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Here’s what you need to know
TikTok won’t get the US’s axe. President Trump said he gave his “blessing” to a partnership between Oracle and Walmart to support the app’s US operations. It allows the app to avoid a US ban on it that was set to take effect Sunday. But privacy concerns aren’t entirely alleviated: Chinese tech company ByteDance will remain a majority owner.
WeChat might survive a ban by Trump as well. A federal judge temporarily blocked the president’s executive order that sought to cripple the app in the US on Sunday. The ban could present a threat to users’ free-speech rights, the judge wrote.
North Korea has been using US banks to launder money. That’s just one disturbing conclusion from a huge trove of leaked “suspicious activity reports,” written by most of the world’s biggest banks. The stories detail how banks knowingly handled cash from drug cartels, corrupt politicians, terrorists, and con artists.
Thousands of protesters in Thailand are challenging the monarchy. Marches over the weekend drew huge crowds, challenging the king’s authority and budget, issues that are usually considered off-limits. Protesters installed a “people’s plaque” near the palace, delivered a list of written demands, and may call for a general strike in October.
It’s a good time to be in the medical glove business. The world’s largest manufacturer of them, Malaysia-based Top Glove, announced profits were 400% higher than last year, because of the pandemic. The company expects to see demand continue to grow for at least the next two years.
What to watch for this week
Monday: The UN marks its 75th anniversary. Nepal resumes domestic flights. LVHM and Tiffany are back in court. Oracle’s OpenWorld+Code One conference begins. Earnings: FedEx, Canopy.
Tuesday: The UN General Assembly opens. Microsoft’s Ignite conference begins. The European Commission publishes new consumer confidence figures. Earnings: Tesla, StitchFix, Aurora Cannabis, Nike.
Wednesday: Apple’s online store opens in India. New Zealand’s central bank makes a rate decision. Japan’s PMI, Australia’s retail sales, and Malaysia’s CPI are released. Earnings: General Mills, ConAgra, Olive Garden’s owner Darden Restaurants, Pier 1 Imports.
Thursday: BTS’s concert movie, Break the Silence: The Movie, debuts in US theaters. New Zealand releases its trade balance in goods. Earnings: Accenture, Costco, CarMax, CVS, RiteAid.
Friday: France’s registered job seekers, Canada’s budget balance, and Brazil’s inflation data are released.
Charting unemployment’s effect on sleep
In a new paper, Danny Blanchflower, a Dartmouth economist, and Alex Bryson, a social scientist at University College London, document the impact of joblessness on sleep. Perhaps predictably, the unemployed sleep less than the overall population, likely a result of anxiety and worry. About 13% of the newly unemployed, for example, report getting four hours of sleep or less a night.
But the study authors discovered the unemployed also sleep more than normal, what social scientists call “long sleep,” which is associated with the use of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication, as well as illnesses such as lupus. Among the population unable to work—either because of health, family, or other reasons—9% report sleeping 10 or more hours per night, almost three times the rate of the general population.
Both under- and over-sleeping make it harder to find work, and can lead to a wide range of other health problems.
Read more about how sleep relates to joblessness.
Home offices, by the numbers
29%—Percentage of remote workers in the US who say they struggle with work-life balance
4—Number of extra hours Microsoft employees worked each week during the Covid-19 lockdown
$20.70—Cost of a three-minute call from New York to San Francisco in 1915. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $530 today.
$850—Average cost of a fax machine for the home in 1991. That’s $1,600 today.
23 hours, 39 minutes—Standing record for world’s longest Zoom meeting
$20,000—Average cost of building a standard 12×12 ft home office in the US
85.02 mbps—Average download speed in Taiwan, the country with the fastest internet currently
3%—Increase in value for a single family home in the US with access to broadband internet prior to the pandemic
100 inches—Diameter of Hugh Hefner’s bed, which doubled as a desk
$24,000—Auction price of an Algeco 1969 pre-fab home office pod
More than ever, it’s become clear that the established templates for office architecture—from open-plan layouts to cubicle farms—need a rethink. Our latest field guide explores how a home office, in essence, offers a testing ground for figuring out how, where, and when we do our best work.
Obsession interlude: Future of work
Automation, remote work, the gig economy, and AI are dramatically changing the nature of work. And as the pandemic forces so much of hiring online, it’s possible to encounter AI at every step of the process, including:
✍️ Writing job descriptions. AI firm Textio claims it can optimize every word of a job posting, using a machine learning model that correlates certain turns of phrase with better hiring outcomes.
🗣️ Herding applicants. There are AI services that automate the task of reaching out to candidates, scheduling interviews, fielding applicants’ questions, and even conducting basic screeners.
✅ Evaluating interviews. Recruiting firm HireVue sells an AI tool that analyzes interviewees’ facial movements, word choice, and speaking voices to assign them an “employability” score. The platform is ubiquitous in industries like finance and hospitality.
Keep tabs on our Future of Work obsession here.
Surprising discoveries
“American war films have the coolest images.” China’s military propaganda unit used clips of explosions from Hollywood movies for a film meant to deter foreign interference in Taiwan.
Raise high the roof beams—by hand. Carpenters working to rebuild Notre Dame in Paris are using the same medieval techniques to shape and install three-ton oak beams that were first used to build the cathedral 800 years ago.
1.6 billion people live within 5 km of a forest. Most are in low- or middle-income countries, according to a new estimate that is meant to underscore the economic significance of conservation.
A hazmat tuxedo. Producers of the US’s Emmy Awards designed the suit for presenters to wear while hand-delivering awards.
A 19th-century slave ship. Off Mexico’s coast, archaeologists made the first discovery of a ship used to enslave Mayans.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, medical gloves, and artisan hewn oak beams to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Tim McDonnell, David Yanofsky, Oliver Staley, Jackie Bischof, and Anne Quito.