Amazon extends work-from-home option to October

Inside the NFL Draft with Microsoft Teams | Asteroid mining aftermath | GeekWire Update ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( TODAY'S TOP STORIES Happy Friday, GeekWire readers! Our managing editor Taylor Soper normally uses this space to link to items that will brighten your day, but you may have noticed he has been out this week. Why? Meet [his adorable new puppy]( Ichi. Amazon extends WFH policy: The tech giant will give employees the option to do their jobs from home [until at least early October]( — providing a potential bellwether for other companies in the larger discussion about when and how to bring teams back to the office when the COVID-19 outbreak starts to fade. RELATED: [Amazon tops 935k employees as of this week, as pandemic-driven hiring spree continues]( “We don’t use individual seller data directly to compete with them.” Those words from Amazon attorney Nate Sutton, during a 2019 Congressional antitrust hearing, are coming under new scrutiny following a Wall Street Journal investigation that found some Amazon employees have done precisely that. Now legislators want to talk directly with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the issue. [Read the story](. Asteroid mining aftermath: It has been a year and a half since the assets of Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining venture headquartered in Redmond, Wash., were acquired by a blockchain venture called ConsenSys. Now we’re finding out [what ConsenSys is doing with those assets.]( Microsoft and the NFL Draft: The high-profile virtual event last week was a high-stakes moment for Microsoft Teams as the company looks to make its mark in the fiercely competitive market for communication and collaboration technology. Here’s [our behind-the-scenes look at what happened](. RELATED: [Will Ferrell crashes Seattle Seahawks video chat and shares his demands as new player]( GeekWire Update: Here’s [the latest on what’s happening behind-the-scenes in our business]( in a message from my co-founder John Cook. Thanks for your support as we navigate these extraordinary times alongside all of you. Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and see a full list of our latest headlines below. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Become a member, support independent journalism!]( GeekWire members support independent journalism at a time when trusted storytelling and community engagement is more important than ever. [Join today!Â]( LATEST HEADLINES [GeekWire Update: A new month, a new beginning?]( [UW team imagines a better Parkinson’s test, lands in global finals for Microsoft student competition]( [Will Ferrell crashes Seattle Seahawks video chat and shares his demands as new player]( [House lawmakers want Jeff Bezos to testify on antitrust issues, claiming deputy mislead Congress]( [After buying Planetary Resources, ConsenSys sets its space ideas free — but will sell off the hardware]( SPONSORED: GEEK HOME OF THE DAY [Seattle’s Premier Condominiums]( [Inside the NFL Draft: How Microsoft pulled off a win at a turning point for collaboration tech]( [Amazon gives employees option to work from home until “at least” early October under new guidelines]( [ICESat-2 laser-scanning satellite tracks how billions of tons of polar ice are lost]( [Amazon tops 935k employees as of this week, as pandemic-driven hiring spree continues]( [NASA puts Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX on the list for lunar lander development program]( [Amazon sales rise 26% to $75B; profits plunge 30%; Bezos calls crisis ‘hardest time we’ve ever faced’]( [Microsoft Teams tops 75M daily active users, as Zoom adjusts its own user numbers]( GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI2): CTO-in-Residence // Co-Founder]( - [ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI2): Deep Learning Engineer // Co-Founder]( - [Compete To Create: Technical Lead / Principal Software Engineer]( - [ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI2): Technical Co-Founder // CTO (Stealth Startup)]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? BUY A FEATURED LISTING TO APPEAR HERE]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise]( Copyright © 2020 GeekWire LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted to receive emails from GeekWire LLC.  Our mailing address is: GeekWire LLC 123 NW 36th St, Suite 203 Seattle, WA 98107  [change email frequency or address]( | [unsubscribe](