Our friends at Bellevue's eMagin have found an interesting adaptive use for its award-winning 3D visor. Previously known as one of the better headgear device developers for PC gaming, eMagin moved into a whole new marketing realm through its partnership with Medicaa, a medical hardware developer. Medicaa has integrated eMagin's device into its Balance Rehabilitation Unit for treating patients with instability disorders. BRU was approved earlier this month by the FDA for patient use.

-posted by Rachel

Madrona Ventures and Amazon.com are sponsoring a free seminar for Seattle-based tech company entrepreneurs (early stage and startups), along with any local VCs, to better explain and explore Amazon's Web Services. The event is scheduled for Thursday, April 26 from 2-7 p.m. You must RSVP and be pre-qualified to attend. Look here for more information.

-posted by Rachel

There's a big new gun in town that's aiming to inform local gourmets and gourmands of the ins and outs of Seattle dining. Urbanspoon makes it simple to find a restaurant...and to not waste your time at establishments that have been found wanting. But it's the site's blog that is really entertaining. Last month, it compared two French restaurants, Le Pichet and Le P'tit Bistro, and I'm happy to report that one of my favorite restaurants, Le Pichet, received its props. Allez-y.

-posted by Rachel

Lightspeed Venture Partners' blog has an interesting entry on the pros and cons of "stealth mode" for startups. It's a great summary for entrepreneurs trying to figure out the best way to launch a new company.

-posted by Rachel

It's a banner month for our team as CipherLab joins the ranks of VOXUS clients featured in trade magazine cover stories this month. The lead story in the March issue of Integrated Solutions for Retailers talks about a CipherLab data capture deployment at Associated Grocers of the South.

-posted by Rachel

Last year, I was discussing Real Networks with one of its alumni, Sherman Griffin, who now works for Amazon.com. He guesstimated that there had to be close to 800 ex-Real Networks employees in and around the Seattle area...which got me thinking when I read in John Cook's blog about Shelfari's recent funding. Two of Shelfari's cofounders, Josh Hug and Kevin Beukelman, are ex-Real Networks employees. Just how many other ex-RNs have risen to business prominence? Locally, there's Larry Jacobson as president & CEO of Cdigix, Scott Erlach co-founded Red Tie Media and we all know Senator Maria Cantwell went to Washington. Last month, Redback Networks announced it had hired Dr. Alan Lippman, who invented streaming audio and video production and was one of the first five employees at Real Networks. But ultimately, I suppose all of this pondering is really trivial, as Real Networks has to go a long ways to beat Microsoft as having the biggest group of alumni in town. Heck, even Real Networks founder, Rob Glaser, came from M$.

-posted by Rachel

Bellevue-based Intelligent Results was sold this week to First Data, putting a question mark to whether or not the company will continue to operate in Washington much longer. Intelligent Results offers a customer data analytics software, so it might be easy to completely shift the company's operations in the near future.

-posted by Rachel

In the PR world, we all strive for it: to get a client featured in a cover story. So when it happens, as it did this month for VOXUS client Nextrials, we have to take a quick moment to note it...before moving on to the next challenge. Nextrials was interviewed on the topic of meshing electronic data capture and clinical trial management systems for the February issue of Bio-IT World. Not bad for a small company. Today: Bio-IT World. Tomorrow: ?

-posted by Rachel