Just four weeks after its debut, Seattle startup Inkd said that it has attracted more than 1,000 new print designs from contributors in more than 20 countries. Inkd CEO Kelly Smith said the company is creating an online marketplace where small businesses can purchase templates for newsletters, flyers, brochures and business cards.

Connie Loizos at PeHub.com weighs in on the flame out of Zango, writing that is "not a proud day for the folks at Spectrum Equity Investors. Spectrum bought a 25 percent stake in the Bellevue online advertising company for $40 million in 2004.

Insitu, a unit of The Boeing Co., said it has won a $30 million contract to provide unmanned aircraft vehicle services to Canadian military forces operating in Afghanistan. 

Speaking of aviation, Kent-based Naverus has raised $4 million in venture funding from Foundation Capital and East Peak Partners for a new flight navigation system that reduces carbon emissions and aircraft fuel use by picking more efficient flight paths.

T-Mobile USA’s subscriber growth continues to take a hit. The Bellevue company — a unit of Deutsche Telekom and the fourth largest wireless carrier in the U.S. — said that it had 415,000 net subscriber additions during the first quarter. (Note: Wording has changed.) That compares to 981,000 for the same period last year, and 621,000 during the fourth quarter.

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and UW journalists unveil In:Site  

The quest to keep journalism alive continues. This time, with a collaboration between an undergraduate journalism class at the University of Washington and news aggregator NewsCloud. Today, the students launch In:Site, a Facebook application delivering arts and culture news to the site many students check multiple times daily.

Original stories are created by the 20 undergraduates in the class, targeting 16 to 25 year olds. The application encourages community participation from its users by offering points for everything from posting a link to an external story, inviting friends and commenting on articles. Users can vote articles up in the ranks in a Digg-like fashion.

Florangela Davila, journalist and faculty member, instructs the students.

“Universities are known for being cutting-edge incubators,” Davila said. “So who best to experiment and try out new forms of journalism than a group of smart undergrads who aren’t leashed to the old ways of telling stories?”

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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and Zino Society vets green startups  There’s been a lot of talk about why Seattle, given its green-leaning populace, isn’t at the forefront of the clean tech revolution. But some green business competitions are trying to spark a bit of entrepreneurial activity in the sector. Today, the local angel network Zino Society vetted a dozen clean tech startups and chose three finalists — one of whom will get a $50,000 check.

The finalists are Hydrovolts, which is developing a small, compact "hydrokinetic turbine" that can be dropped into waterways and generate hydropower; TeslaVision, which uses electroluminescent technology to make energy-efficient digital signs; and SpringStar, which is working on non-toxic pest control for mosquitoes.

All 12 companies took part in an afternoon pitch session at Seattle’s Pan Pacific Hotel. Zino, which has handed a check to the winner at startup competitions in the past, is taking a slower approach this time. The group will submit the three clean tech finalists to an additional period of due diligence, with the winner announced in May or June.

Is this a sign of investor caution in today’s economy? Zino founder and CEO Cathi Hatch said the group is taking more time to do due diligence on investments.

At a panel discussion at the event, Michael Butler, chairman and CEO of Cascadia Capital, weighed in on why Seattle is behind other parts of the country in developing a clean tech sector.

"We don’t have a really good working relationship between the public sector and the private sector," Butler said. "It’s not just asking for stimulus money. It’s tax policy, it’s incentives, it’s permitting. Government involvement is critical."

Butler added that Seattle should "play to its strengths" in the clean tech sector by emphasizing its expertise in software. "I’m hoping a lot of the software entrepreneurs migrate to the clean tech sector," he said.

It was the third annual green investment forum held by Zino, which has been a vehicle for some $11.9 million in funding for tech startups since 2005.

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