Apple has sourced over 20 million protective masks, now building and shipping face shields

As it mobilizes its supply chain, employees, and partners to provide personal protective equipment to medical workers and others working to stop the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, Apple has sourced over 20 million face masks and is now building and shipping face shields, according to a statement from chief executive Tim Cook.

Apple is dedicated to supporting the worldwide response to COVID-19. We’ve now sourced over 20M masks through our supply chain. Our design, engineering, operations and packaging teams are also working with suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for medical workers. pic.twitter.com/3xRqNgMThX

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 5, 2020

The company is working with governments around the world to distribute its supply of face masks to where it’s needed most.

Meanwhile, the first delivery of the company’s Apple face shields went out to Kaiser hospital facilities in the Santa Clara valley earlier this week, according to Cook.

As Cook noted, the masks pack flat and ship 100 to a box. They can be assembled in less than two minutes and are fully adjustable. Cook said that the company would ship 1 million by the end of the week and will expect to ship an additional 1 million face shields weekly, with a goal to expand distribution beyond the U.S. 

“For Apple this is a labor of love and gratitude and we will share more of our efforts over time,” Cook said. 

Apple is joining an effort that several 3D printing startups and maker facilities have already spent time working on.

Private tech companies mobilize to address shortages for medical supplies, masks and sanitizer

In Canada, INKSmith, a startup that was making design and tech tools accessible for kids, has now moved to making face shields and is hiring up to 100 new employees to meet demand.

“I think in the short term, we’re going to scale up to meet the needs of the province soon. After that, we’re going to meet the demands of Canada,” INKSmith CEO Jeremy Hedges told the Canadian news outlet Global News.

3D-printing companies like Massachusetts-based Markforged and Formlabs and Brooklyn’s Voodoo Manufacturing are all making personal protective equipment like face shields in the US.

 

Tesla shows how it’s building ventilators with car parts

Tesla is among a group of automakers retooling facilities to build ventilators for the Covid-19 crisis. In the following video, the company provides a behind-the-scene look at its ventilator design process.

Like Ford and General Motors, Tesla engineers are building its vent with parts for its vehicles. The reason is simple: car parts are available. Automotive companies obsessively stage parts for final assemble. Without doing so, having a shortage on, say, door handles can shut down a production line. In this thought, Tesla engineers say in this video they are trying to use as many car parts as possible.

For instance, Tesla’s ventilator uses the Model 3 infotainment system to power a Model 3 vehicle computer, which in turn, controls an air flow manifold. A suspension air tank is used as a oxygen mixing chamber. Among other parts, the team is also employing a Model 3 touchscreen as a controller.

Tesla is one of several American automakers that pledged support to either donate supplies or offer resources to make more ventilators. Ford is working with GE to expand ventilator production while also using its own resources to build vents, respirators and face shields. GM intends to build ventilators at an Indiana-based car factory and recently announced it will soon be able to make 50,000 face masks a day. Tesla chief Elon Musk recently stated the car company’s New York factory will soon reopen to produce ventilators — perhaps even the vents shown in the video here.

Cities take to drones to keep services up

Officials use drones to enforce lockdown, spray disinfectants & deliver medicine https://ift.tt/2UJ1PFe https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Covid-19 pandemic is teaching us to do more with less: Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa

In the wake of the Covid-19 virus outbreak, Albinder Dhindsa, CEO of Grofers, talks about what it means to a steer an essential service at such a critical time https://ift.tt/2wk8ts8 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

UK High Court judge says Google will either need to let an SEO expert inspect its ranking algorithms or withdraw evidence from its long-running competition case (Gareth Corfield/The Register)

Gareth Corfield / The Register:
UK High Court judge says Google will either need to let an SEO expert inspect its ranking algorithms or withdraw evidence from its long-running competition case  —  Tough choice for adtech monolith in Foundem case  —  Google must either show its “crown jewels” to a man it described …

Zoombombing is a crime, not a prank, prosecutors warn

Enlarge (credit: Charlotte Nation / Getty)

Coronavirus-related social distancing measures have given a big popularity boost to Zoom, a video conferencing platform that's known for its ease of use but not necessarily strong security or privacy protections. Internet trolls and other troublemakers have responded with "Zoombombing": joining Zoom meetings uninvited and disrupting them. Zoombombers have exposed themselves to schoolchildren and shouted racial slurs.

In a Friday statement, federal prosecutors in Michigan warned the public that Zoombombing isn't a harmless prank; it's a crime.

"Hackers are disrupting conferences and online classrooms with pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language," wrote the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. "Anyone who hacks into a teleconference can be charged with state or federal crimes."

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In internal email lists Amazon corporate employees express dismay over the firing of Christian Smalls and a report that management discussed a plan to smear him (Vox)

Vox:
In internal email lists Amazon corporate employees express dismay over the firing of Christian Smalls and a report that management discussed a plan to smear him  —  Leaked internal emails show employee dismay over how their company is handling escalating labor disputes during the coronavirus pandemic.

Airtel users can now recharge their numbers through ATMs, Apollo pharmacies and Big Bazaar stores

As the country heads into the final week of lockdown, companies are still extending a helping hand to people in need. Just last week, we reported that Reliance now allowed users to recharge their Jio number at ATMs. Not to be outdone, Airtel has now announced that it has started allowing its users to do the same but with added options such as pharmacies and grocery stores. 

You can recharge your ATM at any HDFC or ICICI ATM as Airtel has partnered up with both banks to allow users to use the service. Airtel has also joined hands with Apollo pharmacies and Big Bazaar stores for the same. There are no details on how all of this will work, but the assumption is that it will function similar to the Reliance Jio scheme. As of now, you can still recharge your number through the Airtel app and other services such as Google Pay and Paytm but this just makes it easier for people who do not have access to those services to still recharge their numbers. 

Airtel has said that its network will not face any surge issues and will run smoothly for the duration of the lockdown. As Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said in a statement, “Our network operating centres and data centres are totally operational to ensure smooth functioning of the network. Our field staff is still on the road to ensure speedy provisioning of new connections and quick fixing of faults. Further, we have advanced investments and have added capacities to meet the surge in data demand.”

Airtel, Jio and others have also released a bunch of plans for people working from home. You can read more about it here. The company has also released a set of personal risk-assessment tools for COVID-19 which you can check out, here. 

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Flagship sedans like the Audi A8 are a dying breed

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  Fewer than 3,000 A8s found homes in the US in 2019, because almost everyone who buys vehicles like this has switched to luxury SUVs instead. [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]

The flagship sedan has been one of the more tragic victims of the SUV craze. Cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series, and the Audi A8 used to be considered the ultimate expression of a carmaker's craft. Advanced technologies like anti-lock brakes, airbags, and infotainment systems would show up in these expensive machines years before they trickled down to the rest of us. But two decades into the 21st century, sedans are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Much of the most interesting new car technology—to us at least—is now found in plug-in powertrains, and in the mass-market, like the Model 3, Polestar 2, or VW's ID family. So each year, fewer and fewer flagship sedans find homes, particularly as those same OEMs offer supersized luxury SUVs as well.

The A8 is a perfect example. Despite its Ronin connection, the biggest Audi has never been as popular as the S-Class, 7 Series, or Lexus LS. In 2019, the first full calendar year when the car was on sale in the United States, Audi sold 2,963 A8s. Over the same 12 months, the company sold 14,256 Q8s, the five-seat range-topping SUV that gets all the same gadgets but in much more on-trend packaging. You should be able to read Managing Editor Eric Bangeman's review of that SUV in the next few weeks, but having sampled both vehicles from the driver's seat and also riding as a passenger in the back, my take is that the sedan should come out ahead on both counts.

Despite its 17.3-foot (5.3m) length and 6.3-foot (1.9m) width, you only have to drive an A8 for a day or two before its bulk seems to shrink around you. And a curb weight of at least 4,773lbs (2,164kg) for the lightest variant (the $85,200 A8 55 TFSI, which uses a 3.0L V6 gasoline engine) makes it no featherweight, but it feels nimble nonetheless. And as long as you tick the $3,500 option for the rear-seat comfort package, the back seat of an A8 will outdo many business-class airline seats when it comes to comfort and adjustability, with heating, ventilation, and lumbar massages thrown in.

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How to refuel a nuclear power plant during a pandemic

Enlarge / The Palo Verde Nuclear generating plant, the nation's largest nuclear power plant. (credit: Jeff Topping / Getty)

Each spring, nearly 1,000 highly specialized technicians from around the US descend on the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station near Phoenix, Arizona, to refuel one of the plant’s three nuclear reactors. As America’s largest power plant—nuclear or otherwise—Palo Verde provides around-the-clock power to 4 million people in the Southwest. Even under normal circumstances, refueling one of its reactors is a laborious, month-long process. But now that the US is in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, the plant operators have had to adapt their refueling plans.

Palo Verde is expected to begin refueling one of its reactors in early April—a spokesperson for Arizona Public Service, the utility that operates the plant, declined to give an exact start date—but the preparations began months in advance. The uranium fuel started arriving at the plant last autumn, delivered in the cargo bay of an unmarked semi truck. The fuel arrives ready for the reactor as 1,000-pound rectangular bundles of uranium rods that are 12 feet tall and about 6 inches on each side.
The latest shipment of fuel arrived at the plant well before the coronavirus pandemicbrought the world to a standstill, says Greg Cameron, the nuclear communications director at Palo Verde. The biggest change with this refueling cycle, he says, is the scope of the operation. “We’ve tried to trim down the amount of work to just what is necessary to ensure that we run for the next 18 months without impacting the reliability of the plant,” Cameron says.

Each of Palo Verde’s three nuclear reactors are ensconced in their own bulbous concrete sarcophagus and operate almost entirely independent of one another. This allows plant operators to periodically take one of the reactors offline for refueling and maintenance without totally disrupting the flow of energy to the grid. Each reactor is partially refueled every year and a half, with about one-third of the fuel in the reactor core being swapped out for a fresh batch.

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Some independent movie theaters are launching "virtual cinemas" to let patrons stream first-tier films from home as a temporary revenue source amid the pandemic (Rebecca Rubin/Variety)

Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Some independent movie theaters are launching “virtual cinemas” to let patrons stream first-tier films from home as a temporary revenue source amid the pandemic  —  Greg Laemmle never thought he'd recommend anyone to stream a movie at home.  The best way to watch a film …

Quibi launching Hollywood 'on the go' streaming amid lockdown

Industry legends and stars from Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro to Jennifer Lopez and Reese Witherspoon have lined up to make movies and shows for the youth-focused, smartphone-only service. https://ift.tt/2wfWPP1 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

How teachers took the classroom online

Teachers and professors across the country are having to adapt to a whole new mode of teaching. They give lessons on Hangouts, correct homework on WhatsApp, turn iPads into whiteboards https://ift.tt/2UKwdig https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Apple rewards ethical hacker 75,000 for discovering major flaws with Safari

Finding flaws in upcoming devices or software always comes with some kind of rewards. As such, a hacker who discovered a number of security flaws in Safari was rewarded handsomely for his work. These flaws ould have led to the iPhone camera actually being hacked. Once the flaws were discovered, Apple reward the hacker, Ryan Pickren about $75,000 (Rs 57.3 lakh approx) for figuring out the security flaws. As reported by Forbes, Ryan Pickern is an ethical hacker who broke down Safari and actually discovered around seven issues with the device on Apple’s very own browser. In fact, three of those seven problems could have actually led to the iPhone camera being hacked. 

These flaws could have been broken into by hackers who could access the device’s camera and microphone permissions. Ryan Pickren was responsible for finding these issues back in December 2019 and promptly reported the issues to Apple. The San Cupertino company then fixed the issues with the January Safari update and then further patched out further flaws with the 13.0.5 update on Safari and then further improved upon with the March 2020, 13.1 Safari update. 

Pickren said, “I really enjoyed working with the Apple product security team when reporting these issues. The new bounty program is absolutely going to help secure products and protect customers. I’m really excited that Apple embraced the help of the security research community.”

So, if you’re some mad genius who breaks down devices, then you should definitely try giving it a shot. Who knows? You could win $75,000 from Apple for your effort. 

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Indian jugaad to help patients breathe

Improvise, not import. That seems to be the mantra for some docs and engineers who are coming up with cheap homegrown ventilators and Ambu bags. Here's a look at four such innovators https://ift.tt/2V0QcZi https://ift.tt/eA8V8J