Amazon, Instacart Grocery Delivery Workers Strike For Coronavirus Protection And Pay Slashdotby msmash on business at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 11:34 pm)

Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, N.Y., and Instacart's grocery delivery workers nationwide plan to walk off their jobs on Monday. From the report: They are demanding stepped-up protection and pay as they continue to work while much of the country is asked to isolate as a safeguard against the coronavirus. The strikes come as both Amazon and Instacart have said they plan to hire tens of thousands of new workers. Online shopping and grocery home delivery are skyrocketing as much of the nation hunkers down and people stay at home, following orders and recommendations from the federal and local governments. This has put a spotlight on workers who shop, pack and deliver these high-demand supplies. Companies refer to the workers as "heroes," but workers say their employers aren't doing enough to keep them safe.

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2019 Saw Over 60 Gigawatts of Wind Power Installed Slashdotby msmash on power at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 11:04 pm)

The Global Wind Energy Council, an industry trade organization, released its review of the market in 2019. During the past year, wind power saw its second-largest amount of new installed capacity ever, with over 60GW going in. From a report: But the news going forward is a bit more uncertain, with the report predicting that after years of double-digit growth, the industry would see things tail off into steady-but-unspectacular territory. And that prediction was made before many key markets started dealing with the coronavirus. Wind power is now one of the cheapest options for generating electricity. In many areas of the globe, building and maintaining wind power is cheaper per unit of power than it is to fuel a previously constructed fossil fuel plant. While offshore wind remains more expensive, its prices have dropped dramatically over the last several years, and it is rapidly approaching price parity with fossil fuels.

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[no title] Scripting News(cached at March 30, 2020, 11:02 pm)

We were warned.
General Electric Workers Walk Off the Job, Demand To Make Ventilators Slashdotby msmash on business at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 10:04 pm)

On Monday, General Electric factory workers walked off the job and demanded that the company convert its jet engine factories to make ventilators. From a report: Workers protested at GE's Lynn, Massachusetts aviation facility held a silent protest, standing six feet apart. Union members at the company's Boston headquarters also marched six feet apart, calling on the company to use its factories to help the country close its ventilator shortage amid the coronavirus pandemic. These protests come just after General Electric announced it would be laying off 10 percent of its domestic aviation workforce, firing nearly 2,600 workers, along with a "temporary" layoff of 50 percent of its maintenance workers in a bid to save the company "$500 million to $1 billion." This news came as Congress stood ready to pass a multi-trillion dollar corporate bailout that would include at least $50 billion in federal assistance and $25 billion in loans and temporary tax relief for the aviation industry, as well as a further $17 billion for federal assistance to companies deemed "crucial to national security" (e.g. defense contractors like Boeing or General Electric).

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[no title] Scripting News(cached at March 30, 2020, 10:02 pm)

"Shifty, scheming person that will do whatever they need to to escape whatever they fear in the moment." Yup that sounds like our president.
[no title] Scripting News(cached at March 30, 2020, 10:02 pm)

From Don Park. Unboxing video showing contents of the relief kit sent to South Koreans in self-isolation after testing positive.
Nintendo is Making 3D Mario Remasters For His 35th Anniversary Slashdotby msmash on nintendo at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 9:34 pm)

The Super Mario series is turning 35 this year, and Nintendo has big plans for the plumber's birthday. From a report: That includes updating and bringing back most of his games for Nintendo Switch, according to a report from Video Games Chronicle. Eurogamer is backing up that report, and GamesBeat can as well. The core of the report is that Nintendo originally planned to focus on Mario's 35th anniversary at E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) in Los Angeles in June. But organizers canceled that event due to the spread of the coronavirus. Nintendo is going ahead with that promotion, and it will likely hold a Direct-style event to provide all of the details. That includes info on remasters, a Paper Mario game, the upcoming Mario film, and Universal Studios' Super Nintendo World theme park. For the remasters, our source is telling us that Nintendo is pursuing something like a Super Mario All-Stars 2 for the 3D Mario games. This would include Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and then Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

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Trump Says Keeping Covid-19 Deaths To 100,000 in the US Would Be a 'Very Good Job' Slashdotby msmash on usa at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 9:04 pm)

Donald Trump has extended America's national shutdown for a month, bowing to public health experts, and scientific reality, and warning that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is yet to come. From a report: Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, the US president claimed that, if his administration keeps the death toll to 100,000, it will have done "a very good job" -- a startling shift from his optimistic predictions of a few days ago when he said he hoped to restart the economy by Easter. Trump also undermined his plea for unity by uttering falsehoods, verbally abusing reporters and making incendiary allegations that implied health care workers were stealing masks, without providing evidence. The extended deadline marked a humiliating retreat for the president who, having squandered six precious weeks at the start of the pandemic, more recently complained that the cure is worse than the problem and floated Easter Sunday

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SoftBank is Letting Internet Satellite Company OneWeb File For Bankruptcy Slashdotby msmash on business at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 8:04 pm)

SoftBank has decided to let satellite internet provider OneWeb file for bankruptcy rather than pump billions of dollars into the start-up to save it. From a report: SoftBank, which has already invested $2 billion into OneWeb, was in talks to provide more capital to the satellite operator but ultimately backed down after making the decision it needs to save capital instead of spending more, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. OneWeb was in the early stages of launching its own global satellite internet constellation, which would have competed directly with the network SpaceX is building called Starlink. While SoftBank is its largest investor, OneWeb had raised about $3.4 billion in funding with investors including Qualcomm, Airbus, Virgin Group, Coca-Cola, Maxar Technologies, Hughes Communications and Intelsat. All 74 of the satellites OneWeb put in orbit so far are operating as expected. CEO Adrian Steckel told CNBC in a February interview that the company "is always raising" money.

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Hacker Hijacks Microsoft YouTube Accounts To Broadcast Crypto Ponzi Scam Slashdotby msmash on bitcoin at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 7:34 pm)

A hacker has hijacked all of Microsoft's official YouTube accounts and is broadcasting a cryptocurrency Ponzi scam to all of the company's subscribers, ZDNet reported Monday. From the report: The hijacked accounts are still streaming at the time of writing, despite being reported to YouTube's moderators for more than an hour. The hacker is currently live-streaming an old Bill Gates talk on startups that the former Microsoft CEO gave to an audience at Village Global in June 2019. Hackers are live-streaming an altered version of the presentation, but also asking for viewers to participate in a classic "crypto giveway" -- where victims are tricked to send a small sum of cryptocurrency to double their earnings but never get any funds in return.

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Microsoft Wants To Sell More Consumers a Software Subscription Slashdotby msmash on microsoft at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 7:04 pm)

Microsoft unveiled a consumer subscription service with added Office programs and tools to protect children and older adults, part of an effort to shift more customers to ongoing payment plans that provide a smooth revenue stream. From a report: Microsoft 365 Personal and Family will begin rolling out April 21 at $6.99 a month for an individual and $9.99 a month for the family edition, which includes six users. That's the same price as the previous Office 365 consumer products, which have more than 37 million subscribers, said Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft vice president. Features will continue to be made available over the few months, he said. The company is adding services such as Microsoft Editor, an artificial-intelligence powered program for Word, Outlook email and the web browser that gives suggestions about how to make writing more concise, inclusive and grammatical. There's also a presentation coach for the PowerPoint slideshow program that lets users practice in front of their laptops or phones -- the app will point out, for example, if presenters are turning away from their audience too often or resorting to the word "um." Excel will get a new service to track and analyze personal spending through a partnership with Plaid Technologies that lets customers import data from banking and checking accounts. Microsoft is trying to shift more corporate and consumer users to ongoing subscriptions delivered via the cloud and eliminate the need to persuade them to upgrade to new software every few years. Further reading: Microsoft Really Doesn't Want You To Buy Office 2019.

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'Virus-fighting' scientist gets magnets stuck in nose BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition(cached at March 30, 2020, 7:00 pm)

The astrophysicist was trying to create a necklace which would stop people touching their faces.
Internet Archive's 'National Emergency Library' Has Over a Million Books To Read Rig Slashdotby msmash on books at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 6:35 pm)

The Internet Archive will suspend its waiting lists for digital copies of books, as part of its National Emergency Library, the organization said. From a report: "Users will be able to borrow books from the National Emergency Library without joining a waitlist, ensuring that students will have access to assigned readings and library materials that the Internet Archive has digitized," according to a blog post. The move comes as schools around the country are shut down in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and as it's become more difficult to get goods of all kinds. The post noted that many people can't physically go to their local libraries these days. The waiting lists apply to more than 1.4 million books. The Internet Archive said it would keep the waiting list suspended until June 30, 2020, or "the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later."

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Microsoft's Chromium Edge is Getting Vertical Tabs, Smart Copy, and Password Monitor Slashdotby msmash on microsoft at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at March 30, 2020, 6:35 pm)

Microsoft today announced upcoming features for its Edge browser based on Google's Chromium open source project, the same browser Google's Chrome is based on. Consumer features like Vertical Tabs, Smart Copy, and Password Monitor are coming soon. Microsoft also shared a few updates for existing or already announced features like Collections, InPrivate mode, and Immersive Reader.

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My new mask Scripting News(cached at March 30, 2020, 6:32 pm)

Me, with my stylin new mask.