Microsoft announced earlier this week that it would start testing its new aggregated gaming library on the Xbox app for Windows, and it's now starting to show up for testers today. This new library experience lists Steam, Battle.net, Ubisoft, Epic Games Store, and Riot Games titles that are all installed on a PC from various other launchers - much like GOG Galaxy.
I've been trying out the experience today and found that Microsoft automatically detects installed games and lists them in your library in the Xbox app, along with a relevant thumbnail or icon, and the name of the launcher where the game was installed from. While the thumbnails could do with some work in this beta app, you'll get an option to play the game or see it in the relevant launcher. You can also hide games from these different PC stores if you don't want to see them listed in the Xbox app.
This integration simply lists the games and you won't get Xbox achievements or any additional functionality in these titles. The consolidated library is part of Microsoft's effort to make the Xbox app on Windows the home of PC gaming, and to improve the handheld experience of Windows.
The GeekWire 200, our quarterly ranking of the top privately held technology startups in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, has a new look and a revamped approach — designed to spotlight a wider array of up-and-coming companies alongside the region’s established startup leaders.
Presented by JPMorganChase, the GeekWire 200 combines objective data and editorial insight to provide a broad view of the region’s startup landscape. The ranking, which dates to 2013, has long served as a resource for investors, job seekers, service providers, and others tracking the Pacific Northwest tech scene.
With this Q2 2025 update, we’ve started changing the way we calculate the ranking, with help from AI tools. Part of the goal is to do justice to fast-growing startups — including small teams making a big impact. It reflects a growing trend of startups punching above their weight, leveraging artificial intelligence.
Several companies joined the list for the first time.
Nectar Social (No. 175), a social commerce startup that raised $10.6 million earlier this month.
Elastix (No. 187), an AI inference platform that emerged from stealth in May.
Vercept (No. 176), which is working on a new computer interface system and raised a $16 million seed round.
EdgeRunner AI (No. 165), a startup building technology to help military members use generative AI.
And several established startups made notable moves list since our Q1 update.
Statsig jumped to No. 5 after the developer tools startup raised $100 million at a $1.1 billion valuation in May.
Overland AI moved to No. 15 on the heels of the military tech company’s new autonomous vehicle release and the opening of a Seattle factory.
Crypto startup Eigen Labs (No. 78), legal tech firm Supio (No. 80), and solar power servicing company Omnidian (No. 37) also improved their rankings after raising new funding (see our funding database here).
How the rankings have evolved
The revamp is a work in progress, and it will continue to evolve in future quarterly updates. Here’s how we’re changing our approach.
We’re looking at each company’s employee growth over the past 12 months, factoring in both the percentage increase and the number of jobs added.
Larger companies still earn credit for maintaining scale — a sign of maturity and customer traction. But this is weighted less heavily than growth, to help spotlight emerging players.
We include LinkedIn follower counts as a rough measure of a company’s public traction. To avoid favoring long-established firms, we apply a curve that gives younger companies a fairer shot.
Companies founded 15 years ago or later “graduate” from the GeekWire 200, and are not included. We also remove companies due to mergers, acquisitions and private equity deals in which they sell a majority of their shares.
How we used AI in this update
We used Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT to help aggregate data, generate the rankings, and verify the accuracy of the data.
For future updates, we’re experimenting with an AI-powered “Innovation Score” that will factor in recent launches and breakthroughs in areas such as AI, enterprise tech, space, robotics, and biotech. We’d welcome your ideas for further improvements and new data sources: newsteam@geekwire.com.
We also refreshed the design of the GeekWire 200, making it easier to:
Sort the list by different metrics
Search for specific startups
Explore related GeekWire coverage
In a first for us, this new interface was built by a non-developer on the GeekWire team using Claude and ChatGPT (and reviewed by a developer before going live).
Notes on the GeekWire 200
Our list is not scientific, by any means, and the specific rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. But it has proven to be a highly useful tool. We hear regularly from readers who use the GeekWire 200 to look for jobs, prospect for customers, mine for potential investments, and get a high-level view of the tech community.
We also use the list as a valuable insights tool, gathering survey data to highlight trends among fast-growing startups.
To make sure your Pacific Northwest technology startup is eligible for the GeekWire 200, first confirm it’s included in the broader GeekWire Startup List. If so, there’s no need to submit it separately. If your startup isn’t among the companies on that larger list, you can submit it for inclusion here, and we’ll crunch the numbers to see if your company makes the next GeekWire 200 update.
It’s been nearly a year since a faulty CrowdStrike update took down 8.5 million Windows-based machines around the world, and Microsoft wants to ensure such a problem never happens again. After holding a summit with security vendors last year, Microsoft is poised to release a private preview of Windows changes that will move antivirus (AV) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) apps out of the Windows kernel.
The new Windows endpoint security platform is being built in cooperation with CrowdStrike, Bitdefender, ESET, Trend Micro, and many other security vendors. “We’ve had dozens of partners supply papers to us, some of them hundreds of pages long, on how they’d like it to be designed and what the requirements are,” explains David Weston, vice president of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, in an interview with The Verge. “I’ve been really pleased with this. It’s an industry of competitors but everyone has stepped up and said we’ve got to build a platform that all of us work on.”
Microsoft is keen to stress that it’s not setting the rules and expecting everyone to immediately follow them, but instead build the rules together. “We’re not here to tell them how the API should work, we’re here to listen and provide the security and reliability,” Weston says. “I think if we’d gone out that some of our competitors and said, ‘Here it is, take it or leave it,’ that would really be a challenge.”
For decades, Microsoft has built Windows in a way that has allowed developers to deliver security software that’s deeply rooted into Windows, running at the kernel level of Windows — the core part of an operating system that has unrestricted access to system memory and hardware. The faulty CrowdStrike update last year highlighted just how easy it is for a kernel-level driver to go wrong and take down a machine, resulting in a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).
Microsoft now has some of its most knowledgeable Windows engineers working on these security changes. “We’ve had key developers on this, some of the kernel architects of Windows and people that don’t even traditionally work in security,” Weston says. “It’s really the biggest brains of core Windows being involved and collaborating with CrowdStrike, ESET, and all those folks.”
The private preview will give security vendors a chance to request changes. Weston says he expects a few iterations until it’s ready for vendors to make the switch. It’s also not going to solve every single kernel-level driver instance straight away. “Our goal is to start with AV and EDR, but there will likely be kernel drivers for some period as we move on to the next set of use cases.”
Another big area of Windows that uses kernel-level drivers is anti-cheating engines for games. Microsoft has been speaking with game developers about how to reduce the amount of kernel usage, but it’s a more complicated use case as cheaters often have to purposefully tamper with their machine to disable protections and get cheating engines running.
“A lot of [game developers] would love to not have to maintain kernel stuff, and they are very interested in how they do that,” Weston says. “We’ve been talking about the requirements there, and I think we’ll have more to say on that in the near future.” Riot Games told me last year that it’s willing to follow potential Windows security changes and “recede from the kernel space.”
While it’s going to take Microsoft and security vendors some time to work through these Windows changes, Microsoft is confident that it will see good adoption rates because its customers are asking for changes in the wake of the CrowdStrike incident.
Microsoft is also getting ready to release a Windows update later this summer that will include a new Quick Machine Recovery feature, which is designed to quickly restore machines that can’t boot. It prompts a device to enter the Windows Recovery Environment, where the machine can access the network and provide Microsoft with diagnostic information. “We basically built the thing we’d love to have had for the incident last year,” Weston says.
The sight of a Blue Screen of Death will also be a thing of the past, too. Microsoft is now officially redesigning its BSOD so that it’s black and not blue. More on that big change here.
Microsoft's "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign in November always felt a little too early. If you ask a friend or family member what an Xbox is, the response is likely going to be "it's a game console." Xbox is ingrained in popular culture as a box under your TV that you play games on, but Microsoft's ads over the past six months have been attempting to redefine the Xbox as a platform that spans across phones, laptops, TVs, handheld gaming PCs, and even VR headsets.
The ads did a great job of drawing attention to the platform, but the perception of the Xbox brand as just a console is still a huge challenge that Microsoft needs to overcome if its latest strategy is going to be successful. I can already sense some trouble ahead.
Ever since Microsoft unveiled its ROG Xbox Ally handheld devices earlier this month, I keep hearing from friends that are asking about an "Xbox handheld." YouTubers with millions of followers have positioned these handheld gaming PCs as "the first Xbox handheld," which is true if you believe in Microsoft's marketing, but false in reality because they don't natively run Xbox games, only PC versions.
Microsoft's answer to this potential confusion is tha …
Retell AI is transforming the call center with AI voice automation powered by GPT-4o and GPT-4.1. Its no-code platform enables businesses to launch natural, real-time voice agents that cut call costs, boost CSAT, and automate customer conversations—without scripts or hold times.
Feeling like last week was a blur and this one’s coming in hot? You’re not alone. But here’s the good news: Copilot can help you turn the chaos into clarity.
🧠 Try This Prompt in Copilot Chat:
“Review my calendar, emails, and Teams messages from the past week and compare them to what's coming up. How can I be more productive this week? Provide my suggestions in a table format with bolded headers, italicized rows, and list them in order from most productive to least.”
This prompt turns Copilot into your personal productivity coach—analyzing your recent activity and upcoming commitments to help you work smarter, not harder.
💡 Why It Works:
Context-aware: Copilot pulls from your actual work—calendar, emails, and chats—to give you tailored advice.
Actionable: You get a clear, prioritized list of productivity tips.
Formatted for clarity: The table format makes it easy to scan and act on.
📌 Pro Tip:
Use this prompt every Monday (or whenever your week starts) to reset and refocus. It’s like having a digital chief of staff who never sleeps.
🔁 Want More Prompts Like This?
Stay tuned—another one’s coming tomorrow!
And if you’re loving these, don’t forget to share them with your team or drop them into your next standup.
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