Tech companies look to Canada after Trump immigration crackdown | Intellectual Ventures tries wireless power beaming | Bill Nye film to debut at SXSW

Read the latest tech headlines from GeekWire [View this email in your browser]. February 1, 2017 [Top Stories] [Find a Job] [GeekWire Events] [GeekWire 200] [Become a Member] No RSS items found. Today's top stories [Watch the Video] Here’s a fish tale that really is about the one that got away — with video to prove it. A [new robot developed by MIT] can catch fish underwater. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also virtually invisible. The bots are made from a gel that’s composed mostly of water, and are powered by water that researchers pump into it. That means they’re nearly impossible to see underwater. That, combined with the fact that they’re fast, makes these bots the ultimate predators. This is just the latest of more-than-slightly disturbing robots MIT has created. In 2015, they [released a robotic cheetah] that can run at 30 mph and jump over objects. Fortunately, though MIT does seem to want robots to take over the world, researchers haven’t made one that can actually kill fish yet. The most aggressive of these gel bots can only catch and release fish. Water is injected into the bot through syringe pumps, and the hand-shaped bot’s “fingers” close around its prey. Other designs using hydrogel include a finlike bot that flaps back and forth and one that can kick a ball underwater. Don’t worry, the fish is fine. “When you release the fish, it’s quite happy because [the robot] is soft and doesn’t damage the fish,” said Xuanhe Zhao, the team leader and an associate professor at MIT. “Imagine a hard robotic hand would probably squash the fish.” Please don’t imagine that. [Microsoft campus]The Microsoft campus in Redmond. (GeekWire Photo) There appears to be some confusion about the term “run program” at Microsoft. A man was stopped by police on the software giant’s sprawling Redmond, Wash., campus last week when he was spotted jogging naked at 3:30 in the morning. The incident was reported on the [Redmond Public Safety Facebook page] as a “friendly police department tip.” An officer observed the man on what the post referred to as the south side of a “large corporate campus” at 5320 NE 40th St. on Jan. 27. “After seeing nude buttocks illuminated by a street light, she and another officer contacted the jogger, who was wearing nothing but black Sketcher [sic] sneakers,” the post read. “Concerned for the cold weather, he was placed in a patrol vehicle.” Officers questioned the man, who said he was “trying to build up his immune system to fight the cold weather.” The low temperature on Friday in Redmond was 35 degrees. Redmond Public Safety pointed out that nude jogging could be considered indecent exposure, but the unidentified man was not charged because there were not victims at that hour on campus. In light of the company’s [streak of good news]under CEO Satya Nadella, forgive us for stripping this news item of its serious nature. “We do not have pictures to share of this incident. You are welcome,” officers concluded in the Facebook post. Commenters ran with things from there. h/t [CNET]. [Starshot mission]The aim of the Starshot project is to send a tiny spacecraft propelled by an enormous rectangular photon sail to the Alpha Centauri star system, as shown in this artist’s conception, (Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo) Millions of dollars are being spent on a scheme to speed up swarms of tiny sail-equipped probes to 20 percent of the speed of light and send them past Alpha Centauri – but how do you slow them down again? Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research have a simple plan: Use the same light sails that got the probes going so fast in the first place. Astrophysicist René Heller and information technology specialist Michael Hippke worked out the details, which could be factored into [Breakthrough Starshot’s decades-long mission plan]. The Starshot mission, backed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and other luminaries, calls for shooting nano-probes into space and having them unfurl large, lightweight sails. An array of antennas would beam photons at the sails. That radiation pressure would push the probes at a constantly rising velocity toward the Alpha Centauri system, a little more than 4 light-years away. At an average speed of 20 percent of the speed of light, the nano-probes would zoom past the alien stars after 20 years of cruising. But their velocity wouldn’t leave much time for observations. If the probes kept going at peak velocity, they’d cover a span equivalent to the distance between Earth and the moon in just six seconds. [Watch the Video] The plan worked out by Heller and Hippke could extend that time. It could even provide a way to steer the probes toward a specific destination – such as [Proxima Centauri], where astronomers have [detected a potentially habitable planet]. The researchers call for the probes’ light sails to be redeployed, facing the other way, so that the radiation pressure from Alpha Centauri’s suns would push against the probes as they approach. The steerability would come by positioning the sail at a specific angle, just as mariners steer their sailboats by moving the sail into the wind. Computer simulations suggest that the trick should work, assuming that each probe weighs 100 grams and is mounted on a 100,000-square-meter sail, which is equivalent to the area of 15 football fields. The photon pressure would provide the initial slowdown, allowing the probes to be captured by the stars’ gravitational fields. In order to put the probes into orbit around Alpha Centauri A, the system’s brightest star, they’d have to come within 2.5 million miles of the star. They’d also have to be going slower than what’s called for in the Starshot mission plan. If a probe’s velocity exceeds 4.6 percent of the speed of light, it would overshoot the star. But the way Heller and Hippke see it, the payoff would be worth the extra travel time. “In our nominal mission scenario, the probe would take a little less than 100 years – or about twice as long as the Voyager probes have now been traveling. And these machines from the 1970s are still operating,” [Hippke said in a news release]. The researchers also have worked a trajectory that allow the probes to be accelerated toward Alpha Centauri by solar radiation rather than photon beams from Earth, and a complicated path that slingshots the probes around Alpha Centauri A and B to get them to Proxima Centauri. They’re discussing their concept with Breakthrough Starshot team members. “Our new mission concept could yield a high scientific return, but only the grandchildren of our grandchildren would receive it. Starshot, on the other hand, works on a timescale of decades and could be realized in one generation,” Heller said. “So we might have identified a long-term, follow-up concept for Starshot.” Most football fans will be watching the Super Bowl on TV with a traditional cable feed when the Patriots take on the Falcons at 3:30 p.m. PT Sunday. But for those of you on-the-go or looking for a different option, FOX is streaming the big game for free. That’s right — you won’t need log-in credentials from a cable provider to watch FOX’s Super Bowl stream on Sunday via [FOXSportsGo.com] or the [Fox Sports Go app]. CBS did the same for last year’s Super Bowl. However, there are caveats. Given the NFL’s exclusive mobile streaming deal with Verizon, only Verizon customers will be able to watch the FOX stream on smartphones via the [NFL Mobile app]. But, anyone can watch the stream on a tablet — [iOS], [Android], [Kindle Fire], [Windows] — or a handful of streaming devices like [Apple TV], [Chromecast], [Xbox], [Roku], [Android TV], and [Fire TV]. The online feed will feature the lucrative Super Bowl ads that TV viewers will see, but there will also be [local digital-only commercials that FOX sold for the online stream]. Non-FOX options include [PlayStation Vue] and [SlingTV], which don’t carry the FOX Sports Go app but will stream the Super Bowl. Both services offer free 7-day trials. And, if you have a TV, you can always snag an [over-the-air digital antenna] and watch FOX that way. Last year, [an average of 1.4 million people per minute] streamed the Super Bowl. This year, according to a report in [Variety], about 16 percent of survey respondents said they plan on streaming the game. You can expect more people to stream the game on Sunday than last year’s Super Bowl, given the growing trend of cord-cutters and viewing habits that skew more toward mobile devices and streaming dongles. A FOX digital platforms executive said the streaming audience size will be a “little bit bigger” than 2016 in this report from [Sports Video Group], which has a good run-down of all the technology FOX is using to support the streaming feed. SVG also reported that FOX will stream an online-only “Field Pass” view an hour before kickoff — something that won’t be available to those watching on traditional cable TV. FOX is also [offering a virtual reality feed] — a Super Bowl first — that will show plays in near real-time. In addition, the cable giant is also using 8K cameras for the first time in Super Bowl. Finally, FOX is partnering with Intel to show [360-degree replays during the game]. Intel will use 38 cameras, all 5K, to help create the 360-degree replays. The cameras help digitize the entire playing field and, along with the help of algorithms and computing power, create a 3-dimensional view of the action. Each replay clip will last 15-to-30 seconds and use 1 TB of data. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tests out a HoloLens at Microsoft’s Vancouver office. (Microsoft Photo) Prior to President Trump’s controversial immigration orders, Amazon offered positions in the U.S. to seven Iranian-born candidates. Now, the company is [considering placing them in offices in other countries], in what may become a trend under the nation’s uncertain immigration climate. Seattle-area tech companies employ thousands using the H-1B visa, which allows skilled, graduate-level immigrants to live and work in the U.S. Microsoft, alone, [has nearly 5,000 employees] using the program. Each of those employees faces an uncertain future. President Trump’s administration outlined plans to overhaul the work visa program and other avenues for immigration in [a draft executive order] obtained [by Bloomberg News]. The tech community is scrambling to make sense of the order and considering options for affected employees. One of those options is relocation and Vancouver, B.C. is a likely choice for Seattle-area companies. Microsoft’s 142,000-quare-foot Vancouver office has capacity for about 750 employees. As of last summer, [it was about 75 percent full]. Amazon’s space[can accommodate up to 1,000 workers]. Proximity and cultural similarities to Seattle mean employees could expect a relatively similar quality of life to Seattle and could access headquarters when needed. In [a declaration of support] for Washington state’s lawsuit, which claims Trump’s temporary ban on immigrants from certain Muslim-majority countries is illegal, Amazon’s immigration and mobility exec said the company is already considering relocation. Amazon is also currently aware of 7 candidates for employment who have received offers for employment with Amazon. All of this candidates were born in Iran, but are currently citizens of Germany, Canada, and Australia. We are currently assessing alternatives that could include placement in countries other than the United States. Attorney General Bob Ferguson announces lawsuit fighting Trump’s executive orders on immigration. (Photo via Washington Attorney General’s office). Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, a company called [True North] has cropped up to help immigrants working in the U.S. relocate to Canada without losing their jobs. True North offers a $6,000 package that includes airfare to Vancouver, accommodations, and consultations with immigration professionals in Canada, [according to TechCrunch.] Vancouver already has a vibrant tech scene and Canada is eager to bring in more talent. [An open letter] signed by more than 150 members of Canada’s tech community “calls on the Canadian federal government to institute an immediate and targeted visa providing those currently displaced by the U.S. Executive Order with temporary residency in Canada.” The letter also notes that “Canadian tech companies understand the power of inclusion and diversity of thought, and that talent and skill know no borders.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau published an equally inclusive statement in the wake of the U.S. immigration crackdown. To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength [#WelcomeToCanada] — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) [January 28, 2017] GeekWire has reached out to Amazon and Microsoft for details on their plans for employees affected by changes to U.S. immigration policy. We’ll update this story when we hear more. Photo by theleetgeeks, via Flickr. Here’s a sign of the times: Apple made almost as much revenue on its services businesses in the December quarter as it did selling computers. The company’s services revenue topped $7.1 billion, including digital content, Apple Care, Apple Pay, licensing and other services. Mac sales, by comparison, were $7.2 billion, up about 1 percent. On a conference call with analysts, Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed to factors including “all-time record results” from the company’s iCloud storage business, without disclosing specific numbers. The company offers 5GB of free storage for iCloud customers with paid plans ranging from 99 cents to $19.99 a month [depending on storage amount]. Apple CFO Luca Maestri told analysts on the conference call that the company sees even more growth ahead for this part of its business. “Our iCloud storage business is growing very quickly, and so that is a business that also at a geographic level we can continue to grow significantly.” That’s notable in part because Apple’s cloud business has been in play in the past. The company last year shifted a portion of its cloud workloads to Google Cloud Platform, [although Amazon Web Services was quick to point out] that Apple’s move didn’t reflect a wholesale shift away from the leading public cloud platform. Another variable is the fact that Apple has also been building out its own data centers, as well. PREVIOUSLY: [Apple returns to growth mode, mostly, as iPhone sales top 78M units] [Brainfm] Music can make or break your focus, but it’s no help to your productivity if it takes you an hour to find the right brain-boosting tunes. Some songs are too loud, some are too fast, and others are too…quiet. Where can you find the perfect playlist? [Today’s GeekWire Deals offer] opens you up to an entire library of scientifically backed music. Tune in with [Brain.fm], the audio library made for studying, sleeping, and relaxing. Simply tell the service what you need and choose from its custom selections. From forest sounds to electronic music, and underwater vibes to ambient tracks, Brain.fm has something for everyone. Even set a timer for 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours, so you can schedule your work session or let it fade after you fall asleep. Skip the trial and error of other music services and get right to it. This kind of focus is worth something beyond a price tag, but you can get a lifetime subscription ($199.99 value) [for only $39.99]. [Watch the Video] Nintendo is known as a family-friendly brand, and many of its classic franchises, such as Legend of Zelda, are tied closely to its upcoming Switch console. But the company is also looking to appeal to people who might otherwise be inclined to go with the rival PlayStation 4 or Xbox One consoles. That intention was on full display this morning as the company debuted what it’s describing as its first-ever Super Bowl ad. With a hard-charging soundtrack — “Believer” by rock band Imagine Dragons — the ad shows the Switch converting among its multiple modes, from handheld device to a living room game console. Featured games include “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” “Just Dance 2017,” “Splatoon 2,” and several others. The company released an extended cut of the Super Bowl ad this morning, above, following the recent tradition of Super Bowl advertisers debuting their spots in advance of the big game. Nintendo Switch will be released on March 3 for $300. Watch this recent episode of our Geared Up podcast for more details and thoughts on the new console. [Watch the Video][Tesla-SolarCity unveiling by Elon Musk]Elon Musk unveils Tesla’s Powerwall 2 battery and SolarCity’s integrated roof panels in Los Angeles in October. (Tesla via YouTube) Tesla has officially dropped “Motors” from its name, reflecting the company’s expanded focus beyond its namesake electric cars. In a [filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission], the company announced it changed its corporate name to “Tesla, Inc.” Last July, Tesla [shortened its main URL] from TeslaMotors.com to Tesla.com. The moves reflect the company’s expansion beyond automobiles. Last November, [Tesla merged with the solar power venture SolarCity] and Elon Musk announced a new line of solar panels that mimics the look of roof shingles. Earlier in the year, Tesla [increased its production of the Powerwall storage batteries.] “Tesla is not just an automaker, but also a technology and design company with a focus on energy innovation,” the company writes on its website. [Russell Hannigan and reflector array]Intellectual Ventures’ Russell Hannigan explains how a metamaterials-based reflector array antenna can focus a microwave beam on a power receiver. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) BELLEVUE, Wash. – Wireless power transmission has been a dream since the days of [Nikola Tesla], but [Intellectual Ventures] is adding a twist to make it so, and make it profitable. The twist is a little something called [metamaterials], a technology that has already spawned several spin-outs from the Bellevue-based company. Russell Hannigan, senior director of business development for Intellectual Ventures’ [Invention Science Fund], says a decision on how to commercialize the technology is just “a few months away.” Right now, the company is working with a proof-of-concept setup that beams about 8 watts’ worth of microwaves across a lab space to light up an array of LED lights. But researchers expect to scale up the system to power devices at distances of 160 feet (50 meters) or more. “Our driving application – the one that’s the most lucrative – is drones,” Hannigan said. Free-flying drones are typically limited to about 20 minutes of flight time, but if you could beam enough power to keep it in the air, they could hover indefinitely. That’d be an attractive feature for folks who use drones to monitor security perimeters, inspect infrastructure ranging from railways to cellphone towers, or just capture awesome video from overhead. “It seems like a perfect confluence of technology and applications and interest,” Hannigan said. [Beamed-power lights]An array of LED bulbs light up with the power from a microwave energy source. Intellectual Ventures’ Russell Hannigan shows how blocking the beamed microwaves shuts off the power. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)[Beamed-power system]This panoramic image shows the full beamed-power setup. University of Washington engineering professor Matt Reynolds and Intellectual Ventures’ Wayt Gibbs, Rita Rogers and Russell Hannigan stand between the transmitter at left and the power-receiving array of lights at right. Click on the image for a larger version. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) How metamaterials make it so Wireless power, also known as direct energy transfer or DET, is a relatively new tech frontier for metamaterials – electronic hardware configurations that make it possible to redirect electromagnetic waves in exotic ways. Metamaterials made their[initial media splash] as a theoretical way to create “invisibility shields,” by bending specific wavelengths of light around the object you’d want to conceal. The Harry Potter angle was irresistible, but the commercial applications of metamaterials have taken a different course. Intellectual Ventures’ past spin-outs in the field include [Kymeta], which focuses on flat-panel antennas; [Echodyne], which works on drone-friendly radar scanners; and [Evolv], which is building security scanners. Yet another metamaterials venture based in Bellevue, [Pivotal Communications], can trace its lineage to the Invention Science Fund. The lab’s power-beaming system shoots microwaves at a metamaterials-based reflective array the size of a chalkboard, which focuses the waves on their intended target. In real-world applications, the reflector’s focus can be shifted electronically to track a moving target without having to reposition the antenna. The system could also be adapted to create wall panels capable of recharging all the electronic devices in a room wirelessly, as described in a [research paper that came out last October]. One of the authors of that paper, the University of Washington’s Matt Reynolds, is also a consultant for the new project that Intellectual Ventures has in mind. Reynolds said today’s wireless charging systems – for instance, the cradle that provides the juice for an electric toothbrush – tend to take advantage of electromagnetic induction, which only works over a short range. “In order to get longer-range wireless power … you need to use fundamentally different physics,” he said. [Watch the Video] The wireless power landscape Several other Seattle-area ventures are trying to push the envelope on wireless power in different ways. Redmond-based [Ossia], for example, has created an [extended-range induction station] that could charge up cellphones and other mobile devices from up to 6 feet away. Seattle-based [WiBotic] is developing a line of [resonant-induction hot spots] for recharging robots and drones at roughly the same range. Kent-based [LaserMotive], meanwhile, has been working on laser-beamed power systems for the past decade. In 2009, the company [won a $900,000 NASA prize] in a robot-climbing competition, and kept a drone [flying for 48 hours straight] during a demonstration for Lockheed Martin in 2012. More recently, LaserMotive has been looking into [power transmission via fiber-optic cable] as well. Intellectual Ventures’ metamaterials-based system has some distinct advantages: The microwave beam can be focused and redirected with relatively high efficiency, and with no moving parts. But there are challenges as well. Although it’s less hazardous to walk through a microwave beam than through a megawatt-scale laser beam, the full-scale power system will still have to incorporate safety measures to limit direct exposure in accordance with federal safety guidelines. Reynolds said there’d likely be a perimeter-monitoring system that would switch off the beam if someone wandered too close. For now, Intellectual Ventures’ business development team is looking at high-end applications for the technology. So don’t expect the system to be powering up your backyard drone anytime soon. “This is not an ‘under the Christmas tree’ kind of deal,” Hannigan said. But if researchers can get the system to work at higher frequencies down the road, that could open the way to smaller devices that cost less and are capable of beaming out more power. And that’s when power beams just might make Tesla’s wireless dream come true. “We very strongly believe that you’ve got to get ahead of the market,” Hannigan said. “You have to be able to control your own destiny by getting something out there, our first-generation products, and then using that as a springboard.” (Slack Image) Popular messaging service Slack has entered the big leagues. The company [launched a service] catering to large corporations on Tuesday. With Enterprise Grid, Slack took a new approach by allowing companies to connect multiple workspaces under a single network. It also provides more security than before, and allows companies to adjust data security features across workspaces. When it launched in 2013, Slack was initially intended for smaller teams. Small companies could easily get by with one workspace and separate channels, but companies over a few hundred employees strained the platform. The new Enterprise Grid platform caters to companies with thousands of employees. Slack is also partnering with SAP to create bots integrating the software company’s services into the Enterprise Grid platform. The first bots will also connect users to the Concur travel and expense network, the Successfactors performance management system and the HANA Cloud platform. Slack’s launch into corporate products comes as the company is feeling the heat from competitors including Microsoft Teams. On Monday, the day before Slack’s Enterprise Grid launch, [Microsoft announced]its Teams workplace had been used by 30,000 organizations in the last month alone. Slack countered Tuesday, revealing it now has 5 million daily users, with 1.5 million of them being paid subscribers. The companies have been in a close race since Microsoft Teams [launched last November.] While Slack has had more buzz among companies, Teams has integrated other Microsoft services, such as the Office 365 suite, from the beginning. Yesterday’s pre-emptive announcement on Teams’ successes follows an approach Slack’s full-page [“Dear Microsoft” ad] in The New York Times ahead of the Microsoft Teams launch. It definitely got less hype though, which continues to be Slack’s strength in the market. [David Pogue on "Hunting the Elements"]Samples of chemical elements are spread out on a periodic table for David Pogue, host of “Hunting the Elements.” Now Pogue and the “Nova” documentary team are raising money for a sequel. (WGBH Photo / Cara Feinberg) Kickstarter has given a boost to science projects ranging from [satellites] to [“Bill Nye: Science Guy,”] but now it’s opening a new frontier for crowdfunding: [“Nova” documentaries for public TV]. Today marks the start of a 30-day [“Make Science for All”] campaign, pitched by the “Nova” team at WGBH and tech reporter David Pogue. The objective is to raise at least $1 million for a two-hour broadcast special, “Beyond the Elements,” which Pogue would host. If the Kickstarter total reaches $2.25 million, that would fund a wider variety of multimedia works and make the show available for viewing at schools across the country. “Beyond the Elements” would follow up on [“Hunting the Elements,”] an earlier program that was hosted by Pogue. The first film was based on Theodore Gray’s coffee-table book, [“The Elements,”] a colorful chronicle of all the elements on the periodic table. The sequel would take the story a step further, showing how a limited set of atoms combine to form the tens of millions of substances that make up our world. [Watch the Video] Kickstarter supporters can receive premiums ranging from a digital membership in the “Super Nova Science Society” ($10) to a live event with Pogue as emcee ($5,000). Contributors kicked in more than $7,500 in the first few hours of the campaign, which ends March 3. “For ‘Nova,’ the real value of Kickstarter isn’t just financial support,” John Bredar, WGBH’s vice president of national programming, said in a news release. “What really excites us is the opportunity to team up directly with ‘Nova’ fans and science lovers.” Such campaigns could become part of the standard toolset for public broadcasting, particularly if the White House and the Republican-led Congress follow through on reported plans to [cut federal funding for cultural programs]. About $445 million was budgeted for the [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] over the last fiscal year. Most of that money was distributed to the nation’s nearly 1,500 public radio and TV stations. CPB’s support makes up about 15 percent of total funding for public broadcasting, with the rest coming from private and corporate donors. [CoMotion] is growing its presence across the state of Washington. The University of Washington’s “collaborative innovation hub” is expanding to eastern Washington with a new CoMotion Labs space in Spokane. CoMotion helps startups through education and access to experts and funding sources. Originally started as the Center for Commercialization (C4C) at the UW’s main Seattle campus, the program evolved a few years ago from a department that mainly helped commercialize ideas born at the university — it has helped spin out [126 startups] over the past decade, and 21 in fiscal 2016 — to what it now describes as a “collaborative innovation hub dedicated to expanding the societal impact of the UW community.” “[CoMotion Labs]” consists of [UW’s new CoMotion headquarters in the University District], which houses the region’s only incubator focused on virtual and augmented reality startups; the [CoMotion Incubator at Fluke Hall], which helps startups working on healthcare and biotech; and [Startup Hall], where there is co-working space geared to software and IT startups, while also home to the Founder’s Co-op venture capital firm and Techstars Seattle. The Spokane location, which will focus on manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, and robotics, is now the fourth CoMotion Labs building. It will host events, programming, mentoring, and advising while collaborating with other innovation spaces in and around Spokane. “The Spokane region is a growing innovation ecosystem with which we are excited to partner,” Elizabeth Scallon, associate director of CoMotion Labs, said in a statement. “We believe the economic development of Washington is best served when we unify and engage all parts of our state through cross-collaboration of ideas, startups and resources. CoMotion Labs has the experience and excellence to partner and execute on this important initiative.” Brady Ryan, formerly a commercialization manager and business development manager at Life Science Washington, will be the CoMotion Labs @ Spokane manager. [529 garage app]The 529 Garage app allows cyclists to register and potentially recover stolen bikes. (Project 529 Photo) Project 529, the Seattle-based startup that aims to curb what it calls an epidemic of bicycle theft in North America, announced Tuesday that it was acquiring and integrating the National Bike Registry with its service. [NBR] “pioneered the concept of an online bicycle registration database,” according to a news release, and the merger will provide law enforcement and others with more robust tools for recovering stolen bikes. More than 2,000 law enforcement agencies have used the Registry since its creation in 1984. [J Allard]J Allard, Project 529 co-founder and CEO. (Project 529 Photo) [529 Garage] is a free bicycle registration, reporting and recovery service. Cyclists upload detailed information about their bicycles such as serial numbers and photographs that make it more difficult for thieves to successfully sell stolen goods online. If a 529 user has a bike go missing, that user can alert the local cycling community, their social networks and law enforcement agencies via a smartphone app, which also facilitates tips from that network. The [company was started] by J Allard, a 19-year veteran of Microsoft who was a co-founder of Xbox. In a 2014 GeekWire profile, Allard said bike theft was a $400 million problem in the U.S. alone. “Bicycle theft has been an under-served problem for decades that has grown to epidemic proportions,” Allard, who serves as CEO of Project 529, said in a news release. “After losing a bike to theft 4 years ago, I was moved to build better tools for law enforcement and the cycling community to attack this problem. After combining the National Bike Registry and 529 Garage, our partners now have access to nearly 400,000 bicycle records to help combat bike theft.” Allard said Project 529, which started in Portland, is now headquartered in Seattle and he splits his time between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., where the company is likely to open another office this year to better serve Canada. The merger will give all NBR customers an upgrade to free lifetime registration status at 529 Garage. Users are encouraged to download the app ([iOS] and [Android]) and enhance their registrations with additional details and photographs. “We’re very happy to pass the baton to the team at Project 529 to attack the bicycle theft epidemic,” Eddie Orton, who has sponsored the NBR effort for over two decades, said in a statement. “The passion and capabilities of the team at 529 will be able to take our work to the next level and better serve our customers and partners.” Via Apple. Apple didn’t reveal any sales data for the Apple Watch as part of its [quarterly earnings report] on Tuesday, but the tech giant is clearly happy with the reception for its wearable device. The Apple Watch set “all-time” revenue records during Apple’s holiday quarter, during which the company earned $78 billion in revenue. Without providing specific numbers like it does for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Apple said it broke records for both Apple Watch revenue and unit sales. “The holiday demand was so strong that we couldn’t make enough,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said on a post-earnings conference call, adding that “we couldn’t be more excited about Apple Watch.” Apple Watch sales are lumped into Apple’s “Other Products” category, which includes Beats headphones, accessories, Apple TV, and other devices. Total sales from this sector were down 8 percent year over year to $4 billion. The lack of actual sales numbers combined with Cook’s optimism led to some funny charts: Apple Watch sales were a record last quarter, according to Apple. Chart: [pic.twitter.com/SyWX1H5vKB] — Jason Snell (@jsnell) [January 31, 2017] Apple, which first debuted the Apple Watch in April 2015 and released an updated version this past September, also recently began selling its new Airpod wireless headphones. “We now have a rich lineup of wearable products,” Cook said. “Their design, elegance, and ease of us make us very excited about the huge growth potential for wearables going forward.” Apple’s sales growth with the Apple Watch comes as wearable giant Fitbit just [announced layoffs] and [missed expectationsÂ]for its quarterly earnings. Others wearable companies like [Jawbone] are struggling as the U.S. wearable market is [not growing as fast as analysts predicted]. But [MarketWatch] noted that the “wearable craze is far from dead,” citing numbers from IDC that show more than 124.4 million units to be sold in 2017, up from 97.4 million in 2016. [Aple WWDC]Apple CEO Tim Cook at WWDC last year. (Via Apple) Apple posted record revenue of $78.4 billion for the [December quarter], returning to overall growth as unit sales of the iPhone climbed nearly 5 percent to 78.3 million units during the peak shopping season. The tech giant reported earnings per share of $3.36; analysts polled in advance of the report expected earnings of $3.22 per share on revenue of $77.38 billion. [Shares] were up more than 2 percent in after-hours trading. The results followed three consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines for the company. Sales of the iPad slipped 19 percent to 13 million units, and Mac sales were up 1 percent to just under 5.4 million units for the quarter. The company’s revenue from services, including digital content, AppleCare, Apple Pay and licensing, climbed to more than $7.1 billion for the quarter, up 13 percent from the September quarter. “We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in the company’s earnings release. “Revenue from Services grew strongly over last year, led by record customer activity on the App Store, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.” The results include sales for the holiday shopping season, during which Apple’s primary smartphone rival, Samsung, was hobbled by the recall and discontinuation of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. [Amazon Prime Air]The first branded Amazon Prime Air cargo jet made its debut in Seattle last year. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota) Amazon says it will build a new air cargo hub at Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport to accommodate its growing fleet of Prime Air delivery jets, creating more than 2,000 jobs in the process. Total investment in the hub is projected to amount to $1.49 billion, [according to reports from Kentucky]. The plan calls for extensive construction on a 920-acre site, and [reportedly represents the largest single investment] ever made by a company in Northern Kentucky. “We couldn’t be more excited to add 2,000-plus Amazon employees to join the more than 10,000 who work with us today across our robust operations in Kentucky,” Dave Clark, Amazon senior vice president of worldwide operations, said in a [statement.] Today’s announcement was timed to coincide with the [Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority’s preliminary approval] for $40 million in tax incentives over 10 years for the project. [Watch the Video] Last year, Amazon said it would [build up a fleet] of 40 leased Boeing 767 cargo airplanes to boost its shipping capability. The first branded Prime Air jet [made its debut in Seattle last August], and as of today 16 of the jets are in operation. More are rolling out regularly. Amazon signaled that it would be shifting operations from its current base at Wilmington Air Park in Ohio. In today’s announcement, Amazon said it “plans to offer job opportunities at any Amazon site across the U.S. to those involved in the package sortation that occurs today in Wilmington.” The new jobs would count toward [Amazon’s pledge to add 100,000 workers] over the next 18 months. Update for 9:25 p.m. PT Jan. 31: Word of Amazon’s expansion plans got a mixed review from Rick Ziebarth, a longtime cargo pilot and executive council chairman of Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224. The union has been in a long-running battle with Atlas Air World Wide Holdings and Air Transport Services Group, the companies that employ the pilots for Amazon Prime Air, over [staffing concerns and contract delays]. Here’s Ziebarth’s emailed statement: “As pilots, we take great pride in serving Amazon customers, and are glad to see the company making strong investments in key markets, like Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky. But now more than ever, we’re concerned about the ability of contracted carriers like AAWW and ATSG to meet Amazon’s growing demands. Investors, customers and members of these communities should be asking themselves – who is going to fly these planes? With ATSG and AAWW executives refusing to agree to industry-standard contracts, our carriers are losing pilots at record rates and we fear there won’t be enough qualified pilots to get the job done safely and efficiently as Amazon continues to expand. We’re thrilled to see a company like Amazon invest in our communities, but we’d hate to see them lose these job opportunities and investments if operations become unsustainable due to the inability to attract skilled pilots.” Wilmington-based ATSG has said the pilots must resolve their differences with ABX Air, the subsidiary that operates Amazon’s leased planes, [through arbitration and other provisions of their labor agreement]. ‘SINCERELY, X’ host June Cohen. (Audible Photo) Over the course of her abusive marriage, a mom from the Midwest developed a life-saving idea that she couldn’t share with anyone. It was a ritual focusing on the love in her life and it helped her deal with — and eventually work through — her violent circumstances. She thought it could help others but didn’t think she’d ever share what she’d learned because it was so deeply personal. That is, until she discovered “[SINCERELY, X]” a new audio series that allows people to share their ideas and stories anonymously, in the style of a TED Talk. The series is premiering on Audible Channels, a product of Amazon-owned Audible. Members of Audible and Amazon Prime will be able to listen to the first three episodes starting Wednesday. They include stories from the midwestern mom, a doctor who feels responsible for her patient’s death, and a former hedge fund manager seeking redemption for lying to investors. The show is hosted by June Cohen, an 11-year veteran of TED Media. Cohen is also one of the executive producers on “SINCERELY, X.” Storytellers share their ideas with Cohen while the rest of the Audible production team works from behind a curtain. The guests’ voices are disguised and Audible uses code names, internally, to protect their anonymity. “The kinds of ideas that are told anonymously are the ones that people don’t want to be known for or they can’t be publicly associated,” said Cohen. “I think of these as ideas in hiding. Ideas that can never be told under a spotlight but that deserve to be heard.” Cohen and her colleagues at TED hatched the idea before partnering with Audible to make it a reality. Audible Channels launched last year as a new product distinct from Audible’s traditional audiobook business. The service features a wide range of original audio content, including comedy shorts, professionally read news articles, and short stories. It’s available to Audible subscribers for $15 a month and members of Amazon Prime. Amazon [acquired Audible for $300 million] in 2008. The 10-episode first series of “SINCERELY, X” will stream exclusively on Audible. Ultimately the episodes will be available on other platforms, Cohen says. Cohen is excited about the show’s potential to join what she calls a “Renaissance in audio,” spawned by the popularity of podcasts like “Serial” and “Startup.” She thinks it’s the perfect time for a show like “SINCERELY, X” which relies on the audio format to protect storytellers’ anonymity. “The thing that fascinates me about this, too, is why they want to tell the story and share the idea at all, if they weren’t going to be associated with it or if they didn’t get credit for it,” she said. “I actually felt really moved by the generosity of the speakers who participated. They don’t get the moment on stage, they’re not going to have their inbox fill up with love letters and opportunities the day that their talk goes live. What they get out of it, really, is the satisfaction of knowing that they’ve helped people.” [Bill Nye: Science Guy film]Bill Nye, center, and filmmakers David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. (Kickstarter Photo / Bill Nye: Science Guy) A documentary film exploring the life and work of Bill Nye, television’s famed Science Guy, will get its world premiere at the South by Southwest festival in March, the [film’s creators announced] on Tuesday. “Bill Nye: Science Guy” is the official title for the film, which is being directed by David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. The independent filmmakers launched the project on Kickstarter in the summer of 2015 and it went on to set a record for the [most-funded documentary] on the crowdfunding site. The film raised $859,425 from 16,850 backers. “People(s) … this is pretty exciting!” Nye [tweeted] to his 4.23 million followers in sharing news of the SXSW premiere. In a blog post on the film website, Alvarado and Sussberg shared what they hope to convey: “After three years of developing, filming and editing, we are excited to share our labor of love with Bill’s fans. Our story will intimately bring you into Bill’s personal life with his family; to the top of the world in Greenland where Bill sees the smoking gun of climate change; to Kentucky to see Ken Ham’s antiscience Ark Park; and to witness Bill fulfill Carl Sagan’s unrealized dream of launching a solar sail. All of this is happening in a world that is increasingly hostile to science, reason, and evidence. Science might be on defense today, but our film shows Bill fighting the good fight for a more scientifically engaged and literate culture. We can’t wait to share it with the world!” The film isn’t the only project tapping into Nye’s celebrity. Netflix announced last summer that a new TV show called [“Bill Nye Saves the World”] would launch in spring of 2017 with episodes tackling topics from a scientific point of view. (Twitter Photo / @POTUS) After spending much of Tuesday preparing to sign an executive order aimed at improving the federal government’s cybersecurity defenses, President Donald Trump postponed the plan at the last minute, according to the White House. Trump met with cybersecurity experts and top White House officials earlier Tuesday to discuss the order. “I will hold my Cabinet secretaries and agency heads accountable, totally accountable for the cybersecurity of their organizations which we probably don’t have as much, certainly not as much as we need,” the president said before the meeting. It’s unclear what caused him to scrap the plans. A [draft of the measure], obtained by the Washington Post, shows the Office of Management and Budget would lead the review of security risks in the government’s executive branch, while department and agency heads were directed to create their own best practices. Agency heads would be required to update their current systems and work with the private sector to create and implement best practices. “The executive order is the first step the president is taking to address new security challenges of the 21st century,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday. The measure defined cyberspace as undergoing constant developments, and compares the U.S. government’s responsibility to protect it as it does with “land, sea, air, and space.” The Department of Defense would lead a review to determine vulnerability in the nation’s national security systems while the Department of National Intelligence would be directed to conduct a review of cyber adversaries to the U.S. A review into STEM and cyber security education would also be conducted under the order, “to ensure that the United States has a long-term cyber capability advantage.” The Defense Secretary would head the review and recommend changes. The move comes after several reports of hacking during the election. Earlier this month, the [Department of National Intelligence] concluded that Russia had led a campaign of cyberattacks aimed at getting Trump in the White House. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in December reached the same conclusion. The FBI played a significant role in cybersecurity efforts under President Obama, but appears to have been left out in the draft of Trump’s executive order. [Portable Slim Pocket Charger] When you’re booked all day, it’s inevitable that your phone will hit an empty battery (and at the least convenient moment possible, naturally). You need a back-up power source to boost you back to life when you’re on the go. But if you’re like the rest of us mere mortals, you often forget your power bank at home. To the rescue: [today’s GeekWire Deals offer] is so handy, you’ll never leave it behind. Behold, the [Portable Slim Pocket Charger]. This power bank boasts a 2,200mAh battery capacity that sits slim at just 4.5mm wide. With a design this compact, the charger slips right into your pocket or wallet, so you’ll never leave it at home just because you’re short on space. Plug in your MicroUSB, Android, or Apple device (lightning adapter included) and get a full charge on your smartphone or almost a half charge on your tablet. It’s small, yet mighty, and seriously discounted. The pocket charger is now 78% off, so you can snag the power [for only $18.95]. (Having a full battery? Priceless.) Raj Singh (left) and Mike Hilton (right), co-founders of Concur and now the CEO and chief product officer, respectively, at healthcare tech startup Accolade. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Raj Singh and Mike Hilton are best-known for Concur — the travel and expense management company they co-founded with Steve Singh in 1993 and led for the next 22 years before selling the company to [enterprise technology giant SAP for $8.3 billion]. But in 2015 they left Concur and began searching for their next challenge. [What they chose] was a bit of a surprise: they joined [Accolade], a Philadelphia-based healthcare tech startup, and announced plans to set up a second HQ for the company, in Seattle. The company, whose services and products help patients navigate the complex healthcare system, has grown to 70 employees in Seattle, out of 800 employees worldwide. More than a year after joining Accolade, Singh and Hilton sat down with GeekWire editors John Cook and Todd Bishop this week to discuss their foray into the technology of healthcare, a notoriously difficult space to work in. Hilton said one reason for that difficulty is the giant players in the healthcare system, like pharmaceutical companies, health payer systems, and government regulators. “It’s very difficult to effect change,” Hilton said. “You can either see that as a challenge or as an opportunity. I see tremendous opportunity.” And despite the challenges to disrupting and improving the system, Singh said making those changes is essential given the current state of healthcare in the United States. “We spend more on healthcare in this country than any other country in the world,” about $10,000 per person, Singh said. “In the developed world, countries that are getting better outcomes than we are in the United States are spending four thousand, forty-five hundred, or five thousand dollars per person.” [Concur Startupday 2015]Mike Hilton (center) and Raj Singh at GeekWire Startup Day 2015. He also noted that healthcare currently makes up about 19 percent of the U.S.’s GDP, a number which has been rising steadily and dramatically for the past few years. That kind of growth isn’t sustainable for employers or other providers and needs to be controlled in some fashion, he said. But the difficulty in addressing cost and other challenges in healthcare is the sheer complexity of the system. Most health systems are highly regional, not extending more than a few states in breadth. And there are many kinds of care consumers can have: Medicare for those over 65, Medicaid for those in low income brackets, employer provided health care, and care through the Department of Veteran Affairs. “Every one of those systems is different, has a different set of problems, and has a different set of needs for the consumers,” Singh said. In most of the tech world, “you’d think, ‘I build it once and I solve the problem for everybody.’ Here, that 65-year-old or that 70-year-old Medicare consumer is a hell of a lot different than the 25-year-old who’s working at Google. Their needs are different, their care coordination and management is different, and you have to think about your solutions in that kind of context,” he said. Listen to the podcast above or [download the MP3 here] to listen to our full conversation with Singh and Hilton, including their experience jumping back into the startup ranks after decades at an established company. We also dive into how the Trump administration’s policy changes could have ramifications in tech, healthcare, and beyond. 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