— Adaptive Biotechnologies co-founders and brothers Chad and Harlan Robins are among the directors of a new life sciences SPAC. The blank check company is called CM Life Sciences III… Read More
OK, digital denizens, this one’s on you. The primaries in the U.S. are done next week. The general election lies ahead. You live in a democracy. You need solid information to… Read More
While the quarter-by-quarter battle for smart speaker market share gets all the attention, the longer-term struggle to change consumer behavior has just begun. There is little question that smart speakers… Read More
If your idea of a good time reading is to do it with your ears, you’re in good company. Digital audiobooks are outpacing even ebooks in sustained growth. Long gone… Read More
The stereotypical stuffy art museum experience is a thing of the past. At least, it can be if you don’t mind using a smartphone or VR headset to enhance your… Read More
It doesn’t matter if it’s on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. The biggest, most preventable threat to the privacy of your online content may be your own stupidity. As more… Read More
The future of content in education is … robots? Well, not really. But it was easy to get that impression if you were walking the exhibit hall at the huge… Read More
In the ongoing discussion about whether tablets or textbooks are better for students, the kids have a lot to contribute. That was clear in a citywide debate involving elementary school… Read More
ANAHEIM, Calif. — What is “content?,” I mused while my stomach rose and fell in jerky counterpoint to the Big Thunder Mountain runaway rail car in which I was riding.… Read More
Smart home hub. Streaming music source. Dad joke repository. But Amazon’s Alexa has one skill that dates back to the introduction of the Echo, one that many rely upon every… Read More
Ebook sales are dying. Ebooks are insanely popular. If the short definition of cognitive dissonance is holding two contradictory ideas to be true, ebooks are about as dissonant as digital… Read More
As the arm reached across to block my entry, I looked up, surprised. “I have a conference badge,” I recall saying, struggling to keep up with my former edtech industry… Read More
It’s OK to be confused about what the hot markets will be for digitally extended reality. Because figuring out which uses will become popular next — whether that reality is… Read More
In the battle against fake news, is it finally time to certify journalists? It’s a divisive question, but one that is becoming more interesting by the day. As a media… Read More
In streaming music, Spotify gets the celebrity. Spotify gets the global reach. Spotify gets the IPO. Yet the music service originally known as Rhapsody was the streaming pioneer. It had… Read More
Library lending is increasingly going digital. And that global expansion of technology-based borrowing is being led by library systems serving Seattle and surrounding King County. This new series by contributing… Read More
If you’re going to have your lunch eaten, perhaps it’s best to have some say about the table setting. This new series by contributing writer Frank Catalano examines the evolution… Read More
In digital tech, 25 years is more than just a generation. It is an epoch. In pre-iPhonic 1992, there was no graphical web browser, no Amazon or Google, and no… Read More
After nearly two decades with two cars, it starts with a forced shift to being a one-car family. Then it continues as sudden stimulus for an experiment: 60 days living… Read More
“Oh my God. It’s another one.” That was my wife’s reaction when she saw that a third Amazon Alexa device had infiltrated our household. It’s understandable. First, tall, slender Echo.… Read More
The clock is ticking in the campaign to save a beloved media institution based in the Seattle area. With 24-hour jazz and exclusive in-studio artist sessions (plus quirky promos and lively personalities),… Read More
Befitting its stature, here is the capsule review: Amazon’s new Echo Dot smart speaker is the Echo you’ve been waiting for if you mainly want its flexible, functional voice commands and… Read More
Amazon has almost perfected a shopping experience for browsers — and I mean human, not web. Four months after the first Amazon Books physical store opened in Seattle’s University Village, Amazon… Read More
Tomorrow sucks. That, in a nutshell, seems to be the assessment of many film reviewers and even the box office receipts when it comes to the futuristic Disney release, Tomorrowland. Expected… Read More
It’s been a most-frenzied spring of conferences in the new hotbed of startup and investor tech opportunity, education technology. And “frenzied” isn’t too strong of a description. At one point… Read More
On Friday, May 1, the Seattle Symphony will present the world premiere of a new work. It will be conducted by Music Director Ludovic Morlot and feature ten human musicians… Read More
The future of science fiction and fantasy’s most prominent award may be decided on its flight from Seattle to Spokane. If, that is, the prominence survives the trip, thanks to… Read More
Sad Tomagotchis. Dead batteries in Robotics Camp capstone projects. Discarded Legos discovered by bare feet in the middle of the night – with no one around to blame. If you have… Read More
Comcast has my TV business. And despite the deep emotional satisfaction I might derive from cutting that particular cable, it is keeping that business. Despite the fact it’s Comcast. It has… Read More
One of the knottiest problems in applying technology to education is the holy grail of “personalization:” How to adjust and adapt instructional materials automatically, so that every child is both… Read More