Amazon goes big with new smart home screen | Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play comes to Seattle 

Amazon’s new Echo Show 21 is its biggest smart home display yet, promising improved video and audio quality for the home organization and entertainment device. Read more. 

Silicon Valley-based Plug n Play, which operates innovation programs in more than 60 locations worldwide, is coming to the Seattle region to run two new annual accelerator programs at the University of Washington and in Everett, Wash. Read more.

New funding rounds:

• CalmWave, makers of “Quiet ICU,” a system for silencing excessive alarms from devices attached to patients in hospitals, raised $5.2 million.

• Theo Ai, a new legal tech startup that uses AI to help predict case outcomes, started by the former chief privacy officer for Washington state, raised $2.2 million.

• See all recent fundings here.

A proposed capital gains tax in Seattle likely won’t be included as part of the city’s new budget package after a city council vote on Tuesday. Read more.

Tech Moves: Former Qualtrics exec Jay Choi is now CEO at Typeform; former AWS director Charley Daitch is now CEO at Rowan Digital Infrastructure, and more key personnel changes.

Bling Capital raised $270 million for its fourth fund — and the Miami-based firm is keeping close watch on Seattle. 

The new world of restaurant reviews: A Seattle sushi restaurant had to close after a review from a TikTok food influencer went viral. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Microsoft is partnering with HarperCollins to use the publisher’s content for AI training. (Bloomberg)

• Seattle startup Statsig rolled out new integrations with Azure for AI app experimentation. (Statsig and Vijaye Raji via LinkedIn)

• Will Donald Trump’s win further deteriorate the relationship between big tech and blue cities? University of Washington professor Margaret O’Mara weighs in. (Blue City Blues)

• Redmond, Wash., the longtime home of Microsoft, approved a plan called “Redmond 2050” that will help guide growth and change as the suburb becomes a city. (Redmond) 

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.