GEEK News
June 05, 2015 - 02:04 PM
Bill Gates in his own words: How he’s using AI, and why he’s worried about the future
Bill Gates, shown here in April 2025, released a memo this week warning that the world isn’t ready for AI. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota) This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Bill Gates published a new essay warning that the AI industry is crossing the safety lines it set for itself, and that nobody is preparing for what’s coming. At age 70, he also uses AI more than most people half his age,...
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Game over, new routine: Laid-off Xbox manager built her Korean skincare startup before cuts hit
Agnes Kim, founder of ViaJiin, a Korean-sourced beauty supply startup based in the Seattle area, with some of the skincare products that her new company offers. (ViaJiin Photos) Long before the July email arrived confirming she was one of thousands of Xbox employees laid off in Microsoft’s latest round of job cuts, Agnes Kim could feel the impending doom hanging over big tech. But instead...
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Tech Moves: Former Xbox exec named Dolby CEO; Microsoft AI exits; new Fred Hutch leaders
Marc Whitten, the new president and CEO of Dolby Laboratories. (Dolby Photo) — Marc Whitten, a former Microsoft and Amazon executive, was named president and CEO of San Francisco-based Dolby Laboratories. He succeeds Kevin Yeaman, who is retiring after leading the entertainment technology company for nearly 20 years. Whitten spent 17 years at Microsoft, rising to corporate vice president...
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UW AI researcher wins top Marconi award and aims to put ‘superhuman hearing’ in billions of devices
Malek Itani, a Ph.D. student in the UW’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. (Photo courtesy of Malek Itani) University of Washington Ph.D. student Malek Itani, who co-founded the AI-powered sound enhancement startup Hearvana, has been awarded the prestigious Marconi Society Paul Baran Young Scholar Award for his groundbreaking work in “superhuman” hearing...
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Pro.com co-founders reunite to launch OnTrade, an AI startup for the wealth management industry
L-R: OnTrade co-founders Zachary Harl, chief investment officer; Raji Subramanian, CEO; and Matt Williams, president. (OnTrade Photos) The co-founders of Pro.com, the Seattle-based home-improvement marketplace acquired by Opendoor in 2021, are back with a new company targeting what seems on the surface a very different kind of market: AI-powered software for the wealth management...
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Seattle startup Arkero expands English soccer reach, landing historic club as latest AI customer
Arkero co-founders, from left: Daniel Shi, who oversees business operations; CEO Shivaas Gulati; and Vamsi Narla, who leads product and engineering. (Arkero Photo) Arkero, a Seattle-area startup leveraging AI to help professional sports teams streamline business operations, has expanded its reach in English soccer by landing Bolton Wanderers FC as its latest client. The agreement builds on...
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As U.S.-China biotech race heats up, Seattle makes its case to D.C.
From left, Marc Cummings, Life Science Washington; Snehal Patel, Sana Biotechnology; Joe Horsman, Madrona Venture Group; Rebecca Bryant, Fred Hutch Cancer Center; and Alex Zanghellini, Arzeda, at a Seattle forum hosted by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology on Tuesday. (GeekWire Photo / Sydney Jackson) Arzeda designs enzymes for products ranging from laundry detergent to...
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Startup Spotlight: Skyfarer connects pilots with flight training, aviation services and airplanes in one place
Skyfarer founder and CEO Nick Tsang in the cockpit of a Gulfstream G650. (Photo courtesy of Nick Tsang) When a pilot wants to find a flight instructor, a mechanic, an examiner for a flight test, or a fair price on an airplane, the solution is usually the same: ask around at the airport. Nick Tsang, founder and CEO of Skyfarer, wants to help fix this problem. He sees general aviation as a...
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AI turns up a promising finding in cancer data that researchers hadn’t noticed for years
Dr. Kelly Paulson of Providence Swedish Cancer Institute examines an immunofluorescent image showing T-cells surrounding a lobular breast cancer tumor sample, confirming a finding flagged by Ai2’s AutoDiscovery system. (Ai2 Photo) An AI system built by Seattle’s Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) has found evidence that a common form of breast cancer, long thought to be a poor candidate for...
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You think tech is a circus? This former Facebook engineer quit to focus on a career as an elite juggler
Cory Black is a former tech worker who left his career to focus on juggling, mostly of soccer balls. (Vitz Photography Photo) Most tech workers are used to keeping multiple projects up in the air at once. Cory Black took the concept to a literal level. A graduate of the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, and a former software engineer...
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Microsoft 2.5: Superintelligence leader Ali Farhadi points company toward AI self-sufficiency
Ali Farhadi, now a Microsoft corporate vice president of AI, at a Technology Alliance event in May 2024. (GeekWire File Photo) GeekWire is profiling over the next few weeks some of the people and teams that are shaping the evolution of Microsoft in what we’re calling its “Microsoft 2.5” era. From AI Frontier Lab to Frontier Ecosystem: Microsoft got a foothold in AI thanks largely to its...
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As the influencer economy drives retail sales, Seattle startup raises $22M to play matchmaker
Levanta builds marketing tools so influencers and creators can connect with brands. Image via Levanta. Influencers and online creators have become an increasingly powerful way for brands to sell products. But managing those relationships can get complicated — especially for companies selling across Amazon, Walmart, Shopify and other channels. That’s the market Seattle startup Levanta is...
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Etzioni on AI: Bill Gates has the right diagnosis but the wrong prescription
Bill Gates, whose new essay warns of the risks ahead in the AI era, during a 2017 interview. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) When Bill Gates talks, people listen. This week he published a lengthy essay on what AI is going to do to work, and told GeekWire that people inside AI companies who name the downsides get told, “Hey, you’re hurting our PR while we’re trying to raise trillions of...
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T-Mobile to cut 77 jobs in Washington state, impacting corporate and retail positions
(BigStock Photo) T-Mobile is cutting 77 jobs across Washington state, trimming staff across its Bellevue headquarters, regional retail stores, and remote roles, according to a new state filing. The layoffs are expected to occur between Sept. 21 and Nov. 18, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification from the Washington Employment Security Department. The workforce...
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Washington to receive up to $339M in landmark $17B settlement over Meta social media addiction claims
Meta must overhaul Instagram and Facebook for young users by enforcing daily time limits, turning off push notifications during school hours, and blocking access late at night. (BigStock Photo) Washington state will receive up to $339 million as part of a historic $17.1 billion multistate settlement with Meta, resolving allegations that the tech giant intentionally designed Facebook and...
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Flipboard acquires Portland startup Graze in bid to ‘re-orient the attention economy’
Graze co-founders Peat Bakke (left) and Devin Gaffney. (Graze Photo) Portland-based social media startup Graze is joining Flipboard in a strategic acquisition aimed at expanding open social protocols and giving users control over their own content algorithms. Founded by Devin Gaffney, Peat Bakke and Andrew Lisowski — starting from a blog concept and officially forming 21 months ago — Graze...
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Amazon to acquire DuckLabs, adding the team behind DuckDB amid broader shakeup in cloud data
DuckDB creators Mark Raasveldt, left, and Hannes Mühleisen. (DuckLabs Photo) Amazon has agreed to acquire DuckLabs, the company behind DuckDB, the fast-growing open-source database that has become a favorite of developers looking to analyze large amounts of data without the cost and setup of a cloud data warehouse. Employees of DuckLabs will join Amazon Web Services, including co-founders...
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Not dead yet: The race to give spent EV batteries a second life on the grid and beyond
In the foreground are battery packs just as they would look installed in an EV, now repurposed by Redwood Materials and plugged into the microgrid serving Crusoe’s data center at Redwood’s campus in Nevada. (Redwood Photo) Subscribe to Positive Charge: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, All Episodes A decade or two on the road will drain an EV battery’s range and hobble...
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‘I am very concerned’: Bill Gates says the world needs a plan to deal with AI, and he has three ideas to start
Bill Gates at the keyboard in a 2018 file photo. (Gates Notes Photo) Bill Gates is legendary, bordering on notorious, for his late-night emails — missives to colleagues with piercing questions about Java back in the day, or malaria these days, or whatever esoteric topic he happens to seize upon at any given moment. But increasingly, he is sending these messages to AI, not to people. He’ll...
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Seattle’s AI weed wars: One startup maps them, another zaps them
TerraClear’s new Weed Maps helps farmers identify individual weeds as small as a quarter inch. (TerraClear Photo) The next big test for AI isn’t happening in a data center. It’s happening in the dirt. Really, it’s in the weeds. Two Seattle-area startups are betting that AI can transform how farmers find and eliminate unwanted plants — one by mapping every weed, the other by zapping them...
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Jeff Bezos remembers Dolly Parton — a recipient of his $100M ‘Courage and Civility’ award
Dolly Parton in Los Angeles in 2012. (BigStock Photo) Amazon founder Jeff Bezos joined the chorus of people who said they were touched by the life and work of Dolly Parton as he shared his condolences after the passing of the entertainment legend. Parton, the rags-to-riches country music star whose hits included “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5” and “Coat of Many Colors,” died in...
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Wizards of the Coast offers first look at ‘Warlock,’ the next video game based on ‘Dungeons & Dragons’
(Wizards of the Coast/Invoke Studios press image) Wizards of the Coast and its subsidiary Invoke Studios released a first-look gameplay trailer for Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, a new open-world action game based upon the systems and setting of Wizards’ popular tabletop role-playing game. Wizards, based in Renton, Wash., is a subsidiary of Hasbro and the company behind the D&D and Magic: The...
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Xbox layoffs fallout: ‘South of Midnight’ creator Compulsion Games successfully goes independent
(Compulsion Games image) One of the video game studios impacted by Xbox’s layoffs in July has successfully reclaimed its independence, as well as control over its intellectual property. Compulsion Games, headquartered in Montreal, was founded as an independent studio in 2009 and acquired by Xbox in 2018. Its one release as a member of the Xbox Games Studio network was 2025’s South of...
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Report: Amazon eyes ‘fully automated’ delivery stations to bring robotics to the last mile
Amazon’s ZancaSort system brings packages to workers automatically at its Last Mile Innovation Center in Dortmund, Germany. A separate initiative, Project Tetromino, reportedly aims to bring full automation to delivery stations. (Amazon Photo) Visiting an Amazon delivery station can feel like walking into the past. While many of its massive fulfillment centers are equipped with the latest...
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Airline security in the cloud: PNNL tech analyzes checked bags during flight to skip layover lines
The International Remote Baggage Screening platform allows U.S. customs agents to analyze X-ray images of checked baggage during an inbound flight. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) While passengers are cruising at 35,000 feet, their checked luggage is already passing through a very different kind of cloud. In a move designed to eliminate one of the more frustrating friction points of...
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University of Washington and Seattle biotech win $245M patent judgment against Guardant
TwinStrand graphic A federal judge has entered a final judgment requiring Guardant Health to pay more than $245 million to Seattle biotech TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington over DNA sequencing technology developed at the university. The judgment, entered Friday in U.S. District Court in Delaware, follows a 2023 jury verdict that found Guardant willfully infringed two...
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Homebuilding AI startup Digs raises $25.3M and partners with building products giant
Digs co-founders Ty Frackiewicz, left, and Ryan Fink. (Digs Photo) Digs, a Vancouver, Wash.-based startup building AI software for residential construction, raised $25.3 million in Series A funding led by building products giant Builders FirstSource, the companies announced Tuesday. Under the five-year agreement, Builders FirstSource will integrate Digs’ AI platform into its digital...
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Immersive Gamebox brings controller-free gaming to new location south of Seattle this week
The players are the controller in the play spaces at Immersive Gamebox. (Immersive Gamebox Photo) Immersive Gamebox, a global interactive group gaming company, is coming to the Seattle region with its first Pacific Northwest location opening this week at Westfield Southcenter mall. Designed for groups of two to six players, the venue uses projection mapping, touch-sensitive walls, 3D motion...
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Washington state pioneered a privacy model for the nation — when will it finally pass the law at home?
Rep. Shelley Kloba, D-Kirkland, has introduced a privacy bill in the Legislature every year since 2021, none of which has reached the House floor due to disagreements over whether consumers should be able to sue. (Washington House Democrats Photo) More than 20 states have now passed the “Washington model” of privacy legislation. Washington state hasn’t. In the years since then-state Sen....
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How the FTC’s last-minute settlement with Zillow and Redfin reshapes their $100M rentals deal
GeekWire Illustration Zillow and Redfin settled an antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission and five states Monday, just as a trial was set to begin, agreeing to undo part of a $100 million partnership that the government said effectively paid Redfin to stop competing in apartment rental advertising. The companies, both based in Seattle, have been rivals in online real estate and...
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Why McKinstry leader Matt Allen is betting on clean nuclear, geothermal and smarter buildings
Matt Allen, chief client officer at McKinstry. (McKinstry Photo) Matt Allen wasn’t sure he wanted to pursue a career at McKinstry, the Seattle-based company his grandfather co-founded in 1960. The business started with plumbing and piping, evolving into a construction and energy services firm with national reach. But after joining in 2012, Allen began appreciating the impact McKinstry has...
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Etzioni on AI: An Opinionated Glossary of AI
Definitions for the AI era. (GPT-5.6 Sol Illustration, Click for larger image.) Jargon stinks. What do the terms open weights, RAG, and agent mean exactly? Here’s a plain English, slightly snarky glossary of befuddling AI terminology with references for further reading. AI is a broad name for the technology. Machine learning is the part where a system learns from data...
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Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Aug. 16, 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 Aug. 16, 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 404 Media put an Apple AirTag in a rare book and tracked it to an Amazon warehouse in Las...
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Amazon drones go national, inside Anduril’s Seattle buildup, and AirTag leads to secret book-scanning site
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon’s delivery drones are going national, nearly 13 years after Jeff Bezos unveiled them on 60 Minutes. We listen back and discuss what’s next. Plus: We go inside Anduril’s unmarked Bellevue office as the defense company builds toward 1,000 Seattle-area engineers; a reporter hides an AirTag in a rare book and tracks it to a secret Amazon book-scanning...
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Starbucks lays off 224 workers tied to Seattle HQ, including tech roles, as restructuring winds down
A former Starbucks cafe in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Starbucks is laying off 224 more workers tied to its Seattle headquarters, according to a new state filing. The coffee giant says the layoffs don’t represent a new round of cutbacks, but rather the lingering effect of restructuring work announced earlier this year. About 120 of the 224 are employees who were offered roles...
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