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: Want $10K for your start-up?: [Voodle launches first-ever Visionaries $10K Grant for Female and/or BIPOC Founders.]( THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES [Amazon more than doubles max base pay to $350k for corporate and tech workers, citing labor market]( Amazon will boost its maximum base pay to $350,000 for corporate and tech employees, from $160,000 previously, as part of an overall increase in total compensation intended to help recruit top talent and retain existing employees. [Former Seattle entrepreneur and her husband to get back most of funds seized by FBI in Amazon case]( Amy Sterner Nelson and Carleton Nelson have reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. [What Amazon’s big pay increase says about the company and the broader tech industry in 2022]( Amazon’s decision to more than double its maximum base pay to $350,000 for corporate and tech employees is getting lots of attention, and not just among the workers who stand to benefit directly from the change. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Deloitte Technology Fast 500 – CEOs of some of the region’s fastest growing tech companies share their thoughts on life and success]( Washington’s presence on the Deloitte Tech Fast 500 list continues to rise. 26 of our region’s tech companies made the list, up from 25 in 2020 and 19 the year prior, achieving stellar growth rates between 212% and 2,198%. The Wall Street Journal was right to report Washington is a leading tech hub. See who made the list and hear the insights of three featured CEOs [here](. [Seattle VC says this startup is the ‘fastest growing company I’ve seen’ in 23 years of investing]( Weeds may be a fast-growing headache for farmers, but a startup building machinery powered by artificial intelligence to zap them is growing pretty quickly, too. [‘Things could get worse’: Amazon’s salary bump reignites housing concerns in Seattle region]( The headline was like a punch in the gut to many dreaming of owning or renting a home in the Seattle area. [Assessing the impact of Amazon’s big salary bump]( Amazon informed its corporate and tech employees about a major change in their pay structure Monday morning. SPONSORED: GEEK REAL ESTATE [New on Market: Mid-Century Modern Home with Immaculate Views]( [You’re listening to KUOW … like it or not: Mysterious glitch has Mazda drivers stuck on public radio]( Drivers of certain vehicles in Seattle and other parts of Western Washington are shouting at their car radios this week. [Amazon Super Bowl ad stars Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost — and Alexa as a mind reader]( It might seem like Amazon’s Alexa is reading your mind when she automatically orders more toilet paper or turns on the lights at a specific time. [Switch hacker Gary W. Bowser given 40-month sentence, owes Nintendo $14.5M]( Nintendo of America announced Thursday that one member of the Team Xecuter hacker group has been sentenced to 40 months behind bars for his role in his group’s creation and sale of tools used to pirate video games for the Nintendo Switch. [SpaceX’s falling Starlink satellites highlight concerns about the future of orbital traffic]( SpaceX says most of the satellites it launched last week for its Starlink broadband internet constellation are doomed to fall from orbit due to a solar storm. [Quantum computing venture backed by Jeff Bezos will leap into public trading with $1.2B valuation]( D-Wave Systems, the quantum computing company that counts Jeff Bezos among its investors, has struck a deal to go public with a $1.2 billion valuation. [Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash form coalition in Washington state to ‘protect driver independence’]( Five evenings a week, sometimes more, Carmen Figueroa gets into her car, signs into her GrubHub account and sets out for a night of deliveries. [Juno’s lasting legacy: How the cell therapy juggernaut influenced biotech in Seattle and beyond]( When Juno Therapeutics launched in 2013, cell therapy was a nascent field. [Amperity’s ex-CEO also left board in abrupt departure from billion-dollar Seattle tech startup]( Kabir Shahani, who left his position as CEO of Seattle-based marketing tech startup Amperity without public explanation last week, is also no longer on the company’s board, according to people with knowledge of the situation. [Amazon tops 1M U.S. employees]( Amazon has surpassed 1 million direct employees in the United States for the first time, a new milestone that reflects the rapid expansion of its distribution network across the nation — and yet doesn’t come close to capturing the full scope of the workforce that revolves around the e-commerce giant in states around the country. 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