In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • The U.K. Telegraph reports Apple Watches won’t be in stores for weeks
  • Duke’s solar project at Camp LeJeune wins OK
  • Slack, a red-hot collaboration startup, raises $160 million
  • WikiLeaks creates archive of Sony hack documents
  • Etsy’s shares soar after IPO
  • Yahoo is sticking with Microsoft

The details:

  • Apple memo says no Apple Watches to buy in-store for weeks

The U.K. Telegraph is reporting at no Apple Watches will be in stores for some time yet.

“There will be no Apple Watches available to buy as walk-out purchases in-store from next Friday and throughout May, Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts has told staff in a memo seen by The Telegraph,” the newspaper reports.

Customers will be encouraged to order online.

Read more at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/watch/11541152/Apple-memo-no-Apple-Watches-to-buy-in-store-throughout-May.htm

  • Duke Energy wins approval for solar project

Duke Energy on Thursday said it had received regulatory approval to build a huge solar farm at Marine Corps Base Camp Camp Lejeune in eastern North Carolina.

“The 13-megawatt (AC) project – 17 megawatts (DC) – is Duke Energy’s first solar facility at a military base. Covering 80 acres, the facility will be owned and operated by Duke Energy Progress (DEP) and is expected to be online in 2015,” Duke Energy said.

“The project will enable the Department of the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to meet critical renewable energy and energy security goals, while helping Duke Energy further its commitment to renewable energy in the state.”

  • Slack raises $160 million

Startup collaboration tool provider Slack has raised $160 million and is now valued at some $2.8 billion, reports TechCrunch.

The company was launched by Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield. It is used daily by some 750,000 people.

Read more at: ​http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/16/used-daily-by-750k-workers-slack-raises-160m-to-value-collaboration-startup-at-2-8b/

  • WikiLeaks creates online archive of hacked Sony documents

Sony’s hacking problems aren’t over yet.

Whistleblower site WikiLeaks on Thursday put hundreds of thousands of emails anddocuments from last year’s crippling cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment into a searchable online archive. It’s the latest blow for the entertainment and technology company struggling to get past the attack, which the company estimates caused millions in damage.

The website founded by Julian Assange said that its database includes more than 170,000 emails from Sony Pictures and a subsidiary, plus more than 30,000 otherdocuments.

Sony Pictures blasted WikiLeaks for creating the archive, saying the website was helping the hackers disseminate stolen information.

“We vehemently disagree with WikiLeaks’ assertion that this material belongs in the public domain,” the company said in a statement.

  • Stock of online marketplace Etsy surges in trading debut

The place where you can buy handmade dresses and crocheted dog costumes has a new hot seller: its own stock.

Shares of arts and crafts retailer Etsy surged in opening trading on the Nasdaq Thursday. After pricing at $16 late Wednesday the stock opened at nearly double that level, and hit a high of $35.73 in morning trading. The stock finished at $30 per share, up 87.5 percent for the day and valuing the company at $3.33 billion.

The healthy stock surge shows that Wall Street has a big appetite for a well-known retail brand, even one that doesn’t yet make a profit. Thursday was one of the biggest days for initial public offerings so far this year, with party-store operator Party City and electronic trading firm Virtu Financial also making big debuts.

Founded in 2005, Brooklyn-based Etsy sells anything from a $110,000 antique desk from the 1800s to a $20 handmade antler pendant and everything in between. In 10 years it’s grown from a scrappy startup offering craftspeople a way to sell necklaces and needlepoint online to a marketplace of 54 million members that generated $1.93 billion in sales in 2014.

While it doesn’t make a profit — it reported a loss of $15.2 million in 2014 — it has a very loyal customer base and room for revenue growth. The company says 78 percent of people who bought items on the site in 2014 were return customers.

  • Yahoo chooses to stay with Microsoft in updated search deal

Yahoo and Microsoft will keep working together on Internet search, but Yahoo is getting more control over the how the search results are presented.

An agreement announced Thursday extends a search partnership that Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. forged in 2009 while they were being led by different CEOs. Current Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer had the option of terminating the relationship under a clause triggered earlier this year.

The two are trying to chip away at Google’s dominance of Internet searches. They haven’t had much success so far. Google still controls two-thirds of the U.S. search market and holds an even larger share in Europe. Mayer spent 12 years helping Google build its lucrative lead in before becoming Yahoo’s CEO in 2011.

As has been the case since the companies formed their alliance, Microsoft’s technology will power most of the search results on Yahoo’s sites. In return, Yahoo will receive most of the revenue from the ads posted alongside the search results on its sites.

The original deal called for Microsoft to pay 88 percent of the search revenue to Yahoo. The ad commission rose to 90 percent in late February, according to regulatory filings. The companies said their economic arrangement won’t change under the revised agreement.

The revised contract gives Yahoo more control over the how its search page looks and works. There will be a few differences in how the companies sell ads under the new agreement.