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Here’s what you need to know
Tech CEOs testify at a US antitrust hearing. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple’s Tim Cook (combined worth, $265.8 billion) will appear before Congress to defend their business practices, in an echo of Bill Gates’s own 1998 hearing. A growing number of scholars are calling for antitrust laws to be updated.
Japan could curb TikTok. If the ruling party’s push to restrict apps with Chinese roots succeeds, it would keep itself in the good graces of the US, a key national security ally. In India, where the app is already banned, users have been flocking to Eminem-backed Triller, while Facebook is showering TikTok stars with cash to move their fans to its own TikTok clone.
Giving virtual a go. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is electing a new president during the institution’s first all-virtual annual meeting, kicked off by a call for multilateralism by Chinese president Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, the Consumer Electronics Show announced that its next iteration, scheduled for January 2021, will now be digital only.
The EU won’t send some surveillance equipment to Hong Kong. In protest of China’s new national security law, the European Union adopted a proposal to restrict “dual use” technology exports, which it fears would be used to surveil Hong Kongers. At the same time, bilateral meetings were held to move EU-China investment agreements forward, and China’s foreign minister promised a “resolute response” towards the US.
McDonald’s is not lovin’ it. The fast food icon had an even poorer showing than expected, with same-store sales falling by 24% due to pandemic-related closings and margins narrowing as protective gear costs add up. Starbucks had similar woes, with same-store sales down by 40%. On Wednesday, Shopify, Spotify, Boeing, General Electric, and General Motors report quarterly earnings.
The new American economy
Covid-19 is a global challenge, but the sluggish-yet-expensive US response to the pandemic is posing tough questions without easy answers:
🎓 What’s a learning pod? With school plans unclear, affluent US parents are pursuing other options.
💰 Why won’t the rich spend? Spending is back to normal for poor Americans—but not the affluent.
💉 Who gets the vaccine first? The US has already pre-ordered up to 1 billion potential vaccine doses.
💼 When will the office return? Who knows. But in the meantime, emoji use between coworkers is skyrocketing.
Charting Emmy nomination domination
After several years of stalemates, Netflix has opened up a dominant lead over rival HBO in Emmy nominations. The streaming service earned 160 total nominations to HBO’s 107 this year. Over the previous three years, the two companies were never separated by more than 19 nominations. But now that Game of Thrones is over, Netflix has built a lead that looks as though it will stick for a while.
✦ For members: Extreme strategies to save nursing homes
Pub nights and farm-to-table cuisine used to be the selling points at senior homes. Now the focus has shifted to health and safety. Here are some of the changes helping protect residents during the pandemic:
- Stockpiles of PPE
- Upgrades to ventilation systems
- Antimicrobial surface materials
- Negative pressure rooms
- Robotic technology to clean high-traffic areas
- Plexiglass “clean rooms”
- Outdoor space geared for socializing
- Facilities for live-in staff
- Green-screen studios for programming and family calls
✦ Here’s an idea: call an elderly person you love to check on them, then keep tabs on how elder care is changing by becoming a Quartz member, now at 40% off.
You Asked about tourism
Will tourism be as robust as before?— A reader with a (cabin) fever
Never say never, but it’s looking to be a ways off. On Tuesday the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization said that the global tourism sector lost $320 billion in revenue between January and May of this year. Also on Tuesday, global airline trade group the International Air Transportation Association pushed back its guess for when air traffic would return to pre-crisis levels by one year to 2024.
So far, however, it does appear that there will continue to be an airline industry to rely upon for travel and tourism needs. A majority of the US House of Representatives just backed a plan to extend a $32 billion relief program to US airlines. And if that doesn’t put you at ease, international carrier Emirates now says it will pay for your funeral should you catch the coronavirus while traveling. If that doesn’t make you want to get on a plane…
Surprising discoveries
An American drug store chain has been using facial recognition software. Reuters found that Rite-Aid flagged suspected offenders to security guards.
New York’s dogs are coming for New York’s rats. Owners of dogs with a knack for nabbing rodents are starting to team up.
From photography to pharmacology. Kodak won a huge US loan to start using its chemical know-how to produce a controversial drug.
A postcard picture may have solved a Van Gogh mystery. The location depicted in the artist’s final work, “Tree Roots,” is now thought to be in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise.
Alzheimer’s diagnosis via the blood. A cheaper, more convenient test can provide results with the same level of accuracy.
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