GeekWire

Ben Gilbert, co-founder Pioneer Square Labs, and the co-host of the podcast Acquired, shares inside details on the secrets of successful tech acquisitions. Plus, Cheezburger gets gobbled up, Madrona strikes a cautionary note, an App of the Week that's like GPS for cooking, and the return of the GeekWire Trivia Challenge, with a chance to win tickets to the GeekWire Bash.

Microsoft 'feels the Bern' as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders questions the company's role in the technology behind the Iowa Caucuses, Amazon has another secret building, a mobile car-fueling startup is moving away from Seattle, and we explain what's really been going on with Surface tablets on the NFL sidelines.

This week on GeekWire, we hear about the top technology at the Consumer Electronics Show with John Cook, from the show floor at the giant tech show in Las Vegas. Then, highlights from "House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey's insightful talk at CES. Plus, an overview of the virtual reality technology that's about to hit the market, an App of the Week that takes 3D photos, and a rundown of the best sci-fi and fantasy TV shows and movies coming in 2016.

We give letter grades to "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," share our favorite stories of 2015, and talk about our tech resolutions for 2016. With GeekWire reporter Taylor Soper, and special guest Holly Firmin.

Pluto, Mars, Jupiter, Ceres, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing and much more: It was a big year in space, and this week, we're joined by Alan Boyle, GeekWire's aerospace and science editor, who helps us catch up on everything and put the universe in perspective.

Andru Edwards of GearLive joins us with his annual last-minute holiday tech gift picks " including tablets, smart lightbulbs, video-game accessories, and a great living room device for cord-cutters.

This week on GeekWire, we're on location at the Microsoft Store at Bellevue Square, with special guests, Panos Panay, the head of devices at Microsoft, and Stevie Bathiche, distinguished scientist in Microsoft's hardware group. We talk about the design decisions that went into the Surface Book, the competition between Surface and Apple's iPad, and much more. Plus, your chance to win a Microsoft Band 2 in our GeekWire Trivia Challenge. In our news segment, we discuss Uber's new carpooling experiment in Seattle, a new startup that wants to bet against your marriage, and Donald Trump's latest plan for the Internet.

We're on location at the Microsoft Store at Seattle's University Village this week, with special guest Larry Hryb, better known as Xbox Live's Major Nelson. In the news segment, we talk about Starbucks delivery and Steve Ballmer's new role as Microsoft's resident gadfly. Plus, the return of our GeekWire Trivia Challenge, with your chance to win an Xbox One from Microsoft.

We'll be hosting a special recording of our weekly show from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. this Thursday, Dec. 3, at the Microsoft Store in Seattle's University Village, featuring a special guest and prizes in partnership with Microsoft. Listen for details, and sign up at geekwire.com/radio.

This week on GeekWire, we talk about our favorite apps for book lovers, gamers, photographers, home cooks, people who like to send holiday cards, and more. Plus, an epic debate over the relative merits of Gmail vs. Outlook. Guests: GeekWire's Monica Nickelsburg and Daniel Rossi, and GeekWire contributor Kevin Lisota, CEO of Findwell.

This week on GeekWire: An inside peek at Facebook's new Frank Gehry-designed offices in Seattle, Google's Nest becomes the latest arrival on the Seattle tech scene, and Uber presses the Port of Seattle to allow pickups at SeaTac Airport. Plus, an App of the Week that encourages your kids to read, and a new technology that will charge your devices from up to 30 feet away. We also check in with GeekWire's Taylor Soper in Beijing, and talk with YouTube phenom Matt Harding about his plans for a new around-the-world dancing video.

We caught up with GeekWire reporter Taylor Soper over Skype from Beijing to talk about what he has experienced so far on his big China reporting trip, what has surprised him most, and how the experience has changed his perspective on technology.

Matt Harding is ready to reunite the world, again, with the help of his goofy dance. But this time he needs some help. The 39-year-old Seattle resident, whose inspiring, globetrotting videos have racked up tens of millions of views and won fans around the world, has launched a new Kickstarter campaign, seeking to raise at least $125,000 to fund a new “Where the Heck is Matt” video in 2016.

GeekWire spoke this week with one of the key players in the cloud industry, Jason Zander, the longtime Microsoft executive who runs the Azure engineering team. We talked about the evolution of Azure, its rivalry with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft's new cloud partnerships with some of its longtime archrivals, and where the company is trying to take its cloud platform next. Highlights from this conversation ran in our weekly show " this is the full interview.

Rich Williams, the new CEO of Groupon, is touring the company’s West Coast operations this week to meet with its core teams and rally the troops " taking the first steps in what he hopes will be a turnaround for the pioneering deals company. An Amazon veteran who started Groupon’s Seattle engineering offices after joining the company in 2011, Williams stopped by GeekWire this week after meeting with the company’s employees in the city