Boeing’s Starliner space taxi begins second test flight to the space station (with a dummy on board)
Two and a half years after an initial orbital flight test fell short, Boeing is trying once again to put its CST-100 Starliner space capsule through an uncrewed trip to the International Space Station and back. United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket sent Starliner spaceward from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:54 p.m. ET (3:54 p.m. PT) today. Boeing and NASA are hoping that this second orbital flight test, known as OFT-2, will pave the way for Starliner’s first crewed flight later this year. Within OFT-2’s first hour, Starliner separated from the Atlas 5 rocket’s Centaur upper… Read MoreHow a ‘Wonder Women’ party and an Amazon vet helped this e-commerce startup raise fresh funds
New funding: TheWMarketplace, an e-commerce platform promoting women’s businesses, has raised $1.4 million. The round was led by Erika McKitterick, who worked at Amazon for seven years, most recently as the head of U.S. Third Party Account Services. The role included helping companies grow their sales in the Amazon store, making McKitterick’s insights valuable to a startup that says it’s eager to take on the e-commerce behemoth. “Erika brings deep knowledge of the growth opportunities and pain points for a marketplace like ours and will help us to grow more quickly and with fewer speed bumps,” said Susan Gates, TheWMarketplace… Read MoreRedfin prevails over co-founder in patent trial
A federal jury in Texas this week sided with Redfin in a patent lawsuit brought two years ago by Surefield, a Seattle startup that was launched by Redfin co-founder David Eraker several years after his departure from the company. The lawsuit involved technology for 3D online home tours, a feature that has taken on added importance over the past two years as the pandemic has made in-person tours more difficult in some cases. The jury, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, found unanimously that Surefield did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that… Read MoreIn latest Reddit ‘AMA,’ Bill Gates talks COVID, farming, Bitcoin, what phone he uses and more
Bill Gates returned to Reddit for his 10th “Ask Me Anything” session on Thursday, answering questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, his ownership of U.S. farmland, what type of phone he uses, and more. The Microsoft co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was last in front of the Reddit firing squad in March 2021, where he faced a lot of questions about meat and misinformation. Promoting his new book “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic,” Gates gravitated toward COVID-related questions this time, although it appears no one asked him how he’s feeling, eight days after he… Read MoreThis Seattle startup backed by American Express wants to be the ‘LinkedIn of accounting’
Seattle-area giants including Concur, Avalara, and DocuSign changed the way companies automate their essential business processes. Lockstep wants to be the next huge enterprise software company out of Seattle to join that group. The 3-year-old startup is seeing demand grow for its software used to automate the accounting of B2B purchases and payments. The idea is to use automation to help eliminate the cash traps and cash leaks that occur through the human handling of company books. “Paper and envelopes have been replaced by PDF and email, but the core activities of customer onboarding, vendor onboarding, credit decisioning, invoicing, dispute… Read MoreSeattle smart shopping cart startup Veeve, led by ex-Amazon engineers, rolling into Albertsons
Veeve, a Seattle-based startup launched by two ex-Amazon managers, is partnering with Albertsons to bring its smart shopping cart technology to the grocery chain. Veeve Smart Carts will be available at a few dozen stores across the country later this year, allowing shoppers to skip checkout lines thanks to the tech-enhanced devices. Veeve was founded in 2018 and unveiled a year later by Shariq Siddiqui and Umer Sadiq, engineers who spent nearly 20 years combined at Amazon. The carts feature a touch screen that provides a running total for in-cart items and a built-in scale for easy produce purchase, according… Read MoreHow Jeff Wilke’s industrial roots guided him at Amazon, and inspired him to help revive U.S. manufacturing
PITTSBURGH — In his 22 years at Amazon, including his role as the first CEO of the company’s Worldwide Consumer business, Jeff Wilke always kept the place he was raised, and the people he grew up with, in the back of his mind. “I always wanted to lead in a way that if I went back, and people from high school could ask me anything about what I was encountering, the decisions I made, how I made them, that they’d be proud of me,” Wilke said. Born at Allegheny General Hospital in 1966, Wilke grew up in the community of… Read MoreStarbucks’ app is down and coffee drinkers are freaking out
It was a rough Thursday morning for Starbucks customers who rely on the company’s app to order their Frappuccinos and egg bites. Customers reported issues with the coffee giant’s mobile app, and the reactions were pretty entertaining. A Starbucks spokesperson confirmed that there is an ongoing outage. “We are currently experiencing a temporary outage of the order ahead and pay feature in our app. We continue to welcome and serve customers in our drive-thrus and stores,” the spokesperson said in a statement to GeekWire. Starbucks’ app is one of the most popular mobile payment apps. Millions of Starbucks customers, including… Read MoreScience and Technology | AP
Associated Press
European nations, streaming service delete extremist audio
BERLIN (AP) — The European Union’s law enforcement agency said Friday that authorities in six countries have worked with music streaming service SoundCloud to detect and delete hundreds of files containing extremist propaganda. Europol said that the plan was initiated by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and the EU Internet Referral Unit, and that authorities […]16 hours ago

Associated Press
Live updates | G7 countries eye $18 BN for Ukraine defense
KOENIGSWINTER, Germany — Germany’s finance minister says the Group of Seven leading economies are set to agree on more than $18 billion in aid for Ukrainian defense efforts. Finance Minister Christian Lindner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday that Ukrainians resisting Russia’s invasion “are not only defending themselves, they are defending our […]17 hours ago

Associated Press
Driver must stand trial for deadly Tesla crash in California
COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — The driver of a Tesla operating on autopilot must stand trial for a crash that killed two people in a Los Angeles suburb, a judge ruled Thursday. There is enough evidence to try Kevin George Aziz Riad, 27, on two counts of vehicular manslaughter, a Los Angeles County judge said. A […]18 hours ago
Associated Press
Announcement expected to confirm $7B auto plant in Georgia
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A year after the state of Georgia and local government partners spent $61 million to buy a sprawling tract of land for future industrial development, Gov. Brian Kemp planned to travel to the site Friday for what his office would only describe as a “special economic development announcement.” A Washington official […]19 hours ago

Associated Press
Biden opens Asia trip with global issues and tech on agenda
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday opened his Asia trip by highlighting the computer chip shortage that has bedeviled the world economy, touring a Samsung computer chip plant that will serve as model for a $17 billion semiconductor factory the Korean electronics company plans to open in Texas. The Samsung visit […]19 hours ago

Associated Press
Disinformation board’s ex-leader faced wave of online abuse
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nina Jankowicz, like so many millennials, was excited to share a social media post announcing her new job on Twitter late last month when she was named executive director for a new disinformation board established by the Department of Homeland Security. But instead of well-wishes, Jankowicz’s tweet set off a torrent of […]19 hours ago

Associated Press
Proposed Nebraska mine has sizeable deposit of rare elements
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The mining company that wants to extract a rare heat-resistant element from the ground under southeast Nebraska says a new report shows the deposit it plans to mine holds a significant amount of other rare elements. NioCorp Developments said Thursday that the latest analysis shows the amount of rare earth elements […]1 day ago

Associated Press
Boeing crew capsule launches to space station on test redo
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing’s crew capsule rocketed into orbit Thursday on a repeat test flight without astronauts, after years of being grounded by flaws that could have doomed the spacecraft. Only a test dummy was aboard. If the capsule reaches the International Space Station on Friday and everything else goes well, two or […]1 day ago

Associated Press
Carbon removal technologies to get $3.5B federal investment
NEW YORK (AP) — The federal government is investing in machines that suck giant amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air in the hopes of reducing damage from climate change. The Department of Energy said Thursday it will release $3.5 billion to groups developing direct air capture and other technologies that remove carbon dioxide, […]1 day ago

Associated Press
Canada bans China’s Huawei Technologies from 5G networks
TORONTO (AP) — Wireless carriers in Canada won’t be allowed to install Huawei equipment in their high-speed 5G networks, the Canadian government said Thursday, joining allies in banning the giant Chinese technology company. Canada had been the only member of the Five Eyes intelligence-pooling alliance not to bar or restrict use of equipment from Huawei […]1 day ago

Associated Press
WhatsApp adds messaging tools to attract businesses
WhatsApp parent Meta is moving forward with its push to attract businesses to its popular chat app, part its effort to find new ways to make money beyond targeted advertisements on its other platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday unveiled a developer tool, WhatsApp Cloud API, which will enable businesses to […]1 day ago

Associated Press
GOP directs culture war fury toward green investing trend
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republicans are coming out swinging against Wall Street’s growing efforts to consider factors like long-term environmental risk in investment decisions, the latest indication that the GOP is willing to damage its relationship with big business to score culture war points. Many are targeting a concept known as ESG — which […]1 day ago

Associated Press
Biden forest plan stirs dispute over what counts as “old”
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s order to protect the nation’s oldest forests against climate change, wildfires and other problems devastating vast woodlands is raising a simple yet vexing question: When does a forest grow old? Millions of acres are potentially on the line — federal land that could eventually get new protections or […]1 day ago

Associated Press
New Twitter policy aims to pierce fog of war misinformation
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter is stepping up its fight against misinformation with a new policy cracking down on posts that spread potentially dangerous false stories. The change is part of a broader effort to promote accurate information during times of conflict or crisis. Starting Thursday, the platform will no longer automatically recommend or emphasize […]1 day ago
