Remote, hybrid, or fully in-office? | Uber reportedly mulls Expedia acquisition

Could Uber buy Expedia Group? A new report from the Financial Times reveals that Uber has explored a potential bid to acquire the Seattle-based travel company. Read more.

• Related: Expedia named former Fanatics exec Ramana Thumu as its new chief technology officer. See the latest exec changes in Tech Moves. 

How far has Microsoft come in the 50 years that it’s been thinking about and implementing artificial intelligence? The first chapter in GeekWire’s Microsoft @ 50 series goes inside the tech giant for interviews and insights about the company’s AI dreams and what it all means to the future success of the company. 

Facial recognition technology is coming to TSA checkpoints at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in an effort to speed the security screening process. Read more.

Mercedes-Benz laid off an unspecified number of employees from the automaker’s cloud-focused research and development office in Seattle. Read more.

Amazon unveiled a new Kindle Scribe e-reader that features the ability to take handwritten digital notes directly in the flow of e-books for the first time. GeekWire’s Todd Bishop says the device looks promising. Read more.

AI vs AI: Hiya, the Seattle phone-spam detection startup, launched a new Chrome extension that uses AI to identify deepfake audio in online content and combat misinformation. Read more. 

Need a great listen? University of Washington professor Margaret O'Mara is our trusted guide in the latest episode of the excellent new podcast “60 Minutes: A Second Look,” taking us on a journey to the early days of the computer industry when correspondent Morley Safer visited booming Silicon Valley in 1982. O'Mara deconstructs the original piece in great detail, noting how certain things don't "age so well," laughing about a 24-pound luggable computer and then drawing fascinating parallels to what's happening today with AI.

Hot Links:

• Amazon discontinued the Kindle Oasis, first introduced in 2016 and the last of the company’s e-readers with physical buttons. (The Verge)

• Amazon scored another victory in its legal battle over allegedly unsafe working conditions at some warehouse facilities in Washington state. (The Seattle Times)

• The era of the “phone-it-in CEO” is over for startups, writes Seattle investor Anthony Bontrager, and it’s time for the return of leaders who are actively in the mix building new companies. (WestRiver Group)