Tech

Sales tax automation giant Avalara buys iVAT developer as it continues string of acquisitions

Avalara has acquired Belgium-based VAT Applications, makers of the iVAT suite of VAT compliance software. The Bainbridge Island-based company secured $100 million in… Read More

PlayStation brings a la carte live channels to Vue, but there are only three options at launch

PlayStation Vue debuted earlier this year as a $50/month alternative to traditional cable packages. At today’s PlayStation E3 event, the… Read More

Three huge Japanese games get updates during Sony’s E3 Playstation event

The Last Guardian, a Kickstarter for Shenmue III and a remake of the epic Final Fantasy VII were all announced at… Read More

Pebble Time with the Star Trek LCARS-inspired "TrekV3" watchface

Review: Does the Pebble Time smartwatch live up to its Kickstarter hype?

Back in March, the Pebble Time smartwatch raised a record-shattering $20 million on Kickstarter. I decided it was finally time to… Read More

LightSail’s fiery reentry marks the end of Planetary Society’s first test flight

After waiting for a cosmic particle to hit the restart button and taking an inaugural selfie, the LightSail from Bill Nye’s Planetary… Read More

LastPass hacked, password reset system bogged down by heavy traffic

If you use LastPass to store all your passwords, you may want to change your master password. Users’ vaults containing… Read More

EA unveils ‘Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2’ from Seattle’s PopCap

During the Microsoft press conference at E3, Electronic Arts announced the next installment in its very popular Plants vs. Zombies… Read More

Gigabit Internet access for $45 a month: How Seattle could make it happen

There is a way for Seattle’s residents to give themselves gigabit Internet service for $45/month. But as with most things in the world of telecom,… Read More

Context Relevant CEO steps down as VC board member takes reins

Context Relevant CEO Stephen Purpura has stepped down from the heavily-funded big data analytics startup that he founded three years… Read More

Artificial Intelligence in Avengers and Ex Machina: Time to Be Afraid?

As the summer blockbuster season gets into full swing, two fictional robots have already emerged to challenge our love of… Read More

University of Washington graduates record numbers in computer science, but it is still not enough

Here’s a good sign that computer science is on the right track at the University of Washington. The graduation festivities… Read More

Sensoria and Renault team up to track race car pilot’s heart rate with a smart shirt

You may think that physical fitness is only a minor concern for race car drivers, but they need to handle… Read More

Monster searches for new identity after breaking away from Beats

A powerful little speaker pumps out soulful electronic music on the table as Noel Lee gleefully pours a glass of ice water it.… Read More

‘Big Parenting’: How data and technology are changing our families

WASHINGTON, D.C. — If power corrupts, does technological power corrupt absolutely? At an intimate workshop in Georgetown this week, just a quick Uber… Read More

Twitter removing the 140-character limit … for direct messages

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo stepping down isn’t the only big news from Twitter today — and this other piece of… Read More

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo steps down, Jack Dorsey back as interim CEO

Dick Costolo will be stepping down as CEO of Twitter on July 1. Cofounder and chairman Jack Dorsey will replace… Read More

Oculus shows off consumer hardware for Rift, debuts new controller

The Oculus Rift has been in the prototype phase for three years, but its final form was unveiled today alongside a new… Read More

Oculus partners with Microsoft to stream Xbox One games to Rift

Oculus is partnering with Microsoft to bring more games to its new Rift virtual reality headset when it launches in early 2016. Xbox… Read More

The Uber effect: Seattle taxi industry revenue dipped 28% in past 2 years

The numbers don’t lie: Uber and Lyft are causing taxi companies in Seattle to make less money. Total fare revenue for… Read More

Donuts to begin offering more than 1 million new domain names, including .email, .photos, .cash

Starting this week, Bellevue-based domain registry Donuts will release 1.3 million new domain names through partnerships with domain name registrars. The new… Read More

Wave launches residential gigabit Internet in San Francisco for $80 per month

Wave Broadband’s residential gigabit efforts in California are underway. The company today announced that it is now offering gigabit service… Read More

City of Seattle wants $18M to expand bike-sharing program five-fold, add electric bicycles

The City of Seattle wants to expand its bike-sharing program in big ways. City officials confirmed today that Seattle is… Read More

Computer science education bill gets Wash. governor’s signature, establishes funding and standards for teaching programming

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1813 into law today. The law establishes K–12 education standards for computer science courses, in… Read More

Seattle councilmember calls for ‘mass citywide movement’ against Comcast and CenturyLink in support of municipal broadband

Seattle councilmember Kshama Sawant wants a municipal broadband network in the Emerald City, and she’s calling on the city’s residents… Read More