The Boss Says It’s OK to Take a Break From Zoom. Why Are You Still on Video Calls?”…Employers are trying ‘quiet days’ to dial back the time remote workers spend on meetings; ‘Focused Wednesday Afternoons’…” (WSJ)
Amazon’s Alexa Boss on What Users Are Asking During Covid-19 (WSJ)
WSJ: As people stay home, which consumer habits evolved the fastest?
Ms. Reid: Meditation skills! We’ve seen an increase in things around cooking and recipes. You’re seeing people use reminders and timers to help them with home schooling.
Tesla delivers 139,300 vehicles in Q3, beating expectations
“…More than 150 million Americans have access to Amazon Prime, which promises a two-day turnaround on millions of items that can be dispatched to your home with literally one click…”
Electric car costs to remain higher than traditional engines (FT)
With no iPhone to launch, Apple turns to accessories and wearables (FT)“…For every 100 iPhones sold, Apple ships 49 pairs of AirPods and 14 Apple Watches, according to estimates from Canalys…”
Kenji Ekuan, Who Gave Soy Sauce Its Graceful Curves, Dies at 85“…It took him three years and 100 prototypes to come up with a final design for his dispenser, which combined a gracefully curving form with an innovative, dripless spout…”
iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 betas bypass Google Search on iPhones and iPads with Spotlight Search…Apple posting Search Jobs
The End of the Oil Age Is Upon Us…A new report suggests that over the next 30 years, at least 80 percent of the oil industry will be wiped out
Microsoft Flight Simulator players are flying into Hurricane Laura
TV watching and online streaming surge during lockdown in UK
A Good Life Doesn’t Mean an Easy One…A new study finds that for many, ‘psychological richness’ is more valuable than simple happiness (WSJ)
Bill Gates’ nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom…The 345-megawatt plants would be cooled by liquid sodium and cost about $1 billion each.
“…The cost of batteries has long been the biggest obstacle to making electric cars affordable for the masses. As a result, electric vehicles still carry a hefty price premium compared with gas engine cars. McKinsey & Co. estimates that premium at $12,000 on average…” (WSJ)
Cities will transform and survive the pandemic (FT)
DARPA Progress With ‘Ocean Of Things’ All-Seeing Eye On The High Seas
Google Has a Plan to Disrupt the College Degree…Google’s new certificate program takes only six months to complete and will be a fraction of the cost of college
Google Pixel Buds tap AI to alert users to sirens, crying babies, and barking dogs
China is building a GitHub alternative called Gitee
The machine-learning model finds SARS-COV-2 growing more infectious
With Ultralight Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, Electric Airplanes Could Finally Take Off …Oxis Energy’s design promises outstanding energy density, manufacturability, and safety
AI player creates strikingly realistic virtual tennis matches based on real players
Panasonic’s new home cubicle is a disheartening glimpse at our work-from-home future
Apple quietly acquired Israel’s Camerai, formerly Tipit, a specialist in AR and camera tech
Nvidia CEO: We are expecting a really large second half for gaming
Sweden records highest death tally in 150 years in the first half of 2020
“…The company added 175,000 warehouse workers in March and April, 125,000 of which it said in May it would keep permanently. Amazon said this week it is in the process of adding 3,500 corporate workers at offices in New York, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Detroit and Dallas…”
“Remote Work Is Reshaping San Francisco, as Tech Workers Flee and Rents Fall…The social-media giant, which has 52,000 employees, expects to shift to a substantially remote workforce over the coming decade, and is now recruiting a director of remote work…”
Apple sued by Fortnite maker after kicking the game out of App Store for payment policy violations
Scribd acquires presentation-sharing service SlideShare from LinkedIn
Apple Readies Subscription Bundles to Boost Digital Services
Peloton shares slip premarket on news Apple is planning exercise video subscription service
SpaceX Starlink speeds revealed as beta users get downloads of 11 to 60Mbps
A 107-page safety manual details everything from infrared temperature scanners to vacuum-sealed meals that awaits the cast and crew of “Jurassic World: Dominion,” one of the first major Hollywood films to restart production since the coronavirus pandemic https://t.co/JGYqdj1BDg
Machine learning has been used to automatically translate long-lost languages
Grubhub Generates Sales, Not Profit, During Pandemic (Paywall: WSJ)
For Videogame Giants, Pandemic Lockdowns Fuel Gamers’ Spending…Electronic Arts posts strongest June quarter sales in its 38-year history (Paywall: WSJ)
“…In 1950, each woman gave birth on average to 4.7 children. By 2017 the figure had dropped to 2.37. Populations start to shrink when the average birth rate falls below 2.1. By 2100 the average number of births per woman will have fallen to1.7…”
Trained dogs were able to sniff out Covid-19 infections with 94% accuracy: study