June 05, 2015
Exit interview: Microsoft’s comms chief on CEOs, reporters, what he got wrong, and stories that stuck
October 24, 2026
Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft’s longtime communications chief, in the GeekWire studio. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) The name Frank X. Shaw isn’t as well known outside the company as those of Microsoft’s other senior leaders, and that’s the nature of the job. But behind the scenes, the company’s...
Amazon ends its six-year legal fight with former AWS managers over alleged data center kickbacks
October 23, 2026
GeekWire File Photo Two former Amazon real estate managers acknowledged receiving personal payments tied to data center deals they handled for the company, under a settlement that resolves the company’s claims against them in a six-year lawsuit. Carl Nelson and Casey Kirschner “regret their...
The Garage never should have existed: Why Microsoft’s grassroots innovation lab worked for so long
October 23, 2026
Posters from Microsoft Garage science fairs and hack events, many funded by the Microsoft groups that hosted them, as seen in 2016. (Photo courtesy of Quinn Hawkins) I saw the news via GeekWire that after 17 years, the Microsoft Garage, which I co-founded, is coming to an...
New facility at Washington national lab will give researchers free access to automated tools
October 23, 2026
PNNL Director Deb Gracio, third from left, at a groundbreaking for the Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability in Richland, Wash. (PNNL Photo / Eric Francavilla) A first-of-its-kind autonomous research facility is taking shape in central Washington that will provide free access to scientists...
Watching fruit ripen pays off: Seattle ag-tech startup Strella lands $4.25M
October 23, 2026
Katherine Sizov, CEO and co-founder of Strella, was recognized as a 30 Under 30 leader by Forbes. (Photo courtesy of Sizov) Seattle-based ag-tech startup Strella has landed $4.25 million to expand the reach of its technology that monitors produce to prevent spoilage and food waste. The...
Icertis veterans reunite as AI startup HumanTronik acquires tech consultancy CloudMoyo
October 23, 2026
From left: HumanTronik co-founder Kabir Narang, CloudMoyo CEO Manish Kedia and fellow HumanTronik co-founder Monish Darda. HumanTronik, an AI startup co-founded by Icertis co-founder Monish Darda, has acquired CloudMoyo, the Bellevue tech services firm that Darda helped spin out of Icertis in...
Data farmers: Ag-tech startup Aigen grows AI-generated weeds to train its solar-powered farm robots
October 23, 2026
Aigen’s autonomous, solar-powered robot Element. (Aigen Photo) For years, Aigen has been building and tweaking solar-powered robots designed to pull weeds on farms. But the Redmond, Wash., startup is also raising a crop of its own: a growing, AI-generated collection of digital weeds and plants...
Startup Spotlight: Ex-Amazon duo finds the right fit for indie artists with apparel marketplace
October 22, 2026
Two of Loomerang’s co-founders: Vijay Roy, left, and Matt Koyama. (Loomerang Photo) Loomerang made its first sale less than 12 hours after it went live in June. A customer in Houston bought a shirt designed by Joe, an independent artist in Japan. Four months later, the Seattle-based...
Fusion startup Helion lines up potential $175M CHIPS award to develop advanced semiconductors
October 22, 2026
Helion’s Orion fusion plant is under construction in Malaga, Wash., with plans to start operating the facility in 2028. (Helion Photo) Helion Energy, the Everett, Wash., startup racing to build the world’s first fusion plant, is expanding its semiconductor development and manufacturing efforts....
Ex-Marine and Microsoft vets launch Watchtower Labs with $35M to bring AI to military logistics
October 21, 2026
Watchtower Labs co-founders, from left, Souren Aghajanyan, John Morman, and Akhil Iyer. (Watchtower Labs Photo) Watchtower Labs, a Bellevue, Wash.-based defense tech startup, emerged from stealth Wednesday with $35 million to build AI software that helps military planners make faster decisions...
Tech Moves: 2 Microsoft execs depart; Kymeta hires former CIA leader; Alaska Air names CITO
October 21, 2026
Elizabeth Kimber. (LinkedIn Photo) — Kymeta has appointed former CIA Deputy Director Elizabeth Kimber as chief growth officer. Kymeta, a Redmond, Wash.-based mobile satellite communications company, is working to increase sales with the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and...
Microsoft taps Stripe co-founder John Collison for its board as two longtime directors depart
October 21, 2026
Stripe co-founder and President John Collison has been nominated to join Microsoft’s board of directors. (Stripe Photo) When Stripe co-founder John Collison interviewed Satya Nadella on his company’s podcast last fall, he asked the Microsoft CEO for advice on building a platform business....
Endurance Energy hits a brief milestone in its quest for undersea geothermal power
October 21, 2026
Endurance Energy prepping to test its geothermal system off the coast of Oregon. (Endurance Photo via LinkedIn) Endurance Energy says its prototype marine geothermal power system generated more electricity than it consumed during a recent deployment 300 miles off the Oregon coast — though the...
Portal Space Systems reaches orbit for the second time this year with Starburst-1 launch
October 21, 2026
Portal Space Systems’ Starburst-1 spacecraft is shown in orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket prior to deployment. (SpaceX Webcast Image) Portal Space Systems has reached Earth orbit for the second time this year, successfully launching the startup’s first free-flying spacecraft, Starburst-1,...
UW protein institute led by Nobel winner unveils its first AI model co-developed with Nvidia
October 21, 2026
Structural models of two enzymes created using models developed at the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design. (IPD Image / Benedicte Rossi) The UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design (IPD) today released a new open-source model for creating proteins with specific functions, called...
New fuel, same planes: Inside the bid to clean up air travel with cooking oil and captured carbon
October 21, 2026
Alaska Air Group is a proponent of sustainable aviation fuel as the most affordable and practical near-term solution for cutting the sector’s climate impacts given that it can be used in existing aircraft. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Subscribe to Positive Charge: Apple Podcasts,...
‘Difficult relationship’: UW task force proposes splitting Allen School from College of Engineering
October 20, 2026
The Paul G. Allen Center on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus, home to the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, which a university task force has recommended separating from the College of Engineering. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) University of Washington leaders are...
Cleveland’s big lesson for Seattle: A city’s job is to attract people
October 20, 2026
Charles Fitzgerald at an abandoned Westinghouse light bulb and fixture factory in Cleveland. (GeekWire Photo / John Cook) Editor’s note: GeekWire has been examining the economic challenges facing Seattle and the lessons the region can learn from Cleveland’s industrial decline and ongoing...
Microsoft shuts the door on The Garage, the central program behind its hackathon and maker spaces
October 20, 2026
Employees work on a soldering project during a workshop in a Microsoft Garage space. Microsoft is winding down The Garage as a companywide program, and some spaces could be restricted as early as this week. (Microsoft Photo) Microsoft is winding down The Garage as a companywide program, ending a...
Autonomous flight startup Reliable Robotics opens Seattle area radar hub as valuation tops $1 billion
October 20, 2026
Reliable’s automated Cessna 208B Grand Cavan conducts autonomous operations in Mojave, Calif. (Reliable Robotics Photo) Aviation startup Reliable Robotics is opening a new engineering hub in the Seattle area, establishing a radar research and development center in Bothell. The Mountain View,...
Amazon plans record 300k holiday hires as the rest of retail pulls back
October 20, 2026
Amazon’s holiday hiring plans for its operations network are the biggest in its history. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Amazon says it plans to hire more than 300,000 people for seasonal, part-time and full-time roles across its U.S. operations this holiday season, an increase of 20% from...
From dishes to diapers: Seattle home-help startup Rosie raises $7M, eyes Austin and S.F. in 2027
October 20, 2026
Rosie COO Karthika Shankar, left, and CEO Mitra Raman started out doing the work themselves — watching kids, folding laundry and organizing garages for the company’s first customers — learning and building the business as they went. (Rosie Photo) Mitra Raman was making dinner one night, watching...
Seattle ag-tech startup Carbon Robotics reduces workforce, citing economic conditions
October 19, 2026
The LaserWeeder G2 from Carbon Robotics is pulled behind a tractor to detect and zap weeds on a farm. (Carbon Robotics Photo) Carbon Robotics, the Seattle-based agricultural technology startup known for its AI-powered, laser-weeding farm implements, has trimmed its workforce. The company did...
‘Don’t wait for somebody else to fix it’: T-Mobile exec Deeanne King on cutting CO2 and costs
October 19, 2026
T-Mobile’s Deeanne King, right, enjoying the Pacific Northwest with family. (Photo courtesy of King) When Deeanne King came to the Pacific Northwest in 2020 — relocating from Kansas after Sprint merged with Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile — she fell in love with the region’s natural beauty. In...
Amazon challenges Nvidia’s software advantage with new tool for its own AI chips
October 19, 2026
Amazon’s TorchNeuron sits between PyTorch and the company’s Trainium chips, supporting developers’ existing code. (Amazon Image) A new software tool from Amazon aims to make switching from Nvidia to the company’s own AI chips about as simple as changing a setting. The software, dubbed...
Microsoft unveils tools to monitor and corral rogue AI agents
October 19, 2026
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, shown speaking at a past Microsoft event, argued this month that companies should rely on outside controls rather than trusting AI models themselves. (GeekWire File Photo) Microsoft is coming out with new security tools that treat AI agents as potential insider...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Oct. 11, 2026
October 18, 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 Oct. 11, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
Amazon’s AI wearable, Booking’s return to Expedia’s backyard, and LinkedIn’s not-so-Seattle startup list
October 17, 2026
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we start by opening the listener mailbag, highlighting some recent comments that set a new standard for critical feedback, in different ways. We discuss Vayo, the AI travel venture Booking Holdings is launching in Seattle, home of its biggest rival,...
Amazon’s new Bee AI devices have a bystander problem, says former AWS security engineer
October 16, 2026
Amazon Bee’s recording light is easy to miss, says a former AWS security engineer. (Amazon Image) Amazon’s new Bee AI devices ask the wrong person for consent, according to a privacy and security veteran who previously worked as a senior principal security engineer at Amazon Web Services. In...
Etzioni on AI: The colorful and cranky language of the AI era, from slop to slap
October 16, 2026
The AI slap: forwarding AI-generated text without reading it. (GeekWire Illustration / GPT-6) We’ve all encountered the phrase AI slop, but what’s an AI slap? A meat proxy? Chatfishing? Or agentsomnia? Following up on my glossary of AI, which demystified AI jargon, Prof. Dan Weld is joining me...
Traffic data pioneer Inrix to be acquired by Allstate’s Arity after more than two decades
October 16, 2026
Inrix co-founder and CEO Bryan Mistele above rush-hour traffic on Interstate 5 in Seattle in 2011. After more than two decades of turning traffic data into a business, Inrix has agreed to sell substantially all of its assets to Arity, a subsidiary of Allstate. (GeekWire File Photo / Annie Laurie...
Retro tech meets modern AI: Inside an Amazon developer’s garage turned working computer museum
October 16, 2026
Darko Mesaros, a distinguished developer advocate for Amazon Web Services, is surrounded by vintage computer equipment in the garage of his Maple Valley, Wash., home. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Darko Mesaros used to park a car in the garage of his Maple Valley, Wash., home. These days,...
Amazon’s NBA coverage adds Prime 360 — AI replays that ‘fly the camera through’ the action
October 15, 2026
A Prime 360 replay shows a Lakers-Pacers play from a court-level angle. (Amazon Image) Amazon is bringing a new AI-powered camera system to the court as the tech giant gets ready to tip off its second season of basketball coverage on Prime Video. Called Prime 360, the technology uses an array...
A two-person Seattle startup lands $1M to reinvent energy-hungry chips suitable for space
October 15, 2026
TriMagnetix co-founders Madison Hanberry, left, and Lucas Hahn at the Plug and Play Semiconductor Accelerator kickoff. (Plug and Play Photo) Seattle-based TriMagnetix has landed new funding and commitments totaling $1 million to continue developing a semiconductor chip that, according to initial...
Leaked list shows what Microsoft, Amazon and other tech giants are giving for the White House ballroom
October 15, 2026
President Trump at the White House ballroom construction site in May. Microsoft, Amazon and T-Mobile have committed $20 million to the project, according to the Washington Post. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) Microsoft committed $10 million to President Trump’s White House...
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