Amazon's Astro ambitions

Anticipated return to office not happening | Elon Musk terminating Twitter bid ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( SPONSOR MESSAGE: AWS re:Inforce | July 26-27, 2022: [Build your cloud security skills with bootcamps, security jams, & more. Register now.]( TODAY'S TOP STORIES “Astro is our first consumer robot. It’s not going to be our last.” Ken Washington (above), the executive in charge of Amazon’s first home robot, speaks confidently about the future despite mixed reviews and early skepticism about Astro’s usefulness. Washington was chief technology officer at Ford Motor Co., overseeing initiatives including autonomous vehicles, before joining Amazon as VP of consumer robotics last year. He’s our guest on this week’s episode of the GeekWire Podcast. [Read more and listen](. Not going back to the office: Economic pressures and the work-from-home movement will keep vacancy rates high in commercial spaces in the Seattle region throughout 2022 and 2023, [according to a new real estate report](. Elon Musk backs out: The billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX [told Twitter he's ending his $44 billion bid]( for the social media company. Let the [jokes]( [begin](. What to do in an earthquake: [News this week]( that a big earthquake in Seattle could trigger destructive tsunami waves left some wondering if they should still follow traditional "stop, drop and cover" quake advice, or race to higher ground as soon as the shaking starts. [Here’s the answer](. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend. — GeekWire Managing Editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and GeekWire Co-Founder Todd Bishop[, todd@geekwire.com](mailto:todd@geekwire.com). SPONSOR MESSAGE [GeekWire’s annual Summer Rooftop BBQ and Sounders Day returns Aug. 2!]( Celebrate summer, soccer and sensational views at GeekWire’s festive rooftop BBQ, taking place Tuesday, August 2nd before the Seattle Sounders face FC Dallas. Don’t miss the party of the summer. [Register now!]( LATEST HEADLINES [‘We’re in this for good’: Amazon plans more home robots despite early skepticism about Astro]( [Real estate report: Anticipated return back to office ‘has failed to materialize’ in Seattle]( [Tsunami advice triggers quake confusion: Stop, drop and cover or head for the hills?]( [Elon Musk moves to back out of $44B Twitter bid]( GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [Docugami: ML Engineer]( - [GW Libraries and Academic Innovaiton: Systems Administrator]( - [Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence: Lead Software Engineer]( - [Flyhomes: Senior DevOps Engineer]( - [Flyhomes: Senior Back End Engineer]( - [AdaptX: Frontend Developer]( - [Docugami: Director of Business Development]( - [INRIX: Software Engineer]( - [THOR Industries: Director of Digital Customer Experience]( - [INRIX: Senior Software Engineer]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? BUY A FEATURED LISTING TO APPEAR HERE]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise]( Copyright © 2022 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](