A spokesperson at Jobster said today Jeff Seely will replace Jason Goldberg, the company's founder, as chief executive.

Seely was the CEO at Sharebuilder until last month when the Bellevue online brokerage was purchased by ING Direct. At the time, Seely said that he planned to look for new opportunities.

The transition will take place Jan. 7.

Jobster's board has been hunting for a new top executive at the recruiting company. Goldberg will become vice chairman of the board.

Redmond-based Smilebox said today that it has raised $7 million in venture capital from Bessemer Venture Partners, and Frazier Technology Partners.

Smilebox is the modern-day Hallmark of sorts. It allows you to upload your digital photos, and then make slideshows, electronic cards, scrapbooks and other stuff.

The company's Web site has a blog link where you can see the "Smilebox of the week." The most recent entry is a slideshow of a family's trip to a pumpkin patch set to music.

The second round of funding will go toward expanding internationally, adding partners and moving Smilebox's features over to new platforms, the company said.

"Smilebox has pioneered the multimedia expressions category and established a proven business model. The service combines technology innovation with a strong focus on ease of use," said Rob Stavis at Bessemer Venture Partners.

Smilebox said in its release that more than 1.8 million users have installed the service since its launch in June 2006, and more than 1.3 million unique users worldwide access it monthly.

A new study suggests that a "staggering" number of entrepreneurs in the U.S. identify themselves as dyslexic, according to a story in the International Herald Tribune.

The report said that of the entrepreneurs interviewed, 35 percent said they were dyslexic. The study also concluded that dyslexics were more likely to delegate authority and to excel in oral communication and problem solving. They were also twice as likely to own two or more businesses.

One good example in our own back yard is Craig McCaw, who has a long list of companies he started: Clearwire, Nextel Communications, XO Communications, Teledesic and McCaw Cellular Communications,

Members of his executive teams frequently describe him as being creative, not too wrapped up in the details, and capable of delegating authority.

The article pointed out that the connection between entrepreneurs and dyslexia has been made before. Fortune had a cover story five years ago mentioning McCaw, but also Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways; Charles Schwab, founder of the discount brokerage that bears his name; John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco; and Paul Orfalea, founder of the Kinko's copy chain.

Why is this?

Julie Logan, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Cass Business School in London, who conducted the study, said:

"We found that dyslexics who succeed had overcome an awful lot in their lives by developing compensatory skills. If you tell your friends and acquaintances that you plan to start a business, you'll hear over and over, 'It won't work. It can't be done.' But dyslexics are extraordinarily creative about maneuvering their way around problems."

The study was based on a survey of 139 business owners in a wide range of fields across the U.S.

Logan called the results staggering, especially when juxtaposed with the information that about 10 percent of Americans are believed to have dyslexia.

A study released late Tuesday says global venture capital investments this year are on pace to record the highest annual total since 2001, according to Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young.

This year, investment is expected to top $40 billion at the close of the fourth quarter while the number of deals should reach about 3,884, or similar to levels in 2003.

Driving this growth are investments in a broader range of sectors and geographic areas. The hot areas are cleantech and medical devices, and the two geographic regions of increasing importance are Beijing and Bangalore.

Also driving some of this growth is an increase in exits for VCs, which allow them to get some of their money back.

Here's a chart depicting the number of venture-backed IPOs:

The U.S. is the worldwide leader in cleantech investments:

The report also offered a prediction for 2008. Pending an economic downturn in the U.S. or the world, investing will likely continue to be robust. In addition, large multinational corporations are expected to increase their investments, and new geographies in Asia and growth in health care and cleantech innovations in energy and water will drive further growth.

A study released late Tuesday says global venture capital investments this year are on pace to record the highest annual total since 2001, according to Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young.

This year, investment is expected to top $40 billion at the close of the fourth quarter while the number of deals should reach about 3,884, or similar to levels in 2003.

Driving this growth are investments in a broader range of sectors and geographic areas. The hot areas are cleantech and medical devices, and the two geographic regions of increasing importance are Beijing and Bangalore.

Also driving some of this growth is an increase in exits for VCs, which allow them to get some of their money back.

Here's a chart depicting the number of venture-backed IPOs:

The U.S. is the worldwide leader in cleantech investments:

The report also offered a prediction for 2008. Pending an economic downturn in the U.S. or the world, investing will likely continue to be robust. In addition, large multinational corporations are expected to increase their investments, and new geographies in Asia and growth in health care and cleantech innovations in energy and water will drive further growth.

The Seattle-area is known for its expertise in the wireless industry.

It is and has been the home of the biggest in the game, including AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Western Wireless, Nextel Partners, Clearwire and more.

Although T-Mobile and Clearwire are the only remaining wireless operators here, it's no less of a wireless town. Tthe focus is changing instead from infrastructure to software. There are Microsoft and RealNetworks, and a host of smaller venture-backed companies doing everything from search, gaming, photo sharing and social networking.

One company that gets a little less ink, but has been around for years and is making some headway is NetMotion Wireless.

I had a chance to catch up this week with Tom Johnston, NetMotion's senior vice president of product and marketing, to get a status report.

The Seattle-based company isn't doing anything flashy. It is solely focused on the behind-the-scenes of the enterprise workforce. It focuses on helping businesses run efficiently on wireless networks. It does so by helping workers keep their applications up and running even if they momentarily drop their wireless data connection, whether they are traveling through a canyon or repairing an elevator.

What does this mean?

It means that an employee who is using ar laptop or a handheld device in the field won't be kicked out of business applications, such as a billing system, when a cell signal fades. Similarly, police or fire personnel could continue to search driver's license databases when a connection is going in and out.

Without NetMotion, it's often the case that the application will shut down and freeze when a connection is lost. We're not talking about e-mail here, but large billing, expense, sales or other systems. If this happens, an employee often has to call headquarters to report the information, which can be a waste of time.

How does it work?

NetMotion places a server in a company's data center that fools an application into thinking the connection is maintained depsite what is going on in the field.

Johnston said demand for NetMotion products is increasing because more field workers have laptops with data cards or high-end phones.

Today, the company has about 1,000 customers using 200,000 devices. Its revenues for the first three quarters of this year are up 66 percent compared with the same period last year, and the number of licenses has jumped 71 percent.

It serves companies such as Cox Communications, the nation's third largest cable provide. It has 3,500 technicians using NetMotion. The Orange County Sheriff's Department has 400 officers using the software.

NetMotion has come a long way. The company was spun off from WRQ in 2001, and was backed by venture capitalists. In 2006, it had a patent-infringement tiff with Bethlehem, Pa.-based Padcom. They resolved their issues and decided to merge the two companies.

Today, the company has 90 employees.

A little more than a year ago, I wrote a story about Bellevue-based Sotto Wireless, a startup founded by three experienced executives coming out of AT&T Wireless.

The business revolves around simplifying telecommunications for small- to medium-size businesses by selling them one service they can use outdoors on the cellular network and indoors on Wi-Fi. It eliminates multiple bills, phone numbers and voicemail boxes.

A year later, Rod Nelson says the company is in the thick of it, having launched services in Charlotte, N.C., and in Seattle.

Today, it announced it is partnering with XO Communications in Seattle. Sotto will bundle XO's broadband services with its offerings to small-and-medium-sized business, and XO has agreed to resell Sotto's services.

Sotto falls into the highly talked about wireless sector called "fixed mobile convergence," or FMC for short. FMC mixes both the luxuries of landlines with the flexibility of wireless phones.

For instance, someone calling an employee using one of the Sotto phones will have no idea if he is reaching that person in the office or on a mobile phone. Phone calls can be transferred between employees, and all voicemail goes into one inbox.

When the employee is in the office, the phone operates over Wi-Fi, saving minutes on the company's cellular plans, but then it automatically switches over to cellular when the person leaves the office, Nelson said.

He added that the increased attention and focus on FMC has helped the business in the past year. T-Mobile USA started offering a service called T-Mobile Hotspot@Home in that time. That service allows consumers to use a Wi-Fi network in the house for better indoor coverage and to save money.

At the minimum, Nelson said efforts such as those are encouraging more handset manufacturers to include Wi-Fi in phones. Right now, Sotto Wireless resells Nokia handsets, but in the next year he expects to start offering Windows Mobile and other smartphones.

Paul Merritt, general manager of XO in Seattle, said the partnership places XO six months to a year ahead of its competition. He doesn't know of any of his competitors that are reselling cellular services. Because of this, he's allowed all of his 12 sales reps to offer the service to new and existing customers.

"It was a natural fit, there's nothing close to this on the market," he said.

Nelson said if the trial goes well in Seattle, it will eventually will roll out to the 75 markets that XO serves around the country.

Earlier this week, I drove to Bellevue to sit down with Ivan Braiker and Eric Harber, HipCricket's chief executive and president, respectively.

We gathered in Braiker's office, which was surprisingly bare of any decorations, artwork or anything.

Turns out everything is packed up. The company is expanding so fast it needs to move to a larger office. Braiker even joked that as soon as he takes off for a sales trip, the employees celebrate -- up to three employees can fit and work in his office.

They'll have about 50 employees by the end of the year and are expecting to add about four or five a month, Braiker said.

What's HipCricket doing that's driving so much growth?

It helps radio and TV stations make their one-way media become interactive by allowing listeners and readers to send text messages to the station in response to advertising. At the same time, the system is used to increase the effectiveness of the ads. In doing so, the stations' can charge more.

It's good to step back every once in a while and hear examples of what is actually successful and making it in these frothy wireless days, where everyone has an idea for cellphones.

HipCricket seems to be addressing something spot on.

In a report published Tuesday by Seattle-based M:Metrics, 94.9 million mobile subscribers said they sent a text message in the three months ended September, or about 44 percent of U.S. cellphone users.

Here's some of the examples of how HipCricket is being used:

-- KUBE 93.3, the radio station in Seattle, regularly uses the system. For instance, it aired a McDonald's commercial that asked listeners to text a five-digit short-code to get a two-for-one coupon for cheeseburgers.

-- In Los Angeles, a local coffee shop offered a coupon for two-for-one iced lattes.

-- In yet another market, a company holding a job fair said if people sent a text message, they would get a text reminder the day of the fair.

Braiker said that these offers are generating a response rate of about 40 percent, a much greater rate than traditional means of advertising.

"TV and radio has struggled over proving accountability [that people are indeed listening and watching]," he said. "By the end of the day, they now know how many people have replied."

In the case of the L.A. station, Coffee Bean became a HipCricket customer so it could use the technology across all radio stations in all of its markets, not just the one in L.A.

Braiker said this is why HipCricket is growing so fast. Sister radio stations, TV stations, newspapers and even the brands themselves are using its technology.

The company, almost 4 years old, has about 200 customers and has managed 16,000 campaigns.

HipCricket charges a flat rate and provides a number of ways for the stations to make money. The station usually charges an advertiser a premium to add a text message to its commercial, but ads can also be added at the bottom of a text message. For instance, people can text in to get a list of the last three songs that played on the radio. On the bottom of the reply would be a sponsorship ad.

HipCricket can also be used to boost a station's audience. People may be willing to sign up for alerts, telling them to tune in when a prize is about to be given away.

The company has been backed by a number of private investors, and is profitable. But for now, Braiker said profitability is not a goal -- it makes more sense to invest and grow.

"We are in the middle of a land grab," he said.

UPDATE: Late Monday night, HipCricket went public on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. It raised about $17 million and has a market capitalization of $155.4 million. In this press release here, Braiker said: "The additional funding puts us in an excellent position to capitalize on the increasing opportunities ahead of us, providing a strong base to grow the company organically and also fund expansion in US markets. Our AIM listing will significantly enhance our ability to serve our existing UK investors."

In addition to the somewhat controversial statements Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made Friday about an engineering talent shortage, there were several other interesting tidbits from his speech and question and answer session with an audience of high school, college and professional members of the National Society of Black Engineers.

For starters, the atmosphere in the room at Microsoft's conference center in Redmond differed dramatically from that of Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting, at which Gates spoke earlier in the week. Gates noticed it, too. After waiting through a long and loud standing ovation -- "Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you. All right, thanks very much." -- to begin his speech, he said, "I've been at a lot of meetings in this room, but I think you may be the most energetic group we've ever had here."

Gates compared the software development process to a much more mundane pursuit: bread baking.

"The pace is really something because whenever you come out with software, customers love to tell you what's right, they love to tell you what's wrong, and you know you can go out and do something new. It's not like working at a bread company where they ... go back and tell you they don't like bread anymore, and great, well, we're a bread company, what do they expect? We're not going to change our product."

The question-and-answer session, as is often the case with a young, engaged audience, was the best part. There were lots of questions about how Gates got started and how one could emulate his success.

Gates dismissed the personal risk he took of dropping out of Harvard to start Microsoft, saying, "I could have always gone back to school. When I started hiring my friends, and they had kids and things, then it was more risky, could I pay them? So I had to be really sure."

For those wondering how to build a Microsoft-sized company today, Gates said the trick is finding a big opportunity based on a major change that the big players -- himself included -- are missing. "You'd have to have an idea that's revolutionary. ... You'd have to have a breakthrough in artificial intelligence or robots or something that was so big that the existing companies really somehow just weren't getting their minds around it, and doing it well. ... So, you'd better see something I don't see if you want to start a company now."

U.S. private equity firms, including buyout and venture capital funds, have raised $263 billion so far this year, already breaking last year's fundraising record.

Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst reported that the record-breaking money was raised by 364 private equity funds. Last year, $258 billion was raised.

"With the present momentum and a full seven weeks left in the year, we could well see fund-raising break the $300 billion mark for the first time," said Jennifer Rossa, managing editor of Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst.

Buyout and corporate finance funds are attracting the lion's share of the money, accounting for about $203 billion, or roughly 77 percent of all capital raised this year.

Last month, Ignition Partners, a Bellevue-based venture capital firm, said it raised $675 million in capital.

Amsterdam-based ING Direct, which has a U.S. banking subsidiary, said today that it is acquiring Bellevue-based ShareBuilder, an online brokerage business.

ING is paying $220 million, or 152 million euros, for Sharebuilder, which was founded in 1996.

I wrote a story about the company in 2004. At the time, it had 120 employees, and had raised $67 million in venture capital. The company started off as Netstock Direct, and launched ShareBuilder.com in 1999.

The company's business model included having co-branded relationships with more than 40 banks, 140 credit unions and other nonfinancial institutions, including Wells Fargo, National City Bank, Alaska Airlines, Costco and Safeco. It is also known for allowing people to individually invest by dollar figure instead of stock price. The end result is that the purchaser may own a partial share.

In 2005, I wrote about the company again, this time as part of a category of Northwest companies that were growing and had at least 100-plus employees -- and candidates for merger or an IPO.

Dick Harryvan, ING group executive board member and CEO of ING Direct, said in a press release:

"This acquisition is in line with ING Direct's aim to become the world's most preferred consumer bank by expanding geographically and developing its product range, while focusing on growing its mortgage business and investment services."

Voyager Capital, a Seattle-based venture capital firm, said today that it has made four investments from its latest fund.

The new fund, the company's third, has made investments in: Ontela, a wireless company in Seattle; SEMDirector, a search marketing software firm in California; 1020, a California company pioneering location-aware advertising; and Yapta, an internet travel planning service in Seattle.

Voyager's fund has $107 million and will be used to invest in early stage companies in digital media, software and wireless -- both in the Northwest and in California, the company said in a release today.

In 2006, it was reported that Voyager was seeking to raise a third fund worth up to $200 million.

In all, Voyager has about $370 million under management.

When a business group from China visits a business group in Seattle, the odds are you'll see a lot men in dark suits. But earlier this week, an unusual group from China came through town: women entrepreneurs blazing a trail in a country where the odds are not often in their favor.

The visitors included Li Xiao Yan, the young general manager of Beijing Jingcheng Yanda Technology and Trade, a company specializing in energy conservation and management that she founded in Beijing. Li was looking for U.S. partners to provide energy technology products to China. Li's company is already importing energy management products from California. She said that with recent government incentives for technology that helps reduce electricity consumption, the opportunity is huge.

Led by Madam Feng Cui, president of the Chinese Association of Women Entrepreneurs, the eight women attended a reception in the waterfront Medina home of local businesswoman Laurie McDonald Jonsson. It was a reunion for some of the women, who met in China last year during a trip Jonsson organized for Stellar International Networks.

Wistar Kay/Stellar Networks

Li Xiao Yan (middle, in orange scarf) talks with Laurie McDonald Jonsson (in tan suit).

Their American counterparts were local lawyers, doctors, company executives, academics and others interested in making professional connections and friendships in China.

Another visitor, Li Daxiang, chair of Beijing Leitianxiang International Education and Culture Exchange, said she was anxious to meet Americans interested in exchange programs with China. Li said she hoped the problems with Chinese product quality would not put a damper on trade.

Wistar Kay/Stellar Networks

Zhang Zumei, general manager of a Macau investment company Kong Tai Luen Fat, tours the Jonsson house.

All of the entrepreneurs said they hoped that establishing friendships between American and Chinese women would build good will at a time when relations between their two countries are strained.

A few of the Chinese women were visiting the U.S. for the first time. As successful as they have become in the new capitalist China, they were clearly in awe of their surroundings, even without knowing they were just down the street from the richest man in the world. One local guest quipped: "I hope they don't think all Americans have homes like this."

Venture capital investing in clean energy grew by almost 70 percent in 2006, to $18 billion, according to research firm New Energy Finance. And more than $10 billion was invested in companies and projects in the first half of 2007.

The group tracked more than 1,800 investors worldwide and recorded 193 funds that invest in clean energy.

Investment was highest in North America, with most of it going toward biofuels. In Europe private equity investment growth was strong, and in Asia investment was driven by pre-IPO investments in Chinese solar companies

AFP / GETTY IMAGES

Indonesia's biofuels program makes use of palm oil.

Looking at various industries, the investments broke down into $8.4 billion for wind, $4.7 for biofuels and $2.3 billion for solar, which together made up 86 percent of the total venture capital / private equity investment.

The report is available on New Energy Finance's website. It's called "Cleaning Up 2007."

Peter Adkison, the entrepreneur and game developer who sold Wizards of the Coast to Hasbro for $500 million, must have been bored with early retirement.

His new Seattle company, Hidden City Games, is distributing a card game for girls called Bella Sara, hoping to replicate its popularity in Europe here in the U.S.

In this game, every girl can have her own horse, at least a virtual one.

Bella Sara sells cards with whimsical, fantasy images of horses, linked to a game and an online site where players can take care of their own virtual horse. The game, created in Denmark, includes "positive messages designed to uplift girls and reinforce the principle that beauty comes from within," according to its publisher.

Bella Sara got a boost this week with a new distribution agreement allowing the cards to be sold at 2,500 stores around the country, including Borders, Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble.

The idea that beauty comes from within could meet a challenging time here in the American setting. Considering all the beauty queens with DUIs, rehabs and jail sentences, says Bella Sera's publicist, it was hard to find a celebrity spokesperson "who wasn't a train wreck."

They finally chose Hayden Panettiere, the cheerleader from NBC's "Heroes" and "one of the few good girl celebrities out there," he said. Hope she likes horses, too.

Seattle-based Ultra Unlimited said today that it launched SportsUltra.com, a site that provides custom sports news and video coverage based on the teams, players, blogs and sportswriters that users want to track.

The company said it eliminates the need to bookmark multiple sites to get the news people are looking for.

"Fans are ravenous for up-to-date news about their favorite teams and players, and RSS feeds and national sports sites only deliver a portion of that content for them. With SportsUltra.com, we have created a Web site that will give specific, local, and relevant sports content to these fans, just the way they want it," said Scott Decker, SportsUltra.com's founder.

Several other sports-related Web sites have been founded in Seattle.

Perhaps one of the most high profile was Rivals Network, founded by Jim Heckman. In 2001, the decision was made to sell the company, and it eventually shut down. Heckman was also the CEO at Seattle-based Scout Media, which was acquired by News Corp. in 2005.

Heckman was also behind Seattle-based TheInsiders.com, which charges users a monthly fee for specialized content about National Football League, college and high-school teams. In 2002, Yahoo said it would carry the subscription service on Yahoo's sports site.

Not so hard, says James Sun, CEO of Zoodango and emerging television personality. Sun may have finished his stint on "The Apprentice" as runner-up, but he's launching several ventures that promise to keep him on air.

Brian Casey

James Sun

He has a Hollywood agent out to make the most of his personality, tech skills and business acumen. Decked out in black Prada shades, intern by his side, Sun turned out for a lunch today with Chinese stars visiting Seattle to promote the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Not everybody can make the transition from reality TV to stardom, he says, "but my agent thinks I can."

The first show he's working on is a techno house program, introducing new kinds of technology and explaining how to set them up at home. Think fun with wireless gadgets and tabletop computers.

The second show is a look at celebrities launching their own businesses. Think Paris Hilton opening a pampered pet store.

Sun says he is also planning to go on a national speaking tour with "Apprentice" winner Stefani Schaeffer. The theme is very anti-Trump: teamwork.

"Stefani and I never backstabbed each other even once," he said.

Even though backstabbing sells on the show, Sun says real business is collaborative.

But with so much going on, how does he even find time to run a company?

"My job is chief evangelist officer," Sun said. Zoodango is getting more users in Los Angeles because he's there so often talking about it.

Besides, his investors have asked him to do a daily video blog about working as a tech CEO. His last blog, a rant about hospital security officers tasering a man holding a baby, was broadcast on television 48 hours after he posted it on YouTube.

"That's the power of the Internet," he said.

Seattle-based Calidora Skin Clinic, which has stores that offer skin care treatments and products, said it raised $4 million to expand into Southern California.

About half of the round was financed by Calidora's existing angel investors, with the remaining funds coming from Fluke Venture Partners.

Calidora has four Seattle-area locations, where people can receive procedures such as Botox injections, cosmetic and restylane, non-ablative skin resurfacing treatments, and laser and light therapies.

In this story, I wrote about how the company got its start. At that point, it had raised $3 million, mostly from Starbucks executives, where Calidora founder Colette Courtion had previously worked.

After leaping out of the gate yesterday with the hottest IPO of the year, VMware is again climbing big-time today, up about 13 percent in midafternoon trading in New York.

That's got to have the people at Seattle-based virtualization startup illumita, which pulled down $6 million in funding last week, feeling pretty good. (Did we mention they're hiring? They are.) Their investors are probably smiling broadly, too, especially the guys over at Bellevue-based Ignition Partners.

An earlier virtualization bet that Ignition made on XenSource paid off handsomely today when Citrix Systems announced plans to buy the company for about $500 million in cash and stock. Here's analysis from Mary Jo Foley on what the Citrix-XenSource combination could mean for Microsoft.

Investors at U.S. venture capital firms raised $3.23 billion to add to their coffers during the second quarter, according to a report published by Dow Jones VentureOne this week.

That represents a decline of 62 percent from the same period last year -- the biggest decline since 2002.

During the period, there wer 15 venture capital funds raised, compared with 25 a year ago. That was the lowest quarterly fund total since the first quarter of 2003.

Although the numbers are down from last year, five huge venture funds skewed the 2006 numbers by raising more than $7.92 billion in capital. And, in 2005, two supersized funds raised $2.6 billion.

Even though funds have not been raising as much money recently, they are still performing well.

On Thursday, a separate report found that venture-capital performance continued to show positive returns in most investment areas during the first three months of the year, according to Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association.

The report said an increase in the first quarter this year shows more companies have gone public or been acquired since the Internet bubble burst.

"The venture capital industry continues to outperform the public markets long term, offering strong returns to its limited partners, which include pension funds, endowments and foundations," said Mark Heesen, NVCA president.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I wrote a story in today's story about Nokia's acquisition of a Redmond startup, Twango, which allows people to store their digital content online.

Here's a few more details that didn't fit in today's print edition:

First off, I wrote about the company in June last year before the public launch of its product.

What's interesting to note is that Twango, founded in 2004, has spent a lot of time building a platform and doing its homework on what a service requires on the backend in order for customers to have a good experience.

That may have justified the acquisition price. Although the specific price was not disclosed, The Wall Street Journal quoted a person familiar to the deal saying that Nokia paid less than €70 million, or $96.8 million.

That's a lot when you compare it with Loudeye, a publicly held company Nokia acquired in August last year for $60 million (which itself was a far cry from the $1.4 billion Loudeye was valued at after its public offering in 2000).

Anyway, let's go back to the platform that Twango is building. It's considered an open platform, meaning it will allow other developers to take the code and build applications around it. It also uses open features, such as RSS, podcasting and maps.

Serena Glover, one of Twango's co-founders, said that could mean that even though Nokia has bought the company, a developer could still create an application for a Motorola phone using Twango's work.

The open platform allows consumers to link multiple devices, services and networks. In theory that means if those consumers use their mobile phone to upload content to the Web, they'll continue to be able to do so if they change carriers. That differs from other services on the market, such as Apple's, which requires you to use an iPod or iPhone if you buy your music on iTunes. Or applications found on one carrier aren't always available on another.

I asked Nokia's Gerard Wiener what he thought about this, and he said that follows the handset maker's vision -- it's are going after a bigger market encompassing all phones instead of just Nokia ones.

"We are big believers in open source, as well. That is the way of the Internet," he said. "Far be it for us to fight that trend. In our services strategy, open source is a critical part of that, and we are pushing for it.... If we look at even Motorola and other companies, and we look at markets, the imaging services market is where we see a significant opportunity.

"Ultimately, the consumer is our master and we want to put ourselves in the situation that involves acquiring great teams and talent like the Twango guys," he said.

A panel discussion coming up in two weeks will provide entrepreneurs and VCs a chance to grill the media on how to get noticed.

Well, here's an early hint -- if you are looking for publicity for your panel, invite the media.

Five reporters, including myself, will make themselves available for a panel discussion starting at 5:30 p.m. July 24 at The Havana Social Club on Capitol Hill.

At 6:30 p.m., the organizer Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, has planned quite the after-party. The sponsors are Redfin and Madrona Venture Group, but it looks like other startups, including iLike, WetPaint, Farecast, Jobster and WildTangent, are also really pitching in.

With this list of reporters, the discussion will likely be lively:

Tricia Duryee, The Seattle Times
John Cook, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Rebecca Buckman, The Wall Street Journal
Fred Vogelstein, Wired magazine
Michael Arrington, TechCrunch

Kelman announced the event -- being called "The Naked Truth" -- on his blog and he's asking people to RSVP to both the panel and the party at this wiki.

Seattle-based Treemo is launching a contest on its social networking site made for mobile phones.

The winner will receive tickets to a Velvet Revolver's concert in New York on Aug. 18. The plane tickets will be provided by another Seattle company, Farecast.

Participants are asked to send in videos, photos and essays on Velvet Revolver's new album -- Libertad, or freedom. Submissions are made by mobile phone.

There's already quite a large collection of entries on the Web site. There are several pages of thumbnails, where you can view pictures and text messages people have sent in representing freedom, including pictures of snowboarding and flowers.

To enter, you must register for a Treemo account or log in to your existing account, and then upload photos, videos, audio or text. The entry must be tagged "libertad." Winners will be decided by a combination of number of views, favorites, comments and shares, as well as a final vote among judges.

Brent Brookler, the company's CEO, said so far Treemo has more than 50,000 registered users and 95 percent of its traffic is coming from mobile. He added that Velvet Revolver has band members from Guns n' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots.

The Nielsen Co. said it will start measuring the mobile industry after agreeing today to acquire Telephia, a San Francisco-based company that researches wireless consumer behavior.

Terms of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed. Telephia and Nielsen are both privately held companies.

Perhaps, Seattle-based M:Metrics, which also tracks trends in the wireless industry, was also a candidate?

After all, Will Hodgman, who co-founded M:Metrics in early 2004, has ties with Nielsen. He founded a company called AdRelevance, which was later purchased by Jupiter Media Metrix. It was through Jupiter that he came to work at NetRatings and the the Nielsen//NetRatings service.

M:Metrics is financially backed by investors including I-Hatch Ventures, Prism Venture Partners and Kantar Group.

An attorney has filed a class action suit against Seattle-based Avvo, a startup that ranks attorneys on a scale of one to 10.

The lawsuit, filed on the behalf of other attorneys nationwide, claims that "the site is unfair and highly deceptive."

Steve Berman, the managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He alleges that the site violates unfair methods of competition and deceptive acts in the conduct of commerce as stated in the Washington Consumer Protection Act.

Berman has a rating of 9.2.

"When the site launched, they had a very slick media campaign that led consumers to believe the site would give them accurate and insightful information about attorneys," said Berman in a press release. "In reality, we believe the site's rating methodology is prone to error and wide open to manipulation."

Avvo launched on June 5. In this story, company execs said their ratings take into account a number of factors, but wouldn't disclose much detail.

Mark Britton, founder and former Expedia general counsel, addresses some of the concerns in a comment on this blog post.

UPDATE: Mark Britton posted a blog item on Avvo's site today addressing the rating system and how an attorney can get extra points for even winning softball awards, or the 4th grade spelling bee. The short answer is that it is a temporary spike until an Avvo employee checks to see if the award is legitimate, and takes any associated points away that the attorney may have unfairly got credit for.

UPDATE 2: Here's today's story on the lawsuit, which adds comments from Berman. Here's a link to the complaint.

We are getting a lot of feedback on the story. What do you think about ranking lawyers?

Seattle-based Aventail said today that SonicWall, a company in Sunnyvale, Calif., would purchase the company for $25 million in cash.

Aventail sells a combination of software and hardware that give companies a way for employees to access electronic information stored securely on servers when they're away from the office. The technology is called SSL VPN, or secure socket layer virtual private networks.

Aventail serves very large customers while SonicWall, which competes in the same business, serves much smaller companies, according to Evan Kaplan, chief executive and co-founder of Aventail.

The acquisition follows Aventail's sale of the profitable service side of its business in 2005. That purchase price was undisclosed.

Last year, Aventail recorded $18 million in revenues and was not profitable.

In all, Aventail, which was started during the dot-com heyday, had raised $110 million in venture capital.

"I would like for the Seattle community to understand that it's a fantastic deal for customers, they are well served by it, and they are keeping over 75 percent of our employees, and keeping our engineering talent -- they are doing all the right things as the acquiring company. It's a very good deal for the employees, they have a stock that's doubled over the last three years. They've executed superbly," Kaplan said.

But for investors, he added: "It's an OK deal. We raised a lot of money, and it was gone before 2001 -- it was lost during the bubble period....I feel like we've served the Seattle community well, but I would have liked to be better by investors."

Here's a 2001 story about how Aventail refocused after it raised $55 million in its last round of capital.

Redmond-based Sampa, which provides users with tools to make Web sites, said it launched a new service today for Facebook.

Now, the company says, the 19 million-or-so Facebook users, will be able to create Web sites and add blog functionality integrated into their Facebook profile.

Sampa CEO Paul Gross said the launch is part of Facebook's effort to open up some of its technology to allow startups and other companies to innovate on their platform.

Similarly, Seattle-based iLike was one of the first to integrate its music service into the hugely popular social networking site. Since Facebook's platform was opened up, Gross said more than 300 applications have been built for the site.

Sampa

This screenshot captures how the Web site would be integrated into a Facebook profile.

Gross said Sampa, founded in 2005, is targeting 25- to 34-year-olds who are looking to create Web sites as they get married and have children. Although that's not the typical Facebook profile -- which includes a lot of students -- Gross said they want to target users early and help them transition to adulthood. He said, as you get older, you may want to share your photos and thoughts with older relatives, who may not want to sign up for a Facebook account.

"We become interesting when inviting other generations. It may be an unnatural act for an aunt. She's not going to join Facebook," Gross said.

Sampa is currently made up of Gross and founder Marcelo Calbucci. They expect to raise $250,000 to $500,000 in angel money this summer.

The MIT Enterprise Forum, which encourages entrepreneurial activity in the Northwest, will be holding its Venture Lab event Thursday night.

The lab will feature the Startup Demo 2007, where six early-stage startups from the Seattle area which will be demonstrating new products and services to the audience.

The 6 p.m. event will take place in One Union Square Boardroom,
600 University St. in Seattle.

Presenters are:

IntellectSpace, which creates enterprise software allowing for the visual presentation of personal relationships. These relationship maps are particularly interesting to investment bankers.

BondRotary, which has created a hybrid engine designed to increase fuel efficiency threefold.

ScienceOps, which provides advanced algorithms for Internet advertising and search results.

VOIP Teleport, which makes voice over IP business phone systems built into a USB memory stick.

Ballpark Classics, which creates high quality table top baseball games.

JamGlue, which has created an online community for creating and sharing audio (music, mashups, fun sounds, etc).

Two Bellevue startups said today that they have received more funding to pursue their mobile businesses.

HipCricket, a mobile marketing company, is announcing today that it has raised $6 million in second-round capital. Its services are used by radio stations to do text-messaging campaigns.

IceBreaker said it has raised $7.2 million also in a second round. It runs a dating service called Crush or Flush.

In today's paper, I wrote about Avvo, a Seattle startup that aims to create profiles of every attorney in the country. The service would compete with the Yellow Pages or other ways consumers find divorce lawyers or bankruptcy attorneys today.

Avvo aims to be more than a list of lawyers by providing ratings for each lawyer on a scale of 1 to 10.

I took a quick peek at the site last week after the company allowed a preview before the site's launch. I found nothing unusual, except that it was really slow.

However, CNET reports today a number of odd glitches and information it found:

According to Avvo's profiles of "licensed attorneys," President Abraham Lincoln, once a lawyer who traveled on horseback between county courthouses, and Scopes defense attorney Clarence Darrow, who died in 1938, have no disciplinary sanctions pending and are encouraged to update their profiles by personalizing them with "professional experience" and achievements. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Samuel Alito each receive hardly flattering "experience" and "trustworthiness" ratings of three out of five stars.

Avvo does not disclose how it comes up with its ratings.

Board member Rich Barton, the CEO of Zillow.com who helped Avvo CEO Mark Britton start the company, readily acknowledged to me in reporting today's story that the company's techniques will cause some controversy.

"As long as we stay focused on the fact that we are empowering the consumer with information, in the court of public opinion you will win," he said.

UPDATE: See the comment down below for Mark Britton's response that he sent to the CNET reporter regarding what he found on the Avvo site.

He said, in part: "We're working hard to constantly add more information and, now that we're live, lawyers and consumers can help by adding their own content. In just the few hours since launch, hundreds of attorneys have claimed their profiles and provided consumers valuable information regarding their body of work."

The New York Times had an interesting essay yesterday by Stanford journalism teacher and writer G. Pascal Zachary exploring the character of tech entrepreneurs, including all the big names: Gates, Jobs, Woz, Page, Brin.

He describes the breed as "technological innovators who have a rebellious streak -- resenting and resisting established authority and its prejudices -- [that] took root in the 1960s counterculture."

Zachary also traces the influence of science historian Thomas Kuhn, whose 1962 book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolution," described the identification of "'paradigm shifts' as the key to advances in science and technology."

"When world views were overthrown by rebels, new paradigms could be constructed, opening the way for new theories, new facts, new technologies," Zachary writes. "... For people like Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs, Kuhn's attack on conformity in science and technology provided a moral and intellectual foundation that still survives.

"Echoes of the Kuhnian sensibility can be heard around any corridor in Silicon Valley, any day of the week. In fact, misfits now rule Silicon Valley and its sibling, Seattle."

Well, on Sunday we took a look at some of Seattle's rulers, then and now, and judging by their high school labels, there are quite a few jocks and cool kids in charge. But all in all, Zachary's analysis seems pretty spot on.

Seattle-based eProject, which develops collaborative project software, said today that it raised $12 million in a second round of venture financing.

The round was led by Bay Partners and included previous investor Kennet Partners.

The company said it has more than 100,000 users at 650 companies relying on its software every day, and is adding new customers at a rapid rate.

Seattle-based ShackPrices.com, which falls into the same bucket as Redfin, Windermere and Zillow, added a new twist to its Web site today.

And, as Galen Ward, the co-founder points out on the company's blog, it corresponds nicely with a few trends -- going green, the high price of gas and road construction.

ShackPrices.com now lets home buyers search for houses along mass transit lines in King County free.

If you go to the site, you can add the option by clicking on the pull down menu to click on near transit. With the box added, you can plug in a certain bus line.

"By letting home buyers search for properties near current and future transit stops, we are giving the public a valuable tool to find homes that fit an environmentally friendly lifestyle," Ward said.

In opening remarks at the WSA Investment Forum at the Bell Harbor Conference Center this morning, the technology industry association announced a partnership with the Shenzhen Software Industries Association (SSIA) in China.

As part of the partnership, WSA will open an office in the city in the next couple of months to support the partnership.

Ken Myer, the WSA's president and CEO, said the office will help Washington state companies work with the high-tech city in China, and assist in creating business opportunities, such as distribution, manufacturing and investing.

Former Gov. Gary Locke, known for his diplomatic work in China, also spoke this morning, saying the partnership will be great for Washington companies.

"Shenzhen is an incredible city. A few years ago it was a hamlet, and now it's a very planned city with tree-lined boulevards, where they have dedicated open space and beautiful architecture," he said. "It's also very young city with young people, highly educated people.

"This collaboration and joint office is going to be an opportunity to help position Washington companies in Shenzhen and Southeast China. The WSA has that foresight in helping the membership of the WSA, not just locally, and in the rest of the U.S., but in thinking of the globe as an eventual market."

The Shenzen Longgang District Government and Pacific Prestige -- a property development company that will host the WSA's Shenzhen office -- also signed the partnership.

Qiu Chang Miao, the SSIA's vice chair, also made an appearance at the event.

"We believe this is an important forward-looking decision. Compared to Washington, Shenzhen software industry is still in early stages. It has great potential," he said.

The WSA Investment Forum continues until 6 p.m. today with a panel discussion on trends and innovation followed by break-out sessions where startup companies have the opportunity to pitch venture capitalists and industry executives.

In case you didn't catch them in today's paper, I wrote two stories today -- one focused on how voice as a method of search might be a cure-all for the wireless industry. The other story looked at venture capital activity during the first quarter.

In the story on voice, I discussed the growing interest in speech recognition technology. The spotlight was on Bellevue's VoiceBox Technologies, which demonstrated how its technology can be used in the car to surf hundreds of radio stations to find answers to spoken queries.

Several other companies, including Microsoft, Nuance and Google, are placing big bets on speech, making it one of the more promising developments in the wireless industry.

In the venture capital story, I wrote about how Washington had a blockbuster first quarter, in which startups drew nearly $400 million in venture capital, according to the quarterly venture-capital report released today by Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young.

Washington was the third most active state in the country, behind California and Massachusetts. The amount also is the most raised in a single quarter since before the bubble burst seven years ago and represents more than a third of the overall capital raised last year.

Contributing to the big quarter was an intense interest in the energy sector, including Seattle's Imperium Renewables, which raised $113 million in venture capital.

For more details, check out all the charts here.

Check back tomorrow for a story on the competing MoneyTree report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.

OVP Venture Partners, the Kirkland VC firm that just closed its seventh fund at $250 million, sent out a electronic newsletter today discussing how the industry is headed for a restructuring -- for the better or worse.

The newsletter put the situation into three buckets: complacency, adjacency and free agency.

On complacency:

"No one wants to be accused of complacency. That has a pejorative connotation right from the start. But while inertia can be a powerful force, it is not always a bad force. Sometimes, inertia can keep you in place long enough to decide whether you really do want to leap across that open crevasse.

On adjacency:

Most observers of successful businesses will tell you that you should stick to your knitting. And failing that, only take up needlepoint, not arc welding.

In doing so, OVP saw the biotech trend evolving and decided to converge that with its expertise in IT to create Digital Biology.

But what the firm really spoke out on was the notion of "free agency."

What is troubling about many of the conversations we hear today is the amount of free agency that is being advocated. We see firms heading to green tech, clean tech, later stage, roll up, India, China, you name it. Now, to be fair, this may be a legitimate case of adjacency for some firms, if they have been at the edge.... But for many others, we see this as a bridge too far.

The MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest is hosting a show in which companies can demonstrate what they do.

The MIT Venture Lab, called "Start up Demo 2007, is accepting applications until April 20 for the June 7 event.

Only companies with products that can be demonstrated are allowed to participate. Entrepreneurs, investors and the media are invited.

The Venture Lab will select 10 to 12 companies to present to a screening committee on May 10. The committee will select six companies for the June 7 event.

If interested, companies should send a one-page e-mail describing the company or service to edwardh@widemile.com.

Seattle-based OnRequest Images, which provides custom imagery online, said yesterday it raised a $9 million third round of funding.

New investor Menlo Ventures and existing investors Maveron and Frazier Technology Ventures participated in the round.

OnRequest Images will use the money to expand its sales and marketing efforts.

Menlo Ventures founder and managing director H. DuBose Montgomery will join the company's board of directors.

Private equity funds continued raising vasts amounts of money in the first quarter,after just completing record-breaking fund-rasing in 2006. Private equity includes buyout and corporate finance funds, venture capital, mezzanine, and funds of funds.

In the first, quarter, 68 funds raised $44.3 billion, up 67 percent from the 46 funds that raised $26.6 billion in the first quarter last year, according to Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst.

In particular, the buyout side of the private equity industry raised a majority of the money, or $35.2 billion. As for venture capital, which focuses more on early stage investing, 22 funds raised $3.8 billion in the first quarter, falling from year ago period when $4.4 billion was raised.

If you don't remember, in 2006, the private equity industry broke all previous records, raising $246.3 billion in 359 funds. In addition to what was raised in the first quarter, Dow Jones said it knows of 400 other funds trying to raise at least another $130 billion.

Look at the impact this kind of money can have on the industry. It stirs up rumors of companies -- huge companies -- like Home Depot, which has a market cap of $75 billion, being bought out.

Who's next?

After more than a decade at the WSA, Kathy Wilcox has joined Davis Wright Tremaine, working with the law firm's business transactions and corporate finance practice group.

"We are delighted to have Kathy join us. An industry and civic leader, Kathy brings to us a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the technology sector ... nationally as well as locally," said new practice group Chair Joseph Weinstein.

Wilcox stepped down from the technology trade association in July at age 61 after serving as president and chief executive for 12 years.

At the time, she said: "This is the best job I've ever had; it has been the most challenging job I've ever had. Now I want to leverage my skills in the broader community."

Today, she said in a press release that Davis Wright Tremaine "is perfectly poised in the Northwest, East Coast and China to serve emerging market and traditional business sector clients particularly well." She added that she is "excited to be a part of their growth."

Wilcox received her law degree cum laude from the University of Puget Sound, and her bachelor of arts in political science from the University of California at Los Angeles. She also received a management certificate from the University of Washington's Executive Business Program.

Entellium, which develops Web-based customer relationship software, said today that it has hired David Scott as senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Scott, a former senior executive at both Intermec Technologies and PeopleSoft, will be responsible for developing and managing Entellium's product marketing, corporate communications and sales growth strategies.

"I'm drawn to Entellium because it focuses on product innovation, hands-on research and one-on-one customer service," he said. "I look forward to contributing my experiences, business knowledge and vision at this exciting time for the company."

Scott's career included stints at General Electric and The Boston Consulting Group. At PeopleSoft, he was vice president of marketing and strategy and supported the company's $2.5 billion global services division. At Intermec, a leader in RFID technology, he led a 125-member team in building the company's global marketing organization.

Impinj, which develops semiconductors based on RFID technology, said today that it has raised $19 million in venture capital.

AllianceBernstein, one of the world's largest asset management firms, led the round, with all previous investors also participating. They include Arch Venture Partners, GF Private Equity Group, Madrona Venture Group, Mobius Venture Capital, Polaris Venture Partners and strategic investors Unilever Technology Ventures, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, VentureTech Alliance and the Viterbi Group.

In total, Impinj has raised $98 million. The money will be used to escalate product development and delivery of its RFID readers, tags and antennas.

Impinj is one of the companies in town that has been named a likely candidate for an initial public offering.

Here's a story by Kristi Heim from last summer on how Impinj has had some early successes, but now other companies are starting to catch up.

The biggest competitor to Kirkland-based Inrix, which uses road censors and car locators to predict traffic patterns, was officially acquired today by Navteq, a provider of digital maps.

Navteq said it paid $177 million for Traffic.com, which also provides traffic information. The acquisition is pending approval by stockholders of Traffic.com.

Previously, Inrix commissioned a study by Frost & Sullivan to determine whether Traffic.com or Inrix provided more accurate traffic data.

Inrix said the study concluded that Inrix was the leading provider of real-time traffic information in the U.S.

If that's the case, it makes me wonder whether that make Inrix as a likely acquisition target.

Sometimes things get a little hectic around here, and things that would normally be stories, end up being briefs. Tuesday -- for today's newspaper -- was one of those days. So, I'd like to point three things in today's paper. They can all be found here (If you were to look for it yourself, it's a link that's nearly halfway down the business section page, indicated by the tag "Business Digest."

1. Brier Dudley and I blogged about this yesterday, but Opsware, a company co-founded by a founder of Netscape, purchased iConclude for about $60 million in cash and stock.

2. Microsoft's Jeff Raikes is set to announce today that the company is releasing a new version of its Office Communications Server at VoiceCon Spring 2007.

The new version of is pretty interesting, and expands the 2005 release significantly. I talked with Eric Swift, Microsoft's senior director of product management in the Unified Communications Group, about it Tuesday, and he said the big feature will enable users to be able to click to call, instant message or start a Web conference from within Microsoft Office documents or Outlook.

Because of these enhanced abilities, Microsoft forecasts that within three years