money from the Seattle company, and then using the funds to purchase Breguet watches and to make a personal investment in a Redmond startup. Today's indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, included three counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of attempted bank fraud. Phillips remains incarcerated at the Sea-Tac federal detention center following multiple bond violations, the most recent of which was an illegal inhalation charge in which the high-tech executive allegedly huffed dust cleaning spray in what his attorney called a "cry for help."

Bellevue-based Likewise Software and Sunnyvale, California-based Centrify have been named in a patent infringement suit brought by Aliso Viejo, California-based Quest Software. The suit alleges that both Likewise and Centrify violated a patent issued in 2009 to Matthew Peterson and Daniel Peterson related to how Unix and Linux systems could be managed using Microsoft Windows policy management tools. The patent -- titled “Apparatus, System, and Method for Managing Policies on a Computer Having a Foreign Operating System” -- was initially developed at a Utah company known as Vintela which was later sold to Quest for $56.5 million.

Likewise, an open source software company backed by Ignition Partners, Intel Capital and Trinity Ventures, said it planned to defend itself against the suit. "After a detailed review of the information available we believe that the charges are without merit and that the company is in a strong position to defend itself," the company said in a statement. "Unfortunately we cannot comment on additional details of the case at this time. Patent disputes have become a regular course of business in the software industry, especially for successful companies."

Blink Interactive, a Seattle-based Web design and usability testing company, has acquired Blue Flavor for an undisclosed price. As a result of the deal, Blue Flavor founder Nick Finck will join Blink Interactive as User Experience Director.

Marketfish just landed an additional $1.5 million in venture financing, money that that fast-growing Seattle online marketing startup will use to grow sales, build out the platform and establish a new office in New York. The round -- led by Rustic Canyon and Accelerator Ventures -- comes about 10 months after the company closed a $2 million angel round.

Chief Executive Dave Scott said that business is booming with more than 320 marketing and advertising agencies utilizing the product to generate new business leads. To date, Marketfish has compiled more than 500 million records -- typically marketing lists from organizations such as The American Society of Cinematographers, BusinessWatch, Tennis magazine and others. Marketers typically pay on average from $20,000 to $30,000 to rent one of the lists.