GeekWire

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we revisit the controversy over Starbucks' hybrid work policy for its new CEO, Brian Niccol; discuss the cyberattack that crippled computer systems at Sea-Tac Airport in the Seattle area this week; and provide an update on last week's episode about AI text-to-music generators.

Articles and topics discussed on this episode:

• Hybrid policy for new Starbucks CEO sparks debate over remote work, corporate jet emissions
• Starbucks’ New CEO Has a Big Carbon Footprint - WSJ
• Starbucks’ New CEO Will Take Charge Without Training Wheels - Bloomberg
• Steve Ballmer Chases NBA Glory at Intuit Dome, the LA Clippers’ Gleaming New Home
• Plane English: Sea-Tac Airport turns to pen and paper to replace digital displays after cyberattack
• Port of Seattle outage continues two days after suspected cyberattack by ‘nefarious characters’
• GeekWire’s quest for an AI theme song opened our ears to the debate rattling the music industry
• GeekWire Podcast listener Fortunato Vega shares his AI-generated theme song on LinkedIn.

With Todd Bishop and Taylor Soper. Edited by Curt Milton.

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Our regular GeekWire Podcast segment “My AI” didn’t have a musical jingle. So of course, we decided to use AI to create one. You can hear the results and our reactions on this week’s show. It's a glimpse into the issues rattling the music industry. Even when the music isn't great, the technology is pretty incredible. But as we discuss, the underlying issues are a lot more complicated. 

With John Cook, Todd Bishop, and Taylor Soper; Audio editing by Curt Milton. 

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The naming of Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as the new Starbucks CEO on Tuesday gives the Seattle-based coffee giant a new leader from the restaurant and fast casual industry with experience leading a digital transformation. We discuss what that could mean on this special mid-week episode of the GeekWire Podcast.

Related Coverage: Starbucks’ new CEO brings extensive digital experience from prior role leading Chipotle

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we look at the implications of the Google antitrust ruling for Microsoft Bing, and conclude that they probably aren't as rosy for the Redmond company as they might have appeared initially.

Plus, a rural community offers a window into Amazon's relationship with the independent companies that deliver its packages around the world.

And finally, the City of Seattle gets support from Amazon and resistance from workers in response to its decision to bring them back to the office for three days a week, up from two days previously.

Related coverage

• ‘Google is a monopolist’: Tech giant loses antitrust suit over search business in huge victory for DOJ
• City of Seattle increasing in-office work to three days for more than 13,000 employees
• Driven away: Overloaded by Amazon, rural delivery companies reach the end of the road

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop and editor Taylor Soper.

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Zillow Group named a new CEO, longtime company executive Jeremy Wacksman, announcing that co-founder and two-time CEO Rich Barton will be shifting to the new role of co-executive chair of the real estate media and technology company, joining co-founder Lloyd Frink in the role. Barton and Wacksman join GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop to talk about the transition on this special episode.

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we take a closer look at the earnings reports from Microsoft and Amazon this week, as a litmus test for artificial intelligence demand and the state of the economy. We also consider the implications of Boeing's new CEO being based in the Seattle region, discuss a new AI tool that aims to streamline marketing tasks, and weigh in on the backlash to Google's Olympics ad for its Gemini AI chatbot

• Microsoft capital spending soars to $19B, betting big on AI, as Azure growth underwhelms Wall Street
• Amazon sales come up short, profits nearly double
• Amazon looks to reduce costs to compete more aggressively on price as consumer habits shift
• Boeing chooses its next CEO — and he will reportedly be based back in Seattle
• Seattle tech vets launch 'Spok,' an AI copilot that aims to streamline marketing tasks – GeekWire
• CNBC: Google pulls AI ad for Olympics following backlash

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop and editor Taylor Soper.

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, our guest is entrepreneur and investor Ben Gilbert,  co-founder and co-host of the hit podcast Acquired.

Ben and his colleague David Rosenthal have developed a huge following for their deep-dive, long-form podcasts telling the stories behind some of the most successful companies in the world, and they recently released Microsoft Volume II, the second installment in their epic exploration of the Redmond-based technology giant. 

We talk about Microsoft's misunderstood era, with help from some archival highlights from GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop's interviews with Bill Gates over the years. It’s a timely topic given Microsoft’s 50th anniversary in 2025 and the company's resurgence as one of the most valuable and relevant companies in the tech industry with the rise of AI. 

Before we jump in, we ask Ben to catch us up on all things Acquired. The podcast is the talk of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, as documented in a Wall Street Journal profile. Acquired just announced a live arena show coming up on Sept. 10 featuring Mark Zuckerberg at Chase Center in San Francisco, the home of the Golden State Warriors. 

Edited and produced by Curt Milton.

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This week: the aftermath of the CrowdStrike outage, the larger forces at play, the future of cybersecurity, and where the world is headed long-term.

Our guest is Erik Moore, a veteran of the cybersecurity field and program director for the online Master of Science Program in Cybersecurity Leadership at Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics.

Moore says cybersecurity companies are facing faster and more complex threats due to factors including AI, and geopolitical and financial forces, requiring quicker responses. Current testing and deployment processes need to be overhauled handle these new challenges effectively. But long-term, he's optimistic about where the field and the world are headed.

Related Links 

• GeekWire News Coverage: ‘A little frightening’: CrowdStrike outage puts Microsoft’s role in global IT back in the spotlight 
• CrowdStrike Blog Post: Technical Details on Today’s Outage
• Microsoft: Helping our customers through the CrowdStrike outage
• Seattle University: Master of Science Program in Cybersecurity Leadership
• CNBC: CrowdStrike update that caused global outage likely skipped checks, experts say
• KING-5: CrowdStrike Outage Hits Microsoft 
• Channel News Asia: What do we know about CrowdStrike?

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we catch up on the latest twist in the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft over the alleged use of its reporting to train GPT-4 and other large language models. The NYT is fighting OpenAI’s request to turn over reporters’ notes, interview memos, and other materials used to produce stories, to prove they were worthy of copyright. 

On a related topic, we take a closer listen to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman's comments about AI and fair use at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which were more nuanced than some of the coverage might have made them appear. Watch Suleyman's full conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin here.

Turning to the Seattle startup scene, an entrepreneurial supergroup has quietly formed a new electric vehicle charging startup, Juicer Energy, that appears poised to create a marketplace connecting homeowners and others with personal EV charging stations to EV owners in need of places to charge up their vehicles.

In the return of our "My AI" segment, we explore the concept of using AI to turn email into a database that can be intelligently mined, in this case with Google Gemini in Gmail and Google Workspace.

We also talk about using Microsoft Copilot in the Edge browser for domain-specific queries, and discuss the importance of treating AI not as an authoritative oracle but rather as a partner in the quest for insight.

On a related note, we suggest an episode of the "Think Fast, Talk Smart" podcast, called "How to Chat with Bots." (Thanks to Mark Briggs for the recommendation.)

With GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop.

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Greg Fyke is president and CEO of ecobee, the Toronto-based smart home company known for its pioneering smart thermostat and a growing ecosystem of devices, including security systems and smart doorbells.

A former Amazon Alexa executive, he’s personally based in Seattle, exemplifying how remote work has transformed the geography of the tech industry. Fyke succeeded ecobee founder Stuart Lombard as the company's CEO last fall upon Lombard's retirement. 

On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, Fyke discusses the emerging "golden age" of smart home technology; ecobee's focus on simplicity, long-term functionality, and integration across ecosystems; its competition with Amazon and Google; and its approach to automation and artificial intelligence.

Other topics include ecobee's November 2021 acquisition by Generac, and their broader focus on energy management solutions, leveraging components like home batteries, solar energy, and intelligent control systems.

• The Verge: How Ecobee is becoming the smart home company Nest should have been
• Greg Fyke on the HomeKit Insider podcast.

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.