--- title: 'Silicon Florist links arrangement for August 25, 2025' date: '2025-08-25T14:32:24-07:00' type: post word_count: 806 char_count: 7817 tokens: 1048 categories: - Portland --- # Silicon Florist links arrangement for August 25, 2025 Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today: [Alaska Airlines adds facial recognition tech at automated bag drop kiosks in Seattle and Portland – GeekWire](https://www.geekwire.com/2025/alaska-airlines-adds-facial-recognition-tech-at-automated-bag-drop-kiosks-in-seattle-and-portland/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alaska Airlines announced the launch of optional facial ID verification at automated bag drop units at airports in Seattle and Portland, part of a broader push to streamline the travel experience. [The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: AI Still Rules, But SF Bay Area Steps Back](https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/biggest-funding-rounds-ai-rules-group14-field/) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The San Francisco Bay Area, long the dominant region for startup investment, took a step back in this week’s tally of the largest funding rounds. The biggest investments went to companies based in the Seattle area, Southern California, New York and Austin, Texas, while only two of this week’s top 10 are Silicon Valley startups. [Trump, Intel Agree to 10% U.S. Stake as President Promises More Deals – WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-to-announce-u-s-taking-nearly-10-stake-in-intel-1a38225d?st=dBUj8F&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The U.S. government is taking a 10% stake in Intel, a deal that caps a two-week frenzy for the troubled chip maker and marks the latest in a series of extraordinary private-sector interventions by President Trump. [Bridgespace Coworking: Operations Beta Week » Calagator: Portland’s Tech Calendar](https://calagator.org/events/1250482179) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help us fine-tune our systems while enjoying a spacious, inspiring place to work. [Portland PostgreSQL user group introduces Clickhouse » Calagator: Portland’s Tech Calendar](https://calagator.org/events/1250482180) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clickhouse is a horizontally scaling columnar database that absolutely rips. Huge datasets, JSON, partitioning, sharding, aggregations, JOINs: Clickhouse handles massive queries in milliseconds. We are so excited to host Robert and have him introduce another open source database Clickhouse. Robert has been working on databases since 1982, from pre-relational systems through modern analytic DBMS, with a focus on distributed systems and transaction processing He has worked principally with open source databases since 2006 and Kubernetes since 2018. His day job is running Altinity, a ClickHouse vendor. [As big box stores flee, Portland shopkeepers feel pressure to fuel downtown renaissance – oregonlive.com](https://www-oregonlive-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.oregonlive.com/business/2025/08/as-big-box-stores-flee-portland-shopkeepers-feel-pressure-to-fuel-downtown-renaissance.html?outputType=amp) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Before 2020, coffee shops and boutique clothiers could rely on the spill off from office jobs and name brand retailers to fuel daily sales. Now, small businesses are under growing pressure to save the downtown core. [Ben Horowitz on How a16z Was Built | a16z Podcast](https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/ben-horowitz-on-how-a16z-was-built-SVNIIDt1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Erik Torenberg sits down with Ben Horowitz, Cofounder of a16z, for a candid conversation on venture capital, leadership, and the future of innovation. Recorded live at a16z’s Menlo Park offices in 2023, Ben shares practical wisdom and hard-earned lessons on navigating market cycles, building resilient companies, and why culture is a lasting competitive edge. [Did Trump save Intel? Not really | Reuters](https://archive.ph/P3UG8#selection-1357.34-1375.114) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. President Donald Trump is injecting nearly $9 billion into Intel(INTC.O), opens new tab in exchange for a 9.9% equity stake. But the money – which the struggling chipmaker was slated to receive anyway under a federal funding act – will not be enough for its contract-chipmaking business to flourish, analysts said. [AI plays an ever-bigger role on college campuses](https://archive.ph/zOUFH#selection-1369.117-1373.138) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Administrators are using the technology to write content, run surveys, crunch data, and fill out repetitive paperwork. Admissions officers are predicting future enrollment with AI. Money-minded executives lean on it to analyze tuition prices. IT employees use it to fight cybersecurity attacks, and on and on. [With AI chatbots, Big Tech is moving fast and breaking people – Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/08/with-ai-chatbots-big-tech-is-moving-fast-and-breaking-people/) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Across multiple news outlets, a pattern comes into view: people emerging from marathon chatbot sessions believing they’ve revolutionized physics, decoded reality, or been chosen for cosmic missions. [Build vs Buy in the Age of AI – Silicon Valley Product Group : Silicon Valley Product Group](https://www.svpg.com/article-build-vs-buy-in-the-age-of-ai/?utm_source=tldrai) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For most companies, if the problem we’re solving represents a core competency, then we usually build. But if it’s outside our core competency, we try to buy. But of course there’s lots of exceptions, and also there are many problems that are so specialized that there are no buy options. [Seattle’s proposed business tax overhaul could ease costs for tech startups — until they scale – GeekWire](https://www.geekwire.com/2025/seattles-proposed-business-tax-overhaul-could-ease-costs-for-tech-startups-until-they-scale/) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smaller companies and those just getting off the ground would no longer pay B&O taxes, potentially saving them thousands of dollars per year. A services company with $1 million in revenue pays $4,270 in B&O tax annually at the current rate. More Portland startup stories -----------------------------