This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Silicon Valley legend Vinod Khosla’s family is leading a group that’s buying the Seattle Seahawks for a record $9.6 billion.

We dug into hours of his talks and interviews to answer the big questions: Who is this guy, why does he want an NFL team, and what does his track record tell us about the kind of owner he’ll be? Plus, the blind spot that could get him into trouble.

Featuring highlights from his 2015 talk at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Also: A mystery trove of aerospace artifacts is rescued from a Seattle-area electronics recycler, and we want to hear about your coolest tech history find. Send your comments, voice memos and photos to todd@geekwire.com.

Subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

On this week’s show, we’re on the GeekWire deck for our annual founder open house, where we dig into Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs — including a major Xbox shakeup — and the surprising rise of hardware companies on the GeekWire 200.

Then we sit down with four guests to talk about how AI is reshaping how they build: 

• Jana Schuster of StackIQ, whose AI-native platform helps companies find redundancy in their software spending — like Rocket Money, but for business — with a small team.
• Blake Resnick and David Benowitz of Brinc Drones, whose mechanical engineers are now vibe coding their own prototypes;
• Boaz Ashkenazy of Shift AI, who’s setting up always-on agents and rethinking how we interact with AI tools.

Finally, this week’s GeekWire Trivia Challenge: how a longtime T-Mobile executive got his start in the wireless business, and the star-studded history of T-Mobile celebrity endorsers.

Stories mentioned:

• Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, about 2% globally, revamps salesforce and launches massive Xbox overhaul
• GeekWire 200 update: New unicorns and a hardware surge remake our list of top Pacific NW startups
• Former GitHub CEO’s startup Entire unveils its answer to the crush of AI coding agents
• Chicago software company plants flag in Seattle area as new leadership team seeks AI talent
• T-Mobile exec Mike Katz exits after 28 years, as carrier reshuffles top ranks and taps ex-AT&T leader

Audio editing by Curt Milton.

As AI and surging demand for power collide with a warming planet, most climate and environmental news can feel a little hopeless — and for good reason. But some scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs are quietly betting that technology can still tip the balance.

Those are the stories we’re telling on Positive Charge, a new podcast launching today, hosted by GeekWire reporter Lisa Stiffler and independent Seattle-based audio producer and journalist Laura Scott. The show goes inside the companies and labs working on environmental solutions, and connects with the people living with the problems they’re trying to solve.

Our thanks to Amazon Sustainability for sponsoring this independent editorial project.

Two episodes are already live: The first explores the “forever chemicals” contaminating water around the world, and the companies that have figured out how to destroy them. The second is about the global race to make fusion energy real, and the startups betting they can deliver nearly limitless clean power. 

Future installments will explore new climate and sustainability breakthroughs every few weeks.

Subscribe to Positive Charge on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music, and find every episode at geekwire.com/positivecharge.