Amazon adds 1,800 electric delivery vans, this time from Mercedes | Mashable

August 31, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s not 100,000 electric delivery vans from new car company Rivian, but Amazon is adding nearly 2,000 new Mercedes vans to its fleet. Instead of diesel or gas-powered vans, however, every vehicle making Amazon deliveries from the German carmaker will be fully electric.

Amazon recently announced a partnership with Mercedes-Benz to incorporate 1,800 new delivery vans into its delivery service across Europe by the end of 2020. Those vans include 1,200 eSprinter vans and 600 eVito vans.

The electric Sprinter van is the newest commercial electric vehicle from Mercedes and is a bigger version of its eVito van, which has 93-mile range. Rivian’s e-vans are supposed to start delivering for Amazon in 2021. Its first two vehicles, an electric pickup truck and SUV with 400-mile range, still haven’t arrived yet.

What are locusts and why do they swarm? | Live Science

August 28, 2020August 26, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Locusts are large grasshoppers that live on almost every continent of the world and are known for their propensity to gather in large, destructive swarms. However, locusts often live for several generations, spanning decades, in the solitary, sedentary style that’s characteristic of other species of grasshoppers. It’s when locusts come together that their behavior changes.

Locusts are able to sense when their population density begins to increase, said Hojun Song, an entomologist at Texas A&M University. And in response, “they become gregarious, attracted to each other. They eat more [and] develop faster,” he said.

Washington Postal Workers Defy USPS Orders And Reinstall Mail Sorting Machines

August 24, 2020August 23, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Postal workers in Washington State have reinstalled high-speed mail sorting machines—dismantled after controversial orders from the U.S. Postal Service— despite USPS orders not to put machines back in use. U.S. Postal Service

After embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced he would pause recent controversial changes to U.S. Postal Service protocol, the service told workers not to reinstall removed equipment.

Federal Student Loan Payments Officially Suspended Until 2021: 0% Interest, No Collections, And Nonpayments Count Toward Forgiveness | Forbes

August 24, 2020August 23, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today implemented President Trump’s memorandum extending relief on federally held student loans to borrowers through the end of the year. Her actions also addresses collections on defaulted loans and whether non-payments during this time will qualify for forgiveness under an income-driven repayment plan or the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Here’s what we know.

Presidential Memorandum on Student Loan Relief

The CARES Act passed earlier this year suspends payments on federally held student loans until September 30, 2020. During this time, collections on defaulted loans were halted, and the non-payments counted toward the 120 payments required by the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and as payments required for other forgiveness under an income-drive repayment plan.

Amazon Fire TV Launches Text Banner for Visually Impaired | Digital Trends

August 18, 2020August 17, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon rolled out Text Banner, a feature designed to help visually impaired viewers enjoy the content on the Fire TV platform.

Text Banner is an assistive technology for people with a narrow field of vision, including eye conditions such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinitis pigmentosa, Amazon told Digital Trends. The feature consolidates the onscreen text in a fixed location, within a compact space.

Shopify: The Canadian tech champion taking on Amazon | BBC News

August 14, 2020August 13, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When the pandemic forced Pizza Pilgrims to close its 13 stores in London and Oxford in March, the business went from making 30,000 pizzas every week to zero. Of the 276 staff, 270 had to be furloughed.

While they opened one store in April to manage delivery, founder Thom Elliot still needed to find another way to make up for the lost revenue. “I tried to think of something that would serve our customers, who kept calling us, and also keep us relevant during these times,” he says in an interview.

Mr Elliot and his team decided to create pizza kits featuring all the raw ingredients you need to make your own pizza at home, but to do that he needed to upgrade his website. That’s where Shopify came in.

Meet the Inc. 5000 2020: Even In Tough Times, These Companies Are Set on Reinvention | Inc.com

August 13, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Building a fast-growth business is like charging up Heartbreak Hill. At some point on the incline, founders make the Inc. 5000, our annual ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, and pause to cry, “Yes!” Then they’re off and running again.

Only this year, the road ahead looks very different. Picture K2, only with more avalanches and less oxygen.

From 2016 to 2019, the Inc. 5000 achieved a median revenue of $10.2 million and a median compound growth rate of 165.3 percent. These founders were buoyed by smarts and gumption, sure, but also by a lift-all-boats economy. That era is worlds away from the economic decline that hit the U.S. alongside the pandemic in March.

Inside OneTrust, America’s No. 1 Fastest-Growing Company: ‘A Growth Industry Like I’ve Never Seen’ | Inc.com

August 13, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

“There’s a lot that goes on behind the cookie banner,” says Kabir Barday, the founder and CEO of OneTrust. He’s talking about that now-ubiquitous pop-up on websites that lets you know the site is collecting data on your visits and activity in order to personalize your experience–or sell your information to third parties. The cookie banner is perhaps the most visibly identifiable sign of his company’s software, but the real work is the invisible machinery churning away behind that banner.

Tesla announces 5 for 1 share split, rallies 8% | TechCrunch

August 12, 2020August 11, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Today after the close of regular trading Tesla, a well-known American electric vehicle company, announced that it intends to split its shares 5 for 1. The split announcement comes after a sharp rally in the value of Tesla equity in recent quarters.

The company’s shares quickly rallied on the news, picking up 8% in after-hours trading.

Tesla, ever a controversial company, traded for as little as $211 in the last year. After today’s news the company is now worth $1,485 per share. Worth comfortably more than $250 billion, Tesla is amongst the world’s most valuable companies, let alone among the most valuable automakers.