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GeekWire
Amazon boosting wages and hiring incentives to keep up in competitive labor market
Amazon is finding it necessary to boost wages and increase its use of incentives to fill some of its open positions, resulting in higher costs in its fulfillment network. “We certainly see stronger demand for workers,” said Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, on a conference call with reporters. “So far, we’ve had good success in hiring them with our wage and benefit package that’s pretty competitive. So we’re watching it carefully. But it’s probably one of the bigger elements of inflation in our business right now.” Later, on a conference call with analysts and investors, Olsavsky cited the issue… Read More -
GeekWire
T-Mobile adds 1.3M customers in Q2, beats expectations with $20B in revenue
T-Mobile beat analyst expectations at the end of its second quarter, reporting $20 billion in revenue, up 13% year-over-year, and $0.78 in earnings per share. Analysts expected revenue of $19.3 billion and earnings per share of $0.53. The Bellevue, Wash.-based wireless company added 1.3 million new customers. It led the industry in postpaid net subscriber growth and service revenue growth. Shares in T-Mobile were flat in after-hours trading. Earlier this week, T-Mobile announced it extended the range of its 5G network, now covering 305 million people. It also reported that now 165 million of those people are covered with Ultra… Read More -
GeekWire
Report details how Alaska Airlines is using AI to better map flight routes and save time and fuel
If you’ve ever stared out the window of a passenger plane, or tracked your flight as it moves across the sky on the animated video screen in front of you, you may have wondered how the pilots even know what direction to take. Skilled human flight planners take care of all that — and now they’re getting help from artificial intelligence. In a new story this week, Fortune reports on how Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is pioneering the use of software to better predict weather and air traffic and help flight planners map out routes. The technology, called Flyways, is made… Read More -
GeekWire
Amazon’s advertising business is surging amid industry-wide ad sales boom for tech giants
Amazon’s advertising business continue to grow rapidly as it is now one of the company’s key sources of revenue. In the company’s second quarter earnings report, Amazon said its “Other” category generated $7.9 billion in sales, up a whopping 87% from the year-ago quarter, and up 14% from the first quarter of 2021. Amazon does not break out specific financials for advertising, but its “Other” category “primarily includes sales of advertising services, as well as sales related to our other service offerings,” according to earnings report statements. The 87% growth rate is notable; that rate in the year-ago quarter was… Read More -
GeekWire
Amazon sales of $113B disappoint Wall Street but profits of $7.8B exceed expectations
Amazon posted net sales of 113.1 billion for the second quarter, up 27%, but fell short of Wall Street expectations, sending its stock down 5% in after-hours trading. The result was within the range of the company’s previously issued guidance of net sales between $110 billion and $116 billion. However, Wall Street analysts had expected Amazon to report overall net sales of $115 billion, on average, a 29% increase year-over-year. Amazon was still able to top expectations with profits of $7.8 billion or $15.12 per share. Analysts expected earnings per share of $12.22, up from $10.30 per share a year… Read More -
GeekWire
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on the natural ‘tension’ in the company’s new leadership principles
Newly minted Amazon CEO Andy Jassy didn’t subject himself to an intensive round of press interviews upon taking over from founder Jeff Bezos earlier this month, but he did offer some insights into his approach and background in a video interview recorded internally. It was released as an unlisted video on the company’s YouTube channel this week, as spotted by Matt Day of Bloomberg News. Jassy answered questions from Amazon executive Alicia Boler Davis, senior vice president of Global Customer Fulfillment, as well as recorded questions from Amazon employees, during the “Deep Dive” session. Jassy’s rise to CEO comes as… Read More -
GeekWire
Compassion Seattle initiative qualifies for ballot: Will it change the downtown business outlook?
As downtown Seattle tech businesses implement plans to return to offices that have been vacant for more than a year, a change in how some of these companies experience downtown could be on the horizon. Supporters announced Wednesday that the Compassion Seattle ballot measure has qualified for the November ballot. It kicks off what is likely to be a fight about how a progressive city deals with a chronic homelessness crisis and tries to keep residents and business leaders happy while improving the lives of the city’s thousands of unhoused. “Charter Amendment 29 has broad support across Seattle and among… Read More -
GeekWire
Icosavax stock skyrockets 200% on first day of trading for newly public Seattle biotech company
Icosavax is having quite the debut as Washington state’s newest public company. Shares of the Seattle-based biotech firm surged more than 200% on its first day of trading Thursday. Icosavax raised more than $180 million after pricing shares at $15 before trading began Thursday. Its stock, trading under the ticker ICVX on the NASDAQ, opened at $29/share and reached more than $47 within an hour before dropping back down slightly. Update: The stock ended trading Thursday at $35/share, up 133%. The company, a spin-out from the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design, is developing vaccines to resemble naturally occurring viruses.… Read More
Science and Technology | AP
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Bezos loses appeal of NASA’s plans to use Musk moon lander
The federal government Friday rejected an appeal by billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to get in on NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon by using rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX. NASA in April awarded the $2.9 billion contract for a lunar lander to the more established SpaceX, which also offered a cheaper price than […]Comments -
US regulators step up scrutiny of IPO hopefuls from China
NEW YORK (AP) — Chinese companies hoping to sell their shares in the United States must start making more disclosures about their potential risks before U.S. regulators will allow them to list their stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the move Friday after Beijing said it would step up its supervision of Chinese companies […] -
California wildfire flares but within line crews have built
PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — California’s largest wildfire so far this year was flaring up Friday but it was because the flames were chewing through unburned islands of vegetation within a perimeter that firefighters have built, authorities said. The Dixie Fire covered 376 square miles (974 square kilometers) in the mountains of Northern California where 42 […] -
US sets new Cuba sanctions as Biden meets Cuban-Americans
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced new sanctions on Friday against Cuba’s national revolutionary police and its top two officials as the U.S. looks to increase pressure on the communist government following this month’s protests on the island. The Police Nacional Revolcionaria and the agency’s director and deputy director, Oscar Callejas Valcarce and Eddie […] -
Russia blames space station lab incident on software failure
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian space official on Friday blamed a software problem on a newly docked science lab for briefly knocking the International Space Station out of position. The space station lost control of its orientation for 47 minutes on Thursday, when Russia’s Nauka science lab accidentally fired its thrusters a few hours after […] -
In heat emergency, Greece adds checks for fires, power cuts
ATHENS (AP) — Greek authorities ordered additional fire patrols and infrastructure maintenance inspections Friday as the country grappled with a heat wave fed by hot air from Africa that is expected to last more than a week. The emergency measures will also include efforts to create more air-conditioned areas open to the public in cities […] -
The ‘gymternet’: gymnastics’ devoted, sometimes toxic fans
TOKYO (AP) — Fresh off Tokyo’s competition floor, four Olympic gymnasts lined up for a press conference. A podcaster offered a question on behalf of what has become a potent voice in the small world of elite gymnastics. “The gymternet would like know…” she began. The athletes nodded in familiarity with the online collective of […] -
U.S. warns China is building more nuclear missile silos
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The U.S. military is warning about what analysts have described as a major expansion of China’s nuclear missile silo fields at a time of heightened tension between Beijing and Washington. Researchers at the Federation of American Scientists estimate that China has approximately 250 underground missile silos under construction after they used […] -
Robotic police dogs: Useful hounds or dehumanizing machines?
HONOLULU (AP) — If you’re homeless and looking for temporary shelter in Hawaii’s capital, expect a visit from a robotic police dog that will scan your eye to make sure you don’t have a fever. That’s just one of the ways public safety agencies are starting to use Spot, the best-known of a new commercial […] -
In effort to curb COVID, Tokyo Olympics collect lots of spit
TOKYO (AP) — They spit. They wait. They hope. About 30,000 people from scores of nations are spitting into tiny plastic vials at the Olympics in a daily routine that’s grown crucial in going ahead with the pandemic-era Games, according to organizers. If you do the math for the two-week duration of the Olympics, that […] -
China’s Didi denies report of plan to buy back shares
BEIJING (AP) — Didi Global Inc. on Friday denied a report by The Wall Street Journal that the ride-hailing service was considering buying back its U.S.-traded shares after its June market debut was disrupted by Chinese government orders to overhaul data security. The Journal, citing unidentified sources, said buying back the shares was one option […] -
US to study internet access for Cubans; more sanctions
MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Cuban-American leaders Friday to discuss the recent social protests in Cuba, the possibility of new sanctions on its government and options for providing internet access to the island’s population. The afternoon White House meeting, previewed for The Associated Press by an administration official, will […] -
Climate bid faces tricky path over money for electric cars
WASHINGTON (AP) — The bipartisan compromise on infrastructure cuts in half President Joe Biden’s call for $15 billion to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging outlets, raising the stakes as the administration seeks to win auto industry cooperation on anti-pollution rules to curb climate change. The Senate legislation provides $7.5 billion in federal grants to build […] -
Amazon’s sales growth slows as pandemic shopping surge eases
NEW YORK (AP) — The world’s return to almost normalcy is slowing down Amazon’s pandemic-induced sales surge. The online behemoth on Thursday posted better-than-expected second-quarter profits. But it delivered sales results that came in short of expectations and offered a disappointing outlook for the current quarter. Amazon said that revenue will be in the range […] -
Nikola founder Milton freed on $100M bail after fraud arrest
NEW YORK (AP) — The founder and one-time executive chair of Nikola Corp. was freed on $100 million bail Thursday after pleading not guilty to charges alleging he lied about the electric and hydrogen-powered truck startup, duping novice investors including some financially struggling people looking for income during the pandemic. Trevor Milton, 39, of Oakley, […]