Category: News and Views

Disney Delays Star Wars, Avatar Releases, Takes Mulan Off Schedule | Digital Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The coronavirus has shaken up Disney’s biggest franchises — and Star Wars is the latest to be affected.

Disney announced Thursday it would push back the releases of the next set of Star Wars movies as well as James Cameron’s Avatar sequel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The live-action Mulan remake, which was originally supposed to release in March, has also been taken off its theatrical release calendar.

“Over the last few months, it’s become clear that nothing can be set in stone when it comes to how we release films during this global health crisis, and today that means pausing our release plans for Mulan as we assess how we can most effectively bring this film to audiences around the world,” a Disney spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.

Read More

Elon Musk is one board approval away from another $2.1 billion in stock options | TechCrunch

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Tesla’s six-month average trailing market capitalization hit $150 billion on Tuesday after a four-month run up of the automaker’s share price that theoretically unlocks a multi-billion-dollar vesting option for CEO Elon Musk.

Once Tesla hit the six-month average trailing market cap of $150 billion, which Reuters first reported, Musk became eligible to access the second of 12 levels of options granted to him in an unprecedented pay package approved by shareholders in 2018. The board must still certify the milestone before the vesting option is triggered.

The milestone was met the day before Tesla is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings.

Read More

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Back to school or back to square one? | CNN

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Even though the heat of mid-summer is still upon us and the coronvirus pandemic continues, back-to-school season is right around the corner. With the possible exception of mask-wearing, no topic is generating as much debate as the reopening of schools.

Everyone — leaders at all levels of government, public health experts, child welfare advocates, pediatricians, parents and teachers — has an opinion. As a doctor, a journalist and, perhaps most importantly, as a parent to three school-age children, it may come as no surprise that I’ve been thinking about this, too.

Read More

Google Accused Of Tracking App Users Who Opted Out | Digital Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A class-action lawsuit filed on Tuesday accuses Google of tracking user activity through various mobile apps — even if people opted out of sharing their data.

The suit was filed against the tech giant on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, as first reported by Reuters. The complaint accuses Google of logging users’ news apps, ride-sharing apps, and other types of apps even if people had the tracking turned off in their account settings.

Read More

Brexit: Get ready because this time it’s for real | BBC News

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The government has warned that the outcome of ongoing Brexit negotiations will not alter significant changes to trade with EU that business needs to prepare for.

“Customs declarations are complicated”: That’s according to page 8 of a 208-page government guide to importing and exporting after the transition period ends at the end of this year.

The document is dense, detailed and presents a daunting checklist for firms looking to be prepared for the biggest change to doing business with our largest and closest partner.

Read More

Startups Weekly: The world is eating tech | TechCrunch

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

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.

Read More

Gensler upcycles an old warehouse into creative offices in Austin | Inhabitat

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

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.

Read More

Triangular Fish Farm Nets | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

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