The hosts of the popular business and technology podcast Acquired are raising a new fund to invest in growth-stage tech companies. GeekWire spotted a new SEC filing today that revealed the fund. Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, the longtime techies and hosts of Acquired, already do personal investing in companies they know from their work on the podcast. Now they’re creating a more formal mechanism to do so. “The fund is just a vehicle with a small set of LPs that lets us fully utilize those allocations when they’re offered to us,” Gilbert told GeekWire via email Wednesday. Gilbert and Rosenthal… Read More
[This story originally appeared on Real Estate News.] SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When looking toward Zillow’s future, CEO and co-founder Rich Barton emphasized the company’s tech-influenced past — and tech-heavy present — while speaking at the T3 Leadership Summit. “Our roots, our genes are back at Microsoft,” he told the audience, referring to his early experience working at the software giant during the ’90s. “So we know and love the super geeky people, and we know how to create an environment where they thrive.” A digital, integrated Zillow — with an agent focus Barton discussed Zillow’s efforts to expand its digital offerings… Read More
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman — the entrepreneur, author, podcaster, venture capitalist and Microsoft board member — is on the front lines of the artificial intelligence revolution. Even as a pioneer in the AI field, it was a bit unusual (yet informative) today to see Hoffman sit down for a 14-minute interview with a virtual AI twin of himself — informed by a customized GPT trained on 20 years of Hoffman’s podcasts, speeches and books. Call it Hoffman on Hoffman. In the second half of the interview, the real Reid Hoffman addressed a number of topics presented by his AI twin — regulation, ethics,… Read More
The Washington State Department of Transportation is warning Good to Go! customers to be on the lookout for fraudulent emails or texts seeking payment for past due toll bills. In an email to customers on Wednesday, WSDOT said scammers are claiming to be from a collections agency working on behalf of Good To Go!, the program that allows drivers to automatically pay fees for toll roads in Washington, such as SR 520. “We would like to reassure you that under no circumstances do we disclose individual customer information for use by marketing firms,” WSDOT said. “All Good To Go! customer information, including name,… Read More
Like it or not, the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on non-competition agreements could force a change in mindset inside the companies that use them — ultimately improving their ability to hire and retain talented employees. That’s one take from critics of non-compete deals after the FTC announced a new rule Tuesday that prohibits companies from using the clauses in new employment contracts, and invalidates many existing agreements. Companies will need to keep employees “by giving them the best jobs, and helping them realize their personal aspirations, as well as helping the company realize its aspirations,” said Brian Hall, a longtime… Read More
Washington leaders on Tuesday announced a $45 million program aiming to make electric vehicles more affordable for the state’s low-income residents. The Washington EV Instant Rebates Program will provide rebates at the time of purchase for eligible consumers who buy or lease a new or used EV. The deal applies to residents earning up to $45,180 a year for a single person or $93,600 for a family of four. The state’s Department of Commerce, which is managing the program, estimated potential lease terms for lower-priced EVs, concluding that the new rebates combined with federal government incentives and deals from automakers… Read More
Seattle-based Radical says it has raised $4.5 million to support the development of solar-powered, autonomous airplanes that can beam down connectivity and imagery during long-duration, high-altitude flights. The seed funding round was led by Scout Ventures, with additional funding from other investors including Inflection Mercury Fund and Y Combinator. According to Pitchbook, Radical previously received $500,000 in pre-seed funding from Y Combinator. Radical’s co-founders are CEO James Thomas and chief technology officer Cyriel Notteboom. Both founders are veterans of Prime Air, Amazon’s effort to field a fleet of delivery drones. They left Amazon in mid-2022 to found Radical — and… Read More
Seattle-based digital healthcare startup 98point6 has conducted a new round of layoffs, the company confirmed Tuesday. 98point6 did not provide details on the number of employees affected. A number of posts from affected workers began showing up on LinkedIn last week. One affected employee told GeekWire that a majority of staff was let go. Another worker who joined the company more than six years ago called her layoff an “unplanned departure.” The company has around 100 employees in the U.S., according to LinkedIn. In a statement to GeekWire, 98point6 called the workforce reduction “part of a larger action at the… Read More
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
RaterLabs employees are responsible for evaluating Google’s search results by testing and rating how accurately the algorithm responds to various prompts.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The campaign team behind Philadelphia’s embattled sheriff acknowledged Monday that a series of positive “news” stories posted to their site were generated by ChatGPT. Sheriff Rochelle Bilal’s campaign removed more than 30 stories created by a consultant using the generative AI chatbot. The move came after a Philadelphia Inquirer story on Monday […]
NEW YORK (AP) — A former CIA software engineer was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday after his convictions for what the government described as the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history and for possession of child sexual abuse images and videos. The bulk of the sentence imposed on Joshua Schulte, […]
Meta Platforms Inc. tripled its profit and posted sharply higher revenue in the final quarter of 2023, boosted by a rebound in digital advertising as well cost cutting and layoffs in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the “year of efficiency.” The Menlo Park, California-based company said Thursday that it earned $14 billion, or $5.33 per […]
NEW YORK (AP) — TikTok may look (or sound) a little different when you scroll through the app going forward. Earlier this week, Universal Music Group — which represents big-name artists like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Drake — said that it would no longer allow its music on TikTok following the Wednesday expiration of […]
