GeekWire

How was an airline employee with no known flying experience able to successfully steal a plane? Why did he want to do so? And what can be done to stop something like this from happening again? We tackle those questions on this special episode of the Week in Geek Podcast and share snippets of the man's rambling conversation with air traffic control as he does stunts and evades F15 fighter jets scrambled to prevent a potential disaster.

We also want to invite podcast listeners to a special meetup and live recording of the Week in Geek! The event is all about building community and takes place the evening of Thursday, August 23, in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. Go to geekwire.com/neighborhub for more details, and use the code "podcast" to get tickets for just $10.

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One house in Seattle's University District is home to perhaps the most influential and least showy science fiction and fantasy hub in the world. It's called the Clarion West Writers Workshop, and its graduates are reshaping the world with bestselling novels, literary magazines, geeky museums and beyond.

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The U.S. healthcare system needs to change. But how? Can the system be 'fixed' the way that Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase want to fix it with their new healthcare company? What would 'fixing' the system even look like? We explore answers to those questions on this episode of Health Tech. 

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A lawsuit over 3D-printed guns took a turn this week when a judge blocked the release of blueprints that show how to make them — but the legal battle isn't over yet. Plus, Starbucks is teaming up with Amazon competitor Alibaba to deliver coffee in China. Can the retail giant find success overseas? And finally, grab your litter scoopers. There might just be valuable scientific data hiding in your pet's poop.

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Facebook agreed to stop letting advertisers exclude ethnic and religious groups from seeing certain ads on its platform this week, the same week that it lost roughly $120 billion this week as investors sold off stock. So is this a moment of reckoning for Facebook and other social media giants? Plus, we go inside Microsoft's Imagine Cup competition, where 49 students teams pitted advanced technology projects against each other.

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It was quite a week for controversial news. First up: Would you let a facial recognition program track your kids at school? One tech dad is making it happen. Plus, scooter sharing company Bird seems to be planning a launch in Seattle, even though the company isn't allowed to put scooters in the city. GeekWire is also diving into homelessness with the #SeaHomeless campaign: This time around, we investigated how other cities are combating homelessness and what Seattle might learn from them.

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Sarah Lacy is the founder and CEO of Chairman Mom, a subscription-based online community for working moms. She joins us to talk about the venture and sticks around to discuss the news of the week on this special Week in Geek episode. Other stories on the show: Lime's $335 million funding round and new scooter deal with Uber and the parallels between San Francisco and Seattle are becoming even more pronounced. Plus, on the Random Channel, the topic you've all been waiting for: The Incredibles 2.

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We're halfway through 2018, and that means it's time for our mid-year technoloyg roundup. On this episode we dig into three of our favorite new pieces of technology from the past six months.

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Why are women underrepresented in tech?

One answer to that question, offered by a University of Washington lecturer, has ignited a fierce debate in the tech industry. We sit down with Stuart Reges to discuss the ideas in his essay, "why women don't code." We also speak with diversity expert Ruchika Tulshyan about the pervasive gender gap in technology and the research into its causes.

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It was a big week for Amazon. The company announced a new last-mile delivery service to rival FedEx and UPS, but with an interesting twist. It also announced a $1 billion acquisition: A company called PillPack that delivers drugs straight to customer's doors. Plus, we dive into a huge funding round from a startup you've probably never heard of.

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