The fact that a 7.1 percent decline in quarterly PC shipments qualifies as good news says a lot about the current state of the economy, but research firm IDC was expecting things to be worse, so the better-than-expected result could be a sign that things are starting to get better. IDC had expected worldwide PC shipments to decline by more than 8 percent for the quarter.

Also today, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said today that he believes "the worst is now behind us from an inventory correction and demand level adjustment perspective."

Dow Jones Newswires says Otellini’s comments "reaffirm recent sentiment that steep drops in demand seen in the fourth quarter are over," However, it adds, "It doesn’t mean tech revenue growth is around the corner, even if stocks had been trading that way."

The Associated Press quotes IDC’s Lorne Loverde offering additional context: "I don’t think Intel’s comment was meant to say we’re going to come roaring back next quarter. It’s likely we won’t see growth deteriorate from here."

The trend could be good news for Microsoft, or not. The Redmond company, which reports quarterly earnings next week, relies heavily on sales of Windows preinstalled on PCs. But one big question will be how much of the result came from netbooks. Microsoft makes less on every copy of Windows sold on those small, mobile notebook computers than it does on traditional computers.

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and T-Mobile’s churn; SignaCert’s $8 million; Headline of the day; etc.  

Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA may be going after customers with weak credit histories, a move that Dow Jones reports could be used to boost subscribers among younger mobile phone users but also could lead to higher customer churn down the road.

OVP’s Rick Lefaivre, Apptio’s Sunny Gupta, Energ2’s Rick Luebbe and Madrona’s Matt McIlwain are featured in a story from Fortune Small Business titled "10 Steps to Catch VC." McIlwain said entrepreneurs need to embrace failure, noting that: "If you’ve never failed, I tend to feel you weren’t sufficiently pushing the innovation envelope."

Portland-based SignaCert said it has raised $8.8 million in a second round of funding to continue developing security systems software. Total funding in the company now stands at $17 million, with investors Intel Capital, SmartForest Ventures and In-Q-Tel participating in the round.

Struggling Seattle biotech Targeted Genetics said it has received a letter from the Nasdaq that it does not meet the exchange’s minimum requirement for shareholders’ equity.

Seattle super computer maker Cray Inc. said it has hired John "Skip" Richardson as vice president of business development for the company’s custom engineering team. He most recently served as vice president of corporate business development at Sarnoff, a subsidiary of SRI International.

Headline of the day comes via VentureBeat: "New bill may give president ability to shut down Internet."

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and Think small and short at the UW’s new digital media film festival  

Reach into your pocket to film the next masterpiece? The Master of Communication in Digital Media program at The University of Washington is sponsoring the first PocketMedia Film Festival, open to all UW faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Filmmakers are asked to respond to the theme "What do you do at the UW?" by shooting a 90-second video with pocket-sized devices like mini-camcorders, digital cameras and mobile phones. Submissions will be accepted April 17-May 13.

A People’s Choice Award will be decided by users of Seattle start-up Zooppa.com. Voting is open to the public.

A panel of judges will choose a grand-prize winner and honorable mentions. Besides using a pocket-sized device, each film must feature a purple W and provide credits for music, pictures and other materials. Copyrighted materials must have the express permission of the creator.

Winning films will be screened on May 21 at the Husky Union Building.

MCDM director and former TV journalist Hanson Hosein says he was raised on expensive cameras, and the PocketMedia Film Festival  is a way to celebrate the current communication revolution as well as "help spread the good word about media literacy now that we all have the potential to broadcast our content around the planet."

You can get some ideas here.

Roni Ayalla — a student in the University of Washington’s Master of Communication in Digital Media program — is a contributor to TechFlash.

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Amazon opts out of Phorm behavioral ad targeting system  Amazon.com is pulling back from a behavioral online advertising system called Phorm that is generating controversy in Europe. The online retailer says it has contacted Webwise, which markets Phorm, "requesting that we opt for all our domains," said spokesman Craig Berman. Amazon’s move comes after the European Commission launched legal action against the U.K. over Phorm trials.

Phorm is a "deep packet" technology that "tracks people’s browsing habits via cookies and relays the information to the Internet service provider," PC World reports. British telecom giant BT tested the system in 2006 and 2007, sparking complaints that it failed to get user consent for the trials, according to reports. The European Commission subsequently started proceedings against Britain over data-protection laws.

Amazon’s Berman did not give a timeline for Amazon’s opt-out from Phorm. The London-based Open Rights Group last month sent an open letter to many of the major technology companies, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon and eBay, encouraging them to opt out of Phorm.

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