Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, shrank last year | CNN Business

January 15, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Germany’s economy shrank last year for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, official data showed Monday, increasing the risk of an economic contraction in the wider euro area.

Gross domestic product was 0.3% lower in 2023 than in the previous year, according to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

“Overall economic development faltered in Germany in 2023 in an environment that continues to be marked by multiple crises,” Destatis president Ruth Brand said in a statement.

Although inflation has eased, prices remain high throughout the economy and have put a damper on economic growth, she added. “Rising interest rates and weaker domestic and foreign demand also took their toll.”

Uber is shutting down alcohol delivery app Drizly | CNN Business

January 15, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Uber is shutting down its alcohol delivery app, Drizly, just three years after acquiring it for $1.1 billion.

Buoyed by the pandemic-era at-home delivery boom, Drizly had grown to become the largest online marketplace for alcohol in North America, but it will officially shut down at the end of March 2024, according to Uber.

The alcohol delivery service operated as a standalone app, and its technology was integrated into Uber’s delivery app, Uber Eats.

In a statement, Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber’s senior vice president of delivery, said Uber had decided to focus on its “core Uber Eats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything – from food to groceries to alcohol – all on a single app.”

Apple Expands Self-Service Repair with New Diagnostic Tool, Extends Reach in Europe | Small Biz Trend

January 10, 2024January 10, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple Inc. has expanded its Self Service Repair program and introduced a new diagnostic tool, aimed at giving users greater autonomy in troubleshooting issues with their Apple devices.

This expansion brings the Self Service Repair program to the iPhone 15 lineup and Mac models powered by the M2 chip, including the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Pro, and Mac Studio. More notably, Apple has extended this service to 24 additional European countries, such as Croatia, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland. With this latest growth, the program now supports 35 Apple products across 33 countries, accessible in 24 languages.

A key development in this expansion is the introduction of Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair, which is currently available in the U.S. and expected to launch in Europe next year. This tool empowers users, particularly those with the expertise to repair Apple devices, by providing the same diagnostic capabilities as those available to Apple Authorized Service Providers and Independent Repair Providers. It allows for comprehensive testing of device parts for functionality and performance, thereby identifying necessary repairs.

3 underrated sci-fi movies on Amazon Freevee in January | Digital Trends

January 9, 2024January 7, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The best part about Amazon Freevee is that, as the name implies, movies are free to access. You don’t need a paid Amazon Prime subscription to watch, but you will get periodic ads throughout the film. That’s not a huge deal: it’s just the right amount of time to refill your drink or popcorn or take a quick bathroom break.

The movie selection on Amazon Freevee is always changing, making it tough to keep up. If you’re looking for something in the sci-fi space, these are three underrated sci-fi movies on Amazon Freevee that you should watch in January before they’re gone. All of them are from the ’70s and ‘80s, but they still hold up today. Mad Max (1979)

Mad Max isn’t your typical fly-under-the-radar movie because it was popular enough to spawn several sequels in the ‘80s, followed by Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015 and Furiosa in 2024. However, the post-apocalyptic and dystopian action film had initially polarized critics who felt it lacked emotion due to its violent story. Boy, were they wrong. Over time, views clearly changed on the movie, which stars Mel Gibson as the titular character. He’s a police officer in the future who kills a biker gang as revenge for the murders of his wife and child. He then spends his days drifting alone through a wasteland, trying to help others (and himself) survive.

Carrefour to halt Pepsi sales over price rises | BBC

January 5, 2024January 4, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Grocery giant Carrefour will stop selling Pepsi products in France, citing “unacceptable price increases”.

The supermarket started putting up signs in stores on Thursday to inform customers of the decision, which will affect products such as Pepsi soda, Doritos and Quaker cereals.

Pepsi said it would continue to try to negotiate in “good faith”.

The spat comes as France continues to grapple with food prices that are rising uncomfortably quickly.

The most recent report from the government statistics agency estimated that food prices rose 7.1% in December from a year earlier.

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge gets suicide net after 87 years | BBC

January 5, 2024January 4, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A suicide prevention net at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco has finally been completed, officials say.

Around 2,000 people are known to have jumped to their deaths from the bridge since it opened in 1937 in the US city.

For decades, families who lost loved ones to suicide at the bridge have called for a solution.

The suicide deterrent system, also known as the net, has been installed around approximately 95% of the 1.7-mile (2.7 km) bridge.

This Ultrasound Bra Could Detect Cancer Sooner | WIRED

January 4, 2024January 3, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In 2015, Canan Dağdeviren was working as a postdoc at MIT when she learned that her aunt, Fatma, had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Dağdeviren, whose work focused on building flexible devices that could capture biometric data, flew to the Netherlands to be with her relative in those last moments.

At her aunt’s bedside, Dağdeviren sketched an idea for an electronic bra with an embedded ultrasound that would be able to scan breasts much more frequently and catch cancers before they got the chance to spread.

It was just a way of offering her aunt a slice of solace at an unimaginably difficult time. But when Dağdeviren became a faculty member at MIT the following year, the bra stayed on her mind. Today, she’s an assistant professor of media and arts at the MIT Media Lab, where she leads the Conformable Decoders research group. Her lab’s mission is to harness and decode the world’s physical patterns—one thing that means is creating electronic devices that conform to the body and capture data.

New Law Prohibits Tourists From Stopping on Las Vegas Strip | Entrepreneur

January 3, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Las Vegas Strip is changing as we know it.

A new ordinance was approved this week that will make stopping on the pedestrian bridges on the Strip a misdemeanor crime.

“The Pedestrian Flow Zone ordinance will help to ensure our world-class tourism destination remains a safe place for people to visit and transverse,” Clark County officials said in a statement. “Through this ordinance, to maintain the safe and continuous movement of pedestrian traffic, it is unlawful for any person to stop, stand, or engage in an activity that causes another person to stop or stand within any Pedestrian Flow Zone.”

Southwest, pilots reach tentative agreement for contract worth $12 billion | CNN Business

December 22, 2023December 20, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

After three years of negotiating, Southwest Airlines and the union representing the airline’s pilots reached a tentative agreement on a new contract on Wednesday.

“We know that the last few years have been difficult for our pilots as well as our customers, but we believe that this TA rewards our pilots as well as improving reliability for our passengers,” said Southwest Airlines Pilots Association President Casey Murray in a statement.

The SWAPA union’s 25-member board approved the deal Wednesday after union leadership reached an initial agreement in principle with Southwest earlier this week.

But the deal isn’t guaranteed to go to contract: the union’s nearly 11,000 members can vote on whether or not to approve the contract until January 22.

Toyota recalls 1 million vehicles over airbag sensor glitch | CNN Business

December 21, 2023December 20, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Toyota is recalling about 1 million cars and SUVs in the United States due to a possible defect that could cause the passenger airbag to fail to deploy in a crash.

The recall involves 15 different 2020 and 2021 model year Toyota and Lexus models including the Toyota Camry, Rav4, Sienna and the Lexus RX350 and ES350. Lexus is Toyota’s luxury vehicle brand.

Specifically, the Occupant Classification System sensor that detects when someone is sitting in the front passenger seat could short circuit. In some of these vehicles the sensor was improperly manufactured.