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Stoplight tips workmates to leave you alone

FlowLight at work
A green light means it’s OK to chat with a FlowLight user. (UBC Photo)

It’s a classic conundrum for coders: Sometimes you get so absorbed in what you’re doing that you hate being interrupted, and you can’t even stop to put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign.

That’s where FlowLight could come in handy.

The gadget, invented by a computer scientist at the University of British Columbia, monitors your keystrokes and mouse clicks to determine how deeply you’re engaged in your work. When the activity hits a pre-set level, the light on the device turns from green to red.

“The light is like displaying your Skype status – it tells your colleagues whether you’re busy or open for a chat,” Thomas Fritz, an assistant professor at UBC who started work on the invention at the University of Zurich, explained in a news release.

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Richard Branson sizes up Seattle’s billionaires

Richard Branson
Richard Branson is a fan of Seattle’s entrepreneurs. (Virgin Atlantic photo)

At the age of 66, Virgin billionaire Richard Branson has seen a lot of entrepreneurs come and go, but he’s also gotten to know some of the enduring titans of the tech industry, such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Seattle’s entrepreneurial spirit is one big reason why Branson scheduled one of his signature “Business Is an Adventure” forums here this week. (Another big reason was the start of Virgin Atlantic’s nonstop air service between London and Seattle.)

During an exclusive interview with GeekWire, Branson gave his unvarnished views on controversial issues ranging from Donald Trump’s presidency to the status of women in the entrepreneurial world. But he also reflected on his relationships with Bezos and Gates.

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Six billion-dollar tips for entrepreneurs

Richard Branson and flight attendants at Sea-Tac
Virgin Atlantic’s founder, Richard Branson, demonstrates that he knows how to make an entrance at Sea-Tac International Airport. (Virgin Atlantic Photo via Twitter)

Hundreds of entrepreneurs and VIPs converged on Seattle’s Pioneer Square today to get advice from one of the world’s flashiest business leaders, Virgin billionaire Richard Branson.

The panel discussion, titled “Business Is an Adventure,” featured local startup masters such as Hointer’s Nadia Shouraboura, CreativeLive’s Chase Jarvis and Jonathan Sposato of Picmonkey (and GeekWire).

But Branson was clearly the star of the show, and based on the Twitter reviews, most of those in attendance felt as if they got what they came for.

Check out Branson’s six tips for entrepreneurs on GeekWire.

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Richard Branson fears Trump will ‘blow it’

Richard Branson
Richard Branson isn’t shy about his political views. (GeekWire Photo / John Cook)

Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson is clearly unhappy with President Donald Trump – and he thinks that a different sort of business leader, such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, would have been much better for America.

But the way Branson sees it, even Bloomberg may have a problem now.

“There is a danger that Trump will have blown it for any business person to ever follow into the White House,” Branson told GeekWire today during an exclusive interview in Seattle. “I hope not, because I think there are lots of extraordinarily good entrepreneurial types of business people out there, both male and female, who would make very good presidents.”

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Could laws boost women in business?

Nadia Shouraboura and Richard Branson
Hointer CEO Nadia Shouraboura gets in on the discussion with Virgin founder Richard Branson. (GeekWire Photo / John Cook)

To boost women’s status in business, Virgin billionaire Richard Branson says the United States and other countries should follow Norway’s lead and require corporations to put more women on their boards … or else.

Having 40 percent women representation on corporate boards would be a good target to shoot for, Branson told GeekWire in an exclusive interview today. The British entrepreneur was in Seattle to celebrate the start of Virgin Atlantic’s nonstop air service between Seattle and London – and headline a VIP forum for entrepreneurs at Axis Pioneer Square.

“Not every Virgin company’s got there yet, and we’ve still got work to do,” Branson acknowledged. “But I think if a law could be passed, that would focus the minds of an awful lot of chief executives, who are generally male in companies.”

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Watch Richard Branson’s excellent adventure

Richard Branson shows off the lumberjack look in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Not everyone can get in to the VIP business forum that Virgin Atlantic’s billionaire founder, Richard Branson, has organized in Seattle today – but anyone can watch what happens.

Branson wants to throw a spotlight on Seattle’s entrepreneurial spirit during the hourlong event at Axis Pioneer Square, starting at 11 a.m. PT. Live video coverage will be provided via Ustream.tv. To watch the stream, go to Virgin Atlantic’s website, or to the airline’s Facebook page.

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Richard Branson gets frosty over Alaska Air

Richard Branson
Richard Branson, pretends he’s an airplane on the runway after the arrival of Virgin Atlantic’s 787-9 Dreamliner jet from London. (Virgin Atlantic Photo)

British billionaire Richard Branson kicked off Virgin Atlantic’s nonstop service from London to Seattle today with a rhetorical kiss for the Emerald City, but also a verbal kick at Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, which is absorbing another one of the airlines he founded.

First, the kiss: Branson took a star turn on the tarmac after Flight 105’s arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, surrounded by flight attendants bearing Union Jack umbrellas. Wearing blue jeans and a hometown Filson lumberjack jacket, he paid tribute to Seattle’s entrepreneurial bent.

“It’s a city after my own heart,” Branson told a crowd of VIPs and journalists assembled in the airport’s arrival hall. “Very entrepreneurial, some of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world live here.”

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Virgin founder brings London buzz to Seattle

Richard Branson
Virgin founder Richard Branson puts his feet up in advance of a “Business Is an Adventure” forum for entrepreneurs in Seattle. (Virgin Atlantic Photo)

Virgin Atlantic inaugurated its nonstop service between London and Seattle today with the glitz that’s typically associated with the airline’s billionaire founder, Richard Branson.

Flight 105 is due to land at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport a little after 3 p.m. today, almost 10 hours following its takeoff from London’s Heathrow Airport.

Among the passengers on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jet is British singer-songwriter Raye, and it’s clear from Twitter that she was part of the in-flight entertainment.

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Caution signals seen for Amazon Go store

Outside Amazon’s first “Amazon Go” retail store in the Denny Triangle neighborhood of Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Nat Levy)

Amazon Go, the online retailer’s “Just Walk Out” convenience store in downtown Seattle, is still in private beta mode three and a half months after its unveiling – and some reports suggest the concept is facing tougher sledding than anticipated.

The checkout-free store is just one of several brick-and-mortar experiments under way at Amazon. A different drive-up concept, AmazonFresh Pickup, seems nearly ready for its debut in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood and SoDo district.

Unlike AmazonFresh Pickup, Amazon Go envisions a system where customers can walk in off the street, pick up anything they want, and “just walk out.” Their purchases would be tracked using high-tech object recognition and inventory management systems, matched up with the customers’ mobile app and automatically charged to their Amazon account.

Since December, Amazon has been testing the system at an 1,800-square-foot store on Seventh Avenue. Only employees are allowed to enter the store, but when the store was unveiled, Amazon promised that it’d be open to the public in early 2017.

Amazon has issued no updates since December, and this week, Bloomberg News reported that Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” just isn’t ready for prime time yet.

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Boeing OKs buyouts for 1,800 union workers

Boeing logo
Boeing has approved the first wave of voluntary layoffs for union workers. (GeekWire Photo)

Boeing has approved buyouts for more than 1,800 union workers, marking the start of a new round of job reductions that’s expected to continue through the year.

The voluntary layoffs include 1,500 machinists and 305 engineers, representatives of the workers’ unions told GeekWire today. Boeing Commercial Airplanes is reducing non-union positions as well, but the company isn’t providing numbers for those classifications.

The company said in December that it would have to continue last year’s downward trend in employment to stay competitive with Airbus, its European aerospace rival.

Last year’s job reductions amounted to about 8 percent of the workforce in Boeing’s commercial airplane division, going from roughly 82,500 to a little more than 76,000 employees by the end of 2016. The reductions were achieved through voluntary and involuntary layoffs as well as attrition.

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