Category: News and Views

The iPhone’s Face ID Will Soon Work With a Mask—if You Have an Apple Watch | WIRED

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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.

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3 Covid-Safe Systems All Workplaces Need | Getentrepreneurial.com

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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.

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Former prison site to transform into green mixed-use district | Inhabitat

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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.

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Google Play Store will soon let Android users download gambling apps | Mashable

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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.

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The Atlantic Ocean is widening. Here’s why. | Live Science

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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.

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Harriet Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill | Fast Company

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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.

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GameStop’s Massive Surge Creates A New Billionaire As Wall Street Bets Against Reddit Traders | Forbes

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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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Minimum Wages Increase in 25 States in 2021 | Small Business Trends

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According to a study by Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory 25 states will raise their minimum wage in 2021, with 21 of those states enacting the increases on New Year’s day.

By the beginning of the New Year, New York and Oregon, which both have regional minimum wage rates, will see the highest wages reaching $15.00 in New York City and $14.00 in the Portland Metro Area effective July 1, 2021.

At the end of the spectrum, the lowest minimum wage rates of $5.15 are in Georgia and Wyoming. However, most employers and employees are subject to the higher federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour.

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How LA has become the model for keeping art alive during the pandemic | The Startup Magazine

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In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve had to adjust to a huge range of changes to our day-to-day lives, which has had an impact far beyond necessities like buying groceries or socialising. The culture industry has taken a particularly significant hit, with major theater chains and concert venues shuttering permanently in the virus’s wake as they struggle to afford both rent and wages for staff.

The same has been true for the art world, with one recent survey showing that around three quarters of galleries “face severe financial hardship or even closure within the next year”, though only 35% of those have the finances to stay open until this time next year. Even when they have been open, footfall has been down, and those with the means have resorted to taking their collections online to offer the gallery experience to art lovers across the globe.

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