TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

About ten years ago, I fell in love with a German board game called "Settlers of Catan." A group of friends and I would gather on weekends to trade brick, iron, sheep, wood and wheat in order to declare the "Lord of All Catan." Unfortunately, my game-playing buddies moved away and we stopped playing.

But my interest was renewed in the dice game last month when The Wall Street Journal's Pui-Wing Tam wrote about how "Settlers of Catan" was gaining favor among technology executives in Seattle and Silicon Valley. The story quoted Redfin's Glenn Kelman -- an experienced player -- and Wetpaint's Ben Elowitz -- a newbie who was looking to learn the ropes.

Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010. Thanks to everyone who checked out TechFlash over the past year. And for those who didn't, here's your chance to catch up with the most read posts of the year. Enjoy!!

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1.) "Rule No. 1: Hide the iPhone from Ballmer at the Microsoft meeting" (143 comments)

2.) "iPhone app wins top honors at Microsoft sponsored event" (19 comments)

3.) "Microsoft sues TomTom over Linux and other patent claims" (105 comments)

4.) "One force of nature vs. another: Bill Gates tries to stop hurricanes" (76 comments)

5.) "Pioneering Internet 'detox' center looks to cure online addicts" (47 comments)

A lousy economy. An up-and-down year for Microsoft. The rise and fall of media. There was certainly plenty to cover in 2009 when it came to technology news. But what was the biggest story of the year? We're winding down The Flashies, our year-end online awards of the biggest events in technology. Today marks the last category -- Tech Story of the Year -- so make sure to cast your vote.

As you can see, we're focusing not on individual posts but rather on overarching stories that we followed throughout the year. Continue reading for our take on each story. As with previous categories, feel free to offer a write-in candidate in the comments below. We'll announce all the Flashies winners in a post next week.

The Twilio team

Twilio, which helps companies create nifty Web-based applications around phone calls, has scored a $3.6 million round of capital led by Union Square Ventures. The Founders Fund and angel investors such as Mitch Kapor, David Cohen and Chris Sacca also participated in the deal.

Twilio moved its headquarters from Seattle to San Francisco earlier this year after founder Jeff Lawson's wife received a fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. But the company -- which Lawson founded in 2007 -- still has operations and ties to Seattle. For example, marketing director Danielle Morrill is an active member of the Seattle startup community. Lawson previously worked at Amazon.com.

What buzzword most defined the past year in technology? That's the intriguing question in today's Flashies category, as we get close to wrapping up our year-end community choice awards.

And the nominees are ...

Continue reading for our take on each word. As with previous categories, free to offer a write-in candidate in the comments below. Other readers will be able to support your nomination by logging in and clicking the "like" button next your comment. We'll announce all the Flashies winners in a post after the end of the year.

Cheddr Media is turning off its online contest widget on January 1, changing gears to focus on a new service around social media analytics. Cheddr Media founder Adam Schoenfeld said they saw some demand to help Web publishers host online contests, but not enough to turn into what he called a "real business."

"Bloggers liked the tool, but they wouldn't pay," he said. "Some marketers would pay, but it was a 'nice to have,' not a 'need to have' product."

Denis Du Bois: For the cleantech sector, 2009 was not the year we hoped for. It was a rollercoaster ride. We had recession, and inauguration; bailouts of banks, and banks bailing out.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act expanded tax credits for renewable energy, and teased with funds and green jobs slow to materialize. The EPA declared carbon dioxide a harmful substance.

We finished the year without a climate treaty from Copenhagen, without federal carbon legislation from Congress, without normalcy on Wall Street, and without a housing recovery on Main Street. In a large way, though, we can be thankful.

As 2009 comes to an end, here's the latest installment of what we're seeing in the SEC filings. As I noted last month, we are going to begin sharing more of the raw data from these filings with readers.

A Mercer Island company by the name of Healthy Paws Pet Insurance has raised $550,000 of a $2.5 million equity financing round, according to a Dec. 23 filing. Officers of the company include Robert Jackson, Charles Jackson and Steven Siadek. Another Seattle player in the pet insurance business is Trupanion, which is backed by Maveron.

Bellevue-based Page Spike -- which lists Jason Doucett and Timothy Rostenbach as executive officers -- has raised $2,000, according to this filing. I've been unable to locate anything about the company or what they're building, though the filing lists the company in the "computers" category. Interestingly, Doucett and Rostenbach also appeared in this filing under the name Goriilla LLC. That Dec. 22 filing indicated that the company had raised $23,000.

Calidora Skin Clinics -- which operates skin care treatment centers in Washington state and California -- has raised $3.65 million in a series A round. The company is led by Colette Courtin, with the filing listing Denny Weston and Richard Baxter as directors.

A Seattle radio station is taking some heat after an insensitive message about Muslims appeared on its Twitter account yesterday. The message -- posted on the Twitter page of 107.7 The End -- has since been taken down and the station has apologized for the incident.

"We abhor last nights twitter hacking. The End brand in no way condones the comments and apologizes. Pswrd & security measures changed," the station wrote in a follow-up Tweet this morning.

It is unclear how the "hack" occurred and who posted the message. Many of the top staffers at the station are on vacation this week. An assistant engineer at the station -- owned by radio giant Entercom -- said he was unaware of the issue. We have a call into the station to find out more details.

Katie will host the Dating Game. Photo via Intelius

Want a date with a sexy lady at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month? Bellevue-based Intelius is looking for you.

In a promotion of its Date Check iPhone application, the Bellevue company announced today that it plans to host a "Dating Game" in which nine single guys (that shouldn't be hard to find in the halls of CES) vie for the heart of one lucky (or unlucky) bachelorette. The competition will take place live on stage at CES, with the winners receiving a lunch date with the woman and tickets to a Las Vegas show.

We were pretty excited to unwrap some geeky gifts this holiday season. But not quite as pumped as this little boy who went nuts after opening an Xbox360. (Note the dog's reaction too).

As for team TechFlash: Eric got a Kindle. John got a Sony digital video camera. And Todd? We're hearing reports that Santa gave him some new underwear.

Anyway, today's a day when millions of Americans watch football and try to figure out their new gadgets. (I already gave up trying to install software for my mother-in-law's new Coby Digital Photo Keychain. Really, why is this so difficult?).

What was the big holiday tech gift for you this holiday? And have you encountered any horror stories so far in trying to assemble or learn your new gadgets?

Dave Scott

Most entrepreneurs strive for world domination. Marketfish founder Dave Scott has already achieved it -- at least in one playful form. Scott is a competitive board game player who once took the crown at the world championships for Risk, the classic game of "Global Domination."

There are certainly parallels between running a startup technology company and managing your armies in Siberia, Siam or South Africa.

"Always be on the offensive, and don't stand on your laurels that's for sure," said Scott. "And never get into a war on two fronts."

Scott has avoided the two-front war so far at Marketfish, though it has been a struggle given that the 17-month-old startup is attempting to shake up an established industry by inserting itself in the middle of lucrative marketing transactions. Marketfish essentially creates a way for sales professionals to hook new customers by tapping into highly-targeted marketing lists from publishers and other data providers.

We caught up with Scott recently at the Marketfish headquarters in Pioneer Square to chat about everything from the company's recent financing round to competitors in email marketing. We also learned about the company's BYOC policy -- but more on that later.

KPLU 88.5 -- the National Public Radio affiliate in Seattle and Tacoma -- is among the dozen stations participating in an ambitious experiment to help transform online news. The effort -- known internally at NPR as Project Argo and bankrolled with $3 million from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Knight Foundation-- is set to launch this summer, PaidContent reports.

The idea is to create original content, with each of the stations focusing on a highly-targeted niche such as immigration or the environment. Those topic areas have yet to be set for each station, though paidContent notes that efforts will ramp up in 2010 with the hiring of "reporter-bloggers."

We've been intrigued this year with the ChefStack, the $3,500 automatic pancake machine. We even named nominated the Seattle startup for The Flashies in "Craziest Tech Idea of the Year" category, where it is currently leading in votes.

But what's the device really like? WhatCounts -- a Seattle e-mail marketing company led by David Geller -- recently found out when it installed the system at its offices. You can see the device in all its glory in this video.

Now, here's what we really want to know: Could pancakes become the new soda pop in terms of free perks at tech companies?

We've already highlighted some of the "tech debacles" of the past year. But with the holiday upon us, we're feeling a little more cheerful. That brings us to today's installment of The Flashies: "Tech Triumph of the Year." Vote in this poll, or offer a write-in candidate in the comments.

For a more detailed description of each nominee, keep reading.