Technology Sector

The Matrix

The Matrix

The Machine Is Raging: Bob Lefsetz on How "Music Gets Around"

Yesterday, I wrote about Neil Young's quip that "Internet is the new radio" and that piracy is how "music gets around." Of course, Neil gets all the attention for making such a statement. Ah, the power of celebrity! Meanwhile, plenty of folks have been grumbling about this same thing for years, name ... More >>

New Lockers, Old Tricks: Amazon and Apple's New Toys Could Be Music-Subscription Training Wheels

​Do you find it difficult to remember to synch your iPod? Have a hard time keeping track of your mp3s every time you get a new computer? Solutions to these and other first-world digital struggles are being released almost by the hour. And in the past three months, two of the world's biggest te ... More >>

New SIFF Review: Something Ventured

​In the age of Inside Job and The Big Short, you'd hardly expect to see a sympathetic portrayal of unfettered capitalism, but that's exactly what Something Ventured is. Very well crafted by Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine (Ballets Russes), the documentary intersperses new interviews with old ... More >>

Amazon Quotes Steve Jobs Himself in Defense of "Appstore" Trademark Suit

​Ever since Apple sued Amazon to keep the company from using the term "Appstore" to describe its "Store" that sells "Apps," the online retailer has been struggling to come up with an airtight defense to use in court. Thankfully for Amazon, Steve Jobs himself is helping them out on that front.

Yahoo Blames Microsoft for Failing Business

​Six months ago, when Yahoo and Microsoft partnered on a search agreement that brought widespread exposure for Bing and beefed up Yahoo's search advertisements, it was supposed to be a win-win. But with Yahoo's last quarter earnings in the toilet (again), the company is now blaming Microsoft f ... More >>

Montana Radio Shack Offers Free Guns for New Dish Network Customers

​When the Founding Fathers wrote the constitution they intended to preserve the rights of citizens to rise up and overthrow television providers that offer lousy service or weak new-customer incentives. Hamilton, Mont. Radio Shack Super Store owner Steve Strand understands the Founders' intent ... More >>

What's Missing From This Photograph of Obama and the Tech Titans?

​We'll give you a hint: It begins with "Ball" and ends with a sweat-soaked polo shirt.

IBM Supercomputer Watson Destroys Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter--Ready Now to Become Doctor/Car Mechanic/Counterterrorism Expert

​IBM's overpriced circuit board "Watson" thoroughly mopped the floor with inferior humanoids Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter last night on Jeopardy! (insert Skynet/machine takeover joke here). So what's next for the estimated $3 billion box of bolts? Career opportunities are already lining up.

Ken Jennings Gets Schooled by Supercomputer Watson and Brad Rutter on Day 1 of Jeopardy Human/Comp Showdown

​The only thing currently standing between IBM supercomputer Watson and its inevitable rise as humanity's all-powerful overlord is a young, flawlessly stubbly man from Pennsylvania named Brad Rutter. Hometown hero and winningest Jeopardy player ever, Ken Jennings, spent day one of the much hyp ... More >>

IBM Supercomputer "Watson" Will Destroy Ken Jennings on Jeopardy, Says Odds-Maker

​Next week Seattle's human computer Ken Jennings will finally face off against IBM's actual computer "Watson" along with fellow smartypants Brad Rutter in a $1 million grand prize trivia duel to the death on Jeopardy. So who will triumph, man or machine? If you believe a leading gambling websi ... More >>

Google Hears Antitrust Drums Banging, Blames Microsoft as Principal Percussionist

​In the 1990s, Google President Eric Schmidt was working for Sun Microsystems and was part of a small but vocal group of techies who helped the federal government put the antitrust reigns on Microsoft. Now it's Google that's getting "too big for its britches" and the monopoly drums are beating ... More >>

Cable-TV Marketing Company Has Sneaky Way to Get You to Not Use Xbox 360 as Your TV

​Watching the "Experiment in Cord Cutting" video put out by Hill Holliday and picked up by tech blog Kotaku, it's easy to come to the conclusion that the Internet TV available on Xbox 360, Apple TV, Google TV, Boxee Box, and Roku is a sad excuse for cable. But that's assuming you can look past ... More >>

Public Access TV Funds May Be Used For City Email Instead

dailyinvention on Flickr​Last week at a City Council budget meeting, Bill Schrier of the city's Department of Information Technology (DoIT) dropped a bombshell: Starting next year, the $625,000 given annually to public access television could be reduced to $100,000, and the contract currently ... More >>

Microsoft Tries to Roar Back at Critics, Ends Up Whimpering Instead

​As much as an obscenely profitable company that produces millionaires the way other operations pump out widgets can act like a cornered animal, Microsoft is that animal. Amateur crystal ball-gazers (including yours truly) have spent the past months predicting dark clouds in the tech company's ... More >>

Bill Gates on Google's China Stance: "They've Done Nothing and Gotten a lot of Credit For It."

"And furthermore, these 'O' glasses are too foggy. Harumph, harumph."​Before flying to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland to accept his crown as Emperor of the New World Order announce an expansion of his foundation's vaccine program, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates stopped by the offices ... More >>

As If Tim Eyman Hasn't Done Enough Damage, Now His Web Site Can F**k Up Your Computer

The black means he's evil...​Or so says Google. According to a "Safe Browsing" advisory from the search giant, Eyman's site, www.permanent-offense.org [don't click, for the love of humanity!], is "listed as suspicious" and "may harm your computer." It seems that destroying our state's tax b ... More >>

Did T-Mobile Outage Hurt Joe Mallahan?

FlickrHere's one Mallahan promotional tool that never loses service.​Some thought it was just a bad omen. But TechFlash's John Cook says that maybe, just maybe, T-Mobile's massive election-day outage was enough to swing the mayoral race in Mike McGinn's favor. Here's the gist of Cook's admitt ... More >>

Microsoft a Danger to Sidekick Users

Oh no, I totally lost all your contacts! Haha. You should see your face right now.​If you're a software giant, and your next big push is into the world of mobile phones, the absolute best possible marketing tool would be to prove that you have what it takes not to screw up the service you alre ... More >>

CD Reviews: Soul Kata and Ramona Falls

Oh no, I totally lost all your contacts! Haha. You should see your face right now.​If you're a software giant, and your next big push is into the world of mobile phones, the absolute best possible marketing tool would be to prove that you have what it takes not to screw up the service you alre ... More >>

Seattle Oscar Nominee in Trouble in Iran

Northwest filmmaker James Longley received an Academy Award nomination for his 2006 documentary Iraq in Fragments, which he rather courageously filmed during the early stages of the Iraq War. Now he's turned his camera to Iran, as he reports in the Huffington Post. Longley was detained by police in ... More >>

Ballmer Says Microsoft Will Get "Tenacious" With Bing Bling

How awesome is Microsoft? Let us count the ways: Its new web browser is supposedly pretty cool. Its new search engine, Bing, gained a little market share. After a period of intense reflection, Steve Ballmer says the company should have gotten into the search business sooner. But now that the ... More >>

Nickels Gets Another Challenger: Joe Mallahan

First there was McGinn, then Donaldson, then Sigler. Now T-Mobile Vice President Joe Mallahan has officially thrown his hat into the Mayoral ring. (View his campaign site.) In his announcement, he touts his ability to provide basic services, citing work he did for T-Mobile in Texas during Hurricane ... More >>

Ballmer Demands Market Share!

Over at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft has several announcements designed to up its share of the valuable smartphone market. As the NYT reports, having 90 percent of the PC software market is not enough. (Besides, Windows is a mature product.) MSFT only has about 14 percent of mob ... More >>

The Matrix

Over at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft has several announcements designed to up its share of the valuable smartphone market. As the NYT reports, having 90 percent of the PC software market is not enough. (Besides, Windows is a mature product.) MSFT only has about 14 percent of mob ... More >>

Afternoon Edition: Will Kick Dirt in your Face

Over at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft has several announcements designed to up its share of the valuable smartphone market. As the NYT reports, having 90 percent of the PC software market is not enough. (Besides, Windows is a mature product.) MSFT only has about 14 percent of mob ... More >>

New Hire: Josh Feit

Over at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft has several announcements designed to up its share of the valuable smartphone market. As the NYT reports, having 90 percent of the PC software market is not enough. (Besides, Windows is a mature product.) MSFT only has about 14 percent of mob ... More >>

Looking Up

Concrete, glass, steel, and egos

Best Buy Swallows Speakeasy

Concrete, glass, steel, and egos

Found Money

As Microsoft and Yahoo! prepare take on Google, Seattle and UW continue to be a hotbed of Web-search innovation.

Wherefore and Wi-Fi

Seattle companies developing the wireless Internet are chasing new venture capital.

The GOPs Lean Slate

Republicans plan to field just one strong candidate each for governor and Senate.

(PC - P) + E = CE

This year, all cables lead to consumer electronics.

Clean Harbor?

Gov. Locke, his brother-in-law, and the tech company.

Toxic computers

Manufacturers agree a fee might encourage computer recycling.

Week 1: The troubles begin.

Manufacturers agree a fee might encourage computer recycling.

Start-ups and shut downs

Rumors of my departure are accurate.

Best of the rest

Rumors of my departure are accurate.

SQUISHING CHANNELS

Cramming 10 pounds of TV into a two-pound bag.

Control freak-alt-delete

Reading the Findings of Fact as a riveting novel.

Money for nothing?

MP3.com's Michael Robertson leads the music industry into techdom, but some say he's led it astray.

E-musical chairs

Wheels and deals in the turbulent online music business.

Campaign 2000.com

The administration's antitrust crusade may hurt Gore's chances in Redmond, but help him in California.

Microsoft's Last Day

A report from the future on the events that brought down the late, great American monopoly

Caveat surfor

A report from the future on the events that brought down the late, great American monopoly

Foursight

A report from the future on the events that brought down the late, great American monopoly

Undeveloped

A report from the future on the events that brought down the late, great American monopoly

Gamey

A report from the future on the events that brought down the late, great American monopoly