Innholdsfortegnelse for #446 i Techlife News

Facebook has agreed to pay $52 million to its content moderators whose job has them viewing graphic and disturbing posts and videos on its platforms. In a 2018 lawsuit, third-party contractors for the company said that Facebook failed to properly protect them against severe psychological and other injuries that can result from repeated exposure to graphic material such as child sexual abuse, beheadings, terrorism, animal cruelty and other disturbing images. The settlement grants U.S. moderators who were part of the class action lawsuit $1,000 each. Those who have been diagnosed with conditions related to their work will be able to get medical treatment and damages of up to $50,000, according to the preliminary settlement filed in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Mateo.…

When students return to school after a lengthy pandemic-induced absence, the consensus is they will have lost significant academic ground. Still unresolved for governments and educators are the questions of how — or even whether — teachers should try to make up for lost learning. Some have proposed holding evening or Saturday classes for students to catch up. A Maryland senator has proposed school yearround. In California, the governor has suggested the next school year could begin as soon as July. But any remediation plans will be complicated by social distancing mandates that may require smaller class sizes and budget cuts that appear imminent because of falling local and state revenues. In surveys, many educators say the fall will be no time to pile on additional schoolwork. “First and foremost,…

The CEO of the world’s busiest airport for international travel wants to get the globe flying again, but even he acknowledges everything remains up in the air during the coronavirus pandemic. Paul Griffiths oversees what now is a much quieter Dubai International Airport, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and crucial to East-West travel. The millions that once poured through the airport’s concourses are no longer flying as countries around the world enforce lockdowns and travel bans to fight the virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes. Though government-owned Emirates plans to restart some flights next week, Griffiths told The Associated Press that the airport has yet to find a workable coronavirus or antibody test to administer on a massive scale to passengers. Until a vaccine or a permanent solution…

It appears the dispute between Tesla and San Francisco Bay Area authorities over the reopening of a factory in the face of shutdown orders is coming to an end. The Alameda County Public Health Department announced on Twitter that the Fremont, California, plant will be able to go beyond basic operations this week and start making vehicles this coming Monday — as long as it delivers on the worker safety precautions that it agreed to. It wasn’t clear from a press release whether Tesla would face any punishment for reopening Monday in defiance of county orders. Messages were left early Wednesday seeking comment from health officials and Tesla. The release said Fremont police would verify whether Tesla was holding up its part of the agreement. The release says that public…

Office jobs are never going to be the same. When workers around the world eventually return to their desks, they’ll find many changes due to the pandemic. For a start, fewer people will go back to their offices as the coronavirus crisis makes working from home more accepted, health concerns linger and companies weigh up rent savings and productivity benefits. For the rest, changes will begin with the commute as workers arrive in staggered shifts to avoid rush hour crowds. Staff might take turns working alternate days in the office to reduce crowding. Floor markings or digital sensors could remind people to stand apart and cubicles might even make a comeback. “This is going to be a catalyst for things that people were too scared to do before,” said John…

Al Capone lived out his final years on a grand estate in Palm Island, Florida, with his wife, Mae, by his side and grandchildren running around the property. It sounds like a pretty nice end for the notorious Chicago gangster, until you realize that he spent those post Alcatraz years suffering from declining health, dementia and the longterm effects of a syphilis infection from when he was just a teenager that went untreated. Also? He was likely broke. Then he died of a heart attack on January 25, 1947. He was only 48. It’s this chapter that gets the focus in “Capone,” a hallucinatory and messy (in all respects) film starring Tom Hardy as the once great crime boss who is now hardly recognizable to himself or his family and…

The economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus led in April to the steepest month-to-month fall in U.S. consumer prices since the 2008 financial crisis — a 0.8% drop that was driven by a plunge in gasoline prices. And excluding the normally volatile categories of food and energy, so-called core prices tumbled 0.4%, the government said in its monthly report on consumer inflation. That was the sharpest such drop on records dating to 1957. The business shutdowns, reduced travel and shrunken consumer spending that the virus has caused have likely sent the U.S. economy into a severe recession. The resulting drop in economic activity is exerting a powerful downward force on prices throughout the economy. The report raises the prospect of deflation, a prolonged drop in prices and wages that typically…

Like a principal walking through a hushed hallway on the first day of school, Cheryl Nygaard felt the emotional surge of relief and pride last week as the Minnesota Vikings director of information technology peeked in on the video conference sessions set up for this most unusual NFL offseason. “We had all of the players and coaches set up in their virtual classrooms, and that whole process just went off without a hitch. That’s when it kind of just hit me,” Nygaard said, adding: “They were able to continue working as if we were in the office.” Thanks in no small part to the effort and ingenuity of these often overlooked technical support staffs, the process of player acquisition and development around this schedule-driven, structure-oriented league has pressed on this…

Rhode Islanders will soon be able to dine al fresco again. Gov. Gina Raimondo announced Monday that the state will allow restaurants to offer limited outdoor dining starting May 18. The state’s strict new guidelines call for dining by reservation only and no more than five people per dining party. Restaurants will also be limited to 20 outdoor tables spaced at least eight feet apart or separated by barriers, said Raimondo, a Democrat. They’ll also be required to screen customers for the virus and take down their contact information for the state’s contact tracing efforts. The intensity of the screening will be left to restaurants but could include warning signs, having a server ask customers if they’re feeling sick, or even taking their temperatures, Raimondo said. And state officials will…

A fourth region in upstate New York might start reopening for business. New York City launched an informational campaign about a rare syndrome afflicting children. And the city’s police commissioner rebutted complaints of racism in his department’s handling of social distancing violations. Among the developments this week in New York on the coronavirus pandemic: BACK IN BUSINESS? New York’s North Country, a sprawling, rural swath that includes the Adirondack Mountains, has been added to the regions of the state poised to restart some economic activity in the days ahead as the state slowly relaxes pandemic-induced social restrictions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The region, which draws hikers, boaters and campers up from New York City and beyond during warmer months, met all seven benchmarks the state requires before selected businesses can…

Cats can spread the new coronavirus to other cats without any of them ever having symptoms, a lab experiment suggests. Scientists who led the work, reported on Wednesday, say it shows the need for more research into whether the virus can spread from people to cats to people again. Health experts have downplayed that possibility. The American Veterinary Medical Association said in a new statement that just because an animal can be deliberately infected in a lab “does not mean that it will easily be infected with that same virus under natural conditions.” Anyone concerned about that risk should use “common sense hygiene,” said virus expert Peter Halfmann. Don’t kiss your pets and keep surfaces clean to cut the chances of picking up any virus an animal might shed, he…

France’s parliament has approved a bill aimed at fighting hate online that obliges platforms and search engines to remove prohibited content within 24 hours starting July 1. Lawmakers adopted the proposed legislation this week. Submitted by French President Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party, the law allows for fines of up to 1.25 million euros ($1.1 million). It targets texts, pictures, videos and web pages that incite hatred or violence, or that carry insults of a racist or religious nature. The bill faced vociferous opposition in France and beyond from critics who said it would curtail the democratic right to freedom of expression. The Computer & Communications Industry Association, an advocacy group with offices in Washington and Brussels, said it was concerned the French legislation “could lead to excessive takedowns of content…

As billions of professionals tackle the transition from working in an office environment to staying productive at home, software like Zoom has exploded in popularity, climbing from 10 million daily users to 300 million. But with competitors like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook beefing up their teleworking alternatives, deciding which application to use can be tough. THE BIG TELEWORK BATTLE The coronavirus has had an impact on virtually every aspect of our lives, from our finances to our social lives - and work is no exception. With all-but-essential businesses and offices forced to close for the foreseeable future in key markets like Europe and the United States, businesses have had to adapt at breakneck speed and transform their processes. Products like Zoom and Microsoft Teams are experiencing a huge surge in…

Britain is testing the use of a car-sized drone to deliver medical supplies more quickly to hospitals and help ease pressure on the country’s health system during the new coronavirus crisis. The first such delivery was completed last weekend, when a large, fixed-wing drone soared into the skies from an airport on England’s south coast. It landed ten minutes later at an airfield on the Isle of Wight 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away, where its cargo of pathology samples was then driven to the local hospital. The trial program was accelerated due to the coronavirus pandemic, which saw much travel and transportation effectively shut down around the world as authorities tried to distance people to limit contagions. The authorities running the drone program say that aerial deliveries can reduce the…

Google abandoned its smart-city development in Toronto after more than two years of controversy over privacy concerns and amid economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. A unit of Google’s parent company Alphabet had been proposing to turn a rundown part of Toronto’s waterfront into a wired community, but Sidewalk Labs chief executive Dan Doctoroff said in a statement that it is no longer financially viable. “As unprecedented economic uncertainty has set in around the world and in the Toronto real estate market, it has become too difficult to make the project financially viable without sacrificing core parts of the plan,” Doctoroff said. Sidewalk Labs had partnered with a government agency known as Waterfront Toronto with plans to erect mid-rise apartments, offices, shops and a school on a 12-acre (4.9-hectare) site…

Californians unable to pay their rent because of the coronavirus crisis could have their payments covered by the state Legislature, Senate leaders announced this week, part of a massive $25 billion aid package that looks to the future to pay for relief needed today. California has been under a mandatory stay-at-home order since March 19, shuttering most of the state’s economy and sending 4.5 million people to file for unemployment benefits. State and local officials have moved to delay evictions during the crisis, prompting concerns from landlords who could face foreclosure with no rent payments. The Senate’s solution to this is to give landlords tax credits equal to the value of their missed payments. Landlords could keep the credits, which would lower their state tax bills from 2024 through 2033,…

The European Space Agency said that human urine could one day become a useful ingredient in making concrete to build on the moon. The agency said researchers in a recent study it sponsored found that urea, the main organic compound in urine, would make the mixture for a “lunar concrete” more malleable before it hardens into its sturdy final form. It noted that using only materials available on site for a moon base or other construction would reduce the need to launch supplies from Earth. The main ingredient in “lunar concrete” would be a powdery soil found on the moon’s surface known as lunar regolith. ESA said urea, which can break hydrogen bonds and reduce the viscosity of fluid mixtures, would limit the amount of water necessary in the recipe.…

Documents and images shared by users outside China on WeChat, the country’s most popular social media platform, are being monitored and cataloged for use in political censorship in China, a new report says. Citizen Lab, the University of Toronto online watchdog, says WeChat users outside of China are thus unwittingly contributing to censorship. That would bar the content they share that censors deem inappropriate from being seen by users inside China. WeChat’s parent, Tencent, issued a statement saying that said “with regard to the suggestion that we engage in content surveillance of international users, we can confirm that all content shared among international users of WeChat is private.” WeChat was not known to be subjecting accounts registered outside of China to the same pervasive surveillance as domestic accounts. An estimated…

Ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft are requiring drivers and passengers to wear masks while using their services, joining a growing list of transportation companies hoping to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as some cities emerge from lockdown. All major U.S. airlines have already rolled out requirements for passengers and crew to wear face coverings in response to concerns over contagion, particularly in small or confined spaces that present higher risks of infection than well-ventilated or outdoor settings. But the rules are only effective if people are willing to follow them and if the companies ferrying passengers are serious about enforcement. Pilots worry that travelers could remove their masks and spark a confrontation with others during a flight. They are pressing the Federal Aviation Administration to require masks instead of leaving…

At the height of China’s coronavirus outbreak, the skincare-products maker Forest Cabin closed more than half of its 300 stores across the nation as shoppers stayed home. With sales plunging, founder Sun Laichun decided it was time to reach his customers more directly. “We knew it was time for us to focus on an online strategy to survive,” Sun said. But the company didn’t launch an online ad blitz or announce big giveaways. Instead, it trained hundreds of its salespeople to begin hosting live video streams where viewers could get skincare tips and buy products without ever cutting away from the online patter. Within just a month, Sun said, Forest Cabin’s February sales were up by 20% compared to a year earlier, despite a plunge in store sales. These days,…

At the Fit4All Gym in Lebanon, Illinois, owner David Tate considers Elon Musk a huge ally in the fight against government coronavirus orders that Tate says are driving him into the poorhouse. Tate reopened his 250-member gym in defiance of state orders on Monday, the same day Musk restarted his huge San Francisco Bay Area factory despite being told not to by the county Health Department. Like other business owners hit hard by coronavirus shutdown orders, Tate says Musk is a leader in the growing movement to reopen in the face of government orders, giving smaller businesses a boost and letting them know they’re not in the fight alone. “We needed somebody with a voice as big as his to step up and say what he did,”Tate said. Musk, with…

In late March, Britney Ruby Miller, co-owner of a small chain of steakhouse restaurants, confidently proclaimed that once the viral outbreak had subsided, her company planned to recall all its laid-off workers. Now? Miller would be thrilled to restore, by year’s end, three-quarters of the roughly 600 workers her company had to let go. “I’m being realistic,” she said. “Bringing back 75% of our staff would be incredible.” Call it realism or pessimism, but more employers are coming to a reluctant conclusion: Many of the employees they’ve had to lay off in the face of the pandemic might not be returning to their old jobs anytime soon. Some large companies won’t have enough customers to justify it. And some small businesses won’t likely survive at all despite aid provided by…

Facing shortages of protective equipment, two New England hospital systems tried the latest twist in internet matchmaking: online swap meets. As the coronavirus pandemic stretches on, online platforms have popped up to match hospitals that need masks, gowns, ventilators and even doctors with those that have extras. And other projects have been started to link hospitals with nontraditional sources of equipment. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm for this,” said Michelle Hood, chief operating officer of the American Hospital Association. “It’s sure made a difference to those who got supplies when they really needed them.” The collaborations fill gaps until supplies from regular distributors arrive. They also help the finances of hospitals that have seen revenue plummet as lucrative scheduled surgeries and outpatient services nosedive. The hospital association is involved in…

Twitter announced it will start alerting users when a tweet makes disputed or misleading claims about the coronavirus. The new rule is the latest in a wave of stricter policies that tech companies are rolling out to confront an outbreak of virus-related misinformation on their sites. Facebook and Google, which owns YouTube, have already put similar systems in place. The announcement signals that Twitter is taking its role in amplifying misinformation more seriously. But how the platform enforces its new policy will be the real test, with company leaders already tamping down expectations. Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, acknowledged as much: “We will not be able to take enforcement action on every tweet with incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19.” Roth said the platform has historically applied a…

Uber is considering acquiring Grubhub in a deal that would give the companies control over a majority of the U.S. food delivery business, according to published reports. Ride-sharing and food delivery giant Uber Technologies Inc. approached Grubhub Inc. earlier this year with an all-stock takeover offer, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. The two companies are continuing to discuss the combination, and Uber’s board will consider it in the coming days. Uber and Grubhub declined to comment on the report when contacted by the press. Combined, Uber Eats and Grubhub would control 55% of the U.S. food delivery market, according to Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. DoorDash, their chief competitor, controls around 35% of the market. “Clearly this would be an aggressive move by Uber to take…

Boeing failed to sell a single commercial airplane but saw orders for 108 planes canceled in April as a sharp drop in air travel erased any demand among airlines for new jetliners. It marked the second month this year in which Boeing received no orders, a fate that would have seemed impossible not long ago. Boeing also indicated this week that it is no longer certain about completing orders for another 101 planes and dropped them from its backlog, which dropped below 5,000 for the first time since 2013. Airbus said it received orders for nine planes in April, bringing its 2020 total to 299 planes after cancellations. The European plane maker said its backlog was 7,645 jets. The COVID-19 outbreak has caused global air traffic to plummet and compounded…

Italy’s virus reopening was supposed to be accompanied by a series of measures to limit infections in the one-time epicenter of Europe’s pandemic: the distribution of millions of inexpensive surgical masks to pharmacies nationwide, a pilot project of 150,000 antibody tests and, eventually, the roll-out of a contact-tracing app. None of these is in place as Italy experiments with its second week of loosening restrictions and looks ahead to Monday’s reopening of shops and, in some regions, bars and restaurants. Italy’s commissioner for the emergency, Domenico Arcuri, went on the defensive Tuesday to respond to mounting criticism of his Phase II roll-out. He insisted “Italians know well what to do” to protect themselves, even if they don’t have the tests, masks, contact-tracing or other measures that public health authorities deemed…