GeekWire

The region held onto the No. 2 spot in CBRE's annual tech talent scorecard, behind only the Bay Area. The report also flagged Seattle's office vacancy rate, the highest of the 50 markets ranked, and a population of 20-somethings that shrank between 2019 and 2024, raising questions about the pipeline. Read More

"Desktop Explorer" sits at the center of an odd Venn diagram, between people who enjoy tinkering with old computers, mystery fans, and the adventure-gaming community. It’s initially a nostalgic experience, but that’s a thin veneer over what becomes a sort of low-key psychological thriller. Read More

Scott Thurlow spent 32 years at Microsoft dreading the twice-yearly time change, and the "meeting chaos" it brought across time zones and countries. Weeks after retiring, he launched a campaign to end Washington's clock changes without waiting for Congress, with a 2028 ballot initiative as the backup if lawmakers won't act. Read More

A proposed Seattle ordinance would bar large grocers and delivery services from setting prices for individual shoppers based on their personal data. Industry groups say it will kill discounts, consumer advocates say it will stop retailers from charging people what their data says they'll pay, and a City Council memo says the effect on grocery bills is hard to predict. Read More

A year after GeekWire asked where Seattle's superstar AI startups were, two local venture capitalists offer an answer: they're here, but they build rockets, geothermal plants and autonomous off-road vehicles rather than software. A guest opinion from Ascend's Nate Bek and Plug and Play's Ben Eisinger. Read More

Get a sneak peek at the Seattle-area startup's first Starburst satellite, plus an update on plans for the 2028 launch of its flagship Supernova spacecraft. Read More

The King County Library System opened a $5.2 million sorting installation in Renton that handles the 25,000 items moving through its 50 libraries each day. Robotic arms destack totes every 15 seconds and route materials into 186 delivery chutes. Read More

Qualtrics laid off employees across Seattle, Provo and international offices Wednesday, three months after closing its $6.75 billion acquisition of Press Ganey Forsta. The company declined to disclose how many jobs were cut, but a WARN notice reviewed by GeekWire indicates at least 50 cuts were made at its Seattle headquarters. Read More

GeekWire co-founder John Cook talks with The Redmen TV about Jeff Bezos’ new ownership stake in Liverpool FC, his first major foray into global sports ownership, and what his business philosophy could mean for one of the world’s most storied soccer clubs. Read More

Expedia Group is parting ways with at least eight vice presidents and senior vice presidents as it reorganizes its product and technology organization around AI, according to an internal memo obtained by GeekWire. The memo from the company's product and technology chiefs also names five leaders who were promoted. Read More

TikTok is laying off 75 workers in Bellevue, most of them in TikTok Shop and Global E-Commerce roles, according to a notice filed with Washington state. It's part of a steady stream of tech layoffs this year in the Seattle region. Read More

Radioisotope-powered heater will keep components in working order during the chilly lunar night, for a NASA-supported mission that's set for as early as 2028. Read More

Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery service is expanding to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of this year. Jeff Bezos unveiled the program on 60 Minutes in December 2013, estimating then that it was at least four or five years away. Read More

After two decades consulting for the likes of Microsoft and Boeing, Genevieve Priebe took over her family's farm, ran the numbers, and found that growing food doesn't pay. Her bootstrapped startup, Reroot, aims to help solve the problem with features including a marketplace and app for buying food directly from local producers. Read More

BuyWander, the Spokane-born retail returns marketplace, has moved its headquarters to the Seattle area and grown to 325 employees as it expands nationally, adding four executives including two former Amazon leaders. Read More

Einride's first earnings report as a public company shows Amazon holding warrants for about 12% of the Swedish electric trucking company, vesting as Amazon buys freight services. Einride also announced a deal to deploy 500 Tesla Semis for Amazon and other customers. Read More

Highspot's merger with Seismic was completed Tuesday, ending the sales software company's run as an independent business. Seismic has not said what the deal means for Highspot's roughly 1,000 employees. Read More

404 Media put an Apple AirTag in a rare book and tracked it to an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas, where a team cuts the bindings off books and scans the pages. The reporting method has roots in a Seattle non-profit group. Read More

Harlan Robins spent years as the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Adaptive Biotechnologies, helping build massive datasets to decode… Read More

India's 80th Independence Day drew a governor's proclamation, declarations from four mayors, and a line around the block. Harini Gokul, who came to the U.S. as an engineer and now serves on the Medina City Council, explains how the same talent pool that filled engineering teams has risen to CEO offices and council seats. Read More