Shopping for the fun stuff in the Paul Allen auction | Amazon's new Prime Video series set in video game worlds

The upcoming auction of more than 150 assorted items owned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will feature computing equipment and artifacts, historic letters, artworks, space-related memorabilia and more. Beyond the mainframes and minicomputers that have garnered much of the attention since the permanent closure of Seattle’s Living Computers Museum + Labs, we scoured what’s for sale to find items of peculiar interest, and perhaps even affordability. (Christie’s Images, above from left: Puma RS-Computer shoes; a Pac-Man arcade game; and a luncheon menu from the Titanic.) Read more.

Dropbox acquired Reclaim, a Portland, Ore.-based calendar app startup that helps employees prioritize tasks and coordinate schedules. Reclaim hinted at how AI-fueled automation tools can take its product to the next level. Read more.

AI for the college admissions process: A new study reveals how students and teachers are using generative AI to help write essays and letters of recommendation. The tech could provide valuable assistance to students who don’t have access to college tutors or advisors. But broader ethical implications of these tools are still unclear. Read more.

Amazon announced a new Prime Video series called “Secret Level” featuring 15 original stories set in the worlds of new and classic video games. Read more.

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• Jeff Bezos served as tour guide for a look inside Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket production facility in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (YouTube)

• Microsoft unveiled new Xbox accessibility features for gamers with disabilities and the company is launching three new Xbox Series S / X console options this fall. (Xbox Wire; The Verge)

• Amazon is teaming with Glowmade for “King of Meat,” a new game for up to four players featuring dragons, trolls, skeletons and dungeon battles. (Amazon Games)

• Seattle investors "HATE writing checks" to young people, according to Kirby Winfield, a Seattle-based venture capitalist. (LinkedIn)

• IGNTD, makers of an online addiction recovery system, is partnering with King County Jail and the Washington State Department of Corrections on substance use disorder support for former inmates. (IGNTD)

• Questionable accounting practices are allowing tech giants to obscure their climate impacts. (Bloomberg)

• The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the National Science Foundation awarded $16 million in grants to bolster conservation-related research. (NSF)