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- Could the ransomware crisis force action against Russia?
- Amazon will end Prime Now as standalone service, integrate speedy deliveries into main app and site
- How to get rid of that skunk smell? (video)
- First-of-its-kind flower smells like dead insects to imprison ‘coffin flies’
- 2021 GeekWire Awards revealed: Big winners, surprise guests, and the best in Pacific NW tech
- Google’s Pixel 6 Pro looks amazing in these colorful new mockups
- Amazon facing race, gender discrimination lawsuits
- Beware: This dangerous malware steals your bank account info and lets hackers rob you
- With interest in electric trucks on the rise, Rivian gets set for business in Seattle area
- Apple just released iOS 14.7 public beta 1 so all iPhone users can try it
| Could the ransomware crisis force action against Russia? Posted: 21 May 2021 02:39 AM PDT dWeb.News Article from Patrick Howell O'Neill What touches the American psyche more deeply than a gas shortage? If the Colonial Pipeline attack is any measure, nothing. Ransomware has been a growing problem for years, with hundreds of brazen criminal hacks against schools, hospitals, and city governments—but it took an attack that affected people's cars for the US to really take notice. The strike on the Colonial Pipeline may have only led to panic buying, rather than genuine gas scarcity, but it pushed the country hard enough to demand a response from the President of the United States. On May 10, after the company had paid $4.4 million to the hackers responsible, President Biden made his argument. While there was no evidence of direct Russian government involvement in the Colonial Pipeline attack, he said, Moscow has a responsibility to deal with criminals residing within their own borders. His statement is based on what experts have long known: that Russia is a cybercrime superpower in large part because the line between government and organized crime is deliberately hazy. "We have a 20 year history of Russia harboring cybercriminals," says Dmitri Alperovitch, the former CTO of cloud security company Crowdstrike and chairman at the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a technology-focused think tank in Washington, DC. "At a minimum they turn a blind eye toward cybercriminals, at a maximum they are supported, encouraged, facilitated." Knowing what is happening is one thing, however. What's more difficult is working out how to change it. Imposing consequencesUnder international law, states have a responsibility to not knowingly allow their territory to be used for international crime. This most often happens in piracy, but it also applies to terrorism and organized crime. Global agreements mean that governments are obligated to shut down such criminal activity or, if they lack capability, to get assistance to do so. Russia, however, has been known to protect criminal hackers and even co-opt them to undertake attacks on its behalf. More often, it simply tolerates and ignores the crooks as long as the country itself is not affected. That means hackers will routinely skip any computer using the Russian language, for instance, in an implicit admission of how the game is played. Meanwhile, the Kremlin routinely strongly resists international efforts to bring the hackers to heel, simply throwing accusations back at the rest of the world—refusing to acknowledge that a problem exists, and declining to help. On May 11, for example, shortly after Biden's statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Preskov publicly denied Russian involvement. Instead, he criticized the United States for "refusing to cooperate with us in any way to counter cyber-threats." The calculus for Russia is difficult to measure clearly but a few variables are striking: Ransomware attacks destabilize Moscow's adversaries, and transfer wealth to Moscow's friends—all without much in the way of negative consequences. Now observers are wondering if high-profile incidents like the pipeline shutdown will change the math. "The question for the US and the West is, 'How much are you willing to do to the Russians if they're going to be uncooperative?'" says James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "What the West has been unwilling to do is take forceful action against Russia. How do you impose consequences when people ignore agreed upon international norms?" "I do think that we need to put pressure on Russia to start dealing with the cybercriminals," Alperovitch argues. "Not just the ones directly responsible for Colonial, but the whole slew of groups that have been conducting ransomware attacks, financial fraud, and the like for two decades. Not only has Russia not done that, they've strenuously objected when we demand arrests of individuals and provided full evidence to the Russian law enforcement, they've done nothing. They've been completely obstructionist at the least, not helping in investigations, not conducting arrests, not holding people accountable. At a minimum, we need to demand them to take action." "Russia has been completely obstructionist at the least, not helping in investigations, not conducting arrests, not holding people accountable." Dmitri Alperovitch, Silverado Policy Accelerator There are numerous examples of cybercriminals being deeply entangled with Russian intelligence. The enormous 2014 hack against Yahoo resulted in charges against Russian intelligence officers and cybercriminal conspirators. The hacker Evgeniy Bogachev, once the world's most prolific bank hacker, has been linked to Russian espionage. And on the rare occasion when hackers are arrested and extradited, Russia accuses the US of "kidnapping" its citizens: The Americans counter that the Kremlin is protecting its own criminals by preventing investigation and arrest. Bogachev, for example, has been charged by the US for creating a criminal hacking network responsible for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from bank hacks. His current location in a resort town in southern Russia is no secret, least of all to the Russian authorities who at first cooperated with the American-led investigation against him but ultimately reneged on the deal. Like many of his contemporaries, he's out of reach because of Moscow's protection. To be clear: there is no evidence that Moscow directed the Colonial Pipeline hack. What security and intelligence experts argue is that the Russian government's long-standing tolerance of—and occasional direct relationship with—cybercriminals is at the heart of the ransomware crisis. Allowing a criminal economy to grow unchecked makes it virtually inevitable that critical infrastructure targets like hospitals and pipelines will be hit. But the reward is high and the risk so far is low, so the problem grows. What are the options?Just days before the pipeline was hacked, a landmark "Combating Ransomware" report was published by the Institute for Security and Technology. Assembled by a special task force comprising government, academia, and representatives of American technology industry's biggest companies, it was one of the most comprehensive works ever produced about the problem. Its chief recommendation was to build a coordinated process to prioritize ransomware defense across the whole US government; the next stage, it argued, would require a truly international effort to fight the multibillion ransomware problem. "The previous administration didn't think this problem was a priority," says Phil Reiner, who led the report. "They didn't take coordinated action. In fact, that previous administration was completely uncoordinated on cybersecurity. It's not surprising they didn't put together they didn't put together an interagency process to address this, they didn't do that for anything." Today, America's standard menu of options for responding to hacking incidents ranges from sending a nasty note or individual indictments, through to state-level sanctions and offensive cyber actions against ransomware groups. Experts say it is important to get allies to publicly acknowledge the problems and endorse the consequences—and to be less hesitant. Biden's public assertion that the Kremlin bears responsibility for cybercrime carried out from Russian soil could be a signal to Moscow of potential consequences if action isn't taken, although he didn't say what those consequences could be. The fact that the United Kingdom's Foreign Minister, Dominic Raab, soon echoed the sentiment is a sign of growing international consensus. "The preponderance of opinion is for caution, which of course the Russians know and exploit," Lewis says. "Colonial hasn't fully changed that but I think we're moving away from a timid response. We're not changing anything and things are getting worse." Action can be stymied for fear of escalation, or because cyber can take a back seat to other issues important to the Russia-US relationship like arms control or Iran. But there are efforts underway to expand the options for action as senior leaders from both sides of the Atlantic now clearly see ransomware as a national security threat. That is a fundamental shift that could drive change—in theory. "I wonder about the idea against action because it risks making the Russians mad so they'll do something back to us," says Lewis. "What exactly have they not done?" Today, the White House is actively working with international partners, the Justice Department is standing up a new ransomware task force, and the Department of Homeland Security is ramping up efforts to deal with the problem. "This is a solvable problem," says Reiner, who was a senior National Security Council official under Obama. "But if action isn't taken, it's going to get worse. You thought gas lines for a day or two were bad, but get used to it. They're going to continue to ramp up against schools, hospitals, businesses, you name it. The ransomware actors won't care until they face consequences." What touches the American psyche more deeply than a gas shortage? If the Colonial Pipeline attack is any measure, nothing. Ransomware has been a growing problem for years, with hundreds of brazen criminal hacks against schools, hospitals, and city governments—but it took an attack that affected people's cars for the US to really take notice. …Computing, Cybersecurity, cybersecurity The post Could the ransomware crisis force action against Russia? appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Amazon will end Prime Now as standalone service, integrate speedy deliveries into main app and site Posted: 21 May 2021 12:39 AM PDT dWeb.News Article from Todd Bishop  Inside an Amazon Prime Now Hub. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) With Amazon offering increasingly faster delivery times — not just one-day or same-day but sometimes a matter of hours — the difference between Amazon.com and its Prime Now speedy delivery service has become more and more narrow. Now the distinction is going away entirely. Prime Now will be integrated into Amazon's main e-commerce website and app under a plan announced by the company Friday morning. Stephenie Landry, Amazon vice president for grocery. Amazon "will retire the Prime Now app and website worldwide by the end of this year," writes Stephenie Landry, Amazon vice president of grocery, in a post announcing the news. The goal is to create a more seamless experience for customers, she writes. Amazon will no longer use the Prime Now name at all after the transition, a spokesperson confirmed. Customers will still be able to order two-hour delivery from Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and independent retailers that were featured in the Prime Now app, Landry's post says. Landry wrote the original Amazon six-page planning document for the project in 2014, under the code name "Houdini." The service launched in New York less than four months later, offering one- and two-hour delivery. It "became the foundation for Amazon's ultrafast grocery and same-day delivery businesses," Landry writes in the post. The move to phase out Prime Now comes as Amazon continues to build out its last-mile delivery capacity, creating new Delivery Stations around the country. Amazon is working with a growing number of Delivery Service Partners companies, independent businesses that contract with the company to deliver packages in Amazon-branded vans and uniforms. Amazon says more than 100,000 people are now employed by these companies. On the company's recent earnings conference call, Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's chief financial officer, said that the majority of Amazon packages are now being delivered by its own delivery network rather than partners such as UPS and the Postal Service. One of the advantages, Olsavsky said, is the ability to send out packages in a "continuous flow," with groups of orders leaving its warehouses five or six times a day, rather than getting handed off in a single batch to another delivery company. With Amazon offering increasingly faster delivery times — not just one-day or same-day but sometimes a matter of hours — the difference between Amazon.com and its Prime Now speedy delivery service has become more and more narrow. Now the distinction is going away entirely. Prime Now will be integrated into Amazon's main e-commerce website and app under a plan announced by the company Friday morning. Amazon "will retire the Prime Now app and website worldwide by the end of this year," writes Stephenie Landry, Amazon vice president of grocery, in a post announcing the news. The goal is to create a… Read MoreAmazon, prime now, Stephenie Landry The post Amazon will end Prime Now as standalone service, integrate speedy deliveries into main app and site appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| How to get rid of that skunk smell? (video) Posted: 20 May 2021 09:50 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Daniel Webster   Skunks are nocturnal animals that prefer to keep to themselves. However, when they sense danger, this lurking purveyor of biochemical warfare unleashes its primary defense mechanism: a nasty-smelling spray. Similar to tear gas, the scent is so strong it can can cause your eyes to start dripping and make you nauseous. This week on Reactions, get ready for some stinky chemistry as we take a closer look at the compounds that give skunk spray its distinctively horrendous odor: https://youtu.be/7i_NGMV63HQ. The post How to get rid of that skunk smell? (video) appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| First-of-its-kind flower smells like dead insects to imprison ‘coffin flies’ Posted: 20 May 2021 09:41 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Daniel Webster  First plant found to deceive pollinators by mimicking decomposing insects The plant Aristolochia microstoma uses a unique trick: its flowers emit a fetid-musty scent that seems to mimic the smell of decomposing insects. Flies from the genus Megaselia (family Phoridae) likely get attracted to this smell while searching for insect corpses to mate over and lay their eggs in. When they enter a flower, they are imprisoned and first pollinate the female organs, before being covered with pollen by the male organs. The flower then releases them unharmed. “Here we show that the flowers of A. microstoma emit an unusual mix of volatiles that includes alkylpyrazines, which are otherwise rarely produced by flowering plants. Our results suggest that this is the first known case of a flower that tricks pollinators by smelling like dead and rotting insects rather than vertebrate carrion,” says corresponding author Prof Stefan Dötterl, the head of plant ecology group and the Botanical Gardens at the Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria. The study is published in the open access journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Between 4-6% of flowering plants use a ‘deceptive pollination strategy’: they use odor, color, and touch to advertize a reward to pollinators, such as nectar, pollen, or mating and breeding sites, but don’t actually give any. The deception works because pollinators are poor at distinguishing between the reward and the mimic. Deceptive pollination is typical of many orchids, but has also independently evolved in other plants, including in the genus Aristolochia (family Aristolochiaceae or birthworths). “Aristolochia contains over 550 species around the world, especially in the tropics and subtropics. They are mostly woody vines and herbaceous perennials with striking, complex flowers that temporarily imprison their visitors to get pollinated,” says Prof Christoph Neinhuis, coauthor of the study, who cultivates one of the largest Aristolochia collections worldwide at TU Dresden Botanical Garden, Germany. When pollinators enter an Aristolochia flower, they are guided by hairs downwards to a small chamber which holds the sexual organs. Trapped inside, they deposit any pollen they carry onto the female organs, before the stamens ripen and release more pollen. When the hairs that block the entrance to the chamber wither, the pollinators can escape, and a new cycle can begin. “Many Aristolochia species are known to attract flies with floral scents, for example mimicking the smell of carrion or feces of mammals, decaying plants, or fungi,” says first author Thomas Rupp, a PhD student at the Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg. “But our curiosity was piqued by A. microstoma, a species known only from Greece: unlike other Aristolochia with their showy flowers, A. microstoma has inconspicuous brownish flowers that lie horizontally, partly buried or close to the ground among leaf litter or rocks. The flowers release an unpleasant, carrion-like smell, noticeable to people at a short distance.” Rupp and colleagues sampled A. microstoma plants from three sites in Greece: one West of Athens and two on the Peloponnese. From 1457 flowers (of which 72% were in the first, female phase) they collected a total of 248 arthropods, ranging from flies from four families to centipedes and springtails. Only female and male Megaselia flies – M. scalaris and members of the M. angusta/longicostalis cluster of closely related species, as determined through DNA barcoding and from morphology – were found carrying pollen inside its flowers, indicating that they are the normal pollinators. The authors then used gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to analyze the flowers’ scent ‘bouquet’. They found 16 compounds, including strong-smelling nitrogen- and sulfur-bearing volatile molecules. Among the main ‘ingredients’ were oligosulfides, produced by many plant species whose pollinators are carrion flies or bats: a fetid scent characteristic of decomposing meat. But surprisingly, another was 2,5-dimethylpyrazine (8-47% of total composition), a musty scent typical of cooked rice or roasted peanuts – known in nature to occur in the carapace of decomposing beetles and well as in the urine of rodents. Very few plants are known to produce this compound, strongly suggesting that A. microstoma mimics an unusual fake ‘reward’ to attract specialist pollinators. “Earlier studies had suggested that A. microstoma might be pollinated by leaf litter-dwelling insects such as ants, because of the orientation and position of the flowers. But here we show that this isn’t correct: instead, the main pollinators are Megaselia ‘coffin flies’. As their name suggests, these flies feed on carrion, on which they lay their eggs and which serves as food for the larvae, which is why they are often used as evidence in forensic medicine,” says Dötterl. “We show A. microstoma flowers emit a simple but highly unusual mix of scents that includes 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, a molecule that occurs neither in vertebrate carcasses nor in feces, but does occur in dead beetles. We conclude that A. microstoma likely uses a strategy that has never been reported before: its flowers mimic the smell of invertebrate carrion to attract and imprison pollinators. The peculiar orientation of the flowers close to the ground may also help, as pollinating coffin flies search for breeding sites or food close to the ground, in leaf litter or between rocks,” concludes coauthor Prof Stefan Wanke from TU Dresden, Germany. BIODIVERSITY,BIOLOGY,ECOLOGY/ENVIRONMENTENT,OMOLOGY,EVOLUTION,PLANT SCIENCES The post First-of-its-kind flower smells like dead insects to imprison ‘coffin flies’ appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| 2021 GeekWire Awards revealed: Big winners, surprise guests, and the best in Pacific NW tech Posted: 20 May 2021 07:39 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Kurt Schlosser  Some of the winners at the 2021 GeekWire Awards during their virtual acceptance speeches on Thursday. (GeekWire video screen grabs) It's been a tough year for people everywhere. But Thursday proved to be an inspiring day, as the 2021 GeekWire Awards returned to honor some of the leading innovators and entrepreneurs who make up the Pacific Northwest tech community. In another virtual event — which everyone hopes will be the last of the pandemic — GeekWire recognized more than 60 finalists and honorees across 14 categories, from Startup of the Year to CEO of the Year and lots in between. The event featured a number of celebrity cameos and entertaining moments throughout the show, with video greetings from Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm, Bobby Wagner of the Seattle Seahawks, and "The Office" actor Rainn Wilson. Singing sensation "The Drunken Tenor" also returned for a dizzying run-though of all the nominees while he hustled around Seattle and back to our livestream home base at Pacific Science Center. Of our 16 winners and honorees, eight are women, including our three STEM Educators of the Year — a new award. And five are people of color and/or immigrant entrepreneurs. Keep reading for all the winners, honorees and acceptance speeches from the 2021 GeekWire Awards: Startup of the Year, presented by West River GroupWinner: SeekOutAnoop Gupta, co-founder and CEO of SeekOut, accepts the first award of the night on Thursday via video link. Seattle-area startup SeekOut raised $65 million in March to fuel growth of its recruiting software that is like LinkedIn on steroids. It pulls information on potential hires from sites such as LinkedIn and GitHub; from research papers and patents; and other public domains. The platform has built-in diversity filters to help reduce unconscious bias; an automated messaging tool; and a search engine that understands past hiring patterns and needs based on job descriptions. The Series B round valued the company at close to $500 million. SeekOut is profitable and saw annual recurring revenue spike 10X over the past 21 months. Acceptance speech: "Thank you so much, we are so delighted. It's great," co-founder and CEO Anoop Gupta said. "We are in talent acquisition. Where we are headed is, people are the most important asset any company has. How we can help companies do the best with internal and external talent — to develop, to hire, to retain, to redeploy. We are the people company." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Common Room; Ozette; Shelf Engine; and Strike Graph. Young Entrepreneur of the Year, presented by First TechWinner: Stephanie Strong, founder and CEO of Boulder CareStephanie Strong, founder and CEO of Boulder Care. Stephanie Strong is the founder and CEO of Boulder Care, an app-based addiction treatment program for those suffering from opioid use disorder. An alternative to brick-and-mortar clinics, Boulder aims to provide patients support when and where they need it. The Portland-based startup is building out both a digital platform and a clinical care team. Strong previously was an associate focusing on healthcare services and technology at a New York venture capital firm. She was a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree in healthcare in 2019 and graduated from Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy. Acceptance speech: "Our mission is to help people through some really challenging times, through addiction and mental health," Strong said. "All of us have been tested so much in this last year, bringing a lot of empathy and awareness to our cause, but perhaps no more than our team who have worked so hard through everything that has come from COVID-19." Strong told GeekWire co-founder and Awards host John Cook how she came up with the idea for Boulder. "Seeing a lot firsthand in my work in healthcare services investing, how many barriers there are to getting treatment when we have fantastic medical models and psychosocial support that help people get well … the tremendous power of technology to help make those services more accessible so that people can live amazing lives in recovery. See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Aran Khanna; Avi Schiffmann; Kwame Boler and Claudius Mbemba; and Michael Petrochuk. Deal of the Year – IPOs & Acquisitions, presented by Wilson SonsiniWinner: Auth0Eugenio Pace, Auth0 founder and CEO. Auth0, the billion-dollar Seattle-area startup that is a leader in identity authentication software, is being acquired by Okta, another leader in the space, the companies announced earlier this year. The all-stock deal valued at approximately $6.5 billion is one of the largest acquisitions of a Seattle tech company. Auth0 was co-founded in 2013 by Eugenio Pace, who formerly ran the patterns and practices group at Microsoft, and Matias Woloski, a software engineer who remains the company's CTO. The startup raised a $120 million round in July at a $1.9 billion valuation, making it a rare Seattle unicorn. Acceptance speech: "Thank you very much for the recognition, this is certainly a big milestone for us, but a milestone is not the destination it's just a milestone in a long, long journey that we see in front of us," Pace said. "We are really proud of calling the Pacific Northwest home, and really looking forward to what's next for us." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Accolade; Athira Pharma; Rover; and Sana Biotechnology. Deal of the Year – Funding, presented by Wilson SonsiniWinner: Rad Power BikesRad Power Bikes CFO Mark Klebanoff. After a pandemic year that spurred huge demand for its e-bikes, Seattle's Rad Power Bikes raised $150 million to fuel growth. It's the largest investment in an e-bike brand and reflects investor confidence in a global electric bike market expected to nearly double in size to $70 billion by 2027. From its humble bootstrapped roots, Rad now bills itself as the largest e-bike brand in North America. The fresh cash will be used to help expand its global footprint, which includes three showrooms and 11 service stations. The company, headquartered in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, also plans to double its 325-person headcount this year. Acceptance speech: "At Rad Power Bikes, we're all about getting people out of cars and onto bikes and that's what this fundraising is all about," said Rad CFO Mark Klebanoff. "It's good to accelerate our business, to get our collective mobility carbon footprint down." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: 98point6; DefinedCrowd; Qumulo; and Rec Room. Innovation of the Year, presented by Wave BusinessWinner: Vikram Iyer, Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & EngineeringVikram Iyer of the University of Washington. A PhD student at the University of Washington in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering's Networks and Mobile Systems Lab, Vikram Iyer is using tiny tech to solve big problems. Iyer has previously attached a small wireless camera to the back of a beetle and developed tiny sensors that can be dropped from moths. His efforts around tracking technology helped inform the search for an invasive "murder hornet" nest in Northwest Washington state last fall. Acceptance speech: "Part of what I worked on here was this platform that allows you to track all kinds of small animals," Iyer said. "It could be really useful for studying things like birds and many other species that people haven't been able to do much research on so far. I also think that there's a lot of applications going forward with this same sort of technology for really small robots as well. I'm excited about possibilities in the future for both of those." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Group14 Technologies; Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington; LevelTen Energy; CoreStack Health Innovation of the Year, presented by Premera Blue CrossWinner: Adaptive BiotechnologiesLance Baldo, chief medical officer at Adaptive Biotechnologies. Adaptive Biotechnologies developed a first-of-its kind diagnostic tool called T-Detect COVID. The technology surveys a person's T-cells to determine if they've had COVID-19, which is a more accurate way to get an answer than using antibodies for detecting past infections. Acceptance speech: "Thank you for acknowledging Adaptive and all the great work that we've done here and all the other finalists for all the great innovations being brought forward in the midst of a pandemic," said Lance Baldo, chief medical officer at Adaptive. "To our partner Microsoft for going on this journey with us, we knew that it was possible that T cells could tell us something about COVID, but we weren't sure, and luckily that hypothesis was correct. "The pandemic put technology and innovation under so much pressure that the innovation that we've developed here is going to just play forward to the future when we think about how we're going to figure out how to better diagnose and treat disease. As bad as the pandemic been, it's absolute an absolute accelerant for innovation. We're just excited to see where this goes." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Impel NeuroPharma; Optimize.health; Proprio; and TwinStrand Biosciences. UX Design of the Year, presented by Blink UXWinner: JoonA Pioneer Square Labs spinout, Joon provides teletherapy for teens and young adults via a mobile app. In addition to therapy sessions, the startup offers interactive mental healthcare tools for users and resources for parents and guardians. Awards judges called the product UX "simple, trust-building and affirming for pandemic-weary teenage users" and said Joon "gives them daily tools to use along with one-on-one therapy sessions. Acceptance speech: Joon was not available in the Awards Zoom, but offered up this tweet: #2021GeekWireAwards From everyone at @joon_care thank you for the UX Design of the Year award! We are thrilled for the recognition as we work to transform the world of teen mental health! Hats off to our Director of Design @joonkshin !!! — Amy Mezulis, PhD (@AmyMezulis) May 20, 2021 See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Boundless; Qumulo: Qumulo Core; Tagboard: Tagboard Producer; and Voodle. STEM Educator of the Year, presented by DreamBox LearningHonorees: Lauren Bricker, Cathi Rodgveller, and Kim Williams.GeekWire has highlighted and endless number of tireless educators over the years who are nurturing the next generation of geeks. This year, we were excited to announce a new award to recognize a select group of the Pacific Northwest's top teachers. The inaugural cohort is an impressive collection of educators who are inspiring young minds to achieve more in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math. They come from universities, public schools and nonprofits, and are working with kids from elementary school into college and supporting fellow teachers as well. The honorees are: Lauren Bricker, Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington. See this post for and this podcast more background on this category. Geeks Give Back Award, presented by BECUWinner: Female Founders AllianceFemale Founders Alliance founder Leslie Feinzaig. Seattle's Female Founders Alliance is an organization founded by Leslie Feinzaig in 2017 that supports women and non-binary entrepreneurs. Its Ready, Set, Raise accelerator draws startups from around the nation, and each year FFA hosts its annual Champions Awards to celebrate women leaders. The alliance has its own "curated" networking group specifically for founders and a private FFA Investors Circle for venture capital funds and angel investors supporting the community. Acceptance speech: "Thank you to my team, our advisors, investors, all of the amazing women that are a part of our community. I want to say that even though this is the Geeks Give Back award, and normally it goes to a nonprofit, that women founders are not a charitable cause, we are an investable opportunity," Feinzaig said. "We get 2% of all venture capital. We return 63% higher ROI and twice as much revenue for every dollar you invest in us. "Eight years ago, Jane Park won CEO of the Year and she got on stage and she said that she was looking for product managers and she said her email, and I emailed her and I got a job. That was my first startup job. So I'm going to say that we are hiring and so is every company in our community, leslie@femalefounders.org. Reach out to me, I want to hear from you." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Ada Developers Academy; Game to Grow; Geeking Out Kids of Color (GOKiC); and iUrban Teen. Hardware/Gadget of the Year, presented by ALLTechWinner: DeakoDerek Richardson, founder and CEO of Deako. Seattle-based Deako's "plug and play" light switches allow homebuilders and homeowners to easily swap in high-tech, remotely controlled lighting. Its technology works off a home's existing wiring and lets homebuilders market their projects as smart homes, without a lot of upfront cost. "Our core value proposition is we make it super simple for homeowners to personalize their home lighting in really cool and powerful ways," said COO Wes Nicol. Acceptance speech: "We're honored to be recognized with this award," Deako founder and CEO Derek Richardson said. "We're still just growing and expanding. We just did our Series B funding. So we're just really scaling the company now in a large way, hiring and expanding our product lines." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Aerovel; Echodyne; MagniX; and Picnic. Next Tech Titan, presented by BCRAWinner: ZenotiSudheer Koneru, Zenoti CEO. Zenoti reeled in a $160 million Series D round to join the Seattle startup ecosystem's list of elusive unicorns and supercharge its enterprise software product, which is used by more than 12,000 spas, salons, and other wellness businesses across the globe. The Bellevue, Wash-based company joins an elite group startups valued at more than $1 billion, including six — Convoy, Auth0, Outreach, Qumulo, Remitly, Icertis — that reached "unicorn" status over the past two years. Acceptance speech: "Thanks a lot for the recognition and the award," said Zenoti CEO Sudheer Koneru. "We are in the business of helping the beauty industry and the wellness industry. We think this is a beautiful industry because it helps people feel good, it's not just about looking good. We love the space and industry and we think it serves a big purpose in people's lives." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Ally.io; Highspot; Icertis; and Remitly. Workplace of the Year, presented by JLLWinner: RemitlyRemitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer. After a year in which the definition of "workplace" became especially fluid, our understanding of what makes for a great place to work shifted as radically as the physical spaces we've inhabited during the pandemic. Remitly added additional holidays to the calendar to give employees one long weekend per month until its anticipated return-to-office date, to promote self-care and wellness. To assist with the transition to working from home, all of Remitly's corporate employees received a $500 stipend to help with costs associated with getting their home office set up, childcare costs, homeschooling, and more. Acceptance speech: "I just want to say a huge thanks on behalf of team Remitly for this recognition. This award specifically just puts a huge, huge smile on my face," CEO Matt Oppenheimer said. "Everyone at this event today has obviously been impacted by the ongoing pandemic and it has really transformed the way we work, the way we learn, and even family dynamics for so many of us. So it's no small task for employers to navigate the right approach to supporting employees during this incredibly important time with so much change and uncertainty. … I feel super lucky to work in this community where people matter, where employees are stepping up and just completely inspiring ways. "I just want to say a huge thanks to the Remitly team for being really just open and direct about your experiences over the last year, and letting us know really how we can support you, so thanks specifically to our HR team for all of the empathetic partnership across the entire company over the last year." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Lions + Tigers; Omnidian; Hiya; and Blink UX. Startup CEO of the YearWinner: Alessya Visnjic, co-founder & CEO of WhyLabsAlessya Visnjic, co-founder and CEO of WhyLabs. WhyLabs spun out Seattle's Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence last fall and raised $4 million for its AI data monitoring platform. The startup is led by CEO Alessya Visnjic, a University of Washington grad who spent eight years at Amazon helping the tech giant develop its machine learning infrastructure. She said she left the tech giant in 2017 "with a vision to enable every enterprise to operate AI reliably." Acceptance speech: "I am so delighted and honored to be considered and nominated. And I'm absolutely in disbelief to be winning," Visnjic said. "WhyLabs wouldn't be possible without the amazing WhyLabs team, my incredible family and we're excited at WhyLabs to continue building tools that make AI more robust and responsible." Visnjic said "patience" was her biggest leadership lesson from the past 12 months. "The COVID days were really long, the entire year felt like a Groundhog Day and we had to go through a lot. So, being patient and looking into the light and the end of the tunnel was probably the best thing I can share." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Maria Colacurcio; Luis Ceze; Mike McSherry; and Ray Meiring. CEO of the Year, presented by EYWinner: Kieran Snyder, co-founder & CEO of TextioTextio co-founder and CEO Kieran Snyder. A self-described language and math nerd, Kieran Snyder combined those two passions to form Textio in 2014. The company's augmented writing tools, designed to create more diverse and inclusive language, found a home among customers such as Nestle, Twitter and Zillow Group. But Synder, a holder of PhD in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania and a former Microsoft group program manager, encountered her biggest leadership challenge last year when the pandemic took root. Like many companies, Textio was forced to change gears, resulting in layoffs of 20% of the company. Snyder, who had always stressed an inclusive and familial culture, described the move as "painful." Acceptance speech: "We've always had a point of view that communication at work should be collaborative and inclusive, and really intentional and thoughtful," Snyder said. "After 2020 — you know, we make a product for people in talent acquisition — it was a really hard year, and our incredible team has roared back. We have broadened what we build, we have built into the future, and we have new stuff coming to market. I'm going to take a page out of Leslie's [Feinzag, above) book and mention we are hiring and we are hiring some really big and important roles. So we would love to hear from you." Snyder said her biggest leadership lesson over the past 12 months was to slow down and listen to people. "People went through so much in the world. It's so tempting as a business leader to try to stay focused on up and to the right, keep delivering, keep delivering. And every time in the last year we took a pause to listen to people, it made our team stronger. That's the biggest lesson coming into the future." See this post for more background on this category. Other finalists: Sandi Lin; Eugenio Pace; and Karl Siebrecht. Thanks, everyone!Of our 16 winners and honorees, eight are women, including our three STEM Educators of the Year. And five are people of color and/or immigrant entrepreneurs, including Eugenio Pace of Auth0; Anoop Gupta of SeekOut; Vikram Iyer of the University of Washington; Joon Shin of Joon Care; and Sudheer Koneru of Zenoti. A big thanks to our longtime awards presenting partner, Wave Business, for supporting this fun community event. Also, thanks to gold and category sponsors: Blink UX, WSGR, JLL, EY, Premera, DreamBox Learning, BECU, WestRiver Group, ALLtech and First Tech Federal Credit Union. And to our silver sponsors BCRA and Kingston Marketing Group. And thanks for voting on the geekiest pets! Congrats, Bowie! Check out a sampling of the reaction online from the winners and the GeekWire community: Raising a glass to all the finalists and winners of tonight's #2021GeekWireAwards. Congrats! Thank you Team @geekwire for a hosting a great event. And that 10th anniversary singing finale with @jonathansposato ???????????? — Maria Hess (@mariahesss) May 21, 2021 Congrats to all the finalists and winners of the #2021GeekWireAwards and to @Geekwire for another successful event! ???? We're proud to be part of the Geekwire community as members and supporters. — Madrona Venture Labs (@MadronaVL) May 21, 2021 Thank you @geekwire ???? We are so honored to win the Geeks Give Back award ???????????? https://t.co/7dxHMzk5PJ — Female Founders Alliance (@2point19) May 21, 2021 Congratulations to @seekouthq for winning @geekwire‘s Startup of the Year award! We’re humbled by the work you do to elevate diverse talent in tech. — Common Room (@CommonRoomHQ) May 21, 2021 Holy WOW we won a @geekwire award ???? — Leslie Feinzaig ???????? (@LeslieFeinzaig) May 21, 2021 Thank you @Geekwire for selecting Adaptive as the “Health Innovation of the Year” recipient for the launch of T-Detect COVID! We appreciate the recognition and are grateful for every member of our team that contributed to this success. #2021GeekWireAwards https://t.co/U9dptjPY7q — Adaptive Biotech (@AdaptiveBiotech) May 20, 2021 Love that we are doing a STEM educator of the year award this year. Way to lead, @geekwire!#2021GeekWireAwards — Kieran Snyder (@KieranSnyder) May 20, 2021 Thank you so much @geekwire community! Congrats to Team Boulder! https://t.co/UczdPEE1QI — Stephanie Papes Strong (@stephpstrong) May 20, 2021 OMG! I’m so incredibly honored to be named STARTUP CEO OF THE YEAR by @Geekwire! — Alessya Visnjic (@zalessya) May 21, 2021 Thanks @geekwire community for recognizing @RadPowerBikes in the Deal of the Year: Funding category! Puts a big #radgrin on our faces! #riderad https://t.co/61cMPDi3OQ — Kelsey Wickman (@Kelsey_Wickman) May 20, 2021 It's been a tough year for people everywhere. But Thursday proved to be an inspiring day, as the 2021 GeekWire Awards returned to honor some of the leading innovators and entrepreneurs who make up the Pacific Northwest tech community. In another virtual event — which everyone hopes will be the last of the pandemic — GeekWire recognized more than 60 finalists and honorees across 14 categories, from Startup of the Year to CEO of the Year and lots in between. The event featured a number of celebrity cameos and entertaining moments throughout the show, with video greetings from Sue Bird… Read MoreTech, acquistions, CEO, Education, Entrepreneur, Funding, Geeks Give Back, Hardware, Innovation, startups, UX The post 2021 GeekWire Awards revealed: Big winners, surprise guests, and the best in Pacific NW tech appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| Google’s Pixel 6 Pro looks amazing in these colorful new mockups Posted: 20 May 2021 07:39 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Jacob Siegal  Google I/O 2021 was chock full of interesting announcements, but we didn’t get to see any new devices at the developer conference this year. Instead, Google focused on the software, giving us detailed looks at Android 12, the new Wear OS combined with Tizen, and updates to Google Maps, Google Workspace, and more. But even though Google wasn’t ready to show off any of its new devices, the internet was. Last Thursday, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser leaked the first renders of the Pixel 6 models and their radical redesigns. There will undoubtedly be more leaks in the weeks to come (and Google has been known to follow up on leaks with confirmations of its own in the past), but for now, we’ve been given a better look at the design that Prosser showed off in his videos by the prolific render artist Waqar Khan. These are based on the images that Prosser shared last week, but they give us an even better idea of what the Pixel 6 Pro will look like when it launches later this year with 3D models and new angles. Today’s Top DealAmazon deal lets you open your garage with your smartphone or voice for only $19.99!Price: $19.99 Today’s Top Deals Get ready for Prime Day 2021 with a free $15 Amazon credit Trending Right Now: Will there be a fourth stimulus check after all? Here's what we know The post Google's Pixel 6 Pro looks amazing in these colorful new mockups appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| Amazon facing race, gender discrimination lawsuits Posted: 20 May 2021 06:39 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Mike Lewis  An Amazon Prime truck in downtown Seattle near Amazon HQ. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Amazon is facing numerous lawsuits alleging the company has created a culture that discriminates against Black, Latino and Native American office workers. The lawsuits, five in total, contend overall that the company systematically bypasses minority groups for promotion in favor of white employees. One of the lawsuits, filed by an Amazon human resources worker, asserts that there is data to back up the claim that Black, Latino, and Native American workers do not get promoted at the same rate as their white counterparts. The five lawsuits were filed by women who work or once worked for the retail giant including two employees from Seattle, the Seattle Times reported. The lawsuits are not limited to promotions but collectively also detail incidents of inappropriate behavior by supervisors, harassment, and discrimination based on race. An Amazon spokesperson said the matters were examined internally and no problems were discovered. "We are conducting thorough investigations for each of these unrelated cases, as we do with any reported incidents, and we have found no evidence to support the allegations," the spokesperson said. "Amazon works hard to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture." Recode reported that the women, "who range in age 20s to mid-60s" also claim that white managers retaliated when they initially lodged complaints within the company. Among the claimants, one is white, one is Latina, one is Asian American, and two are Black. Three of the women remain employed at the company. The spokesperson said that the lawsuits do not track with the type of workplace Amazon cultivates. "We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form, and employees are encouraged to raise concerns to any member of management or through an anonymous ethics hotline with no risk of retaliation." According to recode, one of the lawsuits was from 64-year-old Pearl Thomas who works in human resources. Thomas said that, "her boss in Amazon Web Services HR, Keith DurJava, referred to her by using the 'n-word' after apparently believing she had disconnected from a video call." She added that a different manager told her, "You don't want to be an angry Black woman," and that her boss put her on a performance review plan after she made the complaint, according to the lawsuit. Amazon, which showed more than $100 billion in revenue during the pandemic while swelling to 1.2 million employees worldwide, has faced sharp criticism in recent months from hiring and promotions that overlook women and minorities to union busting in Bessemer, Ala. Amazon has denied all of those assertions. Amazon is facing numerous lawsuits alleging the company has created a culture that discriminates against Black, Latino and Native American office workers. The lawsuits, five in total, contend overall that the company systematically bypasses minority groups for promotion in favor of white employees. One of the lawsuits, filed by an Amazon human resources worker, asserts that there is data to back up the claim that Black, Latino, and Native American workers do not get promoted at the same rate as their white counterparts. The five lawsuits were filed by women who work or once worked for the retail giant including… Read MoreAmazon, lawsuit The post Amazon facing race, gender discrimination lawsuits appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| Beware: This dangerous malware steals your bank account info and lets hackers rob you Posted: 20 May 2021 06:39 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Chris Smith  Internet banking is one of the key activities that hackers target on computers and smartphones. Security has increased dramatically in the past few years to minimize the risks for consumers, but the users themselves are still the weakest link in the system. Inadvertently installing a malware app is enough for hackers to attempt attacks on your digital belongings, whether it's personal data or cash. Bizarro is the name of a banking trojan that has been wreaking havoc in Brazil, and the hackers behind the project are widening their scope by targeting other regions. The sophisticated trojan has been discovered in Europe and parts of South America. Its purpose is very simple, to steal money from unsuspecting victims, whether it's digital coins like bitcoin or more traditional currency from their bank accounts. Today’s Top DealEveryone’s rushing to Amazon for this Philips Sonicare electric toothbrush deal!Price: $39.95 Today’s Top Deals Get ready for Prime Day 2021 with a free $15 Amazon credit Trending Right Now: Will there be a fourth stimulus check after all? Here's what we know The post Beware: This dangerous malware steals your bank account info and lets hackers rob you appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| With interest in electric trucks on the rise, Rivian gets set for business in Seattle area Posted: 20 May 2021 03:39 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Alan Boyle  Rivian's logo adorns a building taking shape on Bellevue's Auto Row. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Rivian, the California-based electric vehicle startup that some call the "Tesla of Trucks," is setting up a showroom in Seattle and a service center in nearby Bellevue for this year's scheduled rollout of its R1T all-electric pickup truck and R1S sport utility vehicle. The company's Puget Sound presence is apt, considering that Seattle-based Amazon is one of Rivian's marquee investors and has pledged to buy 100,000 electric vans from Rivian for its nationwide delivery fleet. Last month, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos showed off the R1T in a video made for his Blue Origin space venture. The R1T truck, which carries a base list price starting at $67,500, is due to be delivered beginning in June. The all-electric R1S, priced at $70,000 and up, is scheduled to roll out in August. InsideEVs reports that Rivian has a full-up waiting list of about 30,000 customers for the first wave of deliveries. Deposits of $1,000 continue to be taken for later rounds. Rivian says it's opening 10 showrooms and 41 service centers nationwide this year. A facility that appears to be a Rivian service center is taking shape on Bellevue's Auto Row. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) In March, the Daily Journal of Commerce reported that Rivian's Seattle showroom will be in the one-time home of the Federal Army & Navy Surplus Store — in the Belltown neighborhood, not far from Pike Place Market and the Amazon Spheres. Technically speaking, Rivian's showroom isn't the same as a dealership: Customers will be able to see the vehicles up close and take a test drive, but they won't be able to drive a truck off the lot. Instead, purchases will be made online. This week, we spotted what appears to be a Rivian service center taking shape on Bellevue's Auto Row, near the intersection of Northeast Eighth Street and 116th Avenue Northeast. A check of Rivian's hiring plans for Seattle and Bellevue confirmed the impression left by the Rivian signage at the construction site. We've reached out to Rivian and will update this report with anything we hear back. Electric trucks took the spotlight in the automotive world this week, thanks to Ford's all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup. Today, Ford CEO Jim Farley told CNBC that the company took 20,000 reservations for the truck in the 12 hours since its big reveal on Wednesday night. Customers were required to put down a refundable $100 deposit. For what it's worth, pricing for the Lightning starts at about $40,000 for the entry-level model, with deliveries set to begin next spring. "With 20,000 orders already, we're off to the races," Farley said. Rivian and Ford aren't the only horses in this race: Tesla, GM and a host of startups are also planning to field electric trucks. In 2019, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a splash (and made a couple of windows crash) at the unveiling of his company's all-electric Cybertruck. Tesla is now thought to have at least half a million reservations (with refundable $100 deposits) for an edgy-looking vehicle that Musk said is "the truck you want in the apocalypse." At the unveiling, Musk said the first dual-motor Cybertrucks would be delivered in late 2021, with the single-motor version (priced at about $40,000) rolling out a year later. Some reports suggest that Cybertruck deliveries won't begin until 2022 — but this week, the word on the tweet is that Tesla is still planning for limited production late this year. Rivian, the California-based electric vehicle startup that some call the "Tesla of Trucks," is setting up a showroom in Seattle and a service center in nearby Bellevue for this year's scheduled rollout of its R1T all-electric pickup truck and R1S sport utility vehicle. The company's Puget Sound presence is apt, considering that Seattle-based Amazon is one of Rivian's marquee investors and has pledged to buy 100,000 electric vans from Rivian for its nationwide delivery fleet. Last month, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos showed off the R1T in a video made for his Blue Origin space venture. The R1T truck, which carries… Read MoreTech, Automotive, electric vehicles, Rivian, trucks The post With interest in electric trucks on the rise, Rivian gets set for business in Seattle area appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
| Apple just released iOS 14.7 public beta 1 so all iPhone users can try it Posted: 20 May 2021 03:39 PM PDT dWeb.News Article from Zach Epstein  Apple surprised us all on Wednesday when it released the first public betas of iOS 14.7 for the iPhone and iPadOS 14.7 for the iPad. It was especially surprising because it happened so late in the day instead of around 1:00 PM ET, which is when most iOS betas are released. And on top of all that, Apple hasn’t even released iOS 14.6 to the public yet, as the release candidate only rolled out this past Monday. Now that the developer betas of iOS 14.7 and iPadOS 14.7 have been released though, it should come as less of a surprise that Apple is rolling out another round of betas right now. That’s right, iOS 14.7 public beta 1 and iPadOS 14.7 public beta 1 are both now available to download, so anyone can try out Apple’s latest software instead of just developers. Today’s Top DealAmazon deal lets you open your garage with your smartphone or voice for only $19.99!Price: $19.99 Today’s Top Deals Get ready for Prime Day 2021 with a free $15 Amazon credit Trending Right Now: Will there be a fourth stimulus check after all? Here's what we know The post Apple just released iOS 14.7 public beta 1 so all iPhone users can try it appeared first on dWeb.News Daniel Webster dWeb Internet Cowboy  |
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