Oregon Trail was a hit in my day. I have fond memories playing that game for hours in school. There was so much action: hunting, infectious diseases, floods and thieves.  I have to say though, I don't know if I ever finished a game (the class bell always came too soon).  I'll go ahead and assume that if you were alive at the end, you won. As one of my favorites growing up, I was excited to hear they are releasing Oregon Trail for the iPhone. According to LA Times, the new Gameloft version doesn't exactly live up to the riveting original green on black game we all loved. However, I was happy to learn the next-gen game allows you to save your progress every five minutes. With that capability, I'm tempted to jump in a wagon and finish (barring a Typhoid outreak).



-posted by Lindsay

I could show this image to express my feelings about the hype of the new Kindle 2.  Or I could simply say: "God, the never ending stream of stories exploring every aspect of the technological and social implications of the Kindle 2 are driving me nuts. Move on already!!!"



-posted by Justin

At VOXUS, we love many things. Beer at the Swiss, AP style, Macs, blue birds, Platinum Reign recording artists, midget pickles, and yes, TechFlash.  So, when the opportunity presented itself to write a caption for a cartoon on TechFlash (spoofing the Milt Priggee mosquito Bill Gates TED incident cartoon), we had to dive right in.  For God's sake, the winner got a Tech Flash t-shirt, do you need more motivation.  Well, my colleague Andrew and I put our awesome minds together and come up with winning caption.  After voting was through, we slaughtered the competition (we secured 78 votes, to other entries 11 and 7 votes) and we received the much anticipated congratulatory email from editor, Todd Bishop. But we must give credit where credit is due.  Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, many colleagues and friends cast a vote (hopefully for us). These tools allowed us to rally the troops and instantly garner votes.  Once again, social media shines!!

Enjoy:



-posted by Justin

It's a thought that's crossed my mind once or twice during my daily commute from Seattle to Tacoma, but now I have some actual proof that the down economy is contributing to driving down traffic in the Seattle Metro Area. Kirkland, Washington-based Inrix claims the Seattle area saw a 28 percent drop in traffic congestion over the last year ranking 9th in the country overall. The report also says the United States as a whole saw a traffic decrease in 2008 from 2007 and blames two factors -- fuel price volatility and rising unemployment. On average, Inrix found Americans spent 13 fewer hours struck in traffic last year. And get this, Inrix claims Detroit say a whopping nearly 47 percent drop in traffic congestion last year alone!

Inrix made the findings based on GPS-enabled vehicles, road sensors and other methods to gather traffic information on the nation's roadways. The company spun out of Microsoft Research and claims to be the "leading innovator of real-time, historical and predictive traffic information, offering the broadest coverage, exceptional accuracy and innovative technologies to ensure the success of our customers’ navigation and traffic-enabled solutions."

Before we all jump up and collectively do the no traffic dance, a point to consider as pointed out by Inrix's CEO Bryan Mistele, "While less traffic is generally good news, the causes of it aren't necessarily something to celebrate. Traffic congestion is an excellent indicator of trends, telling us whether businesses are shipping products, whether people are going to work, and whether shoppers are going to the mall."

Downer or not, I'm enjoying smooth sailing for the time being.



-posted by Andrew

Yet another reason why Facebook users should be cautious.




After this photo appeared on his Facebook page, Kevin Colvin was fired from his job.  Why?  Because he'd told his boss he needed to be out of the office to attend to a family emergency.  He may be unemployed, but now he's famous...in makeup.  And a tutu.

-posted by Rachel

While the Seattle PI might is on the chopping block thanks to the Hearst Corporation, it is apparently only the first of a series. The New York Times reports today that the SF Chronicle is next, with more or less the same rationale -- lack of profitability -- that Hearst gave for the PI.

Hearst said in its statement that The Chronicle, which it bought in 2000, lost $50 million last year and has lost money every year since 2001. Among the changes the company said it wants to see is “a significant reduction” in its union and nonunion employees.

So the paper’s basically never made any money since being bought, and now Hearst must suddenly either get out of its union contracts or shut it down. Interesting.

-posted by Paul

Earlier this year, Avalara, a Bainbridge Island software company that offers sales tax automation products, announced that it was funding SalesTaxBuzz.  The announcement goes on to say that, while its author is an employee and the blog is sponsored by Avalara, it is "independent."  The writer, Althea Azeff, even posted in a February 19, 2009 entry that "I've refrained from even the slightest hint of pushing Avalara thinking..."

This is all very interesting, and I'm wondering whether or not we're witnessing the birth of a new type of payment for blogging.  We've come to accept banner or click-through ads, but this is the first time in our area of the world that a blogging tooth fairy of sorts has been publicly identified as the one leaving the change beneath the pillow.  While I'm willing to believe that the company has given the writer carte blanche on topics, my guess is that discretion will dictate future blog entries.  She is, after all, the person handling Avalara's investor and media relations, and it would not be in her best interests to write something damaging to her employer.  Which brings us full circle: how independent can SalesTaxBuzz afford to be?

Word up to Paul: I'd kind of like to start TechPRBuzz.  How'd you feel about underwriting me if I promise NOT to write about your dog, your wardrobe or your social life?

-posted by Rachel

According to Parks Associates, casual gaming revenues will top $1 billion by 2013. The new report cites social networking and community features as enabling gaming companies to expand. To help show this growth, Parks' sent out this wickedly complex graph with their report summary. I know, I know, too complex. Let me help. This graph shows... wait for it... one more second... oh, hell, I'm just gonna say it, "this graph sucks." I give it my gold star for worst visual representation of data --- EVER!! Do you really need this graph to demonstrate a simple fact (i.e., by 2013 gamers will more than double).



You can purchase (or see the summary) the entire report titled "Networked Gaming: Driving the Future II" at http://parksassociates.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0256-11124_ITM


-posted by Justin

YouNoodle just released its list of the "healthiest startups" for the whole world to see -- otherwise known as YouNoodle Scores. Itself a startup, YouNoodle created the scoring system that rates startups on their "impact and importance", based in part on the number of news stories, blog posts and comments about a company that are posted on the Web at any given time. The score is on a scale of 0 to 100 with 100 being the highest and is continually updated and driven by data garnered from partners including CrunchBase and AngelSoft -- along with data from YouNoodle's own community.

You may remember YouNoodle from last year when it launched its Startup Predictor. The predictor uses an algorithm that crunches startup data to determine the potential success or failure of a company.

Back to YouNoodle Scores, Tech Crunch's John Cook recently took it for a test drive and found Seattle companies apparently aren't much to take notice of. Here's a sampling of how some other "top" startups are faring:

   * Facebook: 98
   * LinkedIn: 96
   * Hulu: 96
   * Etsy: 92
   * Twitter: 91
   * Yelp: 88
   * OpenDNS: 87
   * Mahalo: 83
   * Kayak: 80
   * Blip.tv: 79


Interesting concept but not sure how the numbers really stack up. Is YouNoodle using its noodle?



-posted by Andrew

The Presidents of the United States of America have made an interesting move, foregoing the Apple iTunes Store and offering their entire discography for $2.99 through the App Store instead. The app, called "The Presidents' Music - PUSA" offers users access to all four of the band's full albums, including early "lost" recordings, as well as extras like direct access to the band's blog. According to an article from Ars Technica, by doing this, The Presidents are able to escape the "bureaucratic red tape of the record labels and iTunes Store" and get their music in the hands of people they might otherwise not reach if it was lost in the shuffle of iTunes. The article also details the way the app works (the music is streamed to the app from a server, so the device must be connected to a network) and notes that while this enables the band to continually update the app's content, it also allows them to pull content at any time.

While The Presidents aren't the first band to try out this model (Snow Patrol released an interactive album last year this way), they are turning a big corner by offering up their entire catalog of music for one very low fee. Wonder if other artists will follow suit?



-posted by Stephanie

After 13 years at the helm, Chris Shipley is stepping down as the head of DEMO, one of the best-known launchpads for new technology products and companies. After DEMO's fall conference, Chris is passing the torch to Matt Marshall, the founder of VentureBeat. During her tenure, Chris helped propel about 1,500 products to market -- and that's what she'll now fully concentrate on. Her company, Guidewire Group, is an industry analyst consortium focused on working with technology companies during the critical transition points in their businesses to identify opportunity, define strategy, and accelerate the path to success. We've had a number of clients participate in DEMO in the past...we'll miss Chris and wish her much success going forward.

-posted by Rachel

Here's another 'green' blog for you -- the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of protecting the environment and strengthening the economy, recently released its list of America's top 12 greenest cars of 2009.

According to a recent ACEEE release: Despite the beating taken by the industry in 2008 and more tough times ahead, this continues to be an exciting time for green vehicle technology. Manufacturers are fine-tuning their engines and transmissions, improving materials, and adding emissions control technologies to complete the phase-in of Tier 2 tailpipe standards and get a head start on meeting tightened federal fuel economy standards. Worries over the economy and future gas prices are driving interest in high fuel economy vehicles as well. “The economic downturn may put the brakes on technology investment in some sectors,” noted ACEEE Transportation Director Therese Langer. “But unstable fuel prices and a domestic auto industry in danger of being left in the dust by its foreign competitors make fuel efficiency technologies an essential investment in this business.”



-posted by Shawnna

At the Connectathon conference (2/23-27, Chicago), Nextrials will participate in an integration demonstration between clinical trials’ electronic data capture (EDC) technology and electronic health records (EHR) used within healthcare systems. The integration of EDC and EHR is currently one of the hottest topics in both pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. By integrating EDC products with EHR platforms, researchers will obtain a more efficient, more readily available solution for identifying and enrolling patients in new trials.  For example, case report forms can be pre-populated with data coming directly from existing electronic health records at diverse sites.  This increases performance and efficiency of data capture while also minimizing the potential for bad data related to re-entry into multiple systems. This type of environment also enables sponsors to test hypothetical enrollment trends and spot recruitment problems even before the study protocol is finalized -- ñ saving time and money. 

Nextrials’ award-winning Prism® melds sophisticated clinical trial management functionality with EDC in a single, integrated package. By receiving a constant flow of data, Prism enables sponsors and sites to fully utilize real-time integration of disparate information and data sources, such as a hospital’s EHR or patient records, to better provide a continuum of care for patients enrolled in clinical trials.

Connectathon, being sponsored by IHE, is a major milestone in the industry's progress towards integration and will redefine patient recruiting efforts and costs for clinical trials in the future. Those interested in learning more about the Connectathon or in attending the event can visit http://www.ihe.net/Connectathon/index.cfm.

-posted by Shawnna

On Friday (2/13), Nextrials pledged support for the American National Standards Institute’s (www.ansi.org) latest initiative to facilitate the use of electronic health information within global clinical research activities. One of the industry’s leading proponents for the integration of electronic data capture technology and electronic health records platforms, ANSI began the initiative last year at the request of the U. S. Department of Health and Human services; Nextrials joined the effort to provide support and to help develop the emerging standard.

ANSI is now seeking funding to continue its work to promote the development and adoption of a standard that advances the continuum of patient care through the use of electronic health records to further future research and clinical decisions. In addition to Nextrials, organizations participating in the effort so far include Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Digital Infuzion, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Research and Development, Partners HealthCare, PharmaNet, Inc. and Quintiles.

-posted by Shawnna

Having trouble picking the right V-day card for your sweetheart?  You might not have to. According to a FierceMobileContent story, mobile messaging firm Mogreet Inc. is offering a digital alternative -- a Valentine's eCard designed for play on your loved one's phone. Senders can personalize the card by adding text.  For the holiday, users can select from a catalog of videos, including a series of eCards based on the movie Twilight. eCards are delivered by MMS or as an attachment to an SMS. The best part: you can wait 'till the very last minute since they'll never be out of stock. This is great news for the procrastinating shopper (you know who you are!) that's used to rifling through the leftover cards and sad carnation bouquets.

-posted by Lindsay

Ever wonder whether online friends get to make a connection in the real world? Well, Twitter users did last night in cities around the world. The event's called Twestival and  I attended the Seattle Twestival in they city's Belltown neighborhood.

Some background, Twestival gets its name from Twitter, the social networking site which enables people to connect and communicate with others through micro-blogging (140 characters or less). Twestival was the brainchild of a group of London "Twitters" who met up in September for drinks and to raise money for a local soup kitchen. The turnout was huge, so they decided to organize another version on a larger scale. In January, they released their idea into the Twitter-verse and within a week, they claimed to have people willing to organize events in more than 100 cities. 

According to Twestival's organizing body, about 185 cities worldwide planned to Celebrate Twitter last night and raise funds for Charity:water, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring people in developing countries have access to clean water. All proceeds from the events worldwide were supposed to go to Charity:water and the goal was to raise $1 million (no word yet if that was accomplished). Words couldn't quite grasp the worldliness of the events, so Seattle 2.0 streamed live video from Seattle and Live Earth helped stream video from Twestivals across the world.

Twestival was a great way to get face-to-face with people you might not ordinarily meet up with. Not only was it a great social event, but these gatherings are extra special because they're meant to generate interest/money for great causes. Get ready for more Twestivals, Facebook Meetups, etc... The times they are a changing, but no matter what face-to-face gatherings are still here to stay.



-posted by Andrew

"Blow a Kiss" is a free iPhone App, created by Walmart and Hershey's, that allows you to blow kisses to your loved ones this Valentine's Day... be they near or far. Once you have downloaded "Blow a Kiss" from the Apple App Store and launched it, you simply type in your name, the recipient's name and email address and whatever message you'd like to include. Then, you romantically blow a kiss into the phone's screen - including smooching noises - and an email is sent to your honey that is bursting with pink hearts and warm fuzzy feelings.

A CNET writer did a write-up of the app after trying it out. It seems to work well, but, like he says, can't guarantee you'll get a kiss back.


(Image courtesy: http://www.blushpublishing.co.uk/images/card_lo016_2.jpg)

-posted by Stephanie

Think it's not a small world? Think again. A National Post reporter is probably on the hot seat with his employers today because he forgot one of the cardinal rules of the Internet: what you say will be recorded (and discussed) for some time to come. David George-Cosh, a tech writer for one of Canada's biggest publications, used Twitter to take on April Dunford, a marketing consultant in Toronto. He wasn't happy with her lack of response to his phone call, and her annoyed posting to Twitter. The exchange via Twitter (a free microblogging site), is fascinating to read.

Everyone makes mistakes -- but hopefully, they aren't all as public as this one, which will probably end up in any number of text books on social networking and marketing.

By the way, if you use Twitter and want to follow us, we're @voxuspr.

-posted by Rachel

This hits uncomfortably close to home on a number of levels. (via Daring Fireball)

-posted by Paul

Uber blogger Jason Kottke, commenting on a post by Dan Lyons (of Fake Steve Jobs fame), makes an interesting analogy about the ability to monetize blogging:

As businesses go, blogging is a lot like shining shoes. There are going to be very few folks who own chains of shoe shining places which make a lot of money and a bunch of other people who can (maybe) make a living at it if they bust their ass 24/7/365. But for many, shining shoes is something that will be done at home for themselves because it feels good to walk around with a shiny pair of shoes. Everyone else will switch to sandals (i.e. Twitter) or sneakers (i.e. Facebook) and not worry about shining at all.

-posted by Paul

I came across a very cool Wired post about some students from MIT that have created a wearable computing system that turns objects into interactive display screens. The article also has a video that shows exactly how this works. The entire setup cost less than $350 and was debuted at the TED Conference. I'd go  into more detail, but you really just need to read and watch the article.

http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-digital-six.html

-posted by Justin

In 2009 and 2010, it is estimated that 140,000 U.S.-based jobs will be moved offshore, and more than 50% of those jobs will be in IT, according to the Hackett Group, a global strategic advisory firm. Fortunately, President Barack Obama has made keeping jobs in the U.S. one of his top priorities, and has already proposed tax breaks and initiatives geared towards creating jobs through spending. According to a recent article in Business Week, the proposed stimulus package would direct $20 billion at health information technology and the building of an infrastructure to promote the electronic exchange of health records. That investment will create or retain 86,820 jobs for one year in high-paying industries such as computer hardware manufacturing, software, and IT services. Additionally, the package also includes another $6 billion to improve broadband Internet access in the U.S. That amount would create or retain 29,892 direct telecom jobs for a year and 8,304 capital equipment jobs. If the package passes through Congress, it would definitely be a significant step towards keeping IT jobs here at home.

-posted by Shawnna

As a celebrity news connoisseur, I'm always keen to check out the latest gossip sites or magazines, especially if they offer funny commentary or up-to-the-minute pictures. In an effort to stay current, MSN (www.msn.com) has introduced a new kid to the block (pun intended). Microsoft's online service, is launching Wonderwall, in conjunction with Hollywood television producers Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman, and designed by a founding editor of VH1's Best Week Ever blog. Wonderwall looks like a wall with of tons of photos, graphics and features, and is meant to resemble the image-filled pages of a glossy magazine. BusinessWeek profiled the new site this week and the article includes some interesting statistics about online gossip sites, including the facts that 84% of people on the Internet (men and women!) visit an entertainment site every month, meaning the entertainment category is more popular than social networks, retail and other traditional news outlets. No specific date has been given for the official unveiling of Wonderwall, but a beta version is now up at www.wonderwall.com.

-posted by Stephanie

Who uses rabbit ears in this day and age?  Apparently, more people than you would think. The House just announced broadcasters have four more months to make the switch to digital service. According to a FierceMobileContent story, American consumers are still lacking the information and assistance they need to make the switch to digital in their homes (me on the other hand, I've seen 200+ commercials on the subject). Meanwhile, Qualcomm has to wait to utilize the more than $500 million worth of 700 MHz spectrum they purchased to significantly expand their mobile TV service.

I think we should treat the digital transition like taxes.  How many people wait until the last second to file?  Once a rabbit-ear viewer is forced to miss his or her favorite shows, they'll figure out how to get on board.




-posted by Lindsay

Sometimes in life, we come across random things that are priceless and not at all applicable to medium in which we work (so far, far from tech blogging). But alas, we want to share them with others simply because the level of awesomeness eclipses the utter uselessness of the content you're about to view (should you decide to follow this link). I assure you this is work safe, VOXUS would never intentionally make you, the reader, the target of workplace misconduct.

Now, without further ado....I present to you Robot Chicken's  "Le Wrath di Khan."

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a2505951f130c9f011f139adc170019



-posted by Justin

The X Prize Foundation announced the winner of its "What's Your Crazy Green Idea?" competition on Thursday. The first-place winners, which received $25,000, were University of California at Irvine students Kyle Good and Bryan Le on the Capacitor Challenge team (code for really smart team), for their idea that someone should develop a more efficient energy storage device to replace batteries, for everything from iPods to cars.  Winners were determined by YouTube voting. While not a revolutionary idea, this is a very challenging problem!

So, go forth and create.  Just make sure you stick to their guidelines:

• Use only self-contained capacitors.
• Exceed the energy density of average lead acid batteries.
• Fully recharge in less than a minute and up to 500,000 cycles.
• Be completely recyclable and incorporate nontoxic materials.
• Cost less than twice the price of average lead acid batteries.
• 

-posted by Justin

Studies have shown that free beer is a great incentive...so nPost is right in line with this thinking for its next networking event.  Seattle area tech startups are invited to attend a gathering on Tuesday, March 31 at 6 p.m. at the Columbia City Theater.  The first 100 attendees get beer tickets.  So far, looks like a good lineup of folks from area startups such as iLike, TuneyFish, Whrrl and Yodio.

-posted by Rachel

NBC has reported rising mobile video viewership numbers, thanks in part to its Emmy award-winning Thursday night comedy lineup.  According to a TV Week article, the network is reporting that its mobile video viewers in late 2008 doubled from the previous year. With a growing number of viewers watching "30 Rock," "The Office" (two of my favs) and others, NBC has earned its #2 position for mobile video usage behind Viacom. These numbers indicate that big laughs = big mobile video viewership.

Now if it were just a little easier to deliver a hit comedy show...





-posted by Lindsay

What to do? You've got a flight the evening of Super Bowl Sunday. As luck would have it, I was that person boarding my flight during the 4th quarter of last Sunday's epic Super Bowl XLIII battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals.

With all of the back and forth, one can only call friends and family so many times for updates. So, what did I do you ask? I turned to my Windows Mobile Phone and ESPN's mobile web sports page. The live scoreboard for the Super Bowl refreshes every 15 seconds which means you're getting almost instantaneous updates. My colleague Lindsay Stril blogged about Sprint recently offering a similar service along with past Super Bowl video highlights. However, exactly what was transpiring was up to my imagination. That's because as far as I can tell, there's no service that actually offered up live video of Super Bowl XLIII. How 1999 is that? With advertisers shelling out nearly $3 million for a 30-second TV ad, you've got to think there's some financial incentive to offer up live video of one of, if not the biggest sporting event in the world.

Are you ready for some football on your mobile phone? I am.

-posted by Andrew

CareerBuilder is offering a new spin on the anonymous tipoff. Ever wanted to tell a coworker they "smell like the inside of an old cabin" or wanted to encourage someone to pop in a mint after lunch? Using CareerBuilder's Anonymous Tip Giver you can, with a friendly message delivered by one of four characters. These characters include a mustached businessman with strategically torn holes in his shirt, a barefoot businessman laying across a baby grand, a zombie business woman hovering over her desk and, of course, an alligator (or perhaps crocodile) in a shirt and tie.

After choosing which character you'd like to deliver your helpful tip, you can choose a pre-written message (some of the best are below), choose a delightful voice to deliver the message (you may also choose to record your tip by phone, which might make it less than anonymous), preview and then send to the poor soul in need of a heads-up.

There aren't many "premade" tips - I suppose if you are using a tool like this, you already know exactly what you want to say - but the ones they do have are pretty funny. Here are my favorites:

"One out of 10 people think your barking dog ringtone is funny. That one person is you"

"Next time you're like, giving a presentation, like to the boss, you should like say "like" less."

"You smell like the inside of an old cabin. I thought you should know."

Be aware, a small disclaimer along the bottom of the page warns that "emails created are not private messages and can be viewed and played by others on the internet." Tipsters beware.

-posted by Stephanie