Google invited us to a media lunch but we were messing around with Slacker radio and missed it. Luckily, TechFlash's John Cook was there, tweeting about it, so look for a post from them later on. It'll be a TechFlash! We have a screenshot of the relevant Tweetery. But if you want to buttonhole Google yourself, drop by the Red Door tonight at 6 p.m. (to 8) for a happy hour meetup! more ›

John Cook reports on more layoffs at Rhapsody, a RealNetwork unit based here in Seattle. Fortunately, there's good tech news today too: a Brazilian tech company called Spring Networks is setting up shop in the city, and will be hiring some 35 employees. The Southlake is looking at possible upsides to the bored tunnel viaduct replacement option. West Seattle Blog has more updates on the Junction shooting, including photos of the memorial set up at the site. And over at Sound Transit Blog, there's a list of the major Sound Transit Express changes coming up in 2009. more ›

• John Cook, former newspaper reporter and current blogger at TechFlash.com, lists twelve tech meisters who could save the P-I. Among the illustrious names on the list: Crosscut's David Brewster and Rich Barton, the guy who started Zillow.com.
• Barack Obama must have been such a sweet, angelic child, like baby Jesus only with a bigger halo. Turns out that he lived on our Capitol Hill as a baby, and Capitol Hill Times found his address. Small children residing at 13th & Republican, you too could be President of the United States someday.
• Cameras were rolling at Seacrest in West Seattle this weekend when Tick Tock Productions used the location for six hours to film what was rumored to be a TV pilot. West Seattle Blog has photos of the...er...explosive shoot.

TechFlash reports that the list of downsizing Seattle start-ups--Avelle, Intrepid Learning, AdReady, PayScale, and Redfin--has a new member. Jobster, which underwent some widely blogged about shrinkage last year, is saying goodbye to another 15 staff. With terrific understatement, John Cook notes that Jobster "has tested a number of different business concepts since it was founded in 2004," and says that it now is all about "online recruiting software that helps companies manage job prospects." If only the software had a reverse switch, you know, so you could just flip that and manage layoffs instead. That would be a huge seller right now. more ›

CRM software supplier Entellium claims to "empower small and medium sized businesses," but it looks like the Seattle company's CEO and CFO empowered themselves to pretend their small business was a few sizes bigger, to win $50 million from venture capitalists. "We are the old-fashioned type of entrepreneurs where you have to get revenue in order to spend," CEO Johnston told John Cook in 2004. When the revenue didn't come in fast enough, Johnston and his CFO created a second set of books that inflated Entellium's profits. Cook has Johnston's resignation letter on his new blog, which is currently a clearinghouse for details on the Entellium fraud. more ›

Business reporter John Cook, who came to the P-I in 1999 and founded a cottage enterprise of entrepreneurship coverage (including his Venture Blog), and tech reporter Todd Bishop (at the P-I since 2002, and author of the Microsoft Blog) are departing the P-I, leaving two huge holes in the daily's business coverage and web stats. Outside of sports, their blogs were the top traffic-getters for the P-I website, and both are award-winning reporters. What makes this news even more startling is that both are joining the Puget Sound Business Journal. It's like the Ms losing Beltre and Ichiro to the Aquasox. Word is, the PSBJ has big plans for its new blog-ebrities. more ›

The P-I's John Cook reports that Amazon has bought Shelfari. Shelfari is reporting its purchase, too, so it must be true. Wonder if Amazon gets free shipping when it buys an HQ? more ›

Boeing's announced yet another delay in production of its Dreamliner jet. It's the third such delay, almost sure to push back completion and require late delivery penalty payments to customers. more ›

...now they've snapped up Cranium, reports John Cook:

Seattle board game maker Cranium has been sold to Hasbro for $77.5 million. more ›

Today John Cook mentioned a new, locally based social networking site in his Venture Blog: ListenToYourWife.com. Howard Ro, the husband in the husband-and-wife team behind the site, explains: Ro, an IT consultant, says that many married women feel as if they are not "being heard." "It's not due to abuse or neglect, but just due to the nature of male dominance in a marriage," he said. "We wanted to create a forum for wives to... more ›

It's fantastic that Rev. Hutcherson's pro-discrimination ballot initiative died a sad, lonely death recently. The fortunes of domestic partnerships in our state are on the rise, Democratic Presidential candidates seem to have their gay houses more or less in order and Seattle Pride just wrapped up its second go-round Downtown. Things seem to be looking up, but Seattlest likes to judge which way the wind blows by figuring out where the money goes. The local money is in Redmond. Er, Medina... Meaning Bill Gates has it. And he's investing it in PlanetOut to the tune of $26.2 million via his private investment firm Cascade Investment LLC. more ›

The PI's John Cook offered the best short summary of what's new at Zillow in his Venture Blog today:

Big changes at Zillow.com today, with the company overhauling its Web site to include user-generated for sale listings, a real estate wiki and a new service called "Make Me Move" that allows any home owner to set a dream price for their home on the site.

Here's what I would like to know: What is the worst idea in Seattle high-tech history? more ›