GeekWire Mid-Week Update, Presented by Wells Fargo

Top tech stories so far this week from GeekWire [View this email in your browser](. [Mid-Week Update]( April 11, 2018 [Top Stories]( [Find a Job]( [GeekWire Events]( [GeekWire 200]( [Become a Member]( Top stories so far this week [What a tool! Elon Musk shows off what SpaceX will use to build BFR spaceship]( By Alan Boyle To build a big frickin' spaceship, you need a big frickin' rack to put it on. And SpaceX has the rack. Billionaire CEO Elon Musk is showing it off in an Instagram post. [Starbucks picked an odd time to force WiFi customers to cough up personal data]( By Bob Sullivan With all the sensitive news about Facebook and privacy hovering menacingly over the Internet this week, it seems an odd time for Starbucks to begin “forcing” consumers to register so they can connect to WiFi. [How a Seattle startup is using blockchain and virtual reality to upend the global coffee market]( By Nat Levy I’m sitting in the cafeteria of Building 25 on the sprawling Microsoft headquarters with an Oculus Rift headset strapped on my head. [Google and Netflix team up on Kayenta, an open-source project for automated deployment monitoring]( By Tom Krazit A new open-source project from Google and Netflix aims to help other companies that want to modernize their application deployment practices but don’t exactly have the same budget and expertise to build their own solution. [Four gaming companies hit with online gambling lawsuits over ‘free-to-play’ casino games]( By Nat Levy A spate of lawsuits filed over the last few days target online gaming companies, alleging their digital casino offerings constitute illegal gambling under Washington state law. [Microsoft is turning down some sales over AI ethics, top researcher Eric Horvitz says]( By Alan Boyle Concerns over the potential abuse of artificial intelligence technology have led Microsoft to cut off some of its customers, says Eric Horvitz, the director of Microsoft Research Labs. [‘Depressing and inspiring’: Study finds 5% of Washington tech companies founded by women]( By Taylor Soper New research from the Washington Technology Industry Association shows how wide the gender gap is among the state’s startup founders. [Seattle moves forward with plan to bring Uber and Lyft regulations in line with taxis]( By Monica Nickelsburg The Seattle City Council approved a resolution to explore new regulations for ride-hailing companies, like Uber and Lyft, Monday. [Amazon spent close to $23B on R&D in 2017, outpacing fellow tech giants]( By Nat Levy Amazon powered its prolific 2017, which saw the release of a cavalcade of new products and services, with $22.6 billion in spending on research and development, tops among U.S. companies. [NanoRacks lays out vision for turning rockets into space outposts, starting with Independence-1]( By Alan Boyle Texas-based NanoRacks is fine-tuning and rebranding its concept for turning upper-stage rocket boosters into orbital outposts, starting with a habitat called Independence-1. [Read more of today's news on GeekWire >]( [] Today's top jobs - - [Salesforce: Lead Systems Security Engineer]( - [Salesforce: Manager of Software Engineering Distributed Systems (Private Cloud)]( - [Salesforce: Security Product & Program Manager, Vulnerability Assessment & Asset Management]( - [Quorum Review: Senior Developer]( - [Salesforce: Application/SQL Software Engineer]( - [University of Washington: OCEAN SCIENCE SOFTWARE ENGINEER]( - [Salesforce: Senior Software Engineer – Infrastructure (Storage)]( - [Salesforce: Senior Enterprise Security Engineer]( - [Amperity: Technical Lead, Site Reliability]( - [The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2): Crowdsourcing Engineer]( [Hiring? Buy a featured job listing to appear here.]( [Find more jobs on GeekWork >]( Galactic Sponsors [Bank of America]( [Salesforce]( Platinum Sponsors [Smartsheet]( [EY]( [Wave Business]( Gold Sponsors [Moz]( [Knoll]( [UPS Connect]( Silver Sponsors [Seattle University]( [OfferUp]( [RealSelf]( [Perkins Coie]( [Wells Fargo]( [Level11]( [First Tech]( [Sirqul]( [WSGR]( [Avalara]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise with GeekWire]( Copyright © 2018 GeekWire LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted to receive emails from GeekWire LLC. Our mailing address is: GeekWire LLC 123 NW 36th St Suite 203 Seattle, WA 98107 [change email frequency or address]( | [unsubscribe](