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Seattle, You’ve Got Nerve (Dating)

Michael van Baker — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:42:57 +0000

Nerve is going another direction, and that brings them to Seattle "just in time for Valentine's Day," they tell us. Nerve Dating dispenses with the whole chore of the encyclopedic dating profile. CEO Sean Mills, deriding the trend toward algorithmic love matches, puts it like this: "For most people, the challenge is less about figuring out whether you like someone, and more about starting that first conversation so you can meet more people. It can be really hard to walk across the room and start talking to someone you don't know."

The Kindle Fire This Time & the Inevitable Crumbling of Bricks

Michael van Baker — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:25:17 +0000

It's not precisely news, but within these developments lies a good deal of tension: If the online shopping experience is as good as the in-store, or even exceeds the in-store in certain ways, then shareholders start to wonder what the point is in brick-and-mortar stores so expensive that they don't edge into the black until the Friday after Thanksgiving.

From the Publisher: The SunBreak’s Progress, Chapter 3

Michael van Baker — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:35:55 +0000

What's new-ish? We just anointed Tony Kay as our new music editor. Audrey Hendrickson is now our managing arts editor. Philippa Kiraly writes for us occasionally about classical music. I always feel like I need to get out there and interview more people just for being themselves, but you know Seattle--people are shy. I believe we're in the double digits in actual paying subscribers now. It's always thrilling to get that email from PayPal.

Netflix Weekend Outages Raise Question of Hiring Weekend Help

Michael van Baker — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:09:02 +0000

A little after 11 p.m., the problem was declared fixed, though the internet believes it lasted through most of the night, and a recent Netflix tweet from this morning reads: "Some PS3 users are reporting Cannot Connect to Netflix errors - we're looking into it." So maybe fixed is not quite the right word. Netflix went down on June 20, also on a weekend. That was blamed on a technical glitch.

Cold Spring Blooms with New Sites: Eater, Curbed, Urbandipity, GeekWire

Michael van Baker — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:23:46 +0000

Our cold spring is delaying crops in the real world, but not online. New sites in and about Seattle are: Eater Seattle, Curbed Seattle, Urbandipity, and GeekWire. Here's a quick rundown of what they're all about.

From the Publisher’s Couch: The SunBreak’s Progress, Chapter 2

Michael van Baker — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:36:00 +0000

MvB, at his most publisher-esque I have to admit to having been inspired by The New New News to sit down and write this update on the site’s progress. The play’s argument that transparency is lacking as news is reinvented (at least as a business model) online hit home with me. We’re in one … Continue reading →