Are Remote Workers More Productive Because Asynchronous Communication Just Works Better?

An anonymous reader quotes the CEO of Doist: Study after study after study into remote work has made one thing clear: Remote workers are more productive than their office-bound counterparts. What’s not entirely clear is why. Yes, people gain back time (and sanity) by avoiding rush hour commutes. They avoid the distractions of the office. They regain a sense of control…

The Price of Bitcoin Spiked 40% Friday Night

“The price of Bitcoin skyrocketed overnight, rising by nearly 40 percent from a recent low,” reports Newsweek:
The sharp turn came as Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke highly of the decentralized technology on which the digital currency is founded, telling members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee that the country should “seize the opportunity” of blockchain… China banned cryptocurrency exchanges…

America’s Trade Commission Accused of ‘Rewarding Bad Actors’ Posting Fake Online Reviews

Ars Technica quotes the CEO of a fraudulent-review tracking company who says that fake reviews online have now reached ‘epidemic proportions”. But two U.S. regulators say that’s just the beginning:
Commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Slaughter of the Federal Trade Commission say it’s about to get a lot worse, and they know who to blame: their own agency. The FTC this week…

Amazon Profits Drop 28% As It Strives For One-Day Deliveries

An anonymous reader quotes CNN:
Amazon said Thursday that its profit for the three months ending in September fell to $2.1 billion from $2.9 billion in the same period a year ago, a decline of nearly 28%, as the company invests heavily to expedite deliveries… The company announced in April that it would spend $800 million in the upcoming quarter to make…

Facebook Is Launching a News Section — and Will Pay Some Publishers Millions

Facebook is planning to launch its news section on Friday, “which will give users a way to scan headlines and read some news stories — and which will give some publishers, like News Corp, millions of dollars a year for making their journalism available to Facebook,” reports Recode. From the report: News Corp CEO Robert Thomson and his boss, News Corp…

2,000 WeWork Employees To Lose Their Jobs As Former CEO Adam Neumann Prepares To Walk Away With at Least $1 Billion

WeWork’s value has tumbled, about 2,000 employees are being cut and many investors are nursing losses after the firm’s bailout. But founder Adam Neumann is still a billionaire. From a report: SoftBank’s proposed rescue package of WeWork involves Neumann selling about $1 billion of stock and getting a $185 million consulting fee from the Japanese firm even as the deal values…

SpaceX Plans To Start Offering Starlink Broadband Services In 2020

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the goal is to complete six to eight Starlink launches to get sufficient coverage to start offering the service to consumers in 2020. SpaceNews reports: SpaceX is confident it can start offering broadband service in the United States via its Starlink constellation in mid-2020, the company’s president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said Oct. 22….

New Facebook Features Fight Election Lies Everywhere But Ads

Heaven forbid a political candidate’s Facebook account gets hacked. They might spread disinformation … like they’re already allowed to do in Facebook ads … From a report: Today Facebook made a slew of announcements designed to stop 2020 election interference. “The bottom line here is that elections have changed significantly since 2016” and so has Facebook in response, CEO Mark Zuckerberg…

Apple CEO Tim Cook Joins Influential Chinese University Board

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been appointed chairman of the advisory board at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing, a role that could provide access to top Chinese leaders at a time the iPhone manufacturer is facing mounting challenges in the world’s second largest economy. From a report: Cook will assume the role for three years and replace…

Bank of America Says It Saves $2 Billion Per Year By Ignoring Amazon and Microsoft and Building Its Own Cloud Instead

Bank of America has bucked the Wall Street trend by building its own private cloud software rather than outsourcing to companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. From a report: The investment, including a $350 million charge in 2017, hasn’t been cheap, but it has had a striking payoff, CEO Brian Moynihan said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. He said the…