Month: March 2020

Enlarge / CALGARY - DECEMBER 23: LITTLE BIG MAN, theatrical movie originally released December 23, 1970. The film was directed by Arthur Penn. Pictured, Martin Balsam (as Mr. Allardyce T. Meriweather), a traveling swindler and snake oil salesman. (credit: Getty | ABC Archive)

As the new coronavirus sweeps the US, federal regulators this week began cracking down on companies fraudulently claiming that their products prevent or treat COVID-19.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent joint warning letters to seven companies making false claims.

“There already is a high level of anxiety over the potential spread of coronavirus,” FTC Chairperson Joe Simons said in a statement. “What we don’t need in this situation are companies preying on consumers by promoting products with fraudulent prevention and treatment claims.”

Enlarge / Exterior view of a Googleplex building, the corporate headquarters of Google and parent company Alphabet, May 2018. (credit: Getty Images | zphotos)

The threat of the new coronavirus is making working from home a more and more popular option for tech companies, and yesterday Google expanded its work-from-home recommendation to all North American employees. In a memo obtained by CNN, Google's vice president of global security, Chris Rackow, said, "Out of an abundance of caution, and for the protection of Alphabet and the broader community, we now recommend you work from home if your role allows."

For now, Google's work-from-home recommendation extends through April 10, with the company saying it is "carefully monitoring the situation and will update the timeline as necessary." Alphabet, Google's parent company, employs around 120,000 people, and as a US-based company, the majority of those employees are based in North America.

The new coronavirus has led to the cancellation of most of this year's large trade show gatherings. Mobile World Congress, which was scheduled for February, was canceled at the last minute. Google killed Google I/O 2020 just last week, Facebook shut down F8, and E3 was canceled yesterday. Big gatherings present a higher risk for spreading the virus, and along the same lines of thinking, going to work at your big tech campus is also a vector for infection.

Enlarge / Lenovo's Thinkbook 13s laptop. (credit: Valentina Palladino)

A couple of weeks ago, IPC, a trade group that represents electronics companies, surveyed manufacturers to estimate the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the industry. Manufacturers surveyed said their suppliers have warned them they should expect about three weeks of delays on average, but the manufacturers expect things to be even worse than that—about five weeks on average. A select few expect delays longer than nine weeks.

On March 3, Financial Times ran a story claiming that electronics retailers have been informed that they should expect it to take “up to three times as long for PCs and parts to be delivered” as normal. It also notes that small OEMs are at a significant disadvantage when supply is low because large companies like Apple are in a better position to work with the suppliers that are operating most effectively.

But Apple and its ilk are not weathering this storm perfectly, either. Last week, Bloomberg wrote that Apple has told its tech support workers to expect multi-week delays for replacement iPhones at Apple Stores, and some Apple employees “also noticed a shortage of individual parts.” There were also previous reports that an iPad Pro refresh’s launch will be delayed because of the outbreak’s impact on Apple’s supply partners.

Enlarge / Cell-based meat kebabs from Memphis Meats. (credit: Memphis Meats)

After four years as a biomedical engineer specializing in 3D printing of tissue and organs in Barcelona, Giuseppe Scionti had a radical idea for another use for the technology: creating food.

The 33-year-old Italian took one of his creations to the Michelin-starred chef Ferran Adrià—of El Bulli fame—seeking advice about using similar principles to develop plant-based meat. “He told me to go and cook it and come back,” he said, laughing. He’s used the chef as a sounding board since.

In 2018, Scionti launched Novameat, patenting his “microextrusion” technology, in which plant-based ingredients are pushed through holes to form ultra-thin muscle-like fibers.