Space tourist to sup on Martha's cuisine

Software pioneer Charles Simonyi hasn't even lifted off for his adventure in space yet, but he's already adding a personal touch to the experience.

The former Microsoft exec has answered dozens of questions from people around the world on his blog (www.charlesinspace.com), and last week announced he would be serving a six-course Martha Stewart meal in space.

Apparently, the standard freeze-dried "meat in white sauce" was no match for his friend Martha's cooking.

Simonyi says: "Although the food is very good there, it is somewhat basic, and after a couple of weeks, everything starts tasting the same. I am certain a little variation will be surely welcome."

Simonyi will share the gourmet lunch with his crew during his 10-day stay at the International Space Station.

Handpicked by Stewart, it includes wine-roasted quail, duck-breast confit with capers, and rice pudding with candied fruit.

The fifth tourist to go to space, Simonyi is set to blast off April 7 onboard a Russian spacecraft from Kazakhstan. From the space station, orbiting more than 200 miles above Earth, he plans to speak with students from Redmond High School and two other U.S. schools via ham radio.

Wireless connection

When we read the first few lines of a PR pitch from Motorola and T-Mobile USA last week, we weren't immediately sure what they were selling.

"Hi,

"You fell in love with the blue hue and smooth exterior. You lusted after its slider form. Well, now you can satisfy your inner desire, ... "

Um, should we be reading this at work? Turns out the pitch was for the MotoRizr Z3, the first Motorola slider-form mobile phone to hit the U.S. market.

As of last Wednesday, anyone can satisfy his or her inner desire "and walk into any T-Mobile store nationwide and see the MOTORIZR Z3 first hand," the pitch continued.

The phone sells for $99 after discounts on the T-Mobile Web site.

Up for auction

Seattle-based Synapse last week quietly posted the sale of its company on eBay, asking for $50,000 for its Web-based software applications.

Founders Mark Michael and Daniel Rust said they are selling to focus on new developments, which mainly include the Down2Night site that sends text messages to alert people of nightlife events in certain cities.

The eBay listing describes SynapseLife, at www.synapselife.com, as a full Web 2.0 suite of nine Web and mobile applications, including lists, ledger, calendar, e-mail reader, contact manager, bookmarks and tagging. Its applications, including one for wineries, has more than 4,500 users.

The eBay description is a picture-perfect Web 2.0 company.

For instance, because the sale would be virtual, shipping costs are free. However, Synapse's development team will fly out to the winner of the auction for five business days to consult on how best to integrate SynapseLife into the winner's existing services — for an additional fee.

The site also directs a bidder to several YouTube videos that serve as Synapse commercials.

One depicts a person with a cluttered life who ends up using Synapse; the visual interpretation of this is using a blender to mix up a bunch of documents.

As of Friday, there were no bids.

Download, a column of news bits, observations and miscellany, is gathered by The Seattle Times technology staff. We can be reached at 206-464-2265 or biztech@seattletimes.com.