Allow full operations of e-commerce as first step to normalcy: IAMAI

E-commerce services are the only means to ensure social distancing while still maintaining economic operations in the country. https://ift.tt/3aWhfvo

Facebook spent $23.4 million on Zuckerberg's security, air travel in 2019: Report

Facebook spent $23.4 million on its CEO Mark Zuckerberg's personal security and air travel last year -- $3.4 million up from what he received for security and air travel in 2018. https://ift.tt/2Rv2Q1v

US Agencies Back Revoking Ability of China Telecom to Operate in US

The US Justice Department and other federal agencies on Thursday called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke China Telecom (Americas) Corp's authorization to provide international... https://ift.tt/3b1uUBu

Amazon Building Its Own Lab for Employee COVID-19 Tests

Amazon is moving to create it own lab to test employees for coronavirus as the e-commerce giant struggles with safety issues amid the pandemic. https://ift.tt/2yT3rnp

Research tracking tech startup layoffs across the world since Mar. 11 finds 204 startups have laid off 16,229 employees, nearly doubling between April 2-8 (Mary Ann Azevedo/Crunchbase News)

Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Research tracking tech startup layoffs across the world since Mar. 11 finds 204 startups have laid off 16,229 employees, nearly doubling between April 2-8  —  On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported some staggering figures: the number of unemployment claims filed between March 15-April 4 surged to 16.8 million.

Apple, Google plan software to slow virus, joining global debate on tracking

The rare collaboration between the two Silicon Valley companies could accelerate usage of apps that aim to get potentially infected individuals into testing or quarantine more quickly https://ift.tt/39YKwUX https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

12 Things to know about Reliance Jio app that lets users earn commission

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UK fintech firm ClearScore to shut India operations

ClearScore India offered a suite of services that allowed users to check their credit score for free, compare pre-approved credit offers and obtain loans and credit cards online instantly. https://ift.tt/2yS3mjQ https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Prosus will keep investing in core areas, eyes M&As

One of the potential areas of consolidation is food delivery, where Prosus also has investments in Brazil and Europe besides India, where Swiggy has received $1 billion https://ift.tt/2wvYEr3 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Strip club dancers and promoters are hosting virtual pop-up strip clubs on Instagram Live, accepting tips via Cash app and promoting the events on Twitter (Taylor Lorenz/New York Times)

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Strip club dancers and promoters are hosting virtual pop-up strip clubs on Instagram Live, accepting tips via Cash app and promoting the events on Twitter  —  Going digital may be better for dancers.  —  For the past three weeks, Justin LaBoy, 28, a former professional basketball player …

Covid-19 takes a toll on telcos, 4G signups hit

Telecom operators could partly offset the revenue impact by monetising higher home internet usage during the lockdown https://ift.tt/2xoaJ23 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

IBM is releasing a free course and forum next week to teach COBOL programming language, as US states struggle to find programmers for old unemployment systems (Tom Maxwell/Input)

Tom Maxwell / Input:
IBM is releasing a free course and forum next week to teach COBOL programming language, as US states struggle to find programmers for old unemployment systems  —  Many systems that process unemployment claims still run on a 60-year-old programming language that barely any coders understand.

SF mayor caps commissions for food delivery startups to 15% during the pandemic; startups say the cap will raise customer fees, hurt delivery people's income (Justin Phillips/San Francisco Chronicle)

Justin Phillips / San Francisco Chronicle:
SF mayor caps commissions for food delivery startups to 15% during the pandemic; startups say the cap will raise customer fees, hurt delivery people's income  —  As struggling San Francisco restaurants pin their hopes of staying open on delivery and takeout orders, city officials have stepped …

Tesla’s furlough calls begin with delivery and sales taking a hit

Tesla started Friday to furlough its sales and delivery workforce — with the least experienced employees bearing the brunt of the action — days after a companywide email announced salary cuts and reductions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several employees, who work in sales and delivery and spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity, reported they were on corporate calls in which more details of the furloughs were explained. Performance is less of a factor. Instead, experience and position is being used to determine who stays and who is furloughed. Delivery and sales advisors who have been with the company less than two years will be furloughed, according to sources.

CNBC reported earlier Friday that furloughs would impact half of Tesla’s U.S.  delivery and sales workforce. TechCrunch was unable to verify the total number of sales and delivery employees who would be impacted.

The furloughs also come a little more than a week after the end of the quarter, a typically busy time for delivery staff who try to meet lofty internal goals. COVID-19 hampered delivery efforts, although customers were still reporting deliveries in California, New York and other states.

The furlough calls have been expected since an internal email sent April 7 by Tesla’s head of human resources Valerie Workman informed employees that the company would be cutting pay for salaried employees and furloughing others.

It wasn’t clear, until Friday, exactly who might be affected.

The internal email, which was viewed by TechCrunch, told employees that production at its U.S. factories would be suspended until at least May 4 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring the company to cut costs.

Salaried employees will have pay reduced between 30% and 10%, depending on their position. The salary reductions are expected to be in place until the end of the second quarter, according to the email. The salary cuts and furloughs will begin April 13. Employees who cannot work from home and have not been assigned critical onsite positions will be furloughed until May 4, according to the email.

For e-commerce firms, April may be the cruellest month

E-commerce businesses will be majorly hit this year if the government continues to ban sale of non-essential goods https://ift.tt/2Vhhv1z https://ift.tt/eA8V8J