FDA clears Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use | Live Science

March 1, 2021February 28, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on Saturday (Feb. 27), making it the third shot cleared for use in the country.

“The authorization of this vaccine expands the availability of vaccines, the best medical prevention method for COVID-19, to help us in the fight against this pandemic, which has claimed over half a million lives in the United States,” Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement.

An FDA analysis showed that the single-shot vaccine had a 72% overall efficacy rate in the U.S. and 64% in South Africa, where a highly-transmissible coronavirus variant is causing most new cases, The New York Times reported. The efficacy rate in South Africa is slightly higher than the company had estimated in a recent report, up by seven percentage points.

$1 Billion Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Against Texas Electric Company After ‘Catastrophic’ Bills | Forbes

February 25, 2021February 23, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Houston-based electric company Griddy has been hit with a class-action lawsuit seeking “monetary relief of over $1 billion” after a rash of customers reported astronomically high energy bills after last week’s winter storm, even as millions in the state went without power during the height of the deep freeze

Bitcoin plunges 16% in 24 hours: Two people may be the reason why | Fast Company

February 25, 2021February 23, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a rough 24 hours for bitcoin traders. The cryptocurrency has plunged 16% from its all-time high in just one day, falling from $58,000 on Sunday to just over $46,000 as of the time of this writing. So what happened? Two things. Or, rather, two people may be the reason why:

WhatsApp Accounts that Don’t Agree to Privacy Policy | Digital Trends

February 22, 2021February 21, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

WhatsApp recently announced it would be changing its privacy policy, in a move that has many users worried about how much of their data will be shared with WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook. Now, the service has revealed what will happen to the accounts of users who don’t agree to the new policy by the May 15 deadline.

TechCrunch contacted WhatsApp for more details on what would happen to users’ accounts if they didn’t agree to the new privacy policy. It reports that WhatsApp will “slowly ask” its users to agree to the new privacy changes, warning that they need to do so to continue having full access to the app’s features. Users who decline to accept the new policy will be able to continue using the app for a few weeks, but only in a limited way. “For a short time, these users will be able to receive calls and notifications, but will not be able to read or send messages from the app,” the company told TechCrunch.

Texas weather: Are frozen wind turbines to blame for power cuts? | BBC News

February 19, 2021February 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As freezing temperatures grip the southern United States, there have been major power failures across Texas as increased demand for heating has overwhelmed the energy grid.

Supplies of both electricity and gas have been intermittent, with the authorities saying they need to “safely manage the balance of supply and demand on the grid” to avoid another major power cut.

Republican representatives and media commentators have blamed green energy policies, in particular the increased use of wind turbines.

“So it was all working great until the day it got cold outside,” Fox News’s Tucker Carlson said.

Relief for New SBA Loans Shortened to 3 Months | Inc.com

February 19, 2021February 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Small Business Administration said that new SBA borrowers between now and the end of September will get three months of payment relief–up to $9,000 per month–instead of six months. The move is due to budgetary constraints, according to the SBA announcement. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act allocated $3.5 billion for these payments, which the SBA believes will not cover six months of payments.

Paying $115B for Stripe or $77B for Coinbase might be quite rational | TechCrunch

February 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

CoinDesk reported yesterday that crypto trading startup Coinbase is being valued at $77 billion on private exchanges. And Forbes reported that Stripe is being valued at $115 billion on secondary markets, where private shares can be bought and sold, albeit in a limited fashion.

I instantly wanted to write a piece headlined “Beware those super hot secondary market valuations,“ but after a little digging, I cannot. It turns out that the public markets are so hot, there is historical precedent for seemingly aggressive secondary market transactions being conservative compared to later IPO valuations. And there is further precedent for private market transactions that are more conservative in price terms than venture-determined valuations also working out.

COVID-19 vaccines: What does 95% efficacy actually mean? | Live Science

February 15, 2021February 14, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You have likely heard that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine efficacy is 95%, Moderna’s is 94% and Johnson & Johnson’s is 66%. But what do these numbers actually mean?

It’s not just an academic question. How people understand these numbers affects how they think about the vaccine, whether they get it and how they behave after getting it, all of which have implications for the pandemic on a larger scale.

So how should people interpret these numbers?

Rolls Royce plans summer shutdown to help cut losses | BBC News

February 8, 2021February 7, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

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.

How Amazon’s New CEO Andy Jassy Could Impact Small Businesses | Inc.com

February 8, 2021February 7, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

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.