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NVIDIA's new lab aims to develop robotic breakthroughs
NVIDIA has opened a new lab in Seattle, and it's meant to serve as home for all its robotics projects. Over 50 research scientists and students from the University of Washington will work in the facility under NVIDIA's senior director of robotics research Dieter Fox. He explained that the lab will bring "together a collaborative, interdisciplinary team of experts in robot control and perception, computer vision, human-robot interaction and deep learning."
Apple's latest expansion puts it closer to its biggest rivals
Apple is on track to become the largest private employer in Austin, Texas, after announcing plans to invest $1 billion in a new campus less than a mile away from its existing facilities there. The 133-acre site will initially be home to 5,000 new employees, with the potential to grow to 15,000. The company has also announced plans to establish new sites in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City and expand in cities across the United States including Pittsburgh, New York and Boulder, Colorado over the next three years, with the potential for additional expansion elsewhere in the US over time.
Amazon aims to open checkout-free Go stores in office lobbies
The current nature of Amazon's no-checkout Go stores seems tailor-made for grabbing a quick bite to eat during a break from work, and the company is determined to seize on that opportunity. It just opened a tiny (450 square feet) Go store inside one of its Seattle offices to promote a version of its retail tech for building lobbies, hospitals and other places where you might want to rush in for a salad or sandwich. It's not only more economically viable for these spaces, it's easy to set up -- you can cart in pieces and "assemble it on site," Amazon's Gianna Puerini told Reuters.
Lime launches its first car-sharing service in Seattle
It's true: after a long time focusing on scooters, Lime is ready to delve into four-wheeled transportation. The startup is launching a car-sharing service, LimePod, that will be available in Seattle as of this week. As with scooters, it'll cost just $1 to unlock a car that you can park wherever you need it -- the difference is that you'll pay 40 cents per minute (insurance included) instead of 15 cents per minute. Only 50 of the Fiat 500 cars will be available on launch, but there should be 500 by the end of 2018 and 1,500 by early 2019. That would make the largest park-anywhere offering in the US, Bloomberg said.
Seattle PD registry opens for residents worried about 'swatting'
The practice of 'swatting' has increasingly become a part of online harassment, and now the Seattle Police Department formalized a proactive measure for residents who think they might be a target. It published a PSA for the project showing bodycam footage of officers responding to a call that turned out to be a swatting "prank" where a caller claimed he was holding five hostages and would kill them if he didn't get $5,000. When police rushed to the location, they found only a young woman and a cat. For people like live streamers who may be targets, the PD is using its arrangement with a company called Rave Facility. It already used their tech to create a "Smart 911" profile residents could fill out to give responders a heads up about being hearing impaired, having pets or a medical condition to be concerned about. This next step contains a flag for registering swatting concerns about a particular location.
Amazon opens its second checkout-free Go store in Seattle
The first Amazon Go store opened in January, allowing customers to buy items without having to go through a checkout process, and now Amazon has officially opened its second location. Located in downtown Seattle, the new location is a little smaller than the first -- 1,450 square feet versus 1,800 square feet -- and is only open weekdays between 7AM and 7PM as it's geared more towards office workers. The new store opened today.
Seahawks and Mariners fans can buy concessions with their fingerprints
Sports fans in Seattle now have the option of using the biometric services offered by Clear to enter stadiums, buy concessions and verify their age for alcohol purchases. Seahawks and Sounders FC fans will be able to use their fingerprints to get through security lines and to make purchases at certain concession stands at CenturyLink Field. Additionally, while Clear already allowed Mariners fans to use their fingerprints at Safeco Field's security checkpoints, game attendees can now also use Clear at select concession spots. The Seahawks are the first NFL team to partner with Clear. This also marks the first time in the US that biometric data has been approved to replace both IDs for age verification and credit cards for purchases.
Seattle quickly repeals 'head tax' that Amazon opposed
Just a few weeks after enacting a so-called "head tax" Seattle's City Council voted 7-2 to repeal it. It would have charged big businesses around $500 for each of their full-time employees in order to fund affordable housing and services for the homeless, but facing opposition from corporations like Amazon, local politicians blinked. According to GeekWire, Councilwoman Lisa Herbold said the repeal vote happened because "This is not a winnable battle." Amazon had paused work on a new HQ in the city after the original proposal came up, but resumed construction after a compromise dropped the fee to $275 per employee. Forces against the levy (including Amazon and Starbucks) were funding a "No Tax on Jobs" campaign to put its fate on the ballot in November, and the Council believed it did not have the resources to win. In a statement, Amazon exec Drew Hardener said: "Today's vote by the Seattle City Council to repeal the tax on job creation is the right decision for the region's economic prosperity...We are deeply committed to being part of the solution to end homelessness in Seattle and will continue to invest in local nonprofits like Mary's Place and FareStart that are making a difference on this important issue."
Amazon resumes HQ expansion after Seattle tax compromise
Amazon has graciously resumed construction work in Seattle after the City Council "compromised" on a controversial tax that will see the tech giant -- that turned over $51 billion in sales during the last quarter alone -- on the hook for $11 million annually. A sum that will be used to tackle the city's homelessness issue.
Amazon puts Seattle expansion on pause over tax proposal
Amazon is extremely unhappy over a Seattle tax proposal that would set it back between $20 to $30 million a year that it halted its major expansion plans in its home city. According to The New York Times, the e-commerce giant has put the construction planning of a building it was going to build downtown later this year on pause. It's also reconsidering its plans to occupy a building that's already being built -- both of those decisions jeopardize 7,000 jobs in Seattle.
Seattle demands Facebook disclose campaign ad information
Seattle has launched the first attempt in the US to regulate political ads on the internet. According to Reuters, Seattle's election authority is accusing Facebook of violating a city law that requires entities to disclose the identities of people buying campaign ads. It wants the social network to reveal info on the accounts that purchased ads for last year's city elections, and it's threatening to slap Facebook with penalties if it doesn't comply.
Amazon wants US cities to bid for its second major HQ
Amazon is looking for a second company headquarters and wants cities around the US to convince the retail giant why it should take up residency with them. Amazon says it plans to invest more than $5 billion in the new site, called HQ2, while creating up to 50,000 new jobs, and claims the development will bring "tens of billions of dollars in additional investment" to whichever area wins the bid. The company points to its Seattle location as evidence of this, claiming that investments in the site from 2010 to 2016 brought in an "additional $38 billion to the city's economy -- every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional 1.4 dollars for the city's economy overall."
Uber and Lyft are losing their fight against unionization
A federal judge has dealt a blow to ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft, after dismissing an appeal to block legislation that would allow their drivers to unionize. US District Court Judge Robert Lasnik rejected the lawsuit filed by the US Chamber of Commerce on behalf of its members (including Uber and Lyft), which argued that drivers are contractors, not employees, and therefore federal and state laws do not give them the right to unionize. This is good news for advocates of Seattle's Uber unionization law, which was passed by City Council in 2015 and gave rideshare drivers collective bargaining rights. But they're not out of the woods yet. In April Lasnik temporarily blocked this law from going into effect while he considered its various legal challenges, and it remains blocked despite the rejection of the Chamber's lawsuit.
Seattle enacts broadband privacy rules where the FCC won't
Just because the FCC and White House have rolled back broadband privacy rules doesn't mean internet providers are free to sell your data without permission... if you live in Seattle, they'll still have to ask nicely. City mayor Ed Murray has implemented a rule requiring that cable companies obtain your consent before sharing your web browsing history and other data whenever it's needed for something besides essential service. As he explains, the city "will act" when it sees the national government stripping "critical consumer protections" -- it's filling in the gap the FCC has left open.
Seattle court strikes blow to Uber driver unionization efforts
A landmark decision by Seattle's city council, which would allow drivers for ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft to unionize despite being classified as independent contractors, has hit a snag according to a report from the Associated Press.
Amazon's next retail outlets are drive-up grocery stores
Seattle residents might be able to order groceries from AmazonFresh online and pick them up from a brick-and-mortar outlet in the near future. The city has given the company permission to install "AmazonFresh Pickup" signs in Seattle's Ballard and SoDo neighborhoods. GeekWire captured some photos of the locations under construction last month. Now the fillings it has unearthed indicate that the drive-up grocery outlets are almost ready to open for business. According to the documents, the shops will have signs that say "HELLO, BALLARD" and "HELLO, SODO." Their exterior walls will also be painted with slogans like "Shop online. Pick up here." and "Relax while we load your groceries."
Uber and Lyft answer concerns about discrimination
A study published earlier this year documenting the discrimination ride-hailing passengers face compelled Senator Al Franken to call Uber's and Lyft's attention. Now, the Senator's office has published the companies' responses to the letter he sent on November 2nd. While it sounds like both services are already making changes, both stand by their practices. The study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed 1,500 rides in Boston and Seattle. It found that riders with black-sounding names usually have to wait 35 percent longer to be picked up and are twice more likely to have their ride canceled.
BMW remotely locks a thief inside a car
Here's an unexpected perk of owning a tech-savvy car: it can serve as an impromptu jail. When a Seattle-area BMW 550i owner's car was stolen from a parking garage, police got BMW to remotely lock the luxury sedan while the thief was sleeping inside with the motor running. The culprit briefly tried to drive away when police woke him up, but it's not as if he could get very far being trapped in the cabin.
Amazon might launch a Prime housekeeping service
After years selling the products you need to keep your home tidy, Amazon may soon actually help you clean it. Two job postings, first spotted by The Seattle Times, show that the company is looking for "Home Assistants," who work with customers to tidy people's homes, do laundry, put groceries away and "assure that customers return to an errand-free home."
Grabbing and going with BMW's ReachNow car share service
BMW wants to make car sharing classier. Its premium-level ReachNow service launched in Seattle today with BMW 3 Series, i3s and Mini Coopers scattered throughout the downtown area. Its closest vehicle-sharing competitor Car2Go has already filled the city streets with Smart Fortwos. But those tiny cars provide more utility than luxury. While it may seem logical to assume that BMW is competing with Car2Go, the carmaker doesn't see it that way. It's appealing to a different sort of user — the type who wants to commute (or just cruise) around town in style. I drove a few of the German automakers swanky cars in Seattle and while the experience was indeed fancy, it still needs a bit of polish. One of the self-professed key features of the service is how quickly users can register for it — accounts are supposed to be verified within two minutes. Because you take photos of your credit card and driver's license, the sign-up process moves quickly. And while it did take about two minutes to finish the entire process, I was verified before I even got my mailing address plugged into the app. Reservations are equally painless thanks to a map that shows all available vehicles in the area. Tapping on a desired car shows its per-minute rate and license plate number, and if you like what you see, another tap on 'reserve' makes it yours. While you wait for the app to confirm your reservation, it displays a blue walking trail to the vehicle. Should you prefer Google or Apple Maps, you can tap the automobile's location to launch your navigation of choice. You have 30 minutes to get to the rental before the reservation expires. Once you arrive at your car you can unlock the vehicle with either the app or your membership card, but both take just long enough that, if you're impatient like me, you might think it's not working. A few times I kept pressing the card against the windshield again and again trying to unlock the doors. Right when I was about to give up, the car unlocked with two chirps. Frustration, apparently, is part of the luxury experience. Once inside, the center display walks you through the process to start the vehicle -- that includes inputting the PIN you had to create during the registration process to unlock the engine. It even shows you how to start the car. For example, the start/stop button for the Mini Cooper is in the center console and not on or near the steering column. I own a 2011 Mini and was not aware they had moved the button. Once you've jumped through all those hoops, all that's left is to drive the car and enjoy the BMW experience without the corresponding car payments. Of course the company is hoping ReachNow will turn BMW renters into BMW buyers. It even noted that the 70 i3s it added to the Seattle fleet will give anyone wary of electric vehicles the opportunity to actually drive one without having to visit a dealer. BMW may be branching out into mobility, but it still wants to sell cars. While you're using one of these cars, street parking is free. Well, not really. You don't have to pay the meter, but you're charged $0.30 a minute while in away mode. When you park and turn off the car, you're given the option of ending the trip or parking and keeping the car on your account. If you're just going to quickly run into a store, the parking feature is cool. But if you plan on spending any time in a restaurant or shop, it might be better to end the trip and find a another car when you're done. That parking feature conundrum also illuminates one of the other issues with the app. Once you're tied to a vehicle, you can't see if other cars are available in the area until you end your trip. That's fine when a ton of ReachNow rentals are available in the area, but if there aren't, you could let go of your ride and have another user grab it. Then you're left to find another way to get around. If you do decide to bite the bullet and keep paying for the car while it's parked, you can't change your mind once you're out of the vehicle. You have to return to the rental, unlock it, input your PIN and then end the trip. You can't do it from the app. Another weird issue is that while it's very cool that you can set a destination in the app and send it to your reserved car, you can't do it more than once per trip. The BMW in-car navigation system works fine enough, but it's still easier to input addresses on your smartphone. Although the service has its problems, it's still pretty good. At $0.49 a minute with the price capped at $50 for three hours, it's not that much more expensive than Car2Go's $0.41 per minute rate, and ReachNow is even matching Car2Go's rate for a limited time. Is ReachNow worth the extra 8 cents an hour? It is... if you're looking for a fancier driving experience with the odd issue or two.
