couchslug writes: Physical commuting has a horrific and enormously expensive carbon footprint. It's costly in lives (auto and other transportation accidents, pollution) and wasted time (billions of hours every year) better spent doing something else. What software and hardware features would your ideal telework systems incorporate to minimize physical interaction? How can we use technology to avoid costly, wasteful and sometimes dangerous meatspace gatherings? What don't you like about existing options? I'd like to add that telecommuting is becoming a popular option for businesses trying to protect their workers amid the coronavirus outbreak. Earlier this week, Cisco said it saw traffic for its Webex remote meeting software in Asian countries increase by 400 percent since the outbreak began, and free signup rates in impacted countries have increased 700 percent or more. Do you have a favorite remote work software? Let us know what you like/dislike about it below.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AT&T is planning tens of billions of dollars worth of cost cuts, AT&T President and COO John Stankey told investors yesterday. Stankey also discussed the future of DirecTV satellite service, saying it won't be the primary TV option AT&T pitches to most customers going forward. For the company-wide cuts, AT&T management "has looked at effectively 10 broad initiatives that we believe can generate double digits of billions over a 3-year planning cycle," Stankey said at a Morgan Stanley conference, according to a transcript posted by AT&T. One of the first of those 10 initiatives will include job cuts, which Stankey called "headcount rationalization." Stankey noted that AT&T has already been cutting jobs but said the company plans "additional work" in that area. Longer-term cost cutting would start paying off after about two years, Stankey said. That will include "IT rationalization and architecture rationalization, turning down applications, movement to the cloud, getting cost efficiencies in our very, very broad infrastructure, some of that facilitated by portfolio rationalization." AT&T is also looking at ways to reduce electricity costs and a "billing and credit collections rationalization," Stankey said. [...] As AT&T shifts toward online-only services like AT&T TV, it is de-emphasizing the satellite service despite spending $48.5 billion to buy DirecTV in 2015. Stankey said yesterday that the future of TV is in software, not satellites, and that DirecTV will primarily be relevant in places without fast broadband: AT&T purchased DirecTV because "we like the DirecTV customer base, thought it was attractive," Stankey said. But "shortly after that [acquisition], we made it clear that we would be developing a software platform that would ultimately not only take our satellite base and offer them a more updated product, but be the replacement for the U-verse [wireline TV service]," he said.

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An Amazon employee at the company's Seattle headquarters has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and has subsequently been sent to quarantine. CNET reports: The online retail giant has about 55,000 employees in the Seattle area, and reportedly said people working in close contact with the affected person have been notified. The employee went home sick on Feb. 25 and hasn't returned to work since, according to a message sent to Amazon employees seen by The Seattle Times. Amazon learned Tuesday that the employee had tested positive for the virus. So far, a total of nine deaths have been reported in Washington, with 27 confirmed cases in the state. There are more than 100 cases in 15 states as of Tuesday night.

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The PlayStation 2 is celebrating its 20th anniversary as it launched in Japan on March 4, 2000. "It was released in the U.S., Europe and the rest of the world a year later and would go on to become the best-selling console of all time," reports GiveMeSport. From the report: To put this into context, its main rivals at the time, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube, would sell 25 million and 22 million consoles worldwide respectively on their first release versus Sony PS2's 155 million! It certainly helped that the PS2 was able to release such memorable games like RockStar Games 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas', which sold 17.3 million copies. Other games included 'Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater', which was part of PlayStation's iconic series that was set in the 1960s during the Cold War. Not to mention there was zombie filled 'Resident Evil' franchise and the terrifying 'Silent Hill'. The success of the PS2 was widely due to Ken Kutaragi. His big idea in the latest round of console battles at the time was to add in a DVD player compatibility with the PS2. DVDs were the latest new format to view movies on at the time and an entry-level price for a DVD Player was $700. The other unique selling point was the backward compatibility; with some exceptions you could play your favorite PlayStation games on the new PS2. Kris Naudus from Engadget writes about how the PlayStation 2 was the first game console she ever bought -- "a big deal at a time when I was only making $135 a week," she. says. Her favorite feature? It could play DVDs.

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The release of upcoming James Bond film "No Time To Die" has been pushed back from April To November due to coronavirus fears. "The 25th installment in the storied spy franchise will commence its run on Nov. 12 in the U.K., followed by the U.S. on Nov. 25," reports The Hollywood Reporter. "It was scheduled to open in North America on April 10." From the report: Relocating a tentpole and restarting a marketing campaign that was in full swing is a Herculean task but insiders say hundreds of millions of dollars hung in the balance decision of the ongoing cinema blackout in China and a downturn in moviegoing in markets where COVID-19 is a major issue, including South Korea, Italy and Japan. And there's concern that by early April, other markets could be impacted. "MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of No Time to Die will be postponed until November 2020," read a statement issued by the three parties. In its new date, No Time to Die has the advantage of going out over the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday in North America (many previous Bond movies also opened in November). The other major 2020 Thanksgiving tentpole is Godzilla vs. Kong, which debuts domestically on Nov. 20. As the coronavirus first began to spread, publicity tours for the movie in China, South Korea and Japan were canceled, and No Time To Die's release in Hong Kong was pushed back until April 30. Aside for the concerns over audience members, the letter said the ongoing coronavirus outbreak could seriously impact the film's box office, noting that the countries to have banned or restricted large public gatherings -- including China, Italy, France, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea -- contributed some 38 percent of the total global earnings for the last Bond movie, 2015's Spectre.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: For the first time, scientists have used the gene-editing technique CRISPR to try to edit a gene while the DNA is still inside a person's body. The groundbreaking procedure involved injecting the microscopic gene-editing tool into the eye of a patient blinded by a rare genetic disorder, in hopes of enabling the volunteer to see. They hope to know within weeks whether the approach is working and, if so, to know within two or three months how much vision will be restored. Before this step, doctors had only used CRISPR to try to treat a small number of patients who have cancer, or the rare blood disorders sickle cell anemia or beta-thalassemia. In this new experiment, doctors at the Casey Eye Institute in Portland, Ore., injected (into the eye of a patient who is nearly blind from a condition called Leber congenital amaurosis) microscopic droplets carrying a harmless virus that had been engineered to deliver the instructions to manufacture the CRISPR gene-editing machinery. Beginning in infancy, the rare genetic condition progressively destroys light-sensing cells in the retina that are necessary for vision. Vision impairment with LCA varies widely, but most patients are legally blind and are only able to differentiate between light and dark or perhaps to detect movement. The goal is that once the virus carrying the CRISPR instructions has been infused into the eye, the gene-editing tool will slice out the genetic defect that caused the blindness. That would, the researchers hope, restore production of a crucial protein and prevent the death of cells in the retina, as well as revive other cells -- enabling patients to regain at least some vision.

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Los Angeles-area officials have discovered six new COVID-19 cases in the county over the last 48 hours, prompting them to declare a local emergency to help free up federal and state funding. From a report: Kathryn Barger, chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, told reporters Wednesday that she just signed a proclamation declaring a local emergency. "I want to reiterate that this is not a response rooted in panic," she said. County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis said the proclamation allows local officials "to further draw down resources from both the federal and state level of government." Health officials for the City of Pasadena and City of Long Beach said they, too, plan to declare a local emergencies later Wednesday. The new cases in Los Angeles County bring the state's total to 35, more than any other state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Washington state, where at least nine people have died, there are at least 27 cases. There haven't been any fatalities outside of Washington.

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Addressing MEPs in Brussels, the activist accused the EU of "pretending to be a climate leader".

Since it was founded in March 2006, there has been only one type of post possible on Twitter: a tweet. But starting today, the 280-character post is being joined by an ephemeral South American cousin: the fleet. That's what Twitter is calling these new, more fleeting tweets -- posts that appear in a separate timeline above the main timeline for 24 hours before disappearing. From a report: In other words, yes, Twitter is finally doing Snapchat Stories, and the implementation looks nearly identical to Instagram's version of the feature. "Twitter is for having conversations about what you care about," Mo Aladham, a Twitter group product manager, said in a blog post. "But, some of you tell us that you're uncomfortable to tweet because tweets are public, feel permanent, and have public counts (retweets and likes). We want to make it possible for you to have conversations in new ways with less pressure and more control, beyond tweets and direct messages. That's why starting today in Brazil, we're testing fleets, a new way to start conversations from your fleeting thoughts."

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BTW, when this euphoria is over, there's still the question if the Repubs will allow the election.

Jennifer Granholm endorses Joe Biden, with enthusiasm.

Scientists quantify the role played by warming in the country's recent bushfires.

An anonymous reader shares a report: After years of avoiding social media, drug companies are growing bolder about advertising on Facebook and other social networks, according to interviews with advertising executives, marketers, health-care privacy researchers and patient advocates. That is exposing loopholes around the way data can be used to show consumers relevant ads about their personal health, even as both social networks and pharmaceutical manufacturers disavow targeting ads to people based on their medical conditions. Ads promoting prescription drugs are popping up on Facebook for depression, HIV and cancer. Spending on Facebook mobile ads alone by pharmaceutical and health-care brands reached nearly a billion dollars in 2019, nearly tripling over two years, according to Pathmatics, an advertising analytics company. Facebook offers tools to help drug companies stay compliant with rules about disclosing safety information or reporting side effects. But seeing an ad for a drug designed to treat a person's particular health condition in the relatively intimate setting of a social media feed -- amid pictures of friends and links to news articles -- can feel more intrusive than elsewhere online. The same opaque Facebook systems that help place an ad for a political campaign or a new shoe in a user's feed also can be used by pharmaceutical companies, allowing them to target consumers who match certain characteristics or had visited a particular website in the past. The ability of drug companies to reach people likely to have specific health conditions -- a far cry from a magazine or TV ad -- underscores how the nation's health privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), has not kept up with the times. HIPAA, which safeguards personal health records, typically does not cover drug companies or social media networks.

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Podcast. Yesterday was the Woodstock of American elections. African-Americans extended a hand in love to America. Let's all be friends again. Why not say yes? Let's do it.

Chinese social media platforms, including Tencent's WeChat, censored keywords related to coronavirus as early as December [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], potentially limiting the Chinese public's ability to protect themselves from the virus. From a report: Beijing has strictly controlled access to information throughout the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide. Research by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, one of the first reports into information control during the outbreak, say the censorship started in the early stages of the crisis. Authorities blocked a wide range of speech -- including criticism of the central government -- in a bid to control the narrative and manage public sentiment. Public anger over the outbreak, the biggest crisis Xi Jinping has faced since becoming president, has largely been directed towards local rather than central government officials. But critics allege that Beijing's response severely hampered the effort to contain the outbreak. "The broad censorship of the coronavirus we found is significant because blocking general information during a health crisis can limit the public's ability to be informed and protect themselves," said Lotus Ruan, a researcher at Citizen Lab.

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