Facebook Is Building Free Educational Software
USA Today | Jessica Guynn | Sept. 3
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/09/03/facebook-summit-education-technology-mark-zuckerberg-chris-cox/71651636/
“Facebook became the latest technology company to enter the national debate over how to best educate children with the announcement of a partnership with a network of charter schools to build educational software that will be offered for free to public schools. Summit Public Schools, a non-profit organization that runs charter schools in the state of California and Washington, offers students a ‘personalized learning plan,’ essentially software that allows students to learn at their own pace.”

 

Calling Entrepreneurs, Scientists, Coders: New ‘Hacker House’ Opens Near UW’s Startup Hall
GeekWire | Taylor Soper | Sept. 2
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/calling-entrepreneurs-scientists-coders-new-hacker-house-opens-near-uws-startup-hall/
“If you’re an entrepreneur, scientist, coder, maker, or innovator that wants to live in a likeminded community near the University of Washington, there’s a new option available for you. Seattle startup veteran Andy Rebele this week inked a long-term lease on a triplex owned by the UW where he’ll welcome forward-thinking folks who want to live with interesting people. Rebele helps run three other similar “hacker houses” around Seattle that are catered to the creative/hacker/entrepreneur type who are trying to live, breath and eat the startup life.”

 

Microsoft, Ballmers Enable More STEM Students, but Shortages Remain
Xconomy | Benjamin Romano | Sept. 2
http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2015/09/02/microsoft-ballmers-enable-more-stem-students-but-shortages-remain/
“Aspiring computer scientists, engineers, and health care professionals of modest means in Washington state have a better shot at a college education thanks to $21 million donated to a state scholarship fund by Microsoft and its former CEO, Steve Ballmer, matched dollar-for-dollar by the state. But even as a computer science education—a sure path to a job in the state’s gangbusters tech economy—is brought within reach of more people, Washington has an ongoing shortage of seats in the state’s higher education system for students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, especially computer science.”

 

Here’s How Boeing’s Insitu Drones Are Helping to Battle Northwest Wildfires
Puget Sound Business Journal | Steve Wilhelm | Sept. 2
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2015/09/heres-how-boeings-insitu-drones-are-helping-to.html
“A Boeing-built drone has been helping out human-piloted aircraft fighting Washington state wildfires, a move that suggests one way the machines, traditionally used by the military, could find new commercial markets. A team from Boeing (NYSE: BA) subsidiary Insitu operated the two ScanEagle drones for a week as a test program fighting fires in the Olympic National Park, after being asked by the Department of Interior, said Insitu spokeswoman Jenny Beloy.”

 

Amazon, Netflix, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and Others Partner to Create Next-Gen Video Format
TechCrunch | Federic Lardinois | Sept.1
http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/01/amazon-netflix-google-microsoft-mozilla-and-others-partner-to-create-next-gen-video-format/
“Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla and Netflix today announced that they have formed a new open source alliance — the Alliance for Open Media — with the goal of developing the next generation of royalty-free video formats, codecs and other related technologies. It’s not often we see these rival companies come together to build a new technology together, but the members argue that this kind of alliance is necessary to create a new interoperable video standard that will work across vendors and platforms. While it goes unmentioned in the announcement, it’s also clear that none of the members involved in this alliance want to have to pay royalties to the likes of MPEG LA.”

 

UW Named One of the 50 Most Entrepreneurial Universities in Nation

Puget Sound Business Journal | Becky Monk | Aug. 31    http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/morning_call/2015/08/uw-named-one-of-the-most-entrepreneurial.html

“The University of Washington is one of the most entrepreneurial schools in the nation, according to a new report. AffordableSchools.net, an independent college ranking site, based its ratings on the average rankings of the institutions’ graduate computer science program and MBA, as well as the average earnings of graduates and the metro area ranking for entrepreneurial activity.”