GeekWire

09/29/2025

Fusion power holds promise as the “Holy Grail” of clean, renewable energy. But the future hasn’t arrived just yet — physicists and engineers are laboring to recreate the atom-smashing reactions that power the sun. The Pacific Northwest has become a hub for the fusion energy sector, and as the annual Seattle Fusion Week kicks off, here’s a roundup of companies working to harness fusion power, startups that aim to support the sector, and notable research institutions.

The Pacific Northwest — a hub for the fusion energy sector — has kicked off its annual Seattle Fusion Week. Here are the region's key players.

09/29/2025

Microsoft rolled out new “vibe working” features to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in a move to further integrate AI chat-based capabilities inside its productivity software suite.

Microsoft is rolling out new AI features in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as part of what it calls “vibe working.” The updates introduce Agent Mode and Office Agent, tools designed to handle multi-step tasks and generate documents, spreadsheets, and presentations through Copilot.

09/29/2025

Embracing technology in our everyday lives shouldn’t be limited to consumer electronics. On this episode of the Does Compute podcast, Alexandra Ion, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science, explores how tech can be adaptive and interactive, and what technology looks like in our lives when we think beyond the screen.

Watch Episode 5 now: https://youtu.be/vp-5pCStNnk

09/26/2025

The Seattle Mariners announced Friday that they will shut down Root Sports Northwest at the end of the 2025 season, shifting all aspects of broadcast production, carriage, and streaming of Mariners games to Major League Baseball beginning in 2026.

The move underscores the deteriorating economic model for regional sports networks amid a shift in how live sports is consumed, as more fans “cut the cord” and abandon traditional cable packages from providers such as Comcast and DirecTV.

The Seattle Mariners take on the Colorado Rockies at T-Mobile Park on Sept. 25. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) The Seattle Mariners announced Friday that

09/26/2025

The last-minute rush to purchase electric vehicles before tax credits of up to $7,500 expire is creating a surge in demand — and could ironically spur EV adoption.

Tuesday marks the last day U.S. shoppers can take advantage of tax credits of up to $7,500 for the purchase or lease of a new EV, spurring a sales rush.

09/26/2025

Sponsored: Top cybersecurity trends to watch in 2025

Read more:

In this article, we explore key trends that may shape the cybersecurity landscape in the coming year and provide specific… Read More

09/26/2025

In a new book titled "Rocket Dreams," Christian Davenport provides an inside look at two parallel space races - between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, and between America and China. Who will win?

A newly published book focuses on parallel space races involving Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, and America and China.

09/25/2025

The “Willy Wonka of coffee” has gone dark. Starbucks closed its Capitol Hill Reserve Roastery, a high-tech coffee wonderland that opened in 2014, amid more layoffs at the Seattle-based coffee giant.

The main mixology bar at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Starbucks closed its flagship Reserve Roastery

09/25/2025

It’s been five years since Washington state legalized human composting, a death care process pioneered by Seattle startup Recompose and founder Katrina Spade. As more states join the environmentally friendly movement, GeekWire went inside Recompose to learn more about how a body becomes soil and how the company is poised to grow.

Five years after Washington became the first state to legalize natural organic reduction, 13 more states have approved the death care process. Recompose founder and CEO Katrina Spade is eyeing the chance to expand to other parts of the country and world.

09/25/2025

FTC secures $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon: Regulators accused the company of tricking millions of consumers into Prime memberships and making cancellation overly difficult. The deal — announced just as trial was underway in federal court in Seattle — includes a $1 billion penalty, $1.5 billion in refunds, and new requirements to simplify sign-ups and cancellations.

The deal includes a $1 billion civil penalty — the largest ever in an FTC case involving a rule violation — and $1.5 billion in refunds for consumers who the agency says were harmed by deceptive Prime enrollment and cancellation practices.

09/25/2025

Microsoft is cutting off the Israeli military’s access to some Azure cloud services after finding evidence to support a report by The Guardian, which said the tech was being used for the surveillance of millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls. Microsoft’s ongoing ties with Israel during the war in Gaza have been the basis for repeated protests at the tech giant’s Redmond headquarters and elsewhere.

The move by the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant is in response to an Aug. 6 report by The Guardian, which revealed how Microsoft Azure was being used to store and process millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the West Bank.

09/24/2025

Sponsored: Bringing Human Connection Back Into Startup Hiring

Read more: https://ow.ly/4SQg50X1HQx