Inside the plan to save Zulily | Former Amazon, Flexport exec joins Blue Origin

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: The rise, fall, and revival of Zulily. We revisit one the most prominent e-commerce brands to come out of Seattle, explain its decline, and consider a plan by Beyond Inc., led by investor and entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis of CNBC’s “The Profit,” to acquire its brand assets and relaunch the site. Read more and listen here.

Tech Moves: Tim Collins, a longtime former Amazon exec who was most recently at logistics giant Flexport, announced today he’s joining Blue Origin as a supply chain VP. Read more. 

Tech for traffic signals: A new $1.43 million grant will help the City of Bellevue, Wash., pilot a new system that can adjust traffic signals in real-time based on risks for vulnerable road users. Read more.

AI’s impact on hiring: Smartsheet CEO Mark Mader told GeekWire this week that he believes the company will be able to scale its business significantly with its existing team, and may need to hire at a much lower rate than in the past to support revenue growth due to productivity and efficiency gains from factors including its own internal use of AI. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Bill Gates talks about AI’s capabilities and limitations on a new episode of the Armchair Expert Podcast with Dax Shepard. (Business Insider)
• Microsoft has resumed showing popup ads to Google Chrome users on Windows, encouraging them to try its Bing AI technology and search engine. Despite appearances, these ads are legit and not malware, the company says. (The Verge)
• Diversity, equity and inclusion goals will no longer be an explicit factor in determining executive bonuses at Starbucks after a shareholder vote this week. (Bloomberg News)