Sound Transit’s Link light rail service will cross over Lake Washington between Seattle and Eastside on the I-90 bridge. (Sound Transit Photo)
The date is set for a transportation milestone that could impact how thousands of Seattle-area commuters travel between home and work, especially at the region’s major tech hubs.
Sound Transit announced Friday that the “Crosslake Connection” of the Link light rail system will open to the public on March 28.
The route will carry light rail passengers across a floating bridge for the first time, serving as a 7.4-mile extension of the 2 Line and ultimately connecting downtown Seattle to downtown Bellevue and the Redmond Technology station at Microsoft’s headquarters campus.
Are you a tech worker looking forward to using light rail to commute between Seattle and the Eastside? We’d love to hear from you: tips@geekwire.com
Testing of trains on the bridge, between new stations at Mercer Island and Judkins Park, began in September. A 6.6-mile East Link segment of the 2 Line, including eight stations, opened last April.
The entire Seattle-Eastside line — plagued by planning, construction and cost issues — has taken nearly 18 years to deliver, The Seattle Times noted after a test ride this week.
The region has changed substantially in that time.
The tech boom and subsequent population explosion in Seattle clogged area roadways, turning a roughly 13-mile commute between Seattle and Microsoft HQ into an often time-consuming headache.
Bellevue has also grown, thanks in part to Amazon, as the tech giant has shifted thousands of workers to various buildings in that city. Roughly 50,000 corporate employees work in Seattle.
While Microsoft, Amazon, Expedia and other companies run private buses between offices in Seattle and Eastside cities for their employees, light rail service adds another wrinkle to the commute landscape.
Sound Transit projects that the fully integrated 2 Line will serve about 43,000 to 52,000 daily riders in 2026.
Trains over Lake Washington will operate at speeds of 55 mph, running every 10 minutes from approximately 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., Monday – Saturday and from 6 a.m. to midnight on Sundays.
It’s no small engineering feat to run tracks and get a train to cross a floating bridge. The Seattle Times explained some of the challenges related to fluctuating lake levels and existing bridge infrastructure. This video also breaks down what goes into it:
Seattle-based Code.org laid off 18 employees, or about 14% of its staff, the nonprofit confirmed to GeekWire on Wednesday.
Following the cuts, Code.org’s staff now numbers 107.
“Code.org has made the difficult decision to part ways with 18 colleagues as part of efforts to ensure our long-term sustainability,” the organization said in an emailed statement. “Their contributions helped millions of educators and students around the world, and we are grateful for their efforts.”
Code.org was launched in 2013 by brothers Hadi and Ali Partovi with a mission to expand computer science education to K-12 students. Backed by nearly $60 million in funding from the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Google and others, Code.org counts 102 million students and 3 million teachers on its platform today, with 232 million projects created by students around the world.
CEO Hadi Partovi is a former Microsoft manager and was an early investor in companies including Facebook, DropBox, Airbnb and Uber.
“Our mission remains unchanged,” the organization said in its statement. “We will continue our Hour of AI campaign, along with our work to reform policies and new curriculum supporting CS+AI education in classrooms.”
Meta’s Dexter Station office in Seattle. (Meta Photo)
New layoffs at Meta will impact 331 workers in the Seattle area and Washington state, according to a filing from the state Employment Security Department.
The company is cutting employees at four facilities located in Seattle and on the Eastside, as well as approximately 97 employees who work remotely in Washington. The layoffs are part of broader reductions in the company’s Reality Labs division, first announced last week, that impacted 1,500 jobs companywide.
The heaviest hit facility is the Reality Labs office in Redmond, followed by the Spring District office in Bellevue, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing.
Meta’s Horizon OS software engineering team, working out of a Meta office on Dexter Avenue North in Seattle, was the hardest hit single group with 20 jobs cut. Horizon OS is the extended reality operating system developed to power Meta Quest virtual reality and mixed reality headsets.
Layoffs are expected to take effect on March 20.
With about 15,000 employees, Reality Labs currently represents about 19% of Meta’s total global workforce of roughly 78,000.
The company employs thousands of people across multiple offices in the Seattle region, one of its largest engineering hubs outside Menlo Park, Calif. Last October, the Facebook parent laid off more than 100 employees in Washington state as part of a broader round of cuts within its artificial intelligence division.
The Reality Labs cuts come at a time when the company is reportedly shifting priorities away from the metaverse to build next-generation artificial intelligence.
Like a repeat visitor, a bill to tax short-term rental bookings is back in front of the Washington State Legislature — and drawing renewed resistance from vacation rental giant Airbnb.
Senate Bill 5576 would allow counties, cities and towns to impose a tax of up to 4% on short-term rentals used by vacation guests on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo. The bill failed to advance during the 2025 session.
The aim of the bill — and companion House Bill 1763 — is to address a shortage of funding for housing, especially in cities and towns where short-term rentals have had an impact on the availability of affordable properties for people who live and work in tourist-heavy locales.
“We are absolutely going to pursue the policy again this session to create critical new revenue streams for cities and counties struggling with our housing crisis,” Sen. Liz Lovelett (D-Anacortes), the prime sponsor for the bill, told GeekWire. “This remains a smart approach to ensure that more resources are available to build workforce housing across the state, especially in areas where seasonal tourism drives up demand for vacation homes and reduces the availability of long-term rentals.”
This is the eighth year that Lovelett has sponsored a short-term rental tax proposal. Last session she estimated that the state could use hundreds of thousands, if not a million, new housing units over the next 20 years, and that somewhere near 35,000 units are wrapped up as short-term rentals.
Last year’s bill made it out of the Senate but was not called forward for a vote on the House floor prior to the April 16 cutoff.
San Francisco-based Airbnb pushed back on the legislation last year and is back to do the same this session. The company’s political action committee in Washington, called Airbnb Helps Our State Thrive (HOST) PAC, advocates for residents and communities who rely on home sharing and would be negatively impacted by a new tax. A companion website urges Washingtonians to “say no to the vacation tax.”
“SB5576 and HB1763 will make it more expensive for Washington families to travel within the state, while failing to meaningfully address local housing affordability challenges,” Airbnb Public Policy Manager Jordan Mitchell said in a statement to GeekWire. “The proposals target residents who share their homes to earn supplemental income, giving large hotel chains the upper hand.”
Mitchell said Airbnb supports efforts to improve housing affordability in Washington state, but the tax legislation misses the mark and data-backed policies are needed to bolster affordable housing supply. He referenced Senate Bill 6026, which aims to allow and encourage residential development in commercial and mixed-use zones.
Vrbo, owned by Seattle-based travel giant Expedia Group, views the bill as a better alternative than an outright ban on short-term rentals.
“We support SB 5576 and see the measure as a helpful affordable housing tool and an important pressure release valve for communities who might otherwise pursue more punitive and harmful measures such as an outright ban on the activity,” Richard de Sam Lazaro, Expedia Group’s head of government affairs for North America, said in a statement to GeekWire.
Airbnb says its Washington hosts play an important role in strengthening the state’s tourism economy.
In 2024, short-term rentals in Washington helped generate approximately $4.7 billion in economic activity for the state and supported over 35,000 local jobs, according to a study from The Association of Washington Businesses and local economic consultant CAI.
Short-term rentals and visitor spending contributed more than $300 million in state and local fiscal revenues in Washington in 2024, according to the report.
The Rad Power Bikes retail shop in Huntington Beach, Calif. (Rad Power Bikes Photo)
A fire broke out at a Rad Power Bikes retail location in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Sunday, drawing more attention to the Seattle-based e-bike company’s recent setbacks.
The Huntington Beach Fire Department responded to a two-alarm structure fire at a plaza housing the store on Pacific Coast Highway. Video streamed on YouTube shows firefighters dealing with the incident, and at least two e-bikes can be seen lying on the ground outside the facility. A photo on Facebook showed smoke rising from the building, which also contains an Equinox gym.
“We’re working with local authorities to review a thermal incident that occurred at our Huntington Beach store Sunday evening,” a Rad spokesperson told GeekWire. “The incident was contained and happened while the store was closed. The cause of the fire has not been confirmed.”
The fire comes in the midst of a rough period for the once high-flying Rad Power Bikes. The startup filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December following surprising news in November that the company was fighting for survival as it faced “significant financial challenges.”
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a warning to consumers less than two months ago to stop using some of the company’s bikes because of danger posed by their lithium-ion batteries. The CPSC warning mentioned 31 reports of fire, with 12 involving property damage.
“Some of these incidents occurred when the battery was not charging, the product was not in use, and the product was in storage,” the report stated.
In a statement at the time, Rad said it “firmly stands behind our batteries and our reputation as leaders in the e-bike industry, and strongly disagrees with the CPSC’s characterization of certain Rad batteries as defective or unsafe.”
The Pioneer Collective co-working space is located in the historic Guiry Schillestad Building at 2101 1st Ave. in Seattle. (TPC Photo)
The Pioneer Collective is expanding its co-working space in the Belltown neighborhood of downtown Seattle.
TPC is taking over 6,600 square feet of space directly above its current location in the historic Guiry Schillestad Building at 2101 1st Ave. The new footprint is just under 20,000 square feet.
The space, just a block from the Pike Place Market, was previously home to outdoor retailer Orvis and prior to that, Urban Hardwoods.
TPC, which was founded in 2014 by husband-and-wife team Christopher Hoyt and Audrey Hoyt, operates other co-working locations in Ballard, at the West Canal Yards development near Interbay, and in Tacoma, Wash.
TPC will gain 6,600 square feet of space at its Belltown location. (TPC Photo)
“Even with the challenges downtown has faced, Belltown has been a great neighborhood for us,” TPC CEO Christopher Hoyt said in a news release. “Almost since opening, we’ve wanted more space at this location and we’re excited that we finally have the opportunity to expand.”
The expansion will give TPC extra meeting room capacity and additional private offices for teams of up to 10 employees. The project is currently in permit review and construction is expected to begin in February with an opening date planned for late summer.
Seattle’s co-working market ranks 14th nationally by total co-working square footage, with roughly 3.16 million square feet across about 160 spaces.
AdventureTripr CEO Preeti Suri, center in pink jacket, with travelers on the Laugavegur Trek in Iceland, a 34-mile hike through the Southern Highlands. (Photo courtesy of Preeti Suri)
When Preeti Suri reached the summit of Mount Rainier, she wasn’t just celebrating a mountaineering milestone; she was completing a transformation from burned out investment banker to founder on a mission.
Suri is co-founder and CEO of Bellevue, Wash.-based AdventureTripr, a travel marketplace leveraging technology and AI to help facilitate multi-day outdoor excursions.
Launched just one month before the 2020 pandemic lockdown, the company has scaled today to a profitable platform offering 500 trips across 50 countries, fueled by a lean team and a “tech-first” approach to travel curation.
AdentureTripr co-founder and CEO Preeti Suri. (Photo courtesy of Preeti Suri)
AdventureTripr has found success in dismantling the economic and social-cultural barriers that often keep people of color and first-time hikers away from the world’s most iconic trails and peaks.
The discovery enjoyed by customers started with Puri’s own realization about the benefits of the outdoors, which was paved by her exhaustion with the corporate grind. A former CPA and investment banker in London, Suri found herself at a breaking point.
“I was like, ‘This is not what I want to do the rest of my life. I’m just making rich people richer. It’s not fulfilling,'” Suri said.
Moving to Seattle as a new mom brought a different challenge: postpartum depression and a loss of physical stamina. She began hiking Washington’s trails as a form of therapy, carrying her baby on her back. As her son grew, so did her ambition. She eventually climbed every major Washington volcano, a journey she describes as “absolutely transformational” for her mental health.
She thought to herself: “I want to enable that for others.”
‘It doesn’t feel like work anymore’
Preeti Suri, pictured snowshoeing in Yosemite National Park, picked up hiking as a form of physical and mental therapy after moving to Seattle. (Photo courtesy of Preeti Suri)
With multi-day adventure trips from major U.S. operators such as Backroads and REI priced as high as $7,000 per person, Suri recognized a gap in the market. And she knew costs could be lowered by working directly with local guides.
She also understood that many South Asian travelers felt a sense of “intimidation and hesitation” because they hadn’t grown up in a hiking culture.
“A lot of the U.S. companies assumed a lot of the people of color either didn’t know how to do this stuff or didn’t want to do this stuff, whereas my insight was it was a lot of aspiration,” Suri said. “They need a bit more hand-holding.”
While the company’s clientele has balanced out over time, roughly 40% of its business still comes from a high-net-worth South Asian demographic — a “sweet spot” of customers who value the personalized training plans and gear guidance AdventureTripr provides.
Alongside co-founder Marat Khabibullin, a longtime software engineer at Microsoft, Suri integrated AI into AdventureTripr’s workflow long before it became a mainstream buzzword, scaling more rapidly than legacy adventure companies.
“It takes us 15 minutes to upload a new trip because we have AI tools built for that and to create our content,” Suri said.
The company is also currently developing AI agents to handle tasks such as answering traveler questions about gear or local tipping customs. But Suri remains skeptical of the “AI travel planner” trend that is popular among many startups.
“People who like to piece things together will continue piecing things together,” she said. “Curation and customization is where the expert knowledge comes into play. … There is so much significance to the human element of human connection.”
AdventureTripr employs about 20 full-time and freelance employees. The company, which generates revenue from bookings, raised approximately $500,000 in pre-seed funding in 2021 from advisors and clients.
Looking back at her banking days, Suri says she works just as hard now but without the looming threat of burnout. Fulfillment comes from seeing clients — ranging from cancer survivors to groups of 40 Indian moms — conquer treks like Machu Picchu or the Tour du Mont Blanc.
“It doesn’t feel like work anymore,” Suri said. “It is changing lifestyles, changing people’s lives. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Lumen Field in Seattle, home of the Seahawks. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
It’ll surely be rocking at Lumen Field in Seattle on Saturday when the Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers in an NFL playoff matchup. But will it be “Beast Quake” rocking?
Seismic sensors installed at the stadium this week will determine whether the 12s — the Seahawks’ energetic fan base — can move the earth while cheering for the team.
It’s the latest scientific study with a sports tie-in from the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), an organization that monitors earthquakes and volcanoes in Washington and Oregon.
On Monday, a PNSN field operations team installed six stations throughout Lumen Field to capture seismic energy produced by the collective movement of fans.
“With these six seismometers, we have Lumen Field ‘wired up’ and we can record exactly how the excitement of the crowd leads to shaking of the ground, much like an earthquake does,” PNSN Director Harold Tobin at the University of Washington said in a news release. “We expect the massive crowd of 12s to generate measurable seismic energy. It’s a fun way to show the world exactly how much, in a scientific way, and to learn something about the seismic waves in the process.”
The location of stations that will record seismic activity at Lumen Field. (PNSN Graphic)
The project builds on previous in-stadium deployments during Seahawks playoff games in 2014, 2015, and 2017. Marshawn Lynch’s legendary Beast Quake run against the New Orleans Saints was recorded in 2011.
Last fall, PNSN recorded the shaking down the street at T-Mobile Park during the Mariners’ historic playoff run. Seismic activity was recorded when Jorge Polanco hit a game-winning single to win a 15-inning marathon against the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of the American League Division Series and when Geno Suárez hit a grand slam in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Based at the UW within the College of the Environment, the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network operates over 700 seismic stations across Washington and Oregon.
PNSN will stream results Saturday through real-time seismograms available on pnsn.org during the Seahawks game. PNSN’s social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Bluesky will also share updates.
The Washington Post building in Washington, D.C. (Ron Cogswell Photo via Flickr)
FBI agents searched the home of a Washington Post reporter on Wednesday morning as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.
The Post reported that federal agents seized a phone, two laptops — one work and one personal — and a Garmin watch from reporter Hannah Natanson, who was at her home in Virginia at the time.
The government’s action raised questions about whether Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who bought the Post in 2013, will step in in any way.
CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote in his Reliable Sources newsletter Wednesday morning that several staffers told him “they’re wondering what, if anything, Bezos will do to defend Natanson and the Post from this aggressive government action.”
Natanson covers the federal workforce and has been a part of Post’s “most high-profile and sensitive coverage during the first year of the second Trump administration,” according to the newspaper. But she is not the focus of the probe.
A warrant said that law enforcement is investigating Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who has a top-secret security clearance and has been accused of accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports that were found in his lunchbox and his basement, according to an FBI affidavit.
Natanson wrote a compelling first-person account in December of her time covering the Trump administration and the hundreds of government workers she’d been in contact with as sources.
Bezos’ influence at the Post has come into focus in recent years. In February he shook up the newspaper’s opinion pages by refocusing the section on supporting and defending what he called “two pillars” — personal liberties and free markets.
That action came in the wake of his decision in 2024 to end the newspaper’s tradition of endorsing candidates for president — including a reported spiking of the Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. The action cost the Post more than 200,000 digital subscribers and a wave of backlash during the contentious run-up to Trump’s re-election.
After Trump’s re-election, Bezos joined other tech leaders in expressing a willingness to work with the administration. Bezos was among those who attended the presidential inauguration.
In an image captured by Momento, fans react in the stands at Lumen Field in Seattle as the Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 18. (Momento Photo)
For every action during Saturday’s Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers NFL playoff game, there will hopefully be an equal and positive reaction from fans at Lumen Field. And it will all be caught on camera.
Whether or not there’s another dramatic tip to send the Niners packing, more than 68,000 fans in the stands will be captured in their seats by a multicamera system from Momento.
Chicago-based Momento first partnered with the Seahawks in October 2023. The company also captures images during Seattle Mariners and Kraken games.
There are 16 cameras positioned around Lumen Field, snapped by an operator during big plays when fans get to their feet and show excitement. Fans can search the Seahawks/Momento website for their section, row and seat number and see and download a variety of photos.
For the Seahawks vs. Rams “Thursday Night Football” game on Dec. 18, fans could search a drop-down menu for several big plays such as “JSN in in!” and “O-M-G Shaheed!”
The Seattle Times reported that Seahawks fans have downloaded 48,000 images so far this season, according to Momento founder and CEO Austin Fletcher. Mariners fans downloaded 100,000 images during the team’s postseason run, he added.
In a post on Facebook three years ago, Fletcher likened the technology to roller coaster ride photos, but for sports fans. The company partners with teams to drive increased fan engagement and revenue opportunities by selling photo prints and commemorative physical tickets featuring captured images.
Momento expanded its NFL partner roster in 2025 with the addition of the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, and Washington Commanders.
Fans worried about privacy or how their likeness is being used give up some of those rights based on the NFL’s and Lumen Field’s terms of use agreement for ticket holders. The Times noted that Momento does honor opt-out requests for fans who don’t want their images shown.
In an appearance on FOX 13 Seattle a few weeks ago, Momento COO Todd Albright said website visitors looking for images are only allowed to enter a couple of seat locations rather than being able to search endlessly for faces in the crowd.
The Seahawks and the 49ers play in an NFC divisional round playoff game Saturday in Seattle at 5 p.m. on FOX.
Meta is planning to lay off around 10% of the employees in its Reality Labs division, The New York Times reported Monday.
The division — which employs roughly 15,000 people — has a strong presence in the Seattle area and is responsible for the company’s “metaverse” technologies that work in conjunction with augmented and virtual reality, including for products such as VR headsets and a VR-based social network.
The Times cited people with knowledge of the layoff discussions, which the newspaper said come at a time when the company is shifting priorities to build next-generation artificial intelligence.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment when reached by GeekWire.
Business Insider reported that Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, the head of Reality Labs, called an all-hands meeting for Wednesday. Sources told BI that employees were strongly encouraged to attend in person.
Reality Labs currently represents about 19% of Meta’s total global workforce of roughly 78,000.
Meta employs thousands of people across multiple offices in the Seattle region, one of its largest engineering hubs outside Menlo Park, Calif. Last October, the company laid off more than 100 employees in Washington state as part of a broader round of cuts within its artificial intelligence division.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited a Reality Labs facility in Redmond in 2022 to demonstrate how wearables such as wristbands can control devices with small muscle movements.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries cited Meta in November 2022 for alleged safety violations in a cleanroom at Meta’s “Matrix” facility in Redmond. The specially designed space was engineered to filter pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, and aerosol particles. In January 2024 the state ordered the room shut down.
A Rad Power Bikes e-bike owned by Eric Stahl of San Francisco, parked in his garage next to a DIY battery containment solution made out of cinderblocks that he hopes would help contain a battery fire if one started. (Photo courtesy of Eric Stahl)
A Rad Power Bikes rider, alarmed by reports of e-bike lithium-ion battery fires, shared a homemade storage solution on Reddit this week, sparking a broader discussion about how to safely store the devices.
The post, shared in a Rad Power Bikes forum, shows a battery placed inside stacked and capped cinder blocks — a low-cost, do-it-yourself attempt to contain a potential fire. The idea resonated with riders who said they were uneasy about storing high-powered batteries inside homes, even as others questioned whether the setup would actually work.
Eric Stahl of San Francisco has owned his Rad Runner Plus e-bike since 2021. For the past couple of days he’s been engaged in a back-and-forth debate with “armchair engineers” about his solution.
“What I put on Reddit is a cheap, DIY, common sense solution,” he told GeekWire. “It’s not tested. It’s not proven. I’m not an engineer or an expert. So everyone needs to proceed at their own risk.”
The fire concerns come amid heightened scrutiny of e-bike battery safety. Last November, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning urging consumers to immediately stop using specific lithium-ion batteries for several Rad Power Bikes models, saying the batteries could “unexpectedly ignite and explode” and pose a fire hazard. The warning followed dozens of reports of battery-related incidents and property damage.
Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes disputed the agency’s characterization and declined to agree to a recall. Since then, the once high-flying startup has entered into bankruptcy protection and is in danger of an imminent shutdown following surprising news in November that it was fighting for survival amid “significant financial challenges.”
Seattle Fire Department officials say the anxiety among riders is understandable as lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and other micromobility devices have become a growing fire-safety concern.
“Lithium-ion batteries store a lot of energy in a compact device,” SFD Public Information Officer David Cuerpo told GeekWire. He said they can burn extremely hot and very fast when failures occur.
Seattle firefighters began formally tracking lithium-ion battery fires in 2022. Last year, the department responded to 43 fires involving batteries, according to Cuerpo. Those incidents involved a range of devices, from phones and laptops to e-bikes and scooters.
Fires can be triggered by physical damage to batteries, corrosion, electrical failure, or exposure to extreme temperatures. When a battery fails, heat can spread rapidly from one cell to another, potentially creating a cascading fire.
Depending on where bikes and batteries are stored in the home, Cuerpo cautioned that improvised solutions can introduce new hazards.
Without full details on the cinder block setup shown on Reddit, Cuerpo said it did not appear to be a foolproof solution he would recommend.
“When a lithium battery catches fire, it can burn in excess of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s really, really hot, and that burns very, very quickly,” he said.
Another major concern is the release of toxic, flammable gases during a battery fire. A homemade solution that’s not airtight could increase the risk that dangerous fumes escape into an enclosed space.
Eric Stahl’s e-bike battery inside his cinderblocks, and then capped with another block that he hopes would at least slow the spread of any potential fire. (Photos courtesy of Eric Stahl)
Stahl said his main goal was to prevent a fire from spreading to his house.
“I have it in my garage with a smoke detector above it, so if I’m home, I’ll hear the detector, see/smell the smoke and open the garage door if needed. If I’m not home I’m less worried about the fumes,” he said.
Even when flames appear to be out, the danger may not be over, Cuerpo cautioned. Seattle firefighters have encountered batteries that reignited hours or days after an initial fire, as undamaged cells continued to heat up.
Cuerpo recommends storing lithium-ion batteries in a cool, dry location out of direct sunlight, ideally in a garage and away from combustible materials. Commercial storage containers designed specifically for lithium-ion batteries are the safest option, though he acknowledged they can be expensive. A number of fire-retardant battery bags and certified fire-resistant storage boxes — some tested to independent safety standards — are sold online and through specialty retailers.
Cuerpo also urged riders to use manufacturer-approved chargers or equipment tested by independent certification agencies.
Batteries should be checked at least once a month for warning signs such as swelling, cracks, unusual heat, residue, or odors. Damaged batteries should never be thrown in the trash, where they can ignite fires when crushed in compactors or garbage trucks. In Seattle, residents can dispose of lithium-ion batteries at hazardous waste facilities operated by Seattle Public Utilities.
Rad provides battery safety guidance on its website, advising riders how to store batteries, to follow recommended charging practices, and to consult its battery guide and owner’s manuals for proper handling.
Stahl, who said his Rad battery model number showed up on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s warning list, is careful about how he handles his device.
“It’s not good to drop them or get them soaking wet, but mine has been on my bike the whole time I’ve had it,” he said. “If it was cracked or bulging I would definitely get rid of it.”
He’s eager for someone to actually test his cinderblock solution with a real (safely monitored) battery fire, and maybe post their findings in a video on YouTube.
“There is so much bad information on the internet about this stuff. I just want truth-seeking,” Stahl said. “It would be a huge public service for someone to test it — and if it works, get the word out.”
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. (GeekWire File Photo, left, and Jason Bell Photo)
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates paid his ex-wife Melinda French Gates nearly $8 billion as part of the settlement from the former couple’s 2021 divorce.
The money shows up as a 2024 donation to French Gates’ Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation and is called “one of the largest charitable contributions ever publicly recorded” by the Times.
French Gates announced in May 2024 that she was resigning as co-chair of the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (now just Gates Foundation). She left the philanthropic organization with $12.5 billion for her own initiatives as part of her divorce agreement with Gates, and said at the time that she would commit that money to her work “on behalf of women and families.”
Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation was established in 2022, a year after the divorce. Between 2022-2024, the foundation gave more than $540 million in charitable grants.
The Times noted that the balance of the agreement — about $4.6 billion — could still be coming and would show up in 2025 tax filings later this year. It’s also possible that the missing amount “was not given to a charitable foundation, but to an entity, such as French Gates’s limited-liability company, Pivotal Ventures, that does not file a tax return,” the Times reported.
Pivotal confirmed to GeekWire that the $12.5 billion agreement has been fulfilled.
GeekWire reached out to representatives for Gates and will update when we hear back.
Gates and French Gates announced the decision to end their 27-year marriage in May 2021. The Microsoft co-founder began dating Melinda French after she started at Microsoft in 1987. The two married on Jan. 1, 1994, raised three children together and grew into one of the world’s richest and most influential pairings.
Gates is 13th on the Forbes Billionaire List with a net worth of $108 billion. French Gates is No. 77 on the list with a net worth of $29.4 billion.
Microchips implanted under the skin could be portrayed as a convenient way to store and access employment and personal data. (BigStock Photo)
A bill introduced in the Washington state Legislature would ban employers from requiring or pressuring workers to be microchipped, a practice lawmakers want to prohibit before it ever becomes an issue.
The bill would prohibit employers from requiring, requesting or coercing employees to have microchips implanted in their bodies as a condition of employment, and would bar the use of subcutaneous tracking or identification technology for workplace management or surveillance.
It aims to protect worker privacy and bodily autonomy by establishing strict penalties for violations, including civil penalties starting at $10,000 and the right for aggrieved workers to sue for damages and injunctive relief.
Washington state Rep. Brianna Thomas. (Leg.Wa.Gov Photo)
While there’s no known instance of an employer seeking such action, Thomas told GeekWire the bill is a preemptive move.
“We are getting out ahead of the problem because the practice of requiring these chips is too dangerous to wait for it to show up in Washington,” she said Thursday via email. “An employee with a microchip stops being an employee — they are essentially being dehumanized into corporate equipment.”
The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs reported that internationally, more than 50,000 people have elected to receive microchip implants to serve as their swipe keys, credit cards, and more. The organization noted that the technology is especially popular in Sweden, where chip implants are more widely accepted for gym access, e-tickets on transit systems, and to store emergency contact information.
HB 2303 would add a new section to Chapter 49.44 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), titled “Violations — Prohibited Practices.” The chapter serves as a catch-all for labor regulations that define and prohibit specific unfair or illegal activities by employers, employees, and labor representatives.
The legislation is similar to laws passed in Arkansas, California, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin, Indiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.
“Workers cannot legitimately consent to a program because of the power dynamic between them and the employer,” Thomas said. “Implanted chips have no place in a work environment.”
Nevada is “arguably the most restrictive” on microchip implants and permanent identification markers, according to the Carnegie Council. Its law prohibits people from voluntarily electing to receive such markers in Nevada.
Thomas said HB 2303 does not go as far as Nevada’s restrictions, noting that workers would still be free to make their own choices outside the workplace.
Thomas said she believes companies will eventually pitch the technology to their employees by telling them it’s more convenient and easier — you don’t have to worry about forgetting your work access badge, etc.
“Many times convenience causes people to view things too narrowly and they don’t see the big picture,” she said. “The power dynamic between an employer and an employee makes true, uncoerced consent impossible. This is about making sure workers not only have the option but also consider all the factors when these programs are presented to them.”
The Carnegie Council also reported on the privacy, data security, and health safety concerns that microchips present, including from technologists who worry about IoT vulnerabilities in sensors and network architecture that could be exploited by hackers.
While the Washington proposal targets simple Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, a more sophisticated wave of “brain-computer interfaces” (BCIs) is rapidly moving toward the mainstream.
Elon Musk wants to ramp up production of his Neuralink brain‑computer interface chips in 2026. He envisions the technology helping people with neurological conditions while eventually enabling humans to interact directly with computers. The company plans to make the surgical implantation process nearly fully automated to scale the procedure.
Washington’s HB 2303 is scheduled for a public hearing Jan. 14 in the House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards.
A Rad Power Bikes e-bike rider in Vancouver, B.C. (Rad Power Bikes Photo)
Rad Power Bikes is shutting down retail stores in Vancouver, B.C., and St. Petersburg, Fla., on Friday as the embattled electric bike manufacturer deals with its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
The Seattle-based company confirmed to GeekWire that seven stores will remain open: Seattle; Berkeley, Huntington Beach, Santa Barbara, and San Diego, Calif.; Denver; and Salt Lake City.
A post on Reddit said customers were notified of the closure in Vancouver via a recent email from Rad. The store first opened in October 2020, according to the company.
“The end of an era,” one Redditor commented. “It was always nice to know if you had any issues with your bike, there was a shop to take it [to]. The staff there were incredibly nice and always on the ball. Wish them all the best.”
“I’m sad to see it go,” said another. “Customer service at the Vancouver location was a selling point for me buying a Rad. Best wishes for all of the staff!”
In a letter to employees about its struggles, Rad said that in the event the company was forced to close, it would be required to cease operations on Jan. 9, or within 14 days thereafter. A filing with the Washington state Employment Security Department at the time said a shutdown would impact 64 jobs.
The company previously said it’s been working to find a buyer to keep the popular brand alive.
Launched as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2015, Rad saw big demand amid the pandemic as more people bought e-bikes. Its sales and workforce surged and it raised more than $300 million from investors in 2021. The company was valued at $1.65 billion that year, according to PitchBook.
But a series of missteps and macroeconomic challenges led to more than seven rounds of layoffs and a remarkable downfall for the company which billed itself as the largest seller of e-bikes in North America.
Ali Farhadi, CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, during a GeekWire Podcast recording at the non-profit’s Seattle HQ last year. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)
Business Insider’s latest list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence is a who’s who of key players shaping what the publication calls the “next wave of AI innovation.” A notable Seattle name made the cut.
Ali Farhadi, CEO of Seattle’s Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), is among 25 key players identified by BI who are stepping up to the challenges brought about by the modern AI arms race. They are “building the most powerful AI systems at the fastest rate possible” while also considering “public safety, trust, and environmental impacts,” BI reported.
The list includes people across sectors, from big tech to startups to venture capital and journalism, and includes heavy hitters such as OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Amazon Web Services Agentic AI VP Swami Sivasubramanian, and Anthropic co-founder and CEO Daniela Amodei.
Peggy Johnson, the former Microsoft exec who leads Salem, Ore.-based Agility Robotics, also made the list.
Farhadi is a longtime Seattle tech leader and computer vision specialist who founded and led Ai2 spinout Xnor.ai as CEO. He sold the AI startup to Apple in 2020 in an estimated $200 million deal that represents one of the institute’s biggest commercial successes to date.
A professor in the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, Farhadi returned to Ai2 as its CEO in July 2023.
In naming Farhardi to its Power List, Business Insider noted how he and Ai2 “make AI research open and accessible to the public,” adding that “from climate modeling to healthcare, Farhadi’s work influences how institutions scale AI for the benefit of humanity.”
In an appearance on the GeekWire Podcast last year, Farhadi discussed what it takes to train AI models, and the importance of open-source AI.
“If the U.S. wants to maintain its edge … we have only one way, and that is to promote open approaches, promote open-source solutions,” Farhadi said at the time. “Because no matter how many dollars you’re investing in an ecosystem, without communal, global efforts, you’re not going to be as fast.”
Lassen Peak is developing a handheld radar system for concealed weapon detection. (Lassen Peak Image)
A Bellevue, Wash.-based startup is moving closer to commercialization of a handheld scanning device that it says could change one of the most dangerous and controversial procedures in policing: the physical pat-down for weapons.
Lassen Peak‘s radar-based imaging system allows officers to detect concealed guns, knives and other weapons from several feet away, without touching a person. The technology — similar to full-body scanners used in airport security checkpoints — is built around a custom-designed semiconductor chip that operates at extremely high radio frequencies, enabling detailed imaging through clothing.
Hatch Graham, co-founder and CEO of Lassen Peaks. (Lassen Peaks Photo)
Intended for use by law enforcement, military, and private venues, the device could help reduce use-of-force incidents during pat-downs — known as Terry frisks — while addressing long-standing concerns about privacy, bias and officer safety.
“We want to reduce the use of force. That’s our goal,” Lassen Peak Chairman and CEO Hatch Graham told GeekWire. “And to help build trust between society and law enforcement. Hopefully this does that. That’s our mission.”
Graham, a longtime inventor, engineer and entrepreneur, co-founded the company in 2019 alongside Chief Scientist Dr. Ehsan Afshari, a professor at the University of Michigan and an expert in ultra-high frequency microelectronics.
The company announced $10 million in debt and equity financings this week led by Menlo Park, Calif.-based Structural Capital. Lassen Peak, which was a finalist for Innovation of the Year at the 2025 GeekWire Awards, is also backed by Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group, among others, and has raised about $40 million to date.
Radar at 300 gigahertz
At the heart of Lassen Peak’s system is a proprietary imaging radar chip that operates in the so-called “terahertz gap,” at frequencies around 300 gigahertz — far higher than conventional radar used in autonomous vehicles or wireless communications.
At those frequencies, the wavelength of the signal shrinks to about a millimeter, allowing dozens of antennas to be integrated directly onto a standard chip.
The current chip integrates 24 receiver antennas and eight transmit antennas, enabling the system to capture multiple perspectives of an object simultaneously. The approach works similarly to human vision, using triangulation to infer shape and location.
“You close one eye and somebody hits you a baseball, it’ll hit you in the forehead,” Graham said. “But by having two eyeballs, you can triangulate.”
Raw radar data is processed using a combination of digital signal processing and artificial intelligence software that reconstructs images and highlights suspicious objects, such as the outline of a handgun or a knife. The system is designed to show only abstract shapes and bounding boxes, rather than anatomical details.
The system also includes a cloud-based backend that stores scan data, images and metadata such as time and location. That data can be retained for evidentiary purposes, similar to body-camera footage.
Safer alternative to pat-downs
Lassen Peak’s handheld scanner software uses digital signal processing and AI to reconstruct images and highlight suspicious objects (Lassen Peak Images)
The Terry stop and Terry frisk, named for a 1968 Supreme Court case, are brief detentions and pat-downs that allow officers to conduct an outer-clothing search for weapons when they have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
The frisk has long been criticized as invasive and is widely regarded by officers as one of the most dangerous moments in an encounter.
It’s when officers and those being detained can get hurt, according to Carl Rushmeyer, Lassen Peak’s vice president of public safety and a former law enforcement officer.
Instead of putting hands on a detainee, an officer standing six or eight feet away can remotely scan and verify an individual using the Lassen Peak device.
“You’re still going to do a secondary search before you get them in a patrol car,” Rushmeyer said. “But this is a very, very good initial search without having to contact or touch somebody.”
Demand and next steps
Graham said Lassen Peak has been endorsed by a number of law enforcement professionals as well as rights advocates. The scanner has generated interest from law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and internationally, especially in the U.K. and countries where knife violence is a rising concern.
The company has focused on large police departments with more than 1,000 sworn officers, narrowing its initial target market to about 160 agencies nationwide. Graham said Lassen Peak has met with 62 of them in the past year.
The company has about 15 employees and another 10 consultants and is not generating revenue yet, but expects to do so through a subscription model. Lassen Peak plans to conduct demonstrations and beta testing with police departments in early 2026, with initial shipments targeted for midyear.
While the first commercial product is a handheld scanner, Lassen Peak’s long-term vision centers on the chip itself, which can be embedded into multiple platforms. These include drones that could assess a potentially dangerous situation from the air or ceiling-mounted dome cameras with “eyes” on a hospital, school, courthouse or other sensitive location.
“It has to be a product that goes out into the world and does not come back,” Graham said. “And that’s as difficult in these life-and-death applications as anything. We’re heading into 2026 and we believe we’re in the final stages of commercializing.”
Never mind the Apple Cup. Washington State University is focused on the apple grip and the apple pick.
Researchers in WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering unveiled a low-cost robotic apple-picking arm designed to help offset labor shortages for tasks such as harvesting and pruning, according to a news release Wednesday.
The inflatable arm can see an apple, extend and retract to pick fruit in about 25 seconds (as demonstrated in the video above). Mounted on a metal base and weighing about 50 pounds, the 2-foot-long arm is made of a soft fabric filled with air.
Researchers published their work in the journal Smart Agricultural Technology. The team is collaborating with researchers at the Prosser Research Extension Center and with Manoj Karkee at Cornell University to adapt the arm to an automated moving platform that is also being developed to move through orchards.
Washington state leads the nation in apple and sweet cherry production, contributing more than $2 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, according to WSU. Farms across the state employ hundreds of workers annually for orchard tasks such as pollination, pruning, flower thinning and harvesting. But an aging population and a decline in migrant farmworkers have made it harder for growers to meet labor needs during harvest season.
Compared to humans who can pick an apple every three seconds, the robotic arm is still slow. The researchers are refining some of the mechanical components as well as working to improve its rudimentary detection system, which hinders the picking more than the robotic arm’s movement, WSU Insider reported.
Deploying robots in fruit harvesting and other aspects of agriculture is not a new concept. Apple-picking technology is also being developed at Oregon State University, Michigan State University, and elsewhere. WSU says that some robotic harvesting systems can be large, expensive and complex to use in orchards.
“Having this very low-cost, safe robotic platform is ideal for the orchard environment,” said Ryan Dorosh, a PhD candidate and lead author on the work.
The researchers are working with WSU’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship team for the intellectual property protection and commercialization of the technology. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and tested at Allan Brothers Fruit in Prosser, Washington.
The Rebellyous Foods team running the Mock 3 production system, from left: Founder and CEO Christie Lagally Bradburn, mechanical design engineer Cruz Philippe, and inventory and logistics manager David Miller. (Rebellyous Foods Photo)
Seattle-based food technology startup Rebellyous Foods ended 2025 on a high note with the commercial launch of a new production system for its plant-based faux meat.
Last week, Rebellyous successfully ran its Mock 3 over two days, demonstrating the ability to continuously produce its plant-based chicken products such as nuggets, patties and tenders, across multiple shifts while scaling up and down as needed in real time.
Rebellyous founder and CEO Christie Lagally Bradburn called it a “momentous final week” of the year as the startup proved that production of its plant-based meat can be automated in high volumes and with considerably reduced labor compared to conventional methods.
The company says the Mock 3 is capable of producing over 5,000 pounds of its faux chicken per hour.
The Mock 3 also marks a return to Washington state for Rebellyous, which had been partnering on a Mock 2 system with RMS Foods at a state-of-the-art facility in New Mexico.
Lagally Bradburn told GeekWire that the system “needed some upgrades” to reach full commercialization, and Rebellyous decided to build its own mini-facility inside an existing food processing site in Stanwood, Wash., north of Seattle.
“Thanks to the extra time and money we invested in the Washington state facility, the Mock 3 system now works perfectly,” Lagally Bradburn said, adding that Rebellyous remains committed to RMS Foods as a co-manufacturing partner, especially amid the rapid expansion of customers in the southeastern U.S.
Rebellyous Foods’ Spicy Kick’n (fake chicken) Patties roll off the production line in Stanwood, Wash. (Rebellyous Foods Photo)
A former Boeing engineer, Lagally Bradburn started Rebellyous as Seattle Food Tech, Inc. in 2017 in a bid to make plant-based meat faster, better and less expensive to produce.
The startup’s customers include school districts across the U.S. who feed children through the National School Lunch Program, as well as hospitals, restaurants, and others.
Rebellyous saw 30% year-over-year growth in 2025, and raised $3.5 million in November to support its plans for 2026. Lagally Bradburn said the startup, which has raised $38.5 million in its 8 1/2 years, is at “break-even.”
“Some months we are cash flow positive, so we are creeping over the ‘profitability’ finish line right now,” she said. “Commercialization of the Mock 3 is a key piece to our mantra of ‘price-parity and profitability’ for Rebellyous and we continue to grow rapidly.”
That growth flies against the investor pullback that some alternative protein companies experienced in 2025, as Bloomberg reported Monday.
Lagally Bradburn said investors are wary of a “marketing-first approach” to alt-proteins, but Rebellyous’ investors are seeing results with its “price- and quality-first approach.” She said Rebellyous has the highest margins in the plant-based meat industry. The company has eight full-time and two part-time employees.
New research tied to the University of Washington School of Medicine adds to mounting concerns among educators about smartphone use in schools.
U.S. adolescents between the ages of 13–18 spend more than one hour per day on phones during school hours, with “addictive” social media apps accounting for the largest share of use, according to new research published in JAMA.
The findings add to the ongoing argument made by teachers, parents and policymakers that has led schools and districts around the country, including some in Seattle, to ban phones during school hours.
Adolescents spent an average of 1.16 hours per day on smartphones during school hours.
Social media apps Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat accounted for most use, followed by YouTube and games.
Older adolescents (16–18) and teens from lower-income households reported higher smartphone use than their peers.
“These apps are designed to be addictive,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, the paper’s senior author. “They deprive students of the opportunity to be fully engaged in class and to hone their social skills with classmates and teachers.”
Christakis is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and practices at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Based on a national sample of students, the results build on findings published last year in JAMA Pediatrics. That study had fewer participants but also included iPhone users.
At least 32 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to ban or restrict students’ use of cell phones in schools. The effect of those policies “remains to be seen,” Christakis said.
“To date they’ve been very poorly enforced, if at all. I think the U.S. has to recognize the generational implications of depriving children of opportunities to learn in school,” he added.
A majority of school districts in Washington state planned to have policies in place at the start of the school year last fall to limit students’ use of cellphones and other devices such as smart watches.
Seattle Public Schools has not issued a district-wide policy, though at least three public middle schools in the district have banned phones at school, and at least one high school prohibits their use during classes.
The UW’s Youth Advisory Board, a group of approximately 20 teens from Seattle-area schools, recently published its first memo tackling the contentious issue of phones in school. The memo weighs the pros and cons of phone bans and offers recommendations on how schools should draft and communicate their policies.
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