TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

We're concluding our look back at the top stories of the year today with a fun category. As loyal readers of TechFlash know, we like to cover breaking news, feature cool products and profile the leading minds in technology. But some of our absolute favorite stories are the offbeat pieces which tell the quirky and unusual side of the Pacific Northwest technology community. So, we decided to highlight our top 10 post -- nah, make that top 11 posts -- which can best be described as odd news.

Windows Phone parade: Thriller, and pallbearers carrying iPhone

What Microsoft learned from Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates

Microsoft apologizes for banning gamer from Fort Gay, West Virginia

Top five worst Google Fiber pitches

Read Ballmer's lips? Guess not

How to fix the Gulf oil spill: Bob Woodward says 'Call in Google'

Rapping monkey puppet says Amazon is buying Woot.com

Microsoft guys get girls; other Millionaire Matchmaker musings

Paul Allen's Brangelina moment

Microsoft: 1 in 5 young adults has dropped a phone in a toilet

Don't Kindle and drive

Previously on TechFlash: Top 10 Startup Stories of 2010. Top 10 Amazon stories of 2010. Top 10 Microsoft stories of 2010.

Microsoft is by far the biggest technology company in the Seattle area. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that stories about the software titan drove the most traffic on TechFlash during 2010. Here's a look back at the most read Microsoft stories for 2010, including news of executive departures, challenges facing CEO Steve Ballmer and controversies about Kin.

Video: Bing Maps at TED

Bach, Allard leaving Microsoft in big shift for consumer business

Windows Phone challenges us to pull our heads out of our phones

Q&A: Microsoft's Bach on his exit, and future of the company

Microsoft apologizes, edits Kin video after 'sexting' complaints

WA seeks new tax revenue from software, but not from Microsoft

Microsoft pruning more jobs

Why Microsoft? Ballmer's reply to underwhelmed college student

Feathers fly over 'Angry Birds' teaser on Windows Phone site

Microsoft job cuts in the hundreds, scattered across the company

Previously on TechFlash: Top 10 Startup Stories of 2010. Top 10 Amazon stories of 2010.

Here's even more evidence that the iPhone is coming to Verizon. Apple reportedly has boosted shipments of the popular device to as many as 21 million units during the first quarter of next year, with five to six million of the units slated to be CDMA devices, according to DigiTimes which cited unnamed sources at Taiwanese component makers. CDMA is the wireless networking standard used by Verizon.

One of the new features we added in 2010 was the TechFlash Podcast. Over the course of 40 weekly episodes, we've gone from a makeshift basement setup to the studios of 97.3 KIRO-FM in Seattle -- having lots of fun along the way, and bringing in some great guests to enlighten and entertain us.

We're taking a hiatus from the podcast this month, but we'll back in early 2011 with a fresh batch of shows. In the meantime, for your holiday listening pleasure, we put together this special episode featuring some of our favorite moments from the past year.

Listen to TechFlash Podcast 040

Listen above or subscribe to the podcast using this RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/techflashpodcast), or via iTunes or Zune. Access the archive to hear full episodes of the podcast, and continue reading for links to the full versions of the interviews and segments excerpted in this highlight show. Here's the MP3 for this show.

The daily tech news flow is starting to slow down as folks prepare for the final holiday push. Nonetheless, there's been some interesting news in the past few days. Here are some of the stories that caught our eye.

Microsoft apparently made a bid to buy Yelp for as much as $700 million, but the the online provider of restaurant and business reviews decided to stay independent. Now, TechCrunch speculates that Microsoft may be plotting to build its own Yelp rival with called Postbox. The story is based on a trademark filing from Microsoft which notes that it relates to online "business directories featuring restaurants, bars, nightclubs, tourist attractions, entertainment and sports events, seasonal and holiday events." Full story: Is Microsoft plotting a Yelp competitor named Postbox?

Is Google starting to look more like Microsoft? That's the thesis of a piece in Alley Insider which lays out 10 ways that the search giant is becoming more like the software titan. Among the items listed are "fleeing employees," "increasingly bizarre leadership," and "the stock price is flattening." Full story: 10 Ways Google is Turning into Microsoft.

My parents were thinking about getting me an iPad this holiday season, but I opted not to get one since it doesn't really fill a deep need for me in terms of gadgets. Given that, I was interested to read Brett Arends' list of why you should wait (at least until next year) to buy Apple's hot new device. Among the reasons listed by the The Wall Street Journal reporter: "It'll get boring;" "It'll be cheaper next year;" and "The whole Apple cult is starting to creep me out." Full story: Why I don't want an iPad for Christmas.

Oh, those crazy college kids. Check out this hack of Microsoft's Kinect game controller developed by students in the UW's BioRobotics LabFull story which brings a sense of touch to the device. Via Engadget: "Kinect and haptics combine at the University of Washington to let you feel the future."

Linden Lab, the maker of the virtual world Second Life, has named former Electronic Arts executive Rod Humble as CEO, according to ReadWriteWeb. He replaces interim CEO Philip Rosedale, the former RealNetworks employee who started Linden Lab in 1999. Linden Lab is backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and others.

Blue Nile Chairman and Zulily co-founder Mark Vadon sits down with Henry Blodget to discuss mobile commerce. Vadon notes that Blue Nile recently recorded a $250,000 engagement ring sale which was purchased via mobile phone. Video below:

Microsoft is taking some flak this week after issuing a press release that it sealed an agreement to provide online communications and collaboration tools to students at 64 campuses at the State University of New York. The release notes that SUNY "sought to decrease costs while providing its 465,000 students with up-to-date technology necessary for success in college and in today’s workforce."

That sounds like a big deal. But Google says not so fast. The search giant, which is in a heated competition with Microsoft to roll out cloud-based applications to universities and other organizations, said that the Microsoft statements were misleads and a number of SUNY schools had recently switched over to its cloud-based applications, according to Information Week.

Microsoft is working on a new version of Windows that uses chips from ARM Holdings, part of an effort by the software company to regain leadership in the market for smartphones and mobile devices, according to Bloomberg News. Microsoft plans to announce the new partnership at the Consumer Electronics Show early next month, though the technologies won't be made available for at least two years.

Microsoft is in a big hole when it comes to the mobile phone business. But with the October 21st release of Windows Phone 7, the company is committed to making itself a player again. And just how is the company doing on that front?

In a Q&A today on Microsoft's press site, Achim Berg laid out an early report card on the progress thus far. The vice president of business and marketing for Windows Phones disclosed that the company has sold more than 1.5 million devices through its handset partners in the first six weeks. That's not quite enough to make a serious dent in the market share of Apple's iPhone or Google's Android. But Berg noted that it is not so much a sprint as a marathon.

Who are the biggest wealth creators and wealth destroyers in American business? That's the goal of an annual analysis from Chief Executive magazine and Applied Financial Group, which attempts to rank those CEOs based on how much economic value they've created.

Two Northwest high-tech leaders appeared on the list, but at different ends of the spectrum. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos -- who has driven the online retailer's stock price up more than 33 percent so far this year -- finished fifth just behind Apple's Steve Jobs. That was down one slot from last year's ranking.

But the big drop came at Microsoft. Steve Ballmer's ranking plummeted a whopping 65 spots as the CEO of the software giant finished in 73rd place. That was enough for the company and Ballmer to earn an "F" in terms of economic margin change. [Update: As a reader pointed out, Microsoft did receive an "A" rating in three of the categories, including management quality score]. Only Campbell Soup, and its CEO Douglas Conant, saw a bigger drop among the top 100 companies.

When Microsoft executive Stephen Elop joined Nokia as CEO in September, speculation quickly arose that the move could eventually signal a stronger bond between the Redmond software giant and the Finnish mobile phone titan. Now, reports surfacing this morning indicate that the two companies are in talks to create new devices based on the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system.

The economy may be stuck in a rut. But there are still some red-hot areas in the tech industry where highly-skilled workers are in demand. (There's a reason why all of those Silicon Valley tech companies are setting up development centers in Seattle).

But where are the best places to work? Glassdoor.com, a jobs and career site, recently unveiled their list of the top 50 employers, a list led by Facebook, Southwest Airlines, Bain & Company, General Mills and Edelman. Just one Seattle-based company, the IT consulting shop Slalom Consulting, cracked the top 25 of the national list. (It ranked 8th).

But the folks at Glassdoor took it a step further, offering a more detailed look at the top employers in the Seattle area (at least judged by the people who work at those companies). Glassdoor also compiled its annual ratings of the best and worst CEOs.

Microsoft often gets criticized for not pushing the innovation envelope, following in the footsteps of others who blaze the trail. But with the release of Windows Phone 7, Kinect and Windows Azure this year, Microsoft Chief Patent Officer Bart Eppenauer notes in a blog post that 2010 will "go down in history as a significant year for creativity and invention at Microsoft."

Microsoft -- despite the failure of the Kin mobile device -- has had a string of nice hits in recent months. And Eppenauer notes that the company has instituted a "culture of discovery, creativity and development."

Bing remains engaged in a serious battle with Google. And there's some new research indicating that Microsoft's search engine is making a bit of headway -- both in terms of market share and new innovative features.

Bing accounted for 25.27 percent of U.S. Internet searches for the four week period ended November 27th, up two percent from October, according to Experian Hitwise. (The numbers include the integration of Yahoo, but even separately both Yahoo and Bing showed some growth). Google remains on top with 70.1 percent of searches, but it showed a small one percent drop.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times, a symbolic changing of the guard in technology. But Google is on the defensive this morning, explaining its growing power in the technology world and why it must be permitted to continue its aggressive acquisition plans. The chatter started today after Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein suggested that it might be time to loosen the search giant's grip.

Zuckerberg [Image via Time]

Mark Zuckerberg, who built Facebook into an online powerhouse with nearly 600 million users and was the subject of this year's hit film "The Social Network," has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year. The Facebook CEO beat out The Tea Party, The Chilean miners and WikiLeaks creator Julian Assange. He joins an elite list of high-tech entrepreneurs and business leaders who have been selected by Time. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos was named Person of the Year at the peak of the dot-com boom in 1999, while Bill and Melinda Gates received the honor (along with Bono) for their philanthropic work in 2005. Intel's Andy Grove was selected in 1997.