Amazon adds three to ‘s-team,’ holds firm on RTO policy, faces suit over Blue Origin deal

Artist’s giant trolls deliver a message about the environment ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( SPONSOR MESSAGE: The GeekWire Summit returns October 19th! We're assembling some of the top names in artificial intelligence for the half-day summit, taking place in downtown Seattle: [Get your tickets today!]( TODAY'S TOP STORIES Trolls are leaving their giant footprints in the Seattle area. Danish storyteller and environmental artist Thomas Dambo has constructed four of his six pieces as part of the public exhibition, “Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King.” - Made from scrap wood and assembled with the help of volunteers, the trolls tell a tale of protecting nature and keeping waste out of landfills. - “There are so many people who want to be a part of a positive change,” said Dambo (above, with Jakob 2 Trees). “Make people happy, they come and help you.” [Read our Q&A and see photos]( from Issaquah, Wash. Amazon named three more executives to its senior leadership team: [Swami Sivasubramanian]( VP, AWS Data & AI; [Aicha Evans]( CEO, Zoox; and [David Brown]( VP, Compute Services. That brings Amazon’s influential “s-team” to 32 execs. We compared the prior roster to the new one to reveal some notable changes in executive roles and titles. [Read more and check out the list here.]( Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wants employees to stop grumbling about the company’s return-to-office policy. It’s time to “disagree and commit,” or find someplace else to work, he [reportedly said in a recent internal meeting](. That’s our first topic [on a new episode of the GeekWire Podcast](. [🎧]( in [Apple Podcasts]( [Google Podcasts]( [Spotify]( or any podcast app. Did Amazon wrongly favor its founder’s space venture in awarding a lucrative launch contract for its Project Kuiper satellite constellation? That’s the allegation in a new lawsuit against Amazon, which questions the company’s relationship with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and claims Amazon didn’t give due consideration to Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the work. The case could offer a window into Bezos’ ongoing influence inside Amazon. [Read more](. Hot Links: - ChatGPT in schools? Good luck. Open AI released a [Teaching with AI]( guide for educators, and [acknowledged the ineffectiveness of automated tools]( for detecting ChatGPT-based cheating. ([Insider]( - Lawsuits over real estate agent compensation could have “a seismic impact," says former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. ([Real Estate News]( - Goodbye, Visual Studio for Mac: Microsoft is retiring its integrated development environment for Apple computers. ([Bleeping Computer]( Thanks for [subscribing]( to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great holiday weekend. — GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com; and GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Siemens Xcelerator for Startups]( Startups deserve affordable software solutions that will grow with them- from napkin to NYSE. The Siemens Xcelerator for Startups program offers NX, Teamcenter, Simcenter Structural and CFD Simulation solutions at a 93% discount. Here are just a few of our clients. For more information, reach out here. [Start now.]( LATEST HEADLINES [Artist’s giant troll sculptures bring whimsy to Seattle-area woods — and a message about waste]( [GeekWire Podcast: Amazon is done debating RTO policy; Robot umps update; Summit sneak peek]( [Amazon adds three execs to its senior leadership team — here’s how the list has changed this year]( [Pension fund’s lawsuit questions Amazon’s decisions on Kuiper satellite launch deal]( GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [NTTA- North Texas Tollway Authority: Sr ETL & Data Modeling Developer]( - [Submittable: Senior Site Reliability Engineer]( - [Submittable: Senior Product Pricing Strategist]( - [Submittable: Staff Front End Software Engineer – Employee Engagement]( - [Submittable: Senior Software Engineering Manager]( - [INRIX: Product Marketing Manager, Public Sector]( - [INRIX: VP Engineering]( - [Council for the Advancement of Science Writing: Communications Coordinator]( - [INRIX: Lead Software Engineer]( - [Submittable: Senior Machine Learning Scientist]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? BUY A FEATURED LISTING TO APPEAR HERE]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise]( Copyright © 2023 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](