The last time we told you about Bacon Mints, Archie McPhee's attempt to test the notion that everything tastes better with bacon, we quoted someone who worked there. "Disturbingly delicious," they declared. more ›

Fremont's own Getty Images wants to auction itself off and could sell for up to $1.5 billion, reports the NY Times. The stock photo agency has had a rough go of it lately:

But the rise of digital photography and the Web created a host of competitors that charged as little as a dollar for an image. Recent events — from the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister, to the latest foibles of the entertainer Britney Spears — have led to a surging popularity of low-quality but on-the-scene photos, many taken by cellphone cameras. more ›

John Markoff of the NY Times talked gadgets with Steve Jobs.

Today he had a wide range of observations on the industry, including the Amazon Kindle book reader, which he said would go nowhere largely because Americans have stopped reading. more ›

Jonathan Lethem understands what being an unabashed fan feels like, and we are an unabashed, dorky fan of his many books and recent essays. When we heard that he is non-exclusively sharing some of his short stories for $1 to be reused in other works of art (films, songs, etc) and he is giving away the option to his new novel, You Don't Love Me Yet, and releasing the ancillary rights after five years, we realized he was moving even further into territory very dear to our heart. We chatted with him in advance of his appearance at the Seattle Arts and Lecture series Wednesday night. more ›

Seattlest just found out that John Hodgman's troubador-in-waiting and coonskin-cap-wearing songwriter extraordinaire, Jonathan Coulton, will be performing at the Jewelbox Theater (chez Rendezvous) after the reading at Elliot Bay. Those who've only read Hodgman's book and not attended any readings may not be so familiar with Coulton--who plays musical and straight-man counterpart to Hodgman on a variety of fronts--but his acoustic remix of "Baby Got Back" brings down the house every time. more ›

The release of Pearl Jam's new album came and went without so much as a single flannel appearing in Belltown and nary a Rolling Stone cover story devoted to the Seattle Scene. Oh well, it's ok stuff and heartfelt, but hardly the life-altering event previous PJ albums may have been. The band released a video last week, though, which is something they haven't done since 1998. We barely remember '98: Y2K was approaching, the War on Terror was a gleam in Rumsfeld's eye, Pearl Jam was relevant. more ›

ConWorks has been bringing some interesting acts into their renovated lobby/stage space. The diversity in the inaugural lineup is nothing short of impressive, ranging from jazz to electronic music, from those with followings to the more obscure. The primary issue thus far has seemed to stem from a strong lack of promotion. Perhaps the art crowd is in the know, but knowledge of this set of events has yet to really percolate into the public. ConWorks, if you're listening, get to work on that. more ›