Meet the finalists for Startup CEO of the Year

Capital gains tax passes | Scammers pose as MacKenzie Scott | Deepfake geography ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( SPONSOR MESSAGE: The GeekWire Awards return May 20, 2021: [Celebrate the Pacific Northwest's leading innovators, entrepreneurs and technologists at one of the most-anticipated tech events. Register today!]( TODAY'S TOP STORIES Vote for Startup CEO of the Year: This GeekWire Awards category celebrates the hardworking leaders of five companies who are keeping up with the competition, outsmarting big tech and raising more money to fuel ongoing innovation and growth. The five finalists are (clockwise, from top left) Maria Colacurcio of Syndio; Alessya Visnjic of WhyLabs; Ray Meiring of Qorus Software; Luis Ceze of OctoML; and Mike McSherry of Xealth. [Learn more about the CEOs here]( and make sure to [grab your tickets]( to the May 20 virtual event. Capital gains tax passes: The bill has divided the region’s tech community. Some say it will harm the startup ecosystem and dissuade entrepreneurs from Washington, while others see it as a way to modify the state’s regressive tax code amid booming times for tech. [Read more](. Deepfake geography: Techniques such as “location spoofing” present significant risks for our increasingly connected society. Researchers at the University of Washington [are working to identify ways to detect these fakes]( as well as proposing the creation of a geographic fact-checking system. Scammers pose as MacKenzie Scott: After giving away billions to a variety of organizations in 2020, the Seattle author’s efforts became ripe for rip-off. The New York Times reported on how scammers are capitalizing on Scott’s philanthropic pursuits and targeting vulnerable people. [Read more](. New COVID dashboard for variants: An effort by global health nonprofit PATH pulls together information on the ability of COVID-19 tests to identify infections regardless of which strain a person has contracted. [Read more](. Amazon wins two Oscars: The Amazon Studios film [“Sound of Metal” won Academy Awards]( Sunday night for sound and film editing. The tech giant was nominated for 12 Oscars, and fellow streamer Netflix, which nabbed 36 nominations, led all studios with seven wins. Thanks for reading, and have a great week. — GeekWire Managing Editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser,kurt@geekwire.com. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Welcome to How Wonderful Gets Done 2021, by Intel]( Performance made flexible by the launch of the 3rd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors as well as Intel’s latest hardware and software portfolio and solutions. Catch-up with what Intel’s partners are saying about this industry-leading performance and flexibility from the edge to the cloud. [Learn more today!]( LATEST HEADLINES [Report: After MacKenzie Scott gave away billions, scammers began preying on vulnerable in her name]( [GeekWire Awards 2021: Vote for the leader who is getting things done as Startup CEO of the Year]( [Why ‘deepfake geography’ presents significant risks — and how researchers are detecting it]( [Amazon wins two Oscars for ‘Sound of Metal;’ Netflix leads all studios with seven wins]( [Washington lawmakers approve capital gains tax for the first time in state history]( SPONSORED: GEEK REAL ESTATE [One Lincoln Tower Penthouse Defines Excellence in Urban Living]( [New COVID-19 dashboard shares data on how well diagnostic tests perform against variants]( [Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of April 18, 2021]( GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [Wave Broadband: Account Executive]( - [INRIX: Senior Software Engineer]( - [Chewy, Inc.: Senior Product Designer]( - [INRIX: Head of Product – Location Intelligence]( - [Chewy, Inc.: Head of Inventory Optimization]( - [Chewy, Inc.: Director, Software Engineering (Home & Nav)]( - [Chewy, Inc.: Software Engineer II]( - [Chewy, Inc.: Associate Director Product Manager]( - [Vulcan: Software Quality Assurance Lead, EarthRanger]( - [INRIX: Chief Accounting Officer]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? BUY A FEATURED LISTING TO APPEAR HERE]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise]( Copyright © 2021 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](