7 posts and columns on J Allard

Outdoorsy Flash Sales Site Raises $2 Million From Former Xbox Exec J Allard

in Commerce on June 29, 2011 at 5:00 am PT

The Clymb, which is announcing today that it has raised $2 million in capital, is a flash sales site focused on selling backpacks and crampons — rather than high heels and handbags.
theclymb_logo

Gone in a Flash: Seattle Tech Bloggers Abruptly Leave Business Journal for All-New GeekWire

in Commerce on March 7, 2011 at 5:10 pm PT

After spending the past two and a half years building the Seattle technology news site, TechFlash, Todd Bishop and John Cook have broken ties with the Puget Sound Business Journal and have started a site of their own.

QOTD

“Please, put my headcount and that cardkey “invitation” to good use. Find a college student that claims we don’t get it and blogs tirelessly about our lack of agility. Track down an EE that has been focusing on fuel cells and has radical thoughts about power management. Or a social networking whiz who is tired of building little islands that go hot and cold and can’t break the mainstream. Hire a designer who’s given shape to 2 decades of beautiful automobiles and thinks we can sculpt technology to better connect to users. Infuse them with our purpose. Give them the tools. Give them lots of rope. Learn from them. Support where they take you.

Decide. Change. Reinvent.”

– J Allard on leaving Microsoft

Bach and Allard Out at Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division [Internal Memo]

in News on May 25, 2010 at 9:00 am PT

Microsoft is reorganizing its Entertainment and Devices Division and when it’s finished, the two people who have largely defined the business unit for the past few years will be gone. EDD Group President Robbie Bach and J Allard, its senior VP of Design and Development, are leaving those positions and Microsoft as well. After the jump, the full text of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s memo announcing the moves.

Microsoft Plans New Shake-Up

in News on May 24, 2010 at 10:00 pm PT

Microsoft Corp. is expected to shake up the management of its division focused on videogames, mobile phones and other devices, in the wake of increasingly bruising competition from Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in the market for consumer devices, according to people familiar with the matter.

Embrace. Extend …. What Comes Next, Again?

in Social on March 25, 2008 at 12:09 am PT

In February, Microsoft surprised industry watchers and embraced the idea of data portability, throwing its support behind OpenID, a decentralized digital-identity protocol. This morning came the inevitable extension of that idea, the announcement of a partnership with five social networks on a new data-portability strategy.