Amazon put out their "Outstanding 2011 Albums You Might Have Missed" list and the Pacific Northwest is littered throughout including a number one spot for Shelby Earl. We knew about them and we're glad everyone else is about to discover them too. more ›

With all the hullabaloo in Olympia, it's easy to forget that Occupy Seattle is fighting a groundwar here at home. Also, that other news is happening. more ›

Police announce arrests in July's gang-related shootout in Kent, Tacoma teachers stick to their guns, Amazon wins big, and Washington State loses bigger. All that, plus a very surly Friday Morning Jam, in today's headlines. more ›

The Seattlest Curmudgeon strikes again, this time, in favor of libraries. So, see? We're not all haters. more ›

It's getting warm in the Puget Sound, which means tempers are rising and litigants are getting hot under the collar. Today, it's Amazon vs. the Hells Angels, a heated argument among school board members and more. more ›

A local businessman makes good for one of our city's museums, proving that philanthropy isn't dead, and if you build a cool enough museum, donors will follow suit. more ›

A little over two years ago, Seattle author Boyd Morrison had three completed manuscripts, a literary agent, and rejection letters from every major publisher in New York. Today he has a multi-book deal with Simon & Schuster. more ›

When Amazon's cloud went down, it brought the Internet to a screeching halt, as massively popular sites crashed left and right. People we furious. The world stood still. Behold, the power of Amazon. And yet, even with its cash, creativity and exceptionally marketable products, the locally-based bookseller, publisher and retail giant isn't invincible. Its own site experienced crashes and crawling speeds this weekend-- the result of a single cut-rate promotion. The total loss? Estimated to be between $2.6 and $3 million. Behold, the power of Lady Gaga. more ›

And though it’s good to know that we’re all reading something, I still prefer my stories in a more tangible incarnation. more ›

Cutbacks at Clearwire, bears (maybe) in Bothel, and Amazon's mysterious new moves. more ›

Did your website suffer last week as a result of Amazon's cloudy outage? They've got a little something to make it up to you. more ›

South Lake Union Blog just posted the news of another restaurant to join the growing conglomerate invading the neighborhood: Cactus. The local chain, which plates up Southwest-Mexican inspired food, already operates restaurants in Madison Park, West Seattle and Kirkland. The new 5,000 square foot eatery will be housed in the Phase IV Amazon building on Terry and Harrison, according to Discover SLU. more ›

Our fair city is still small enough that it's exciting when we get a mention in the New York Times. It's especially exciting when our history is dissected into what's basically a glowing review of our priorities and way of life. more ›

In today's news: a mysterious bout of fake Seattle Times headlines; the State of the City; Amazon gives the finger to Netflix; lots of snow and even more beer news. more ›

As you've seen with our Octopus Dishes, Octopus tats, Heavens to Etsy and This Week in Film features today, the Seattlest staff has done our best to mine some local octopus content for our readers. But it's not enough! Not enough! What happens when you slap the keyword "octopus" into some Seattle sites' search engines? more ›

Amazon.com announced this morning the first in its new series of city guides. No surprise, the company went local with its first tome: Chef Walks:Seattle is a dining, drinking, shopping and sightseeing guide from none other than Tom Douglas (and co-authored by his longtime collaborator Shelley Lance). more ›

Oh, what to get that hard-to-buy for person on your list this year? May we suggest the Laptop Steering Wheel Desk by Mobile Office--a hit with Amazon users*--although common complaints address a lack of a cup holder, no straps to keep sliding laptops secure, and a missing lip to catch rolling vegetables and dripping baby pee. Sometimes the cons outweigh the pros of this wonderful product: more ›

KOMO reports that UW is testing out the use of the Amazon Kindle in their classrooms this fall. The University's Computer Science & Engineering Department will give every CS&E graduate student a Kindle DX, which will replace textbooks and research papers in their first-year courses. Kindle-edition textbooks and other materials will also be given to them free of charge. Amazon's sending Kindle DXs to six other universities throughout the United States. UW will be the first to get the book-killers. more ›

Yes, yes, Seafair is this weekend, but if you are a parent of a gradeschooler, or a nerd, or both, then there is a much more important event. Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is playing at the Pacific Science Center IMAX. more ›

Amazon buys Zappos, the online shoe store. Amazon already runs high-end shoes and accessories site Endless.com. Zymogenetics stock is up with promising new lupus treatment. more ›

Gizmodo is reporting a really, really bad thing: Amazon has deleted digital books from customers' Kindles after they've already bought them. The kicker? The books were Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm. (This irony is delicious! Where did you get it?) Gizmodo says the publisher "changed its mind" about having electronic versions, which we don't actually believe. We don't see Amazon bowing and scraping before publishers much, let alone offering to break into customers' devices for them to erase purchased products. Stay tuned for the full story--just maybe not on a Kindle. more ›

A Frenchman runs Amazon's worldwide customer service; a French-made engine powers Boeing's 737s. In all, some 600,000 Americans owe their jobs to French investment in the U.S., while American investment in France employs 600,000 Frenchies. Despite the economic crunch felt by both countries, there's still a billion dollars of bilateral trade between the U.S. and France every day, says Pierre Vimont, the French ambassador to the U.S. more ›

While Nike and Starbucks get applause for their leadership in sustainability--especially Nike, which joined Johnson & Johnson in publicly scolding the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its opposition to global warming legislation--Sightline wonders why Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing aren't putting their lobbying efforts where their corporate climate policies are. "Google has," says Sightline's Fahey, twisting the green knife (our italics), and linking to a video of Google's Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives, testifying to Congress. Her point is, "Standing on the sidelines of the debate in the state legislatures and in Congress can be as damaging as standing in the way." more ›

• There are some crankypants smokers who have been forced to quit because of the federal tax hike. Watch out as some become even crankier because their non-smoking daily commute has doubled in time, thanks to the I-90 bridge closures.
• All schools that closed due to swine flu will re-open tomorrow. Ha.
• The government says they won't be able to save the newspaper industry, but Amazon says they can help save the newspaper industry with their new e-reader.

Hey, Seattlest doesn't have any bestsellers, gay or straight, banned or otherwise, but "software glitch?" C'mon. Even if it wasn't a deliberate wardrobe malfunction, Amazon's response was just pitiful, akin to the woman in charge of snowplows leaving town during December's storm. Twitter's out there pushing conspiracy theories, and Amazon's all "Nevermind." You'd think the company that pioneered online book sales would do a better job of managing an online crisis. Jeff Bezos, where are you? more ›

Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos, with his cueball head and giraffe neck, appeared on the Daily Show last night to shill for his high-falutin' e-book reader:
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David Pogue Hearts Jeff Bezos is the headline for the Seattle Weekly blog post, which asserts, "it's fair to say that [NYT] personal technology writer David Pogue is now officially in love with Jeff Bezos." Except David Pogue doesn't agree that his review of the Kindle 2.0 is such a wet, sloppy kiss and says so in the comments: "Um, no, it's not. Did you read the same article I wrote? I remember writing something far more mixed. Did you skip over these parts?" Pogue isn't Marshall McLuhan, but other than that, it's pure Annie Hall. What Pogue does conclude is "the new Kindle edges even closer to the ideal of an e-book reader." Edges, not leaps. more ›

We take a break from chronicling the collapse of the economy for some happier news. CrunchGear says Kindle 2.0 is finally on the horizon: "We’ve got a seat at another conference on Monday, February 9, and unless they’re announcing a Bezos-themed amusement park in the Ukraine, I’m pretty sure we’re going to see the Kindle 2." Here's a second source, doubters. The design is supposed to be significantly upgraded, but the question everyone has is how much the new candy costs. Will Amazon stick to its $359 guns? And will they make more than 500 of them this time? more ›

A new weekend post from our new fashion correspondent, Cameron Levin. But before we get to the fashion talk, she's also got the lowdown on some time-sensitive designer retailer events for you:
• Polite Society Trunk Show with acclaimed Russian talent, Madina Vadache, featuring her spring/summer couture collection on Thursday, January 29th, 6-8pm. Vadache will be there for personal consultations and custom fittings. RSVP by January 27th to info@shoppolitesociety.com or by calling 206-441-4796.
• Karan Dannenberg 70% off storewide sale, January 25-31
• Butch Blum Winter Sale, 50% storewide sale

• CHS datamined the scoop on the newest new restaurant to hit Odd Fellows Hall, Tin Table: "We believe that food and wine should be an experience for the senses and a festival to spirit."
• Seattle Metblogs realized the hard, concrete fact that we all probably have been trying to avoid stubbing our emotional toe on: a decision on what to do about the Viaduct will never arrive. (In the meantime, Ballard is still holding out for a tunnel.)
• TechFlash reported on Amazon's economy-defying holiday traffic surge--their traffic was up 7 percent compared to December 2007. Though we wonder how much of that was Seattleites checking to see where their snowbound packages were.