Dang, that was fun. Congratulations to Valeri Kim of Akvelon, winner of the first annual TechFlash Ping Pong Tournament, and thanks to the hundreds of you who joined us for the biggest and best TechFlash event yet. Thanks also to everyone who tuned in for the live stream. Photos and recap to follow.

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and Bezos apologizes for removal of classic Orwell titles from Kindle  

Amazon got a blast of bad PR last week after news broke that the company had removed George Orwell’s "1984" and "Animal Farm" from the Kindle electronic book reader as part of a dust-up with a publisher. Now Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is making a personal apology, writing in a Kindle discussion board that the company was "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."

Here’s the full text of the Bezos apology, posted Thursday just before Amazon’s second-quarter earnings announcement:

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

Kind of reminds me of the apology Amazon made after the removal of sales rank for a number of gay- and lesbian-themed books earlier this year. The company called it a "ham-fisted error."

Follow my updates on Twitter.

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and Stuff to know if you’re headed to the TechFlash BBQ later today  

The ping-pong bracket is set, the BBQ is being prepared, and we’re looking forward to the biggest TechFlash event yet this afternoon at the Georgetown Ballroom. Tickets are sold out, but we’re looking forward to hanging out with hundreds of you who got one. If you’re going, read on for the message we sent to attendees earlier this week, in case you missed it.

How to get to the Georgetown Ballroom: 5623 Airport Way South. If you are not familiar with Georgetown, give yourself some extra time to get there since it can be a bit challenging for first timers. The Ballroom is located in an old brick building on the west side of Airport Way. Map here.

Parking: Parking can also be a challenge, but we’ll have parking lots clearly marked. On-street parking also is available, but tickets are issued from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. for those who park on the west side of Airport Way. Be careful. We’ve also secured parking at the Kelly Moore Paint Store at 5510 Airport Way South and we will have Butler Valet parking cars for a $10 fee. Carpooling is encouraged.

Timeline of activities:
3:45 p.m. Valet parking available
3:50 p.m. Ping-Pong Tournament players arrive
4:00 p.m. Doors open, Beverages available, Ping-Pong Tournament begins
4:30ish p.m. Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ available Networking, Ping-Pong Tournament
6:00ish p.m. Ping-Pong break before final rounds
7:00ish p.m. Prizes awarded for Ping-Pong Tourney; Raffle and giveaways for BBQ attendees
7:30 p.m. BBQ closes
8:00 p.m. Bars close
8:45 p.m. Valet parking closes

Who will be playing ping-pong? Check out the latest version of the bracket here: PDF. For those not entered in the tournament, we’ll have a table for recreational play. Just sign up on the clip board at the table. We’ll have additional paddles and balls available.

Dress code: Casual, comfortable clothes. Also, we’re encouraging ping-pong players to represent their companies by donning corporate gear. In fact, we’ll be awarding the "Spirit Award" for the player who exudes the most exuberance during match play. If there are players in the Tournament you’d like to support, we encourage you to don your corporate gear along with the players. We also will be filming the event and publishing excerpts on TechFlash

Tweeting? We’ll be posting updates under the hash tag #techflash on Twitter and we’re exploring a live video feed via Ustream that may be broadcast on TechFlash. The following day we’ll have a recap of all the action on TechFlash, along with photos.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Bing, and our co-sponsors: Microsoft BizSpark, Solutions IQ and Seattle University’s Master of Software Engineering program for making this event possible.

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Microsoft sales, profits plummet  

Microsoft today reported revenue of $13.1 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter, a 17 percent decline, and earnings per share of 34 cents — missing, by two cents, the consensus of Wall Street analysts polled in advance by Thomson Reuters.

Analysts had expected more than $14.3 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Microsoft chief financial officer Chris Liddell cited the ongoing effects of the difficult economy, saying that the company’s profit margins were helped by continued cost-cutting. "In light of that environment, it was an excellent achievement to deliver over $750 million of operational savings compared to the prior year quarter," Liddell said in a news release.

The company said $276 million in revenue was deferred from the fourth quarter results because of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program, which lets people who buy Windows Vista PCs upgrade to Windows 7 after its Oct. 22 release. Accounting rules prevent the company from counting those sales as revenue until buyers have the option to make the upgrade.

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