The emerging AI corridor in Seattle | Meet the City of Seattle’s new CTO

The City of Seattle’s new chief technology officer arrives from Silicon Valley where he served as deputy city manager in San Jose, Calif. Rob Lloyd (above) wants to leverage tech to take on Seattle’s biggest challenges. Read our Q&A. 

CrowdStrike continues to recover from the outage that impacted 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices. On the latest episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we discuss the long-term implications for the world. 

Court Lorenzini, a technology industry veteran who co-founded e-signature giant Docusign, is launching a new endeavor called Founder Nexus that wants to help entrepreneurs supercharge their businesses. Read more.

London-based software giant Clarivate acquired Rowan TELS Corp., a patent drafting software maker that previously merged with Seattle startup TurboPatent. Read more.

Amazon acquired the UK’s Bray Film Studios, an historic studio that has served as production home to iconic films and music recordings, as well as the Prime Video series “The Lord of the Rings “The Rings of Power.” Read more.

Hot Links:

• Microsoft President Brad Smith addressed Joe Biden’s departure from the presidential race. (LinkedIn)

• PTO Exchange, a Seattle-based employee benefits startup, rebranded to BNFT. (Business Wire)

• Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a startup co-founded by former Microsoft exec Brian Janous with offices in Seattle and Houston, raised $300 million. (PR Newswire)