America’s massive hotel strike just got even bigger | CNN Business

September 2, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Baltimore hotel workers are joining a massive nationwide strike against three major hotel chains during one of the biggest travel holidays of the year.

Unite Here, the union representing hotel workers, said approximately 200 hotel workers walked off the job in Baltimore at the Hilton Inner Harbor this morning.

Hotel union workers are now on strike across 25 US cities. More than 10,200 hotel workers at dozens of hotels stretching from Boston to the West Coast to Hawaii went on strike early Sunday morning.

“I walked out today because we just cannot keep working paycheck to paycheck, not able to pay our bills,” Jerome Roberts, a dishwasher at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor said in a statement. “Going on strike is hard, but not nearly as hard as trying to get by on what we are getting paid. We told the bosses in our negotiations how much we are struggling right now but they didn’t care. We are on strike to make them pay.”

‘A very serious situation’: Volkswagen could close plants in Germany for the first time in history | CNN Business

September 2, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Volkswagen is weighing whether to close factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history as it moves to deepen cost cuts amid rising competition from China’s electric vehicle makers.

In a statement Monday, the German automaker, one of the world’s biggest car companies, said that it could not rule out plant closures its home country. Other measures to “future-proof” the company include trying to terminate an employment protection agreement with labor unions, which has been in place since 1994.

“The European automotive industry is in a very demanding and serious situation,” said Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume. “The economic environment became even tougher, and new competitors are entering the European market. Germany in particular as a manufacturing location is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket grounded for 2nd time in 2 months following explosive landing failure | Live Science

August 30, 2024August 29, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday (Aug 28), following a failed landing attempt that left the spacecraft toppled over in flames.

The reusable rocket booster had just completed its record-breaking 23rd mission, successfully launching 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit before touching down on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean roughly nine minutes later, according to Live Science’s sister site Space.com. However, immediately upon landing, the rocket tipped over, bursting into flames.

No injuries or public property damage were reported in connection with the failed landing.

IRS Announces Unchanged Interest Rates for Fourth Quarter of 2024 | Small Business Trends

August 26, 2024August 25, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that interest rates will remain unchanged for the fourth quarter of 2024, continuing the rates that have been in place. These rates apply to overpayments and underpayments for the calendar quarter beginning October 1, 2024. For individual taxpayers, the interest rate for both overpayments and underpayments will be set at 8% per year, compounded daily. Corporations will see a slight variation in the rates applicable to them.

Interest Rates for the Fourth Quarter of 2024

8% for overpayments (payments made in excess of the amount owed), with a reduced rate of 7% for corporations.
5.5% for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000.
8% for underpayments (taxes owed but not fully paid).
10% for large corporate underpayments.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, interest rates are determined on a quarterly basis. For individual taxpayers, the rate applied to both overpayments and underpayments is calculated by adding three percentage points to the federal short-term rate. This same formula applies to corporations for underpayments, while the overpayment rate for corporations is the federal short-term rate plus two percentage points.

7-Eleven: Canadian retail giant makes £29.2bn takeover bid | BBC News

August 20, 2024August 20, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A Canadian convenience store giant has made a bid worth $38bn (£29.2bn) for the Japanese-owned 7-Eleven in what could be the country’s record foreign takeover.

Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) made the approach for the chain – a staple across Asia and North America – on Monday.

ACT’s footprint in the US and Canada would more than double to more than 20,000 sites if the deal goes ahead.

The news comes after the Japanese stock market was rocked by record swings earlier this month.

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Ukraine orders evacuation of city as Russia makes gains | BBC News

August 20, 2024August 19, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ukrainian authorities have ordered the evacuation of a key city in the Donbas region as Russian forces continue to make gains in the east of the country, despite Ukraine’s ongoing offensive into Russia’s Kursk region.

Officials said families with children living in Pokrovsk and surrounding villages would be forced to leave.

The head of the city’s military government, Serhii Dobriak, said residents had at most two weeks to flee the Russian advance.

The strategically important city is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistical hub for Kyiv’s troops on the eastern front.

These fintech companies are hiring, despite a rough market in 2024 | TechCrunch

August 19, 2024August 18, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The fintech segment, which saw massive growth during the pandemic and immediately after, has had a fairly rough 2024.

But while the rapid pace of funding has slowed, many fintechs are continuing to see growth and expand their teams. In an effort to better understand just how many fintechs might fit into this category, I put out a call asking for fintech companies that are hiring. After just over an hour, I had received more than a dozen responses. After just a few days, I heard from dozens more. The sheer number — and quality — of responses was surprising even to me, someone who writes about this space on a regular basis.

TechCrunch isn’t a job board, of course. This isn’t a listing of all available roles in fintech. But if you were recently laid off, are a recent graduate or are just looking for a change, this will be a good place to start. And we plan to update this page regularly over time.

Google just dropped a new AI camera update — and you don’t need a new Pixel 9 for it | Mashable

August 15, 2024August 14, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Google has an AI update for its Magnifier app that’s geared towards people with low vision. And the best part is you don’t need a new Pixel 9 to use it.

Magnifier is an app was released last year as an accessibility tool that works with Pixel cameras to magnify text, details, and zoom in on distant objects. As of Tuesday, it has been updated with AI-powered capabilities to make gathering visual information easier.

The Made by Google event mostly focused on hardware, unveiling the Pixel 9 series, the Pixel Watch 3, and the Pixel Buds Pro 2, with a deep integration of AI-powered features for the new devices. However, not everything Google launched yesterday required a new gadget. Magnifier is available for Pixel 5 and newer.

Texas sues General Motors, alleging illegal selling of driver data | CNN Business

August 14, 2024August 13, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued General Motors Tuesday, alleging the carmaker illegally collected and sold drivers’ data to insurance companies without their consent or knowledge, according to a release from the AG’s office.

General Motors is the first car manufacturer to be hit with a lawsuit after the attorney general’s office opened an investigation into several manufacturers in June for allegedly collecting mass amount of data and then illegally selling it.

With the lack of a detailed, modern data privacy and security law at the federal law, many states are stepping in to pass their own regulations to protect consumers in the ever-growing data brokerage market.