GEEK News

June 05, 2015
Microsoft plays the Windows card in the AI game, with help from Nvidia

Microsoft plays the Windows card in the AI game, with help from Nvidia

October 07, 2026

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, left, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shake hands in front of new RTX Spark laptops at Microsoft’s Windows and Surface event in San Francisco on Wednesday. (Photo by Ken Yeung for GeekWire) Microsoft is turning to an old friend and a familiar advantage in search of a new...

In effort to diversify economy and build resilience, Seattle Mayor names 18 leaders to new task force

In effort to diversify economy and build resilience, Seattle Mayor names 18 leaders to new task force

October 07, 2026

City of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson set up a new task force to bolster the economy. (Photo via Katie Wilson for Mayor) Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is bringing together leaders from Amazon, Spotify, the Port of Seattle, organized labor, technology, cleantech, small business and other sectors as...

Opinion: Washington’s new state income tax must be repealed

Opinion: Washington’s new state income tax must be repealed

October 07, 2026

The Legislative Building in Olympia, where Washington lawmakers passed a 9.9% tax on household income above $1 million earlier this year. Initiative 645 on the November ballot would repeal it. (Photo by Nils Huenerfuerst via Unsplash) Editor’s note: GeekWire publishes guest opinions to highlight...

Sen. Maria Cantwell outlines six-point plan to regulate frontier AI as concerns escalate

Sen. Maria Cantwell outlines six-point plan to regulate frontier AI as concerns escalate

October 07, 2026

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell at the GeekWire Summit in 2022. (GeekWire Photo / Dan DeLong) With President Donald Trump, states and tech giants taking varied and largely uncoordinated steps to put guardrails on artificial intelligence as the technology speeds ahead, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.,...

Walmart prepares to take off in Amazon’s backyard with Seattle-area drone delivery in 2027

Walmart prepares to take off in Amazon’s backyard with Seattle-area drone delivery in 2027

October 07, 2026

Walmart and Wing are partnering on drone delivery service that is expanding across the U.S. (Walmart Photo) Walmart looks like it might beat Amazon to the skies over the Seattle area as the retail giant announced this week that it plans to bring automated drone delivery to the region in...

Ring’s first smart lock ditches the key and adds a dial to revive a dead battery

Ring’s first smart lock ditches the key and adds a dial to revive a dead battery

October 07, 2026

The new Ring Smart Lock, right, next to one of the company’s video doorbells. (Ring Image) Ring is moving from the doorbell to the deadbolt. The Amazon-owned company on Wednesday announced its first smart lock, a $249 deadbolt with no keyhole and a dial that recharges a dead...

Yoodli’s next act: AI that can teach workers almost any job skill

Yoodli’s next act: AI that can teach workers almost any job skill

October 07, 2026

A portion of the Yoodli team gathers for a photo this week inside the company’s new headquarters on Seattle’s Pier 70, under a neon version of the startup’s logo. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Yoodli, the Seattle startup that offers AI to help people practice speeches, sales...

Fast-growing Temporal hires team from NYC startup Oso to build AI agent security controls

Fast-growing Temporal hires team from NYC startup Oso to build AI agent security controls

October 06, 2026

Temporal co-founders Maxim Fateev, CTO (left), and Samar Abbas, CEO. (Temporal Photo) Bellevue, Wash.-based Temporal is expanding its security capabilities for AI agents following a $550 million funding round last month that valued the enterprise infrastructure company at $12.55 billion. In...

Tech Moves: Microsoft CVP retires; former Amazon SVP to lead Boston Dynamics; Qualtrics, Overland AI, Fred Hutch name execs

Tech Moves: Microsoft CVP retires; former Amazon SVP to lead Boston Dynamics; Qualtrics, Overland AI, Fred Hutch name execs

October 06, 2026

Ravi Vedula. (LinkedIn Photo) — Ravi Vedula, a corporate vice president at Microsoft, is leaving the company after 26 years. Vedula, who is based in the Seattle area, led an organization of more than 1,000 people that runs the data and analytics platform behind Microsoft 365 and Copilot. “26...

Superhuman opens new Seattle office, joining wave of AI companies expanding in the region

Superhuman opens new Seattle office, joining wave of AI companies expanding in the region

October 06, 2026

A rendering of the reception area at Superhuman’s new Seattle office in South Lake Union. (Superhuman Image) Superhuman, the San Francisco company formerly known as Grammarly, opened a 13,501-square-foot office in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood on Tuesday, moving out of a coworking...

Beyond co-working: Former tech leader launches new hub for Seattle’s women founders

Beyond co-working: Former tech leader launches new hub for Seattle’s women founders

October 06, 2026

The SWELL hosts a weekly open house for entrepreneurs, including non-members, to meet up. Sally Revell, The SWELL founder, at lower center. (The SWELL Photo) A new hub for women entrepreneurs is taking shape in Seattle and will host its official launch party tonight. Less than 10 weeks after...

AI founders for hire: Startup hub Foundations launches service to connect businesses with builders

AI founders for hire: Startup hub Foundations launches service to connect businesses with builders

October 06, 2026

Founders and guests mingle at the opening of Foundations’ San Francisco hub earlier this year. (Foundations Photo) Foundations, the startup community with hubs in Seattle and San Francisco, launched a service Tuesday that lets businesses contract with its members — many of them technical...

Seattle startup Chiplytics lands $4.5M to catch fake and flawed chips before they hit the market

Seattle startup Chiplytics lands $4.5M to catch fake and flawed chips before they hit the market

October 06, 2026

The Chiplytics team, including Connor Dempsey, CTO (far left); Stephen DiBartolomeo, president and co-founder (center); and Steven Dourmashkin, CEO and co-founder (far right). (Chiplytics Photo) Seattle startup Chiplytics today announced $4.5 million in funding to support the deployment of its...

Amazon hires a veteran Microsoft AI leader to help build its tools for coding and work

Amazon hires a veteran Microsoft AI leader to help build its tools for coding and work

October 05, 2026

Pedram Rezaei, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, is joining Amazon Web Services as a distinguished engineer. (Amazon Photo) A longtime Microsoft engineering leader who was previously a Copilot chief technology officer is joining Amazon Web Services to work on its competing AI tools for coding and...

Seattle’s tax burden shifted to business as jobs slipped away, new report finds

Seattle’s tax burden shifted to business as jobs slipped away, new report finds

October 05, 2026

Taxes have outpaced population, employment and other other factors in Seattle (Image via ECOnorthwest) Seattle’s tax collections have nearly tripled over the past decade, soaring from $900 million in 2013 to a projected $2.8 billion in 2026. But who pays those taxes, and how the tax revenue is...

Orbital Robotics gets set to send up a pair of arms for International Space Station’s robots

Orbital Robotics gets set to send up a pair of arms for International Space Station’s robots

October 05, 2026

An illustration shows an Astrobee free-flying robot equipped with Orbital Robotics’ arms, at left. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur shows off three Astrobees aboard the International Space Station, at right. (Credits: Orbital Robotics for illustration at left, NASA for photo at right) A free-flying...

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 27, 2026

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 27, 2026

October 04, 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 Sept. 27, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...

Washington climate tech founders score funding as AI boom drains investor cash

Washington climate tech founders score funding as AI boom drains investor cash

October 03, 2026

From left: Allison Arnold, co-director of the Opalene Climate Challenge; David Gory, co-founder and CEO of AirBuild; and Aina Abiodun, president and executive director of VertueLab. (Opalene Photo) Some climate tech startups tied to the AI boom are still attracting investors, but deals are fewer...

Seattle and San Francisco: Big tech, political backlash and the AI boom

Seattle and San Francisco: Big tech, political backlash and the AI boom

October 03, 2026

Historian Margaret O’Mara, journalist Jonathan Weber, and GeekWire’s John Cook at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, recording a joint episode of the GeekWire and Blue City Blues podcasts with David Hyde and Sandeep Kaushik. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Tech remade Seattle and San...

The biggest unresolved question in AI right now, and more takeaways from Madrona’s IA40 Summit

The biggest unresolved question in AI right now, and more takeaways from Madrona’s IA40 Summit

October 02, 2026

Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain speaks at the IA40 Summit in Seattle on Wednesday. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Executives from companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Anthropic and Stripe agreed on a lot this week about where AI is headed. But one big question was left unresolved: who...

Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, formerly known as Fixie, acquired by Inworld

Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, formerly known as Fixie, acquired by Inworld

October 02, 2026

The co-founders of Ultravox, which launched in 2022 as Fixie, from left: Hessam Bagherinezhad, Matt Welsh, Justin Uberti and Zach Koch. (Fixie Photo) Seattle voice AI startup Ultravox, which launched as Fixie, has been acquired by Inworld for an undisclosed sum. Ultravox was founded in 2022...

Seattle Space Week shines a light on eight problems and prospects for pioneers on the final frontier

Seattle Space Week shines a light on eight problems and prospects for pioneers on the final frontier

October 02, 2026

Dale Goulding, chief operating officer at Forge Digital, chats with Michael Reilly, chief strategy officer at Varda Space Industries, at the Space Northwest Symposium in Federal Way, Wash. One of Varda’s orbital capsules is on display in front of them. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) How high can...

Seattle software engineer turned general contractor built an AI guide to the patchwork of permit rules

Seattle software engineer turned general contractor built an AI guide to the patchwork of permit rules

October 02, 2026

A 3D rendering of the buildable envelope for a property in Seattle is part of the information displayed by Pascal Matta’s permitting information tool. (Screengrab via kolmo.io/permits) Pascal Matta has a background building software for tech giants like Google and T-Mobile. But when he wanted to...

Amazon pledges $1B to data center communities, warns that local opposition threatens U.S. AI lead

Amazon pledges $1B to data center communities, warns that local opposition threatens U.S. AI lead

October 02, 2026

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, shown at AWS re:Invent in 2025, says local opposition to data centers threatens the U.S. position in the AI race. (Amazon Photo / Noah Berger) Amazon says it will spend more than $1 billion over five years in the U.S. communities where it builds and operates...

SpaceX’s rideshare launch kicks off milestone mission for Starfish Space’s first Otter space vehicle

SpaceX’s rideshare launch kicks off milestone mission for Starfish Space’s first Otter space vehicle

October 01, 2026

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its California launch pad, sending 130 payloads into orbit. (Credit: SpaceX via X) Starfish Space’s first full-scale Otter satellite servicing vehicle went into orbit today, marking a major milestone for the Tukwila, Wash.-based startup. The Otter...

Startup Spotlight: Porchlight uses AI to help foster human connection in senior care

Startup Spotlight: Porchlight uses AI to help foster human connection in senior care

October 01, 2026

Porchlight founder Patrick Donahue’s parents worked in medicine, and hospice care was part of his family’s life. (Photo courtesy of Donahue) When a new caregiver walks into an assisted living room for a shift, they usually hold a chart with a room number and a list of medical needs — and almost...

Tech Moves: Amazon GM departs for Scala; Flyhomes appoints 3 leaders; Heinz Marketing names COO

Tech Moves: Amazon GM departs for Scala; Flyhomes appoints 3 leaders; Heinz Marketing names COO

October 01, 2026

Asic Demberel. (LinkedIn Photo) Leadership changes at Bellevue, Wash.-based companies are dominating the news in this week’s Tech Moves, plus some notable items in neighboring Redmond. — Former Amazon leader Asic Demberel is now chief technology officer for Scala, a Bellevue-based startup...

Longtime Microsoft research leader Peter Lee and former LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky to depart

Longtime Microsoft research leader Peter Lee and former LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky to depart

October 01, 2026

Peter Lee, left, and Ryan Roslansky both shared news this week that they’re leaving Microsoft. (LinkedIn Photos) Two top Microsoft executives announced this week that they’re leaving the Redmond, Wash., tech giant: — Peter Lee, the former head of Microsoft Research and most recently president...

New JPMorganChase Seattle tech leader: How AI is changing what the bank looks for in engineers

New JPMorganChase Seattle tech leader: How AI is changing what the bank looks for in engineers

October 01, 2026

Ture Armas, left, JPMorganChase’s CTO and head of Commercial Bank Lending Technology and the new leader of its Seattle Tech Center, and Kristine Baker, a JPMorganChase vice president who manages the Seattle Tech Center. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Ture Armas has been encouraging JPMorganChase...

Kindle gets a clicker: Amazon unveils $35 page-turning remote and refreshes its e-reader lineup

Kindle gets a clicker: Amazon unveils $35 page-turning remote and refreshes its e-reader lineup

October 01, 2026

Amazon’s $34.99 Kindle Click remote, shown with the new base Kindle in a purple shade Amazon calls “ube.” (Amazon Photo) Amazon’s Kindle is joining the ranks of TVs and garage doors. The company on Thursday unveiled the Kindle Click, a $34.99 Bluetooth remote control that lets readers prop up...

Starcloud’s AI computing payload will get a ride to lunar orbit on Firefly’s space vehicle

Starcloud’s AI computing payload will get a ride to lunar orbit on Firefly’s space vehicle

September 30, 2026

An artist’s conception shows Firefly’s Elytra spacecraft in lunar orbit, with Starcloud’s SC-1L data-processing payload highlighted in purple. (Firefly Aerospace Illustration) Redmond, Wash.-based Starcloud has signed up to send its artificial intelligence data-processing hardware into lunar...

UW moves Global Innovation Exchange program to Microsoft’s campus in rent-free deal

UW moves Global Innovation Exchange program to Microsoft’s campus in rent-free deal

September 30, 2026

The UW’s Global Innovation Exchange program has moved into a new full-time space on the Microsoft campus. (UW Photo) The University of Washington and Microsoft today celebrated the opening of the permanent home of the UW’s Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), an institute supporting tech leaders,...

Seattle Times journalists picket over AI, calling for job protections in contract talks

Seattle Times journalists picket over AI, calling for job protections in contract talks

September 30, 2026

Seattle Times Union members picket outside the newspaper’s offices on Wednesday. “Honk if you hate AI.” (GeekWire Photo / Grace Kaste) Members of the Seattle Times Union held a lunchtime picket outside the newspaper’s offices Wednesday, calling on the company to guarantee that AI won’t replace...

UW starts construction on $231.1M chemistry hub set to open in 2029

UW starts construction on $231.1M chemistry hub set to open in 2029

September 30, 2026

Artist rendering of the UW’s new Chemical Sciences Building. The design-build team is Skanska and Payette+EHDD. (UW Image) The University of Washington today marked the groundbreaking of its Chemical Sciences Building, a $231.1 million facility that will provide new laboratories for instruction...

Report: Downtown Seattle lost 13,000 jobs in a year, while Bellevue’s tech hub boomed

Report: Downtown Seattle lost 13,000 jobs in a year, while Bellevue’s tech hub boomed

September 30, 2026

A display at the Downtown Seattle Association’s annual event. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) Seattle’s economic engine is stalling, and downtown is taking the brunt of the hit. Between 2024 and 2025, Seattle shed 18,065 total jobs, with a staggering 70% of those losses—13,000 jobs—coming...

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