Category: MARKET REPORTS

A test that combines the ability to detect both coronavirus (commonly called SARS) and influenza, as well as one that finds new pathogens faster, has been developed by a team at the University of Pittsburgh. They have successfully tested this combination on a mouse model and expect to soon test on people as well. The animal trial suggests that the new test can detect a number of different coronaviruses, including two that cause severe respiratory disease in humans, known as viruses A/SARS1 and A/SARS2. Given that both viruses have the…

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There is a new opportunity for technology companies to help stop the spread of Coronavirus, following an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In a statement on Monday, the CDC confirmed that an outbreak of respiratory illness in Saudi Arabia has infected more than 55 people and killed dozens since March. This is a major health concern given that C. difficile is also a virulent and bacterially-transmitted disease in the Middle East. CDC news states that the new risk to humans may be caused by the…

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Opponents of Apple’s App Store policies have formed a new coalition to push back against the tech giant’s latest moves. Members of Digital Democracy are open about their concerns over Apple’s recent changes to the App Store. The issue boils down to the cap on the 30 percent tax that the company takes from app developers. The old “cut” was 20 percent. That would translate to a percentage on every $1 million that developers charged for an app. Apple now says they’ll take only 15 percent of everything. Contrast that…

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NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine addressed the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday, and when he launched into a session on space policy, he did not disappoint. During his introductory remarks, he hit every point on the space exploration agenda: geology, aerospace, asteroid mining and so on. It’s no wonder that President Trump ended up picking him for the position. But let’s take it step by step. Of the five goals established for NASA by President Trump, three have already been achieved. First, to return people to the moon and to establish…

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At eBay, in Washington, D.C., in 2007, the workers who scraped out a living by selling used clothes and other merchandise on the Web found themselves on the verge of a major downsizing. The business was terrible, with “less than a quarter of employees earning enough to make ends meet.” Even worse, trade in secondhand goods was skyrocketing and eBay would have to reckon with the fact that, one day, somebody might decide to control over the price of merchandise bought in France and sent to Paris, for instance. So…

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Facebook is pulling posts from the “Wildfire Watch” group as authorities continue to probe the role social media may have played in the recent wildfires in Oregon and Montana. The findings began early this week, according to a report from Yahoo News. The Facebook posts indicate these were not the primary culprits of the fires. The fire started on May 15, then jumped the Columbia River and quickly spread to the Columbia Basin, forcing evacuations. During the fire’s first day, some 100,000 Facebook users posted about the situation in Oregon…

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Six people, including Amazon employees and a lawyer and community organizer, were arrested Wednesday on charges of conspiring to bribe Amazon workers in New York City to promote third-party vendors on Amazon.com. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said the scheme stretched back as far as 2003 and further still, when prosecutors believe the head of a major third-party seller group in New York admitted to bribing an Amazon employee for the opportunity to promote “limited or zero inventory” third-party sellers on Amazon.com. The defendants were arrested in Brooklyn and New…

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Facebook claims to have helped two and a half million people register to vote so far this year. Its latest election safety report showed that the social media platform was engaged with more than 50 million people in the weeks leading up to the May 8 Kansas US Senate primary. In addition, at least 18 million people have engaged with Facebook’s community misinformation section, the company said. “The biggest challenges in our work are ensuring free expression of political views and promoting fair elections,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook…

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is preparing to hold a meeting regarding its decision to seek data from Alphabet’s Google Inc. about antitrust compliance with federal wiretap regulations. The meeting, which will take place in Google’s home city of Mountain View, Calif., is expected to lead to the Department of Justice introducing a lawsuit against the search giant. “Assistant Attorney General Churkin has informed Google that he will decide shortly whether to prosecute Google for antitrust violations that involve computer-systems software – something DOJ…

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GameStop’s stock climbed today by more than 20% after W.L. Ross & Co. — an activist investor — was granted a seat on the board. Ross wants to give Amazon’s disruption of video game retailing a run for its money. A decision on the seat could come within two weeks. Ross, a longtime gaming investor whose flagship fund is called WL Ross & Co., typically buys stakes in weak, undervalued companies and aims to revamp them with cash and managerial savvy. He’s also been a large investor in Chinese electronics…

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