GeekWire's Most-Read Stories of the Week

Catch up on the top tech stories from this past week. Here are the headlines that people have been reading on GeekWire. ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES [Amazon shows off new all-electric Prime Air drone that will start delivering packages ‘within months’]( Amazon's drone ambitions took another step forward as the tech giant revealed its latest delivery drone design. [Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gets a laugh out of his round with a robotic arm at re:MARS conference]( GeekWire aerospace and science editor Alan Boyle is reporting from the inaugural re:MARS conference in Las Vegas, where last night he watched Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos clearly enjoy his turn operating a telerobotic arm. "That is really impressive," Bezos said. "The tactile feedback is really tremendous." [See it in person or watch online as Amazon’s latest rare corpse flower is set to bloom inside Spheres]( The latest rare specimen inside Amazon’s Spheres is set to put on its final show, as a blooming corpse flower is nearing the end of its cycle in the company’s plant-filled Seattle office space. SPONSOR MESSAGE [All Eyes on Technology Targets – Baird’s Take on M&A Trends:]( [Another open-source database company will tighten its licensing strategy, wary of Amazon Web Services]( Cockroach Labs, the New York-based database company behind the open-source CockroachDB database, will change the terms of the license agreement in the next version of the open-source project to prohibit cloud providers like Amazon Web Services from offering a commercial version of that project as a service. [Comcast fined $9.1M for consumer protection violations in high-profile Washington state case]( At a hearing Thursday afternoon in downtown Seattle, a judge ruled that Comcast signed customers up for a monthly maintenance plan without their consent and misrepresented the monthly cost associated with it, practices that affected nearly 50,000 customers. But the $9.1 million fine is a fraction of the amount that the Washington State Attorney General had previously sought in the civil case. [At Amazon’s re:MARS fest, Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. unveils campaign to clean up the planet]( Robert Downey Jr. has been saving the planet in Marvel movies for 11 years as a cinematic Iron Man. Now he wants to spend the next 11 years helping to save the planet for real. SPONSORED: GEEK HOME OF THE WEEK [Contemporary Living on Bellevue’s Old Main Street]( [Google acquires Looker for $2.6 billion to add its business intelligence software to Google Cloud]( The all-cash deal will blend Google's in-house data analysis tools such as Big Query with those built by Looker, which is based in Santa Cruz, Calif. It also sets up a new competitive front with Microsoft and its Power Platform/Dynamics 365 data software tools, as both companies pursue cloud deals from older companies migrating their workloads into the 21st century. [This secretive Seattle startup just raised $5M to infuse its tech into the CBD and cannabis craze]( Howard Lee says he hasn't smoked a joint in forever. But the longtime Seattle tech veteran is definitely riding high as he leads a secretive startup called SōRSE Technology that is looking to be a major player around the red-hot CBD and cannabis craze. [SpaceX Dragon cargo ship splashes down]( A robotic SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing two tons of scientific experiments and other hardware back from the International Space Station. [Jeff Bezos explains Amazon’s bet on Project Kuiper satellites — and copes with an onstage protest]( For the first time in public, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explained the rationale for his risky Project Kuiper satellite broadband venture, during a fireside chat that was interrupted when an animal rights activist jumped on stage. [DocuSign reaches 500K customers but stock tanks after Q1 earnings report]( DocuSign stock is in free-fall despite the e-signature giant posting rapid revenue growth last quarter and reaching a customer milestone. [As tech booms in Seattle area, cricket is on the rise among kids thanks to dads who grew up with sport]( On a recent Saturday morning at a park in Redmond, Wash., some kicked soccer balls and others played baseball. But in one far corner, boys in brightly colored jerseys were bowling, batting, fielding, throwing and running as part of a four-hour cricket contest. They were being coached and cheered on by diehard moms and dads who grew up enjoying the sport themselves in India, and most of whom work in the tech industry. [Ex-Urbanspoon and Dwellable execs take on Google and Yelp with friend recommendation startup]( There are several existing places you can go to find local professionals for a variety of services — Google, Yelp, and Facebook are the market behemoths. But the experienced tech founders at Seattle startup Fresh Chalk believe they have come up with a faster and more efficient way to find everything from doctors to plumbers to barbers to photographers. [Nintendo reveals new details, mechanics, and release date for ‘Pokémon Sword and Shield’]( Nintendo today revealed more details about its fervently-anticipated upcoming RPG for the Nintendo Switch, Pokémon Sword & Shield, including a release date and new details about the specific Pokémon and features available in the game. [Tech consulting giant Avanade names veteran exec Pam Maynard as its next CEO; Adam Warby to step down after 11 years in the role]( Avanade’s CEO is stepping down, but the tech consulting and services company born out of a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft, didn’t have to look far for a replacement. 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