GeekWire's Most-Read Stories of the Week

This week's top tech stories from GeekWire [View this email in your browser](. July 16, 2017 [Top Stories]( [Find a Job]( [GeekWire Events]( [GeekWire 200]( [Become a Member]( T-Mobile Hiring Event – 7/27 [Meet your next career move. Sign up at uncarriercareers.com/GW]( This week's top stories [Aurora alert: Solar storm heightens chances of seeing northern lights]( By Alan Boyle What could make a summer weekend even more perfect? How about the northern lights? The chances of seeing auroral displays are better than usual. [Seattle City Council unanimously approves income tax for the rich]( By Monica Nickelsburg The Seattle City Council on Monday unanimously approved a plan to levy a 2.25 percent tax on the income of residents earning $250,000 or more annually. Sponsored Post [Hughes Marino Corporate Real Estate Advisors Now in Seattle]( We are thrilled to now be in Seattle. As national award-winning corporate real estate advisors, we do business differently, working only with tenants and buyers, never landlords. With no conflicts, you can be sure that the only interests we have in mind are yours. If your business is ready to renegotiate a lease, find a new space, buy or build, we’re here to help. [Read More]( [Amazon Alexa and Echo chief Mike George is leaving after nearly two decades with the company]( By Todd Bishop Mike George, the Amazon vice president who oversaw two of the company’s most successful products — the Alexa virtual assistant and Echo smart devices — is leaving after nearly two decades with the Seattle-based tech giant. [Lock your doors, people: Verizon breach on unsecured AWS server exposes 14M customer records]( By Tom Krazit Storing files on public cloud services is one of the most secure ways to protect your data, so long as you actually secure it. Home of the Week - Sponsored Post [Hamptons Luxury on Lake Washington]( Chic Hamptons style meets Pacific Northwest grandeur in this superbly appointed home situated in the most desirable waterfront location on Mercer Island. Upon entering the foyer be prepared to be awestruck by the soaring 24’ ceiling, endless views, and elegant staircase. With exquisite custom finishes,… [Ignition Partners Managing Partner Frank Artale resigns after ‘misconduct’ allegations]( By Taylor Soper Frank Artale, a managing partner at Bellevue, Wash.-based venture capital firm Ignition Partners, has resigned at the firm’s request after allegations of “misconduct” against him, according to a statement from Ignition Partners tonight. [Kaplan-owned Dev Bootcamp to shut down, closing Seattle coding school and other sites]( By Nat Levy Dev Bootcamp, a coding school with six locations around the U.S., including Seattle, will close its doors in December. [Prime shape: Buff Bezos flexes his muscles at elite Sun Valley getaway]( By Monica Nickelsburg Embed from Getty Images Maybe Amazon’s signature catchphrase is helping CEO Jeff Bezos stay motivated at the gym. [Seemingly strange radio signals from a red dwarf star spark interest at Arecibo]( By Alan Boyle The Arecibo Observatory will take a closer look at a red dwarf star known as Ross 128 after picking up what one astronomer called "very peculiar signals." [Zillow shares slump as Amazon webpage hints at expansion into real estate referrals]( By Monica Nickelsburg Investors get nervous every time a certain Seattle-based e-commerce giant eyes a new market and this time Zillow is the victim of Wall Street’s Amazon anxiety. [Former Twitter engineers land $10.5M for startup Buoyant, leveraging lessons from the ‘fail whale’]( By Tom Krazit Buoyant, a 13-person startup led by former Twitter engineers and now backed by a former member of Twitter’s board of directors, has raised a $10.5 million Series A round to apply lessons learned from revamping Twitter’s infrastructure to simplify the emerging world of microservices. [Amazon will become top U.S. grocer by 2030, and Walmart should buy Costco to compete, former insider says]( By Nat Levy If the Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods goes through, Amazon could become the top grocer in the U.S. [Rover raises $65M round led by Spark Capital as pet-sitting startup aims for international expansion]( By Taylor Soper Typically in today’s technology world, startup founders sit on one side of the room, pitch ideas to investors, and hope to land funding for their company. [Nordstrom website issues frustrate shoppers looking for early access to anniversary sale]( By Kurt Schlosser Nordstrom promised online shoppers early access to its annual anniversary sale on Thursday, but many folks found a frustrating experience rather than deals as the Seattle-based retailer’s website suffered technical difficulties for hours. [Photos: Qualtrics’ Seattle office has grown so fast it is now the company’s ‘co-headquarters’]( By Nat Levy Two years after “experience management” company Qualtrics set down roots in Seattle, the office has grown rapidly enough to become its co-headquarters. [How to watch August’s total solar eclipse without actually going outside]( By Chelsey Ballarte No one has to miss out on the first solar eclipse to sweep across America in 99 years. There’s an app for that, plus live streams for those clouded out on the big day. [Read more of today's news on GeekWire >]( [] Today's top jobs - [OfferUp: Sr. Software Development Engineer – Backend]( - [Avalara: Senior Backend Javascript Engineer]( - [Redfin: Principal Data Science Engineer]( - [OfferUp: Security Software Engineer]( - [Redfin: Senior Software Developer]( - [Accolade: Lead Software Development Engineer (Data)]( - [OfferUp: Sr. Software Development Engineer – Backend]( - [OfferUp: Software Development Manager – Backend]( - [AnswerDash: Marketing Manager]( - [Redfin: Senior Data Platform Engineer]( [Hiring? Buy a featured job listing to appear here.]( [Find more jobs on GeekWork >]( [CLICK FOR GEEKWIRE DEALS Great prices on the best gear, gadgets, classes and software, hand-picked for GeekWire readers]( Galactic Sponsors [Bank of America]( [Salesforce]( Platinum Sponsors [Smartsheet]( [EY]( [Wave Business]( Gold Sponsors [Northeastern University – Seattle]( [UPS Connect]( [Moz]( [Knoll]( Silver Sponsors [WSGR]( [Level11]( [OfferUp]( [Avalara]( [Sirqul]( [Wells Fargo]( [Seattle University]( [Perkins Coie]( [RealSelf]( [First Tech]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise with GeekWire]( Copyright © 2017 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 1416 NW 46th Street Suite 105 PMB #246 Seattle, WA 98107 [change email frequency or address]( | [unsubscribe](