The coronavirus pandemic has led to a stellar quarter for Zillow, as potential homebuyers looked online.
The pandemic has forced many individuals to take a second look at their housing situation. With people spending unprecedented amounts of time at home during lockdown and quarantine orders, many are looking to upgrade their homes with more room and features conducive to telecommuting. Others are looking to take advantage of work from home trends, and move out of expensive neighborhoods or cities to more scenic and affordable locales.
These factors led to a stellar quarter for the company, reporting that revenue grew 28% year over year to $768 million. This was up from industry estimates of $618 million.
“Zillow’s second quarter results are even better than we had hoped, and firm up our belief that powerful tailwinds in both real estate and technology are rapidly converging, with Zillow at the nexus,” said Zillow Group co-founder and CEO Rich Barton. “I believe we are at the dawn of a Great Reshuffling, as COVID and work-from-home policies are inspiring people to rethink their homes and consider moving. In addition, real estate, like other industries, is experiencing an acceleration in technology adoption, as people move their shopping habits from offline to online. We’re lucky to be in a position to serve our customers no matter how they want to move, whether through a seamless Zillow Offers transaction or in partnership with our best-in-class Premier Agents.
“Even more important than the business results is the way our team has responded over the past several months, as we all grapple with fear, loss, protest, and anger through a health crisis and social reckoning. We’ve managed through all of this with a strong commitment that we can and will do more to support our communities and address systemic barriers in real estate.”
Barton’s comments that he believes this is the beginning of a “Great Reshuffling” are significant and should give many industry leaders pause.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reviewing Intuit’s recent attempt to acquire Credit Karma over anticompetitive concerns.
Intuit moved to purchase Credit Karma for roughly $7 billion in cash and stocks. While the deal appears to join two complimentary services on the surface, almost immediately it came under scrutiny over concerns Intuit was merely trying to eliminate a competitor. While Credit Karma is primarily known for helping individuals monitor and improve their credit score, it had launched a free tax preparation service in 2017.
ProPublica is reporting the concerns were valid enough to warrant the DOJ’s attention. In particular, Credit Karma’s innovative approach to tax preparation threatened to upend the whole market. In a company memo ProPublica obtained that outlined Intuit’s legal strategy, it appears the government is looking at “the influence that Intuit’s purchase of Credit Karma will have on consumer tax preparation platforms and [the] software market.”
Once Credit Karma and Intuit respond to the government’s request for information, the DOJ will decide what to do. While it’s too early to tell which way the DOJ will rule, given the government’s renewed interest in anticompetitive behavior in the tech industry, Intuit’s deal may face significant hurdles.
Corning has introduced its strongest version of Gorilla Glass to date, Corning Gorilla Glass Victis.
Corning’s glass is the industry standard and is used in laptops, smartphones, tablets and more. Gorilla Glass is known for being one of the toughest options in a market where manufacturers are eager to improve the drop and scratch resistance of their devices. Unfortunately, being scratch and drop resistant don’t always go hand-in-hand.
“Dropped phones can result in broken phones, but as we developed better glasses, phones survived more drops but also showed more visible scratches, which can impact the usability of devices,” said John Bayne, senior vice president and general manager, Mobile Consumer Electronics. “Instead of our historic approach of asking our technologists to focus on a single goal – making the glass better for either drop or scratch – we asked them to focus on improving both drop and scratch, and they delivered with Gorilla Glass Victus.”
The new generation of glass provides protection when dropped up to two meters on hard, rough surfaces. Meanwhile, it provides 2X better scratch resistance than its predecessor, and up to 4X better resistance than competitors.
It’s safe to say Gorilla Glass Victis will be a big hit with manufacturers around the world, and will help usher in a new generation of tough devices.
Slack has filed a complaint against Microsoft with the EU, claiming the company is engaging in anti-competitive practices with Teams.
Slack and Teams have been locked in a bitter battle over the corporate messaging market. While Microsoft’s app has far surpassed Slack, in terms of users, Slack has continued to rack up some impressivecontracts. In particular, Slack has become a popular choice among companies that compete with Microsoft and don’t want to rely on one of their competitors for their communication.
Now Slack has upped the ante even more, filing a complaint with the EU. In particular, Slack is claiming that Microsoft is unfairly tying Teams to Office.
“We’re confident that we win on the merits of our product, but we can’t ignore illegal behavior that deprives customers of access to the tools and solutions they want,” said Jonathan Prince, Vice President of Communications and Policy at Slack. “Slack threatens Microsoft’s hold on business email, the cornerstone of Office, which means Slack threatens Microsoft’s lock on enterprise software.”
Microsoft should be concerned by this complaint, as it is similar to the complaint that was successfully used in Microsoft’s antitrust case in 2001. To make matters worse for the company, the EU is currently scrutinizing numerous US companies for anti-competitive practices. All of this means that Microsoft may find itself in an unfavorable climate should Slack’s complaint move forward.
Robinhood has informed individuals it is calling off its plans to expand to the UK market.
Robinhood has gained widespread popularity as an app that makes it easy to trade stocks. At the same time, it has experienced its fair share of growing pains and controversy.
The service has experienced multipleoutages, some of which cost the company goodwill from its users. In some cases, individuals were unable to make trades on some of the busiest days of the market. Even worse, a 20 year-old student apparently committed suicide after seeing a negative balance of $730,000.
Amid these issues, not to mention the problems the pandemic has caused, CNN is reporting that Robinhood has sent out an email informing individuals on a waitlist that it is putting its plans on hold.
“The world has changed a lot over the past several months and we’re adapting with it,” read the email.. “On a company level, we’ve come to recognize that our efforts are currently best spent on strengthening our core business in the US and making further investments in our foundational systems.”
Robinhood’s problems illustrate the challenges companies face trying to change the status quo in well-established industries, especially in the financial sector.
The pandemic has had a deleterious effect on the economy, our daily lives, our careers, and our schools. Parents are having to choose between working and taking care of their kids’ educational needs, while companies have had to make serious adjustments to keep business rolling. Everyone is basically in a holding pattern, but one of the ticking time bombs that has largely gone unnoticed is the high school and college aged students who are about to graduate into one of the most difficult job markets in history.
The Challenges Of College In A Pandemic
Many colleges shut down temporarily at the outset of the pandemic, but some tried to bring students back into unsafe conditions. Liberty University was one such institution, and it’s now facing lawsuits that allege the schools put students’ health and safety at risk as a pretext to continue to collect fees and tuition for fewer services.
Other colleges and universities have moved their courses online, which presents a whole other set of challenges. Students lack the in-person interactions they need to build a network and learn to work together on a team. It does have the benefit of preparing students for remote work, but there will be challenges in integrating these students into the workforce if steps aren’t taken to ensure they are getting at least a baseline college experience.
Undergraduate students often find that their classes and organizations help them build a network upon which they can build their careers later. Without such a network to leverage, career building is going to be a challenge.
What’s more, without those building blocks and that basic universal college experience, workplaces may struggle to integrate recent grads into new roles.
Careers, Workplaces, And The Economy
Right now we are living in what is arguably the worst economic downturn since The Great Depression. The United States has officially been in a recession since June, and it’s not showing any signs of turning around.
Students who are graduating into this environment are going to have a difficult time finding work, which is ultimately going to slow the economic recovery even more. As older generations begin to retire in a few years there will be fewer low to intermediate level job candidates to move up the ladder and push middle level candidates into those vacant leadership positions.
In short, this pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn are going to be playing out in our economy for decades to come.
Supporting Students To Turn The Economy Around
It’s difficult to imagine hiring right now, but that will be crucial to ensuring today’s students are able to become tomorrow’s business leaders. Now is the time for education and training, and most importantly for supporting graduates who stuck it out and made the most of a bad situation, as they are the ones who faced a pandemic with an antifragile mindset.
It’s going to take time and effort to recover fully from this economic crisis, but the time to start taking action is now. Learn more about the challenges of college during coronavirus and how to support students from the infographic below.
eBay has streamlined its focus and reached a deal to sell its classifieds business for nearly $9 billion.
In addition to its traditional business, eBay has a Craigslist-style classifieds business in approximately 1,000 cities around the world. eBay has been looking to sell that portion of the business for some time.
According to Reuters, Norwegian firm Adevinta has won the auction for the classified business, which includes Gumtree and Kijiji, agreeing to pay almost $9 billion. eBay will still maintain a minority stake in the business. Adevinta already maintains online marketplaces in some 15 countries, and will double in size as a result of the deal.
Given how popular online shopping has become as a result of the pandemic, eBay could not have chosen a better time make this deal.
The FCC voted unanimously to adopt a set of rules that would allow all calls from carriers benefiting from robocalls to be blocked.
Robocalls have become a plague for modern consumers, with billions of robocalls made per month in the US alone. As a result, legislators have been working to crack down on the problem.
In its latest move, the FCC has created a safe harbor, wherein carriers have the option of blocking all calls from upstream, bad-actor carriers who profit from robocalls. This creates an option to tackle the problem on a much wider scale, without any liability issues.
“The first safe harbor protects phone companies that use reasonable analytics, including caller ID authentication information, to identify and block illegal or unwanted calls from liability,” reads the FCC’s statement.
“The second safe harbor protects providers that block call traffic from bad actor upstream voice service providers that pass illegal or unwanted calls along to other providers, when those upstream providers have been notified but fail to take action to stop these calls.”
This may prove to be a powerful tool in the fight against robocalls.
PayPal is looking to get into cryptocurrency, opening the door for its 365 million customers.
Cryptocurrency is one of the hottest trends in the tech and financial industries, with Bitcoin’s value soaring and companies of all sizes looking to cash in. Facebook’s Libra is one of the biggest efforts at widespread cryptocurrency adoption. PayPal had initially joined the Libra Association, before withdrawing last year to pursue its own goals.
It seems that PayPal’s efforts may be close to fruition. It was previously reported by the International Business Times that PayPal is planning on allowing users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies via PayPal and Venmo. Now the IBT is reporting that, in a letter to the European Commission, PayPal has confirmed “that in addition to monitoring cryptocurrency’s evolution, it is also developing cryptocurrency capabilities in its products. The company, however, did not specify what these initiatives are.”
PayPal’s involvement in the cryptocurrency space could be a big boon to the industry, especially if it is able to lower the barrier-to-entry for non-tech users.
Doordash has announced that they have partnered with Walgreens to ultimately bring the entire Walgreens store to the door of 100 million Americans.
Doordash COO Christopher Payne discusses their new Walgreens delivery collaboration and explains how this deal is part of their customer-centric focus which has driven the company’s growth from its founding:
We Are Bringing The Entire Walgreens Store To Your Door
Our new partnership with Walgreens is going to be fabulous. We have 2,300 items that will be available to the Doordash customer base. We cover about 100 million Americans. This will bring for the first time Walgreens products in over the counter medicine, grocery, and household items and other categories that are totally appropriate for this COVID crisis that we are in.
While we are starting with 2,300 items we are going to rapidly grow that to 5,000 items, essentially bring the entire Walgreens store to your door on demand. That’s the key thing.
With COVID We Shifted Into Going Beyond Restaurants
One of the things we did with COVID is we shifted into going beyond restaurants and focused on empowering local economies by bringing other things that people want to be delivered into their home. Walgreens is a perfect example of that. We are going to ramp up to cover all of their stores over the coming months.
That will touch 100 million Americans. That’s a huge announcement today and we are thrilled to be in a collaboration with Walgreens.
Core To Us Is Listening To Our Customers
One thing that is true of this space is that it has been competitive since day one. What sets Doordash apart is we are not focused on our competitors. We have been focused on our customers. That is one of the core values of Doordash and is one of the key reasons we have a market share lead in food delivery in the United States. We are going to continue to focus on that. Core to us is listening to our customers and being merchant first.
Our original vision was to empower local economies. The idea is that we want to connect every local business to every local consumer. That’s a very different strategy than just broad ecommerce. That is making these businesses successful that are around you and me. That’s what sets Doordash apart and what will continue to set Doordash apart.
We Are In The Early Days Of This Category
We are in the early days of this category. We are not focused on what our competitors are doing. That is the right strategy for us. However, we won’t rule out potential acquisitions. We did a Caviar acquisition last last year that has gone incredibly well. Our focus has been on helping our merchants thrive. A great example of that is what has happened with COVID-19.
We swung into action back in March and April and designed a program called Main Street Strong. This exemplifies what I mean by merchant first. We built a program that generated $120 million in relief for merchants to keep them on their feet.
Doordash Restaurants 4-Times More Likely To Survive COVID
One stat that I love to share is restaurants that were on Doordash during this crisis were four times more likely to make it through the first wave by being on the platform. That $120 million in relief took the form of commission and promotion to drive sales to small businesses. We will continue to focus on our customers, our merchants, and our Dashers and that is what is key right now. We are not going to be bothered by what other companies are doing.
Apple scored a big win in European courts, with the General Court of the European Union ruling Apple’s tax deal with Ireland was legal.
The issue began when the European Commission (EC) ruled that Apple’s tax deal with Ireland was illegal, and improperly granted Apple an extraordinarily low tax rate. As a result, the EC said Apple owed some €13 billion in back taxes. Needless to say, Apple contested the ruling and vowed to fight it. Likewise, Ireland had a vested interest in the deal remaining in effect.
Ireland has developed a reputation for having very favorable tax laws, especially for big corporations. This has led many companies to move part of their business to the country, creating jobs and more than offsetting the benefits that would be gained from higher taxes. Despite Apple and Ireland vehemently defending their arrangement, the EC had ruled it was illegal, prompting the €13 billion tax bill.
The decision by the General Court of the European Union, the EU’s second-highest court, is a big win for Apple, Ireland and every other company that uses Ireland to get a lower tax rate.
Meanwhile, Margrethe Vestager, the regulator who has made a reputation going after big companies, made the following statement:
“We will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.”
“The fact is that COVID has already accelerated everything that was taking place in the marketplace,” says the former co-CEO of Whole Foods, Walter Robb. “Some people say that between 30 and 50 percent of small businesses are going to go out of business. We are going to see disruptions as the COVID turns left or turns right. It’s throwing curveballs at businesses. It’s very difficult to operate in this environment.
Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods, discusses how COVID related business closures and restrictions by urban governors and mayors has accelerated the existing trend of retailers closing due to competition with big rivals that have a sophisticated and expansive presence online such as Amazon and Walmart:
COVID Accelerates Retail Closures
The fact is that COVID has already accelerated everything that was taking place in the marketplace. So I think you will see some more (retail bankruptcies). I saw some numbers from the Yelp folks that suggested there would be 150,000 businesses fold. Some people say that between 30 and 50 percent of small businesses are going to go out. We are going to see disruptions as the COVID turns left or turns right. It’s throwing curveballs at businesses. It’s very difficult to operate in this environment.
The main thing is can we keep the economy open in some safe manner? It isn’t whether it’s an essential business or a non-essential business. It’s whether we can keep it open for both the team members and for the customers. It’s going to really determine some of that. Some folks have already thrown in the towel and some folks are going through bankruptcy.
But there are a lot of folks working hard in retail to serve people. It will depend on whether we going to get some sort of support, both in terms of the main street lending facility amendment or in terms of keeping the economy open to let them continue to serve their customers.
Billionaire restaurant entrepreneur and Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta has had it with governors and mayors and their inconsistent “yo-yo” shutdown orders on his restaurants and the economy. He notes that despite news reports, hospitals are not even close to being overrun. “We’re not about to run out of hospital beds where we’re going to have people laying on the curve of the hospital.”
Fertitta is exasperated at the apparent lack of compassion that governors and mayors around the country have for the “poor working people of America” right now. “You cannot shut down the economy,” says Fertitta. “You cannot do this to employees. They did it to us again yesterday in California where they shut us down. There is no consideration at all for the poor working people of America right now the way they’re doing the yo-yo.”
Fertitta adds: “The problem is I’ve yet to see an elected official miss a paycheck. Until an elected official misses a paycheck and feels some pain this is going to continue to happen.”
We went through this shutdown a couple of weeks ago and the people were back out this weekend. But remember, restaurants can only operate at 50 percent capacity. There are no bars or clubs and everybody’s being careful and everybody’s wearing face masks. We kind of leveled off at around negative 50 right now. But it’s tough out there.
We hear all these stories about the hospitals in Texas. Let me just give you Texas Medical Center in Houston which is one of the largest in the world. I think it is the largest. They’re in phase two at nine percent (capacity). This is phase two out of three phases. We’re not about to run out of hospital beds where we’re going to have people laying on the curve of the hospital. You got to remember there are 350 million people, only one percent or 340,000 people have had it. That’s less than one percent. This has got to work itself through the community and we’ve got to protect the people that can get it.
Elected Officials Are Not Worried About The Little People
At the same, you cannot shut down the economy. You cannot do this to employees. They did it to us again yesterday in California where they shut us down. There is no consideration at all for the poor working people of America right now the way they’re doing the yo-yo. The problem is I’ve yet to see an elected official miss a paycheck. Until an elected official misses a paycheck and feels some pain this is going to continue to happen.
They’re not worried about all the little people out there that are such hardworking people that make America thrive. They get their paychecks. Get them to give up 50 percent of their paychecks and feel some pain and then they’ll make better decisions for all the working people out there.
We Cannot Continue To Have The Rules Change On Us
The problem is that we’ve got mayors, governors, city, and county judges trying to make decisions. I think it is time for the government to come in and if it’s signing the War Act or whatever and doing something across the board. Remember, how you can be fair is you use percentages. If your county or city or state has this percentage of cases these are the rules you follow. This is what has to be shut down. I do think it should be federally mandated to treat everybody the same.
We cannot continue to have governors and mayors change the rules on us every other week. That is what’s happening right now. It’s totally unfair. Less than one percent of America has gotten COVID and it’s not going away. If you think your kids are going back to school and if you think all these sports are going to be played in a normal season, it’s not going to happen. Somebody’s got to take control of this situation and mandate what we all do.
You Cannot Keep Your Employees At Work Down 54 Percent
Vegas is struggling because you’re not getting all the flights in. Vegas is so built on the convention business and so vegas is struggling. In Atlantic City, there’s nothing open in the restaurant. You can’t take a drink of water and take your mask off unless it’s a health issue where you’re dehydrated and about to pass out. But Lake Charles, Laughlin, Biloxi, all your regional casinos around the country, are doing okay. They really are. But Vegas is struggling and Atlantic City is struggling.
Let’s get into the restaurants. Your higher-end restaurants are doing better right now because you’re in July. Your waterfront restaurants are doing okay. But remember, you get back into your urban areas, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and there is nobody there. Most of them are just shut down or barely doing delivery to go. Overall, when you look at all my 600 restaurants in the month of July, I’m down 54 percent. You cannot operate at negative 54 percent. You cannot keep your employees at work at 54 percent.
Elected Officials Are Not Worried About The Little People, Says Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta
Jean-Louis Gassée, former Apple executive, has postulated that Apple’s move to custom silicon will force Microsoft to move to ARM.
Jean-Louis Gassée worked at Apple from 1981 to 1990, taking over as head of Mac development following Steve Jobs’ ouster. After his own departure from Apple, Gassée founded Be, Inc., the creator of BeOS. With his background, Gassée has a unique insight into the industry.
Gassée ultimately believes that Apple’s decision to abandon Intel chips in favor of its own custom silicon will have profound impacts on the industry at large. Specifically, he believes Microsoft will be forced to follow suit, and adopt ARM processors to keep up.
After first pointing out the same advantages we have highlighted at WPN—such as heat dissipation, better battery life and faster performance—Gassée predicts Apple’s new Macs could have as much as a 25% throughput advantage over Intel machines when they debut. This will force Microsoft to make a decision to either adapt or cede the high-performance market to Apple.
“This leaves Microsoft with a choice: Either forget Windows on ARM and cede modern PCs to Apple, or forge ahead, fix app compatibility problems and offer an ARM-based alternative to Apple’s new Macs,” writes Gassée. “It’s a false dilemma, of course. Microsoft will forge ahead…with repercussions for the rest of the Windows PC industry.
“Specifically, what are Dell, HP, Asus, and others going to do if Apple offers materially better laptops and desktops and Microsoft continues to improve Windows on ARM Surface devices? In order to compete, PC manufacturers will have to follow suit, they’ll ‘go AR’ because, all defensive rhetoric aside, Apple and Microsoft will have made the x86 architecture feel like what it actually is: old.”
Gassée’s take is a fascinating read, and one Intel and the PC community should take seriously. If his predictions are true, it looks like Apple may be upending the computer industry once again.
Microsoft has rolled out Together mode to Teams in an effort to significantly improve video conferencing.
As social distancing and remote work have become standard, video conferencing and communication tools have become critical components for individuals and businesses alike. Whether its corporate teams keeping in touch, churches conducting services or individuals keeping up with family and friends, Teams, Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and others have become lifelines.
At the same time, video fatigue has taken its toll, with widespread reports of video conferencing being exhausting and draining on its users. Microsoft has set out to address that with its new Together mode.
Together mode uses AI segmentation tech to create the illusion that everyone is together in the same place, such as a meeting room, auditorium or coffee shop. This creates a much more familiar and comfortable experience, as opposed to the traditional grid placement.
“We’re social creatures, and the social and spatial awareness systems in the brain can finally function more naturally” within Together mode, says Microsoft’s Jaron Lanier.
Microsoft Teams Meeting
The end result is a more engaging experience “by helping you focus on other people’s faces and body language and making it easier to pick up on the non-verbal cues that are so important to human interaction. It’s great for meetings in which multiple people will speak, such as brainstorms or roundtable discussions, because it makes it easier for participants to understand who is talking.”
With no immediate end in sight to the pandemic, improvements like this will go a long way toward helping people stay productive and connected.
Spatial computing company Magic Leap has snagged Microsoft executive Peggy Johnson as its new CEO.
Magic Leap is a well-known company working on revolutionizing the computing industry. The company is considered to be one of the leaders in spatial computing, which includes elements of virtual, augmented and mixed reality. The company claims its wearable, Magic Leap 1, is the most advanced XR device on the market.
Peggy Johnson brings much to the table for Magic Leap, including over three decades in leadership positions within the tech industry. She previously worked for 24 years at Qualcomm before joining Microsoft in 2014. As executive vice president of business development, she oversaw the LinkedIn acquisition, and has a solid background growing business endeavors.
“Since its founding in 2011, Magic Leap has pioneered the field of spatial computing, and I have long admired the relentless efforts and accomplishments of this exceptional team. Magic Leap’s technological foundation is undeniable, and there is no question that has the potential to shape the future of XR and computing,” said Ms. Johnson.
“As CEO, I look forward to strategically building enduring relationships that connect Magic Leap’s game-changing technology and pipeline to the wide-ranging digital needs of enterprises of all sizes and industries,” explained Ms. Johnson. “It is with great pride and sincere appreciation to the Magic Leap Board, Rony and the entire team, as well as to Satya Nadella at Microsoft, that I assume the role of leading this visionary business into the future.”
Ms. Johnson will likely be a big asset as Magic Leap continues to compete in what is becoming a highly competitive field.
Following a six month grace period, California has begun enforcing its new privacy regulation, effective July 1.
The California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) was signed into law on January 1. Similar to the EU’s GDPR, the CCPA is a robust set of laws designed to protect individual privacy and give consumers more control over the data companies collect about them. Companies were given a six month grace period before enforcement began, but that grace period ended on June 30.
The CCPA likely impacts more companies than many realize. It directly applies to companies that do $25 million in annual revenue, companies that derive at least half of their revenue from selling their customers’ data or companies that collect data on at least 50,000 individuals.
Potential penalties are high enough to ensure compliance. Non-intentional violations could cost as much as $2,500 per incident, while intentional violations could cost as much as $7,500.
While many companies have struggled to be ready for the new law, privacy advocates have praised it for protecting the interests of consumers.
Watching the effects of people’s psychological reactions to the pandemic can give us clues as to how to save the economy. Early on people were stockpiling toilet paper and hand sanitizer, but why? As the pandemic has worn on, the things people are stocking up on have changed. From toilet paper to guns and ammo, why are people choosing the things they are choosing and what can that tell us about how to save the economy?
When the pandemic first reached the United States, people were buying up things they thought they would need immediately – toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer is somewhat obvious – officials announced early on that it was effective against the novel coronavirus when soap and water were not available, such as when you are grocery shopping.
But why toilet paper? Think about it this way – we went from spending the majority of our days outside of our homes at work and school to spending all day, every day in our homes. That means more of our, er, daily business is being done at home than usual. Hence the need for more toilet paper. And as the supply chain failed to keep up, it caused people to panic even more about whether they would be able to meet this most basic need for their families.
Within a few weeks, flour and baking yeast were flying off shelves. As yeast became scarce, everyone you know began baking sourdough bread because of the ability to capture and propagate wild yeast. As people began to settle into the idea they might be stuck at home for a while they started to look for creative outlets that also might turn into useful information for future survival. Baking bread fit the bill.
Later came spikes in beverage alcohol sales and hair dye. People wanted to escape reality with a new hair color or cover their gray roots so they didn’t have to think about the fact they are aging. And of course imbibing has long been a staple for people bored at home wanting a diversion.
Soon that diversion turned to panic, however, and people began to stock up on freezers, meat, guns, and ammo. The threat of running out of meat in the stores became real as meat processing plants began to shut down because of massive Covid-19 outbreaks. People needed a place to store their stockpile, so freezers sold out across the country. The threat of fights in grocery store parking lots became real, and people began to plan for the worst.
Then came chickens and vegetable plants. People decided they were probably going to be on their own for food soon and they stocked up on whatever kind of food they could produce themselves.
This all took place within the first several weeks of the pandemic. Over time compliance fatigue grew and people became restless. They began to demand the government allow the country to reopen, which led to a spike in coronavirus cases. Now hospitals are reaching capacity in heavily populated areas, mainly because people were tired of being afraid and wanted to get back to their daily lives.
Understanding this psychology could help us reach a point where it is safe to reopen the economy again. Wearing masks is probably the biggest thing we can do to make it safe to reopen the economy, so encouraging people to wear masks is the first step toward reopening the economy.
Learn more about how human psychology is affecting the economy and how we can move forward from the infographic below.
Apple has acquired Fleetsmith, the creator of a device management solution that helps companies manage their Apple devices.
According to the company’s site, their solution “automates device setup, intelligence, patching, and security, for your company’s Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs.”
In a blog post, co-founders Kenneth Kouot and Zack Blum, as well as Jesse Endahl write:
We’re thrilled to join Apple. Our shared values of putting the customer at the center of everything we do without sacrificing privacy and security, means we can truly meet our mission, delivering Fleetsmith to businesses and institutions of all sizes, around the world.
The acquisition will likely be a big help to Apple as their devices continue to gain popularity in the enterprise. Fleetsmith will give them a viable first-party device management option to offer customers.
“They acted here as an illegal employer advocate to stop free speech and to stop unionization,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Facebook holds itself out as this champion of free speech. Yet here it is developing a platform that allows employers to totally deny their employee’s free speech. We demand an apology and they should abandon further work on these types of platforms.”
Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, blasts Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for building a platform feature that allows employers to ban certain words related to unionization in employee communications:
We Demand An Apology From Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook holds itself out as this champion of free speech. Yet here it is developing a platform that allows employers to totally deny their employee’s free speech. It also allows employers to blacklist (certain speech) which is illegal and to sort of truncate or eliminate their ability to talk about unionization which is also illegal.
Mark Zuckerberg is doing two things here which are terrible. One he’s doing illegal stuff like blacklisting and making eavesdropping on the employee’s talk of unionization, which is illegal. The second thing is he’s undermining the notion of free speech. It’s only his free speech that he’s been a champion of, not workers free speech. We should have an apology. We demand an apology and they should abandon further work on these types of platforms.
Facebook Acted As An Illegal Employer Advocate
We think there needs to be a change to (Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act which was put in place to protect platforms from lawsuits resulting from the content posted by their users). Things like this shouldn’t be allowed to happen. They acted here as more than a platform. They acted here as an illegal employer advocate to stop free speech and to stop unionization. They shouldn’t be shielded from that type of conduct or other conduct similar to that.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: Facebook Acted As An Illegal Employer Advocate
“Today is going to be a truly historic day for the Mac,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at their at the Worldwide Developers Conference. “Today we are going to tell you about some really big changes, how we are going to take the Mac to a whole new level. From the very beginning, the Mac redefined the entire computer industry. The Mac has always been about innovation and boldly pushing things forward, embracing big changes to stay at the forefront of personal computing.”
The Mac has had three major transitions in its history. The move to PowerPC, the transition to macOS X, and the move to Intel. Now it’s time for a huge leap forward for the Mac. Today is the day that we are announcing that the Mac is transitioning to our own Apple Silicon. When we make bold changes it’s for one simple yet powerful reason… so we can make much better products. When we look ahead we envision some major new products and transitioning to our own custom silicon is what will enable us to bring them to life.
At Apple, integrating hardware and software is fundamental to everything we do. That’s what makes our products so great and silicon is at the heart of our hardware. So having a world class silicon design team is a game changer.
Apple CEO Tim Cook: Mac Transitioning To Our Own Apple Silicon
