Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Feb. 28, 2021.
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Most popular stories on GeekWire
Amazon tweaks cardboard box tape in new app icon after some saw Hitler’s mustache in the design
After ditching its longtime shopping cart app icon in favor of a cardboard box with blue tape on it earlier this year, Amazon has revisited the new design for another slight tweak — and less of a perceived Adolf Hitler vibe. … Read More
Bill Gates and Amazon join $80M funding round for Turntide electric motor venture
Turntide Technologies, a Silicon Valley venture that’s retooling electric motors for the 21st century, says it has completed an $80 million funding round that was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the clean-tech fund created by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. … Read More
Okta to pay $6.5B to acquire Seattle’s Auth0; identity tech startup was valued at $1.9B last year
Auth0, the billion-dollar Seattle-area startup that is a leader in identity authentication software, is being acquired by Okta, another leader in the space, the companies announced Wednesday. … Read More
Seattle researchers zero in on COVID virus mutation that could be driving spread of new variants
A team of researchers from Seattle is raising concerns about a mutation in the COVID-19 virus that’s infecting growing numbers of people in Washington state and beyond. … Read More
Remote work 1 year later: The pandemic sent tech workers home — when and how will they return?
It’s been exactly one year since Microsoft recommended that its nearly 54,000 Seattle-area employees work from home as a mysterious flu-like disease called COVID-19 began spreading in the U.S. … Read More
Seattle-area fintech startup Secure reveals secret: Suze Orman is part of the founding team
Secure had a secret. And a “secret weapon.” The Seattle-area fintech startup announced recently that TV personality and best-selling author Suze Orman is one of the co-founders of the company. … Read More
Washington state tech community spars over proposed capital gains tax
Update: The Washington state Senate on Saturday passed SB 5049 by a slim margin, 25-24. … Read More
Company uses YouTube video to mock Amazon for making camera bag strikingly similar to one it sells
Amazon is being called out again for allegedly copying the product of a company that sells on Amazon, but rather than taking legal action, San Francisco-based Peak Design is taking to YouTube. … Read More
Zillow Group real estate rival Compass files for IPO, shows $3.7B in revenue for 2020
Real estate brokerage Compass filed for an IPO on Monday. … Read More
What it was like to fly — and land — in Alaska Airlines’ first commercial 737-MAX 9 flight
[Editor’s Note: Brian M. Westbrook is a journalist and longtime member of the Seattle tech community who was the first paying customer aboard Alaska Airlines’ first commercial 737-MAX 9 flight today as part of the Boeing plane’s return to service.] For someone who typically flies nearly 100,000 miles a year, leaving early this morning after a year spent largely grounded was eerily foreign, while oddly familiar. … Read More
from GeekWire https://www.geekwire.com/2021/geekwire-weekly-roundup-2021-02-28/