GEEK News
June 05, 2015 - 01:04 PM
As AI reshapes work, Microsoft and UW expand partnership for training, research — and a looming jobs gap
Jared Nakahara (left), co-founder of life sciences startup Levity and a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington, demonstrates an acoustic limitation system designed to manipulate small liquid droplets using sound waves as Microsoft President Brad Smith looks on. (GeekWire Photos / Taylor Soper) The University of Washington and Microsoft are deepening their partnership with a new...
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Head of Amazon’s AGI lab is leaving in latest exit from high-profile Adept startup deal
David Luan led the team responsible for Amazon’s Nova Act agentic technology. (Amazon Photo) David Luan, who led Amazon’s San Francisco-based AGI Lab and oversaw one of its most important agentic AI initiatives, is leaving less than two years after joining the tech giant through an acqui-hire deal involving him and other leaders from AI startup Adept. Luan announced his exit Tuesday in a...
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Sophia Space raises $10M to accelerate creation of orbital computing systems
An artist’s conception shows the Sophia 40 TILE satellite, with each tile powered by its own solar panel. (Sophia Space Illustration) Sophia Space says it has closed a $10 million seed financing round to accelerate the development of orbital computing systems that could serve as the foundation for space-based data processing. The startup’s tabletop-sized satellite modules, known as tiles,...
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San Francisco AI startup Nooks makes engineering push in Seattle
Nooks CTO and co-founder Nikhil Cheerla. (Nooks Photo) Nooks is nestling into Seattle. The San Francisco-based startup, which builds AI software for sales teams, is expanding its engineering footprint in Seattle — growing from zero to six engineers recently and hiring for more platform and product engineering roles. The company plans to open a Seattle office and has been working out of...
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Column: Public trust is becoming AI’s real bottleneck
Jesse Collins. The two towers near Aberdeen weren’t supposed to be monuments. They were supposed to be engines. Drive west from Olympia and you’ll see the unfinished nuclear plant rising from the evergreen canopy. The project promised clean energy, jobs, and technological prestige. Instead, it became a cautionary tale of cost overruns and evaporating public confidence. Nuclear...
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Group alleges fake sign-ins used to pad apparent opposition to Washington state ‘millionaires tax’
Washington state Sen. Victoria Hunt, a co-sponsor of SB 6346, speaks during a virtual news conference on Monday about how she learned that her name had been fraudulently signed in as “con” over the weekend on a public comment page ahead of a House Committee on Finance hearing on the millionaires tax. (Screen grab via Invest in Washington Now) Invest in Washington Now, a Washington state-based...
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Water, power, and transparency: Amazon’s $12B data center deal signals a new era of accountability
Inside an Amazon data center. (Amazon Photo / Noah Berger) Amazon on Monday announced a $12 billion data center project in Louisiana in which the company vowed to pay its own way for energy and other infrastructure. The deal highlights the unwritten expectations now placed on tech giants to cover upfront power costs and other impacts. Such pledges have become commonplace as leaders at the...
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Seattle startup Elevāt raises $12M to help industrial companies speed up equipment repairs
Elevat CEO Adam Livesay. (Elevat Photo) Seattle startup Elevāt has raised $12 million as part of a Series A round to fuel growth of its software aimed at helping industrial companies and equipment makers streamline repairs and reduce downtime. Elevāt CEO Adam Livesay confirmed the new funding but did not provide details on investors. The company is positioning itself as an answer to a...
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Temporal CEO Samar Abbas on the ‘massive platform shift’ in AI fueling the startup’s $5B valuation
Temporal co-founders Maxim Fateev, CTO (left), and Samar Abbas, CEO. (Temporal Photo) Temporal co-founders Samar Abbas and Maxim Fateev have been tackling the same distributed systems problem since their days at Amazon, Microsoft, and Uber. But the AI boom has put the problem “on steroids” as agents move to production, according to Abbas — and investors have taken notice. Temporal last week...
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Nominate the best in Pacific NW tech and help set the stage for the 2026 GeekWire Awards
The scene inside the 2025 GeekWire Awards at Showbox SoDo in Seattle on Wednesday. (GeekWire File Photo / Dan DeLong) Time is running out to get your nominations in for the 2026 GeekWire Awards. If you want to help us recognize the outstanding tech entrepreneurs, innovators, deal makers and nonprofit leaders across the Pacific Northwest, submit a nomination today! Community nominations will...
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Who is Asha Sharma? A closer look at Microsoft’s surprise pick to lead the Xbox business
Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, at Microsoft Ignite 2025. (Dan DeLong Photo for Microsoft) “And the thing about games is, if you get good at one game, you can be good at any game. … They’re all hand-eye coordination and observing patterns.” That’s a line from Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin’s 2022 novel about two friends who build a video game company...
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Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Feb. 15, 2026
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Feb. 15, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on GeekWire Microsoft’s three-day-a-week return-to-office mandate starts Monday, Feb. … Read...
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Helium problem forces NASA to delay Artemis 2 launch to the moon and roll back the rocket
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, far left, walks around Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a team of troubleshooters working on a helium flow issue with the Space Launch System rocket in the background. (NASA Photo) NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says the giant rocket set to send four astronauts around the moon for the history-making Artemis 2 mission must...
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We tested Amazon’s speedy delivery live on the podcast: Here’s what it says about the future of retail
GeekWire’s Todd Bishop unpacks an Amazon Now delivery that was ordered when the show began, and arrived well before it ended. Amazon promises 30-minute delivery with its new Amazon Now service. We put it to the test — live on the GeekWire Podcast — with help from Michael Levin and Josh Lowitz, co-founders of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners and two of the sharpest Amazon watchers we...
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Amazon pushes back on Financial Times report blaming AI coding tools for AWS outages
Amazon Web Services issued an unusual public rebuttal to a Financial Times report about outages. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Seven hours at the top of Techmeme was apparently too much for Amazon to take. The tech giant’s cloud division, Amazon Web Services, issued an unusually pointed public rebuttal Friday afternoon to a widely cited Financial Times report asserting that Amazon’s...
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Analysis: The best thing that the new Xbox CEO can do is … nothing
Asha Sharma and Matt Booty, the new leadership team for Microsoft Gaming. (Microsoft Photo) During Phil Spencer’s tenure as the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, he brought dozens of the games industry’s best developers and most beloved franchises under a single roof. As a result, his successor Asha Sharma is in a unique position where she really can succeed in the video game business, despite her...
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Mariners open Spring Training with a win — and a loss in first Automated Ball-Strike challenge
A view of the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System’s call of a ball as it appeared during the Seattle Mariners game on Friday. (Screen grab via Mariners.TV) The Seattle Mariners opened their Spring Training schedule with a win and a loss on Friday, beating the San Diego Padres 7-4 but losing their first try with the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System. The technology for tracking...
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Xbox chief Phil Spencer retiring after 38 years at Microsoft; Asha Sharma named new gaming CEO
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox at Microsoft, at the Xbox E3 Briefing at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles in 2019. (Microsoft Photo) Phil Spencer, the Xbox leader who spent 38 years at Microsoft and helped reshape the gaming industry through big acquisitions and a bet on cloud gaming, is retiring from the company. He will be succeeded as CEO of Microsoft Gaming by Asha Sharma, a former...
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Tech Moves: Code.org has a new leader; Synapse vet joins Amazon; ex-Tableau CEO lands at Code Metal
Karim Meghji, president and CEO of Code.org. (Code.org Photo) — Karim Meghji is taking over the the role of president and CEO at Code.org, the Seattle-based computer science education nonprofit. Meghji, the former CTO at Seattle digital remittance company Remitly, joined Code.org in 2022 to serve as chief product officer, leading the organization’s shift toward an AI-centered strategy....
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Microsoft’s new RTO policy starts Feb. 23, bringing Seattle-area workers back 3 days a week
A keychain in the Microsoft company store awaits one of the company’s returning commuters. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Remember that return-to-office mandate Microsoft announced last fall? It’s almost here. Monday, Feb. 23 — yes, next week! — will mark the start of the company’s new policy requiring Puget Sound (a.k.a. Seattle-area) employees who live within 50 miles of a Microsoft...
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NASA completes a smooth rehearsal for historic Artemis 2 moon launch
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket stands on its Florida launch pad. (NASA Photo / Aubrey Gemignani) NASA counted down to T-minus 29 seconds during a smooth rehearsal for a historic launch that could send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than half a century. The run-through at Launch Complex 39B, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was known as a wet dress rehearsal...
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From a mall booth to a $3B fintech: Matt Oppenheimer’s startup lessons from a 15-year journey with Remitly
Matt Oppenheimer led Remitly for nearly 15 years as co-founder and CEO. He announced this week that he’s moving into the chairman role. (Remitly Photo) Build with intentionality. Lead with authenticity. Prioritize customers over your ego. And focus on the problem you’re solving — with flexibility on the solution. That’s part of the playbook Matt Oppenheimer followed as he helped grow a...
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Ballmer? Bezos? Sir Mix-a-Lot? Seahawks sale draws more hot takes on potential owners and price
The Seattle Seahawks have been officially for sale for a day, but the speculation about who could be the next owner of the team has been in high gear for years. National media personalities are now playing catch-up. “The Rich Eisen Show” on ESPN / Disney+ weighed in Thursday (above) with a flurry of Seattle-connected names who could step in to buy the NFL franchise — some serious and...
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Seattle transit’s new ‘tap-to-pay’ feature goes live next week as region gears up for World Cup
Seattle-area transit riders will soon be able to tap their physical credit cards or smartphone to pay for fares. (GeekWire Photos / Taylor Soper) The ubiquitous tap-to-pay technology now common in grocery stores and coffee shops is coming to Seattle-area buses and trains next week. Starting Monday, Feb. 23, ORCA will accept contactless credit and debit cards, along with digital wallets...
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PageMaker pioneer Paul Brainerd, 1947-2026: Aldus founder devoted his second chapter to the planet
Paul Brainerd at a Brainerd Foundation retreat in Montana. (Brainerd Foundation Photo) In the summer of 1984, Paul Brainerd and four engineers packed into his old Saab and drove south on Interstate 5 from the Seattle area. They had been laid off after Kodak bought their employer, Atex, a company whose computerized text-processing systems let newspaper reporters and editors write and edit...
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TerraClear launches autonomous farm robot to capture images for tackling rocks, weeds and more
TerraClear’s autonomous field robot the TerraScout. (TerraClear Photo) TerraClear’s mission to help farmers map and tackle tough field problems such as rocks and weeds has evolved with the launch of a new machine: an autonomous robot called TerraScout. The startup, based in Issaquah, Wash., and Grangeville, Idaho, says the device can collect ultra-high-resolution imagery across an entire...
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New hacker house in Seattle area brings startup founders together under one creative roof
Bili House is a hacker house located on the water in Bellevue, Wash. (Photo courtesy of Bili House) A large house overlooking Meydenbauer Bay in Bellevue, Wash., could be the home of the Seattle-region’s next big AI startup. At the very least, it’s a place where ideas are being hatched by tech founders who are inspired by living and working with one another. Bili House is a hacker house...
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Seattle startup Adronite raises $5M to help enterprises understand their codebases
Adronite CEO Edward Rothschild. (Adronite Photo) Seattle startup Adronite raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Gatemore Capital Management, as it looks to expand its AI-powered platform designed to give large organizations visibility into sprawling and complex codebases. The funding comes amid intense competition in the AI developer tools market. Unlike many AI coding tools that...
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Remitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer steps down, hands reins of fintech company to former Amazon exec
Remitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer helped launch the company back in 2011, helping grow the firm into a global remittance platform. (Remitly Photo) Remitly co-founder Matt Oppenheimer is stepping down as CEO after nearly 15 years growing the Seattle-based digital remittance company into a profitable, publicly traded fintech firm valued at nearly $3 billion. Veteran tech and finance executive...
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Seahawks parade drone incident underscores security concerns ahead of World Cup in Seattle
Fans gather at Lumen Field on Feb. 11 ahead of a parade through Seattle to celebrate the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory. (GeekWire Photo / James Cook) A pilot is facing charges after flying a drone into Lumen Field in Seattle during last week’s Seahawks Super Bowl victory celebration — an incident that underscores growing concerns about drone threats as Seattle prepares to host 2026 FIFA World...
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Seattle Seahawks are for sale as Paul Allen estate seeks buyer shortly after Super Bowl win
Paul Allen is credited with saving the Seahawks for the city of Seattle when he purchased the team in 1997. He was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor at Lumen Field in October 2019. (GeekWire File Photo) The Seattle Seahawks are officially for sale. A week after parading through the city to celebrate the team’s second Super Bowl championship, the team announced Wednesday that the Paul...
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Tech Moves: Sana hires CFO; Aptevo names new CEO; Violett founder departs; and more
— Brian Piper, a longtime biotech leader, is the new CFO at Seattle-based Sana Biotechnology. Piper was previously CFO at Antares Therapeutics, Scorpion Therapeutics, and Prelude Therapeutics. Piper was also given an executive vice president title at Sana, a cell and gene therapy company that went public in 2021. “We have meaningful momentum in our type 1 diabetes and in vivo CAR T...
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Seattle startup Griptape acquired by creative software firm Foundry
Griptape CEO and co-founder Kyle Roche. (LinkedIn Photo) Griptape, a Seattle-based startup founded in 2023 by former Amazon Web Services executives, has been acquired by Foundry, a London-based company whose software is used in visual effects and animation across Hollywood. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Griptape built a platform that helps companies securely manage and coordinate...
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Airbnb offering $750 to attract new hosts during World Cup in Seattle this summer
The Seattle skyline looking north from Lumen Field, which will play host to FIFA World Cup matches. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Airbnb is incentivizing people to open up their homes this summer to FIFA World Cup visitors, offering $750 to new hosts in Seattle and other cities hosting soccer matches. The short-term rental platform says millions of fans are expected to attend the...
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Cloud and AWS cost consultant Duckbill expands to software, raises $7.75M for new Skyway platform
Duckbill co-founders Corey Quinn, left, and CEO Mike Julian. (Duckbill Photo) “We’ve raised a pile of money, and we’re building a product.” That’s the characteristically deadpan announcement Wednesday morning from Corey Quinn, the cloud cost consultant who has built a second career, basically, on his sharp and irreverent takes on Amazon Web Services in his popular podcasts and...
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