Microsoft and Amazon job cuts mark new phase for tech industry

• That’s the assessment from business and community leaders in the home of Microsoft and Amazon on one of the gloomiest days in Seattle tech history. 

• Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft announced Wednesday morning that it will cut 10,000 jobs, about 5% of its workforce, including an initial 878 positions in the Seattle region. Meanwhile, Amazon on Wednesday began the latest phase of its 18,000-person layoff, the largest in its history, impacting sites including its Seattle headquarters.

• For now, at least, tech leaders see in the cutbacks not a retrenchment for the industry but rather a rebalancing of power after a decade of remarkable growth for Microsoft, Amazon, and other big companies. Read our analysis. 

“We want to essentially do for your ears what Sonicare and electric toothbrush companies have done for teeth.”

• That’s the mission of SafKan Health, a Seattle startup that has garnered funding and FDA approval for its ear-cleaning device (above) that removes earwax and aims to supplant current clinical approaches to removing built up gunk. Read more. 

It’s a bird, it’s a plane … nope, it’s a fireball burning up over Seattle. 

• Seattle engineer/photographer Corey Clarke’s webcam happened to be pointing in the right direction to record a fireball’s flash through wispy clouds Monday night. Such fireworks flash when a piece of space debris streaks through the upper layers of the atmosphere and explodes. Read more.

Seattle startup Membrion raised $7 million to boost manufacturing of its ceramic membranes that treat wastewater.

• The University of Washington spinout’s tech can treat toxic runoff from manufacturing processes, removing salt and heavy metals such as lead, mercury, arsenic and copper. Read more.