Articles from 2026 – Page 29 of 36

Zillow teams up with ‘World of Warcraft’ to exhibit virtual homes inside popular game

A new microsite, “Zillow for Warcraft,” allows users to explore an assortment of designs for in-game housing. Read More

Proposed income tax on high earners advances in Washington state

The so-called “millionaires tax,” which would create a 9.9% tax on income that exceeds $1 million, has drawn opposition from some tech leaders and entrepreneurs. Read More

‘We’re experimenting aggressively’: How Expedia sees AI reshaping travel — and its own business

Expedia is responding to the AI era by making sure it’s testing new ways to reach travelers — and also using it aggressively inside its own business. Read More

Spokane startup Blaze Barrier heats up with new funding for quick-deploy wildfire defense system

Blaze Barrier was born out of founder and CEO Jacob Schuler’s desire to give firefighters and homeowners a quick-acting tool to fight wildfires beyond digging suppression lines by hand. Read More

Washington state has embraced data centers – but now it’s looking to set terms of engagement

Washington’s House on Saturday approved a slate of rules for data centers around energy costs and transparency. The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration. Read More

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Feb. 8, 2026

See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of Feb. 8, 2026. Read More

Podcast

GeekWire Podcast in Fremont: Seahawks, AI, and Seattle’s future

We took the GeekWire Podcast on the road for a live show at Fremont Brewing, presented by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, with conversation about the Seahawks’ future, the long-term direction of Seattle tech, the evolution of AI, and more. Read More

Tech Moves: Smartsheet CTO departs; Overland AI taps legal lead; Zillow, Comcast promote execs

Smartsheet’s CTO has stepped down while Overland AI names its head of legal, plus leadership changes at Zillow, Comcast and Alaska Airlines. Read More

Washington nonprofit supporting global development tech and philanthropy to shutter after 16 years

Global Washington announced it’s closing after 16 years of supporting philanthropy, technology, businesses and academics working in global development. Read More

Ring cancels Flock partnership amid broader surveillance concerns

Ring has canceled its planned partnership with Flock Safety, the license-plate-recognition company, citing integration challenges, amid growing scrutiny of the role of home security cameras in surveillance and law enforcement. Read More

RFK Jr. calls Carbon Robotics’ laser weed zapper the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ in herbicide fight

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called out AI powered technology from the Seattle ag-tech startup, whose founder and CEO appreciated the attention. Read More

Report: Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy is not pursuing additional funds for a key initiative

Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy, headquartered in Seattle, is not currently pursuing additional capital for Catalyst, its initiative that funds ready-to-scale… Read More

Podcast

Cleveland’s mayor, Seattle’s future: A conversation about what happens when a city’s economy shifts

GeekWire brought Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Seattle tech veteran Charles Fitzgerald together on the phone Thursday after a guest column warning Seattle not to repeat Cleveland’s past mistakes sparked a big response — including from Bibb himself. What followed was a constructive conversation about what cities should do when the ground shifts beneath them. Read More

‘I’m tired of that narrative’: Seattle VC pushes back on tech exodus talk

Enough with the hot takes about Seattle’s tech downfall. That’s the message from Jacob Colker, managing director at the AI2… Read More

Startup Radar: Meet Seattle founders building software for coding agents, music tech, video editing, and more

We’re back with our latest spotlight on early stage Seattle-area startups. This edition features founders building software for video editing,… Read More

Helion reaches record 150 million degrees Celsius as it strives for ambitious commercial fusion launch

Helion announced two milestones: hitting a record temperature of 150 million degrees Celsius and being the first private venture to use radioactive tritium. Read More

Expedia quarterly revenue climbs 11% to $3.55B; shares fall 3%

Expedia’s B2B arm remained a major growth engine. Read More

Opinion: Here’s what’s missing from the tax debate in Washington state

Editor’s note: GeekWire publishes guest opinions to foster informed discussion and highlight a diversity of perspectives on issues shaping the… Read More

Highspot merging with rival Seismic in major sales software deal

Highspot is one of Seattle’s most prominent enterprise software companies and has raised $650 million since launching in 2011. Read More

Q&A: Bellevue’s new mayor wants to move at the speed of innovation in growing AI hub

A councilmember since 2023, Mo Malakoutian is an Amazon vet and executive director of the Consulting and Business Development Center at the University of Washington. Read More

This Seattle startup wants to turn AI prompts into shareable software

The idea behind Prom is to turn AI prompts — the instructions people give AI tools like ChatGPT — into something you can deploy, share, remix, and discover. Read More

Microsoft closes its Visitor Center in Redmond in latest HQ change

Microsoft has permanently closed the Visitor Center in Building 92, a hands-on tech showcase and historical exhibit that was a destination for guests and employees for many years. Read More

Pacific Science Center sells real estate to help fund upgrades and an innovation-focused star attraction

Pacific Science Center confirmed it’s selling a wedge of its campus to help keep operations afloat and fund the development of a new star attraction. Read More

Seattle gaming startup Ironwood Studios raises $4 million for its next project

The round, led by Lifelike Capital, is aimed toward financing Redmond, Wash.-based Ironwood Studios’ next game. Read More

Cleveland mayor responds to GeekWire guest column, calls Ohio city a ‘case study of what’s possible’

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb responded to a GeekWire guest column by Charles Fitzgerald warning Seattle not to repeat the Ohio city’s mistakes — but they may agree more than the headline suggests. Read More

Seattle startup Integrate lands $17M to expand its super-secure project management tool for defense tech

Seattle’s Integrate lands $17 million to broaden the scope of its super-secure project management tool that targets complex operations in defense, space and other sectors. Read More

‘Best of both worlds’: Seattle startup founder community Foundations is expanding to San Francisco

Foundations, the Seattle-based founder community that operates a startup accelerator and co-working space, is opening a new location in San… Read More

Startup founder’s new chapter: A vibe-coded project using human curation and AI to recommend books

Sarah Ritter of Seattle built the web app Sarah’s Books using her own collection, and AI helps readers search across themes and genres. Read More

2026 GeekWire Awards nominations open — help honor the best in Pacific Northwest tech

Nominations are being accepted across 12 categories, from Startup of the Year to Next Tech Titan, from Young Entrepreneur of the Year to AI Innovation of the Year. Read More

Agents, OpenAI, deepfakes, and the messy reality of the AI boom: A conversation with Oren Etzioni

Computer scientist and entrepreneur Oren Etzioni shares his unvarnished take on AI agents, the platform race, OpenAI, deepfakes, and what good AI leadership looks like, during a conversation at an Accenture-hosted event in Bellevue. Read More