“This has not happened before.” That’s Margaret O’Mara, a historian, author and University of Washington professor, addressing the role of social media in one of the most tumultuous periods in American history. Twitter’s decision Friday to join Facebook in permanently suspending President Trump’s account underscored the unprecedented nature of the situation. The impact of technology on the head-spinning events of the past week is our first topic on a new episode of the GeekWire Podcast. We also discuss the future of Seattle, Silicon Valley and other established tech hubs in the aftermath of the pandemic. Listen here or subscribe to GeekWire in any podcast app.
Microsoft tweet goes viral: Was Microsoft throwing shade at President Trump in its Friday afternoon tweet, “It’s now safe to turn off your computer”? It’s not clear, but some people certainly thought so. One well-placed Microsoft insider simply called it “the Rorschach test of tweets.” Read more.
Ready for some cinematic football? The Seattle Seahawks are back in the NFL Playoffs today, and views of the action at Lumen Field will be captured in part by impressive camera tech being deployed by FOX Sports. The network’s so-called “Megalodon” mirrorless camera system caught fans’ attention during regular season games in December and FOX is seizing on the hype. Read more.
Top apps of 2020: In a year that was defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a lot to learn about what was getting installed on phones and tablets. TikTok, Zoom, Roblox, and Among Us led the way. See the list.
Geek of the Week: Gordon Li grew up obsessed with video games as a little kid. He built his own gaming computer, and now he’s helped to build a startup. Li is CTO of Shotcall in Seattle, an online marketplace and platform that connects content creators with their fans by helping them to play video games alongside each other. Read his profile.
Doubledown layoffs: The casual game maker this week laid off 55 employees at its Seattle office as the company moves engineering resources to its South Korea headquarters. DoubleDown originally started in Seattle but has gone through multiple ownership changes. Read more.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and see all of our latest headlines below. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and Geek Life reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.
