Tag: Holiday

Pushed by Pandemic, Amazon Goes on a Hiring Spree Without Equal

Amazon has embarked on an extraordinary hiring binge this year, vacuuming up an average of 1,400 new workers a day and solidifying its power as online shopping becomes more entrenched in the coronavirus pandemic. From a report: The hiring has taken place at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, at its hundreds of warehouses in rural communities and suburbs, and in countries such…

US Postal Service Announces a Nationwide Digital ‘Operation Santa’

For 108 years Americans have helped their postal service perform “Operation Santa.” But this year’s program will be fully digital and nationwide, reports CNN: The program allows children and families to write letters to Santa, which will then be processed and shared online beginning on December 4 at USPSOperationSanta.com. Once the letters are live, anyone in the U.S. can go online…

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ is Coming To HBO Max (and Some US Theaters) on Dec. 25

Although COVID-19 is surging in the United States and around the world, Warner Bros. still plans to release “Wonder Woman 1984” on Christmas Day — but its plans are are no longer limited to a theatrical release. From a report: Director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot both posted tweets last night announcing that in in the United States, the film…

Charlie Brown Holiday Specials To Air On TV, After All, In PBS Deal

Last month, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” wasn’t aired on TV, marking the first time since 1965 that the Peanuts special wasn’t broadcasted. Instead, it was streamed on Apple+. Now, according to The Associated Press, the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Christmas specials will return to the air. From the report: On Wednesday, Apple bowed to the backlash, announcing it had…

42% of Amazon’s Reviews Might Be ‘Unreliable’

Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo quotes Bloomberg: Fake reviews on Amazon.com Inc. during the pandemic have reached levels typically seen during the holiday shopping season. About 42% of 720 million Amazon reviews assessed by the monitoring service Fakespot Inc. from March through September were unreliable, up from about 36% for the same period last year. The rise in fake reviews corresponded with…

The Pandemic Has Created a Middle Class Private Jet Boom

An anonymous reader shares a report: While the commercial airline industry has been largely grounded following various global lockdowns — with outbound international travel from the UK set to be banned on Thursday — private aviation has soared among new customers. Many of them are families. Once the preserve of millionaires and A-listers, business planes have been taken up by holidaying…

The U.S. Health Department Tried to Offer Early Vaccines to Shopping Mall Santas

America’s national health agency “halted a public-service coronavirus advertising campaign funded by $250 million in taxpayer money after it offered a special vaccine deal to an unusual set of essential workers: Santa Claus performers.” The Wall Street Journal reports: As part of the plan, a top Trump administration official wanted the Santa performers to promote the benefits of a Covid-19 vaccination…