Paul Allen estate donates rare artifacts to Seattle museum | Can tech help curb street racing?

Cloud powers Microsoft and Google earnings: Both tech giants surpassed expectations for their quarterly results. 

• Microsoft said its overarching Microsoft Cloud offerings drove much of the growth, with quarterly revenue of $30.3 billion, marking a 21% increase year-over-year.

• Google Cloud revenue rose 28% to more than $8 billion in the second quarter.

Can tech help Seattle curb street racing? The Seattle City Council approved legislation Tuesday that paves the way for increased use of automated speed cameras. Read more. 

Where are the cars? Traffic into downtown Seattle has failed to jump into high gear, even as some companies have instituted return-to-office mandates. Transportation analytics provider Inrix reports that Seattle is still 27% below 2019 traffic levels. Read more. 

Eco-friendly aircraft: Boeing and NASA will collaborate with Seattle-based Alaska Airlines and four other major airlines on the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, which aims to put Boeing’s innovative X-66 braced-wing aircraft design (above) through flight tests in the 2028-2029 time frame. 

• The X-66A makes use of a concept known as the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing, or TTBW, which features ultra-long, ultra-thin, drag-reducing wings that are stabilized by diagonal struts.

• The demonstrator aircraft will also incorporate parallel advancements in propulsion systems, materials and system architecture. 

• When all those factors are combined, the single-aisle X-66A should reduce fuel requirements and carbon emissions by up to 30% relative to today’s domestic airplane fleet. 

Real estate and climate: Redfin analyzed migration patterns of Americans in recent years into disaster-prone areas — and the findings may surprise you.  

Protecting code: Seattle startup Protect AI helps companies monitor and detect their machine learning and artificial intelligence systems. The company just raised $35 million to fuel growth. 

Hot links:

• Buyer alert: Amazon launched a new page to share product recall information. (The Verge)

• Breaking up Amazon: The FTC is readying its highly anticipated antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. (Politico)

• Another AI initiative from Big Tech: Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI announced the Frontier Model Forum, which aims to ensure advanced AI models are built and deployed responsibly. (Financial Times)

• Taking on Google and Apple map monopoly: Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and TomTom released data to help other companies build and operate their own maps. (CNBC)