Amazon’s new Housing Equity Fund: The tech giant is committing more than $2 billion to affordable housing initiatives in the regions of Seattle, Nashville, Tenn., and Arlington, Va., attempting to leverage its extraordinary financial assets to address disparities in three communities where its rapid growth risks deepening the economic divide. The fund will seek to preserve and create more than 20,000 affordable housing units across the three regions by making below-market loans and grants to public agencies, housing partners and minority-led organizations. It’s the latest effort by a major tech company to address the inequities fueled by the booming tech economy. Read more.
Big change for Boeing R&D center: Boeing will repurpose a Seattle-area facility that has served as the focus for research into the composite materials used in aircraft ranging from the B-2 Stealth bomber to the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing cast the move as a cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing measure. Read more.
Nintendo acquires Vancouver, B.C. studio: In a rare move, Nintendo is buying Next Level Games, the Canadian developer behind last year’s hit Switch game Luigi’s Mansion 3.
Xbox profile: Speaking of Nintendo, a new Bloomberg story details the 20-year history of Xbox, including Microsoft’s failed attempt at acquiring the Japanese game giant. Original Xbox team member Kevin Bachus recalled meeting with Nintendo about a potential deal. “They just laughed their asses off. Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. That was kind of how that meeting went.”
More Seattle startups raise cash:
Sleep well with Amazon? The tech giant is reportedly working on a new Alexa-enabled bedside device that uses contactless technology to detect and measure sleep apnea. Business Insider reported that the project — code named “Brahms” after the “Lullaby” composer — uses millimeter-wave radar to track sleeping and breathing patterns. Read more.
Thanks for reading, and see all of our latest headlines below. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, editor@geekwire.com, managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and Geek Life reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.
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