Rolls Royce is considering a plan to close its jet engine plants for civil aircraft for two weeks in a bid to stem losses. The engineering giant has suffered a drop in sales with fewer jets in the air requiring servicing. The plans are tentative as the company aims to thrash out an agreement with unions. The plan, first disclosed by the Sunday Telegraph, will not affect its defence or energy divisions. “As part of the agreement reached with the union last summer we agreed in principle to enter into negotiations about delivering a 10% productivity and efficiency improvement across our Civil Aerospace operations in the UK,” Rolls Royce said in a statement.
Category: News and Views
How Amazon’s New CEO Andy Jassy Could Impact Small Businesses | Inc.com
Andy Jassy will be leading Amazon through a pivotal period when he takes the e-commerce giant’s helm from founder and CEO Jeff Bezos this summer. On the one hand, the pandemic has further expanded Amazon’s impact on consumers, businesses, and governments. It’s little wonder that the company ended the fourth quarter of 2020 with more than $125 billion in sales, its biggest quarter ever.
At the same time, Amazon is facing unprecedented scrutiny, including in regard to how its actions affect small businesses and third-party sellers on its platform. The company is facing multiple antitrust lawsuits and may face more regulatory action this year in the U.S. and the E.U. How Jassy handles it will have important consequences for small businesses trying to compete with Amazon. And regardless of the outcome, his selection as CEO will also influence the fortunes of private companies hoping to get acquired by Amazon, as well as those that rely on it for their sales.
The iPhone’s Face ID Will Soon Work With a Mask—if You Have an Apple Watch | WIRED
APPLE IS FACING our face-masked future. This week, the company started testing some new software for the iPhone that will let device owners unlock the handset while wearing a face covering. There’s a catch, though, one that lines up with Apple’s strategy of locking people in to different Apple products, and it highlights how challenging it can be to develop accurate facial recognition technology: The new face-unlock feature requires an Apple Watch.
The first developer beta of iOS 14.5 includes updates to app tracking controls and Siri alongside the face-mask function. App-makers typically get early access to the newest version of iOS in order to launch or retool their apps well in advance of the formal software release. (Brave souls who don’t mind the risk of potentially bricking their iPhones can also enroll in public beta releases.) The fully baked version of the software is expected to be made available to the general public this spring.
3 Covid-Safe Systems All Workplaces Need | Getentrepreneurial.com
Companies are learning to create enhanced systems to keep everyone safe from Covid. Some of these systems including using products that can be introduced into the work environment and others are more procedural adjustments. Used in combination, they can create a work environment that’s secure to enter and work inside.
Here are some Covid-Safe Systems worth employing in the workplace.
Former prison site to transform into green mixed-use district | Inhabitat
In the Copenhagen suburb of Albertslund, the former Vridsløselille prison site will take on new life as an attractive mixed-use district with a strong emphasis on nature. The development plan for the 160,000-square-meter district will combine the design proposal by Danish architectural firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and landscape architects BOGL with the scheme put forth by COBE Architects. The masterplan will center on the adaptive reuse of the historic star-shaped structure that once housed the state prison.
Google Play Store will soon let Android users download gambling apps | Mashable
Non-iPhone gamblers rejoice: The Google Play Store will soon allow gambling apps.
There are, of course, a few catches. The apps will only be allowed in countries and states where the specific type of gambling in the app is permitted by law.
But the fact remains, starting March 1 Android users in the U.S. and 14 other countries — Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Spain, and Sweden — will join Brazil, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom as places where Google-sanctioned in-app gambling is allowed.
“We allow real-money gambling apps, ads related to real-money gambling and daily fantasy sports apps that meet certain requirements,” Google’s support page now reads.
Toys ‘R’ Us has closed all its stores — again | CNN
Toys “R” Us is closing its only two stores roughly a year after a highly anticipated relaunch of the storied brand.
Tru Kids Inc., which bought the retailer in a 2018 liquidation sale, confirmed that its two locations in New Jersey and Texas that opened in late 2019 have permanently closed because of the pandemic.
The Atlantic Ocean is widening. Here’s why. | Live Science
The Atlantic Ocean is getting wider, shoving the Americas to one side and Europe and Africa to the other. But it’s not known exactly how.
A new study suggests that deep beneath the Earth’s crust, in a layer called the mantle, sizzling-hot rocks are rising up and pushing on tectonic plates — those rocky jigsaw pieces that form Earth’s crust — that meet beneath the Atlantic.
Previously, scientists thought that the continents were mostly being pulled apart as the plates beneath the ocean moved in opposite directions and crashed into other plates, folding under the force of gravity. But the new study suggests that’s not the whole picture.
Harriet Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill | Fast Company
Nearly five years after an initiative to put abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the face of the $20 bill was introduced, White House press secretary Jen Psaki informed reporters in a briefing Monday that the Biden administration is “exploring ways to speed up the process” that was stopped during President Trump’s tenure.
Replacing Andrew Jackson on the bill caused an explosion of tweets when it was announced in April 2016. The proposed redesign was made public in 2019 and was supposed to have been put into circulation last year on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. However, Trump’s Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, halted the process because he believed that adding security features on the money was more important than changing the face on the bill, adding that the redesign wouldn’t be in circulation until 2028.
GameStop’s Massive Surge Creates A New Billionaire As Wall Street Bets Against Reddit Traders | Forbes
Fueled by a massive short squeeze pinning Reddit traders against a storied Wall Street short-seller, a mindblowing rally in GameStop shares has minted a new billionaire in Ryan Cohen, an activist investor eager to forge a turnaround for the brick-and-mortar gameseller.
According to filings, Cohen—the founder and former CEO of Chewy, the booming e-commerce firm focused on pet supplies–spent about $76 million buying up more than 9 million GameStop shares at the tail-end of last year as he mounted an effort to restructure the Grapevine, Texas-based firm.
“Unfortunately, it is evident that GameStop currently lacks the mindset, resources and plan needed to become a dominant sector player,” Cohen said in a public letter to GameStop’s board of directors in November, blasting the stock’s dismal performance at the time—it was down 85% over the prior five years. “GameStop needs to evolve into a technology company that delights gamers and delivers exceptional digital experiences–not remain a video game retailer that overprioritizes its brick-and-mortar footprint and stumbles around the online ecosystem.”
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