Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of May 25, 2025
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of May 25, 2025.
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Most popular stories on GeekWire
Can one agency reboot Washington state? Commerce chief brings tech to the task
With Washington state facing a $16 billion budget shortfall, and tech leaders sounding the alarm over new taxes and economic competitiveness, Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyen says he's committed to a hard reset. In an interview Tuesday at his downtown Seattle office, nearly six months into his job leading the state's primary economic development agency, the tech veteran and former state senator said the real obstacle to progress isn't tech, or funding, but outdated systems and resistance to change. 'The problem is bureaucracy,' Nguyen said, contrasting the government's sluggish pace with the old tech startup mantra of 'move fast… Read More … Read More
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CNN
8 minutes ago
- CNN
They were marching for Israeli hostages. Then an antisemitic firebombing started
It started as a typical Sunday for Ed Victor. Every Sunday since September, he had stood in silent solidarity with members of the Jewish community in front of the Boulder County Historic Court House. The group had gathered to take part in 'Run for Their Lives' — a global event organized by members of the Jewish community to bring attention to the 58 hostages still in Gaza. Even when there had been hecklers, Victor and other members would focus on setting up their demonstration — signs reading 'Let them go now,' and posters bearing the faces of 58 hostages still being held in Gaza. Victor was talking to someone, looking west toward the mountains, he said, when he first felt the heat. 'Huge amount of flame,' Victor said. Then, he saw someone on fire. The quiet, peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado, quickly devolved into chaos after a man used a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set people at the plaza on fire in an antisemitic attack. Smoke rose as demonstrators and onlookers rushed to find anything that could hold water to pour onto the more than a half dozen people set ablaze. Clothing singed off bodies. Screams from burn victims and sirens from ambulances, police cars and firetrucks pierced the air. Victor used flags and banners meant to bring awareness to the hostages to smother flames that had consumed another marcher. At least 12 people were injured in the attack, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Monday. Two are still hospitalized, officials said. 'I never ever, ever would've thought that this would've happen. I really can't and I'm so shocked that it did,' Victor said. Jewish leaders had been warning of the historic rise in antisemitic violence and threats since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two years later, US-led attempts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remain unsuccessful, fighting in Gaza continues and antisemitic threats in the US have boiled over into violence. Sunday's antisemitic attack took place just weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington DC were killed by a pro-Palestinian attacker and an arsonist targeted Josh Shapiro's home during Passover because of the Pennsylvania governor's views on the war in the Gaza, heightening fear in the Jewish community. The FBI is investigating Sunday's firebombing as 'an act of terrorism.' The 'Run for Their Lives' event had been meeting regularly since mid-October 2023. The suspect, later identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had been planning the attack for nearly as long, he told federal authorities. He targeted the group after researching them online, but waited nearly a year to attack them — until his daughter graduated high school, according to an affidavit filed Sunday. Soliman, who was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived in the United States in August 2022 as a non-immigrant visitor, according to multiple law enforcement officials. Soliman was seeking revenge after he determined the group didn't care about Palestinian hostages, per the affidavit. He told authorities he 'wanted to kill all Zionist people.' Witnesses said the suspect showed up to the plaza looking like a gardener, officials said. He wore a utility vest over his shirt, and carried a garden sprayer. Investigators believe he stopped at nearby gas stations to fill up bottles and the sprayer before the attack, arriving in the area around 1 p.m. He threw two Molotov cocktails, and the district attorney said police later found 16 more in the area. Brian Horwitz was at a nearby cafe having brunch with family when the attack began. The 37-year-old heard the screams and ran toward the suspect. ''F*** you Zionists. You're killing my people so I kill you,'' Horwitz said he heard the man say. The attacker then singled out people in the plaza saying ''you're a killer, you're a killer,'' Horwitz said. Horwitz said the man then locked eyes with him. 'That's when he looked at me and said you're a killer,' Horwitz recalled. He ran to an elderly victim who had burns on her feet and hands. The woman told him to worry about her friend instead, he said. Her friend had severe burns to her calf, the skin barely visible. 'She was cool, calm and collected - almost as if she had been there before,' Horwitz said. Three minutes after he called emergency services, police arrived and took the suspect into custody, Horwitz said. He noted the wait felt like an eternity. 'It was easily the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life,' Horwitz said. 'There's someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It's unbelievable.' Soliman 'stated he would do it (conduct an attack) again,' according to the affidavit. He later told investigators he had planned on dying in the attack, according to a warrant for his arrest. Many of the injured were older adults. None of them have died, Boulder police said. Two were burned so badly, they had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals. In one video, a severely injured woman is seen lying on the ground as bystanders pour water on her. 'There were people on the ground and a bunch of others running over with buckets and bottles and whatever they could carry water in' the owner of Heady Bauer, a local clothing store, told CNN. 'Everyone was dumping water on the burned people, especially one woman on the ground who was totally torched from her hair to her legs.' Aaron Brooks said he saw 'smoke coming from a human being.' There was also singed grass and black marks around the site of the attack, he said. Horwitz said he saw pants completely burned and singed off, and 'it looked like their skin had just melted off their bodies.' Among those injured are a mother and daughter, said Elyana Funk, executive director of the University of Boulder Hillel. The mother 'is a Holocaust survivor in her 80's, who's been through certainly enough trauma.' Funk said she talked to some of the victims, who range in age from 52 to 88, including one woman who is 'healing from horrible burns.' The woman, Funk said, 'really felt like this happened not just to her, but to the whole community.' Soliman has been arrested and charged with a federal hate crime, and is facing a slew of state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The weekly vigil in Boulder is now on hold, but Funk said the community will still find ways to come together. Victor says he'll be back next week again, just like he's been for nearly a year. 'This would not stop me,' he said. 'We'll see what other people decide they want to do, but I will be here.' CNN's John Miller, Sara Smart, Sarah Dewberry, Mark Morales, Martin Goillandeau, Amanda Jackson, Isaac Yee, Amanda Musa, Karina Tsui, Josh Campbell, Hanna Park, Matt Rehbein and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
CNN
8 minutes ago
- CNN
Defense Accuses Alleged Victim 'Mia' Of 'MeToo Money Grab' - Laura Coates Live - Podcast on CNN Audio
Defense Accuses Alleged Victim 'Mia' Of 'MeToo Money Grab' Laura Coates Live 46 mins A former employee of Sean 'Diddy' Combs concluded her testimony Monday afternoon after three days on the stand at his federal criminal trial, during which she recounted multiple alleged instances of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by Combs. The employee, testifying under the pseudonym 'Mia,' was the 21st witness in the case and gave one of the lengthier testimonies thus far, second only to key witness Cassie Ventura.
Gizmodo
8 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
8 Hours With Nintendo's Switch 2: It's the Sequel Handheld We Wanted
Nintendo's Switch 2 is a better handheld than the original Switch in both overt and subtle ways. The sticks aren't full-sized, but they tilt with just the right amount of force. The plastic has a subtle grainy texture that feels luxurious on my open palms. It's nearly as light and exactly as thin as the device from eight years ago, but it is much more powerful. Nintendo is desperate to prove its new design is worth the $450 asking price, but the real appeal for this console will lie beyond specs when it launches on June 5. You can't comprehend the appeal of the Switch 2 until you have it in hand. Gizmodo Senior Editor of Consumer Tech Raymond Wong and I spent close to eight hours with Nintendo's Switch 2, with the vast majority of that time spent playing Mario Kart World. We also tested out the system's new GameChat feature for online play, local co-op with camera functionality, and the new Welcome Tour 'game.' Both Gizmodo and io9 already shared their impressions of the Joy-Con 2 mouse controls along with several launch and soon-to-launch Switch 2 games. The mouse controls are still a highlight. They're very responsive, and the individual Joy-Con 2 feels comfortable enough in the hand. The optical mouse system works equally well on a flat counter or your pants' legs. See Nintendo Switch 2 at Walmart In my time playing around with the Switch 2, I started to feel like a beaver sliding comfortably into the same den I dug for the original Switch. You can take that statement two different ways. The Switch 2 isn't chock-full of original ideas save for a few select features—namely GameChat, mouse controls, and GameShare. Many of those new features simply enhance the best aspects of the original Switch. The Switch 2 is still the best console for having fun with friends. Nintendo has a problem communicating what's different with its hardware this time around. The Japanese console maker's devices aren't normally made for people who understand the distinction between 60Hz or 120Hz refresh rates or VRR, which is short for variable refresh rate. (If you're curious, refresh rates refer to how many times a screen displays a new image per second, and variable refresh rate is a feature that allows a screen to support a wider range of frame rates, which cuts down on flickering). That lack of specs clarity is why Nintendo made Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. The game is an interactive instruction manual for the Switch 2 packed with minigames meant to showcase the hardware's improvements. Your tiny player character is plopped down on top of a literal Switch 2 handheld, like you're a tourist visiting a monument to Nintendo's grand vision. There are several islands sectioned off for the left and right Joy-Con 2, the main screen, and the dock, each containing their own minigames and quizzes. The maps include help guides and trivia to teach the layperson what certain Switch 2 tech jargon means and how the hardware works. Some of the minigames are as granular as a quiz where you try to identify the difference between a scene running between 20 fps and 120 fps. Another offers a perspective of what 4K resolution looks like compared to the size of Super Mario Bros. on the NES—a mere 256 x 240 pixels. Nintendo simplifies these terms and makes them comprehensible. The game is one of the better ways to come to terms with many of these technological terms. I think Nintendo made a big mistake not packaging Welcome Tour with the console. Instead, you have to pay $10 for it separately. Save for GameChat and mouse controls, the Switch 2 is a sequel console in every sense of the phrase. Mario Kart World may be a pretty game with some evocative animations for every powerslide and head-on collision with an incoming truck, but it's not the type of game to express the console's overt power. All that's left is specs. The Joy-Con 2 controllers are now big enough to fit adult-sized hands. The 1080p screen is brighter and more colorful than before, and we can't overstate the benefit of 4K support, especially as the screen resolution has become far more ubiquitous since 2017. That stuff matters, but Nintendo has the difficult task of ensuring everyone knows that matters. Consider how the original Switch lasted eight years. Even at release, it was an underpowered console. As of May, Nintendo sold 152.12 million original Switch units, closest to its top-selling device ever, the Nintendo DS. Since it had been around so long, it seemed like everybody had an original Switch. It was so ubiquitous I could visit any friend's house and expect they'd at least have two Joy-Cons and a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to play around with. Nintendo's original Switch has been around for eight years and still costs $300. The new Switch 2 is still largely untested and costs $150 more. What we still have yet to test is the new GameShare features. In some supported games, GameShare should let one Switch 2 share it for play with both original Switch and Switch 2 owners, even if they don't own that title. GameShare will only support a limited number of titles at launch, but it's a big reason why you should want to keep your eight-year-old console handy. The bigger Joy-Con 2s still support a similarly thin body that made the original so easy to schlep to a friend's house. Together, the features speak to Nintendo's real strength—its focus on playing with friends. After my limited time with it, I already feel that the Switch 2 does everything the original Switch did, but better. It's larger and more comfortable with improved controls. It's more capable of playing demanding games—though we'll need to test out those titles for ourselves to know the true scope of the Switch 2's potential. But as I played Mario Kart World with four-player co-op—even on a single Joy-Con 2 and even when the frame rate took a major hit from running in four-player splitscreen—I was catapulted back into the same sense of joy I have playing Mario Kart 8 or Super Smash Bros. with friends on the couch. New features like having a live view camera in multiplayer can enhance that feeling of community, and perhaps more games can incorporate mouse controls into multiplayer. The Switch shines as the communal console, and when gaming is getting more expensive, we just hope Nintendo can remember where its handheld console truly shines. See Nintendo Switch 2 at Walmart
