GeekWire interviews Shaq and Barkley at CES | Samsung partner Voicebox makes major job cuts | Otto Robotics raises $1.5M

Read the latest tech headlines from GeekWire [View this email in your browser]. January 6, 2017 [Top Stories] [Find a Job] [GeekWire Events] [GeekWire 200] [Become a Member] NatGeo’s Point of No Return at Benaroya Hall [Mountaineer Hilaree O’Neill’s journey to the summit of Burma’s Hkakabo Razi.] Today's top stories [Otto Robotics raises $1.5 million for its stealthy robo-restaurant venture] By Alan Boyle Otto Robotics, a stealthy startup that's working on automated systems for making and delivering food, says it has raised $1.5 million in an equity offering. [Q&A: T-Mobile execs talk KickBack, elimination of rates and fees, FCC’s future and wireless M&A] By Todd Bishop LAS VEGAS — T-Mobile announced its latest “Un-Carrier” initiative here Thursday, announcing plans to include taxes and fees in the rates it promises customers, and return up to $10/month to customers who use less than 2 GB of data per month on T-Mobile One unlimited plans. Sponsored Post [Type Fast. Swype Faster.] Swype Keyboard is the fastest and easiest way to send messages, texts and emails from your Android device. Offering rich personalization through beautifully crafted themes and quick access to Emoji, Swype is your keyboard for life. Accept no imitations – [get the original tracing keyboard from Google Play today.] [Amazon at CES: ‘We believe there will be an Alexa skill for everyone, for everything’] By Todd Bishop LAS VEGAS — Amazon said this week that there are now more than 7,000 Alexa skills, third-party integrations that extend the capabilities of its voice platform. [Listen up, pet parents — Seattle’s Rover talks wearables and more dog tech trends at CES] By Clare McGrane LAS VEGAS — In the Pacific Northwest, people love their dogs. Home of the Week - Sponsored Post [An elegant blend of historical beauty and modern functionality; Tudor style home in gated Kirkland community] Opportunity: Gracious and elegant, this Tudor style home rises above the shores of Lake Washington in an old world, gated enclave of 20 luxury homes. The gated community, the Marsh Commons, offers a peaceful sanctuary where home owners enjoy 2.8 acres of lush common grounds complete with a waterfall… [As cloud computing grows, the market for commercial servers, switches and routers declines] By Dan Richman As cloud computing grows and swells the coffers of companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM, it’s instructive to also note which firms the cloud’s growth is hurting. [Walmart buys Zappos competitor ShoeBuy for $70M to help Jet.com battle Amazon in online apparel] By Nat Levy Walmart is already using its deep pockets to help recent acquisition Jet.com compete with Amazon in online apparel. [Working Geek: From elephants to Seahawks, Vulcan’s Keith Rosema has a hand in it all] By Kurt Schlosser Keith Rosema calls his job “probably one of the most diverse opportunities anywhere.” As the head of the technology group at Seattle-based and Paul Allen-founded Vulcan Inc., Rosema has his attention on any number of properties and priorities at any given time. [Samsung partner Voicebox makes major job cuts in wake of Note 7 discontinuation] By Todd Bishop Voicebox Technologies, which provides natural-language understanding technology for Samsung devices including the discontinued Galaxy Note 7, is cutting a significant portion of its workforce, citing “a combination of unforeseen circumstances.” The cuts could impact as much as half of Voicebox’s workforce, according to sources familiar with the move. [Amazon Alexa VP throws subtle shade at Google Home exec over Echo’s lead] By Monica Nickelsburg LAS VEGAS — Amazon’s early lead with the Echo smart speaker left competitors, like Google, playing catch up. [Amazon Prime members can now order their favorite meals through Alexa] By Nat Levy “Alexa, order dinner.” That’s not exactly how Amazon’s newest Alexa skill works, but that’s the gist. [Video: Former NBA stars Shaq, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith talk tech, politics, hoops at CES] By Taylor Soper LAS VEGAS — It was so much fun we had to do it again. [Cortana in the car: Microsoft launches new automotive tech platform, strikes Renault-Nissan partnership] By Todd Bishop LAS VEGAS — Can Microsoft put itself in the driver’s seat in the new world of cars? [You could win $25,000 in FTC’s contest for Internet of Things cybersecurity thingies] By Alan Boyle The Internet of Things can be a rough neighborhood, which is why the Federal Trade Commission has organized a contest for IoT security tools. [Spotted at CES: Amazon’s funky Treasure Truck makes trek from Seattle to bring deals to Vegas] By John Cook LAS VEGAS — It’s a long way from home. [Technology brings sports fans closer to their favorite teams than ever before, but they want more] By Nat Levy LAS VEGAS — No matter the industry, whether sports, virtual reality, cars or media, people want to be closer to their favorite teams, brands and products. [NBA Commissioner Adam Silver predicts how we’ll watch basketball in 5 years] By Taylor Soper LAS VEGAS — Over the past several decades, technology has changed the way NBA fans listen and watch games, from radios to televisions and now with the internet. [Jeff Bezos tweets his vote of support for constructing a ‘superhighway in space’] By Alan Boyle What should Donald Trump have NASA do? Today Jeff Bezos voiced his support for the idea that the space agency should help build a "highway in the sky." [Oculus engineering leader pleads not guilty to accusations of soliciting sex from undercover cop posing as 15-year-old girl] By Nat Levy Dov Katz, head of the computer vision and machine learning group at Facebook-owned Oculus, appeared in court Thursday to plead not guilty to charges of attempted commercial sexual abuse of a minor. [President Obama’s vast social media archive goes live with 250,000 posts, photos and videos] By Kurt Schlosser We’re well aware of the social media habits of president-elect Donald Trump, and foresee interesting times ahead as he uses Twitter to control his message and so forth. [T-Mobile CEO John Legere optimistic about Trump, says president-elect has dethroned him on Twitter] By Todd Bishop LAS VEGAS — T-Mobile CEO John Legere took to the stage at CES today to unveil the company’s latest Un-carrier initiatives, but he also addressed reporter’s questions. [Media titan Barry Diller discusses fake news, the ‘nasty consequences’ of everyone being a publisher] By John Cook LAS VEGAS — It didn’t take long for Barry Diller — the outspoken and charismatic chairman of IAC and Expedia — to discuss the discombobulated state of media in 2017. [This is how actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt thinks we can fix education, journalism, and government] By Monica Nickelsburg LAS VEGAS — Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the lifelong actor who starred in Inception, 500 Days of Summer, and most recently Snowden, thinks online collaboration can solve some of the biggest challenges facing the world today. 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