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Amazon kills 'Zombieland' TV pilot, keeps 'Alpha House'

Ben Miller — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:49:05 +0000

Amazon.com Inc. reportedly has killed plans to turn "Zombieland" into a full TV series but is keeping Garry Trudeau's "Alpha House," a political comedy starring John Goodman. Reuters reports Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) also picked up "Betas," a comedy about technology startups in Silicon Valley, as a full series, but dropped "Browsers," a musical comedy starring Bebe Neuwirth. Trudeau is creator of "Doonesbury" and wrote and created "Alpha House."

Microsoft unveils new Xbox in Redmond Tuesday

Ben Miller — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:10:42 +0000

Microsoft Corp. will unveil its new Xbox game in Redmond on Tuesday, and speculation is rampant on what new features the new Xbox will include. CNET reports speculators guess the new Xbox will include a larger hard drive, a DVD/Blu-ray drive, a faster processor, increased memory, and enhanced streaming-media capabilities. Microsoft will unveil additional details about the new Xbox gaming capabilities at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in June. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) sold 130,000…

Clearwire investors expecting better deal

Ben Miller — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:57:13 +0000

With shares in Clearwire Corp. closing Friday at $3.20, or 7 percent above the $2.97-per-share offer from Sprint Nextel Corp., many Clearwire investors are anticipating a "no" vote on the Sprint deal from shareholders at Tuesday's stockholders' meeting in Bellevue. Bloomberg reports one analyst believes the higher stock price means the majority of investors expect tomorrow's vote to be "no" and that another bid will come forward, higher than Sprint's offer. Last week, some investors in the Bellevue…

Boeing 787 could have other issues than battery woes

Ben Miller — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:41:57 +0000

In addition to problems with its lithium-ion batteries that grounded the Boeing Co. 787 fleet around the world for more than three months, the Dreamliner faces other possible problems, including software glitches and other electrical woes. The Wall Street Journal reports it examined a 60-page Boeing (NYSE: BA) document that highlights specific trouble-prone systems on the 787, including a recommendation that airlines turn on the plane's lithium-ion batteries, computers and electrical system three…

Tableau CEO after IPO: Data is the oil of the 21st century

Emily Parkhurst — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:56:23 +0000

Tableau Software CEO Christian Chabot may have made more than $12 million this morning when his company made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, but he still plans to live in the same modest house and drive a minivan. “We’re really not focused on the money,” Chabot said in a phone interview from the NYSE on Friday. Earlier this morning, his co-founders and a large group of Tableau employees were on the trading room floor as Chabot rang the opening bell on Wall Street…

Treadmills, happy hours and family: What startup founders neglect

Emily Parkhurst — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:52:18 +0000

In light of SURF (Start Up Really Fast) Incubator’s one-year anniversary in its downtown Seattle space, I spoke to a group of entrepreneurs whose companies are incubating there. I asked them what their companies needed most, what the Seattle startup community needs, and what they wished they’d known before they started their companies. I also asked them what they were neglecting most while they got the companies off the ground. The most common answer: my social life. “I haven’t been on…

Want more gender equality in pay? Get more women in tech

Emily Parkhurst — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:45:55 +0000

Women in Seattle make 69 cents for every dollar men make, largely because of the male-dominated tech sector here. But that’s not the whole story. It turns out, according to analysis by Seattle salary data company PayScale, that if you control for experience, position, industry and other salary-impacting factors, women make 97 cents compared to men. “Most of the data that’s reported around this gender wage gap issue is from the census,” said PayScale lead economist Katie Bardaro. “They’re…

Amazon next to be grilled over U.K. tax payments

Ben Miller — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:43:31 +0000

Amazon.com Inc. will be asked why it has paid only around $9 million in United Kingdom income tax on more than $23 billion of sales to British customers. Reuters reports Amazon's appearance before the British parliament follows a similar appearance by Google Inc. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) claims its operates its entire European operations out of Luxembourg and thus doesn't have a British taxing presence.

Some Clearwire investors want more from Sprint deal

Ben Miller — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:11:35 +0000

With Clearwire Corp. shareholders voting on whether to accept the $2.2 billion offer from Sprint Nextel Corp. next week, some Clearwire investors said they're voting "no" on the deal unless more money is offered. Reuters reports investors holding about 31 percent of Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) shares indicate they are unhappy with the offer, including Mount Kellett Capital Management LP, Highside Capital Management, Glenview Capital Management and Chesapeake Partners Management. Some of those investors…

Gates passes Slim to become world's richest person

Ben Miller — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:37:29 +0000

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, thanks to a surge in the company's stock price, has overtaken Carlos Slim to again become the world's richest person. According to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, Slim has been hurt by a 14 percent drop in the value of his SAB, the largest mobile-phone operator in the Americas, erasing $3 billion from the Mexican billionaire's net worth. Gates, who last led the list in 2007, was helped by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock rising 28 percent this year and shares…