Google Cloud has canceled its biggest event of the year over coronavirus concerns.Google Cloud Next was set to be held in San Francisco in April. The company said it planned to replace the in-person conference with "streamed keynotes, breakout sessions, interactive learning and digital 'ask an expert' sessions with Google teams."
In a statement, Google Cloud said: "The health and well-being of Google Cloud partners, customers, employees and the overall community is our top priority. Due to the growing concern around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in alignment with the best practices laid out by the CDC, WHO, and other relevant entities, Google Cloud has decided to reimagine Google Cloud Next '20, which will still take place from April 6-8."Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google Cloud has canceled its biggest annual conference because of coronavirus concerns.

Google Cloud Next was supposed to take place in San Francisco from April 6 to 8. Last year, the conference had over 30,000 attendees. This year, Google Cloud will instead make its conference digital through "streamed keynotes, breakout sessions, interactive learning and digital 'ask an expert' sessions with Google teams."

"The health and well-being of Google Cloud partners, customers, employees and the overall community is our top priority. Due to the growing concern around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in alignment with the best practices laid out by the CDC, WHO, and other relevant entities, Google Cloud has decided to reimagine Google Cloud Next '20, which will still take place from April 6-8," a Google Cloud spokesperson said in a statement.

Participants who were registered for the conference will be automatically registered for the digital conference at no charge, and conference tickets will be refunded.

The cancellation highlights how COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has been causing disruption for major tech companies as it continues to spread across the globe. The outbreak has infected more than 88,000 people and killed more than 2,900, mostly in China. US health officials warned last week that a COVID-19 outbreak in the US is inevitable.

Last week, Google confirmed that an employee who was in the company's Zurich office tested positive for the coronavirus. It also restricted employee travel to Italy, Iran, Japan, and South Korea. Major tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter are also taking similar measures by restricting travel, asking employees to work remotely, and limiting on-site interviews.

Google Cloud's announcement follows the cancellations of other high-profile conferences this month. Facebook and Workday canceled their annual conferences. Likewise, Mobile World Congress, the largest trade show for mobile phones, was canceled, and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco was also postponed. Over 20,000 people have signed a petition to cancel the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, over coronavirus fears.

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Original author: Rosalie Chan

Waymo announced its first-ever outside funding round on Monday — $2.25 billion.Waymo CEO said that the round was an "initial" funding, with potentially more to come, and that a spinofff from Alphabet was "certainly a possibility in the future."The round was led by investors Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company, the company said.Waymo didn't announce a valuation for the company based on the round.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On Monday, Waymo announced its first-ever outside funding round — $2.25 billion led by Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company, the company said in a statement.

Waymo added that Magna International, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation, and Waymo's holding company, Alphabet, joined the round.

"We've always approached our mission as a team sport, collaborating with our OEM and supplier partners, our operations partners, and the communities we serve to build and deploy the world's most experienced driver," Waymo CEO John Krafcik said in a statement.

"Today, we're expanding that team, adding financial investors and important strategic partners who bring decades of experience investing in and supporting successful technology companies building transformative products. With this injection of capital and business acumen, alongside Alphabet, we'll deepen our investment in our people, our technology, and our operations, all in support of the deployment of the Waymo Driver around the world."

On a conference call with reporters after the announcement, Krafcik define the round as "initial" and said that there had been follow-up interest from other investors. He also said that a Waymo spinoff from Alphabet was "certainly a possibility in the future for us."

Waymo didn't announce a valuation tied to the funding round, and Krafcik decline to reveal one when asked on the call. He noted that Waymo's access to Alphabet's technological resources represented a significant advantage. And he said that Waymo was enthusiastic about partnering with companies such as Magna.

The company, formed in 2016 from what had been called the Google Car project, launched its Waymo One ride-sharing service in Arizona in 2018.

Waymo's focus has been on developing a versatile "driver" — a combination of hardware and software — that it put into everything from an electric taxi to a semi truck. After Monday's announcement, Krafcik stressed that aspect of Waymo's mission.

"We're not a self-driving car company," Krafcik said. "We're building drivers."

Original author: Matthew DeBord

Purell hand sanitizer is currently sold out from its brand storefront page on Amazon as coronavirus fears mount. All Purell products are currently listed as "unavailable," while a disclaimer next to each of the products states "we don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."Select Purell items can be purchased on the site using a third-party seller, some of which are charging upwards of $119 for a pack of two eight-ounce bottles. "We have experienced several demand surges in the past during other outbreaks — and this is on the higher end of the spectrum but not unprecedented," a spokesperson for Purell parent company Gojo said in a statement shared with Business Insider. "We have added shifts and have team members working overtime – in accordance with our plans for situations like this."Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Purell hand sanitizer is currently sold out on Amazon as fear over the spread of coronavirus grows in the US. 

As of Monday afternoon, every Purell product on the brand's Amazon storefront was sold out, with items ranging from bulk travel minis to individual 12-ounce bottles listed as "currently unavailable." A disclaimer next to each of these products reads "we don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

While select Purell products on the site are available, they can only be purchased through third-party sellers, several of which have dramatically raised prices to meet skyrocketing demand. 

In one case, we found a single eight-ounce bottle of Purell selling for $29, not including shipping and tax, through the vendor TCH Solutions. In another, a two-pack is going for $119.99 via Deals Broker USA. 

Amazon

The Amazon shortage comes as Purell products continue to fly off the shelves of major retailers and drugstores around the country. According to a representative for Gojo Industries, parent company of Purell, the team has "significantly" increased production to account for the spike in demand.  

"We have experienced several demand surges in the past during other outbreaks — and this is on the higher end of the spectrum but not unprecedented," Gojo spokeswoman Samantha Williams said in a statement shared with Business Insider. "We have added shifts and have team members working overtime – in accordance with our plans for situations like this."

Further, Williams said, Gojo is in "constant communication with Amazon and working to meet their needs as well as our many distributor partners." 

A representative for Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment .

Original author: Bethany Biron

The effects of technology and prolonged screen time on children have been widely discussed and contested by experts and parents alike.Tech moguls like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates raised their children mostly tech-free. Other execs, like Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, strictly limit their children's' screen time throughout the week. Here is how seven of the world's most notable tech executives limit their children's contact with technology.  Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In a world that relies on technology more and more every day, it can be difficult for adults to set healthy boundaries for their children. 

In 2019, after the World Health Organization released guidelines dictating that children aged 5 and under should have no more than one hour of screen time a day, the debate over how parents should monitor their kids' exposure to tech intensified. 

Even tech moguls themselves have called into question the effects of excess screen time on developing brains. Pioneers like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have said they had strict boundaries on technology when raising their kids, and they've cautioned parents about letting children spend too much time in front of a screen. 

Other CEOs, like Google's Sundar Pichai, impose strict limits on their children's use of technology at home.

From digital curfews to banning devices at the dinner table, here is a list of how seven tech giants raise their kids with little to no technology.

Original author: Canela López

Reuters

Investors looking to buy the dip amid coronavirus volatility should shift cash to internet stocks, UBS analysts said Friday.The outbreak has driven spikes in the usage of online streaming, tutoring, and medical consultation services, and the risk of increased time indoors could further boost the sector, according to the bank.The sector faces risks from antitrust regulation around big tech firms and connections to the travel industry, the bank warned.UBS recommends exposure to the Nasdaq Internet Index, which includes stakes in Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, and other household names.Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

Internet stocks offer "some relief" for investors with little appetite for coronavirus risks, analysts at UBS wrote Friday. 

US stocks posted a strong rebound Monday, ending a streak of losses that pushed indices deep into correction territory through the end of February. Yet some experts are calling the relief rally premature and warning investors to stay defensive until more is known of the coronavirus outbreak's trajectory. The epidemic remains a dire source of volatility for risk assets, and Treasury bonds' record-low yields make it more expensive than ever to park cash in the popular safe-haven.

The growing risk of coronavirus becoming a pandemic is weighing on investors' desire to stay exposed to stocks, but the recent sell-off presents an alluring opportunity in internet equities, according to UBS. The heightened market volatility reminded the bank's analysts "of the power of the internet," and the chance for new quarantine orders in the near term could boost usage of popular online services, UBS said.

The team pointed to recent spikes in the use of online medical consultation, tutoring, and streaming services since the outbreak began. The Nasdaq Internet Index - which includes internet giants such as Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon - grants investors exposure to a diverse set of firms that could gain from populations spending more time indoors, UBS said.

"We view the recent market sell-off as an attractive entry point, and the stay-at-home nature of the companies offer some shelter relative to the broader market," the team of analysts wrote.

The index's biggest risk is its holding of travel-related firms, the team added, as the sector remains under considerable pressure from the epidemic. Major airlines swiftly halted travel to and from heavily afflicted regions in recent weeks, and further expansion of the outbreak could drag further on travel and tourism companies.

UBS also alerted clients to the latent risk that the biggest companies in tech remain under regulatory scrutiny for data privacy controversies and antitrust concerns. Calls from lawmakers and Democratic presidential candidates to break up big tech firms have prompted some worry around whether the household names will stay the same if a regulation-friendly administration takes office.

The bank remains positive on the sector despite fresh regulatory stresses. Shifting cash to internet companies before markets resume their bullish climb gives investors "one way to gain equity exposure to the pockets of the market that are well," UBS said.

The Nasdaq Internet Index gained 2.7% in Monday's trading session.

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

GOLDMAN SACHS: Commodities markets are facing their biggest demand shock since the financial crisis

Why a coronavirus-driven recession would be a unique beast - and why the normal playbook might not work

The 5-step guide to transitioning from a full-time job to freelancing - from a career coach who made the shift herself

Original author: Ben Winck

Robinhood, the trading app popular with millennials, experienced a major outage on Monday that locked out iOS, Android, and web users for nearly the entire day of trading.The outage came just as the market rebounded from one of the worst weeks since the financial crisis.Robinhood users are furious — and some are demanding the company reimburse them for the day of missed trading.Robinhood emailed users at close saying it's "working as hard as we can to resume service."Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A service outage took Robinhood offline for nearly the entire day of trading on Monday — and furious users of the commission-free trading app say it couldn't have come at a worse time.

People were locked out of Robinhood's iOS, Android, and web apps from Monday morning through the close of trading in the afternoon, according to Robinhood's status site.

The company said it began investigating a "system-wide outage" shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. By 11:30 a.m., Robinhood said that it had identified the problem and that "a fix is being implemented," but all its trading services were still experiencing major outages by the time trading closed at 4 p.m.

Robinhood sent an email to its users at close stating that it was "working as hard as we can to resume service."

While Robinhood was offline, the market was rebounding from one of the worst weeks since the 2008 financial crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average rose over 1,294 points on Monday — its biggest point gain ever — after falling by more than 3,500 points last week as fears about the coronavirus outbreak swirled.

People on Twitter and the Robinhood subreddit voiced frustration and anger as they watched the market climb without being able to access Robinhood trading on Monday.

By Monday afternoon, a Twitter account called "Robinhood Class Action" had been created and gained over 1,500 followers. The account's bio said it was "building a case against Robinhood for their negligence and late open on March 2."

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

The company has run afoul of federal authorities in the past — in December it was hit with $1.25 million in fines by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over concerns that it didn't give its users the best deals on their trades.

Original author: Aaron Holmes

To delete your Gmail account, navigate to the "Data & Personalization" tab in Gmail.Deleting your Gmail only deletes your email and the data associated with it, not your Google Account itself.It might be a good idea to download any data that you don't want to lose when you delete your Gmail account, like important emails.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you made a Gmail account that you no longer want, whether it was an account made for a business you no longer have or was created when you were thirteen and only receives spam emails, you may find yourself wanting to delete it. 

When you delete a Gmail address, you don't delete the Google account associated with it. 

However, deleting the Gmail address itself means that neither you nor anyone else can still send or receive mail at that address. So, make sure you're absolutely sure of your decision before you decide to delete your Gmail account. 

If you're certain you want to do it, here's how to delete a Gmail account.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

MacBook Pro (From $1,299.99 at Best Buy)

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 (From $699.99 at Best Buy)

How to delete your Gmail account

1. Open the Gmail account that you want to delete on your PC or Mac computer.

2. Click on your profile icon in the top-right corner to open your account menu.

3. From your account menu, click "Manage your Google Account."

Original author: Melanie Weir

You can easily add a location on your Instagram story if you want to let viewers know where you are.The location you add to your Instagram story can be a specific place like a restaurant, museum, or landmark or more general like a town or city.Once added to your Instagram Story, you cannot remove the location tag without also deleting the Story.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Using Instagram Stories is a great way to update your followers with photos and videos you want to share but don't want to post on your main feed since they expire within 24 hours. 

You can even add your location to your Story by utilizing the app's in-built geotagging feature, letting viewers know where you are. 

Whether you want to show your appreciation for a particular restaurant or landmark or you simply want it to be known that you're on vacation in Paris or Bali, adding your location to your Instagram story is quick and easy. 

Here's how to do it. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Best Buy)

Samsung Galaxy S10 (From $899.99 at Best Buy)

How to add a location on an Instagram story 

1. Open Instagram on your smartphone or tablet's home screen by tapping on the app icon. 

2. Swipe left from your Instagram feed to open the Story screen. 

3. Either take a photo or video or select one from your device's library that you want to post to your Story.

4. In the upper right-hand corner of your screen, tap the icon that looks like a smiling face inside a Post-It note to reveal a list of options. 

Tap the smiley face post-it icon to add a location. Jennifer Still/Business Insider

5. Tap "Location." 

Tap "Location." Jennifer Still/Business Insider

6. Either choose a nearby location from the automatically generated location lists or type in the location you wish to tag, then tap to select. 

Choose your location. Jennifer Still/Business Insider

7. Adjust the location tag where you want it to appear on the Story. 

You can move the location tag around or adjust its size. Jennifer Still/Business Insider

8. Tap "Your story" to post.

Original author: Jennifer Still

Business Insider is planning to publish a list of the top people who are shaping the future of TV advertising.We're looking for a variety of big names and behind-the-scenes people who are leading everything from over-the-top TV to measurement and new ad formats.The list will include a mix of marketers, agencies, media companies, adtech companies and platforms.Please fill out a nomination form by March 6.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories and lists.

The TV advertising business is in a major flux.

As consumers cut the cord and move to streaming services, advertisers are navigating a plethora of platforms that are trying to get a piece of the $70 billion TV industry.

Advertisers are working to balance their spending on linear TV with digital video. Publishers like HBO and NBC are moving into ad-supported streaming that rivals Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. And adtech companies are racing to build the pipes needed to flood platforms like Hulu, Roku and Pluto TV with ads.

Business Insider is planning to publish a list of the top people who are shaping the future of TV advertising, whether by pioneering new ad formats, improving measurement, or testing new ways to buy ads. We're looking for big names as well as under-the-radar people from marketers, agencies, and platforms.

We will consider criteria including the person's role, responsibility, and influence.

The list will be determined by Business Insider's own reporting in addition to the nominations that we receive.

Please fill out this nomination form by March 6. We will aim to publish the list in March.

Original author: Lauren Johnson

You can delete your Amazon Prime Video history by accessing your "Watch history" in your video settings.To do so, you'll have to sign into your Amazon account on your computer.You may not want a TV show or movie used for recommendations if it's something you weren't a fan of or if it's a show a friend or family member watched on your account.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Whether it's a talked-about movie you ended up hating or a TV show your sister binge-watched on your account, you may want to remove some items from your Amazon watch list.

Removing content from your account can ensure that they aren't used in the algorithm for your recommendations.

To remove a video, you'll have to access your "Watch history" list in your Prime Video settings online. Unfortunately, there is no option to remove the entire list, and you'll have to scroll through and individually remove a show or check the box stating "I prefer not to use this for recommendations."

Here's how to do it. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

MacBook Pro (From $1,299.99 at Best Buy)

Lenovo IdeaPad 130 (From $299.99 at Best Buy)

How to delete your Prime Video watch history

1. Access the Amazon website on your Mac or PC. Log in if you haven't already.

2. Click the three bars in the upper-left hand corner next to the Amazon Prime logo. This will open a menu.

3. Click "Prime Video" followed by "Prime Video" again.

Original author: Marissa Perino

The hybrid cloud acts as a funnel for Microsoft's Azure cloud business, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said.Microsoft offers a benefit to convert Windows Server and SQL Server customers to its cloud.One-third of them are starting to use Azure, she said.The hybrid cloud is key in the cloud race — and so is converting Windows Server and SQL Server customers, which Microsoft rivals, including Amazon Web Services, are also trying to do.Click here to read more BI Prime stories.

While companies are increasingly moving to the cloud, many still have a need for computing on-site on their own servers or data centers. This mix is often called the "hybrid cloud" — and Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said it acts as a funnel for the company's Azure public-cloud business, the leading rival to Amazon's cloud dominance.

Microsoft offers its customers what it calls an Azure Hybrid Benefit, which is intended to convert customers who have licenses to use Windows Server and SQL Server, two of Microsoft's flagship traditional-server products, to the Azure cloud. 

One-third of the customers who have that benefit available have started to take advantage, Hood said on Monday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.

She described it as "a funnel of opportunity for us, with customers who are already committed to our platform, to convert and help them start projects and be successful with Azure as the most cost-effective platform for them."

The hybrid cloud is key as Microsoft seeks to upend Amazon Web Services, the market leader. Microsoft, according to analysts, is "uniquely positioned" to get future cloud business because of its "best-in-class hybrid cloud offerings."

Microsoft's hybrid cloud

Microsoft thinks of itself as a hybrid-cloud pioneer.

"The reality that compute will need to exist at the edge and in the cloud ... is a reality that now people are beginning to see," Hood said on Monday. "We've been architecting that way from the beginning."

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has repeatedly said the company's cloud was designed around the idea that the cloud will work in tandem with devices at the "edge," meaning devices that process data locally, instead of off-site in the cloud. Self-driving cars, security cameras, and heavy industry robotics will have a need for not only powerful onboard processors but also the ability to tap into megaclouds like Azure for the more powerful infrastructure that underpins modern artificial intelligence.

Nadella even said he thinks Microsoft won the Pentagon's $10 billion cloud-computing contract because of what it has to offer when it comes to hybrid cloud computing.

"We are the only guys today who have the ability to distribute computation, dispute data, and then have consistency of management, security, and data across those two plates," Nadella recently said, apparently referring to on-site and cloud computing. "That's a hard thing."

Amazon, meanwhile, is challenging the Pentagon's decision, alleging political intervention. A judge recently told the Pentagon to hit pause on the contract.

Windows customers are important in the cloud race

Converting Windows Server and SQL Server customers is important for any cloud provider.

Microsoft created the Windows Server operating system and SQL Server database-management system years ago — Windows Server was introduced in 2003, and SQL Server goes all the way back to 1989 — and they've since become the cornerstones of the IT infrastructure at companies large and small. But while they were Microsoft inventions, both products are supported on rival clouds, including AWS and Google Cloud Platform.

Microsoft and AWS often debate which cloud is cheaper for those customers. Most recently, AWS attacked a Microsoft-sponsored study that showed the Microsoft Azure cloud was faster and cheaper than AWS in a certain common scenario. 

Original author: Ashley Stewart

When you buy through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.

Original author: Steven Cohen

Elliott Management, the massive activist investment firm led by Paul Singer, is planning to oust Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bloomberg reported on Friday.CNBC also reported that Singer wants to push Dorsey out in part because of his time being divided between running Twitter and Square, as well as his stated plans to move to Africa this year.Singer's firm has taken a large stake in Twitter and has nominated four directors to its board, Bloomberg reported.Twitter's stock rose more than 7% in after-hours trading following the news.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Elliott Management, the massive investment firm led by Paul Singer, is seeking the removal of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Singer's firm has taken a substantial stake in Twitter and has nominated four directors to its board, Bloomberg reported.

CNBC also reported the news, saying that part of the reason Singer wants Dorsey out is his attention being split between running both Twitter and financial technology company Square as CEO of both firms — and because of Dorsey's stated plans to move to Africa this year.

Twitter's stock jumped more than 7% in after-hours trading on Friday.

Twitter and Elliott Management both declined to comment.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

Amazon has changed its hiring process for some positions, switching from on-site interviews to video calls, a spokesperson told Business Insider on Friday.

Gizmodo first reported earlier in the day that an Amazon recruiter had sent an email to a candidate saying: "we are not to bring any candidates onsite in person for interviews due to coronavirus concerns."

Amazon maintained that it is not canceling all in-person interviews, but instead that it is moving to video interviews by default for some job types.

The change comes as companies are taking increasingly aggressive steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease, COVID-19. Earlier in the day, Amazon confirmed to Business Insider that it had instructed all 798,000 of its employees to "defer non-essential travel."

That's in addition to the company's existing restrictions on employee travel to and from China, which have been in effect since January. Amazon also has indicated that its supply chain could be impacted, emailing sellers earlier this week to ask if they anticipated inventory issues.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

The Vatican called for stronger regulation of the use of artificial intelligence in a plan announced on Friday, Reuters first reported.The document also said AI tools should work fairly, transparently, reliably, and with respect for human life and the environment.Microsoft and IBM joined Pope Francis in endorsing the document, according to Reuters.This isn't the first time Francis has weighed in on the moral and ethical issues that come with new technologies.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Pope Francis wants to see facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and other powerful new technologies follow a doctrine of ethical and moral principles. 

In a joint document made public on Friday, the pope, along with IBM and Microsoft, laid out a vision that outlined principles for the emerging technologies and called for new regulations, Reuters first reported.

The Vatican's "Rome Call for AI Ethics" said that AI tools should be built "with a focus not on technology, but rather for the good of humanity and of the environment" and consider the "needs of those who are most vulnerable."

The "algor-ethics" outlined in the document included transparency, inclusion, responsibility, impartiality, reliability, security, and privacy, alluding to debates that have emerged around topics like algorithmic bias and data privacy.

Along those lines, it called for new regulations around "advanced technologies that have a higher risk of impacting human rights, such as facial recognition." Facial-recognition technology in particular has sparked concerns in recent years, thanks to research showing its problems with racial bias and the lack of transparency from companies that develop it.

The document, which was endorsed by Microsoft and IBM, is not the first time Francis has weighed in on ethical issues surrounding technology. At a Vatican conference in September, the pontiff warned that technological progress, if not kept in check, could lead society to "an unfortunate regression to a form of barbarism."

Others, both within and outside the tech community, have rolled out plans to address the side effects of AI. In January, the Trump administration unveiled a binding set of rules that federal agencies must follow when designing AI policies, while the European Union announced its own nonbinding principles in April.

Various people and organizations within the tech industry have spoken out about regulating AI, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as AI ethics groups like AI Now and OpenAI.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

For the first time in over 30 years, the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California is "postponed" until this summer due to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19. A new date was not announced.Several major companies pulled out of the conference ahead of the announcement: Sony's PlayStation group, Facebook, Microsoft's Xbox group, "Fortnite" maker Epic Games, and Unity."After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March," the event organizers said.Nearly 30,000 people attended GDC 2019, and conference exhibitors are still planning to offer some of their GDC 2020 programming online.COVID-19 has infected more than 78,000 people in China and infections have spread to at least 40 countries. On Tuesday, US health officials warned that the coronavirus outbreak could soon reach the United States.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The annual Game Developers Conference, scheduled to take place in San Francisco from March 16 to 20, is "postponed" until "later in the summer" due to concerns related to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, the event's organizers said in a press release.

"After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March," the release said. It did not give an exact date for when the event will now be held.

GDC's postponement comes amid a string of announcements from major exhibitors pulling out: Facebook, Sony's PlayStation group, Microsoft's Xbox group, Unity, Electronic Arts, and "Fortnite" developer Epic Games all announced they would skip this year's show to safeguard their employees from the COVID-19.

Many of the exhibitors who planned to attend have promised to make their GDC programming available online, including Microsoft, Facebook, and Unity.

Earlier this month Facebook cancelled its own Global Marketing Summit, which was scheduled to take place at the Moscone Center a week before GDC, from March 9 to 12. San Francisco has announced a state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak, though no cases of infection have been reported in the city. One patient from a cruise ship was transported to a San Francisco hospital on Feb. 20.

COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, originated in China, where more than 78,000 people have been infected, according to the World Health Organization. Nearly 3,000 more cases have been reported in 40 countries around the world, including 53 cases of infection in the United States. The WHO reports that 2,762 people have died due to COVID-19 infection as of February 26, most of them in China.

Original author: Ben Gilbert and Kevin Webb

Original author: Rayna Hollander

Facebook Messenger is getting a design overhaul that is soon rolling out to users, TechCrunch reports.The redesign has two significant changes: the removal of the Discover tab, which houses chatbots from games and brands; and an increased emphasis on Facebook Stories.By prioritizing Stories in the Messenger app, Facebook is likely trying to replicate the success it found after bringing the feature to Instagram. The Stories format itself was borrowed from Snapchat.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook is trying to replicate the success it found adding Stories to Instagram by bringing the feature to the forefront of another one of its apps: Messenger.

A redesign to Messenger, an offshoot of Facebook's direct messaging function, has already started rolling out to users, TechCrunch reported Friday. Screenshots of the redesigned app — provided by social media manager Jeff Higgins to Business Insider — show that one of the most significant changes is the added emphasis on Facebook Stories, the feature where friends can share 24-hour photo and video highlights.

Messenger will soon have a more slimmed-down look with a minimalist aesthetic. Gone is the Discover tab, which currently houses the hundreds of thousands of automated chatbots that Facebook users can message to ask questions to businesses, play games, and even shop from brands. Instead of Stories appearing as small video previews atop the list of online Facebook friends, Stories get their own tab in the new Messenger app.

Facebook

Facebook is likely betting that giving Stories more real estate will have a similar effect in Messenger that it has had in Instagram. Stories has been a runaway success for Instagram since it launched in August 2016. As of this January, Instagram Stories had 500 million daily users.

While Stories has been a boon to Facebook and its family of apps, the company can't take credit for the idea. Instagram borrowed the format and idea from Snapchat, but found much more success with the feature: Two years after introducing Stories, Instagram had twice as many people as Snapchat that were using Stories daily.

The makeover of Messenger's look seems to be Facebook's reaction to changing attitudes and desires among users. Facebook is emphasizing the features users love, while hiding away those that don't. Facebook bet big that chatbots would be the communication choice of the future when it launched them in Messenger in 2016. However, these bots ended up being hard to use and confusing for users.

Facebook did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. A Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch that the Messenger redesign is rolling out to users "in the next week."

Original author: Paige Leskin

Original author: Malarie Gokey and Joe Osborne

Elon Musk said the US military's vaunted F-35 stealth jet "would have no chance" against a drone remotely piloted by a human."The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that's remote controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy," Musk tweeted on Friday."It's not that I want the future to be this. That's just what the future will be," Musk said in separate comments. "The fighter jet era has passed. Yeah, the fighter jet era has passed. It's drones." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested that Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II, the costly stealth jet considered to be pinnacle of US military aviation, "would have no chance" if pitted against a drone that is remotely piloted by a human.

At the US Air Force's Air Warfare Symposium in Florida, Musk said there should be a competitor to the F-35 program, according to a tweet by Lee Hudson, the Pentagon editor at Aviation Week.

Musk responded in his own tweet, saying that the "competitor should be a drone fighter plane that's remote controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy."

"The F-35 would have no chance against it," he added.

The F-35, variants of which are used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, has had its critics since its inception. Lawmakers have scrutinized it over multiple delays in production and its price tag, which at $406.5 billion, makes it the costliest weapons program in US history.

An F-35A Lightning II. US Air Force Photo

The Defense Department in October announced a $34 billion contract that includes delivery of 478 F-35s, according to CNBC.

Problems with the F-35 surfaced soon after it joined the fleet. Over 800 flaws riddled the software, according to a recent report by the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, which also said the 25 mm cannon on the Air Force's F-35A, the most common variant, displayed an "unacceptable" level of accuracy.

The F-35 was also unable to meet a branchwide goal set by the previous defense secretary, James Mattis, in 2019. Mattis wanted 80% of F-35s and other stealth aircraft to be "mission-capable" 80% of the time.

The Air Force conference at which Musk made his comments included senior US military officials and pilots.

Speaking with Space and Missile Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. John Thompson, Musk said autonomous drone warfare "is where it's at" and "where the future will be," according to Defense News.

"It's not that I want the future to be this. That's just what the future will be," Musk added. "The fighter jet era has passed. Yeah, the fighter jet era has passed. It's drones." 

Original author: David Choi