seattle

The cancer ward at Seattle Children's Hospital will be overrun with cats tomorrow. Lots and lots of cats.

Normally, this would be extremely problematic in a sterile medical environment, but not in this case. Young cancer patients with immunities too low to participate in pet therapy will get to physically connect with the felines via an interactive online playroom. Rabbits, puppies, and goats too.

They'll do so via a live interface set up by Seattle Children's and Boise, Idaho-based Reach-in, which created the interactive technology that lets remote viewers control fluffy robotic cat toys in real time. It's not the same as holding a furry friend, but it might be the next best thing for these kids, some of whom must remain in total isolation while they battle cancer. … Read more

Seattle residents now have the option of following the local police department on Twitter. In a first-of-a-kind program, the city's authorities are launching a new initiative that involves cops translating the news they get on the streets to tweets.

Dubbed "Tweets-by-beat," this program attempts to replace the police blotter that normally runs in local papers with a tech version of basically the same thing, according to the New York Times. When residents follow the department on the social network, they'll get routine tweets of the up-to-the-moment crime happenings in their neighborhoods.

"Liquor violation -- intoxicated … Read more

When Green Bay Packers guard TJ Lang let loose a couple of F-bomb-laden tweets last night in the wake of the Monday Night Football refereeing disaster that cost his team a victory, his posts were quickly seen by far more people than followed him on Twitter.

Lang's two tweets, one which read "Got f---ed by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl," and the other, "F--k it NFL. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs," were pure frustration at having lost the game to the Seattle Seahawks, likely due to a missed call … Read more

AT&T mobile subscribers in Seattle and Portland can now grab their own slice of LTE.

The carrier announced today that it has turned the switch on its high-speed network for customers in both cities. That brings AT&T's total number of LTE-enabled markets to 72.

Earlier this month, the company activated 4G LTE access in Anchorage, Alaska, Bakersfield, Calif., Jacksonville, Fla., Modesto, Calif., Omaha, Neb., Syracuse, N.Y., and Bridgeport, Conn.

An AT&T spokesman told CNET that the company plans to reach a total of 100 cities by the end of 2012 and complete … Read more

After a seven-month wait for a bone marrow transplant, 16-year-old Maga Barzalla Sockemtickem endured a lengthy post-transplant treatment at Seattle Children's Hospital. Maga's compromised immune system meant periods of isolation from the outside world. She hadn't seen her cat Merry for more than a month. … Read more

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With sweeping panoramic views of the Cascade Mountains, Puget Sound, and the Space Needle, Facebook's quickly growing Seattle team is setting up shop in its new high-rise office.

During an open house of the satellite office today, company high-ups and local politicians showed off the new digs and emphasized Facebook's plans to continue expanding past its Silicon Valley home base, according to TechFlash.

Now the social network's Northwest offices are just a stone's throw from Microsoft's and Amazon's headquarters, and eBay, Zynga, and Google's regional offices.

After a stunning mid-70s yesterday here in the San Francisco Bay Area, today brought back the chill. Which makes the idea of a hot tub sound mighty appealing right about now.

You know what sounds even more appealing though? Soaking in a hot tub while bobbing around the bay gazing upon sights like the Golden Gate Bridge and Transamerica Pyramid.

If these new Hot Tub Boats float their way south from Seattle anytime soon, we shivering Bay Areans might actually be able to enjoy a super-scenic soak. The creators of the Hot Tub Boats say they plan to build a fleet of four to be available for rent on Seattle's Lake Union by the end of summer. We can only hope the concept takes off and the watercraft steer their way to other parts of the county too. … Read more

Here's a novel way to pitch potential investors: "Do you realize how young we are? Do you realize that we're going to f**k up big time?!"

And yet, that's exactly how Keller Rinaudo, the 24-year-old co-founder and CEO of robot maker Romotive, began his meetings with investors last fall. The upshot: Success way beyond what he had ever imagined.

Rinaudo recently closed a $1.5 million first round of funding, three times what the company set out to raise when it began looking for backers. Among the investors are Zappos founder Tony Hsieh, the … Read more