Covid-19

COVID-19 and spending on Business Intelligence

Analytics and Business Intelligence projects have shown initial indications of defying the economic downturn that COVID-19 continues to create. Analytics and BI are being utilized by companies to plan and execute strategies that are paramount to their survival. Advisory services firm Dresner, published an interterm finding report from their 2020 COVID-19 impact survey report this […]

Virus drives new demand for Talkspace's online therapy

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic is driving up stress levels for many Americans — and new business for online therapy companies. More than 4 in 10 U.S. adults say worries tied to the outbreak are impacting their mental health, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family […]

5G victimized by conspiracy theorists

Since the spread of Covid-19, rumors have been spreading rampantly about 5G and its link to coronavirus. Such allegations claim that 5G technology has adverse effects on the immune system. The source of these claims, that are not based on conclusive scientific evidence, is related to the frequency power of 5G. To back up these […]

The rise of conversational AI

Facebook has released a new chatbot named Blender, which the company claims is designed to handle conversation on any topic and also to show empathy when interacting with humans. The name ‘Blender’ has been aptly used to define its capabilities of merging several conversational skills at once. The chatbot is developed from what Facebook calls […]

Uber loses $2.9 billion, offloads bike and scooter business

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Uber lost $2.9 billion in the first quarter as its overseas investments were hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, but the company is looking to its growing food delivery business and aggressive cost-cutting to ease the pain. The ride-hailing giant said Thursday it is offloading Jump, its […]

Virus tracing app raises privacy concerns in India

By SHEIKH SAALIQ Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — As India enters an extended coronavirus lockdown, the government is actively pursuing contact tracing to help control infections. At the heart of the effort in the country of 1.3 billion people is a smartphone app that evaluates users’ infection risk based on location services such as […]

Is the pandemic driving remote work culture and digital change?

The Lockdown has forced a lot of organisations to contemplate on the degree of human and business transformation we might see after many people have spent weeks working in isolation. Will they come out of this blinking in the summer sunlight or, more likely, will they see a future work-at-home component as more increasingly inevitable […]

Uber lays off 3,700 as virus upends sharing economy

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — In a world where the coronavirus pandemic has turned social distancing into a new way of life, companies whose business models bank on people’s willingness to share their personal space are now struggling. Uber said Wednesday it’s cutting 3,700 full-time workers, or about 14% of […]

Airbnb laying off 1,900 employees due to travel decline

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer Airbnb says it is laying off 25% of its workforce as it confronts a steep decline in global travel due to the new coronavirus pandemic. It’s a serious setback for the 12-year-old home-sharing company, which just a few months ago was valued at $31 billion and planning a hotly […]

Here come COVID-19 tracing apps - and privacy trade-offs

By MATT O’BRIEN and CHRISTINA LARSON Associated Press As governments around the world consider how to monitor new coronavirus outbreaks while reopening their societies, many are starting to bet on smartphone apps to help stanch the pandemic. But their decisions on which technologies to use — and how far those allow authorities to peer into […]