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Technology

Pockets of opportunity: Seattle startup’s clothing line looks to end inequality in women’s workwear

Aditi Sinha was working at Amazon, as the worldwide marketing leader for Prime Day and other global shopping events for the e-commerce giant, when she reached a tipping point on a specific issue. “One of my colleagues, who was a VP back at Amazon, brought her son to work one day, and she would go into these high-profile meetings, power-packed, and she kept her phone in her son’s pocket.” Sinha said. “Her 2-year-old had six pockets in his pants, and she had none. And I’m wondering what has been done to deserve this amazing inequality.” So she decided to do… Read More

Protesters block entrances at Amazon HQ, objecting to planned use of fossil fuels in Oregon

Dozens of environmental activists this morning blocked the entrances at Amazon’s Day 1 building at its Seattle headquarters. A Washington-based group called the Troublemakers organized the action, calling on the tech giant to cancel its plans to use natural gas from a new pipeline being built in Oregon. The gas would be used to power three data centers in the state. “The fact that Amazon is still an active participant in a fossil fuel expansion at this moment in time highlights their hypocrisy,” said Emily Johnston, one of the protest organizers. Amazon has multiple initiatives to address climate change. In… Read More

Vote for Deal of the Year: Four startups raise cash and a biotech giant acquires a UW spinout

Four big startup fundraising rounds and one major acquisition in the biotech space make up the finalists in this year’s Deal of the Year category at the 2024 GeekWire Awards. The award, presented by Wilson Sonsini, is aimed at recognizing transactions that had a significant impact on emerging Pacific Northwest companies. Keep scrolling for descriptions of each finalist. And submit your vote here or below. Recurrent, a platform providing shoppers and car dealerships with information about used electric vehicle batteries, raised $16 million in a Series A round in January. A spinout of Seattle’s Pioneer Square Labs, Recurrent launched in 2020, and… Read More

Meet Nala, the police dog that sniffs out electronic devices to fight internet crimes against children

Nala has a nose for electronics. But she’s not your run-of-the-mill tech geek with a passion for gear and gadgets. A specially trained electronic storage detection (ESD) K9, Nala is a 4-year-old English Labrador retriever and a key member of the Seattle Police Department, the lead agency for Washington state’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, charged with fighting child sexual exploitation. “They’re amazing animals, and I’m very blessed and lucky to be working with one,” said SPD Det. Daljit Gill, Nala’s handler and an 18-year veteran of the department. Nala is one of two dogs in the state… Read More

Three options for seeing the solar eclipse, from expensive to iffy to absolutely free

After a seven-year gap, a total solar eclipse is once again due to make a coast-to-coast run across North America, boosting popular interest (and airfares) to astronomical proportions. The track of totality for the April 8 eclipse doesn’t come anywhere close to the Pacific Northwest. That’s in contrast to the 2017 total solar eclipse, when the moon’s shadow crossed the Oregon coast to begin its continent-spanning sweep. You can still get in on the thrill of the event. It’s not too late to book a last-minute trip to someplace within driving distance of the total eclipse’s path, which stretches from… Read More

Next Tech Titan: MotherDuck, Rec Room, Statsig, Submittable, Zuper vie for pivotal GeekWire Award

Which company will be the next tech titan to emerge from the Pacific Northwest? GeekWire’s startup coverage seeks to answer this fundamental question every day, at least implicitly. But once a year, we formalize the process through the Next Tech Titan category in the GeekWire Awards, our annual event recognizing the top innovators and companies in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading for details on each finalist, and a sampling of past Next Tech Titan winners as evidence of the predictive capabilities of this award. Vote here or below in this GeekWire Awards category, which is presented by Baird. And… Read More

Instacart to pay $730K to settle alleged violations of Seattle’s gig worker sick time ordinance

Grocery delivery company Instacart has settled with the Seattle Office of Labor Standards for alleged violations of the city’s Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance.

Goodbill raises $2M and expands customer base to unearth and challenge medical billing errors

Goodbill, a startup working to reduce medical costs to patients and a subset of insurers, has raised $2 million in new capital and expanded its market. The Seattle-based company is targeting errors in hospital bills, analyzing digital medical records that include doctors’ notes and scrutinizing medical claims to unearth and challenge mistakes in the charges. Goodbill launched in 2021, helping individual patients review their hospital bills and providing a free tool to aid Americans seeking reimbursement for COVID-19 diagnostic tests from private insurance providers. But the platform ultimately caught the attention of larger companies that opt to directly pay for… Read More

Science and Technology | AP

Associated Press

New York City files a lawsuit saying social media is fueling a youth mental health crisis

New York City, its schools and public hospital system announced a lawsuit Wednesday against the tech giants that run Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, blaming their “addictive and dangerous” social media platforms for fueling a childhood mental health crisis that is disrupting learning and draining resources. Children and adolescents are especially susceptible to harm […]
1 month ago
Manuel and Patricia Oliver, the parents of Joaquin Oliver, one of the victims of the 2018 mass shoo...
Associated Press

Families using re-created voices of gun violence victims to call lawmakers

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Joaquin “Guac” Oliver died in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, high school massacre, but federal lawmakers who oppose tighter gun regulations began getting phone calls in his voice on Wednesday, lambasting them for their position. The families of Oliver and five others killed with guns are using artificial intelligence to create messages […]
1 month ago
Associated Press

Microsoft says US rivals are beginning to use generative AI in offensive cyber operations

BOSTON (AP) — Microsoft said Wednesday that U.S. adversaries — chiefly Iran and North Korea and to a lesser extent Russia and China — are beginning to use generative artificial intelligence to mount or organize offensive cyber operations. The technology giant said it detected and disrupted, in collaboration with business partner OpenAI, threats that used […]
1 month ago
An AI avatar generated on Luka Inc.'s Replika mobile phone app and webpage are shown in this photo,...
Associated Press

Amid artificial intelligence boom, AI girlfriends – and boyfriends – are making their mark

NEW YORK (AP) — A few months ago, Derek Carrier started seeing someone and became infatuated. He experienced a “ton” of romantic feelings but he also knew it was an illusion. That’s because his girlfriend was generated by artificial intelligence. Carrier wasn’t looking to develop a relationship with something that wasn’t real, nor did he […]
1 month ago
Associated Press

Tech companies plan to sign accord to combat AI-generated election trickery

NEW YORK (AP) — At least six major technology companies are planning to sign an agreement this week that would guide how they try to put a stop to the use of artificial intelligence tools to disrupt democratic elections. The upcoming event at the Munich Security Conference in Germany comes as more than 50 countries […]
1 month ago
Smart tech earrings...
Bill Kaczaraba

The smart accessory you didn’t know you needed: an earring that tracks your health

University of Washington researchers have brought earrings into the smart tech realm.
1 month ago
FILE - Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at the Amazon re:MARS convention in Las Vegas on June 6, 2019. ...
Associated Press

Jeff Bezos sells nearly 12 million Amazon shares worth at least $2 billion, with more to come

SEATTLE (AP) — Jeff Bezos filed a statement with federal regulators indicating his sale of nearly 12 million shares of Amazon stock worth more than $2 billion. The Amazon executive chairman notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of the sale of 11,997,698 shares of common stock on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8. The collective […]
2 months ago
FILE - U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo speaks Dec. 11, 2023, during a visit to BAE Systems, i...
Associated Press

Biden administration announces $5 billion commitment for research and development of computer chips

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday will announce the investment of $5 billion in a public-private consortium aimed at supporting research and development in advanced computer chips. The National Semiconductor Technology Center is being funded through the CHIPS and Science Act. That 2022 law aims to reinvigorate the computer chip sector within the […]
2 months ago
FILE - The seal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seen before an FCC meeting to vot...
Associated Press

AI-generated voices in robocalls can deceive voters. The FCC just made them illegal

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won’t be tolerated. The unanimous ruling targets robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a 1991 law restricting junk […]
2 months ago
FILE - A voter places a ballot in a drop box outside the Denver Elections Division headquarters Nov...
Associated Press

Federal cybersecurity agency launches program to boost support for state, local election offices

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s cybersecurity agency has launched a program aimed at boosting election security in the states, shoring up support for local offices and hoping to provide reassurance to voters that this year’s presidential elections will be safe and accurate. Officials with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency planned to introduce its […]
2 months ago
FILE - Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks about Google DeepMind at a Google I/O event in Mountain Vi...
Associated Press

Google’s Gemini AI app to land on phones, making it easier for people to connect to a digital brain

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google on Thursday introduced a free artificial intelligence app that will implant the technology on smartphones, enabling people to quickly connect to a digital brain that can write for them, interpret what they’re reading and seeing, in addition to helping manage their lives. With the advent of the Gemini app, named […]
2 months ago
Image: A photo looking toward downtown Kirkland and Lake Washington...
Lisa Brooks

Thousands of Raterlabs employees laid off 1 year after pay raise

RaterLabs employees are responsible for evaluating Google’s search results by testing and rating how accurately the algorithm responds to various prompts.
2 months ago
FILE - People gather on a section of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, July 4, 2021,...
Associated Press

Biden administration names a director of the new AI Safety Institute

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday plans to name a top White House aide as the director of the newly established safety institute for artificial intelligence, according to an administration official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the position. Elizabeth Kelly will lead the AI Safety Institute at the National Institute for Standards […]
2 months ago
Associated Press

Meta says it will label AI-generated images on Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram users will start seeing labels on AI-generated images that appear on their social media feeds, part of a broader tech industry initiative to sort between what’s real and not. Meta said Tuesday it’s working with industry partners on technical standards that will make it easier to identify images and eventually video and […]
2 months ago
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks in Raleigh, N.C., Jan. 18, 2024. The White House is pressing Cong...
Associated Press

White House renews calls on Congress to extend internet subsidy program

The White House is pressing Congress to extend a subsidy program that helps one in six U.S. families afford internet and represents a key element of President Joe Biden’s promise to deliver reliable broadband service to every American household. “For President Biden, internet is like water,” said Tom Perez, senior adviser and assistant to the […]
2 months ago