Nearly every aviation nabob out there will tell you that the next time we see supersonic air travel, it will more likely be aboard a business jet than aboard a commercial airliner. Aerion Corporation, a leader in supersonic jet development, caused a stir in the private jet world with a bold announcement back in 2004 seeking to create a joint venture to design and build a new supersonic business jet. After a great deal of interest, the original aircraft was revisited and upgraded to the current Aerion AS2 proposed project in 2014: An 8-10 passenger, natural laminar-flow winged aircraft that will be designed to blaze a trail in the skies at 1.4 Mach (um, that’s over 1,000 mph) over a minimum planned range of 4,750 NM (about 5,466 statute miles, besting the range of a subsonic Gulfstream G500).
Top 7 Ways to Improve the Live Chat Experience for Your Customers | AllBusiness.com
Consumers today prefer live chat over more traditional channels to handle customer service issues, according to J.D. Power. It’s become a quick and efficient way of resolving problems—or at least, it should be. If your live chat isn’t being handled right, it can lead to frustrated customers who will leave your website and never return. To keep customers happy, here are seven ways to improve your customers’ live chat experience:
79% of Consumers Say They’re Comfortable Shopping In Stores | Small Business Trends
Some 79% of consumers say they’re comfortable shopping in stores this holiday season according to a survey by Square and Wakefield Research. A further 40% of consumers say they will at least do half of their shopping in-store.
The findings of the survey dispel fears by retailers that this holiday season will see a drop in in-store purchases. This as 56% of retailers are expecting many consumers to not shop in-store at all. More importantly, 52% of those surveyed are more likely to support small and local businesses this holiday season than the past year.
How to Engage Customers in a Remote Society | business.com
Local business is continuously getting more competitive, which means getting noticed can be more difficult, especially in a society where most consumers aren’t interacting with businesses in person.
If you are looking to grow your local business and get more customers, you will need to consider expanding your company’s reach. There are multiple ways to make this happen, including learning how to market your company better. Expanding a business is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, know-how and a good product or service, but there are time tested techniques that still work even in the current climate.
Your Next Therapy Dog Could Be a Biomimetic Robot | Digital Trends
Having an animal as a companion can be helpful for dealing with a whole range of psychological and physical health issues, especially among children. But not everyone is able to keep a pet. Now, a new study shows that spending time with a robotic dog as a companion can bring many of the same benefits as spending time with a real dog.
The research, performed at the University of Portsmouth, is published in the International Journal of Social Robotics. It found that when a group of 11- and 12-year-old children spent two sessions with the biomimetic MiRo-E robot dog, they experienced many of the same positive emotions as when they spent time with a real therapy dog.
Attention please! 5 interesting ways you can attract attention to your company | The Startup Magazine
You’ve got the products, the drive, and ambition. But something is missing…customers! You won’t get very far without them, and no matter what industry you might be in it’s safe to say you’re probably all fighting for every like, share, comment, and sale! Positive publicity is important to get that engagement. Gathering interest and momentum around your business isn’t straightforward, and it takes a lot of planning, forward-thinking, and creativity but when you find the right formula, the results speak for themselves. Read on for 5 interesting ways you can attract attention to your great business.
Covid: Who will have the Pfizer vaccine first and when can I get it? | BBC News
The vaccine trains the immune system to fight coronavirus.
It is a new type of jab called an RNA vaccine and uses a tiny fragment of the virus’s genetic code. This starts making part of the virus inside the body, which the immune system recognises as foreign and starts to attack.
The genetic material is encased in a tiny protective bubble of fat to get it into cells.
The exact ingredients of the vaccine have not been made public, but other vaccines can contain other ingredients, like aluminium, to make them stable or more effective.
The vaccine is given in two doses – three weeks apart – and offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.
Stimulus Talks Brighten With a New White House-Approved $916 Billion Aid Package | Inc.com
The chances for a badly needed stimulus bill getting passed as early as next week have improved for the first time since the election.
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin unveiled a $916 billion stimulus plan that would reauthorize the Paycheck Protection Program, the crisis-era small-business refundable-loan program, and issue $600 stimulus payments to individuals. It also offers increased liability protections for businesses and funding for state and local governments–yet it fails to offer any support for supplemental unemployment benefits.
Mnuchin announced the plan, which was approved by both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a telephone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She quickly decried the plan for its absence of unemployment funding but cheered the offer as a cause for optimism.
Facebook hit with massive antitrust lawsuit from 46 states | TechCrunch
A huge collection of states filed an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday accusing Facebook of suppressing its competition through monopolistic business practices. Forty-eight attorneys general across 46 states, the territory of Guam and the District of Columbia are behind the lawsuit, with only South Dakota, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia declining to join.
The lawsuit, which looks at Facebook’s actions throughout the company’s history, alleges that the company bought competitors “illegally” and in a “predatory manner” in order to grow and preserve its market power. The suit cites Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp as prominent examples.
Uber Gives Up on the Self-Driving Dream | WIRED
IN 2015, THEN Uber CEO Travis Kalanick pulled off a bold talent raid when he poached some 40 roboticists from the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon. The move reportedly left the world-class engineering university reeling, and it seemed to signal that the world’s hottest startup was on the cusp of making self-driving cars a reality.
Now, that self-driving unit is no more, and the estimated timeline for robotaxi domination has extended well into this decade. Uber said Monday it would sell off the self-driving unit that was the result of that raid, the Pittsburgh-based Advanced Technologies Group. The 1,200-person unit will be acquired by the self-driving-tech developer Aurora. Uber will invest $400 million in Aurora as part of the deal, bringing Aurora’s valuation to $10 billion and tripling its workforce. Uber’s current CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, will also take a seat on Aurora’s board.
Dispatches From The Front 