Vaping is a controversial habit: it certainly has its downsides, but anecdotally it’s a fantastic smoking cessation aid. The thing is, until behavioral scientists know a bit more about who does it, when, how much and other details, its use will continue to be something of a mystery. That’s where the PuffPacket comes in. Designed…
Read MoreMonth: May 2020
Smartphone shipments dropped 13% globally, and COVID-19 is to blame
We knew it was going to be bad — but not necessarily “lowest level since 2013” bad. As Apple was busy reporting its earnings, Canalys just dropped some of its own figures — and they’re not pretty. After two quarters of much-needed growing, the global smartphone market just took a big hit. And you no…
Read MoreWalmart is piloting a pricier 2-hour ‘Express’ grocery delivery service
Record usage of grocery delivery services amid the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delayed orders, fewer open delivery windows and, on occasion, an inability to even book a delivery time slot. Walmart now hopes to capitalize on the increased demand for speedier delivery with the introduction of a new service that allows consumers to pay…
Read MoreMicrosoft opens registration for its free, online Build 2020 developer conference
Microsoft has now opened registration for the virtual edition of its online-only Build 2020 developer conference, which will take place from May 19 to 20. Typically, the event draws more than 6,000 developers, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, that’s obviously not an option. In contrast to Google, which completely scrapped its I/O developer conference…
Read MoreApple News hits 125 million monthly active users
During the pandemic crisis, active users of Apple’s news platform hit an all-time high. On an earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared that Apple News had reached 125 million monthly active users. Cook announced the number after revealing the company’s Q2 performance, which saw its Products revenue decline year-over-year while Services surged. The company…
Read MoreiPhone sales are down, ahead of uncertain times for the industry
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Apple device sales have taken a hit, but the company’s services are doing swell. The iPhone, the longtime cornerstone of the company’s hardware portfolio, hit $28.96 billion in revenue for Q2, down from $31.1 billion from this time last year. The iPad and Mac lines saw drops…
Read MoreA new pro bono portal just launched for lawyers looking to help people hit hard by the pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has laid low a lot of Americans, more than 62,000 of whom have already died since the beginning of March and 30 million more who are now out of work owing to the resultant shutdown of most businesses and public gathering places. The ensuant crisis it has created is so massive that…
Read MoreFDA authorizes a ventilator developed by NASA’s JPL for emergency use in COVID-19 treatment
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized for emergency use as outlined in the agency’s COVID-19 guidelines a new ventilator designed by engineers working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory . The ventilator, which has an acronym because this is NASA we’re talking about, is called “VITAL” (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), and its…
Read MoreApple’s Q2 earnings show flat year-over-year revenue growth due to pandemic
Apple delivered a rough Q2 earnings report Thursday, besting investor expectations but showing a significant growth slowdown as the coronavirus pandemic deeply impacted the company’s business with year-over-year declines in iPhone, iPad and Mac sales. Apple’s stock was largely unchanged in after-hours trading. The company shared that in Q2 it earned $58.30 billion in revenue,…
Read MoreAWS hits $10B for the quarter putting it on a $40B run rate
AWS, the cloud arm of Amazon, would be a pretty successful business on its own. Today, the company announced it has passed $10 billion for the quarter, putting the cloud business on an impressive run rate of more than $40 billion. It was a bright spot for the company in an earnings report that saw…
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