TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

Looking for a cozy spot to get some work done? A great discussion has been going on at the Seattle Tech Startups forum over the past couple of days on the best places to set up shop for an hour or two.

Windows 7 Starter Edition, the edition of the upcoming operating system targeted to small "netbook" computers, will be able to run more than just three applications at a time, Microsoft said today. Previous versions of Starter Edition have imposed a three-application limit.

Bellevue's Motricity has named Jim Ryan -- a former Sprint PCS and AT&T Mobility exec -- to the post of chief strategy and marketing officer.

Scientists from the University of Washington, the Nature Conservancy and the University of Southern Mississippi are introducing a tool called ClimateWizard that lets people track temperature and precipitation changes in their local area, the Seattle Times reports.

Rivals to Microsoft's Internet Explorer are pushing the European Commission to require the company to offer alternative browsers as part of Windows, and to distribute them to existing Windows users via an automatic update, the Wall Street Journal reports.

An interesting report from the Directions on Microsoft research firm explains how Microsoft phases out products.

The Susan G. Komen foundation recently got a boost from Seattle-based Varolli Corp., which donated software to help the cancer research organization drive sign ups for its Race for the Cure on June 7. Using the Varolli technology, race organizers sent personalized voice messages from Mona Locke to more than 10,000 past participants of the race.

Modumetal, a Seattle startup that is developing new metals and metal coatings designed to be stronger, lighter and more corrosion-resistant than steel, has raised more than $1.5 million in new funding from Second Avenue Partners, the Alliance of Angels, and other investors. The company is preparing to bring its first products to market this year.

Wilson

Peter Wilson, who helped oversee Google's rapid growth in the Seattle region, is leaving the company next week -- aiming to launch his own venture toward the end of the year.

Wilson, engineering and site director for Google's Kirkland operations, confirmed the move today but declined to go into detail about his plans. His focus has been on cloud computing, social media and online advertising, and he acknowledged that his new company could involve one or more of those areas.

It's always a little nerve-wracking to learn that your startup company is suddenly in competition with Google. We've seen this before with AdReady, which last fall got word that the search titan was rolling out a new product for self-service display advertising. And so it was yesterday with Google Wave, the new communications organizer which at first glance looked a bit like Gist.

After watching the panel on M&A activity yesterday at the WTIA Fast Pitch Forum, I was wondering when we might see some more deals in these parts. Well, turns out one actually happened today. SourceForge today announced that it is gobbling up Bellevue's Ohloh, a massive directory of more than 300,000 open source projects and developers. Terms weren't disclosed. But based on what I am hearing there might be a few more M&A deals around the corner.

Pack your bags and get ready to head to Palo Alto. That's the message for two Seattle area firms that have been accepted into Facebook's new 10-week incubator program: fbFund Rev 2009. 

Seattle's Sortuv and Vittana -- which we've written about here and here -- are among 20 startups and non-profit entities that will receive intensive support and training to help accelerate social applications. The companies -- chosen from among more than 400 applicants -- also will get around $25,000.

[Post updated with comments from Sortuv co-founder Jim Heising]

I spent all Wednesday listening to 23 startup companies pitch business ideas at the WTIA's Fast Pitch Forum. There were some great ideas, one liners and jokes. And even a little news.

In fact, there were so many that I ran out of steam in my coverage plan to critique every pitch. Oh well, here are some of the nuggets I picked up throughout the day.

Serena Glover

Serena Glover is contemplating her next gig, possibly creating another startup or taking on an executive role at an early-stage company. The Twango co-founder and former head of Nokia's soon-to-close Kirkland office isn't quite sure at this point. But there's one thing that Glover is absolutely certain she doesn't want in her next job: international travel.

At the WTIA Fast Pitch Forum today, blist CEO Kevin Merritt unveiled the new name and direction for his online database service. The company is now called Socrata, a combination of the words "social" and "data." The name also has ties to Greek philosopher Socrates.

"We are still democratizing data. We are still building an Internet scale data service, and we are still focusing on user experience as a means to drive usability in working with data," he said. 

Pelago has reduced its headcount as the maker of the mobile social networking product Whrrl attempts to adjust to the lingering effects of the bad economy. The layoff comes exactly one year after the Seattle startup announced a $15 million venture round from notable investors such as T-Mobile, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bezos Expeditions and others.

Pelago issued a statement to TechFlash about the cuts, saying that it made a "modest staff reduction" in order to "provide the multiple years of runway this economic situation will likely require."

Tim Draper

Venture capitalist Tim Draper started his keynote talk today at the WTIA Fast Pitch Forum with a photo of a nuclear blast, noting that an "economic nuke" leveled things last October.

But Draper tempered that image with an optimistic talk saying that entrepreneurs are the true "heroes" who have the ability to solve big problems.  In an interview with TechFlash prior to the talk, Draper said that the current economic climate is actually creating a "cleansing" effect of sorts.

"It allows the old historic monuments to fall so great new structures can grow," said Draper. That cleansing can benefit startup companies who Draper said can build things "cheaper, better, faster."

It's not every day that you see a successful venture capitalist break out in song during a keynote speech. But not every VC is Tim Draper of the venerable Silicon Valley firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. At the WTIA Fast Pitch Forum today, Draper discussed innovation, the economy and politics. Then, he broke out "The Riskmaster" -- a song about entrepreneurship. Brian M. Westbrook captured some video of the spectacle.

One of the Puget Sound Business Journal's most interesting features and events each year is 40 Under 40, in which the paper identifies some of the most accomplished and promising young business leaders in the Seattle region. The roster always includes a good representation from the tech industry, and now is the time for this year's nominations and applications.

If you consider someone worthy of the 40 Under 40 designation, submit a nomination here by the June 3 deadline. Nominees will receive a notification to submit an application by June 12. If the worthy person you're thinking about is yourself, it's also OK to submit an application without being nominated by someone else.

Assets from the controversial online media company Zango, acquired last month by the Blinkx video search engine, have been reformulated under a new name, Pinball Corp., judging from clues in state corporations filings and the former Zango web site.

Zango's website is now essentially blank except for a message that reads, "Thank you for visiting the site. This is a closed user community." An email address after the message refers to pinballcorp.com. A firm called Pinball Corp was registered in Washington state on April 30, naming Blinkx founder Suranga Chandratillake and chief operating officer Matthew Service as directors.