Richard Tait, 1964-2022: ‘Cranium' inventor and entrepreneur was ‘the ultimate dreamer’

Richard Tait, 1964-2022: Richard Tait, the longtime Seattle entrepreneur who helped invent the wildly popular board game “Cranium” after spending 10 years at Microsoft, has died at the age of 58. He also co-founded Moment, the Seattle maker of attachable lenses for smartphones, and Golazo, a soccer-themed energy sports drink. Friends and colleagues described Tait as “the ultimate dreamer,” “an amazing storyteller,” and “an inspiration to so many of us.” Read more. 

Microsoft battles Amazon for federal cloud deals: A draft document circulated by Microsoft calls for the use of multiple cloud vendors as “the de facto standard for US Government Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud procurements.” Such a policy, if it were adopted by the government, would have the effect of further opening the lucrative public sector market to cloud technology from Microsoft and others, slowing the momentum of Amazon Web Services. Read more. 

Seattle biotech startup lands $26M: Microsoft, Madrona, and others are backing Ozette, a single cell analysis company that helps academic and biopharma partners pinpoint and quantify immune cell types from datasets. Read more. 

Tech Moves: Icertis hires Rajat Bahri as CFO; Seattle engineering vet Daryn Nakhuda joins Waabi; and more personnel changes. 

Amazon earnings: The Seattle tech giant will report its second quarter financials this afternoon, revealing how ongoing inflation and macroeconomic challenges are affecting its business. Read our preview, and check back later today on GeekWire for updates.