Money from an oil-rich emirate has ended up in a Puget Sound venture that seeks to produce cleaner water.

An Abu Dhabi government-backed clean technology fund is investing $15 million in Bothell-based HaloSource, a company that specializes in anti-microbial water purification. The new relationship will help strengthen HaloSource's presence in Middle Eastern markets.

The deal underscores how some Persian Gulf countries - flush with cash in the wake of an unprecedented energy boom - are spreading investment dollars not only across the region, but all over the world. They also seek to capitalize on the growing global interest in clean technologies and sustainable development.

I got a chance to speak with Rob Correa, senior vice president of programming for CBS Sports, this afternoon about the broadcast debut of competitive video-gaming last weekend. CBS Sports filled an hour of its Sunday broadcast with the World Series of Video Games' Louisville, Ky,, tour stop.

Correa didn't give out any audience data, but noted that summer afternoons are not exactly prime time.

"Sunday at 12 noon in late July is not the easiest time period to get people to watch, but all in all we're satisfied," he said.

He acknowledged that the video game broadcast was a departure from the network's usual sports programming -- highlighted by March Madness and the Masters -- but he still expected some audience overlap.

"Every audience overlaps some ... particularly in sports," Correa said. "We don't have [demographics] yet, but clearly we figured it would be potentially a younger audience than a lot of our core sports programming."

Correa said it's too early to tell whether video games will become a regular part of CBS Sports line up. Two more WSVG broadcasts are planned this fall; a third episode scheduled for August was postponed, he said.

An obvious question to ask recently is whether Google is a friend or foe of the telecom industry.

On one hand, Google is very interested in building and developing applications for the wireless industry. Last week it signed a partnership with Sprint Nextel to build a portal for its emerging high-speed wireless WiMax network.

On the other hand, it has rocked the industry by proposing to the FCC that the winning bidder in the next auction for wireless broadband airwaves be required to provide an open network allowing any application or handset to run on it -- a far cry from the closed wireless networks available in the U.S. today.

CNET speculated in an article today what all this means for the telecom industry.

The story asks: "Will it build its own wireless network using spectrum from the upcoming auction? Or will it strike more deals like the one it signed with Sprint Nextel? Will it come out with its own Google phone that will take on the likes of the Apple iPhone and other manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia?"

The answer for now, CNET reported, is Google's intentions are all about providing Internet access, whether it's in competition or in partnership with telecom operators.

"Mobile is the fastest and cheapest way to reach the largest number of people," said Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives at Google. "There are billions of people on this planet who still don't have access to the Internet. And we think mobile presents the biggest opportunity to get them on the Internet."

The story didn't get much more information out of the tight-lipped Google.

To be sure, wireless operators have been wary of the Internet giant. Google packs such a strong brand and typically the carrier wants its name to be the stand out. That attitude has led companies such as Bellevue-based InfoSpace and Seattle-based Medio Systems to create white-label, or non-branded, search applications for the phone.

But now that Sprint Nextel has choosen Google as a partner, perhaps more will follow?

Suzan DelBene, a longtime Microsoft employee, is resigning from her job as corporate vice president in charge of the Mobile Communications Marketing Group to "pursue other opportunities," according to a spokesman with Microsoft's outside PR firm.

The announcement was made internally this morning. Her responsibilities included global marketing strategy for Windows Mobile. She reported to Pieter Knook, senior vice president of Microsoft's mobile communications business.

DelBene joined Microsoft in 1989, left in 1998 to work at drugstore.com, later led Seattle-based Nimble Technology, and returned to Redmond in 2004 to take on Windows Mobile position. She and her husband, Kurt DelBene, Microsoft's corporate vice president of the Office Business Platform Group, made up the only husband-and-wife team serving in Microsoft's executive ranks.

The spokesman said Suzan DelBene did not indicate what other opportunities she may pursue. A replacement has not been named.

Update: Her last day will be Sept. 1.

Did anyone tune in to CBS on Sunday to watch the World Series of Video Games' Louisville, Ky., tour stop? Yeah, that's right. Video games were broadcast on network TV on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer.

There were plenty of articles previewing this apparent first, but I've yet to see anyone report on the broadcast, prompting the question: Did any one watch it?

CBS' schedule lists another WSVG broadcast coming up Aug. 19, and the WSVG itself had a blog item back in May crowing about the four-episode deal it linked with the network.

I've put a call in to the folks at CBS Sports to ask whether they were satisfied with the initial broadcast and whether this might join the Masters and March Madness as regular events on the broadcaster's calendar.

Two local startups and the popular Seattle hip-hop group Blue Scholars have teamed up to promote a contest at tonight's Capitol Hill Block party.

The two companies are Phone Sherpa, which handles the Blue Scholars's ringtone sales on the Jamglue site, and Jamglue, which allows users to create their own song by chopping up bits and pieces and adding new vocals.

Together, Phone Sherpa and Jamglue created an MC and DJ contest for making your own mix to the Blue Scholars' song "Fire for the People." Blue Scholars will pick out the best of the mixes made on Jamglue and add them to their ringtone store.

Also, the first thousand Block Party-ers to show up at a special Jamglue Web page where the contest is taking place will get a free Blue Scholars ringtone when they sign up for a Jamglue account.

Bellevue-based InfoSpace said today it has launched a version of its local mobile search application -- called Find It! -- for the Apple iPhone.

InfoSpace Find It!'s application is available on the Sprint network for a subscription and on BlackBerries for free.

The application for the iPhone was tweaked to look like the phone's homepage, displaying a number of colorful icon boxes. The boxes link to six categories: Dine Out, Go Out, Shop, Travel, Health and Services.

InfoSpace

InfoSpace's FindIt! application was launched today for the iPhone.

Because the iPhone does not have GPS, the user will have to enter a Zip code or city and state to find services near them. On the BlackBerry, GPS is integrated so the listings are automatically loaded based on the person's location.

iPhone users in the U.S. can find Find It! by visiting http://fiweb.infospace.com/iphone/ on their iPhone Safari Browser. If you don't have an iPhone, you can check it out from your PC here.

The iPhone is a closed system, which means third-party applications are built to work through the browser rather than the phone itself. The downside is that the application may not be super speedy. It must connect to a new page to get new information, but still in the brief session I tested on the iPhone, the pages loaded fairly quickly.

The bigger downside is the lack of GPS integration -- narrowing down restaurants by Zip code won't get you to the closest one that quickly.

"As consumers increasingly seek locally relevant information on their mobile phones, InfoSpace Find It! for iPhone helps users quickly and easily discover what's nearby -- anytime, anyplace," said Jeff Torgerson, senior product manager at InfoSpace.

Robbie Bach is breaking down the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division to kick off the afternoon session here. He reassured investors who have watched the division lose billions of dollars over the last several years.

"We said last year we are going to drive this business to profitability in fiscal 08," Bach said. "We are right on track to do that. ... And we believe we can have sustained profitability going forward."

He gave no indication of how much profit the division might deliver.

Like CEO Steve Ballmer did this morning, Bach lamented the $1 billion charge the company took in the fourth quarter related to the quality problems with the Xbox 360. He reiterated that it was something the company had to do to stand behind its product.

"Certainly a key focus for us right now is quality," Bach said. He said there's no specific component to blame for the rate of Xbox 360 hardware failures, but rather it was a Microsoft design problem with multiple components involved.

Despite the charge, he sees the business reducing its manufacturing costs.

"We are right on track with where we expected to be with cost reduction. That is a key driver in this business," Bach said, offering no detail about when that cost saving would translate to a price reduction.

"We have a very specific plan with what we're going to do with pricing. We're just not going to talk about it today," he said. (The company today announced a lower price for its HD DVD player, sold as an accessory to the Xbox 360.)

Bach quickly reviewed other areas:

Music: He said the Zune music player has sold more than 1 million units since launch and has about 10 to 12 percent of the hard-drive based player market.

"You are going to see us continue to invest in this business," Bach said, adding that it will likely be a three- to four-year effort.

This year, the company, as it has said, will release new Zune software, devices and features. He also plans to invest in expanding the Zune brand out of the "hardcore niche music space" where it is now.

Video: Bach said the company will expand its Xbox Live video download service -- currently the largest provider of on-demand video content -- to Europe and Canada in the coming year.

Communications: Bach said Microsoft aims to grow Windows Mobile's lead over Research In Motion during the 2008 fiscal year. He said the company expects more than 20 million Windows Mobile phones to be sold this year. Noting the high turnover in mobile phones, Bach said Microsoft wants to make more end-users aware that they are using a phone running Windows Mobile.

"We want them to go in and ask for another Windows Mobile phone," he said.

Clearwire, the Kirkland company that is building a nationwide wireless broadband network, said today that Chief Technology Officer Nick Kauser is retiring effective Aug. 1.

Clearwire

Nick Kauser

John Saw, the company's vice president of engineering, will step into the CTO position.

Kauser helped Craig McCaw start Clearwire and, in many ways, could be considered one of the earliest pioneers of wireless broadband technology.

Kauser held several positions at McCaw Cellular Communications, which later became AT&T Wireless. As chief technology officer there, he oversaw engineering and technology projects, network operations, long-range planning and evolution of the network, and support for network technologies.

While at AT&T Wireless, Kauser headed the company's fixed wireless initiative, called Project Angel. That could be considered the roots of what Clearwire has become today.

Said Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff:

"We're extremely grateful for the leadership and guidance Nick has provided over the years and are fortunate to be able to keep drawing from his wisdom as a member of our board. Clearwire has and will continue to benefit from his foresight in realizing the potential impact of a personal broadband network that is always on and always with the person."

Kauser, 67, will remain a member of Clearwire's board and will continue to advise the company on its international operations. He will also remain a principal of Eagle River, the investment arm of McCaw's operations.

Clearwire

John Saw

Saw, who will replace Kauser, has been with the company since it was founded in 2003, and was the chief architect in laying the foundation for Clearwire's network.

He has almost 20 years of experience in developing wireless networks and architectures, including stints at Netro (now SR Telecom) and at AT&T Wireless, where he worked under Kauser.

"John is truly a visionary when it comes to wireless broadband networks," Wolff said. "His innovative spirit and wealth of knowledge of wireless broadband networks will be invaluable as Clearwire continues to evolve and innovate in wireless broadband."

What do Chinese stocks and Apple have in common? They're part of a parallel universe. While Wall Street suffered one of the biggest plunges of the year today, the Shanghai Composite Index hit an all-time record high. The market's rebound has driven the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China past Citigroup and into the top spot as the world's largest bank by market capitalization.

Meanwhile, Apple's shares jumped 7 percent today after Wednesday's earnings report showed a 74 percent rise in profit.

I'd grab my iPhone and move to Shanghai, but apparently I can already get one there for $150.

Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn visited our offices Wednesday, where spokeswoman Jane Corrigan told us Seattle is one of the fastest growing markets.

The site has 12 million users worldwide, and is seeing double-digit growth, she said. In a matter of weeks (between Corrigan setting up an appointment with me and arriving in Seattle), the number of users here jumped from 179,000 to about 181,000.

She said that many of the people on LinkedIn are venture capitalists and investment bankers, but that it covers all industries. In Seattle, some of the corporate customers include Expedia, T-Mobile USA, Amazon.com and Microsoft. A corporate customer pays a fee so that it can list job openings on the site.

Corrigan stressed that LinkedIn is a site where professionals can meet and "brand" themselves online, whereas other networking sites are for a user's personal life.

So the question is, do you really want your photos from you vacation on the site where you are also linked to work colleagues or associates?

I wonder if LinkedIn is spreading this message because Facebook, which is increasingly being used for business networking, has started to eat away at its user base?

She did, however, show me a few neat tricks on LinkedIn:

-- You can brand your LinkedIn site, for instance: www.linkedin.com/janedoe

-- There's a new Questions and Answers feature, where members can ask and answer whatever question is on their mind. A recent example is Robert Syputa, a Seattle-based senior analyst at Maravedis, asked: "How do incumbent mobile operators plan to confront the growing 'open access' of wireless networks?" He had received four answers in the last six days.

Microsoft Platforms and Services Division President Kevin Johnson just announced another advertising-related acquisition. The company is buying a network of digital advertising networks that Johnson likened to the Nasdaq stock exchange -- a place for buyers and sellers of advertising inventory to do business in a neutral marketplace.

The company is called AdECN. Johnson did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition.

The acquisition raises some of the same issues around neutrality and conflict of interest that came up when Microsoft announced its purchase of aQuantive, which, Johnson disclosed was a very competitive bid process with two other bidders vying for the prize.

I talked to Andrew Frank, an analyst with Gartner, about the issue of consolidation in the industry at the time of the aQuantive acquisition:

This advertising consolidation raises the specter of conflicts of interest for companies that sell advertising across many Web sites but also own major sites of their own, Frank said.

Advertisers might find a better deal in a less-consolidated system in which they could do business with the best company in each segment of the business, "rather than having to choose 'Do you want the Microsoft solution or the Google solution,' " Frank said. "I think that's a danger not just for Microsoft but for the whole industry."

In May, AOL bought Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising company, which today gave an update on the merger.

Boston-based Third Screen Media sells ads for mobile sites for such organizations as MSNBC and The Weather Channel. A publisher can either use the company's software to sell its own mobile ads, or Third Screen Media will also act as a sales force.

Since the merger, the company has been able to gain mobile sites, including all of AOL's mobile properties, such as Mapquest. In doing so, Third Screen Media claims to reach half of the mobile Internet users in the U.S. The company also gained AOL's sales force.

Even though the company is making a lot of progress, Third Screen Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Janer said there's a lot to be done to ensure that mobile advertising market is big.

He cited at least three things:

1. A third-party needs to step in to help validate and measure the market. To help with that, Third Screen partnered with mobile measurement firm Telephia, which was recently purchased by Nielsen.

2. The advertising inventory needs to cover more ground. Eventually, in order to capture a big market, it needs to include both sites that are on the mobile Web, but also sites that subscribers discover through the carrier's portal, or "deck."

3. Ads should be more targeted. On the Internet, Web sites know a user's behavior through cookies, which track what a person does online. But cookies don't exist in mobile. The carriers do have that information, but it's not readily available.

"It's scattered all over in databases, and it's a big effort to build a targeting database that's anonymous," Janer said. "For instance, you should be able to say: 'I want to reach men between 18 and 25 in the Pacific Northwest who are sports enthusiasts and are looking to buy a car.' But that's not possible today."

Seattle-based Medio Systems is also creating a mobile advertising network.

Check out this short Q&A with Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster in Fortune.

The Web site, which uses simple text links, has been grown tremendously and now reaches 50 countries through 450 sites.

The questions in the article came from readers rather than the reporter.

Here's a good one for entrepreneurs to ponder:

Q: At some point, doesn't Craigslist have to be more aggressive about scaling revenues? I understand you're small, nimble and profitable, but your business is pretty easily duplicated. Or do you think you can sustain your business based on user loyalty?
--Aaron Letscher, New York City

A: Financial metrics aren't something we focus on; they're a pleasant side effect if we manage to do a good job by our users. We track page views to measure the usage of the site. We also look at the number of thank-you notes from users who have found their entire lives on our site -- from spouse to house, job, furnishings, cat, dog, friends and a social life.

Sprint Nextel said today that it will develop a mobile Internet portal for its high-speed wireless WiMax network with Google, according to a Reuters story in The Washington Post.

The portal will offer Web services such as search, e-mail, chat and social networking.

In a press release, Barry West, Sprint's president of mobile broadband said:

Google and Sprint will optimize the Internet experience for the digital lifestyle. This collaboration brings what will be the best mobile Internet network together with the leading Internet search company. It allows us to capitalize on the powerful mobility and Internet trends, and create wireless services and applications that take advantage of each company's history of product development innovation.

Last week, Sprint Nextel and Kirkland-based Clearwire said they would combine their efforts to build one nationwide network instead of two competing ones.

The partnership with Google is interesting because the search giant recently has been causing quite a stir in the telecom world by pushing the FCC to require the next block of spectrum to be auctioned off to be an open network.

Today, telecom operators are the ones that approve handsets and applications to be used on the phone. In the proposal by Google, and so far somewhat supported by the FCC, a user would be able to use any device and any application.

The WiMax network that Sprint and Clearwire are building is more similar to an open network model than a telecom model.

In the press release, Sprint gives a little more detail on how the WiMax network would look.

Sprint said it will provide open standard coding, or APIs, to partners and the developer community to create new products for devices, including modem cards, stand-alone modems, laptops and personal media players, mobile Internet devices, gaming devices and phones.

Eventually, Sprint said WiMax will be available for cars to use for navigation, news and entertainment.

Commercial service is expected to be available in a number of markets starting in April 2008 and cover 100 million people by the end of 2008 through the Clearwire partnership.

In addition to the Financial Analyst Meeting items posted here and on Brier Dudley's blog, there were a couple of other news items that came out of the first three presentations today:

Microsoft is creating a new research arm to focus on Internet search and advertising. Harry Shum, who was heading the Asian arm of Microsoft Research. See the company press release here. The Internet Services Research Center will have researchers in Redmond, Silicon Valley and Beijing and will be part of the broader Microsoft Research organization.

Shum told me the ISRC will have about 50 researchers to start and "will continue to recruit great people to the organization." To put that in perspective, Microsoft Research has about 800 people total.

This move was forecast a bit in March when Microsoft created a new group to focus on the search and advertising businesses. At that time, Shum was named chief scientist of the Search and Ad Platform Group.

I asked Shum whether there was any concern that ISRC would duplicate the work on Internet services being done in Gary Flake's Live Labs organization.

"In Microsoft, innovation is everyone's responsibility," Shum said. "We have Microsoft Research. We have Live Labs. We have other labs as well. ISRC is our latest investment in this very important space."

In another development, Microsoft told several reporters that it has sold 60 million licenses for Windows Vista, it's newest operating system. That was supposed to be part of CEO Steve Ballmer's presentation, but if he said something about it, I didn't hear it.

See coverage from Reuters and Bloomberg.

Microsoft Business Division President Jeff Raikes described several ways in which the company plans to get more people using and paying for its Office 2007 productivity software.

Toward the end of his presentation, Raikes gave one of the strongest indications from the company recently about its plans to expand into Web-based productivity software, an area where competitors have made early inroads. It's already setting the stage for this effort with small businesses through Office Live, a suite of online services that now has more than 400,000 users signed up.

"With our software plus services approach, we're going to use Office Live as a foundation to broaden our scope to all information workers, all people who would use Office. And we are investing substantially in Web productivity as a complement to what we do in our traditional Office productivity. We've got some exciting things coming out this year. That's where I'll leave that," Raikes said.

The strategies he outlined for increasing Office 2007 sales include working with OEMs to get trial versions of Office installed on new PCs, which can then become full, paid versions.

Microsoft is also fighting Office piracy with a carrot rather than the stick used with Windows. Users of the genuine software get access to additional capabilities through Office Online.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is running through the five things the company has to do very well to continue its success.

First and foremost, he said, "We've got to get the right people, the best and the brightest, that is absolutely essential."

Ballmer said Microsoft is hiring 90 percent of the people it tries to hire. That equated to 12,800 new hires globally in the fiscal year ended June 30. He also said the company experienced total attrition of 8 percent.

So, with some quick calculations, we get a look at Microsoft's headcount at the end of fiscal 2007:

71,172 (headcount on June 30, 2006) - 5,693 (8 percent attrition) + 12,800 new hires = 78,279

That translates to the 10 percent growth that CFO Chris Liddell talked about last week.

Ballmer provided some new detail on good vs. bad attrition. Four percent is what he called bad attrition: people retiring, relocating or "sometimes we'll lose to another company although that's quite rare."

Good attrition equals about 3 percent. He said that's a must-have and it means holding people who are not performing accountable and moving them out of the company.

Like McDonald's, Microsoft will soon be able to boast "more than 1 billion served."

CEO Steve Ballmer told the financial analysts and reporters gathered at the company's Redmond headquarters this morning that total Windows installed base will exceed 1 billion sometime during the 2008 fiscal year.

"By the end of our fiscal year 08 there will be more PCs running Windows in the world than there are automobiles, which to me is kind of a mind-numbing concept," Ballmer said.

(A company spokesman clarified earlier that the 1 billion figure includes all versions of Windows shipped by the company, as well as pirated copies.)

In tracking other metrics of the company's performance during the last five years, Ballmer noted that the company has doubled its profits and nearly doubled its revenues and that it boasts the highest operating income of any company outside of the financial services and energy sectors.

Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, opened his company's Financial Analyst Meeting with an outline of the big trends he sees driving technology forward.

He said Moore's Law -- the idea that computer processing power, measured as the number of transistors on a single chip, will double approximately every two years, is still intact -- but that it's manifesting in a different way. Before, individual microprocessors got progressively faster. But the "clock speed" of the chips is reaching its limits

Gates said he expects to see clock speeds "not much higher" than 10 gigahertz in the next five years. Processing power will continue to grow through parallel microprocessor architectures -- so-called multi-core chips.

The most important trend, Gates said, is the ubiquity of broadband access. More than just getting video on the Internet, broadband access changes computing itself. The early PC was a self-contained device, Gates said. "As you get broadband to be widely available you can change that paradigm."

Storage doesn't have to be in one location; you can move easily back and forth between multiple devices; if you're near a bigger display, you can make use of it; likewise with more powerful computing resources available on a network.

The most under-appreciated trend, he said, is the emergence of more natural user interfaces such as speech recognition, touch and vision. He complemented two competitors products -- the Apple iPhone and Nintendo Wii -- for taking advantage of touch and motion-sensing interfaces.

Microsoft has been investing in natural user interface for a long time, Gates said. He went on to demonstrate Microsoft Surface, the table-top, touch-recognizing PC the company rolled out earlier this year. He said people have responded more dramatically to this demonstration than any other he's given in his career.

Unfortunately, his first attempt to demonstrate the Surface here went boink and there were some akward moments as the tech guys came up on stage and fiddled with the unit for a few minutes.

"It's more exciting when it actually does something," Gates said.

Tech support eventually got it going and Gates moved back to the demonstration. Right now, Surface is being rolled out in Harrah's casinos, Starwood Hotels and T-Mobile retail stores. Gates confirmed the company's bigger plan for the computer.

"We want to take this and put it into homes and businesses," Gates said.

Speculation about when or if Microsoft would drop prices on its Xbox 360 game console was rampant earlier this month, after Sony lowered its prices on the competing PlayStation 3.

Starting Aug. 1, Microsoft will drop the price of an Xbox 360 accessory: The HD DVD player will now cost $179, down $20, and come packaged with five free HD DVD movies during the month of August.

The announcement was made at the Comic-Con International convention in San Diego.

I'm in Redmond for Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting, which will feature presentations from Chairman Bill Gates, CEO Steve Ballmer, CFO Chris Liddell, COO Kevin Turner, division presidents Jeff Raikes, Robbie Bach and Kevin Johnson and other top executives.

Check back here throughout the day for updates from the event.

At The Naked Truth event last night, I was able to catch up with a lot of people. And today the emails continue to pour in.

Here are a few tidbits and details to gnaw on:

-- Hardi Partovi, a founder of iLike, said the darnedest things happen when you have a social networking site -- like the time an iLike user invited Hadi to his wedding, even though it was on the East Coast and Hadi had never met the guy. And Hadi said he loves customer feedback, but there's one user who e-mails almost everyday. Now he's dying for another customer's feedback. He's also an avid iPhone fan, but not enough to stop carrying around his BlackBerry.

-- Speaking of iPhones, there were too many in the crowd to count. However, there was only one Ooma, and TechCrunch's Michael Arrington was giving it away. As he said, it's really cool, but if you don't know what it is, don't worry about it. Now I'm wondering who won it?

-- Co-founder Galen Ward of Estately.com introduced himself, and today he sent me a press release that said Estately was launching "True Area Search," a tool that lets anyone find homes within a half mile, mile, two miles, five miles or 10 miles of any neighborhood, city, Zip code or address.

-- I also chatted with Marcelo Calbucci, the founder and CTO (not CEO as I previously wrote), of Sampa, which helps individuals and small business build Web sites. A lot of the talk last night focused on creating a more cohesive community among entrepreneurs and tech startups. Calbucci blogged about the Naked Truth , and regularly maintains a blog focused on tech startups called Seattle 2.0.

-- A venture capitalist and a startup adviser were talking to Josh Hug, the CEO of Shelfari, which recently launched a Facebook application. They were obviously really excited about the launch, so I promised Hug that I would upload the application today to take it for a spin. So I did (and while I was at it, also uploaded iLike's Facebook application). Shelfari becomes a shelf that sits on my Facebook profile page. I can load it up with books I can recommend to friends. Unfortunately, when I searched for "The World according to Garp," the book I'm currently reading, I encountered an error. For now, my shelf is empty.

I talked to many other companies, too, including WetPaint, WildTangent, BlueDot, OthersOnline, Mobile Research, Alliance of Angels and Shiftboard.

You may have already read a blog post or two today on last night's panel discussion, BBQ and party called "The Naked Truth," but I thought I'd elaborate on the night's events.

The panel, consisting of reporters and bloggers, was intended to enlighten the technology startup crowd on the unwritten rules of dealing with the media. It was sponsored by Redfin and Madrona Venture Group.

The event, held at Havana Social Club, a hip, cavernous bar on Capitol Hill, went fairly well. The panel was outside in the parking lot, where a massive BBQ pit was cooking up ribs. (I heard the ribs were OK, but the sides were great). Afterwards, people went inside the bar to mingle.

The panel members consisted of myself, Becky Buckman of The Wall Street Journal, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, Fred Vogelstein of Wired and John Cook of the P-I. Greg Gottesman, a VC from Madrona, moderated.

We had a fairly lively discussion and people in the crowd asked a lot of good questions.

You can see Redfin's summary of the night's events here. CEO Glenn Kelman also vows to post the video there soon, so I won't bore you with a back-and-forth on how the questions went down.

But I thought I'd share a little on how the event came together.

Glenn called me a few weeks ago to see if I would participate. He said the idea was hatched when he told his investor, Madrona, that startups shouldn't waste money hiring PR firms and should handle all the calls to reporters themselves. He said Madrona didn't agree -- that you could make some major mistakes this way.

So they figured the best way to settle the debate was to have the media tell it like it is to the hundreds of entrepreneurs willing to listen.

I think part of the problem, though, comes in trying to generalize. All of our answers were different. What works for local media doesn't work for The Wall Street Journal, and what works for a magazine doesn't necessarily jive with a blog.

An Expedia PR employee brought up an interesting point afterwards that should help everyone in dealing with reporters.

Do your research. Read the reporter's articles from the past year and tailor your pitch to what he or she seems to be interested in -- that will reap major rewards.

And, finally, my two-cent contribution: Be honest. If you've never talked to a reporter before, it's OK. Admit it and ask the person how to approach, how to proceed and what we are looking for. If you have a good story, you'll get the time.

Any other questions?

Don't hesitate to ask.

In the second significant advertising deal Microsoft has announced today, the company will "sell and serve the ads on Digg," according to this blog post by Digg founder Kevin Rose and a Microsoft press release.

Rose compared the deal to a similar one Microsoft inked with Facebook in August 2006.

The announcement says Digg, which allows users to vote on the Web's best content, has 17 million unique visitors a month.

Other details: The deal is for three years. Microsoft is the "exclusive provider of display and contextual advertising on Digg." Microsoft will work with Digg's current advertising provider, Federated Media Publishing. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Targeted Genetics stock fell more than 20 percent today after the company interrupted clinical testing of its lead arthritis drug because of a patient's illness.

As of 2:24 pm Eastern time, the Seattle-based company's shares traded at $2.07, down 56 cents or 21.29 percent.

The company said late Tuesday that it had stopped trials of its tgAAC94 therapy after a patient became seriously ill. It's unclear whether the adverse effects are related to the drug.

Microsoft and EA Sports announced today that five of the video-game publisher's biggest titles will be incorporated into the Microsoft's in-game advertising network.

The titles are: "Madden NFL 08," "NASCAR 08," "NHL 08," "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08," and "Skate."

Advertisements will be placed in the games via the Massive Network, which Microsoft acquired last year.

It's doubtful that Peter Moore, the Microsoft video games executive who is leaving to head EA Sports, had much to do with negotiating the deal, terms of which were kept private. I'm asking about that and will post a response here.

(Because in-game advertising is handled by Massive, which sits within Microsoft's Online Services Division, Moore, who is part of the Entertainment and Devices Division, had nothing to do with the deal, according to an e-mailed statement from a Microsoft PR firm.)

During the E3 Media and Business Summit earlier this month in Santa Monica, I had a chance to talk about in-game advertising with Jeff Bell, corporative vice president of global marketing in Microsoft's video games business.

Bell brings an interesting perspective to the discussion because before coming to Microsoft, he was with DaimlerChrysler, where he worked on the Jeep brand. He tried several game-related advertising strategies including in-game ads (his team helped get Jeep as the vehicle featured in Microsoft's "Zoo Tycoon" game) and adver-gaming. He was also named Interactive Marketer of the Year by Advertising Age in 2005.

From our conversation, this EA deal sounds like just what Microsoft is looking for.

I asked him what role the company sees for in-game ads, and how much advertising is appropriate.

Bell: "I think there we do know and the data is overwhelming, that if you're in a reality based game, people don't want to see Acme. They don't want to see Blogo Shoes. They want to see 7-Eleven and they want to see Adidas. And so, from that standpoint, both from a product realism, as well as an advertising realism, they would like to have the real thing.

"I think where you cross over is you're not going to be seeing Massive or advertisements in 'Mass Effect.' So science fiction doesn't make as much sense.

"For us, I think we tend to focus more on the sports franchises, the reality based driving franchises, Tony Hawk, obviously has been a pioneer in that particular realm of being able to present things in the real world, real advertisements that can attract that audience."

He said EA is leading the way with advertising in sports games, but because of the slow and complex process of negotiating advertising agreements with sports leagues, franchises and stadiums, the area is just now building momentum.

I also asked Bell if he thinks game buyers should get a price break on games that carry a lot of advertising, the reason being that now publishers have a new revenue stream to tap.

Bell: "It's an interesting question, but it's so theoretical at this point, meaning that the business is still driven by the revenue from the sales of the games themselves that, there, I think we're all interested in the growth of the advertising model, but it is at present only a very small part of our overall revenue."

What do wheelchair manufacturing, cancer research, chemical sensors, air pumps and materials for electron microscopes have in common?

They're all done in team with University of Washington researchers, and get grant money from the state. The Washington Technology Center gave half a million dollars to five companies engaged in these diverse realms, at the rate of about $100,000 each.

The funding is expected to generate some 200 jobs in Washington, the center said in a statement Tuesday.

The grant winners are:

- Artemisia BioMedical Inc, of Newcastle, which seeks to develop therapies for cancer and other diseases
- dTEC Systems, a developer of environmental monitoring systems, to create low-cost chemical sensor technology
- Kronos Air Technologies, with operations in Redmond, to make an energy-efficient electrostatic air pump.
- Hummingbird Scientific, of Lacey, to make a high-temperature heating element for use in the transmission electron microscope.
- MagicWheels Inc., of Seattle, to test a wheel manufacturing process for its wheelchairs.

Healionics, a Redmond medical materials start-up, wants to put its technology at the service of canines prone to glaucoma.

Through a partnership with a veterinary biomaterials maker from Scottsdale, Ariz., Healionics will focus on creating devices that can be implanted in dogs' eyes, the company said Tuesday. Healionics specializes in implant materials that are not rejected by the body.

The announcement comes as Americans spend more than ever in care for their pets. The New York Times said Sunday:

Nationally, spending on veterinary care is expected to reach $9.8 billion in 2007, up from $7.2 billion five years ago, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. A survey released by the group last month found that 47 percent of dog owners say their pet sleeps in a family member's bed.

Microvision stock got a lift today after the company announced a deal with Motorola to integrate its miniature projector into Motorola handsets. Microvision's PicoP projector has been a key product to test whether the company can successfully commercialize its technology and ensure its own survival.

The tiny laser projector works inside mobile devices to project content from the screen onto a larger surface, enabling big screen viewing of movies, videos and the like.

The companies announced a joint development agreement to integrate PicoP into a Motorola handset "for demonstration purposes." That sounded pretty tentative to me, so I asked Microvision spokesman Matt Nichols to clarify what the agreement means.

Until now, prototypes of the PicoP were not designed within functioning handsets, he said. This agreement takes it further by putting it into a real Motorola mobile device, validating the potential of Microvision's technology. As to what's ahead, "for competitive reasons" Motorola doesn't want to say what is beyond the initial test, he said.

However, Microvision is aiming to partner with a number of hardware makers to bring the projector to market, so it's no secret the company hopes its deal with the world's second largest handset maker will go a lot further than a demo.

The company's shares were up 12 percent today on the news, to $5.45.

A report released today found that mobile phone users in the U.S. use their phones to access weather information the most; in Europe, subscribers prefer sports information, according to Seattle-based M:Metrics.

M:Metrics said it found some similarities in behavior between Europe and the U.S. Below are the top 10 news and information sites accessed by 23 million people in the U.S. and 19 million Europeans in the three months ended May 31.

U.S.
1. Weather
2. News
3. Sports
4. Entertainment news
5. Maps and directions
6. Movie and entertainment info
7. Finance news
8. Business directories
9. Financial account access
10. Travel

Europe
1. Sports
2. News
3. Entertainment news
4. Weather
5. Maps and directions
6. Movie and entertainment info
7. Financial account access
8. Finance news
9. Business directories
10. Travel

The company said this information has become important because advertisers are wanting to know more and more what people are visiting on their mobile phones.

"Increasingly, consumers are looking to the mobile Web to find a wide variety of information, and marketers are keen to learn about this new audience," said Paul Goode, M:Metrics' senior vice president and senior analyst.

When broken down by gender instead of geography, the survey found men in the U.S. were most interested in sports news, while women were most interested in weather. In Europe, men were most interested in sports, while women were most interested in general news.

Microsoft is applauding a joint campaign by the FBI and Chinese police that broke up two software piracy gangs and seized software worth, well, somewhere in the millions, mostly bound for the United States.

The two-year effort resulted in arrests of 25 people, allegedly part of a ring operating from Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Chinese authorities and the FBI placed a different dollar value on the goods, according to this story. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security said it seized 360,000 programs and property valued at $7.9 million, while the FBI's Los Angeles office estimated the seized software's retail value to be $500 million. That would make each program worth almost $1,400.

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith hailed the get-tough stance toward counterfeiters.
"Customers around the world are turning you in, governments and law enforcement have had enough, and private companies will act decisively to protect intellectual property," he said.

Amp'd Mobile -- the youth-oriented mobile operator that runs on the Verizon Wireless network -- is shutting down.

The primary reason seems to be that the service, which had filed for bankruptcy protection, had a hard time collecting money from its youthful client base, and that's painfully obvious from the company's Web site at get.amp'd.com.

Among the ads -- amazingly still trying to sell its services, flashing the coolest new phones it is offering from fiery red Razrs to the Motorola Q -- there's almost an equal number of advs relaying to the user how to pay their bill. It says: Now paying your bill is even ea$ier. It says you can pay on your mobile phone -- without ever listening to hold music.

Not sure what the incentive is at this point. If customers, or potential customers, bothered to click on the "Customer Q&A," they'd find out a host of interesting things:

Q: Is Amp'd going out of business?
A: Amp'd is potentially suspending U.S. operations July 31.

Q: How long will customer service be provided?
A: It will not be available after July 23.

Wait a sec. They'll shut off the operators before the service? Yikes.

Q: Do I need to pay my outstanding bill?
A: Yes, failure to pay may result in reporting to a credit agency.

Darn.