Articles by Kurt Schlosser

Writer and editor Kurt Schlosser covers the Geek Life beat for GeekWire. A longtime journalist, photographer and designer, he has worked previously for NBC News, msnbc.com and the Seattle P-I. Follow Kurt on Bluesky or reach him at [email protected].

Sidewalk scooter riders, beware: AI-powered ‘Lime Vision’ will soon call you out

A whole new ballgame for trading cards: Startup uses robots and AI to sort and analyze collections
When the room reads you: Student prints resume on T-shirt in bid to attract employer interest
GeekWire Gala recap: Humans and robots party together in Seattle at our geeky holiday celebration

Latest from Kurt Schlosser

Off the train, into a VW bus: Amazon helps fund free shuttle service for Bellevue light rail riders

Visit Bellevue announced this week that it’s launching a free electric shuttle pilot program on Aug. 3 to help riders on Sound Transit’s 2 line continue their journey to other downtown destinations. Read More

Remitly launches Global Card to turn cross-border money transfers into everyday banking

By offering direct deposits, fee-free local spending, and global ATM access, the company is aiming to deepen customer loyalty and eliminate the banking friction faced by many underbanked or immigrant workers when trying to open traditional accounts. Read More

Anime fans, assemble: Bandai Namco opening ‘Gundam Base’ retail experience south of Seattle

Bandai Namco is opening an official Gundam Base retail store at Westfield Southcenter mall in Tukwila, Wash., this fall, giving Pacific Northwest anime and model-kit fans a permanent flagship destination for all things Gunpla. Read More

Less Amazon, more profit: UPS raises forecast after cutting millions of lower-yield deliveries

The “glide-down” caps an 18-month UPS strategy initiated in early 2025 to scale back low-margin e-commerce shipments for Amazon. Read More

Seattle startup Replify acquired by ABC Fitness to bring agentic AI to more gyms and wellness centers

Replify’s software handles phone calls, emails, chats, and texts for health and wellness businesses, including inbound customer messages as well as proactive outbound marketing.” Read More

Another high for student rocketry team: First place in international competition

Ninth-graders from Interlake High in Bellevue, Wash., soared above teams from France, Japan, the UK, and Ukraine at the Farnborough International Airshow in England. Read More

Report: Starbucks scrapped an AI inventory tool and left a Seattle-area startup ‘blindsided’

Known as “Automated Counting,” the tool was built in partnership with NomadGo to scan backroom storage shelves using iPad Pros equipped with computer vision, spatial computing, and augmented reality. Read More

‘The Odyssey’ isn’t on IMAX 70mm in Seattle — is it worth a journey for the summer’s biggest film?

Want to see “The Odyssey” as director Christopher Nolan intended? Here is how formats and theaters compare across 70mm, IMAX, and digital — and why a road trip may be needed. Read More

Earth first, Mars later: Inside AIM’s grand vision for physical AI and autonomous bulldozers

From a Redmond, Wash., headquarters space formerly occupied by SpaceX, AIM Intelligent Machines founder and CEO Adam Sadilek and his growing team are building the systems to retrofit heavy construction and mining equipment for a self-driving future. Read More

Microsoft commits $60M to ‘Genesis Mission’ to help power Dept. of Energy’s AI-for-science push

The commitment includes Azure compute credits and a new internal program office, called SPARK, to coordinate the company’s work with DOE’s 17 national laboratories. Read More

Jimothy keeps on giving: Amazon and others match winning bid for raccoon art, to benefit food bank

A painting of the short-spined raccoon by prolific Seattle artist Ryan Henry Ward attracted a winning bid of $6,543.21 in an informal Instagram auction this weekend, with all proceeds directed to the Ballard Food Bank. Read More

8-bit ‘Jimothy’: Viral sensation raids trash cans, eludes paparazzi in Seattle creator’s video game

Jimothy, the short-spined Seattle raccoon, has become a global sensation whose likeness has been immortalized in artwork, clothing, songs and tattoos — and now a video game created in the creature’s hometown. Read More

Recycler rescues mysterious trove of rare aerospace hardware, and sets out to discover its past

Instead of obsolete laptops, gaming consoles or a mess of tangled cords, a drop-off at a Bellevue, Wash., electronics recycler turned up experimental 1970s microprocessors and early flight-control cables that were more like the ultimate tech time capsule. Read More

Grunge meets slop: An AI time traveler visits 1992 Seattle when music, not tech, ruled the city

The AI-generated video is an interesting study in how technology that’s very much being built and hyped in Seattle can be used to illustrate what the city sort of looked like more than three decades ago. Read More

Archives to avatars: Famed historian is moved by Microsoft’s AI-powered Theodore Roosevelt at new library

With the opening of the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D., earlier this month, visitors can interact with a lifelike, AI-powered avatar of Roosevelt and ask questions about his life, leadership and legacy. Read More

Augmodo raises $21M to push its spatial AI beyond just retail toward the broader physical workforce

Customer demand is pulling the Seattle startup’s technology into warehouses, facility maintenance, delivery, and other parts of the physical workforce. Read More

What to know about Vinod Khosla, the Silicon Valley legend whose family is buying the Seahawks

He’s obsessive about talent, fiercely loyal to the leaders he picks, and relentless when told no. Here’s what Vinod Khosla’s four decades in tech and investing tell us about how the venture capitalist and his family are likely to approach owning the Seahawks. Read More

Data vs. gut instinct: Seahawks coach leans into analytics to support, not drive, in-game decisions

“You don’t have to do what the numbers say,” Mike Macdonald said, adding that variables such as how a game is going, the feel for your own team, and gut instinct can all cancel out data suggestions. Read More

Echodyne opens $40M radar factory near Seattle to meet booming demand for drone detection

Echodyne is opening an 86,350-square-foot manufacturing and operations hub in nearby Woodinville, Wash., that it says will eventually be able to produce more than 2,500 radars each month or roughly 30,000 radars annually. Read More

The drive to make a better golf app: Former pro athlete bets big on ‘Barkie’ and AI as a caddie

Dane Renkert is co-founder and CEO of the Bellingham, Wash.-based startup that’s building an app that tracks scores by voice alone, settles betting games automatically, and never requires a golfer to look down at a screen. Read More

Seattle’s Cascade PBS spins out Local Public, a tech platform that builds streaming apps for stations

The goal is to provide local PBS stations nationwide their own branded, station-curated streaming apps — plus tools for fundraising and audience data — as an alternative to a one-size-fits-all national app. Read More

Pet project: Seattle startup studio’s new app connects neighbors through their dogs

Amish Patel’s newest venture — born out of his Conduit Venture Labs startup studio in Seattle, is Sniff, an iOS app that turns the everyday moment two dogs greet each other on a walk into a lasting connection between their humans. Read More

Meet the 17 startups that took part in Creative Destruction Lab’s latest Seattle accelerator

The nine-month, nonprofit program based at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business graduated 17 early stage companies. It’s the fifth cohort since CDL launched its Seattle hub in 2021. Read More

Zoom snaps up Seattle startup Common Room to bolster AI-powered sales tools

Common Room emerged from stealth in 2021 with $52 million in funding and was the 2022 GeekWire Awards Startup of the Year. Read More

Taiwanese AI startup sets up North American HQ in Bellevue, with potential for 500 employees

The company said it eventually envisions its Bellevue office growing into a core edge AI research and development center with more than 500 employees over the next decade. Read More

Ballmer Group launches ‘MoveUp Washington’ as part of broader philanthropic restructuring

The new organization will continue Ballmer Group’s work improving economic mobility for kids and families, operating independently while still funded by Steve and Connie Ballmer. Read More

Choosing their own moment: Why these longtime Microsofties are taking the buyout

GeekWire spoke with several longtime Microsoft employees who are taking the company’s first-ever voluntary retirement program, about why they decided to leave and what they’re doing next. Their reasons range from timing and finances to fatigue with the pace of change, and their next chapters include startups, a doctorate, conservation work, a return to the trades and, yes, actual retirement. Read More