US Approves NYSE Listing Plan To Cut Out Wall Street Middlemen

Companies may go public on the New York Stock Exchange without forking out fat fees to Wall Street banks which typically underwrite such capital raisings, the U.S. securities regulator said on Tuesday. Reuters reports: The Securities and Exchange Commission approval of the NYSE’s “direct” listing plan threatens to overhaul the U.S. initial public offering market, by allowing aspiring public companies to…

What Happened After Silicon Valley Tried to Make Telecommuting Permanent

California’s state air quality mandates require each region to have a feasible plan for a 19% reduction in emissions by 2035. But “after a barrage of criticism from Silicon Valley businesses and Bay Area mayors, Metropolitan Transportation Commission planners have backed off a requirement to have employees from big companies work from home three days a week,” reports the Bay Area…

The Forklift Truck Drivers Who Never Leave Their Desks

Forklift operators are using remote-control technology that allows them to work off-site, controlling their machines from afar. The BBC reports: [A]s Covid-19 spreads easily, the warehouses dotted along the world’s supply chains have become potential hubs of disease transmission, says Elliot Katz, co-founder of Phantom Auto. Phantom Auto’s technology is now installed in around a dozen warehouses in the US and…

Offices Resort To Sensors In Futile Attempts To Keep Workers Apart

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Millions of workers in recent months have returned to offices outfitted with new pandemic protocols meant to keep them healthy and safe. But temperature checks and plexiglass barriers between desks can’t prevent one of the most dangerous workplace behaviors for the spread of Covid-19 — the irresistible desire to mingle. “If you have…