GeekWire Mid-Week Update, Presented by Wells Fargo

Read the top tech stories so far this week from GeekWire [GeekWire Mid-Week Update] Top stories so far this week [Amazon’s Alexa can now order prescription refills and remind people to take their medicine]( Amazon’s digital brain Alexa can now refill prescriptions via voice command and remind people to take their medicine, the latest new initiative in the company’s rapidly expanding healthcare push. [Seattle raises fees for Uber and Lyft rides with new tax, passes minimum wage for drivers]( The Seattle City Council unanimously passed legislation Monday that will establish a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers and raise per-ride taxes to pay for city programs. [Allbirds calls out Amazon for ‘strikingly similar’ sneaker, urges tech giant to steal approach to sustainability instead]( Allbirds raced to a valuation of more than $1 billion on the popularity of its trendy wool shoes. SPONSOR MESSAGE [What to ask prospective tech bankers]( Tech companies should ask these questions to find a financial institution that can help alleviate business pressures from the beginning. [Read it here.]( [Microsoft and AT&T reveal the 1st major initiative to come out of their big cloud-5G partnership]( Microsoft and AT&T today unveiled the first big plan as part of their multi-year cloud alliance: Combining AT&T’s burgeoning 5G network with Microsoft’s edge computing services to speed up Internet of Things devices’ processing power. [T-Mobile discloses breach exposing more than 1M customers’ personal information]( Personal information of T-Mobile’s wireless customers, including names, addresses, phone numbers and more, was exposed in a recent breach. [Microsoft sleighs ’em again in holiday ad as girl uses translation technology to speak to reindeer]( It’s one thing to leave a note for Santa and hope for some sort of reply. [Infarm plants its blend of vertical farming and cloud computing in QFC grocery stores]( A German startup called Infarm has begun harvesting salad greens from its vertical-farming kiosks at two QFC supermarkets in the Seattle area. [Fresh Chalk lands $2M to help people find local professionals through friend recommendations]( New funding: Fresh Chalk just landed a $2 million seed round. [Amazon gives a Seattle brick-and-mortar business reason to smile with a busy sip, ship, shop formula]( Diana Naramore is all smiles. Maybe it’s contagious, since she’s surrounded all day by so many Amazon packages with that familiar smile logo. [Testing Sanctuary, ‘the most personal, immersive wellness studio experience in the universe’]( For 80 minutes on Thursday, in the midst of another busy day at work, I was transported to a different world. GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [The School for Field Studies: Desktop Analyst]( - [ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI2): CTO-in-Residence // Co-Founder]( - [HBO: Senior Technical Program Manager, Content Discovery- HBO Max]( - [HBO: Senior Staff Engineer, Application Shell- HBO Max]( - [HBO: QA Automation Engineer SDET Quality Assurance- HBO Max]( - [ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI2): Technical Co-Founder // CTO (Stealth Startup)]( - [HBO: Staff Software Engineer II, Core Media Engine- HBO Max]( - [ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI2): Deep Learning Engineer // Co-Founder]( - [Rad Power Bikes: Email Marketing Manager]( - [HBO: Staff Software Engineer Lead, Platform Infrastructure- HBO Max]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? BUY A FEATURED LISTING TO APPEAR HERE]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise]( Copyright © 2019 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](