June 05, 2015
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Jan. 4, 2026
January 11, 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 Jan. 4, 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 Podcast: Alexa’s next act, Microsoft’s retail play, Google’s AI Inbox, and a smart bird feeder fail
January 10, 2026
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon and Microsoft are racing to define the next era of consumer AI, on multiple fronts. We discuss Amazon’s attempt to upgrade Alexa into a true generative AI home chatbot — complete with a new web portal and updated Alexa app — while Microsoft tries to win...
Ex-Expedia employee gets 4 years for planting spy cameras across Seattle campus in voyeurism case
January 10, 2026
Marcelo Vargas-Fernandez (left), a former Expedia Group employee, stands with his attorney, Court Will, during his sentencing hearing Friday in King County Superior Court in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) A former Expedia Group employee who amassed 20 terabytes of illicit footage of...
Microsoft’s big lease renewal in Redmond helps buoy Eastside office market near Seattle
January 10, 2026
Microsoft’s headquarters campus in Redmond. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) Microsoft’s decision to renew a large swath of office space in Redmond is emerging as a key stabilizing force for the Eastside office market near Seattle. That’s one takeaway from a new report by commercial real...
Rad Power Bikes rider’s DIY solution for potential battery fire sparks broader safety discussion
January 09, 2026
A Rad Power Bikes e-bike owned by Eric Stahl of San Francisco, parked in his garage next to a DIY battery containment solution made out of cinderblocks that he hopes would help contain a battery fire if one started. (Photo courtesy of Eric Stahl) A Rad Power Bikes rider, alarmed by reports of...
Tech Moves: AWS VP switches roles; Seattle’s new economic development head; Microsoft Teams exec departs
January 09, 2026
Uwem Ukpong. (LinkedIn Photo) — Amazon’s Uwem Ukpong has a new title, moving from vice president of Global Services to VP of AWS Industries. Ukpong has been with the tech giant for more than four years, joining from energy technology company Baker Hughes. Ukpong’s resume is dominated by a...
Bill Gates says there’s ‘no upper limit’ on AI, citing opportunity and risk
January 09, 2026
Bill Gates says he’s still optimistic about the future overall, with some “footnotes” of caution. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Bill Gates had a front-row seat for the rise of AI, from his longtime work at Microsoft to early demonstrations of key breakthroughs from OpenAI that illustrated...
Seattle-area nuclear company TerraPower signs deal with Meta for up to 8 reactors
January 09, 2026
A TerraPower employee working at a setup used for testing a planned molten salt-based energy storage system. (TerraPower Photo) TerraPower, a Bill Gates-backed next-gen nuclear company, on Friday announced a deal with Meta to build up to eight small modular reactors in the U.S. with the first...
Bill Gates makes nearly $8B payout to Melinda French Gates as part of divorce settlement
January 09, 2026
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. (GeekWire File Photo, left, and Jason Bell Photo) Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates paid his ex-wife Melinda French Gates nearly $8 billion as part of the settlement from the former couple’s 2021 divorce. The $7.88 billion payout was revealed in new tax...
Microchipped at work? Washington state bill aims to ban employers from using ‘dehumanizing’ tech
January 09, 2026
Microchips implanted under the skin could be portrayed as a convenient way to store and access employment and personal data. (BigStock Photo) A bill introduced in the Washington state Legislature would ban employers from requiring or pressuring workers to be microchipped, a practice lawmakers...
‘Once-in-a-generation’ opportunity: Amazon and Boeing execs help launch sustainable aviation accelerator to fuel innovation
January 09, 2026
Elected officials including Gov. Bob Ferguson, center, and corporate and academic leaders gathered at an event celebrating the launch of the Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator held at the Boeing Future of Flight Aviation Center. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) MUKILTEO, Wash. — Pacific...
Rad Power Bikes closing stores in Vancouver, B.C., and Florida; 7 more will remain open
January 08, 2026
A Rad Power Bikes e-bike rider in Vancouver, B.C. (Rad Power Bikes Photo) Rad Power Bikes is shutting down retail stores in Vancouver, B.C., and St. Petersburg, Fla., on Friday as the embattled electric bike manufacturer deals with its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. The Seattle-based company...
Here’s where Seattle ranks among U.S. cities based on capital raised
January 08, 2026
The Seattle skyline. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Seattle’s startup scene stayed consistent with its venture capital activity in 2025. Financial tech company Carta is out with its latest annual list of U.S. cities as measured by total capital raised by startups on its platform, from...
Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi named to ‘AI Power List,’ with a nod to institute’s open-source focus
January 08, 2026
Ali Farhadi, CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, during a GeekWire Podcast recording at the non-profit’s Seattle HQ last year. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Business Insider’s latest list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence is a who’s who of key players shaping what the...
Startup’s radar tech in a handheld scanner could change how police conduct weapons searches
January 08, 2026
Lassen Peak is developing a handheld radar system for concealed weapon detection. (Lassen Peak Image) A Bellevue, Wash.-based startup is moving closer to commercialization of a handheld scanning device that it says could change one of the most dangerous and controversial procedures in policing:...
Microsoft debuts Copilot Checkout, joining AI shopping race vs. Amazon, Google and OpenAI
January 08, 2026
Microsoft’s Copilot Checkout lets users browse and buy products without leaving the chat. (Microsoft Image, click for larger version) [Editor’s Note: Agents of Transformation is an independent GeekWire series and March 24, 2026 event, underwritten by Accenture, exploring the...
Former Amazon execs raise $15M for agentic commerce startup that uses AI to generate custom storefronts
January 08, 2026
Spangle co-founders Maju Kuruvilla (left) and Fei Wang. (Spangle Photo) Spangle AI, a new Seattle startup that helps online retailers build customized shopping experiences in real-time, announced a $15 million Series A investment round led by NewRoad Capital Partners. The company is now valued...
Seattle’s Alpenglow moves 3D microscope tech from lab to clinic to help modernize cancer diagnostics
January 08, 2026
Imaging of a rat heart created using Alpenglow Biosciences technology. (Photo courtesy of Azalia M. Martinez Jaimes and Karen M. Gonzalez of the Red Horse Lab at Stanford University) Seattle-based Alpenglow Biosciences today announced a partnership with PathNet, a leading U.S. pathology...
New filing: Seattle fusion startup Avalanche Energy raising fresh cash
January 08, 2026
An Avalanche Energy employee prepares an experiment at the company’s Seattle lab. (Avalanche Photo) Seattle startup Avalanche Energy is raising new funding to develop its compact fusion energy devices. A new SEC filing reveals a fresh $14.9 million round. A company spokesperson declined to...
Rubin Observatory spots an asteroid that spins fast enough to set a record
January 08, 2026
An artist’s conception zeroes in on a main-belt asteroid called 2025 MN45, which makes a full rotation in less than two minutes. (Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory / NOIRLab / SLAC / AURA / P. Marenfeld) Astronomers say they’ve found an asteroid that spins faster than other space rocks...
WSU’s inflatable robotic apple-picker could take a bite out of farm labor shortages
January 07, 2026
Never mind the Apple Cup. Washington State University is focused on the apple grip and the apple pick. Researchers in WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering unveiled a low-cost robotic apple-picking arm designed to help offset labor shortages for tasks such as harvesting and...
Amazon rolls out new version of its Dash smart grocery cart
January 07, 2026
Amazon’s newest smart grocery cart features upgraded computer vision and sensing capabilities. (Amazon Photo) Amazon has unveiled a redesigned version of its Dash Cart, the company’s smart shopping cart that lets customers scan items as they shop and skip the checkout line. The new shopping...
Why some independent brands are upset with Amazon’s new ‘Buy for Me’ shopping tool
January 07, 2026
Amazon’s Seattle HQ. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Amazon is facing complaints from independent retailers over a new shopping experiment that lets customers buy products from other websites directly within Amazon’s app. The feature, called Buy for Me, started rolling out in April last...
Trapped at a Tesla Supercharger: A comedy of errors and lessons learned from a first EV road trip
January 07, 2026
I drive a Mach-E that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds. Even better: it’s electric and the turn signal makes a clippity-clop horse hoof noise. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) By the time we hit Kelso, it was clear my family’s post-Christmas EV adventure was hitting the skids. After...
Tech Moves: Amazon AI leader joins Google Cloud; Meta taps new chief legal officer from Microsoft
January 06, 2026
Karthik Ramakrishnan. (LinkedIn Photo) — Karthik Ramakrishnan, who spent the past 14 years at Amazon where he helped develop the company’s AI strategy, has taken a VP role within the Data Cloud organization at Google Cloud. “We are entering the ‘Agentic Era,’ and my focus is helping this...
Ring around the parking lot: Amazon’s security company unveils a $5,000 surveillance trailer
January 06, 2026
A rendering of Ring’s new Mobile Security Trailer deployed in a parking lot, showing its solar-powered base and 360-degree camera designed to monitor commercial sites such as retail centers, construction projects, and outdoor events. (Ring Image) Amazon’s Ring is rolling out a $5,000...
Wi-Fi on the water: Washington State Ferries explores public internet service with new pilot program
January 06, 2026
(GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Washington State Ferries is taking an initial step toward offering public Wi-Fi service at ferry terminals and aboard vessels. The agency issued a report in December proposing a limited Wi-Fi pilot at a single terminal — Bremerton — and on a single vessel,...
Adaptive Biotechnologies spinout raising $15M to develop clinical sequencing tech
January 06, 2026
Digital Biotechnologies operates out of Adaptive Biotechnologies’ headquarters in Seattle. (Adaptive Photo) Digital Biotechnologies Inc., a new Seattle-based subsidiary of publicly traded immune medicine company Adaptive Biotechnologies, has raised fresh cash as part of an initial closing of a...
This plant-based chicken startup is bucking alt-protein trends with a new production milestone
January 06, 2026
The Rebellyous Foods team running the Mock 3 production system, from left: Founder and CEO Christie Lagally Bradburn, mechanical design engineer Cruz Philippe, and inventory and logistics manager David Miller. (Rebellyous Foods Photo) Seattle-based food technology startup Rebellyous Foods ended...
Microsoft acquires data analytics startup Osmos to fuel push into ‘autonomous data engineering’
January 06, 2026
Osmos CEO Kirat Pandya. (LinkedIn Photo) Microsoft announced Monday that it acquired Osmos, a Seattle startup that helps companies automate data engineering work. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Osmos’ team will join the engineering organization behind Microsoft Fabric, the tech giant’s...
Desney Tan leaves Microsoft after 21 years leading key research and healthcare initiatives
January 06, 2026
Desney Tan speaks at the 2018 GeekWire Summit. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Desney Tan, who rose from researcher to corporate vice president and managing director of Microsoft Research, announced Monday that he’s leaving the company after 21 years. Tan became known in part for...
‘Designed to be addictive’: Study finds teens spend more than an hour per day on phones at school
January 05, 2026
(BigStock Photo) New research tied to the University of Washington School of Medicine adds to mounting concerns among educators about smartphone use in schools. U.S. adolescents between the ages of 13–18 spend more than one hour per day on phones during school hours, with “addictive” social...
Tech Moves: Amazon leader lands at Anthropic; Microsoft government affairs vet retires
January 05, 2026
Steven Maheshwary. (LinkedIn Photo) — Steven Maheshwary, a former generative AI leader at Amazon, is now a go-to-market lead in strategic partnerships at Anthropic, the AI giant behind Claude and backed by Amazon. On LinkedIn, Maheshwary described AI as “a catalyst for significant...
Amazon’s AI on the web, wrist, and phone: Tech giant chases consumer rivals with latest moves
January 05, 2026
Amazon says expanding Alexa further beyond the home will be a big focus in 2026. (Amazon Image) Amazon is expanding its consumer AI ecosystem beyond the smart speaker — bringing Alexa+ to the web, revamping its mobile app, and offering its first update on Bee since acquiring the wearable AI...
Amazon tees up new private label golf balls — here’s how they stack up against Titleist and Taylormade
January 04, 2026
Evergreen Golf Club instructor Austin Nutt takes a swing as he tries out Amazon’s new Amazon Basics golf balls that recently debuted on the company’s online marketplace. (GeekWire Photos / Taylor Soper) Amazon is taking a private-label swing on the golf course. The online retail giant started...
