So you gotta love a guy who literally puts it all out there. Scott Krager, founder of Notary One (where notaries come to you when you need them), has given himself one year to find a wife via eHarmony.com. While this, in itself, isn't all that remarkable, the fact that you can vicariously enjoy his intense pursuit of matrimony is. Check out his blog at www.eharmony.wordpress.com.

-posted by Rachel

Seattle-based Infinium Labs officially changed its name to Phantom Entertainment earlier this week. Not a bad idea...the Infinium name is unfortunately associated with its former CEO and chairman, now charged by the SEC with securities fraud. Under the banner of Phantom Entertainment, the gaming peripheral company hopes to raise more cash by doubling authorized company shares from 600 million to 1.2 billion. Let's hope that's not just a phantom wish.

-posted by Rachel

The National Microscope Exchange, based in Carnation, launched www.microscopeauctions.com last week to connect buyers with new and used microscopes. I'm always fascinated by niche markets -- who knew there would be a need for this?

-posted by Rachel

Thank God for John Cook, the Seattle P-I's intrepid blogger, who frequently covers little-known (but important!) facts about the area. Last week, his column clued me in to PropertyShark, a new database for easy property research...which can also be used to pinpoint where wealthy, single folks live in the area. Looking for prince charming? According to PropertyShark's man maps, try Belltown or Auburn. Conversely, prosperous single women are living in Madison Park.

-posted by Rachel

The future I read about in elementary school is finally here. Last month, Vancouver, BC-based Braintech, which makes vision guided robotic software, announced that its product is now being deployed in the Toyota Motors plant in West Virginia. Essentially, Braintech's TrueView(tm) technology enables human assembly line workers to be replaced by vision guided robots to automate the transfer of completed engines to the engine testing line. Aldous Huxley wouldn't be surprised.

-posted by Rachel

Starbucks is always looking for innovative ways to use technology to increase its interaction with customers. Its cafes were early adopters of WiFi technology -- and this week, the company initiated the "Starbucks Summer Pursuit" game. Using Starbucks-related trivia questions delivered via text message, customers with cell phones can enjoy a summertime scavenger hunt between now and August 11. Top winners go to New York City to play in the ultimate scavenger hunt.

-posted by Rachel

The saga of Onyx Software continues to take interesting turns. Once a titan in the Seattle-area technology arena, Onyx agreed last month to be acquired by M2M Holdings (owned by Battery Ventures and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners). But rejected suitor CDC Corp., a Hong Kong-based software firm, isn't willing to gracefully leave the bargaining table. The company mounted a hostile takeover with an offer that now tops the one made by M2M. For even more drama, CDC has charged that the reason Onyx is failing to seriously consider its offer is because M2M Holdings has promised to keep current management in place -- and presumably CDC has not made the same promise.

-posted by Rachel

I was really excited when I finally reached the end of my 4 year contract with Cingular (and yes, in that time, I could have done another tour of college duty). So excited that I jetted over to Verizon to switch plans and get a new phone. I won't bore you with the details of why I despise Cingular....well, okay, maybe one or two for old times sake. I'm still disgusted over the AT&T/Cingular merger - if you were with AT&T, you basically got screwed and treated like dirt (i.e., migration costs, no rebates, etc.). Billing, billing, billing! My God, how many times can you mess up a bill. I was over charged five straight months to the tune of more than $300. Deep breaths. BUT, everything's gonna be okay now that I have "the Q" right? Ahh, I'm not so sure.

Likes: So I have to say, the phone is sleek, light and perfect for the pocket. The screen is clear, colors vibrant, sound is fantastic. Camera's great, video is great, MP3 player is great. Love the key board, love the sound quality and the speaker phone. Like the home interface with Windows Mobile.

Loath: The key lock function is wack. Once you lock the key board, the phone automatically shuts down after an hour or so. Volume!!! Apparently, you can only increase the volume while having a conversation...what's up with that. Sync with computer....unless you have a MAC. I was told I could download third party software, but have yet to locate it and have read some posts claiming the software is very buggy. Overall, the applications and features are just not granular enough.

I may need to jet back to the store and reinvest in a trusty Treo or RAZR.

-posted by Justin

So Seattle P-I reporter John Cook recently went on vacation...but before he did, he posed a question: if you could join any startup in town, which one would it be? One of the more interesting comments was from James Wren, a former Amazonian who is forming a mobile application company called Positive Motion that will enter the social networking market (he calls it a cell phone education application). Since this seems to be a hot entry spot for entrepreneurs these days, it'll be interesting to watch his progress. He's started a blog where you can follow him step-by-step as he goes through the process of establishing his company.

-posted by Rachel

Trumba continues to build its reputation as the little company that could (and does!). The company grabbed the editor's choice award from Webhost Magazine this month for its "excellent calendar service." You can learn more by checking out Trumba's interesting blog, where there are other very entertaining and useful entries.

Not bad for a startup that's tackling 800 pound gorilla Google.

-posted by Rachel

Since we had the opportunity to work with Bellevue-based Action Engine in its early days, it's a real pleasure to see the company surging ahead after its morph into something more than just a web-access platform for mobile phones. Industry analysts at IDC recently named Action Engine one of the top 10 emerging wireless entertainment players to watch in 2006.

-posted by Rachel

Attention all restuarant fanatics -- Ruby Tuesday has selected Tripwire Enterprise to ensure that all credit card data is safe and secure.

-posted by Justin