You could almost hear the internet cracking apart this week as international businesses pulled away from Hong Kong and the US considered a ban on TikTok. Software can no longer eat the entire world like it had attempted last decade. Startups across tech-focused industries face a new reality, where local markets and efforts are more protected and supported by national governments. Every company now has a smaller total addressable market, whether or not it succeeds in it.
Category: News and Views
Gensler upcycles an old warehouse into creative offices in Austin | Inhabitat
At the heart of East Austin, an old and uninviting warehouse has been transformed into a creative office building fittingly dubbed UPCycle after its site-sensitive design approach that includes the reuse of the entire building. Gensler led the renovation and updated the space with an additional 16,000 square feet of mezzanine area as well as energy-efficient improvements including new insulation and high-efficiency mechanical systems. The industrial character of the original building has been retained and celebrated as part of an overarching goal to preserve a piece of East Austin history.
Triangular Fish Farm Nets | CoolBusinessIdeas.com
In recent years, fish farms have increasingly started using underwater ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) for cleaning the nets that enclose their fish pens. A relatively new one, the StealthCleaner, has a unique triangular form factor.
Manufactured by Norwegian ROV company Kystdesign, the StealthCleaner is connected to a surface-located support vessel or shore-based control station via a power/communications umbilical cable.
Utilizing real-time feeds from four onboard cameras (which are assisted by LED spotlights), the operator starts by remotely piloting the ROV through the water, over to the pen. They then guide it back and forth, in successive passes along the net.
Source: Read More
Americans are using more plastic during the pandemic. He wants to change that | CNN
When the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, local governments and big companies quickly changed their tune on reducing single-use plastics. They started prohibiting cloth totes in grocery stores and rejecting reusable coffee mugs at cafes. They embraced disposables once again, seeing them as the safer, more hygienic option.
Maine delayed its plastic bag ban from April 2020 to January of next year. San Francisco in March instructed businesses to bar customers from using their own bags, mugs or other reusable items in order to promote social distancing. Meanwhile, Starbucks (SBUX) stopped allowing people to use their own mugs, and McDonald’s (MCD) decided to close self-serve soda fountains as it reopens its doors.
Vermont just banned food waste in trash. Here’s how it works | Fast Company
Vermonters can no longer simply toss their food into trash cans. Under a new law that went into effect at the start of the month, residents are now required to compost any unfinished food—including inedible scraps like peels, egg shells, and pits—in their yard or through a professional compost facility. While other states have taken steps to curb food waste, particularly at the business level, Vermont is the first to implement a statewide ban on food waste that also affects individuals.
ICE Says Foreign Students Can’t Attend Online-Only College This Fall, Despite Pandemic | Forbes
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday that international students “may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States” during the fall 2020 semester, as schools and universities across the country consider how to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Facebook: Aviva and Intercontinental Hotels Group pause ads | BBC News
Two leading UK firms – the insurer Aviva and the Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) – have become the latest to “pause” advertising on Facebook.
They join Ford, Adidas, HP, Coca Cola, Unilever and Starbucks, which have all acted in response to how the social network deals with hate speech.
The Stop Hate for Profit campaign claims that Facebook is not doing enough to remove hateful content.
When Her Business Dried Up, This Restaurateur Kept the Locals Fed | Inc.com
Kyleena Falzone’s restaurants in the mountain resort town of Crested Butte, Colorado, the Secret Stash and Bonez, together made nearly $6 million in revenue last year. But when Gunnison County issued an order March 16 for all visitors to leave as soon as possible, what looked like the start of another busy spring season came to an abrupt end. She had to lay off 132 of her 140 employees. But while her restaurants likely would have survived the lockdown in hibernation mode, she says, “I couldn’t just sit around.”
Instead, Falzone spent the next three months feeding thousands of out-of-work locals through 11 weeks of farmers’ markets handouts, 83 nights of free dinner kits, and three weeks of free groceries. Using social media, she crowdfunded most of the $100,000-plus effort from people who own second homes in the town. Here’s how she pulled off the initiative, which even inspired a similar project thousands of miles away.
The modern mobile app needs a revamp | TechCrunch
Apple’s App Store has had a controversial month with developers demanding changes to how apps are monetized, but as Apple detailed the next versions of its operating systems at WWDC, it’s clear they believe third-party apps themselves have room to be fundamentally revamped.
This week at WWDC, Apple debuted App Clips, a snappy new segment of third party experiences that scales down the idea of an app around just a single feature or two. A user can quickly call up an App Clip via a URL, NFC tag or visual code and download when the right context arises. In a lot of ways it’s just another notification type pinned to more limitations for devs, but the thinking behind it follows Apple’s continued interests to shove third-party integrations deeper inside the operating system itself.
The Seed of an Idea: How Buckwheat, Hemp, Chia and Flax Are Taking Over | Entrepreneur
As consumers continue to turn their attention to organic, plant-based, and nutritionally dense foods, we’re beginning to see a rise in the growth of some unlikely and (literally) small products – namely, seeds. Products like buckwheat, hemp, flax, and chia were on the margins of the health food market just a few years ago, but the seed market will likely grow quite a bit in the near future.
Buckwheat, for example, is expected to reach a valuation of $1.8 billion globally by 2027, primarily due to increased demand in the food and beverage sector. Chia, once better known as a kitschy houseplant, is still selling fairly modestly ($66.5 million in 2018), but is growing even faster, at a rate of 5.8 percent. Flaxseed is growing even more rapidly, at a projected rate of 12.7 percent. And of course, hemp seeds have enjoyed a boost from the general growth of the cannabis product market and are expected to continue to grow to $480 million by 2024.
Dispatches From The Front 