US House Passes 7 Small Business Bills – 2 for PPP and EIDL Loan Fraud | Small Business Trends

June 16, 2022June 14, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The slew of bills includes legislation to extend the statute of limitations on small business pandemic fraud cases, enhance workforce development offerings, and improve the procurement process for small businesses. Among the bills passed two would establish a ten-year statute of limitations for prosecutions related to fraud related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).

“These seven bills will help make key SBA programs more secure, accessible, and focused on the most pressing challenges for small firms”, said Chairwoman Nydia M. Velázquez of New York.

What are the resolutions?

The bills are designed to promote policies that encourage small business development, hold small business pandemic fraudsters accountable, develop the small business workforce, and support small contractors doing business with the federal government.

T-Mobile just achieved 3Gbps 5G speeds without mmWave | Digital Trends

June 15, 2022June 14, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

T-Mobile is setting out to prove that carriers don’t need to deploy extremely high-frequency mmWave technology to get blazing fast speeds. Thanks to Carrier Aggregation technology, the “Un-carrier” has demonstrated performance of 3Gbps download speeds on good old-fashioned low-band and mid-band 5G channels.

In a press release today, T-Mobile revealed that it has reached these unprecedented speeds for the first time ever on a commercial device; in this case, a Samsung Galaxy S22 powered by a Snapdragon X65 modem. “This test demonstrates the incredible power of mid-band spectrum and represents another huge step forward for stand-alone 5G,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile.

As startup layoffs continue, some perspective | TechCrunch

June 13, 2022June 12, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Per Layoffs.fyi, a layoff tracker, over 16,000 tech workers lost their jobs in May, and June is off to a similarly brutal start. TechCrunch’s senior reporter Amanda Silberling and I have accidentally, and unfortunately, started working on a weekly column about the tech layoffs; what first started as a tip-over moment at Thrasio has soon expanded to startups regardless of sector, financing stage or if they had obvious growth tensions or not.

Kohl’s puts up a for-sale sign | CNN

June 9, 2022June 7, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Kohl’s may soon have a new owner.

Kohl’s (KSS) said late Monday that it had entered into a three-week exclusive negotiation period for a potential sale with Franchise Group (FRG), a holding company which owns The Vitamin Shoppe and other retail brands.

Franchise Group has proposed to buy Kohl’s for $60 a share. Kohl’s stock closed at $42.12 on Monday and rose 10% during early trading Tuesday on the news. The deal would value Kohl’s at around $8 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, about 5 times more than it was worth last week.

How to watch SpaceX launch a cargo ship to the ISS this week | Digital Trends

June 6, 2022June 5, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

This week, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft will travel to the International Space Station (ISS), carrying supplies and scientific research equipment to the astronauts there. NASA will livestream the launch, and we’ve got the details on how you can watch the event from home.

On Friday, June 10 at 10:22 a.m. ET (7:22 a.m. PT), a SpaceX Dragon will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will carry 4,500 pounds of cargo to the space station, which it is scheduled to arrive at on Sunday, June 12 at 6:20 a.m. ET (3:20 a.m. PT). When it arrives at the Harmony module of the space station, NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines will oversee its docking with the station.

Elon Musk declares end to remote working at Tesla | BBC News

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Tesla boss Elon Musk has ordered staff to return to the office full-time, declaring that working remotely is no longer acceptable.

The new policy was shared in emails that were leaked to social media.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on the messages, one of which appeared to be addressed to executives.

People who are unwilling to abide by the new rules can “pretend to work somewhere else” Mr Musk said on Twitter, when asked about the policy.

“Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week,” he wrote in one of the emails. “If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.”

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Proton Adds Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, and Proton VPN Encrypted Features | WIRED

May 31, 2022May 30, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

SINCE ITS FOUNDING in 2014, ProtonMail has become synonymous with user-friendly encrypted email. Now the company is trying to be synonymous with a whole lot more. On Wednesday morning, it announced that it’s changing its name to, simply, Proton—a nod at its broader ambitions within the universe of online privacy. The company will now offer an “ecosystem” of linked products, all accessed via one paid subscription. Proton subscribers will have access not just to encrypted email, but also an encrypted calendar, file storage platform, and VPN.

Enormous asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) to fly by Earth on May 27 | Live Science

May 25, 2022May 24, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

An enormous asteroid four times the size of the Empire State Building will make a close approach to Earth on May 27, according to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

Fear not: the asteroid, named 7335 (1989 JA), will soundly miss our planet by about 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers) — or nearly 10 times the average distance between Earth and the moon. Still, given the space rock’s enormous size (1.1. miles, or 1.8 km, in diameter) and relatively close proximity to Earth, NASA has classified the asteroid as “potentially hazardous,” meaning it could do enormous damage to our planet if its orbit ever changes and the rock impacts Earth.

Netflix cuts 150 US-based jobs after losing subscribers | BBC News

May 20, 2022May 19, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Netflix has made about 150 staff redundant, a month after the streaming service said it was losing subscribers for the first time in a decade. The redundancies, announced by the entertainment giant on Tuesday, will mainly affect its US office in California. They account for about 2% of its North American workforce. Netflix said the job losses were due to the slump in the company’s revenue. The streaming service is battling an exodus of viewers this year.

Sony confirms its new PlayStation Plus tiers will launch on June 13, reveals list of games | TechCrunch

May 19, 2022May 16, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Sony announced today that its revamped PlayStation Plus gaming subscription tiers will launch in the United States on June 13th. The new PlayStation Plus tiers offer similar benefits to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, which gives users access to a library of rotating games for a monthly fee. Sony has also released a list of games that will be available during the launch time frame. It’s worth noting that Sony’s new subscription tiers won’t include new first-party games, such as “Horizon Zero Dawn and “Horizon Forbidden West,” at least not at launch.

The lowest tier of the subscription service is called “PlayStation Plus Essential” and comes with the same benefits that PlayStation Plus members have today and costs $9.99 per month. The middle tier, which is called “PlayStation Plus Extra,” comes with all the same perks as the Essential tier but includes a selection of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games. Sony notes that games in the Extra tier can be downloaded for online play. The Extra tier costs $14.99 per month.