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Bill Gates on COVID-19, gig workers in peril, and more on the coronavirus crisis Mar 21, 2020

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Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast.

It was another tumultuous week in Seattle, the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, with restaurants and bars ordered closed, gatherings of more than 50 people banned, and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continuing to climb.

Among the week’s events: A worker at a tech company in Seattle became the first person injected with a possible COVID-19 vaccine; Amazon says it wants to hire 100,000 workers to deal with demand, the city and state brace for a possible shelter-in-place order, and much more.

Listen above, subscribe in any podcast app, and continue reading for highlights.

Gov. Jay Inslee closed all restaurants and bars, recreation places, entertainment venues, beauty salons and barbershops, and many more. Many restaurants and coffee shops have gone to takeout only.
Gatherings of more than 50 people were banned and Monday President Trump asked people to limit gatherings to 10 or less. However, Gov. Inslee has so far avoided a full "shelter in place" mandate.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Washington state as of Friday was 1,524 with 148 deaths.
An Amazon warehouse worker in Queens, NY, tested positive for COVID-19, the company’s first known positive case in a warehouse employee.
COVID-19 vaccine trials start in Seattle.
Numerous retailers have closed: Microsoft and Apple stores, REI, Nordstrom, and many more. T-Mobile was closing 80% of their stores. Seattle businesses have taken a huge economic toll, with a report from the Seattle Metro Chamber showing that nearly 40% of all jobs in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties will be severely impacted by the virus.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a $200M emergency funding bill. President Trump signed a federal relief bill, with discussion of direct payments to Americans to stimulate the economy.
Use of Microsoft Teams went up 37% in the last week, from 32 to 44 million users, spurred by demand as more people work from home.
The NYTimes obtained a 100-page report prepared by the federal government that warns the pandemic “will last 18 months or longer” and could include multiple waves of infection, stressing the healthcare system, critical infrastructure and state and local governments.
Testing is ramping up. Inslee said the state had received federal approval for private labs to test. The University of Washington opened a drive-through testing station.
Amazon says it wants to hire 100,000 additional warehouse workers to help with demand. Amazon told third-party sellers it will bar shipments of non-essential items to its warehouses so it can prioritize medical supplies and household goods.
Traffic in the Seattle area has vanished as people are either working from home or they have lost their job due to the economic downturn.
The US and Canada closed their border except for cargo and “essential” traffic.
And schools remain closed, with parents attempting to fill in as teachers and keep kids occupied. Rumors abound that schools might stay closed through the end of this school year or even the end of 2020. University of Washington classes will be remote for spring quarter.

Follow our live blog for up-to-date news: Coronavirus Live Updates: The latest COVID-19 developments in Seattle and the world of tech

More from the podcast: It’s a tough time to be a worker in the gig economy. We interviewed gig workers who expressed fear, desperation and uncertainty.

Pandemic exposes cracks in US labor market, leaving gig workers feeling desperate and exposed

And don’t believe that story about Bill Gates trying to woo Tom Brady to play in Tampa. But do believe what Gates has been saying for years about preparing for a pandemic.

Bill Gates calls out federal government for disorganized COVID-19 testing in Reddit AMA

With GeekWire’s Todd Bishop, Taylor Soper and Monica Nickelsburg. Our podcast producer is Curt Milton. Our theme music is by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

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Seattle adjusts to life under the coronavirus threat Mar 14, 2020

Show notes

Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast.

The gravity of the COVID-19 virus outbreak hit home hard in Seattle this week: Large events were banned, schools were closed, and thousands of people struggled to adjust to working from home. Restaurants began to feel the pinch – some even closed temporarily – as people stayed home. The Seattle Archdiocese said it would suspend celebration of the Eucharist at services. Amazon will hold its annual shareholder meeting online … a first.

Over three dozen people have died from the virus and over 500 cases of the disease were reported. The number of infections and the death toll continued to rise. And testing for the disease continues to be a problem.

We discuss several angles to this fast-moving story:

Children in Seattle-area schools will be home at least until April 24. Nicole Tanner talks with us about what the experience of learning in a virtual classroom is like for her second-grade daughter … and herself:

‘Classroom to Cloud’: What happened when coronavirus forced my kid’s school to go online

Alan Boyle has been reporting on what testing for COVID-19 can tell us about the disease:

Researcher says more coronavirus testing will help manage outbreak, but travel bans? Not so much

Kurt Schlosser visited the eerily quiet South Lake Union neighborhood, where Amazon is headquartered:

Photos: Seattle’s tech hub goes quiet as businesses struggle to cope with effects of COVID-19

And Monica Nickelsburg wrote about Amazon taking its annual shareholder meeting into the cloud:

Amazon moves shareholder meeting online, cancels in-person event where investors and protestors gather in Seattle annually

The GeekWire Podcast team recorded this episode remotely … and we talk about that as well.

With GeekWire’s Todd Bishop, Monica Nickelsburg and Kurt Schlosser, and special guest, contributing writer Nicole Tanner. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton. Music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

Follow Nicole Tanner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicoletanner

Her former podcast co-hosts can be found here:

Regina McMenomy at The Geek Embassy
Stephen Duetzmann at Engaged Family Gaming

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Seattle confronts the coronavirus Mar 07, 2020

Show notes

Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast.

Seattle became ground zero in the U.S. coronavirus outbreak this week and tech firms were trying to adjust. Meetings and conferences were cancelled or moved online and many firms told employees to work from home for the rest of the month. GeekWire was no exception: Our annual awards event has been postponed.

How will the virus impact Seattle’s tech scene in the short term and in the long run? Will it change the way many of us work? We discuss …

We inaugurate a new feature: Tweet of the Week! We have two this week and both are focused on … you guessed it … the coronavirus.

And Microsoft renewed a big deal that has their surface tablets playing a key role at NFL games.

Surface stays on the sidelines: Microsoft and NFL expand tech partnership, add Teams tool to deal

With GeekWire’s Todd Bishop, John Cook and Monica Nickelsburg. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton. Music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

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Health Tech: Coronavirus and the future of vaccines Mar 05, 2020

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GeekWire Podcast listeners, we’re sharing this special episode of our GeekWire Health Tech Podcast with you given the widespread interest in the novel coronavirus outbreak. For more GeekWire Health Tech episodes, see geekwire.com/healthtech.

A new generation of cutting-edge vaccines could dramatically accelerate the global response to future outbreaks such as the current coronavirus epidemic. On a special episode of GeekWire's Health Tech Podcast, we go behind the scenes with two University of Washington scientists pursuing these vaccine breakthroughs. Dr. Deborah Fuller is a professor of microbiology and a vaccinologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Dr. Jesse Erasmus, a molecular virologist working on new RNA vaccine and therapeutic technologies.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Facebook: The Inside Story" with Steven Levy Mar 03, 2020

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On this special episode of the GeekWire Podcast, a conversation with veteran tech journalist Steven Levy, Wired editor-at-large, about his new book Facebook, The Inside Story. GeekWire editor Todd Bishop spoke with Levy this week during a University Bookstore event in Seattle. And as a special bonus for GeekWire Podcast listeners, stick around to the end for a chance to win your own signed copy of the book.

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Expedia layoffs; Amazon grocery store; tech workers’ salaries Feb 29, 2020

Show notes

Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast.

In a surprise move, Seattle-based travel site Expedia laid off about 12 percent of its workforce this week, including 500 people in Seattle. Chairman Barry Diller had called the company a “bloated organization” on a recent earnings call. It sounds like he is cracking down and wants more focus, more profit and less wasted effort.

Expedia cuts 3,000 jobs, including 500 at new Seattle HQ — read the internal email to employees

Amazon opened a new grocery store in Seattle this week but … there was something missing. We take a look at Amazon Go Grocery, which builds on the company’s chain of Amazon Go convenience stores. This store has more food, and even grocery carts, but you still won’t find a checkout line.

Inside ‘Amazon Go Grocery’: Tech giant opens first full-sized store without cashiers or checkout lines

A new salary survey from the federal Labor Department finds that Seattle-area tech workers are making an average annualized salary of almost $280,000 a year. That figure blows past other professions in the Seattle region and is even outpacing the benchmark for hefty salaries, financial workers in New York City.

Seattle-area tech workers earn $279K/year on average in total compensation, according to new BLS data

With GeekWire’s Todd Bishop, Monica Nickelsburg and Kurt Schlosser. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton. Music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

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Big Tech and the Housing Crisis Feb 27, 2020

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America's housing crisis is a nationwide problem, but it's especially acute in San Francisco and Seattle, home to the country's largest technology industries.

The "terrible twins," as New York Times reporter Conor Dougherty describes them, represent a perfect storm of rapid job growth, an influx of wealth, and rampant single-family zoning that makes it difficult to densify housing. In an interview with GeekWire this week, Dougherty explained how the two tech hubs have become centers of opportunity for some while squeezing out others.

"The economy changed in some big ways that make inequality much more structural," he said. "And we've not built nearly enough housing where prosperity is happening."

Dougherty has been covering economics and real estate for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal on-and-off for a decade. He joined us for this episode of the GeekWire podcast to discuss his new book "Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America."

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PBS takes on Amazon's Jeff Bezos Feb 22, 2020

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Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast.

PBS’s Frontline profiled the Amazon empire and painted a complicated picture of unrelenting ambition. Frontline spent a year examining Amazon’s impact on commerce, technology and society, and landed interviews with several current executives and former employees. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos didn’t sit for an interview, however. Though the documentary didn’t cover much new ground, it did provide a striking narrative, highlighting new voices and perspectives.

Speaking of Bezos, he made a big splash this week when he announced plans to donate $10 billion to nonprofits fighting climate change. We discuss the Bezos Earth Fund, and how experts in philanthropy and climate change are reacting to it. Plus, Sen. Bernie Sanders takes a swing at tech fortunes during a campaign stop in the Seattle area.

Finally, we caught up with our resident space and science geek, Alan Boyle, to discuss the mega-earthquake predicted to hit the Seattle region. Boyle also caught us up on how technologists are thinking about what happens to our remains — physical and digital — after we die.

With GeekWire’s Monica Nickelsburg, Taylor Soper and Alan Boyle. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton. Music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

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We (almost) hacked the election Feb 14, 2020

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Here’s what we’re talking about on this week’s episode of the GeekWire Podcast:

Voting online is fast, convenient and also … vulnerable.

In the wake of the Iowa caucuses app fiasco, we tried voting with a smartphone in a Seattle regional election. While there are valid concerns about security in mobile voting, organizations behind this test are confident it will be safe and are moving ahead with the technology.

Amazon’s latest front in its battle for a lucrative U.S. military contract has it taking on President Trump. The company lost the JEDI contract to Microsoft, but now it wants a court to allow it to depose Trump to see if his animus toward Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was a factor in the decision.

Speaking of President Trump, he found something interesting in the names of four giant tech companies this week.

And, back to the ballpark! Seattle’s CenturyLink Field, home to the Seahawks and FC Sounders, is going cashless. Why are they doing it and what if you didn’t bring a credit card with you to the game? We talk about the future of a cashless world, and the controversy around the trend.

With GeekWire’s Todd Bishop, Monica Nickelsburg and Kurt Schlosser. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton. Music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amazon's real HQ2, Iowa tech fallout, AR at the ballpark Feb 08, 2020

Show notes

Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast:

Amazon’s second headquarters may be closer to Seattle than you think. Amazon says it plans to grow its presence in Bellevue, in the Seattle suburbs, to 15,000 employees in the next few years. That could be comparable to the number of employees working in the official HQ2 site of Arlington, Va. Will the company find a friendlier climate in the ’burbs?

We also discuss how a case of billionaire envy may have driven Amazon’s secretive drive for HQ2 and possibly damaged its reputation for openness.

Bloomberg News: Behind Amazon’s HQ2 Fiasco: Jeff Bezos Was Jealous of Elon Musk

What caused the Iowa caucuses app fiasco and how might it influence an upcoming Seattle-area election that will be the first in the country to be done via a mobile app?

The failure of the app that was supposed to speed up reporting of results leaves questions about the security of high-tech voting in its wake. The issue shook the confidence of a public wary of the tech industry and concerned about election security.

What caused the Iowa app debacle, and why election tech leaders say it won’t happen in Seattle

And finally, Seattle baseball fans will be able to use augmented reality software to digitally resurrect a concrete stadium that wasn’t very popular when it was standing. We discuss what tech we’d really like to see at T-Mobile Park.