A California couple has been living in their van and traveling through the desert for about two months during the coronavirus pandemic and statewide stay-at-home order.Kristin Hanes and her partner bought the van as their home two years ago and usually live out of it in the San Francisco Bay Area.Now, they hop from campsite to campsite, working remotely with a hotspot and sleeping in their camper van for around $1,000 a month.Life on the road has involved flat tires, swarms of bugs, fluctuating temperatures, and weekly 7 am Walmart trips to stock up on food.Hanes told Business Insider that she's content with the setup and thinks there may be more interest in the van lifestyle in the future as many may rethink their housing situations in light of the pandemic-driven economic fallout.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Thousands of California residents have been isolated in their homes since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order on March 19.

Many are likely going stir-crazy while cooped up, with many having to do so in pint-sized apartments.

But one California couple is taking the tiny home lifestyle to the next level. Kristin Hanes and her partner usually live out of their 1994 Chevy Astro campervan in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now, they're traveling through the desert as the world weathers the storm caused by the coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19.

"Even though it's a teeny, tiny space, I feel like when we're out camping, we actually have a huge backyard," Kristin Hanes told Business Insider.

Here's how they're doing it.

Original author: Katie Canales

The 2021 Toyota Sienna is all-new and comes with just a single powertrain option: a hybrid four-cylinder, making 243 horsepower and getting 33 mpg in combined city/highway driving.All-wheel-drive is available.The Sienna's exterior has been significantly — some might say controversially — revamped.Its interior is also crammed with options, including a vacuum and a fridge.The new Sienna will take on the Honda Odyssey and the Chrysler Pacifica.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

With no New York auto show, carmakers are revealing new vehicles online. Toyota has planned for a spate of announcements in Gotham, but the coronavirus pandemic forced a change. So in addition to a revived Venza SUV, we're now — at long last — seeing the redesigned Sienna minivan.

The new Sienna has been eagerly anticipated by minivanistas for years now. I tested the outgoing generation several years ago, and even then it was a laggard relatively to its main competition, the Honda Odyssey and the Chrysler Pacifica. OK, the Sienna remained a stalwart family-hauler, and you weren't going to be disappointed if you got one. But it had been around for a decade.

The new Sienna updates just about everything. And, controversially perhaps, replaces all powertrain options with a single choice: a gas-electric hybrid. 

I own two Toyota hybrids, so I can say that this isn't a bad move for Toyota — the carmaker's hybrid tech is proven and superb. The move should also help Toyota meet future fuel-economy regulations, as the Sienna now yields 33 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving.

Toyota didn't provide pricing, but the outgoing Sienna starts at a little over $34,000. It should hit dealerships later this year.

Have a closer look at the new 2021 Toyota Sienna:

Original author: Matthew DeBord

President Donald Trump's claim that the US was developing a "super-duper missile" that was faster than any system publicly known was widely met with confusion.Trump has previously described weapons in similar terms and claimed the US possessed "super-fast missiles" that were "four, five, six, and even seven times faster than an ordinary missile."But Trump's suggestions that the weapons are faster than missiles currently held by the US or other countries is false and reflects a misunderstanding of their capabilities.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump's claim that the US was developing a "super-duper missile" capable of reaching speeds far greater than any system publicly known was widely met with confusion from experts and by silence from US officials.

During an unveiling ceremony for the new Space Force flag at the White House on Friday, Trump compared the US's defense capabilities with that of foreign adversaries and claimed the US was developing a missile capable of reaching a speed that would be the "fastest in the world by a factor of almost three."

"I call it the 'super-duper missile,' and I heard the other night 17 times faster than what they have right now, when you take the fastest missile we have right now," Trump said.

"You've heard Russia has five times and China's working on five or six times — we have one 17 times, and it's just gotten the go-ahead," Trump added. "Seventeen times faster, if you can believe that."

Trump appeared to be referring to the Pentagon's work on hypersonic weapons, namely nimble hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV) that can reach speeds of at least Mach 5, or roughly 3,800 mph.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman seemed to confirm the president was referring to hypersonic weapons in a reply to a tweet about the comment: "The Department of Defense is working on developing a range of hypersonic missiles to counter our adversaries."

Trump used a similar description for hypersonic weapons in February, saying that the US possessed "super-fast missiles" that were "four, five, six, and even seven times faster than an ordinary missile."

A common hypersonic glide body launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, during a Defense Department test, March 19, 2020. US Navy

Hypersonic prototypes have been of interest to the Defense Department since the early 2000s, with advocates of the program pointing to technological advances made by Russia and China. The US successfully tested an unarmed hypersonic glide body in March, while Russia and China are expected to field operational HGVs as early as this year.

US Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested the US was still in the race, despite the two adversaries outpacing it in hypersonic weapons testing: "We have lost our technical advantage in hypersonics," Selva said in January, according to Defense News. "We haven't lost the hypersonics fight."

According to Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, Trump's mention of speeds that were "17 times faster" could have been in reference to the estimated speeds of the HGVs, which range from at least Mach 5 to around Mach 20.

But Trump's suggestion that HGVs are faster than existing missiles is false and reflects a misunderstanding of their capabilities, Reif added.

"The reported speed of these weapons (and hypersonic cruise missiles, which are slower than HGVs) are indeed faster than existing conventionally armed US air- and sea-delivered missiles such as the [Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile] and Tomahawk cruise missiles, which fly at subsonic speeds," Reif said. "But they are not faster than US nuclear-armed intercontinental-range ballistic missiles. These missiles reach hypersonic speeds in excess of Mach 20."

Indeed, the US Air Force's LGM-30 Minuteman III, an ICBM, can reach up to Mach 23, or over 17,600 mph.

"Trump's apparent obsession with hypersonic weapons reflects I think an over-hyping and misunderstanding of the value and capability of the weapons that is not confined to Trump and is reflected in much of the conversation about the weapons," Reif said, adding that the US should also focus on "crisis stability and escalation risks hypersonic weapons could pose."

"Trump is well known for serving up nonsensical word salads, and this was no exception," Reif said.

Original author: David Choi

Apple is reopening 25 of its US stores. Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

This week Apple is reopening 25 of its US stores plus 12 in Canada, Bloomberg reports. People going into Apple stores will have their temperatures checked at the door and will be provided with a face mask if they don't have one.Uber is expected to begin another round of layoffs on Monday, cutting thousands of jobs just weeks after laying off 14% of its workforce. A source familiar with the matter told Business Insider thousands more employees will have their jobs cut.Google Meet's downloads have soared from 5 million to 50 million since March, Android Police reports. Google made the premium version of its video conferencing service Google Meet free last month.China pushed back on the United States to stop "unreasonable suppression" of Huawei and other Chinese businesses. Tensions between the world's two largest economies have spiked in recent weeks, with officials on both sides suggesting they could abandon a hard-won deal that defused a bitter 18-month trade war.A cybergang who last week dumped data relating to Lady Gaga has now threatened to leak President Trump's data. The hackers on Thursday dumped thousands of Lady Gaga's legal documents, demanding a $42 million ransom from her law firm, which was hacked.Amazon is handing out "Thank you" t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts their hazard pay. One worker based in Indiana shared a picture of the shirt they received, the front reads "Thanks to you" and on the back: "Together, we'll deliver."Police in China, Dubai, and Italy are using these surveillance helmets to scan people for COVID-19 fever as they walk past. The helmets are made by Chinese firm KC Wearable and use thermal imaging to take people's temperatures at a distance of around two meters.Google employees say the company culture that made it famous has almost entirely vanished, as it continues to be less transparent and more "corporate." One veteran employee told Business Insider: "There was this sense we were all on the same team [...] "I'm not saying we don't feel that way now, but it's really hard to do with more than 100,000 people." Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey unveiled where he's donated more than $87 million of his pledged $1 billion towards COVID-19 relief. Dorsey's donations have ranged across a number of causes from stopping domestic violence, to giving equal access to the internet for students. Elon Musk tweeted "take the red pill" in another strange turn for the billionaire. "The red pill" is a common internet term for an individual shifting their political views rightward.

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Original author: Isobel Asher Hamilton

Sweden is unlikely to avoid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, even as it has avoided an official lockdown, analysts told the Financial Times. While bars, restaurants, and shops are still open, people have been asked to voluntarily practice social distancing and work from home if possible.One business owner told the Financial Times that when people started becoming aware of the virus, he quickly lost 30% of his business.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Even though Sweden has chosen to avoid an official lockdown, keeping bars and restaurants open — and suffering a higher death toll than in neighboring countries — the country is unlikely to avoid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, analysts told the Financial Times. 

"It is too early to say that we would do better than others," Christina Nyman, a former official at Riksbank, Sweden's national bank, told the Financial Times. "In the end, we think Sweden will end up more or less the same." 

David Oxley, a senior economist at Capital Economics, told the newspaper that economic "activity in Sweden is grim, maybe not as grim as elsewhere, but it is still unprecedented declines." 

Sweden has reported more than 3,500 deaths from the coronavirus. That number pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of deaths in the US, but Sweden's smaller population of just over 10 million makes the country's death rate one of the highest.

While companies in Sweden, like the automotive manufacturer Volvo, have been hit hard as their global supply chains are disrupted, the economic impact of the pandemic in Sweden, with its robust welfare system, will likely look differently than in countries like the US.

Sweden's lead epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, said last week that he didn't anticipate the high death rate. 

"We never really calculated with a high death toll initially, I must say," he said. "We calculated on more people being sick, but the death toll really came as a surprise to us."

The owner of a record shop in Stockholm told the Financial Times that while his store remained open, business dropped quickly by 30%. "For a couple of months, it will work. But after that it will be very, very tough," the owner, Micke Englund, told the paper.

Read the full report over at the Financial Times.

Original author: Bryan Pietsch

Tiny homes have become hugely popular in the last few years.The tiny home category encompasses a variety of dwellings, from pared down sheds to high-end custom homes.When buying a tiny home, buyers have to make all kinds of decisions about types, sizes, finishes, and more.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tiny homes are a popular option with minimalists, aspiring homeowners who can't afford a giant house, and people who want a home on wheels. They've even inspired multiple HGTV shows. When choosing a tiny home, the options can be overwhelming. Here are a few of the questions potential tiny homeowners should ask. 

What kind of tiny home are you looking for?

Tiny homes come in about as many configurations as regular-sized homes, but before picking an architectural style, there are more basic decisions to be made. Tiny houses come in two broad categories: tiny homes on wheels, which are legally considered RVs, and tiny homes without wheels, or accessory dwelling units (ADUs), according to Curbed.

Deciding on which type of tiny home to buy depends on a few factors. For someone drawn to tiny homes for their mobility and travel potential, a home on wheels, registered as an RV, is the way to go. It's also important to consider where the tiny home will reside. RVs will probably be restricted to RV parks and campgrounds, or on privately owned property, but zoning requirements will ultimately determine this. Finding somewhere to build an ADU can be a bit more complicated, again depending on local zoning laws. Some locales are working to make the permitting process faster and easier, like the preapproved Abodu ADU in San Jose, where paperwork can be turned around in just one day.

Abodu prefab ADU. Abodu

Who sells them?

You can buy just about anything on Amazon, including dozens of tiny homes delivered right to your door. The e-commerce site sells kits for houses buyers put together on their own, along with prefabricated tiny homes, some of which are made out of repurposed shipping containers or other unusual materials.

MODS 40 tiny home. Amazon

Original author: Mary Meisenzahl

Elon Musk's strange tweets have continued, with the CEO tweeting, "Take the red pill," on Sunday."The red pill" is a common internet term for an individual shifting their political views rightward.Musk has been using Twitter to attack what he sees as government overreach in keeping businesses shut down as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown orders continues.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Elon Musk's streak of strange tweets continued, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeting "Take the red pill" to his 34 million followers on Sunday.

At its most basic level, the tweet is a reference to a scene from the 1999 movie 'The Matrix,' in which the character Morpheus tells the protagonist Neo that he has been living in a computer simulation and is given the choice of taking a red or blue pill. "You take the blue pill,  the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." (It's worth noting that Musk does seem to believe there's a good chance we're living in a computer simulation.)

But taking the red pill, or being "red-pilled," is much more commonly used on the internet to denote a right-wing political awakening. It's often used in forums dedicated to topics like Donald Trump or "men's rights" organizations.

It grew in popularity thanks to a subreddit called TheRedPill, which is openly misogynistic. Writing about in 2013, Business Insider described the subreddit's views:

Welcome to The Red Pill, an Internet community on Reddit founded on the general belief that women have it better than men. Red Pill is not a dating advice bulletin, but rather a forum for people — men, mostly — exploring an ideology that revolves almost exclusively around gender. Those who "swallow the pill" maintain that it's men not women, who have been socially disenfranchised. Feminism is considered a damaging ideology and Red Pillers are quick to cite examples that bolster their points, some going so far as to argue that society is outright anti-male.

The tweet comes as Musk, who once tweeted he is "openly moderate," has taken increasingly anti-regulatory tone as coronavirus has forced the shutdown of his Fremont factory. He has called stay-at-home orders "fascist," and last Monday said he was reopening his Fremont factory and was willing to be arrested to do so. 

Already conservative voices are hailing the tweet as a sign that Musk, who tweeted that he supported Democratic candidate Andrew Yang in 2019, is joining their side. Ivanka Trump quickly retweeted Musk's tweet herself, responding, "Taken!"

 

Original author: Jake Swearingen

Uber is not done with its layoffs and employees are bracing for another round on Monday, someone familiar with the matter tells Business Insider.This person says that thousands more will be cut from Uber's payroll.Uber also told employees last week about their severance package: 10 weeks plus paid healthcare until the end of the year, the person tells Business Insider.Uber most recently cut 3,700 jobs, 14% of its total workforce, earlier in May.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Uber is expected to begin another round of layoffs on Monday, a source with knowledge of the situation tells Business Insider. 

Business Insider could not confirm the number of people that will be let go, although this person said that Uber plans to cut thousands from its workforce. We cannot confirm that those cuts will all happen on Monday however, as Business Insider previously reported, at the global all-hands meeting about two weeks ago, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that it was finalizing layoff plans and staff would know about them within two weeks. The next day, it cut 3,700 employees. 

Uber employed 28,600 global employees — 16,200 outside the United States — as of March 31, it said in an its last quarterly report filed to the SEC on May 8. The 3,700 jobs cut earlier this month accounted for about 14% of its total workforce, the company said.

When asked about the next round of layoff a company spokesperson said, "As you would expect, the company is looking at every possible scenario to ensure we get to the other side of this crisis in a stronger position than ever."

If Khosrowshahi and team are not considering more layoffs at this time, then that two week-time frame that he warned about would be complete. However, sources at Uber that Business Insider has talked to are not convinced the layoffs are over, particularly if the reported acquisition of Grubhub occurs. In that case, Uber will almost certainly cut jobs as it consolidates overlapping roles within Uber Eats and Grubhub.

At the last all-hands meeting, Uber discussed the severance package being offered to the current crop of laid off employees: 10 weeks of pay and healthcare paid until the end of 2020, the source familiar said.

Units expected to be cutting employees include freight and the self-driving car unit, Advanced Technologies Group, this person believes. Business Insider learned that the leader of the Freight unit, Lior Ron, did warn employees that there would be layoffs. The CEO of the self-driving car unit, Eric Meyhofer, also did not answer any questions about layoffs at the all-hands meeting last week.

But, the atmosphere at the all-hands was not all gloom and doom. Employees submit questions for the all-hands meetings in advance and vote on them. And one question that received many votes was asking senior leadership to name their "guilty pleasure" songs.  So, at the all-hands meeting, Meyhofer enjoyed a discussion on that. While some people found a discussion about songs while some people are worried about their jobs to be "tone deaf" as one person told us, others enjoyed it.

Uber laid off 3,700 people about two weeks ago, on top of the cuts made when it shuttered certain international Uber Eats organizations, transferring others to its Middle East subsidiary Careem and laying off a third of Careem's employees. It also had multiple rounds of layoffs in 2019, cutting about 1,100 people. Should this next round of layoffs be as large as the one earlier this month, at around 4,000, Uber will have cut about 10,000 jobs from its payroll over the past year.

Are you an Uber insider with insight to share? Contact Julie Bort via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on encrypted chat app Signal at (970) 430-6112 (no PR inquiries, please). Open DMs on Twitter @Julie188.  

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Original author: Julie Bort

The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a public health crisis, the effects of which are now rippling throughout the global economy.

Cities have been shut down, travel is limited, and major central banks have begun to intervene in financial markets at levels unseen since the 2008 recession.

To find out how industry leaders think COVID-19 and related containment efforts will impact their companies and the economy as a whole, we surveyed executive decision makers from around the world.

Simply enter your email for a FREE download of our executive survey results.

Original author: Business Insider Intelligence

Outdoor Retailer is the largest biannual trade show for the outdoor industry, but it had to cancel its summer exposition due to COVID-19.Gearmunk, a gear review platform, configured a virtual solution: the Thin Air Outdoor Media Show, which will run June 24 to June 26.It's being recognized as the first virtual trade show for the outdoor industry, however, the idea for it has been floating in Gearmunk leaders' minds for a while.Any type of content creator, whether blogger, YouTuber, or influencer, can apply for one of the 1,000 free media badges to attend the event, which feels a lot like a video game.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The longevity of COVID-19 is murky, but one thing is clear: The virus forced industries nationwide to pivot in an effort to remain profitable in a world where human contact is inadvisable. 

Outdoor Retailer (OR), the largest biannual trade show for the outdoor industry, fell prey to the coronavirus in early April when it canceled its summer exposition. This temporary loss of the biggest trade show of the year sharply stung known brands like Patagonia and Mountain Hardwear — but all is not yet lost. Thanks to the team at Gearmunk, a rewards-based, democratized gear review platform, the outdoor industry is about to meet the Thin Air Outdoor Media Show, a potential trade show solution that may overcome the realities of our antisocial new normal.

Erik Boles. Erik Boles

Thin Air, running from June 24 to June 26, is being called the first truly digital trade show for the outdoor industry. While its inception feels like impeccably good timing, CEO and founder of Gearmunk Erik Boles — who spent a decade in the tech startup world before launching into the outdoor industry as a consultant for big and small retailers — shared with Business Insider that the digital concept has been swirling around at Gearmunk for a few years.

The idea for a virtual trade show is born 5 years too soon

In 2015, Boles and his business partner attended the summer OR Show as vendors. During a late-afternoon happy hour, the conversation topic switched to sustainability. As surrounding individuals chattered about carbon footprints and eco-friendly alternatives, Boles looked around the room at the monstrously glitzy booths, trash cans filled with waste, and thousands of folks who had hopped on an airplane in order to attend the event in Salt Lake City.

"Hell yeah, let's hear it for sustainability," his business partner sarcastically commented.

In that moment, Boles made the decision: He would bring a virtual trade show to life. But, he and his team needed to wait for technology to grow into their vision first.

"Back then, it would've been a website and a Webex with video and all that, but that's not a conference — that's a webinar," Boles explained. "In the business world, we've all heard of death by webinar, so we knew that didn't make any sense."

While still in its nascent stages, virtual reality (VR) was clearly the solution. However, in 2015 the world still tiptoed around VR technology. Innovations like Google's recently announced Google Cardboard headset and Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR Inc. and their accompanying Oculus Rift headset dominated the headlines. Boles knew he didn't want to create a trade show where everyone needed headsets at their desks back home, so he and his team bided their time until virtual reality caught up with the real world.

In the meantime, Boles began creating the messaging of the future event. With experience in three successful exits, including the sale of MX Logic to McAfee/Intel, Boles understands technology. As a result, he knew the trade show needed an "ecommerce play" that empowered consumers to advocate for their brands.

Trade shows like OR Show are mainly buying shows where retailers come to see new products from brands and place orders for their store. Media is a distant second priority. While successful, Boles believes that this process allows retailers to passively influence consumer spending.

"If you walked into a retailer and asked for a water bottle, the sales guy is going to show you his favorite from the options the store has already decided to carry," Boles explained. "But what if we can help brands by spreading their message directly to the public so you walk back into that store and specifically ask for a Liberty Works water bottle?"

The Thin Air solution is to invite more people to the initial round table. At present, any type of content creator can apply for one of the 1,000 free media badges to attend the event (although not everyone will be accepted). While this includes traditional media journalists, the show is also open to folks like Instagrammers, YouTubers, bloggers, and TikTok personalities. 

This policy stands in stark contrast to OR Show, which has strict qualification standards regarding what's considered media, along with minimum traffic requirements for digital platforms. Bloggers with enough monthly pageviews can attend OR, but the guidelines exclude other social media personalities. To Boles, this is a big miss that Thin Air wants to change.

"Consumers don't trust brand voice anymore, and they haven't for a very long time," he said. "It's not 1986, and consumers know that pro athletes are paid to deliver a specific message about a product. Immediately, our BS detector goes off."

In inviting a broader range of content creators, Thin Air is doubling down on the notion that the general public knows, likes, and trusts their favorite social media personalities just as much (if not more) as they believe mainstream media or branding messaging.

Plus, Boles believes the direct-to-consumer mentality of social media is powerful. A YouTuber can sit down at their laptop immediately after the trade show and create a video about the best product they discovered, whereas print media typically has a three or four month lead time. In those months before magazines hit newsstands, Boles thinks social media can create a surge of brand loyalty that empowers consumers to publicly champion for their favorite brands — and help those who may be struggling during the current pandemic. 

At present, there's space for 400 brands to attend the show, but retailers and buyers are not allowed in an effort to continue the empowerment of the direct-to-consumer messaging.

COVID-19 presents an opportunity and need for virtual experiences

The team at Gearmunk has worked through these intricacies over the past few years. But when COVID-19 effectively closed down the country in March 2020, Boles and his team paid close attention. While he's quick to say that Thin Air is not a replacement for OR, Boles knew that brands were left in a compromising position with retailers shutting their doors. Once OR announced their cancelation, his team jumped into action in an effort to fill a need in the channel.

The Gearmunk team began true code development in early March. The company's engineers leveraged existing digital infrastructures and their working knowledge of application programming interfaces (APIs) to make Thin Air possible on a pre-existing tech platform. Who the team is leveraging remains a mystery; Gearmunk is keeping that information white labeled. But, Boles did disclose that it's a company with decades of history in the video-gaming space.

How does the virtual trade show work for attendees?

Using a customized avatar, content creators will move through the virtual convention hall by using the mouse or trackpad on their computer at home — no special gear needed. Gearmunk helps brands build out digital assets and videos for their booth, so media attendees can view the products while virtually meeting with the brand rep. 

Avatars can approach booths. Gearmunk

If they find something interesting, media can click on the digital asset to store it inside the avatar's backpack, which they can then access at home.

Attendees can browse much like a real-life trade show. Gearmunk

Thin Air is using three-dimensional spatial audio, which basically provides the same auditory environment as real life. For example, attendees will hear snippets of conversation as they pass by other avatars, but the sound will fade as they put distance between themselves and others — just like in everyday life. This audio also allows for networking as attendees can chat with others they encounter while perusing aisles. 

Avatars can interact with each other as they move from booth to booth. Gearmunk

The entire event exists in real time, too: If a vendor steps away from their computer to use the restroom, their avatar will not be available at the brand's virtual booth.  

The virtual trade show at a glance. Gearmunk

Thanks to the initial number of registrants, Gearmunk is already planning on hosting a winter show for the 2020-21 season. But until then, the team has their work cut out for them in the coming weeks. 

"In these times of economic uncertainty, we know we need to leave these brands in a better position than they were prior to the show," Boles said. "At this point, everything we're doing comes back to that so they know Thin Air is a good move."

Original author: Heather Balogh Rochfort

In early 2020, with the company under stress from Wall Street and with a demographic challenge looming as it struggled to attract new riders, Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich stepped down, replaced on an acting basis by board member Jochen Zeitz, who eventually was named CEO.Zeitz swiftly moved to replace Harley's growth strategy with a retrenchment around core products.Harley has been here before, and Zeitz's strategy — "Rewire," as he calls it — could work, but it isn't without risk.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Former Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich had an impossible job — and now no longer does, replaced earlier this year by Jochen Zeitz, onetime CEO of Puma and longtime Harley board member.

He wasted no time first as interim CEO, when on a first-quarter earnings conference call with analysts, he abruptly reversed course on Levatich's "More Roads" transformation plan.

"We've continued to move forward with the highest potential elements of More Roads, but our strategy must be reassessed," Zeitz said.

"As a result of my observations and assessment, I've concluded that we need to take significant actions and rewire the company now in terms of priorities, execution, operating model and strategy to drive sustained profit and long term growth. We're calling it The Rewire and it is our playbook for the next few months, leading to a new five-year strategic plan which we'll share when visibility to the future returns."

Soon after, the Harley board made Zeitz's appointment permanent. 

Here's what Harley's new direction means for the American icon:

Original author: Matthew DeBord

Hello!

The coronavirus has affected everything, from how we work and take care of one another, to how we shop, pay, and entertain ourselves.

To understand how the pandemic is transforming business, we recently asked 200 CEOs from a variety of industries in the US and beyond a three-part question:

How will the way you operate change because of the coronavirus? How will your industry change? And how will the world change?

You can read responses from the CEOs of companies like Walmart, AB InBev, Duke Energy, ViacomCBS, Sanofi, Zoom, PayPal, and more.

WHAT'S NEXT: 200 CEOs look into the future of business

I want to highlight three themes that appeared in many of the answer we received.

The future of work

Chief executives say the pandemic has pointed the way toward a near future of flexible work, a more relaxed work-life balance, and more inclusive cultures, Allana Akhtar reported. 

"It's difficult to draw many positives from a crisis that has had such a significant human cost and that has created such dire economic circumstances for so many families," Lee Olesky, CEO of the financial-services company Tradeweb, told Business Insider. "I hope we'll use it as an opportunity to ask some tough questions: Do we need to adjust the work-life balance? How can we make sure the most vulnerable are better protected? Are we really getting healthcare right?"

From her story:

Aaron Levie, CEO of the cloud-content-management company Box, said the company would "absolutely" shift to a more "dynamic, real-time" work style, defined by working from home and flexible work hours. Todd McKinnon, the CEO of the software company Okta, said the future of work would likely enable employees to work anywhere without sacrificing benefits like healthcare and volunteer opportunities.

You can read the full story here:

Your job is never going to be the same again

Original author: Matt Turner

Deluxe is best known for inventing the checkbook in 1915. Now, the 105-year-old company is trying to modernize with new technology and a more transparent culture. After acquiring more than 50 companies, the business was wildly fragmented, CEO Barry McCarthy said, spurring him to try to unify it using software tools from the likes of Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, Workday and SAP.The transformation process started with Salesforce, because the most pressing need was to bring all the company's customers into one single system.The new technology goes hand-in-hand with cultural changes that McCarthy has made as well, like "flattening" the management structure and granting employees shares of the company.  While the economic downturn has hit the company hard — putting some initiatives on pause — executives say they are still committed to the transformation process that's underway. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Sign up here to receive updates on all things Innovation Inc.

In 1915, W. R. Hotchkiss took out a $300 loan and started a company called Deluxe which created the first flat checkbook. About 105 years later, the Shoreview, Minnesota-based company now sells many more products and is in the process of modernizing its business for the 21st century. 

While it still prints checks, Deluxe expanded its business to include web hosting, marketing services, promotional items, payroll management tools and more, an empire its built through more than 50 acquisitions over the past decade.

The problem was, each time Deluxe bought another company it neglected to meaningfully integrate it with the rest of the company. When Barry McCarthy took the reins as CEO in late 2018, he realized that he had quite a dilemma on his hands. 

Here's the original headquarters of Deluxe, which invented the checkbook in 1915. Deluxe

"The company was operating as a company of companies, not as a company of products," McCarthy told Business Insider. "No one really understood the company. There was no integrated strategy — none of these 50 different companies were ever integrated." 

Each company used its own software tools: There were 50 different customer relationship management systems, 52 resource planning software systems, and multiple HR systems, too, McCarthy said.

Sales teams in one unit had no idea if their customers were using other Deluxe products and there was no easy way to quickly access that information. That was particularly ironic because the only thing all the entities had in common was that they were all going after the same type of customers: small businesses and financial institutions.

McCarthy knew that he had try to fix these issues, believing that if he was successful all the different units would benefit. So, over the last year and half, he's guided Deluxe through a massive transformation, upgrading its technology and revamping the culture with the aim of unification.

While the recent coronavirus crisis has hit the company hard and many of Deluxe's changes are still underway, McCarthy has reason to be optimistic that his changes are having concrete benefits: The company's revenue grew 6% between the first quarter 2018 and Q4 2019 (before the effects of the coronavirus hit), and the company is "cross-selling to our customers in a way we weren't doing before."

Partnering with Salesforce to get a "360-degree" view of customers 

McCarthy got a major wake-up call about Deluxe's disjointed customer strategy soon after he joined the company. During a meeting with one of Deluxe's largest customers — a financial institution — the CEO of that company asked him which part of Deluxe he was in charge of. It came out that the customer had a meeting planned with a sales rep for one of Deluxe's products right after McCarthy's meeting and wasn't even aware that they worked at the same company. Similarly, McCarthy and that sales rep also had no idea that they were both meeting the same customer that day. 

"The customer is telling me about business they do with my companies that I have no idea about because I'm running so many different systems," McCarthy said. "I'm blind."

This huge red flag prompted McCarthy to decide that one of his first steps would be to make sure the company had a clear picture of who its customers were and which Deluxe products they were each using. That led Deluxe to Salesforce, which touts its software's ability to give businesses a "360 degree" view of their customers.

Last July, Deluxe signed a deal with Salesforce to implement its CRM software across the entire company, which would create one massive database of all its customers instead of a bunch of separate ones. This gave Deluxe employees a single hub for customer service, direct and indirect sales, digital commerce, and marketing. 

McCarthy also hired Chris Thomas as the company's first ever chief revenue officer, tasking him with creating a new sales culture within the entire organization to go along with the back-end technology upgrades. 

Chris Thomas is Deluxe's first ever chief revenue officer. Deluxe

That included making sure every employee had a customer-focused sales mindset. During Thomas' second week at the company, his team launched a Salesforce-connected portal where anyone from across the company could submit new customers leads. Within 24 hours, they had 72 new leads come in. 

Previously, sales reps didn't have a plan for how to convince existing customers to use additional Deluxe products, but it was much easier to plan around using its new tools. He also created a forward planning culture within the sales organization. Previously, sales reps didn't have a plan for how to bring more products to existing customers (which, typically, were only using one or two of its products). 

"[It] gives us the visibility to figure out how we can help [reps] more, which we didn't have before," Thomas said.

It seems to be paying off: In the fourth quarter of last year, just four months after implementing Salesforce, Deluxe closed four of its ten largest deals in the last decade. 

The deal didn't just benefit Deluxe, either. The company become a reseller for Salesforce Essentials — a set of tools targeted towards small business — which opens up about 4.8 million small business customers of Deluxe to potentially start buying the product. Salesforce invited McCarthy to speak at its investor day and annual Dreamforce conference last year. 

Modernizing IT and navigating the coronavirus crisis 

Deluxe's technology upgrades go beyond its partnership with Salesforce though. To standardize all its different businesses, it's revamped almost every single piece of technology that it was previously using in what's become a whopping $120 million investment in its own infrastructure. 

Deluxe CIO Mike Mathews reflects that when McCarthy joined Deluxe the company became laser-focused on using technology to achieve its end goal. 

There are six areas of the company that Mathews' team has implemented new technology for: customer relationship management through Salesforce, communication through Microsoft Teams, financial planning through Anaplan, human resources through Workday, resource planning through SAP, and data management through Cloudera. 

Not all of the tools are completely new — some teams were already using older iterations — but it was key for his team to upgrade everyone to the same cloud-based versions. The company initiated all the partnerships last year and its shift to Microsoft and Workday are complete, while others are still underway.

The SAP project is the only one that's still in its very early stages: It was about 25% complete before the economic downturn spurred by the coronavirus crisis prompted Deluxe to slow down as it tries to conserve money. What was originally a 25-month process might now take between 28 and 30 months, the company expects, because some of the implementation requires consultants to work in the office, which can't be done right now due to shelter-in-place mandates. 

While Deluxe is now facing lots of uncertainty — it suspended its second-quarter and full-year guidance and warns its revenue this year may be significantly lower than previously expected — McCarthy said that its transformation plans haven't stopped. They've just slowed down. In fact, McCarthy said on the company's earnings call in early May that he believes that the new technology will help the company survive the crisis better than its older systems would have. For example, he doesn't think the company would have been able to transition to remote work as easily without tools like Teams.

It would previously have been a "herculean" effort to have the company operating remotely, CIO Mathews added: "In this moment of the COVID-19 crisis, having these robust, scalable platforms that help operate and run the company are really nice because they allow us to work from wherever we are located." 

For the sales organization in particular, using Microsoft Teams allowed CRO Thomas to send all sales reps to work remotely without "any hiccups." 

Changing the company culture

The shift to more modern technology also required a culture shift in the company, too. McCarthy wants Deluxe to operate more like a tech company, with faster decisions and processes he said.

Part of that was "flattening" the organization and getting rid of layers of bureaucracy. Initially, there were seven layers of management between McCarthy and entry level staff in offices as well as manufacturing managers and now there are only four.

McCarthy also wanted to make that every employee felt invested in the success of the overall company, rather than only the success of their own unit. Deluxe reorganized into four divisions centered around products: payments, cloud, promotional, and checks. As an added incentive to think as one team, McCarthy also gave all of Deluxe's North American employees shares of the company. 

"It changes employees from being 'just' an employee that goes to work [to], now, owners: They have a stake in the success of the company," he said. "That fundamentally changes the story and the trajectory of how people interact with the company. And, honestly, that's exactly how tech companies work."

Finally, McCarthy also reads and replies to every single email he gets from employees — though, he admits, not always on the day he gets them. 

"People think of us as the sleepy check company," McCarthy said. "Yeah we sell checks, but we are so much more than checks and so different than the check company you think we are." 

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Original author: Paayal Zaveri

Google's company culture, which became something of a Silicon Valley paradigm, has steadily become much more corporate, according to several current and former employees who say they long for the Google of days gone by."Things that worked for Google when it was a smaller company have stopped working." Employees describe blow-out TGIF sessions where leadership would talk about secret projects and encourage open discussion.But Google's TGIF sessions are now much less regular and focus on essential business. "Sundar is much more careful with his words than Larry, Sergey or Eric were," said one insider.Do you work at Google? Contact this reporter using encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).Click here to get BI Prime's weekly 'Trending' tech newsletter in your email inbox.

Google's weekly TGIF meetings were once a safe haven where employees would come together to hash out ideas, boast about their week's achievements, and air concerns about the company without fear of retaliation.

But those weekly town halls were also emblematic of a company that no longer exists, according to several current and former employees speaking to Business Insider who bemoan what has become a more "corporate" and closed company.

In November last year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the weekly TGIF meetings would be pushed back to once a month. "TGIF has traditionally provided a place to come together, share progress, and ask questions, but it's not working in its current form," he wrote in an email to employees.

The decision followed many months of growing tensions inside the company, with employees voicing grievances with leadership over issues ranging from the company's controversial military AI contract to its handling of sexual misconduct allegations.

Google's transparent workplace and endless supply of free meals were once held up as the gold standard of Silicon Valley's enviable corporate culture. Now, employees say that transparency has vanished along with TGIF, and many long for a time where Google operated much differently.

"There was this sense we were all on the same team," said one veteran employee. "I'm not saying we don't feel that way now, but it's really hard to do with more than 100,000 people."

There are 123,048 employees on the Alphabet payroll as per the company's most recent numbers. 10 years ago, it had just over 24,000.

"We know that things that worked for Google when it was a smaller company have stopped working," said another employee who has been at the company for many years, including several working under cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. "Even when the company had like 30,000 or 40,000 people it was super impressive how much trust it had in every single employee. As that grew there were instances where the trust was unwarranted"

Since going monthly, Google's TGIF meetings have also become much more formal and focused on essential business. In its most recent TGIF, held on May 7, Google CFO Ruth Porat made a rare appearance to discuss the company's Q1 earnings, but insiders say most of the focus was on updates to Google Shopping. Many employees don't tune into the sessions anymore, or choose to watch a recording at a later date.

"I think they used to work a long time ago, but I think the culture of openness and people feeling empowered to talk on what they want to, I think that hasn't been able to work as well as a large company," said one employee.

Insiders now describe a more "corporate" culture that has taken over the company that was once held up as a paradigm of creativity and transparency in Silicon Valley.

"We'd have a fairly open and transparent conversation. People would write memes, blow off a little steam, and then everyone would find a way to come together," said another insider.

"Larry and Sergey could share very confidential things. But now, people are concerned that if something is visible very widely across the company it's going to get out."

'We were waking up each morning expecting someone to have written about it'

When Sundar Pichai announced the end of weekly TGIFs, he als0 mentioned a "coordinated effort" to leak the contents of the meetings, which was happening more frequently. The most significant leak came in 2018 where an employee sent the conservative news site Breitbart a video of an all-hands meeting held shortly after the 2016 election.

Breitbart used the leaked footage of the meeting, which featured Brin, Page, Porat, and Pichai, to try to demonstrate political bias among Google's top brass. Plans for Google to supply the military with AI technology (Project Maven) and re-enter the Chinese search market (Project Dragonfly), both of which were abandoned, were also leaked, and in 2018 the cracks in Google's culture were showing.

Troy Wolverton/Business Insider

The situation reflects the deeply politicized society that now Google operates in, and the increasingly central role its technology occupies in some of the most divisive issues.

Even as details about the internal military and China search projects were leaking, Google employees continued to keep less politically-charged but equally sensational projects under wraps. 

In the months before Google revealed its showstopping Duplex AI project at I/O in May 2018 for example, insiders say that employees throughout the company were using the program's voice-based restaurant reservation abilities. The Googlers were "dogfooding" the Duplex technology – a common practice where employees test a feature before it's made public.

"We were waking up each morning expecting someone to have written about it, and they hadn't," said one employee who was testing the software. "It was exposed to every employee, and yet it didn't get out."

Google has slowly drifted away from its previous cultural touchstones, such as its "Don't Be Evil" motto and the once ubiquitous 20% time for employee pet projects, which insiders say still exists but in a different form where employees will usually help out on other existing projects rather than starting something from scratch.

But sources say 2018 was the tipping point when Google's culture changed irrevocably. 

Google grappled with several major controversies and a company-wide employee walkout that year. In 2019 Sergey and Larry stopped attending TGIF sessions altogether, which employees say was an obvious sign that 2018 had shifted the company's culture.

"Sundar is much more careful with his words"

Under Pichai, there's less room for the candid and freewheeling internal culture of old, a change that some insiders acknowledge was not unreasonable for a company of Google's size.

"Sundar is much more careful with his words than Larry, Sergey or Eric were," said another Google employee. "I saw my fair share of events where Larry, Sergey or Eric would say say something that would give Kent [Walker, Google's chief legal officer] heartburn."

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai AP

The TGIF meetings are just one of the ways Google communicates with employees. Right now, a lot of the internal messaging comes through emails or posts on Google's internal network, Moma.

One tool inside Moma is Memegen, a meme generator where employees anonymously create funny pictures often skewering the company and leadership. When everything else inside the company can feel in flux, Memegen is the one constant that employees still turn to in order to blow off steam.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin are now essentially checked out of Google, although they are still directors on the Alphabet board. As for Google's TGIF sessions, employees now post questions ahead of time and others can vote on the ones they want to prioritize. 

But employees say the breakdown in regular face-to-face meetings has created a distance between leadership and employees that some are unhappy about. "I think the TGIF change was bad for the company," said one insider. "It really silences calls for accountability at the top. Leaders need to take the hard questions."

Weekly meetings are still held for certain regions and parts of the organization, but employees who have been at the company for many years say they miss the weekly rough-and-tumble sessions that gave Google its identity.

"Sergey and Larry were the beating heart of TGIF for a long time," said one long-time employee. "In hindsight, it's obvious to see that once they stopped attending, TGIF would slowly wither away."

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Original author: Hugh Langley

The highly anticipated Tesla Cybertruck isn't set to go into production until late 2021, but in the meantime, artists have been reimagining the electric truck in different and creative ways.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the highly anticipated truck in November, saying the Cybertruck could be "completely adaptable for your needs."

In line with this adaptability, Tesla also teased its own rendering of the Cybertruck as a "Cybercamper" with a pull-out kitchen and pop-top roof, a popular campervan feature.

Now, artists and designers who are not affiliated with the electric vehicle maker have capitalized on the infamous geometric look to create their own renderings of the Cybertruck in different iterations, such as an RV-base, racecar, and military transport.

Keep scrolling to see the Cybertruck dreamed into different uses:

Original author: Brittany Chang

A new group of electric-vehicle startups is preparing to release their debut vehicles in the coming years.But most electric-vehicle startups will go out of business within the next three years due to manufacturing issues, according to Henrik Fisker, CEO of the electric-vehicle startup Fisker Inc.Production challenges nearly put Tesla out of business, but the electric-car maker is beginning to overcome them.Do you work for an electric-vehicle company? Do you have an opinion on how your company or the industry as a whole will handle the fallout from the coronavirus? Email this reporter at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also reach out on Signal at 646-768-4712 or email this reporter's encrypted address at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A new wave of electric-vehicle startups is preparing to release their first vehicles in the coming years. Rivian will challenge Ford's F-150 with its R1T electric pickup truck, Lucid says it can top Tesla's Model S with its Air luxury sedan, and Canoo wants to do away with car ownership with its eponymous, subscription-only vehicle that resembles a futuristic minivan.

But, according to Henrik Fisker, CEO of the electric-vehicle startup Fisker Inc., most of the new companies planning to take on Tesla will go under within the next three years as they struggle with manufacturing.

"A majority of the new EV startups will disappear over the next 24-30 months, as they have focused on manufacturing, and they will take too long to learn this highly complex, difficult area," Fisker told Business Insider. "They will not be given enough runway to do trial-and-error. Further, the next wave of EV buyers will have less patience for initial poor build quality and lack of reliability."

Automotive manufacturing is complex and expensive, requiring high fixed costs and the careful assembly of thousands of parts made by different suppliers. Tesla, the only surviving member of an earlier generation of electric-vehicle startups that included Fisker's Fisker Automotive, struggled with manufacturing for years.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric-car maker nearly went bankrupt trying to fix issues with the production of its Model 3 sedan in 2018. But Tesla has begun to turn a corner on manufacturing, as it launched its newest vehicle, the Model Y SUV, months ahead of schedule and built a new factory in Shanghai in less than a year.

Some of Tesla's new competitors, like Nio and Canoo, are outsourcing production to other companies, while others, like Rivian and Fisker, will handle production themselves. Fisker Inc. plans to release its first vehicle, the Ocean SUV, in 2022.

Electric-vehicle startups will not be the only auto companies that fail in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fisker said. As manufacturing scale and attractive pricing become more important, some automakers and suppliers that make gas-powered cars will also go by the wayside.

"The automotive industry will never look the same again, there is no 'back to normal,'" Fisker said. "Value for money will be a focus for a much higher percentage of buyers than ever before, combined with increased awareness of sustainability."

Do you work for an electric-vehicle company? Do you have an opinion on how your company or the industry as a whole will handle the fallout from the coronavirus? Email this reporter at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also reach out on Signal at 646-768-4712 or email this reporter's encrypted address at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Original author: Mark Matousek

The share of searches per million for the programming language COBOL on the job site Indeed grew 707% during the coronavirus crisis. While job seekers are interested in the language — largely used for programming massive mainframe computers — the share of job postings per million that mention the term "COBOL" has only increased 6.47% since January. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy catapulted the language into the national spotlight when he made an urgent call for COBOL programmers to help the state's systems deal with the massive flood of unemployment claims resulting from the pandemic.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Job seekers' interest in a vintage programming language has spiked in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, but the number of jobs requiring those skills hasn't caught up. 

Searches for the 61-year-old programming language COBOL on the job site Indeed skyrocketed a stunning 707% from March 1 to April 13, making it one of the fastest growing search terms ever on the site.

Created way back in 1959 under the authorization of the Department of Defense, the "Common Business-Oriented Language" was designed for business, finance, and administrative systems powered by mainframe computers from the likes of IBM or Hitachi. As PCs have replaced massive mainframes and developers turn to more modern languages, COBOL has largely phased out, although it still underpins some legacy systems, particularly in finance and government. In fact, IBM says that its Z series of mainframes, which run COBOL, are still used in 70% of the Fortune 100. 

The language was catapulted into the national spotlight last month when New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy made an urgent call for COBOL programmers to help the state deal with the mounting unemployment claims flooding its mainframe systems. Many state unemployment systems still run on COBOL and they're straining under the massive influx of new claims. 

"Some states were having a spike in demand in terms of the skills they needed," Barry Baker, vice president of IBM Z Software, told Business Insider. 

Still, while job seeker interest in COBOL has soared, the actual number of new jobs requiring those skills hasn't increased at the same pace pace, at least on Indeed. The share of job postings that mention the term "COBOL" has only increased 6.47% since January. 

Cybersecurity consultant Joseph Steinberg says both working and retired programmers may "sense an opportunity" in COBOL  because of recent news around states desperately needing programmers. However, the rate of growth for COBOL jobs will likely stay low because most work is related to maintaining existing systems, rather than creating new systems, he said. 

"As COBOL systems are replaced with more modern alternatives, COBOL coding jobs are lost and replaced with other types of jobs," Steinberg told Business Insider.

Brandon Edenfield, director of app modernization at Advanced Company subsidiary Modern Systems, also points out that companies aren't using COBOL unless they have to because of legacy systems.

"Companies are not selecting COBOL as a language of choice for the future," Edenfield told Business Insider. "Therefore, it seems logical that there is not going to be 'growth' in that market.  At best, we may have a short-term stagnation as opposed to decrease in the market for these programmers, as some retire and then others fill those slots."

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy who thrust COBOL into the national consciousness. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Despite the surge in new interest, experts don't expect many young people to focus on that language: 

"If you think about kids in college or in grad school today, they want to code things that are new," Steinberg said. "The unemployment system in New Jersey does not look like this cool system. They want to do things that are visual, that interact with people."

These days, universities rarely teach COBOL, instead focusing on newer and more versatile languages like Python, JavaScript, and C++. To fill the gap in knowledge for its own systems, IBM has taken up the reins: It's introduced its own initiatives to teach students how to program in COBOL and has worked with 205 companies to connect them to mainframe talent.

Still, retiring full-time employees often aren't replaced, which has led to companies increasingly relying on consultants for COBOL fixes. 

While full-time COBOL jobs do still exist, the salaries are below average for the programming industry overall. The average base salary for a COBOL developer is $74,911, according to Glassdoor while the average base pay for a software engineer using more modern languages is $92,046 (and it's common for Silicon Valley engineers to rack up six-figure salaries, too). 

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Original author: Rosalie Chan

Chinese police, health staff, and transport workers have been using smart helmets to monitor people for high temperatures in the fight against COVID-19.The helmets are made by Chinese firm KC Wearable and use thermal imaging to take people's temperatures at a distance of around two meters.The helmets are now popping up across the world, and the company told BI they are being rolled out to police in Italy and Dubai, with other Western governments showing interest.Experts say thermal scanning can be a good way to measure for fever, but question how effective such measures would be as some people affected by COVID-19 are asymptomatic and won't run a temperature.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The video starts with appropriately menacing music. On the left is a motionless police officer, face hidden by an outsized helmet with a camera mounted on top. On the right is the live feed from the helmet itself, showing people walking around in face masks. A number displays above their heads as they move around — their live body temperature, as captured by the helmet's infrared camera.

This is a YouTube video advertising the wares of KC Wearable, one of many Chinese companies pushing futuristic surveillance tech to keep track of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Its KC N901 smart helmet is equipped with an ARM processor, an augmented reality display screen, an infrared camera, and a visible light camera. According to device specifications seen by Business Insider, the wearer can detect the temperature, to within 0.3 degrees Celsius, of passers-by within around two meters.

 

A law enforcement officer wearing the helmet could do any of the following: Measure the temperature of a specific individual; measure the temperatures of people passing by in larger crowds; scan a person's QR code for personal data; recognize license plates; spot people in the dark; or recognize people using facial recognition.

Any information captured is stored on the helmet itself, the company says.

According to KC Wearable's global chief, Dr Jie Guo, more than 1,000 helmets are already in use across China. One unnamed country, she said, has ordered hundreds of helmets and more international deals are coming. The helmets cost between $5,000 to $7,000 per unit.

She added that customers put in early orders for samples, tested the devices out, and then put in larger orders.

The company says it has sent helmets to Italy's carabinieri military police and to the Dutch government for testing. Police are also using the devices in Dubai.

A police officer wears a smart helmet as he uses it to test the temperature of workers during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates April 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Business Insider approached the Italian embassy and the Dutch government for comment. Neither responded, but an Italian user on Reddit spotted an armed guard sporting the helmets outside Milan's cathedral this month.

Asked about the accuracy of the helmet's temperature scanning, Dr Guo said precision was "96%" and that the company had conducted extensive tests. 

Italian police using KC Wearable's smart helmets in Milan. Reddit

Dr Guo told Business Insider: "Government authorities and some private buyers are using the helmets. In China, local policemen, nurses, security guards, and people [staffing] checking points at metro stations are all using the helmets."

She added that the devices were flexible. "In many places, they use fixed infrared cameras, but our helmets can be used with higher flexibility, adaptability — it can be worn or put on a tripod."

If a helmet on temperature-scanning mode detects someone nearby with a fever, an alarm goes off.

"It gives a warning to the user directly," said Dr Guo. 

Experts are skeptical about how helpful temperature scanning will be.

Professor Davey Jones of Bangor University, who led a research project into the spread of COVID-19, pointed to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which fumbled its response as the coronavirus spread through the vessel, infecting around 700 people and killing eight.

"At least 25% of the [ship's] population had no symptoms whatsoever, so clearly they're not running a temperature," he said. "So you end up missing a huge percentage of these people and they are still shedding the virus."

Professor Jones added that people could be running a temperature for a number of other reasons, such as going through the menopause. "That leads to a whole bunch of false positives," he said.

Dr Chris Wright, a medical doctor and expert in thermal imaging at the University of Exeter, said temperature scanning could be useful "if done correctly."

The most precise way of taking someone's temperature is via the inner corner of the eye, he said.

"The person needs to face the camera squarely because the reading will be affected by angle," he told BI via email. "Also, distance is key. Too close and the reading will be overtly affected by the camera operator, too far away, and sensitivity is lost."

For scanning in clinical settings, Dr Wright added, you need a high-resolution camera. He pointed us to one example he uses, a FLIR device, which has a resolution of 640 x 480. That compares to the smart helmet's infrared camera resolution of 384 x 288.

Such devices, he argued, can be useful at airports, supermarkets,  or even at entrances to doctors' surgeries, as long as they use a high-resolution camera.

The idea has been mooted before, Dr Wright said, pointing to airports using thermal scanning during the SARS outbreak in Asia, but there are questions over how effective that was.

A study published by Eurosurveillance in February concluded: "Airport screening is unlikely to detect a sufficient proportion of 2019-nCoV [coronavirus] infected travelers to avoid entry of infected travelers."

"It will identify some high-temperature cases but sensitivity will be poor," Dr Wright cautioned.

There are also questions about who should be wearing these helmets, and what they should do once an alarm is triggered.

Dr Wright continued: "Clearly as a policeman, distance is a problem if you need to arrest someone, but never do without wearing a mask and gloves. Is it really up to the police to identify people with a temperature?"

While countries such as Singapore and China have deployed everything from robot dogs to drone spies to monitor the population, most citizens in Europe are unused to being tracked in this way.

Dr Guo argued that some alterations to normal life is to be expected.

"I think we may need to make some [short-term] adjustments to our lives, not only to protect ourselves but to protect others' lives," she said. "[T]his isn't one person's responsibility, it's everybody's responsibility. Protect ourselves, and protect others."

Original author: Shona Ghosh

Los Angeles-based music fintech Stem is providing up to $100 million in advances to musicians and artists who can't tour due to the coronavirus. The company, whose investors include record exec Scooter Braun, received requests for $18 million in advances just 24 hours after launching. "We're building financial tools for an underserved part of the population, people don't think musicians have this issue, but in fact it's where gig economy comes from," Milana Rabkin-Lewis, CEO and cofounder of Stem, told Business Insider in an interview. " Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Los Angeles-based music fintech Stem is advancing up to $100 million in advances to musicians and artists who can't tour due to the coronavirus. 

The company, whose investors include record exec Scooter Braun, received requests for $18 million in advances just 24 hours after launching.

Stem's offering, Scale, provides advances to artists based on their projected earnings from four to 18 months into the future and expects that the company's $100 million fund will be deployed far faster than expected due to coronavirus. 

"We're building financial tools for an underserved part of the population, people don't think musicians have this issue, but in fact it's where [the term] gig economy comes from," Milana Rabkin-Lewis, CEO and cofounder of Stem, told Business Insider in an interview. "People think there's nothing in the middle from superstardom to starving artist, but we want to prove there is a middle ground and that you can build a sustainable business as a musician."

Stem's decision to provide $100 million to artists is double that of a similar fund from Apple, which launched a $50 million scheme to support independent artists in April.

Rabkin-Lewis says her company's offering is helping to provide monthly assistance to musicians, many of whom are failed by a lack of infrastructure in the industry.  

One way the company does this is through helping commercially successful artists release their music independently by removing the need to pay out songwriting and producer credits, and label cuts. One such example was multi Grammy award winning artist Chance the Rapper who worked with Stem to release his music through Apple and Spotify. 

Chance the Rapper Christopher Polk / Getty Images

Unsurprisingly, with much of the world on lockdown and with it thousands of events canceled, traditional income streams for musicians have been limited. The touring industry, worth approximately $130 billion a year, has been decimated by the coronavirus and if the industry does return it will come back in a "different way," according to Rabkin Lewis. 

It's part of a journey that saw touring evolve from being a vehicle to sell records, to a major income source for artists with streaming effectively demolishing the value of individual songs and albums.

As a result, five-year-old Stem works with independent artists to not only help financially but also assist with digital marketing strategies and help them think more critically about growing their fanbase globally. 

Clients beyond Chance the Rapper include Frank Ocean and Childish Gambino, who rely on the startup to get paid.

Another important distinction, for Rabkin-Lewis, is that despite much of the venture capital industry being skeptical of the world of music in the wake of Napster, those who are involved see great value in the sector. Many smaller investors in the platform include Mark Cuban, whose involvement is minimal according to Stem, Mark Gillespie (Calvin Harris' manager), Bradford Cobb (Katy Perry's manager), and Savan Kotecha (a songwriter for Arianna Grande and The Weekend). 

Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic will change the music industry but Stem hopes that its platform will offer a real alternative to artists going forward. 

Original author: Callum Burroughs

Cruise, the self-driving car firm owned by General Motors, is culling around 8% of its workforce.According to Bloomberg, which first reported the news, the move is aimed at cutting costs amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.Cruise, which has previously raised money from SoftBank's Vision Fund, is thought to have made the cuts across its recruiting, design, product, and business strategy teams."The actions we took today reflect us doubling down on our engineering work and engineering talent," a Cruise spokesman told The Verge.Several other firms in the autonomous vehicle sector have made cuts during the coronavirus pandemic, including Zoox, Velodyne, and Starship Technologies.Cruise did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Cruise, the self-driving car firm owned by General Motors, is culling around 8% of its workforce.

According to Bloomberg, which first reported the news, the move is aimed at cutting costs amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Cruise, which has previously raised money from SoftBank's Vision Fund, reportedly made the cuts across its recruiting, design, product, and business strategy teams. The number of workers culled totals around 150.

A Cruise spokesman was bullish regarding the cuts, telling The Verge that "the actions we took today reflect us doubling down on our engineering work and engineering talent."

The Cruise news follows a depressingly familiar pattern, with several other firms in the autonomous vehicle sector having made staff cuts during the coronavirus pandemic. These firms include including Zoox, Velodyne, Kodiak Robotics and Starship Technologies.

The firm's fleet of self-driving cars has not been in use since March, though some of its vehicles have since been put to use delivering food to food banks in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Cruise did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Original author: Charlie Wood