Theme Digital, Tech and Online EN

ChatGPT advises women to ask for lower salaries, finds new study

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:33:25 +0200

New research has found that large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT consistently advise women to ask for lower salaries than men, even when both have identical qualifications. The study was co-authored by Ivan Yamshchikov, a professor of AI and robotics at the Technical University of Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) in Germany. Yamshchikov, who also founded Pleias — a French–German startup building ethically trained language models for regulated industries — worked with his team to test five popular LLMs, including ChatGPT. They prompted each model with user profiles that differed only by gender but included the same education, experience, and job role. Then…

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‘Magical thinking’ to believe UK’s AI boom won’t derail climate goals, report warns

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 19:20:07 +0200

A new report from the University of Cambridge has warned that the UK’s push to lead in AI risks derailing its climate targets — unless urgent action is taken. According to the University’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, the unchecked growth of AI could drive a 25-fold increase in the global tech sector’s energy use by 2040, putting massive strain on power grids and accelerating carbon emissions. Even the most conservative scenario suggests a five-fold rise over the next 15 years. The report’s authors argue it’s “magical thinking at the highest levels” to assume countries such as the UK…

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UK and France unite behind €1.5B plan to boost Europe’s rival to Starlink

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:53:16 +0200

The UK government reportedly plans to invest €163mn in French satellite firm Eutelsat as Europe pushes to back a local alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink. The investment, first reported by Reuters, follows the lead of the French state, which is set to inject €717mn into Eutelsat as part of a €1.35bn funding package to prop up the indebted satellite communications provider. The UK contribution would bring Eutelsat’s recapitalisation to around €1.5bn. French President Emmanuel Macron thanked his “British friends” for the support in a post on X, without disclosing the deal’s value. Eutelsat has received significant attention this year, as…

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Meet the 5 space tech firms vying to be Europe’s next launch provider

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 17:28:15 +0200

Five rocket companies will compete for contracts to provide Europe’s next launch services — and boost the continent’s troubled access to space. The European Space Agency (ESA) selected the quintet, who will now contend for two types of contracts: Providing launch services for ESA between 2026 and 2030. Demonstrating upgraded launch capabilities, including at least one flight test. The initiative — named the European Launcher Challenge (ELC) — aims to expand Europe’s pathways into the cosmos. In recent years, these routes have been painfully limited. When the Ariane 5 rocket was retired in July 2023, ESA was left with no independent…

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Funding focus: Biotech dominates Netherlands’ top 10 rounds in H1 2025

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:00:10 +0200

Funding focus is a new series analysing cash flow into the European tech ecosystem. After debuting with a look at the biggest rounds so far this year, we now turn to the largest deals in the Netherlands for H1. Startups in the Netherlands raised just $503mn (€429mn) in the first quarter of this year — the lowest quarterly total since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Dealroom data. But three months later, the outlook has improved. Total funding for the first half of 2025 hit $1.4bn (€1.2bn). That’s down from $1.8bn (€1.54bn) at the same point last…

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Media giants launch EU-backed chatbot to fight disinformation

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:56:41 +0200

A group of major European media organisations has launched a chatbot aimed at combating online disinformation. The tool, called ChatEurope, responds to queries with information verified by journalists. It was set up by a consortium of media brands led by Agence France-Presse. Fourteen other news organisations, including France Médias Monde, Deutsche Welle, El País, and Romania’s RFI, have supported the project, which is also backed by the European Commission. The chatbot was designed by DRUID AI, a Romanian enterprise AI platform, and uses a language model developed by French startup Mistral. It’s hosted on infrastructure built by Paris-based open-source software…

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AI satellites and sea drones unite to guard Europe’s waters

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:05:53 +0200

Ubotica, an Irish startup specialising in edge AI for satellites, has partnered with two Dutch firms to develop an intelligence platform aimed at bolstering maritime security across European waters. The company will work with Fugro, a provider of offshore surveying and geodata services, and DTACT, a defence-focused cybersecurity firm, to offer governments a new tool for monitoring critical underwater infrastructure, including gas pipelines and subsea cables. The platform aims to fuse real-time data from sea, air, and space to create a dynamic picture of maritime activity. Fugro’s drones, underwater vehicles, and uncrewed surface vessels will sweep the oceans for geodata.…

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Exclusive: Finnish startup raises €25M to put a ‘Donut’ motor in EV wheels

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 23:13:40 +0200

Finnish startup Donut Lab has secured €25mn in seed funding to scale up its in-wheel hub motors for electric land, sea, and air vehicles. Alongside the investment, Donut Lab is opening an R&D hub in Chippenham, UK. Risto Siilasmaa, serial tech investor and former Nokia chairman, has also joined the company’s board. Marko Lehtimaki, Donut Lab’s CEO and co-founder, said the investment signals a continued demand for the company’s technology. “It demonstrates to us [founders] what we have always believed, that our tech solution is truly groundbreaking,” he said. Donut’s flagship innovation is a hollow hub motor dubbed, you guessed…

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British-built Hawk-Eye software goes dark during Wimbledon match

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 16:46:50 +0200

Wimbledon’s new automated line-calling system glitched during a tennis match Sunday, just days after it replaced the tournament’s human line judges for the first time. The system, called Hawk-Eye, uses a network of cameras equipped with computer vision to track tennis balls in real-time. If the ball lands out, a pre-recorded voice loudly says, “Out.” If the ball is in, there’s no call and play continues. However, the software temporarily went dark during a women’s singles match between Brit Sonay Kartal and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Centre Court. At 4-4 in the opening set, Pavlyuchenkova reached game point when Kartal…

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Finland taps new AI satellite to track toxic algae from space

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:49:04 +0200

Tech startup Kuva Space is working with the Finnish Environmental Institute (Skye) to analyse the health of the Nordic country’s waters with a specialised satellite. The pilot test will harness Kuva’s hyperspectral sensors, which can analyse a wider light spectrum than traditional sensors. From space, the company’s probe can read the spectral signatures of almost any material on Earth — including toxic cyanobacteria. Also known as blue-green algae, these tiny organisms proliferate in Finland’s lakes and seas during summer. In high concentrations, they can be harmful and even fatal to humans and other animals. However, cyanobacteria are visually indistinguishable from…

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Top signs you are trapped in a workplace silo

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 17:30:09 +0200

It’s not always easy recognising when you have become stuck, but here are some of the warning signs.

Irish entrepreneurs win again at EU women innovator awards

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:25:02 +0200

Lios co-founder Rhona Togher and Tympany Medical's Elizabeth McGloughlin won at this year's awards.

Stranger than fiction: The uphill battle against misinformation

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:30:18 +0200

With deepfakes and misinformation spreading like wildfire amid some genuinely strange-but-true news stories, how can people separate fact from fiction?

Why are Irish employers struggling to retain staff?

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:43:30 +0200

The recent survey shows that in Ireland, more than half of participating employers are finding it difficult to attract and hold on to staff.

WordPress creator Automattic lays off 16pc of its workforce

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 12:12:23 +0200

According the company's website, four people have been laid off from its Irish operations.

Award-winning platform addresses Ireland’s housing energy rating system

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 10:22:13 +0200

Bergo just won Overall Start-up of the Year at the TUS New Frontiers awards ceremony.

Pharmaceuticals, semiconductors escape US tariffs – for now

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 09:54:35 +0200

Ireland’s pharmaceutical and semiconductor exports are exempt under last night’s US tariffs announcement, but it remains to be seen if these will be hit with subsequent regulations or tariffs.

Chipmaker IceMos raises $22m to expand Northern Irish presence

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 09:27:34 +0200

The company has announced that it is expanding its global workforce by more than 100 employees.

5 start-ups powering Munich’s sci-tech scene

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 08:00:04 +0200

From recycling batteries to fusion energy, these German start-ups are capitalising on emerging tech to make their mark.

How might reduced DEI measures impact women in tech?

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:00:59 +0200

We spoke to Meredith Graham about diversity in the technology space and how a lack of support can limit career opportunities for women.

How to protect critical infrastructure from cyberthreats

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 14:40:20 +0200

Opswat SVP James Neilson discusses the latest cyber defence tactics to protect critical national infrastructure.

New tool to better predict seabird impact from wind farms

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 14:40:06 +0200

The 'first of its kind' tool tries to accurately predict seabird colonies’ space usage to minimise negative impact from wind farms.

Qualcomm eyes Alphawave after Arm backs out of acquisition

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 12:17:45 +0200

Reports of widespread interest into Alphawave has shot up the company's share value.

Meta’s head of AI research announces departure

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 10:02:13 +0200

Joelle Pineau will leave the organisation at the end of May, having worked at Meta since 2017.

Two Irish start-ups win big at global medtech challenge

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 09:13:24 +0200

The Irish contenders were two among the 15 that made it to the final round of the competition.

Andreessen Horowitz in talks to invest in TikTok deal

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 09:08:13 +0200

US venture capital behemoth Andreessen Horowitz is reported to be in talks to purchase a large stake in the Chinese-owned video app TikTok.

Collaborative cyber: ‘There’s only so much impact I can create on my own’

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 08:00:12 +0200

We spoke to Jennifer Cox about Ireland’s cybersecurity landscape and the importance of a connected community.

Why building a forward-thinking cybersecurity culture is crucial

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 17:32:47 +0200

Accenture’s Hannah Twomey discusses working in cyber, managing burnout and the ever-changing nature of her career.

The ethics and legality of AI in video game development

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 16:04:13 +0200

The team at William Fry explain how game developers can utilise AI while keeping in compliance with regulations.

Captivated by capture the flag events? Here are the skills you need

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 14:06:15 +0200

CTFs are an ideal way to build up cyber skills in a fun and engaging way, but what do you need to know?

Google Maps in the US will change to Gulf of America and Mount McKinley

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 03:16:54 +0100

Illustration: The Verge

Google said today that it plans to update Google Maps to reflect President Trump’s January 20th executive order to change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and Denali to the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley, respectively.

The company noted on X the updated nomenclature will appear once the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated.

“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” the company posted on X. It added that when “name changes vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too.”

Denali was named Mount McKinley until 2015.

The US Department of the Interior said last week it plans to follow the executive order to implement the name changes.

“The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, under the purview of the Department of the Interior, is working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use,” the Department of the Interior said on Friday.

An Apple spokesperson wasn’t immediately available to comment on its plans for Apple Maps.

Trump says he’ll put tariffs on imported chips ‘in the near future’

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 02:38:53 +0100

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Without going into detail about what might happen to the $52 billion in subsidies from the CHIPS Act under his administration, Donald Trump said tariffs on foreign computer chips, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals are coming “in the near future.” He also namechecked DeepSeek’s AI releases, saying, “...coming up with a faster method of AI and less expensive, that’s good. I view that as a positive if it is fact and it is true, and nobody knows, but I view that as a positive.”

In the speech at the House GOP Issues Conference held at the Trump National Doral Resort in Miami Monday afternoon, he said that to return the production of these goods to the US, “we don’t want to give them billions of dollars like this ridiculous program Biden has” instead the incentive for manufacturers will be “they will not want to pay a tax.”

This is despite the outcome of the trade war with China during his first administration that expanded China’s trade surplus with the US between 2018, when the tariffs began, and 2021. A CTA report from last year cited by TechCrunch said Trump’s proposed tariffs could increase prices on laptops and tablets by 46 percent, game consoles by 40 percent, and smartphones by 26 percent.

He also said that “we will have more plants built in the next short period of time than ever before because the incentive will be there,” however it’s unclear how many of those will be like The Stargate Project’s first plant, which was in the works well before the start of his administration. He also said of DeepSeek that “instead of spending billions you will spend less and hopefully come up with the same solution,” even as OpenAI, Softbank & co. say they’re preparing to spend $500 billion on AI datacenters.

FBI’s warrantless ‘backdoor’ searches ruled unconstitutional

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 00:34:12 +0100

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Following years of litigation, a federal court has finally ruled it unconstitutional for the FBI to search communications of US citizens collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In a ruling unsealed last week, US District Court Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall decided that these “backdoor” searches violate the Fourth Amendment.

As noted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, FISA allows federal intelligence agencies to collect swaths of foreign communications “in the name of ‘national security.’” Even though some of those communications might involve US residents, the government has argued that requiring warrants “would hinder the FBI’s ability to obtain and act upon threat intelligence.” In 2023, the FBI conducted more than 57,000 “US person” data searches, marking a 52 percent decrease from 2022.

This particular decision stems from a case involving Agron Hasbajrami, a permanent US resident who was arrested in 2011 over accusations that he planned to join a terrorist organization in Pakistan. However, the government failed to disclose that part of its case rested on emails it obtained without a warrant through Section 702 of FISA.

An appeals court in 2020 ruled that these types of searches might be unconstitutional, but now it’s official. Judge DeArcy Hall found the FBI’s warrantless search of US data “unreasonable” under the Fourth Amendment:

While communications of U.S. persons may nonetheless be intercepted, incidentally or inadvertently, it would be paradoxical to permit warrantless searches of the same information that Section 702 is specifically designed to avoid collecting. To countenance this practice would convert Section 702 into precisely what Defendant has labeled it – a tool for law enforcement to run “backdoor searches” that circumvent the Fourth Amendment.

Congress reauthorized Section 702 of FISA last year, and it’s set to expire again in 2026. The EFF is asking lawmakers to create a “legislative warrant requirement so that the intelligence community does not continue to trample on the constitutionally protected rights to private communications.”

Sony reduces OLED burn-in fears with a three-year warranty on InZone monitors

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 22:58:47 +0100

Image: Sony

Sony is upping the limited warranty on some InZone gaming monitors to three years and is tossing in OLED burn-in coverage for the 27-inch M10S. The company announced the additional coverage today after launching both the InZone M10S OLED and M9 II LED in September with only one-year limited warranties out of the box. Sony says other than that, the limited warranties remain as they were.

Manufacturers have long been averse to talking about burn-in or have outright categorized the phenomenon as “normal use,” denying warranty claims to fix it on various panel types. However, OLEDs have historically been more susceptible to burn-in, especially when used with many static images like those from a PC. In recent years, OLED has improved to be less sensitive to burn-ins.

Sony is the latest in a trend of manufacturers adding burn-in coverage. Alienware was one of the first to specifically include OLED burn-in within its three-year coverage on the QD-OLED monitor launched in 2022, and for its latest 27-inch 4K model coming this year. And in 2023, The Verge’s Sean Hollister asked LG to explicitly warrant the company’s OLED monitors against burn-in and they agreed and changed their verbiage.

Screenshot: The Verge

A Samsung representative on this Best Buy product listing says the three-year warranty on the 32-inch Odyssey OLED G8 covers burn-in.

Since then, companies like MSI and Asus have also pledged to cover OLED burn-in on some models, including their latest ones (in some countries). It’s important to research the warranty included in the model you’re buying to determine whether burn-in coverage is included. For instance, Samsung’s website shows a general policy for its warranty that excludes burn-ins, however, an online rep confirmed it does cover it on a 32-inch Odyssey OLED G8. However, the company still hasn’t clarified if burn-ins are covered for its latest 27-inch Odyssey OLED G8 gaming monitor.

Now Apple tells us how to update AirPods

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 22:46:00 +0100

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple updated its AirPods firmware support page today with a more detailed step-by-step guide on how to upgrade the AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max with their latest firmware, according to MacRumors. While most Apple devices, like the iPhone or Apple Watch, can start updates in the settings, with the AirPods you have to wait for the update process to happen on its own.

The AirPods firmware support page still includes Apple’s original summary of the conditions needed for the update process, but has now added an expanded step-by-step guide to help ensure the process happens automatically. Although most of the steps have been previously known, there are some specific suggestions added, including charging with a USB cable and waiting at least 30 minutes for the update to happen. Those clarifications may help you if you’ve been struggling to get firmware updates to work.

The following steps are specifically for the AirPods and AirPods Pro. The instructions for the AirPods Max are nearly identical, but with the charging case steps omitted.

Make sure that your AirPods are in Bluetooth range of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac that’s connected to Wi-Fi.
Put your AirPods in their charging case and close the lid.
Plug the charging cable into your charging case, then plug the other end of the cable into a USB charger or port.
Keep the lid of the charging case closed, and wait at least 30 minutes for the firmware to update.
Open the lid of the charging case to reconnect your AirPods to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Check the firmware version again.

There are still no sounds or pop-ups on a connected device letting you know when your AirPods’ firmware has been successfully updated. After following these steps and waiting for at least half an hour, you can check your AirPods firmware version manually by opening the Bluetooth settings of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, clicking the Info button next to the name of your AirPods, and then navigating to the About section.

If it’s still showing a firmware version that’s older than the latest versions Apple lists on its support page, the company recommends resetting the AirPods and then going through the firmware update steps again.

DeepSeek: all the news about the startup that’s shaking up AI stocks

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 21:20:05 +0100

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Chinese startup DeepSeek claims its AI models can match the performance of those made by OpenAI and Meta — but at a fraction of the cost.

DeepSeek is shaking up the AI industry with cost-efficient large-language models it claims can perform just as well as rivals from giants like OpenAI and Meta. The Chinese startup says its flagship R1 reasoning model is capable of achieving “performance comparable” to OpenAI’s o1 equivalent, while the newly-released Janus Pro multimodal AI model can supposedly outperform Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 3.

DeepSeek’s ChatGPT competitor quickly soared to the top of the App Store, and the company is disrupting financial markets, with shares of Nvidia dipping 17 percent by 2PM on January 27th. The AI assistant is powered by the startup’s “state-of-the-art” DeepSeek-V3 model, allowing users to ask questions, plan trips, generate text, and more. As downloads of DeepSeek’s app spiked, the startup began restricting signups due to “malicious attacks.”

Launched in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, DeepSeek has garnered attention for building open-source AI models using less cash and fewer GPUs when compared to the billions spent by OpenAI, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and others. If DeepSeek’s performance claims are true, it could prove that the startup managed to build powerful AI models despite strict US export controls preventing chipmakers like Nvidia from selling high-performance graphics cards in China.

Here’s all the latest on DeepSeek.

The Pebble smartwatch is making a comeback

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 21:08:56 +0100

The Pebble Time Round just got a new lease on life. | Photo: Chris Welch / The Verge

Eric Migicovsky still wears his Pebble. Thirteen years after he founded the wearables company and found huge success on Kickstarter, and more than eight years after he sold the company to Fitbit, which was then acquired by Google, Migicovsky’s watch still works. (In case you’re wondering: when I saw him at CES a few weeks ago, he appeared to be wearing a white Pebble Time Round model. But he has a box full of them at home.) It hasn’t gotten a software update since December 2016, though, and he’s been worried for a while that it will eventually stop getting notifications, or connecting to his phone, or run into some other show-stopping problem.

Rather than buy another smartwatch, Migicovsky decided to try and get Pebble going again. He sold his most recent startup, a messaging app called Beeper, to Automattic last year and left the company in the fall. Since then, he’d thought about starting a Pebble-like product from scratch, figuring it’d be easier to do the same thing again a second time. “But then I was like, what if I just asked Google to open-source the operating system?” he says. It felt like a long shot, but he knew the code was just sitting dormant inside Mountain View somewhere. So he asked. A few times.

To Migicovsky’s surprise, Google agreed to release Pebble OS to the public. As of Monday, all the Pebble firmware is available on GitHub, and Migicovsky is starting a company to pick up where he left off.

The company — which can’t be named Pebble because Google still owns that — doesn’t have a name yet. For now, Migicovsky is hosting a waitlist and news signup at a website called RePebble. Later this year, once the company has a name and access to all that Pebble software, the plan is to start shipping new wearables that look, feel, and work like the Pebbles of old.

Photo: Dan Seifert / The Verge

Pebbles were always gadget-y gadgets, which is still part of their appeal.

The reason, Migicovsky tells me, is simple. “I’ve tried literally everything else,” he says, “and nothing else comes close.” Sure, he may just have a very specific set of requirements — lots of people are clearly happy with what Apple, Garmin, Google, and others are making. But it’s true that there’s been nothing like Pebble since Pebble. “For the things I want out of it, like a good e-paper screen, long battery life, good and simple user experience, hackable, there’s just nothing.”

The core of Pebble, he says, is a few things. A Pebble should be quirky and fun and should feel like a gadget in an important way. It shows notifications, lets you control your music with buttons, lasts a long time, and doesn’t try to do too much. It sounds like Migicovsky might have Pebble-y ambitions beyond smartwatches, but he appears to be starting with smartwatches.

If that sounds like the old Pebble and not much else, that’s precisely the point. Migicovsky tells me over and over that the plan is not to reinvent Pebble, or AI the bejesus out of the concept, or do whatever else you’d do starting a hardware company in 2025. The fact that the Pebble on his wrist still works, and still works for him, is evidence that maybe Pebble had already finished its job. “We’re building a spiritual, not successor, but clone of Pebble,” he says, “because there’s not that much I actually want to change.”

A lot of other things have changed in eight years, though. Google, Apple, and Samsung all now have good smartwatches that are tied tightly to their other devices — Pebble always had trouble getting access to features on iOS, in particular, and that’s not getting easier. Smartwatches are currently health and fitness devices above all else, and they’re getting vastly more complex and powerful in pursuit of those features. Google obviously doesn’t see any form of Pebble as a threat; its best chance is to chart another path entirely.

The biggest difference this time will be how the company itself operates. Migicovsky wrote a long blog post in 2022 explaining what went wrong at Pebble the first time and ascribed its failure in part to taking a bunch of investment money and letting it change the company. Since then, Migicovsky has made plenty of money from Beeper and during a stint as an investor at Y Combinator; his new company is his alone. Right now, it’s just Migicovsky and a few part-time employees — it’ll grow, he says, but not too much. “The core thing here is: sustainable.”

Migicovsky also hopes to be part of a broader open-source community around Pebble OS. The Pebble diehards still exist: a group of developers at Rebble have worked to keep many of the platform’s apps alive, for instance, along with the Cobble app for connecting to phones, and the Pebble subreddit is surprisingly active for a product that hasn’t been updated since the Obama administration. Migicovsky says he plans to open-source whatever his new company builds and hopes lots of other folks will build stuff, too. “There’s going to be the ability for anyone who wants to, to take Pebble source code, compile it, run it on their Pebbles, build new Pebbles, build new watches,” he says. “They could even use it in random other hardware. Who knows what people can do with it now?”

This whole project will take time, Migicovsky cautions. He only found out for sure that Google would open-source the software a few days ago, and he hasn’t been able to use it at all yet. But he’s already working on hardware prototypes, and he’s crystal clear on what he wants the new Pebbles to be. He knows he can do it because he already did it once. The evidence is right there on his wrist. All he’s trying to do is make sure it can stay there.

iOS 18.3 is out with tweaks to AI notification summaries

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 19:44:25 +0100

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

iOS 18.3 is here, and it’s bringing changes to AI notification summaries on your iPhone. In iOS 18.3’s release notes, Apple says it has temporarily disabled notification summaries for news and entertainment apps.

The change, which was first spotted in the iOS 18.3 beta, comes after the BBC called out the feature for incorrectly summarizing one of its headlines. If you opt-in to the feature, Apple will notify you once it becomes available again.

For Apple devices that support Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro and later, iPads and Macs with the Apple Silicon M1 chip or later, and the most recent version of the iPad mini), today’s updates will also switch Apple Intelligence on by default.

Other features coming with the new iPhone update include the ability to use Visual Intelligence to add an event to the Calendar app from a poster or flyer, as well as a way to “easily identify plants and animals.” On Macs, the macOS 15.3 update that is also rolling out now is adding support for Genmoji, along with similar changes for notification summaries.

Additionally, iOS 18.3 will show notification summaries in italicized text to help you distinguish them from standard notifications. There will be new settings that let you manage notification summaries from your lock screen as well.

You can download the iOS 18.3 update by heading to Settings > General > Software Update.

Meta AI will use its ‘memory’ to provide better recommendations

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 18:46:13 +0100

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta is widely launching the ability for its AI chatbot to “remember” certain details about you, such as your dietary preferences or your interests, the company said in a blog post on Monday. It will then use your past conversations, in addition to details from Facebook and Instagram accounts, to provide more relevant recommendations.

Meta first started rolling out a memory feature for its AI chatbot last year, but now it will be available across Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp on iOS and Android in the US and Canada. Though you can tell Meta AI to remember certain things, like that you love traveling, it will also “pick up important details based on context.”

For example, if Meta AI provides you with a recipe that contains meat, and you respond that you’re vegan, the chatbot will adjust its future responses to account for your preference.

Image: Meta

Meta says its AI will only remember things in one-on-one conversations, not in group chats, and that you can delete its memories “at any time.” Chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini already have a similar feature.

Along with these “memories,” Meta AI on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram will now deliver “a greater level of personalization” using information from your accounts. As noted by Meta, if you ask its chatbot for something fun to do with family, Meta AI could use your home location listed in your Facebook profile, as well as recently-viewed reels showing live country performances, to recommend a local country music show.

Meta doesn’t specify the other kinds of data its AI chatbot will glean from your Facebook and Instagram accounts, and the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for more information.

Apple’s Sports app now tells you where you can watch nationally broadcast games

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 18:32:12 +0100

The Apple Sports app has been updated with broadcast information for users in the US. | Screenshot: David Pierce / The Verge

Apple updated its iOS Sports app today with several new features, including a faster way to navigate the app, support for a handful of additional soccer tournaments, and information about where you can watch games that are being nationally broadcast in the US.

According to the release notes for the update, you can now quickly “swipe left or right to browse all of the leagues and teams you follow.” When on a page for a specific game, below each team’s name and record for the season you’ll now find an additional line listing broadcast information such as “Live on NHL Network,” or “Live on TNT, Max, truTV,” if there are several ways to watch it.

Screenshot: Richard Lawler / The Verge

The Apple Sports app now provides brief details on where to watch nationally-televised games in the US.

The update also expands the Sports app’s soccer coverage with the addition of the UK’s FA Cup, EFL Championship, and League Cup tournaments.

Apple Sports launched in February, giving fans of several different major sports leagues – including the NBA, NHL, and MLS – a one-stop solution for keeping tabs on scores, stats, upcoming games, and even betting odds. In August, the app added live scores and play-by-play info for NFL and college football games and expanded its Live Activities support “for all teams and leagues available in the app,” making it easier to track games on an iPhone’s lock screen and the Apple Watch.

In December, it also introduced summaries of scoring plays and big moments in a game called Key Plays, plus league standings that made it easier to track which teams qualified for the postseason.

Amazon, Expedia, Microsoft, Steam, Costco and many others hit by widespread Internet outage

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:50:03 +0200

Some of the sites hit by a widespread internet outage Thursday morning, as shown by the spike in reports as indicated by the red lines on Downdetector.com.

An internet outage hit some of the largest online sites in the United States, according to reports tracked by outage monitoring site Downdetector.com.

Those impacted include Seattle-based companies such as Amazon, Valve’s Steam game platform, Microsoft, Expedia and Costco, among many other national brands and sites.

There are initial reports that the outage may be related to issues at a major content delivery network, Akamai, which posted at 9:47 a.m. Pacific that it had identified and resolved the issue.

We have implemented a fix for this issue, and based on current observations, the service is resuming normal operations. We will continue to monitor to ensure that the impact has been fully mitigated.

— Akamai Technologies (@Akamai) July 22, 2021

Although it may have been (thankfully) short-lived, the widespread nature of the outage shows how much of the internet is still subject to single points of failure.

New interactive tool using satellites and AI creates more precise wildfire maps for public, firefighters

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:21:49 +0200

Fire near Big Fall Creek Road in Oregon in 2017. (Photo by Marcus Kauffman on Unsplash)

Anxiety-inducing images of skies hazy from wildfires and hillsides set ablaze are increasingly popping up on my Twitter feed and Instagram feed. The photos are posted by friends and colleagues worried about their homes, loved ones and dashed vacation dreams.

As hundreds of wildfires have sparked across the Western U.S. this summer, there’s a new interactive mapping tool available for firefighters and residents alike to track and respond to the fires.

The RADRFIRE tool uses infrared satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to create detailed wildfire maps to track and forecast fires. It was developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Eastern Washington, in consultation with numerous agencies responsible for battling the fires — a job that keeps getting harder with worsening droughts and climate change. The Bootleg Fire currently burning in Southern Oregon is so fierce that it’s generating its own weather.

“We’re seeing much larger fires these days. They’re a lot more dynamic, faster moving. We can’t always use the traditional methods that we’ve used,” said RADRFIRE project lead Andre Coleman. “We need to up the game a little bit.”

Drawing on their experience in other areas of natural disaster response, the 14-member PNNL team began actively building the tool less than a year ago, in September 2020. It was released in May and updates are coming in August.

RADRFIRE received input from the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources and Cal Fire.

Image of the Bootleg Fire in Oregon generated with a new mapping tool from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. (PNNL Image)

Here are some details of the project, as recently described to GeekWire by Coleman:

Why build this tool? In the past, in order to track active fires, an incident commander would request an aircraft to fly over a site after dark to collect images — an exercise that’s limited by the availability of aircraft, safety concerns, and the ability to penetrate the smoke cover. The images were passed to an analyst to draw the maps by hand to be ready for use in the morning.

Firefighters have previously used satellite images, but employing infrared imaging and higher resolution sensors makes it much more powerful. (In earlier satellite images, a pixel could span 2 kilometers; now that’s down to 30 meters.)

One of the new tool’s capabilities is to identify small spot fires that are sparked by lightning strikes before they become larger and harder to fight.

Andre Coleman, PNNL’s RADRFIRE project lead. (PNNL Photo)

What’s the information used for? The images help commanders make decisions on how to best deploy their resources, keep firefighters safe, predict a fire’s spread and identify structures in its path. It can aid municipalities and others who are calling for evacuations of people in harm’s way.

It also helps utilities understand what infrastructure is at risk. Power companies have limited access to areas with active fires, so the images can keep them better informed and help with quicker responses once they get access again. The Bootleg fire, for example, has threatened essential power transmission lines carrying electricity to California.

What about the non-headline grabbing fires? Because it’s automated, the RADRFIRE system can pull and analyze information on small and large fires alike. Firefighting resources are concentrated on the largest, most complex type 1 fires, but there are type 2, 3 and 4 fires that also impact communities and might be more remote. Making smart use of the few resources available to smaller blazes is crucial.

“This is really a huge benefit to folks working on these type 3 and type 4 fires,” Coleman said. “They get a whole lot less attention, a lot less resources to work on them.”

Whose satellites are these? Who owns the system? The tool uses information from open-access domestic and international government satellites. The team worried that using commercial satellites would quickly become too costly and limit who could use the tool.

“We just feel like this should be open-access information,” Coleman said. “Somebody shouldn’t have to have the purchase it.”

Because the team is piggybacking on others’ satellites, they take what images they can get so some areas are photographed more or less than others and at random times. The project’s goal is to capture a couple of images a day, which is added to information gathered through other means to create a more complete picture.

Coleman expects that the program will continue to be managed by a government agency. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Artificial Intelligence Technology Office has supported it in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

How does RADRFIRE contribute to the science of firefighting? Working with the Forest Service, the team has developed an algorithm to better plan and monitor the use of fire retardants that are dropped on blazes by aircraft. The tool can quickly determine where past drops were planned, where they actually landed and spread, and their effectiveness. In the past commanders were able to gather some of this information, but it took more time and resources.

Image illustrating the level of precision possible with a new fire imaging tool called RADRFIRE created by PNNL. (PNNL Image)

Could RADRFIRE help with fire prevention? One area of investigation is into the use of LIDAR imaging, which can capture information about the nature and volume of vegetation in an area. The data could highlight areas with dense, at-risk trees and shrubs that might be well suited for targeted controlled burns or thinning to reduce the fuel available for wildfires.

This is modeling, AI, very mathematical stuff. But what about the human and environmental impacts of this work? “We’re all absolutely driven by this. It is not unusual during these events where we’re all working 17, 18 hours a day. Nobody complains because we’re all just driven by trying to do better, to do social good,” Coleman said. “For everybody on the team, this is personally important.”

As hoops star Sue Bird chases fifth Olympic gold, here’s the latest fitness tech gadget she’s backing

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 15:00:05 +0200

Sue Bird is plenty busy these days, trying to guide the Seattle Storm to their fifth WNBA championship and getting set to chase her fifth Olympic gold medal as a member of Team USA. Along the way, the basketball great is throwing her support behind another tech gadget, making a pitch for smart home fitness trainer Tonal and investing in the startup.

A new 30-second ad from the brand (above) is set to air before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday. Bird is shown working out on Tonal’s digital weight system and in a voiceover says, “I’ve redefined my position, and what a champion looks like. So how do I keep changing the game for good? By raising the bar even higher.”

A brand ambassador for San Francisco-based Tonal, Bird also backs the company, which raised $250 million in a funding round earlier this year and passed the $1 billion unicorn status in valuation. Other athlete backers include New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald; tennis pro Maria Sharapova; and boxer Mike Tyson.

PREVIOUSLY: Sue Bird’s secrets: How the WNBA star uses tech to beat the competition

TechCrunch reported that, like other home fitness equipment makers, Tonal saw an explosion in demand and sales during the pandemic and is now dumping big money into marketing and brand awareness.

Bird, who at age 40 is the oldest player in the WNBA, previously told GeekWire that the revolution in sports tech that helps athletes train and recover better is a big reason for her career longevity. She’s played 17 seasons with the Storm.

“If it’s going to help you, if it’s going to elongate your career, you are an idiot if you don’t use it, why wouldn’t you use it?” Bird said of sports technology in 2017.

She called Tonal one of the best pieces of fitness equipment she’s ever used.

“I was immediately impressed by the technology’s ability to challenge me and push me to the next level with my strength training,” Bird said. “I’m excited to be a user, an investor, and a partner to a brand that I believe is pushing the boundaries on what’s possible in performance training.”

Bird previously invested in Seattle-based startup Vermouth, makers of a friend-based review app that was acquired by Valor Worldwide in February 2020. She also backed basketball training technology company Shoot 360 in a $2.25 million round in April and is an investor in artificial intelligence company Diveplane.

In addition to the reveal of the new ad, Bird was also named this week as a flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo games.

Who’s an astronaut? FAA weighs in on a murky issue for suborbital space travelers

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 05:38:09 +0200

Jeff Bezos gets a custom-designed Blue Origin astronaut pin from former NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby, who now serves as Blue Origin’s chief of mission assurance. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Hundreds of deep-pocketed tourists are likely to take suborbital space trips as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, as well as the Virgin Galactic venture founded by fellow billionaire Richard Branson, ramp up their commercial operations.

But will they all get astronaut wings?

The answer appears to be no, if you go by the Federal Aviation Administration’s newly issued guidelines for its commercial space astronaut wings program. Those guidelines suggest that astronaut wings can go only to crew members on a licensed spacecraft who contribute to flight safety and rise above the 50-mile altitude mark.

Which leaves a big question: Where exactly will the line be drawn?

For example, will Bezos and Branson get the FAA’s wings, even though neither of them touched the controls of their rocket-powered vehicles? What about all the other folks who fly on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, or Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket ship?

To me, an astronaut is someone who is engaged in space exploration, and science, as part of public service. Are they paid? Yes. Do they have to be flown?

According to NASA, after completing three years of astronaut training, you're an astronaut.

But not a "flown astronaut."

— Mary Robinette Kowal@???? (@MaryRobinette) July 20, 2021

This has been consistent from the beginning. It wasn't crossing the threshold of space that gave you that title, it was the years of training and the purpose that did.

So, you'll hear me talking about these folks as spacefarers.

Except Wally Funk, who is a goddamned astronaut.

— Mary Robinette Kowal@???? (@MaryRobinette) July 20, 2021

Giving wings to the pilots of suborbital spacecraft appears to be a no-brainer: That made the wings-or-no-wings decision easy for the flights of SpaceShipOne in 2004, as well as the first flight of SpaceShipTwo in 2018.

The category was broadened beyond pilots in 2019, when the FAA awarded wings to Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief trainer. Moses rode in a passenger seat on the SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity to evaluate the customer experience.

Branson and other Virgin Galactic representatives (including Moses) filled similar roles on this month’s test flight in New Mexico.

The situation is somewhat different for Bezos and the others who flew on New Shepard this week: Because the spacecraft flies autonomously, there are no pilots. And only Bezos seems to stand a chance of fitting the FAA’s definition of crew, which is limited to employees or contractors who are associated with a company involved in the spacecraft’s launch or re-entry.

The FAA provides an out, however: Wings could be awarded on an honorary basis to “individuals whose contribution to commercial human space flight merits special recognition,” even if they don’t meet all the regular qualifications. The FAA’s associate administrator for commercial space transportation has the final say.

That means it’s ultimately up to Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith to decide which billionaires, and which of their fellow fliers, merit being awarded the FAA’s astronaut wings and the prestige that goes with them.

Wally Funk gets her astronaut pin pic.twitter.com/piE4MHKXwi

— Alan Boyle (@b0yle) July 20, 2021

The FAA’s wing-shaped pins aren’t the only badges of recognition for space travelers: Last year, the Association of Space Explorers created its own pin for customers as well as crew members who fly above the 50-mile mark.

In addition, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have created their own astronaut pins, which will be awarded to everyone who flies on their suborbital spacecraft. Virgin Galactic’s pin is inspired by the shape of flying sycamore seeds, while Blue Origin’s is a stylized A with a feather emblem and a tiny blue sapphire to represent Earth.

Branson and Bezos were among the first to receive their own companies’ pins from the hands of retired astronauts, during ceremonies that immediately followed their flights. That’s one way to ensure that commercial spacefliers will have something to put on their lapels or in their keepsake boxes, no matter what the FAA says.

Amazon gives developers access to Alexa device home screens, aiming to revitalize market for skills

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:25:53 +0200

Alexa users will be able to access content from third-party skills on the Echo Show home screen later this year, under a new developer feature announced by Amazon today. (Amazon Photo)

Amazon will offer independent software developers a slice of the most important real estate on Alexa devices, giving users the option to see and interact with content from third-party Alexa skills on their home screens for the first time.

Developers will be able to create widgets for their Alexa skills, and users who have activated those skills will be able to add the widgets to their home screens on the Echo Show and other Alexa devices with displays starting later this year.

In addition, Amazon will let developers promote their skills in the regular rotation of content on the Echo Show home screen, using a tool called Featured Skill Cards.

The news, announced Wednesday morning, is part of a broader effort by Amazon to boost developer interest in Alexa skills, which are the equivalent of apps for Amazon Echo devices and other Alexa-enabled hardware.

Amazon announced more than 50 new developer features and tools as part of its Alexa Live virtual conference. The company described it as the single largest developer update in Alexa’s history.

The announcements included new ways for developers to reach Alexa users, promote and monetize their skills, and connect their skills to smartphone apps.

The news follows reports of a slowdown in the growth of new Alexa skills last year. Amazon says there are now more than 130,000 Alexa skills. The company reached 100,000 skills in September 2019, nearly two years ago.

As smart-home technology has evolved and expanded, it has become more difficult for users to find and connect with skills and features, said Adam Wright, a senior analyst for smart home and office devices with the IDC research firm. That’s a key piece of context for many of the announcements Amazon made today.

“Search and discoverability of content is at a point that’s becoming burdensome,” Wright said. “Amazon is recognizing that, and trying to overcome that by giving developers better tools.”

Amazon notes that the number of customers who use third-party Alexa skills is growing 40% year-over-year, in areas including music and games. In addition, the company says the Alexa platform helps to generate billions of dollars in revenue for developers and device makers.

“We’re proud of the progress, but also the sheer number of features that that we’re launching shows that there’s lots of interesting growth ahead,” said Aaron Rubenson, vice president of Alexa Voice Service & Alexa Skills, in an interview in advance of the Alexa Live conference this week.

Developers who participate in the Featured Skill Cards preview will not need to pay for the promotion of their skills on customer home screens, Rubenson said.

Amazon Alexa competes against Apple Siri, Google Assistant and other voice assistants on smart-home devices, living-room displays and smartphones.

While Amazon offers an Alexa app for smartphones, it doesn’t have the benefit of its own smartphone operating system, as Apple and Google do. However, the Seattle tech giant continues to capitalize on its early mover advantage to maintain its lead in smart-home devices. Alexa debuted on Amazon’s first Echo speaker in 2014.

Q&A: Google’s Seattle-area engineering leader – an Amazon vet – on big growth and remote work

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 19:30:52 +0200

Eric Young, site lead for Google Washington and VP of engineering, poses in a colorful stairwell in the company’s South Lake Union offices in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Google’s growth in the Seattle region is part of what lured Eric Young, a 15-year Amazon veteran, to jump from one tech giant to another back in 2016. Five years later, Young is helping to spark even more growth as the site lead for Washington state and vice president of engineering at Google.

Google was the first Silicon Valley tech company to establish an engineering outpost in the Seattle area in 2004. More than 100 out-of-town companies now have satellite offices in the region, tapping into the bevy of tech talent.

Seventeen years later after setting the trend, Google has more than 7,000 employees across Seattle and other side of Lake Washington in Kirkland. It’s hardly an outpost anymore and is the company’s largest operation away from its Mountain View, Calif., home.

Google has ongoing construction work at its new Kirkland Urban campus east of Seattle. It also last year signed an agreement to buy nearly 10 acres of land at a car dealership site just down the street in Kirkland.

“This is a full engineering-focused site and most of our product areas actually have a significant presence up here,” Young said during a recent interview with GeekWire.

Google continues to grow across the country, announcing in March that it would invest $7 billion in offices and data centers across 19 U.S. states this year. It also said it will create 10,000 full-time jobs in the U.S. this year.

A native of San Diego, Young made a brief stop in the Bay Area before moving to Seattle in 2000 to work for Amazon, where he spent the entirety of his time working on consumer-focused products and services. When he got the itch to try something new, he made the shift to enterprise at Google. And he got a front-row seat to the growth that has seen Google expand its presence in Kirkland and on Amazon’s home turf of South Lake Union.

We caught up with Young to talk about Google’s plans in the region, remote work options coming out of the pandemic, the competition for talent, what he’s Googling and more. Keep reading for our Q&A, edited for length and clarity.

GW. Thanks for chatting with us, Eric. What did you do primarily at Amazon and what were you doing when you left?

Young: At Amazon my initial role was leading a small engineering team focused on targeted messaging. It was a group within personalization, but largely focused in their consumer division. Throughout my time at Amazon, I actually was focused entirely on the consumer segment of their business. So I started in personalization doing targeted messaging products, then went to support their merchants business, like Seller Central, that created the ability for people to manage their storefronts on Amazon. From there I moved into the fulfillment center, so, picking, packing, shipping, sorting systems. And then ultimately to vendor management, like retail systems and retail pricing. So a variety of functions that were focused entirely on the consumer segment.

GW: What was the attraction to Google? What got you to leave Amazon after 15 years?

Young: With Google I had the opportunity to shift into an enterprise-focused role that was largely focused on our infrastructure and our cloud business, in addition to the site lead role. Honestly I had a great time at Amazon. I spent 15 years there, so obviously I enjoyed it. But I was ready to try something new and different. Google was a company that I always respected; they also had a great proven history of thinking big and taking these “moonshots” as we call them within Google. The idea to be a site lead for a growing area of engineering investment for Google was quite attractive. This is our second largest engineering site outside of the Bay Area, and it was really exciting to be part of that growth and the diversity of products that Google was going to build up here.

GW: Can you pinpoint anything culture wise that immediately struck you after jumping from one tech giant to another?

Young: Both companies are obviously quite innovative companies and I’ve enjoyed both for that. For me, once you’re 15 years at a place, you get an itch to try something new and something different. That was a real honest motivator of my switch. I also had great interest and admiration for what Google did, but I perhaps erroneously saw it only as a Bay Area company and I was not ready to move to the Bay Area. I was obviously thrilled to see the growth plans here locally and for me it felt like an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.

A Google office building in Seattle’s South Lake Union. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

GW: What are the latest numbers for Googlers in the Seattle area?

Young: We have about 7,000 people up here split evenly on both sides of the lake. So 50-50, almost down the middle exactly throughout our history on Seattle versus Kirkland. It’s just amazing how many people naturally choose that preference.

GW: That number matches what Facebook told me for their size here as well. We used to call them engineering outposts, but they’re like full-on little companies.

Young: Yeah, it’s certainly not an outpost. This is a full engineering-focused site and most of our product areas actually have a significant presence up here. So it is an active area of investment across all the products that we work on, not just a subset. So it is an area of growth for sure.

A rendering of Google’s Kirkland Urban campus. (Google Photo)

GW: Can you speak about that growth? You’ve grabbed significantly more space in Kirkland. In Seattle and South Lake Union, the cloud presence is new. Are their plans to continue going gangbusters?

Young: We don’t see the growth slowing down at all. We definitely have enjoyed the opportunity to be up here. You can see the growth in South Lake Union, just moving from Fremont into the South Lake Union campus. There’s four buildings now, the fifth building, the former Guitar Center building, will open up next year. On Kirkland I think we’ve been public with the fact that we’re building a fifth building on Sixth Street campus, which is our fifth building on the campus we’re currently at. Plus we’re in the process of opening up Kirkland Urban, where we’ll ultimately occupy four buildings there and are in the process of moving into the first one now. We definitely don’t plan to decelerate any of our growth here, and many portions of our business, like cloud in general, are largely getting built up in the Pacific Northwest. So this is a huge area of growth.

GW: Are you still holding onto Fremont or will you transition out of there to South Lake Union?

Young: Our Fremont office is still part of our campus plans, and South Lake Union was an expansion on top of that, not a replacement of it.

Google’s campus in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, emptied out in March 2020 during the early days of the pandemic. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

GW: Anything new on return-to-office plans coming out of COVID?

Young: We’re trying to take a deliberate approach, a phased approach for employees to come back into the office. Right now, they’ve been able to come back in since April on a voluntary basis; we’re probably less than 20% occupied on any given day right now. But people will be transitioning back to the office by September and they’ll be given a choice of three operating modes. They could be an office-based employee where they’re expected to be in the office three days a week. The other two days a week they can work from home or they can choose to come into the office if they want. Plus they’ll have a month of flex time where they can just work from anywhere they’re authorized to work from. So if it’s another country they still have to be authorized to work out of that country. We offer that as the primary default mode.

PREVIOUSLY: Q&A: Facebook’s new chief in Seattle on 23 years at Microsoft and the future of engineering centers

There’s two other modes. You can choose to relocate to another Google office location — stay on your current team, but go work in another location where Google has an office [and] be an office-based employee there, with all the perks and amenities of being in the office, but still work on your current team virtually, through remote technology. The third one is just go entirely remote and work somewhere that we don’t have an office, but engage like we have through the pandemic via video conferencing as your primary means of interaction.

GW: That would be a [real] option for folks, or that would be sort of the less preferred of the three?

Young: Actually all three are operating modes we want to support. We will actually post positions that will support people to be hired into fully remote positions as well. We really are embracing it. It’s true that the early days of Google culture still remain and the office is like a cherished part of our work environment, but we really do want to invent the future of work. Whether it be through fully remote experiences and hybrid teams, we’re looking to try to figure out how to make that be some of the perks and flexibility that you get if you come to Google.

GW: That’s interesting on the heels of your answers related to new buildings that you guys are occupying. Obviously companies are still heavily invested in that physical space. How do you feel about running an engineering center as we embark on this new reality, coming out of remote work?

Young: I think there’s a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. For some people it’s about coming back to the office and seeing your colleagues again and having the newfound flexibility of some hybrid time at home, plus the ability to work from anywhere. Obviously there’s a lot of invention that has to happen, which is about how to bring teams together and support collaboration with hybrid teams. We’ve been successful the past year in the pandemic, but everyone was working remote. When you get back to a model where some teams are in the office and some teams are remote, we’ve got to debug the interactions to ensure that there’s equity for everyone. Meaning, if you’re on a video conference and you don’t benefit from the casual encounters in the hall and such, how do we ensure that we build inclusive, hybrid, high-functioning teams? We don’t have all the answers, but we’ll be doing a lot of experiments to try to figure out how to make it work. And that’s kind of exciting for us, but obviously a lot of unknowns to work through for sure.

I just went in yesterday. It was exciting. I’m really excited to see people. I know we’ve seen them virtually regularly, but there’s something about 3D that beats 2D.

GW: Your growth on the eastside of Seattle is being matched by Facebook, and Amazon is going big in Bellevue with plans to put 25,000 employees there. How do you guys compete? What makes a Googler not a Facebooker or an Amazonian?

Young: Certainly the local tech scene is competitive — it’s not just the big companies, the startup scene is also very active. We obviously do compete for talent, but I think it’s also important to step back and also recognize that it’s because of each other and not necessarily always in spite of each other that all of us are able to attract and retain some of the best talent that exists in the industry.

The local tech scene is actually what caused us to move up here in 2004. And it’s really what keeps us here today. It’s absolutely true that we do compete with each other, but we compete across a variety of industries and disciplines. And I think for us, we’re really thrilled to be part of the tech scene and we try to be relevant and helpful and flexible to employees who want to look at the whole set of options that Google can provide. Whether it’s the definition of the future of work or whether it’s how we target and try to attract candidates, we do try to make this a compelling offer across the board.

GW: Anything you can talk about related to products and services that you have your hand in that maybe we haven’t shed some light on previously? I know you’ve been away from people for a year, but what are you all working on?

Young: We do have pretty much most Google product areas represented up here. So it’d be hard for me to do an exhaustive list of everything. But obviously it should come as no surprise one of the biggest areas of investment is Google Cloud, and Google Workspace, including the Google Meet video conferencing product that’s largely built up here. Also a huge portion of our Google Maps product; Android Chrome operating system; the work we’re doing in research for AI has teams up here. It’s a mix of both consumer-facing products and enterprise products.

Related to the pandemic, the exposure notification collaborations that we did with Apple were largely integrated by teams up here in the Seattle area.

Eric Young joined Google in 2016 after 15 years at Amazon. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

GW: What’s your take on Google’s place among other big tech companies when it comes to increased government scrutiny or the focus around misinformation? How do you stay focused? What do you say to people who wonder about your future direction?

Young: We obviously are focused on helping users. That’s our primary focus and we want to promote authoritative, trustworthy, competent sources. And we also want to make certain that people have the ability to discover what is out there. For the most part, our Googlers locally who are asking us, ‘What are we doing to help?’ They’re usually focused on how are we actually helping consumers get authoritative, accurate information, or where they push us is where could we do more to help support local businesses. The antitrust element has not been a primary concern, but obviously providing trusted information and combating misinformation is something that resonates deeply with all of us and our mission. That is something that we absolutely focus on as the company, across businesses — across YouTube, across search results — and making certain that we promote authoritative data.

GW: How do you view Google in the Seattle area 10 years from now? Do people start to forget about the Bay Area?

RELATED: Track the engineering centers in the Seattle area

Young: I don’t think they’d forget about the Bay Area, but I do think that obviously the future of work is something that’s really relevant to all businesses here. There’s a lot more focus on flexibility and providing people the opportunity to contribute to areas of the business, not just what their team is working on locally. We continue to see a lot of growth, including in-office growth here in Seattle. Some will want the flexibility of being remote, but we continue to plan to offer a great in-office experience for those people choosing that. So we expect to see growth in terms of our office footprint locally.

GW: What’s the last thing you Googled?

Young: Oh my goodness! I have to double check, I don’t know. Can I just pull up and look at my last search result? ̷

Disney’s Orlando consolidation could impact up to 200 tech and administrative jobs in Seattle

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 18:53:57 +0200

The Seattle skyline and Walt Disney World in Florida. (Canva Pro Photos)

An effort by Disney’s Parks, Experiences, and Products division to consolidate operations in a “business-friendly climate” could result in the transfer of up to 200 Seattle-based tech and administrative positions to Orlando, Fla.

The potential transfers were confirmed to GeekWire by a Disney representative, who said the total number of the Seattle jobs to be impacted won’t be determined until Nov. 1. The spokesperson declined to confirm the exact number of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products jobs in Seattle.

Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products.

However, a Disney employee from Seattle said managers warned them last week of the likely transfers and said the initiative could affect up to 200 local jobs in the parks, experiences, and products division. That’s believed to be approximately the number of positions the division has in the area.

“We were told by managers in Glendale (Calif.) that the main reason for the move is to take advantage of corporate tax breaks,” said the employee, who asked to remain anonymous. “And I’d guess they expect to see some attrition as a result of the move.”

In the Seattle area, the Walt Disney Company also has employees in its ESPN and Hulu divisions. Those groups are, in part, a legacy of Disney’s acquisition of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Starwave Corp. in the 1990s. There was no indication that any of these jobs figure into this plan.

Disney’s Parks, Experiences, and Products division was previously known as Disney Parks & Resorts. Most of the jobs in Seattle, the employee said, are in e-commerce, gaming, mobile apps, and Disney Vacations.

The potential shift parallels an announced transfer of 2,000 jobs from the Los Angeles area to a new Disney corporate campus in Nona Park, Fla. That move was confirmed last week in an email to employees from Josh D’Amaro, chairman for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products.

“Expanding our already significant DPEP footprint in Florida makes sense,” D’Amaro wrote in the email. “In addition to Florida’s business-friendly climate, the new regional campus gives us the opportunity to consolidate our teams and be more collaborative and impactful from a creative and operational standpoint.”

Disney already has 60,000 employees in Central Florida, mostly in the greater Orlando area.

“Florida is known for its rich culture of hospitality and active lifestyle as well as a lower cost of living with no state income tax,” D’Amaro said in the employee letter.

Asked if a move to the Sunshine state was a personal possibility, the Seattle employee said, “Orlando? I don’t think so. I like it here. But I also like my job.”

The employee said the Seattle group found out at a staff meeting when someone asked if the Los Angeles announcement meant a similar consolidation for Seattle. “They said, ‘Yes, Washington will be affected.’ ”

The new Nona Park campus will be 20 miles east of Disney World, near Orlando International Airport.

Pizza brands show interest in robotic pizza maker Picnic as Seattle startup raises more cash

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 18:01:21 +0200

A pizza being built by a Picnic Pizza System. (GeekWire File Photo)

Seattle-based food automation startup Picnic added an additional $4.2 million in funding to a Series A round that previously raised $16.3 million, the company’s CEO announced this week.

Clayton Wood said in a LinkedIn post that the cash will be used to grow and expand Picnic’s team of experts and commercial operations.

The food-automation company has been perfecting its pizza-making robot, called the Picnic Pizza System, and has attracted interest and new partnerships with Orion Land Mark, Seattle’s Ethan Stowell Restaurants, National Service Cooperative, and Baseline Hardware.

Wood told GeekWire that Picnic is in late-stage conversation with a wide variety of customers interested in a differentiated and customizable kitchen solution.

“We’ve been very busy in 2021 working on system enhancements and are very excited about our progress,” Wood said. “We’re continuing to receive incredible endorsements from the foodservice industry, media, and customers from around the world. We are preparing to install with additional customers today and have several unannounced relationships with significant pizza brands that we plan to share in 2021.”

The Picnic Pizza System is a pizza-assembly machine on which a single employee can churn out up to 100 12-inch customized pizzas per hour. Fresh ingredients are dispensed onto dough that is made by hand and the recipe can be tweaked to suit the restaurant, commercial kitchen, or whoever owns the machine.

“Making pizza has always been a job where it’s hard to keep workers in the job,” Wood previously told GeekWire. “It’s very high turnover, difficult job to do well, difficult job to do in a rush period. That’s where our system really thrives.”

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wood said food service is being reimagined and kitchens are still trying to figure out delivery and labor.

“We’ve been advising operators on how technology solutions can resolve a lot of the challenges they’re facing,” Wood said. Our solutions enable pizza companies to streamline their needs and provides a solution that has a small footprint, contactless pizza preparation, easy installation, and no upfront fees.”

A portion of the new financing will be used to attract and secure new talent as Picnic continues to grow.

Core Scientific, which started in Seattle but moved HQ to Austin, to go public at a $4.3B valuation

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 17:39:12 +0200

(Core Scientific Photo)

Core Scientific is going public.

The blockchain infrastructure company announced that it will merge with a SPAC called Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition Corp., and go public on the NASDAQ at a $4.3 billion valuation.

Founded in 2017, Core Scientific builds infrastructure technology for bitcoin and other blockchain-related technology. It bills itself as the largest digital asset miner in North America. Revenue is projected at $493 million for 2021 and $1.1 billion for 2022. The company has around 100 employees and has raised $115 million to date, according to PitchBook. It runs 100% net carbon neutral operations.

Core Scientific was originally based in the Seattle region but relocated its headquarters to Austin, Texas, a spokesperson confirmed to GeekWire. It still has several employees in the Seattle area, including its chief financial officer and chief HR officer.

The company was previously led by former Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, who stepped down earlier this year. Turner is now an advisor to the company. Chairman Mike Levitt is now CEO.

“Very excited for Core Scientific to take the next step towards going public!” Turner wrote in a LinkedIn post today. “Tremendous team effort and I’m so proud of all we’ve built! Best is yet to come!”

Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition Corp., listed on NASDAQ under the ticker XPDI, is supported by global asset manager BlackRock. The combined company will be led by Levitt and is expected to generate $300 million in net cash proceeds to fund mining equipment purchases and infrastructure. The merger is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.

“With our pending acquisition of Blockcap, we look forward to growing our self-mining digital asset business while continuing to deliver best-in-class reliability and performance to leading blockchain innovators,” Levitt said in a statement.

Qualtrics acquires Seattle marketing software startup Usermind

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 23:25:58 +0200

Michel Feaster, Usermind CEO. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Experience management software giant Qualtrics has acquired Usermind, a Seattle marketing startup that helps companies acquire, retain, and service customers.

Founded in 2013, Usermind is a leader in the “Journey Orchestration” market, which includes companies that help clients analyze customer relationships and facilitate relevant personalized communication.

Qualtrics is somewhat similar. Businesses use its platform to collect data on how customers, employees and others experience their products and services, taking action based on the results.

Qualtrics went public in January and raised $1.55 billion, more than two years following its $8 billion acquisition to SAP. It will use Usermind to boost its “Qualtrics XM Directory” that helps track customer interactions.

Usermind has about 40 employees, according to LinkedIn.

Qualtrics is co-headquartered in Seattle, where it has about 800 of its 3,300 employees, and had revenue of $763 million in 2020.

The deal, announced Tuesday, marks the latest chapter in what’s been a bit of a roller coaster for Usermind over the past several years. The company laid off 15 employees (25% of its staff) in March at the outset of the pandemic last year. But then it saw increased demand as companies accelerated their digital adoption. Usermind raised a $14 million round in January to support its growth.

“Monitoring customer satisfaction in every moment, in every channel went from a best practice to a mission-critical capability as businesses innovated digitally to survive,” Usermind CEO Michel Feaster said in a blog post.

She added: “It’s 100% clear to me that we can exponentially accelerate the impact of Usermind as a part of Qualtrics.”

The deal is also part of a red-hot market for IPOs, venture capital, and acquisitions across the tech industry, and in Seattle.

Usermind had raised $60 million in total from investors including WestRiver Group, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, Charles River Ventures, and others.

Feaster co-founded the startup eight years ago. She previously worked at Apptio and HP Software.