This year has been a bit of a blur, battling through the waves of Delta and Omicron. But there was also other important news. And before we say goodbye to 2021, we thought it would be fun to test your geek knowledge.
Most of the quiz questions below are taken from GeekWire’s list of the most read stories of the year. Thus, heavy GeekWire readers should do well. And just to make things a little more fun, here’s a scorecard for you to judge yourself on.
- Uber Geek: 23 — 29 correct answers (A true Jedi master)
- Super Geek: 16 — 22 correct answers (The force is strong with this one!)
- Average Geek: 11-15 correct answers (Stay the course, and you will one day be a Jedi Master)
- Geek in training: 6 to 10 correct answers (Keep studying young, Padawan!)
- Novice Nerd: 0-5 correct answers (Find out. Sign up for GeekWire’s daily newsletter here!)
Take the quiz on this link, or below. The answers are at the bottom of this article, but remember not to cheat by looking at it or browsing the internet! Good luck.
See answers and links below. Once you’re done, you can listen to GeekWire’s Taylor Soper and Todd Bishop take the quiz on the GeekWire Podcast.
ANSWERS:
- Name the Seattle technology manager who said: “We have determined that the unpredictability of home price forecasts far exceeds what we had anticipated…” Zillow Group CEO Rich Barton in a November statement announcing the closure of Zillow Offers, the company’s iBuying unit.
- Which of these Seattle-area companies did not go public through a SPAC or special purpose acquisition company in 2021 (two-point possibility)? Remitly and Rad Power Bikes. with moderation went public through a more traditional IPO process in September, while Rad Power Bikes raised over $300 million in venture capital in two successful rounds.
- Who did Amazon tap to lead its Amazon Web Services cloud business in March 2021? Adam Selipsky, the former CEO of Tableau who previously held leadership positions at AWS for 11 years.
- Which of these people hasn’t made suborbital trips on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket this year? Billie Eilish. (Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer, participated in the July trip with Jeff Bezos. Star Trek star William Shatner took part in the October mission at the age of 90, becoming the oldest human to ever venture into space. And former soccer star and Good Morning America host Michael Strahan took a Blue Origin trip in December.)
- The idea of the metaverse gained traction in 2021 with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg jumping on the bandwagon in a big way, touting the concept of a virtual world in a Founder’s Letter in late October. But the concept actually dates back three decades to a novel by this Seattle-area author? Name the author and title of the book where the term metaverse was coined? Neal Stephenson, author of “Snow Crash”.
- Funko, the Everett, Washington-based pop culture merchandise maker, played a part in Macy’s Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City with a balloon of which character from a popular Star Wars series? Grogu, also known as Baby Yoda.
- In one of the biggest acquisitions of the year, this Seattle-area identity technology startup was acquired by Okta for $6.5 billion. Auth0.
- According to an October report by job site Hired, what does the average Seattle tech worker earn per year? $158,000, up 4.6% from last year and the second highest average tech salary in the United States behind the Bay Area at $165,000.
- Along with giving away billions in 2021, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has also found love and married Dan Jewett from Seattle. What is Jewett’s job? Science teacher.
- OceanGate Expeditions of Everett, Washington sent a submersible to explore this infamous shipwreck, finding it was rapidly deteriorating? The Titanic.
- True or false: Amazon workers at a fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama scored a victory for organized labor when they successfully voted to join the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Union in April? False. Amazon workers strongly rejected the organizing effort, Even if the The National Labor Relations Council called in November for a new union election at the factory.
- Name the automaker that took a 25% stake in Pure Watercraft, the Seattle-based company that pioneered electric outboard motors for powerboats? General Motors invested in Pure Watercraft in November, valuing the 10-year-old company at $600 million.
- Amazon added two new leadership principles this year: Strive to be the best employer on Earth and Success and scale bring great responsibility. How many total Leadership Principles does Amazon have now? 16.
- Seattle text messaging startup Zipwhip was acquired by this cloud-based communications company this summer for $850 million. Twilio.
- Former Microsoft executive Kurt DelBene was confirmed by the Senate as CIO and assistant secretary for information and technology in which federal agency? Department of Veterans Affairs.
- Helion raised $500 million in funding in November, making it one of several Seattle-area unicorn startups. What promising clean energy technology does Helion hope to deliver through its Polaris generator? Fusion energy, a technology that could produce unlimited, carbon-free energy.
- Seattle tech veterans Jennifer Wong and Peter Hamilton have announced plans to open a museum to showcase art related to what emerging technology was all the rage in 2021? NFT, or non-fungible tokens.
- TerraPower, backed by Bill Gates, chose which US state for its next-generation nuclear reactor? Wyoming.
- OK, and now one for our loyal GeekWire podcast listeners: Which of these leaders DIDN’T appear on the GeekWire podcast in 2021: Textio CEO Kieran Snyder; Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org; Jeff Wilke, former CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer; U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene. The answer is Kieran Snyder, although we would love to have him on the show next year! (Check out the GeekWire podcast here, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts).
- Match the Pacific Northwest startups below — all of which raised venture capital in 2021 — to the industries they operate in (eight-point possibility):
- Rec Room… Online game community based on virtual reality.
- Highspot ….. Enterprise software to boost sales rep performance.
- Helmet….. Data analysis for the cannabis industry.
- Evrnu………. A textile technology startup.
- Carats………. Technical platform for job interviews.
- Syndio …….. Data science tools designed to solve pay equity.
- Hope………. Cloud-based IoT device management.
- Ozette ……… AI platform for managing protein combinations.
