UW student virtual reality projects demonstrate empathy, education, entertainment use cases, Amazon, Microsoft and others give tens of millions for homeless housing, Salesforce is Officially Making Seattle its Second HQ after its Tableau Acquisition, and more in this week’s Seattle in the Spotlight.

UW student virtual reality projects demonstrate empathy, education, entertainment use cases

GeekWire | Taylor Soper | June 13

“University of Washington students showed how virtual and augmented reality technology can provide answers to these questions as part of a VR/AR Capstone Course that just wrapped up this week. Projects were on display Tuesday at the Paul G. Allen School, where community members had a chance to try out games and apps that students developed over the past ten weeks. The Capstone Course has evolved since first launching in 2016, as more use cases become possible with software and hardware advances for virtual and augmented reality. The industry is still in its nascent stages, but with a market that could surpass $40 billion by 2024, the work being done by these students could very well pave the way for future applications and services.

Amazon, Microsoft and others give tens of millions for homeless housing

Seattle Times | Scott Greenstone | June 11

“A year after business leaders in Seattle helped kill a tax that would have raised an estimated $47 million a year for homelessness and housing, Amazon, Microsoft, Connie and Steve Ballmer and others announced that they were giving more than that amount to build hundreds of homes for homeless people in the Seattle area. The gifts total $48.8 million and will help build eight buildings for chronically homeless people, who are usually regarded as among the hardest to house. They often have disabilities, serious mental illness and substance-use disorders. The pledges include a $15 million commitment from Swedish Health Services, Premera Blue Cross and Providence St. Joseph Health last month, and more than $30 million more announced Tuesday. It will go to Plymouth Housing, a Seattle nonprofit developer that operates permanent supportive housing for these individuals, facilities where they have access to health care, social services and treatment.”

Salesforce is Officially Making Seattle its Second HQ after its Tableau Acquisition

TechCrunch | Ingrid Lunden | June 10

“Here’s an interesting by-product of the news today that Salesforce would be acquiring Tableau for $15.7 billion: the company is going to make Seattle, Wash. (home of Tableau)  the official second headquarters of San Francisco-based Salesforce, putting the company directly in the face of tech giants and Salesforce frenemies Microsoft and Amazon. “An HQ2, if you will,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff quipped right after he dropped the news during the press and analyst call. HQ2, of course, is a reference to Amazon  and its year-long, massively publicised, often criticised and ultimately botched search (it eventually cancelled plans to build an HQ in NYC, but kept Arlington) for its own second headquarters, which it also branded “HQ2.””

Best U.S. Colleges for LGBTQ Students – – University of Washington is No. 1

Seattle PI | Joel Connelly | June 10

“The University of Washington ranks No. 1 in America as the best college for LGBTQ students, according to an annual ranking by BestColleges.com and Campus Pride. “Just in time for Pride Month,” popular UW President Ana Mari Cauce, herself the first Latina and first lesbian to serve as university president, wrote on her Facebook page, sharing praise with the UW’s Q Center. Best Colleges combined its Academic and Affordability Metrics with the Campus Pride Index score, a comprehensive rating of the friendliness of college campuses for LGBTQ students, to come up with the ranking.”