June 05, 2015
Startup Spotlight: ScopeSys gives drugmakers a closer look inside genomic medicines
August 14, 2026
ScopeSys CEO Padma Kodukula Medical researchers need cutting-edge tools to create new treatments, and Vancouver, BC startup ScopeSys wants to provide them. Founded in 2017 and tracing its roots to research from University of British Columbia biophysicist Sabrina Leslie, ScopeSys uses physics...
Kalshi ordered to shut down sports and election prediction markets in Washington state by Sept. 2
August 13, 2026
Washington AG Nick Brown filed the lawsuit against Kalshi in March. (Photo courtesy of the Washington Attorney General’s Office) A judge in Seattle ordered Kalshi to shut down large parts of its prediction market in Washington state by Sept. 2 — less than three weeks from now — and denied the...
Blue Origin unveils its Quartz network of ground stations, with RBC Signals serving as a partner
August 13, 2026
Blue Origin’s ground station network includes a radio antenna in Bermuda. (Blue Origin Photo) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it has successfully tested the first three ground stations for a global communications network that will support the company’s missions in Earth orbit and...
Etzioni on AI: Claude is marking its text — Caveat Promptor!
August 13, 2026
Anthropic will embed an invisible mark in text generated by new Claude models. (GeekWire Illustration) Claude models launched on or after Aug. 2 embed an invisible mark in everything they write. It’s woven into the text itself, so it travels when you copy and paste. You didn’t opt in, you can’t...
Lev, the PSL spinout building an ‘AI co-founder’ for startups, names tech vet Jay Bartot as CTO
August 13, 2026
Lev CTO Jay Bartot, left, and founder and CEO T.A. McCann. (Lev Photo) Jay Bartot has spent most of his career building startups and advising other founders. Now he’s joining another veteran entrepreneur in a bet that technology can do a lot of that work. Lev, the Pioneer Square Labs spinout...
How this longtime Google exec fits an insane amount of exercise into his weekly routine
August 13, 2026
Jeff Dean, co-founder and CEO of Discovery Loop. (Photo via KDD.org) Jeff Dean has spent decades flexing his brain to solve some of computing’s hardest problems. Turns out the Google legend and UW computer science alum has been pushing his physical limits just as hard. In an exchange on X...
Farewell, Mico: Microsoft’s cute little AI blob is going the way of Bob
August 13, 2026
Microsoft introduced Mico last October as “your AI companion.” It’s now exiting Copilot’s core voice experience. (Microsoft Image) Microsoft has spent decades putting characters into its software and then sending them off into retirement. Now joining Bob, Clippy and Cortana in the great recycle...
Microsoft starts merging its Copilot consumer and business apps in advance of ‘Super App’ rollout
August 13, 2026
The merger of Microsoft’s consumer and business Copilot apps lays the groundwork for the upcoming Copilot “Super App” that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has touted to developers and investors. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Microsoft is starting the process of combining its consumer and...
Don’t pass on new ‘Hard Knocks’ episode: Seahawks QB is a ‘geek’ on the science of throwing a football
August 12, 2026
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold during the team’s training camp. (Seahawks Photo) If your summer sports head is spinning about the current state of the Seattle Mariners, perhaps it’d be better served focusing on “spin rate,” particularly as it relates to Seahawks quarterback Sam...
Tech layoffs hit Seattle housing market as pending sales post sharpest drop in the nation
August 12, 2026
The Seattle metro area’s median home-sale price is $809,479, roughly double the national average. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) As prospective buyers face steep borrowing costs and a turbulent tech job market, home sales nationwide have fallen to their lowest point in nearly two years —...
Seattle’s Overland AI opens Bay Area outpost, flipping the regional tech talent script
August 12, 2026
Overland AI develops autonomous ground vehicles and systems used by the U.S. military. (Overland AI Photo) Silicon Valley companies have spent decades coming to Seattle for engineering talent. Now Seattle-based Overland AI is returning the favor. The autonomous ground vehicle maker announced...
This former Amazon exec is moving his startup’s HQ to Texas, and he has a few notes for Seattle
August 12, 2026
Auger co-founders Leigh Anne Clark and Dave Clark at the company’s Bellevue, Wash., office. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) One of the Seattle region’s most notable tech startups is moving its headquarters to Texas. Supply chain technology startup Auger will maintain a major engineering...
Seattle longevity startups unite: Viome acquires plasma exchange pioneer Circulate Health
August 12, 2026
Brad Younggren (left), president of Viome Pro, and Naveen Jain, co-founder and CEO of Viome. (Viome Photos) Two Seattle-area health and longevity startups are joining forces through Viome Life Science‘s acquisition of Circulate Health. The two parties would not share specifics but said the deal...
New report offers Washington state a way out of its quantum conundrum
August 11, 2026
Chart from “Quantum Technology in Washington State.” Washington state has assembled the country’s deepest bench of quantum technology assets — including two major cloud platforms, a national lab and the first U.S. quantum computer factory — but has captured almost none of the federal money now...
Seahawks buyer Vinod Khosla punts back to team management when it comes to Lumen Field turf talk
August 11, 2026
A field-level view of the real grass that was installed at Lumen Field ahead of World Cup matches in Seattle this summer. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has made a fortune backing things that grow. Whether that will include real grass in the...
Ex-Meta AI research director raises $10.25M from Trilogy and Madrona for stealth physical AI startup
August 11, 2026
Kevin Carlberg, founder and CEO of Noosphere Labs. (UW Photo) A former Meta AI research director has raised $10.25 million for a Seattle-area startup working on what it calls “human-centered physical intelligence” — AI designed to help people interact with and make sense of the physical world,...
Amazon expands Locker package pickup to more than 750 U.S. college locations
August 11, 2026
(Amazon Photo) Amazon is scaling up for back-to-school season, expanding its network of Locker package pickup points to more than 750 locations across 500 U.S. colleges and universities. The expanded footprint — part of Amazon’s broader network of more than 25,000 delivery hubs nationwide —...
Kalshi brings in former U.S. solicitor general as Washington state gambling case escalates
August 10, 2026
Neal Katyal, a former U.S. acting solicitor general who leads Milbank’s U.S. Supreme Court practice, is representing Kalshi in state cases across the country. (Milbank Photo) Washington state is emerging as a key battleground in the national fight over whether federal commodities oversight...
Washington state is way down the list in another ranking of the best places to live
August 10, 2026
(WalletHub Graphic) Thirty-two states are considered better places to live than Washington, according to a new study that ranks a variety of factors impacting livability. WalletHub’s 2026 “Best States to Live In” list puts Washington at No. 33 with an overall score of 49.70 based on five key...
Self-flying air taxis and drones: Boeing sells key aviation technology businesses to Archer
August 10, 2026
Wisk completed the first flight of its Generation 6 autonomous, all-electric eVTOL last year. Photo via Wisk Archer Aviation is acquiring three Boeing subsidiaries focused on autonomous aircraft, airspace management and unmanned systems, a deal that will significantly expand the electric...
Tech Moves: Amazon VP leaves for Lime; MicroVision and Slalom name execs; Microsoft departures
August 10, 2026
Hannah McClellan Richards. (LinkedIn Photo) — Hannah McClellan Richards has left Amazon after more than 15 years to become chief operating officer of micromobility company Lime. “Ensuring hundreds of thousands of light electric vehicles are available, fully charged, when and where riders need...
Mark Zuckerberg makes waves again, sparring on a barge and charting a course for the future of AI
August 10, 2026
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, trains with UFC fighter Merab Dvalishvili aboard a barge on Lake Tahoe. (Image via Instagram) Man vs. machine might be the rallying cry of our future with AI, but for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the fight is here now — in more ways than one. Zuckerberg, who...
Gates Foundation gives $540 million to UW health institute, the largest gift in university history
August 10, 2026
Dr. Christopher Murray, IHME’s director, is principal investigator on the grant. He started the Global Burden of Disease study in the early 1990s. (IHME Photo) The Gates Foundation broke its own record at the University of Washington with the largest charitable gift in university history: $540.2...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Aug. 2, 2026
August 09, 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. 2, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
Elon Musk’s Starlink swagger, SpaceX vs. the cloud giants, and Seattle’s tech universe revisited
August 08, 2026
John Cook studies the 2009 Puget Sound Tech Universe map while recording this week’s GeekWire Podcast, with WTIA’s 2026 Washington Tech Universe map on the table behind him. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) This week on the GeekWire podcast: SpaceX reports its first quarter as a public company,...
Seattle AI Film Festival returns with 200 films that try to change your mind about AI cinema
August 07, 2026
A scene from the short film Subway 3 from director David Ahn, which will be shown at the Seattle AI Film Festival later this month. As debates over AI’s role in creative work intensify, the second annual Seattle AI Film Festival (SAIFF) is betting that filmmakers don’t have to choose between...
Jimothy raids the corporate pantry: Amazon adds extra $200K to food bank gift after raccoon art auction
August 07, 2026
A painting of Jimothy, the viral raccoon, by Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward. (@henry_beyond_museums via Instagram) A friendly challenge sparked by a portrait of Jimothy, Seattle’s favorite short-spined raccoon, has now drawn in 11 regional heavyweights — and with a big new donation from Amazon,...
This is way mo’ fun: Baby blue Waymo ‘Ojai’ spotted in Seattle, adding to robotaxi test fleet
August 07, 2026
A new Waymo Ojai vehicle spotted in a Fred Meyer parking lot in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood on Friday. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Waymo has added one mo’ type of vehicle to its fleet in the Seattle area, where the company has been testing for the launch of its autonomous taxi service...
As Washington state’s AI task force winds down, the debate over how much to regulate is far from settled
August 07, 2026
From left: Ryan Burns of Responsible AI Washington, Amy Harris of the Washington Technology Industry Association, Yuki Ishizuka of the Washington Attorney General’s Office, and Katy Ruckle of Washington Technology Solutions, at Wednesday’s panel on the state AI task force’s final report. (GeekWire...
Etzioni on AI: Murphy’s Law of AI
August 07, 2026
When you give AI a goal, it will pursue it, whether or not you like the implications. (Created with GPT-5.6 Thinking) Between July 21 and August 6, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta each disclosed that AI under evaluation had broken into other companies, and the UK’s AI Security Institute disclosed...
Startup Spotlight: HitchPiggy wants to turn empty car seats into a new rideshare marketplace
August 07, 2026
HItchPiggy founder Skylar Windham, left, on a trip to Florida with his friend and former graduate school professor Alexis Cancemi. Planning a trip to a college campus, concert or Northwest landmark? Portland startup HitchPiggy is betting the ride you need may already be headed out on the...
Salesforce cutting 59 jobs across Seattle and Bellevue offices
August 07, 2026
Salesforce offices in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Salesforce is cutting 59 jobs in Washington state, impacting a wide variety of tech roles at offices in Seattle and Bellevue, according to a new state filing. The layoffs at the San Francisco-based...
Microsoft 2.5: How EVP Charles Lamanna is helping turn Microsoft into the ‘Copilot company’
August 06, 2026
Charles Lamanna, EVP of Copilot, Agents and Platform at Microsoft, at a GeekWire event in March 2026. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota) 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”...
This startup just raised $6M for an AI tutor that helps kids figure it out themselves
August 06, 2026
A Wild Zebra math problem framed around baking, one of the interests the student selected. After the student works out that each section is 1/12 of the cookie, the AI confirms the step and asks the next question rather than finishing the problem. (Wild Zebra images, click to...
Zillow revenue climbs 18% but layoff costs push company to a loss, amid executive changes
August 06, 2026
Zillow Group’s revenue rose 18% to $772 million in the second quarter, beating its own forecast, but a $36 million restructuring charge from severance and other costs stemming from this week’s layoffs pushed it to a $4 million net loss. The Seattle-based online real estate company, which on...
Comments(0)