Pacific Northwest

Headless Lawsuit in Topless Blog!

Kara Swisher in News on April 14, 2011 at 8:46 am PT

On some level of journalism, I guess anything could happen. But does that mean it should? Some sensational stories in tech of late have led to some even more sensational reporting.

ATD Adds Tricia Duryee (Who Will Add It All Up for Our Readers)

Kara Swisher in Commerce on October 25, 2010 at 5:42 am PT

And the hit reporters/bloggers keep on coming at All Things Digital. Today, we are honored to add Tricia Duryee to the staff of our site, where she will be covering commerce, online payments, gaming and more. In other words: She’ll show us the money. Or not, in some cases.

ATD Adds Tricia Duryee (Who Will Add It All Up for Our Readers)

Kara Swisher in News on October 25, 2010 at 5:42 am PT

And the hit reporters/bloggers keep on coming at All Things Digital. Today, we are honored to add Tricia Duryee to the staff of our site, where she will be covering commerce, online payments, gaming and more. In other words: She’ll show us the money. Or not, in some cases.

BoomTown Checks In at the Online-Only Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Kara Swisher in News on August 9, 2010 at 11:05 am PT

A little more than a week ago, while I was in the Pacific Northwest, I decided to pay a visit on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Or, as its brand is known now: seattlepi.com. That would be the pixel-only version of the newspaper that was founded in 1863 as that city’s first, publishing a print version until March of 2009. It was then that the presses stopped and the computing began at the unit, owned by Hearst Corp. Click in to see how it’s going so far.

BoomTown Gets Ping-Ponged in Seattle by TechFlash

Kara Swisher in News on July 30, 2010 at 2:33 pm PT

On my trip to Seattle this week to attend Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting, the fine folks at the most excellent tech news site TechFlash dragooned me into a ping-pong tournament they were holding. The Second Annual TechFlash Summer BBQ and Ping-Pong Tournament, held at the Showbox SoDo is really a big schmoozefest for techies in the Pacific Northwest.

Liveblogging Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting (Morning Session): It's a Beautiful Day?

Kara Swisher in News on July 29, 2010 at 8:24 am PT

BoomTown took the corporate All Things Digital jet–aka Virgin America, seat 10A–up to Redmond, Wash., today to attend Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting, which also includes a passel of media drones like me. I liveblogged the event all day, which was essentially a cavalcade of top execs from the software giant taking the stage and showing off their wares. Before it started, U2′s “Beautiful Day” was playing over the sound system, which it was not up here in the Pacific Northwest this morning–it was kind of cold and gloomy, a la “Twilight”–but hopefully sparkly for Microsoft execs.

RealNetworks Founder Glaser Becomes a VC at Accel–The Venture Firm That Backed Him 15 Years Ago

Kara Swisher in News on May 25, 2010 at 8:50 pm PT

Rob Glaser, the founder of RealNetworks, is joining Accel Partners as a part-time venture partner. Ironically, it was Accel that first funded the digital media pioneer, leading a critical $5.7 million round for RealNetworks in 1995. Glaser said in an interview this afternoon with BoomTown that he will focus on digital media, as well as social and mobile start-ups, especially in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest area where he lives and where he founded RealNetworks.

RealNetworks to Lay Off Four Percent of Staff Today

Kara Swisher in News on November 5, 2009 at 12:34 am PT

The Seattle area is going to get another jobless jolt today, with RealNetworks planning to lay off four percent of its workforce, sources said. That’s a small number–just about 70 people out of its 1,700-person staff–but the move comes on the heels of layoffs of another 800 employees at nearby Microsoft yesterday. The reasons for the layoffs at RealNetworks are, as was the case at Microsoft, to realign the workforce after the recent economic downturn and to control costs.

Microsoft Execs Got Compensation Axed, as Ballmer Touts "The New Efficiency" (Which Sounds Painful!)

Kara Swisher in News on September 30, 2009 at 1:34 am PT

BoomTown happens to be in the Seattle area today, deep in the heart of Microsoft territory, which apparently is now living in a state of “new normal” according to a declaration by the software giant’s CEO, Steve Ballmer. Well, it all looks the same to me, but that’s what he said in an “executive e-mail” post yesterday titled “The New Efficiency” about the changes brought on by the econalypse. Of course, it’s also a new buzzword for the company’s upcoming Windows 7 rollout, complete with a Web site. Now, that’s efficient! Meanwhile, Microsoft revealed in a proxy filing that the direct compensation of its top execs in 2009 had been slashed.

Yahoo to Get 110 Percent of Search Revenue in First Two Years of Deal With Microsoft

Kara Swisher in News on July 28, 2009 at 10:17 pm PT

According to several sources close to the situation–under the terms of a pending large-scale deal, in which Yahoo would sell search advertising for its sites and some of Microsoft’s, while Microsoft search technology would power it–Yahoo would get to keep pretty much all the revenue and more for the next three years. Sources said that in the first two years of the partnership, which is expected to be announced tomorrow, Yahoo would keep 110 percent of all revenue. And, in the third, Yahoo would get 90 percent. That could represent many billions of dollars, since Yahoo will be selling for both companies. For Microsoft, the payment will–within four years–allow the company to become the de facto No. 2 search technology player after Google.