Meta fights state-ordered shutdown of Seattle-area R&D cleanroom

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This special series explores the evolving relationship between humans and machines, examining the ways that robots, AI and automation are impacting our work and lives: [Read more.]( TODAY'S TOP STORIES Meta vs. Washington state in the “Matrix”: A futuristic Meta Platforms facility in Redmond, Wash., known as “Matrix,” has been cited for multiple safety violations and had its cleanroom shut down by state regulators, according to a Meta court filing seeking to overturn the order. - The facility is home to Meta Reality Labs, where the Facebook parent company develops technologies for augmented and virtual reality, such as wristbands that control devices with small muscle movements, as demonstrated by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the Meta photo above, as published by CNET at the time. - "The health and safety of our employees remains our top priority,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to GeekWire. “We’re working closely with state officials to take all precautions necessary to ensure a safe working environment.” [Read more](. Washington state companies taking tech innovation to CES: The Dept. of Commerce will lead a delegation of companies to the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. More than 40 other companies will also show off their products and services. [See the list.]( NASA awards funds for far-out ideas: A University of Washington astronomer’s proposal to build a far-flung set of radio antennas to measure the cosmos is one of 13 concepts to receive seed funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program. [Read more.]( Tech Moves: A veteran sports media exec is out and a former Hulu exec is in at Amazon; a longtime Seattle-area startup marketing leader departs Tenable; [and more key personnel changes](. Startup’s name change: OctoML, a 2019 spinout of the University of Washington, is now OctoAI, a switch that better reflects the company’s growing product suite and highlights the boom that’s taking over tech. [Read more.]( A mission to send a commercial lander to the moon, set for launch in a couple of days, will bring the fruition of projects that have been in the works for years — including projects that aim to put DNA into cold storage on the final frontier. [Read more](. Closer look at the UW’s big growth plans: Portage Bay Crossing will cover 69 acres and anchor an ambitious, innovation-focused redevelopment at the University of Washington aimed at solving “some of the nation’s and the world’s biggest problems.” [Read more.]( VC trash talk: Ahead of Monday’s college football championship between the University of Washington and University of Michigan, we caught up with two alumni from each school who also happen to be tech investors in the Seattle region — and one played football for the Huskies. Read more in tomorrow’s newsletter. Hot Links: - Is LinkedIn a dating app? Some users are looking for love on the Microsoft-owned platform. ([Business Insider]( - UW Medicine innovations: Medical researchers at the University of Washington came up with some impressive ideas last year, including a pacemaker that could recharge itself with heartbeat energy. ([UW Medicine]( Thanks for [subscribing]( to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great weekend. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Your Future in Cybersecurity Starts at WGU]( You can help safeguard the digital world with WGU! Our online, accredited cybersecurity degrees include key industry certs at no extra cost. You’ll have the ability to accelerate through coursework, with no set log-in times. [Learn More.]( LATEST HEADLINES [Milestone moon lander mission targets an otherworldly frontier for DNA data storage]( [Meta fights shutdown of Seattle-area Reality Labs cleanroom by state safety regulators]( [Here’s why Seattle startup OctoML changed its name to OctoAI]( [CES 2024: Here are the Washington state companies taking tech innovation to Las Vegas]( [NASA awards funds to study deep-space interferometer and other far-out ideas]( [Tech Moves: Amazon sports VP departing; AI product leader leaving Microsoft; and more]( GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [City of Redlands: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analyst]( - [City of Redlands: IT Security Analyst]( - [Dexis Professional Services: PRISM Integration SME/Engineer (Advisor-Grade 8)]( - [City of Newport: Systems Administrator I or II]( - [BRINC: Senior/Principal Backend & Platform Software Engineer]( - [INRIX: Lead Software Engineer]( - [INRIX: Lead Software Engineer, Big Data]( - [Submittable: Director of Engineering]( - [INRIX: Chief Revenue Office]( - [City of Newport: Systems Administrator I or II]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? 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