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]( SPONSOR MESSAGE: Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live, work & play: [Sign up at pnw.ai to receive the latest AI news, jobs and more in your inbox.]( THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES [MacKenzie Scott says ‘no dollar signs this time’ as she finds new value in philanthropy’s meaning]( MacKenzie Scott is taking a break from the headline-grabbing posts about multi-billion-dollar gifts she’s given to charity the past couple years to instead offer a lesson in what philanthropy truly means. [Controversial capital gains tax spooks wealthy Washington residents as some unload their stocks]( A controversial capital gains tax in Washington state that goes into effect next month is causing executives and business owners to cash out their stock holdings. [Tornado rips through Amazon warehouse in Illinois, causing deaths]( Embed from Getty Images Updated below with statements by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Black-Box vs. Explainable AI: How to Reduce Business Risk and Infuse Transparency]( A key challenge on the journey to Enterprise AI is figuring out how to balance model performance and interpretability stemming from the difference between black-box and white-box models. As organizations scale their data science, machine learning, and AI efforts, they are bound to reach this impasse, learning when to prioritize white-box models over black-box ones. [Download the Ebook Now.]( [Survey suggests 84% of Americans are illiterate about AI — so here’s a quiz to test your own AI IQ]( Researchers say that knowing the right answers to questions about artificial intelligence is an essential part of being literate in our tech-driven society. [The Rock thanks his ‘tequila drinking buddy’ Jeff Bezos at People’s Choice Awards]( Jeff Bezos made a surprise appearance at the People’s Choice Awards in Los Angeles Tuesday night to present an award to film star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and in the process revealed a budding, buff, bald-guy friendship. [Electric Sky wins DARPA grant to work on focused power beaming system for drones]( Electric Sky says it's begun building its first transmitter for providing tightly focused wireless power to drones in flight, thanks to funding from DARPA. SPONSORED: GEEK REAL ESTATE [Highest Priced Sale in Port Hadlock]( [Meta grabbing more space in Bellevue’s Spring District with lease of fifth office building]( Looking to expand its already sizable stake in Bellevue, Wash., Facebook’s parent company Meta is making a move on another 213,000 square feet of office space in the rapidly growing Spring District. [AWS problems impact Amazon, Disney, Smartsheet, Canva and other online services]( If you’re having problems buying items or logging in to Amazon.com, you’re not alone, and thanks to the widespread use of Amazon Web Services, the problem isn’t limited to Amazon. [Yelp and Groupon battle over non-compete law in hiring of former Amazon ad leader in Seattle]( Yelp’s attempt to hire a former Groupon vice president in Seattle has sparked a legal battle between the companies over Washington state’s non-compete law. [No-code AI: Former Microsoft and Salesforce execs reveal new ‘machine teaching’ startup Intelus]( Machine learning is the common basis for modern artificial intelligence, using large amounts of data to build AI models that recognize patterns and make predictions when presented with new information. [Hospitality vet launches Route Line in drive to provide better access to adventure travel vehicles]( Seated in a customized Mercedes Sprinter van at a Seattle park on a recent sunny day, Johannes Ariens and his vehicle caught the attention of an older gentleman out for a walk. [Marking another first, Blue Origin sends six spacefliers on a single suborbital trip]( Blue Origin guided another suborbital space trip into the record books — a trip that also marked a giant leap toward making space tourism routine. [Review: ‘Halo Infinite’ is the best single-player game yet from 343 Industries]( Halo Infinite‘s campaign, in its best moments, makes me remember why Halo became popular in the first place. [GeekWire Gift Guide: Tech leaders share ideas for gadgets, services, charity and more]( If you’re looking for a tech gadget or a particular online service or cause to give as a gift this holiday season, perhaps ideas from some Pacific Northwest tech Santas might help. [Tech Moves: Flexe hires Amazon biometrics leader; Fresh Chalk founder departs; and more]( — Flexible warehousing company Flexe hired Amazon vet Lara Rogers as SVP and general manager. GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [INRIX: Director of Engineering – Geospatial Platform]( - [MobileCoin: Senior Full Stack Developer]( - [INRIX: Senior Software Engineer]( - [INRIX: Head of Product – Financial Services]( - [Vacatia: Front-end Engineer]( - [INRIX: Data Acquisition Manager, Global Partnerships]( - [INRIX: Software Engineer]( - [GeekWire: Technology Reporter and News Assistant]( - [Trovares: Senior Sales Engineer]( - [Ridgeline International: Senior Linux System Engineer]( [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. 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