Podcast
GeekWire
Hosted by GeekWire · EN
GeekWire brings you the week's latest technology news, trends and insights, covering the world of technology from our home base in Seattle. Our regular news podcast features commentary and analysis from our editors and reporters, plus interviews with special guests.
33episodes
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Riding the rails — over a floating bridge: GeekWire Podcast takes the train across the lake to Microsoft
Apr 1100:42:46Tap to summarizeThis week on the GeekWire Podcast: we take the show on the road — or rather, on the rails — recording on Sound Transit's 2 Line as we ride the world's first light rail on a floating bridge from Seattle's Northgate neighborhood to Microsoft's campus in Redmond. Along the way, we talk tech news, chat with fellow passengers, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the engineering from Sound Transit's Henry Bendon. After arriving in Redmond, we sit down with Microsoft President Brad Smith to talk about the company's two-decade role in making the Crosslake Connection a reality — and hit him with a trivia question he didn't see coming. We also discuss Anduril's autonomous warship facility on Seattle's ship canal, golf star Bryson DeChambeau's acquisition of Bellevue-based Sportsbox AI ahead of the Masters, and more. With GeekWire's John Cook, Todd Bishop, and Kurt Schlosser. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Rec Room shutdown, robot umps, FedEx meets Amazon, and OpenAI's odd media buy
Apr 400:36:48Tap to summarizeThis week: Rec Room, the Seattle-based social gaming platform once valued at $3.5 billion, is shutting down — and Snap is picking up some of the pieces. Todd talks about what it was like fielding calls from distraught users on the night of the announcement. John offers his thoughts on what the shutdown says about the VR hype cycle, and whether everyone betting on the AI boom should take notes. Plus: Major League Baseball's new automated ball-strike system is already exposing umpires and creating a whole new kind of showboating — including one player who was so confident the robot would overrule the ump that he just started walking to first base. Also on the show: Todd road-tests Amazon's new FedEx Office returns partnership (pro tip: don't ask for stamps), OpenAI makes a head-scratching move into media by acquiring tech talk show TBPN, John gets fooled by an April Fools' prank, WSU researchers take on the torpedo bat, and our weekly trivia segment ties Apple's 50th anniversary to a piece of Microsoft lore. Thanks to this week's sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Microsoft, proud to call Washington state home and committed to strengthening the communities that made its growth possible — investing in infrastructure, workforce development, education, and nonprofit partnerships to help ensure innovation drives broad-based prosperity across the state. Read more. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →GeekWire AI summit takeaways: Token budgets, watermelon metrics, and the $5k weekend coder
Mar 2800:41:35Tap to summarizeFresh off the big GeekWire AI summit this week, Todd and John unpack what they heard from Microsoft EVP Charles Lamanna, OpenAI applications CTO Vijaye Raji, and other speakers at the Agents of Transformation event in Seattle, presented by Accenture. The big thread: the economics of AI, from token budgets becoming a hiring negotiation point to startups running on subsidized credits that may not last. Plus, a startup founder whose engineer burned through $5,000 in AI tokens over a single weekend of vibe coding, OpenAI shutting down Sora amid $15 million-a-day processing costs, and why one panelist says the metrics most companies are tracking are "watermelon metrics" — green (profit) on the outside, red (losses) on the inside. Also: how Todd used a Claude project over several months to prep for the event, John's experience bouncing between Gemini and ChatGPT, and why the simplistic chat era may be over. And in this week's trivia: Sound Transit's light rail starts crossing Lake Washington on a floating bridge — but when did the original I-90 floating bridge open? With GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Microsoft’s Copilot shakeup, Amazon’s new phone ambitions, and pushing Claude to the limits of LinkedIn
Mar 2100:45:39Tap to summarizeAmazon is working on a new smartphone, code-named "Transformer," more than a decade after the Fire Phone debacle, according to Reuters. We dig into the connection to a past GeekWire scoop: former Microsoft Xbox leader J Allard joined Amazon's devices team in 2024, and he's now leading a group called ZeroOne with a mandate to create "breakthrough" gadgets. Is this an AI-native device? A companion to your iPhone? J Allard's shot at redemption? Maybe all of the above. There's more great Fire Phone background in this Vergecast "Version History" podcast. Then: Microsoft shakes up its Copilot team, shifting Mustafa Suleyman to a narrower role and unifying consumer and enterprise AI under a new leader. Todd has strong feelings about Microsoft's history of cutesy consumer tech, from Clippy to Mico. Plus: Todd's adventure using Claude CoWork to browse LinkedIn (and the stern warning he got in response), King County Metro's slick new tap-to-pay feature catches the transit system up with the modern world, the opening of cross-lake light rail, and an Amazon Treasure truck trivia question. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Audio editing by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →How AI is changing the business and art of video, from 'chaos machine' to creative catalyst
Mar 1400:59:41Tap to summarizeBrice Budke (President) and Zeek Earl (Executive Creative Director) run two Seattle studios: Shep, a video agency that works with tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft, and Packrat, a creative studio that specializes in miniature worlds, handmade sets, and retro creative projects. You might know Packrat's work from the epic and widely watched 2025 Seahawks schedule release video, which won a Gold Clio. They also made Prospect, an indie sci-fi film that premiered at SXSW in 2018 with Pedro Pascal and Sophie Thatcher. GeekWire met them last fall on the set of a stop-motion shoot for Kiro, an AI-powered agentic software development tool from Amazon Web Services. Check out the video they made from that shoot here. On this episode, Brice and Zeek discuss how AI is transforming their work — from photorealistic storyboarding to stop-motion animation filled in by AI-generated frames — and what still requires human creativity, taste, and intuition. Plus: the psychology of working with "infinite tools," why AI doesn't always save money, and the GeekWire Trivia Challenge. With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →On location at OpenAI in Bellevue, with CTO of Applications Vijaye Raji
Mar 700:37:01Tap to summarizeOpenAI just opened its largest office outside San Francisco, in downtown Bellevue, Wash. GeekWire was there on day one to tour the space. Chatting inside the OpenAI game room, we share our observations about the Mad Men-meets-Pacific Northwest aesthetic, which features open floor plans and lots of common areas, and try to figure out what it all says about OpenAI's culture. Plus, we talk with Vijaye Raji, the former Statsig CEO who is now OpenAI's CTO of applications, about Codex, infrastructure, hiring, and the evolution and growth of Silicon Valley tech giants in the region. In our final segment, it's the return of the GeekWire trivia challenge, with a question focusing on one of the earliest tech giants to establish an outpost in the Seattle area. Related Story: Inside OpenAI’s new Bellevue office: A swanky statement about AI’s impact on the Seattle region Upcoming Event: Agents of Transformation, March 24. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Anthropic acquires Vercept, the AI job crisis scenario, and Microsoft's past Epstein connections
Feb 2800:37:47Tap to summarizeAnthropic acquired Seattle startup Vercept on Wednesday, raising familiar questions about the impact of early exits on the broader Seattle startup ecosystem, and the question of whether AI startups can compete long-term against the giants of the field. We dig into the deal, the public feud between two of the company's early investors on LinkedIn, and why one co-founder's prior departure to Meta may have been worth more than the entire acquisition. Plus, a new research paper envisions a 2028 "global intelligence crisis" driven by AI-fueled white collar job losses, and we're already seeing early signs in the news. Then, the New York Times reported this week that Jeffrey Epstein built deeper connections inside Microsoft than any other major tech company. We break down the key revelations, including what we found when we searched the Epstein files for "GeekWire." WSJ: Bill Gates Apologizes to Foundation Staff Over Epstein Ties And stick around for GeekWire Trivia: With Xbox entering a new era under Asha Sharma, we look back at the celebrity who appeared on stage for the original Xbox unveiling 25 years ago. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →We tested Amazon's speedy delivery live on the podcast: Here's what it says about the future of retail
Feb 2100:44:07Tap to summarizeAmazon promises 30-minute delivery with its new Amazon Now service. We put it to the test — live on the show — with help from Michael Levin and Josh Lowitz, co-founders of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners and two of the sharpest Amazon watchers we know. While we wait for our order of yogurt, blueberries, and flossers (long story), Mike and Josh break down why Amazon closed its grocery stores, what its massive future 225,000-square-foot superstore in suburban Chicago could mean, and why Amazon's real play is becoming the ultimate convenience store. Plus: Test your knowledge of Amazon with our weekly trivia question. Will Josh and Mike get it right? Related stories and links: CIRP Amazon Report on Substack CIRP: By Closing Stores, Amazon Goes All-In on Delivery GeekWire: Amazon closing all Amazon Fresh and Go stores to focus on Whole Foods and grocery delivery Bloomberg: Amazon Dethrones Walmart as World’s Biggest Company by Sales "Learn and Be Curious," the new podcast from Doug Herrington, the Amazon Worldwide Stores CEO. With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, edited by Curt Milton. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →GeekWire Podcast, Live from Fremont: Seahawks, AI, and Seattle's Future
Feb 1400:53:39Tap to summarizeWe're live this week in the "Center of the Universe" in Seattle for a special recording of the GeekWire Podcast, presented by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce at Fremont Brewing Co. Fresh off the Seahawks' Super Bowl victory, we debate some potential ownership groups for the Seahawks and Sonics — from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez to Costco's Jim Sinegal. (Who wouldn't want $1.50 hot dogs and sodas at Lumen Field or Climate Pledge Arena?) Then we dig into the debate over Seattle's tech future, sparked by angel investor Charles Fitzgerald's GeekWire column, "A warning to Seattle: Don't become the next Cleveland," which led to a response and ultimately a great conversation with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb. Fremont Chamber Executive Director Pete Hanning joins us to talk about the neighborhood's tech corridor, why Fremont offices are seeing some of the highest return-to-office rates on the West Coast, and how the neighborhood balances its quirky identity with serious business. In the final segment: Test your Seattle tech knowledge with our Fremont-themed tech trivia, plus audience Q&A, in which Todd comes clean about his relationship with Claude. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Cleveland's Mayor, Seattle's Future: What happens when a city's economy shifts
Feb 1300:18:57Tap to summarizeGeekWire brought Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Seattle tech veteran Charles Fitzgerald together on the phone Thursday after a guest column warning Seattle not to repeat Cleveland's past mistakes sparked a big response — including from Bibb himself. What followed was a constructive conversation about what cities should do when the economic ground shifts beneath them. Plus: a Seattle-to-Cleveland trip may be in the works. Related Links A warning to Seattle: Don’t become the next ClevelandCleveland mayor responds to GeekWire guest column, calls Ohio city a ‘case study of what’s possible’ Mayor Bibb on LinkedIn: "For decades, national narratives have framed Cleveland as a cautionary tale. But that framing misses the bigger story." Note: This is a special bonus episode. Our regular weekly show, recorded live Thursday night in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, will be out Saturday morning.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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