Original author: Maureen Kelly

Original author: Maureen Kelly

Original author: MitraSramana

Original author: Sramana Mitra

We are all looking for ways to help during the COVID crisis. The most important thing most of us can do is simple: stay home. Taking social distancing seriously is our best collective measure against the pandemic right now.

But we need to help the people who can’t stay home.

Glowforge has launched the 2 Million Essential Ears initiative. The goal is to print 1 million Ear Savers on Glowforge printers across the US and get them for free to the essential workers who need them.

An Ear Saver is a small adapter that prints in less than a minute. It lets a front line worker attach their mask comfortably and safely. The hooks let the wearer use a mask of almost any size, which is important when not every sized mask is available to every worker. Fit is crucial for forming a safe seal on a surgical or N95 mask, and the Ear Saver makes a correct fit much easier.

With essential workers spending entire days wearing their masks, the elastic straps can cause discomfort which can lead to painful ear damage. The ear straps take this pressure off of the ears of the wearer.

If you have a Glowforge printer, join the Ear Saver printing team now.

Or, go register to get some free Ear Savers if you need them for yourself, those taking care of you, or those in your community.

Original author: Brad Feld

Original author: Sramana Mitra

It’s another Monday in the time of Covid. Recently my family had an email exchange about prom and it reminded me of the following scene from Contagion.

This morning, my mom (the artist) reminded me about her email and suggested I start the week off with something joyful. So, I thought I’d write about her prom with pictures from 1959. Her email is in italics below.

S – Remember when we talked about “Prom” and you said it wasn’t a big deal in Boulder and I said it was definitely a big deal in New York back in the ’50s and 60’s.

I found these pictures of Prom 1959. There were two proms that June, one from my high school (Music and Art) and one from Grandpa’s college (Columbia). I was a senior in high school and GP was a senior in college. I told you I had two fancy dresses. We think the color picture is from the Columbia prom and the black and white from M&A. My strapless (!) dress was actually a pale blue which looks white in the b&w photo. It looks like I am wearing a tiara in the color picture. Fancy, schmancy! Notice the high heels and corsage. GP with hair! 

I was minus six years old, which is kind of mind-bending to consider since that was over 60 years ago.

Mom / Dad – y’all both look awesome in these photos. Awesome, and super-duper happy. And, Dad, you had hair!

I hope this helped start your Monday off with a smile.

Original author: Brad Feld

Original author: MitraSramana

Original author: Sramana Mitra

The market downturn and increased uncertainty surrounding the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has seen startup investors pull term sheets, slash valuations, and pull out of deals.Many startups are laying off staff and risk closure — but some will thrive in challenging circumstances. Major tech companies like Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, and Square were all founded between 2006 and 2009 during the last financial crisis proving that great businesses can still come from a downturn. We asked investors with experience investing in downturns what to look for in a downturn and where they see opportunity. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Increased uncertainty surrounding the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has seen startup investors pull term sheets, slash valuations, and pull out of deals.

Many startups will be forced into mass layoffs or could close altogether, but others will thrive in challenging circumstances. 

Uber, Airbnb, and Square were founded during the last financial crisis, suggesting that strong startups can still weather a downturn.

We asked investors what to look for in a downturn and where they see opportunity. 

"Each downturn is peculiar," Paul Asel, partner at NGP Capital told Business Insider in an interview. "History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. There are consistent reasons why we see the best companies coming out of a downturn because there's less competition, less capital available, and more time to innovate."

Asel cites the formation of Cisco, founded in 1984, and its development despite the 1987 market crash and the events of Black Monday, and the success of Google amid the dotcom bust in the late 1990s and early 2000s as good examples of companies coming through adversity. 

Paul Asel, managing partner at NGP Capital NGP Capital

The decisions that companies take now to ensure that they survive the crisis will make the difference come the end, according to Michiel Kotting, a partner at Northzone. During the dotcom bust he was the founder of AI company Digital Jones which was later sold to Shopping.com. "In 2001, we had to layoff two thirds of our staff but it helped us focus and we went from $9 million in revenue to $100 million in revenue and a sale in the next three years," Kotting said. "Survival is the most important thing because you want to come out of the gate flying when this is over."

The 'batshit crazy' founders survive the tough times

In a downturn, personality and resilience count.

"When the tide rolls out, all that's left are the batshit crazy people that want to start a company under any circumstances, and those are the people you want to invest in," said Rob Hayes, a venture capitalist at First Round Capital who invested $510,000 in Uber's seed financing round, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

"You want entrepreneurs responding to the challenge," Kotting added. "Being creative, working hard, and taking quick decisions are key traits for founders who are grabbing the bull by the horns."

There were, of course, unique circumstances that helped the likes of consumer services like Uber, Airbnb, and Spotify. 

Investors cited the explosion in the app economy and the rise of online marketplaces as key to the success of companies founded during the last downturn.

The current batch will need to be equally adept at identifying equivalent trends.

Less capital may be good for resetting the ecosystem

The market that emerges from the pandemic will look different to the one that came before. There will likely be a curtailment to the mega-rounds that have become more common.

"It's been harder for VCs to invest when there are so many tech giants casting long shadows," Asel said. "Most of our top investments came from the 2007-09 period and the same could be true here where the pricing environment is much healthier. If less capital is needed to succeed it's good for both entrepreneurs and investors."

Seedcamp

Sectors that hold promise include educational tech and healthtech, both sectors venture capitalists have been talking up in recent years.

Startups in these sectors are seeing a spike in usage and demand — but were already rising in popularity, according to Reshma Sohoni, founding partner at early-stage London fund Seedcamp, an investor in TransferWise and Revolut. 

"We are still looking for long-term indicators of growth and genuine product market fit," Sohoni told Business Insider in an interview. "We don't want companies that are only successful now which have 'pandemic fit.'"

Historically, there has been a 25% to 30% drop in the number of early-stage deals after an economic downtown, and median valuations decrease 10% to 20% per year for several years post-crisis, according to Daniel Li, a VC at Madrona Venture Group, in a Medium blog post. 

Valuations are already being slashed in startup land. Investors have sought to regroup to better understand the market they find themselves in, even reneging on terms or pulling term sheets for some startups.  

"The bar goes up and there will a shakeup between better-performing companies and those that struggle," said Northzone's Kotting. 

Original author: Callum Burroughs

Original author: jyotsna popuri

Former acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly was angered by the videos of sailors cheering for their recently-fired commander, according to The New York Times.Modly then took a jet to fly to Guam to address the ship's crew — a trip that reportedly cost over $243,000.Modly was not the only Navy official vexed by the circumstances: Adm. Robert Burke, the vice chief of naval operations, reportedly told the ship's senior medical officer that they failed as a leader, two crew members told The Times.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Former acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly was angered by the videos of sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt cheering for their recently-fired commander, according to a New York Times report published Sunday.

Modly, who on April 2 fired the aircraft carrier's commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, was angry after several videos showed dozens of crew members gathering to send off Crozier with applause and cheers, Navy officials told The Times. Videos of the incident trended online and have since garnered support for the departed commander, who was removed after his letter pleading Navy leaders for help with a coronavirus outbreak leaked to the press.

Modly then took a jet to fly to Guam to address the ship's crew — a trip that reportedly cost over $243,000. Using the ship's announcement system, Modly defended his decision to fire Crozier in a 15-minute profanity-laced speech and expressed continued support for the crew. Audio of the all-hands call were eventually leaked to news organizations.

"That's your duty. Not to complain. Everyone's scared about this thing," Modly said in the call. "But I'll tell you something, if this ship was in combat and there were hypersonic missiles coming at it, you'd be pretty f---ing scared too. But you do your jobs. And that's what I expect you to do."

Modly was not the only Navy official vexed by the circumstances. Adm. Robert Burke, the vice chief of naval operations, reportedly told the ship's senior medical officer that they failed as a leader, two crew members told The Times.

Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, addresses the crew during an all-hands call on the ship’s flight deck, November 14, 2019. US Navy/MCS 3rd Class Nicholas Huynh

Modly fired Crozier after the captain warned about the coronavirus outbreak aboard his ship. The warning, which came in the form of a four-page letter, was sent by email to over 20 people; and eventually leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.

According to Modly, Crozier violated military protocols, circumventing the chain of command by sending the letter to a group of people. Modly said that while he did not know how the letter got to the media, there was a "proper way" for Crozier to handle his concerns.

"If he didn't think ... that if he didn't think that information wasn't going to get out into the public, in this information age that we live in, then he was either A: too naive, or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this," Modly said of Crozier. "The alternative is that he did this on purpose."

Modly's comments immediately sparked intense backlash from lawmakers and the ship's sailors. Modly later walked backed his comments and apologized. He resigned on April 7.

In his final message to the entire Navy, Modly admitted his comments were "a poor use of words."

"You are justified in being angry with me about that," Modly said in the message, according to the Navy Times. "There is no excuse, but perhaps a glimpse of understanding, and hopefully empathy."

"But what's done is done," he added. "I can't take it back, and frankly I don't know if I walked back up that quarterdeck today if I wouldn't have the same level of emotions that drove my delivery yesterday."

Crozier has since been in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus. Over 580 of the USS Theodore Roosevelt's crew of 4,800 tested positive as of Sunday, according to the Navy. Nearly 4,000 of the crew members have since evacuated the ship into Guam, where many of them are under quarantine in hotels.

Original author: David Choi

Netflix announced on Friday that Jerry Seinfeld's next comedy special, "23 Hours to Kill," will debut globally on the platform on May 5.It's part of a huge deal that Seinfeld struck with the streaming giant in 2017 that's worth an estimated $100 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Seinfeld isn't the only comedian that Netflix has paid huge amount of money to. They include Ellen DeGeneres, Dave Chappelle, and more.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Netflix has established itself as the premier home for stand-up comedy over the past few years, and it has accomplished this by shelling out millions to some of the top names in the industry.

The streamer announced on Friday that Jerry Seinfeld's new comedy special, "23 Hours to Kill," will debut on the platform on May 5. It's part of a huge deal Seinfeld struck with Netflix in 2017 that's worth an estimated $100 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal includes the rights to Seinfeld's series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" and two Netflix specials. The first special, "Jerry Before Seinfeld," debuted in 2017.

Seinfeld isn't the only comedian that Netflix has paid huge amounts of money to.

Ellen DeGeneres made $20 million to $25 million from her Netflix comedy special "Relatable," which debuted last December, Variety reported in December.

Seinfeld and DeGeneres follow stand-ups like Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock in netting multimillion-dollar deals from the streaming service.

It should be noted that Netflix has also drawn criticism for under-paying some comics. Comedian Mo'Nique came into a pay dispute with the company in 2017 when they reportedly offered her $500,000 for a special. She sued Netflix last month alleging race and sex discrimination regarding the special.

John Lynch contributed to a previous version of this post.

Here are the six comedians Netflix has paid huge amounts of money:

Original author: Travis Clark

Every week, Parrot Analytics provides Business Insider with a list of the nine most in-demand original TV shows on streaming services in the US.This week's list includes Netflix's "Tiger King" and "Money Heist."Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Netflix's hit true-crime docuseries "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness" continues to enthrall audiences, as does its Spanish language crime drama "Money Heist," which debuted its fourth season on April 3.

Every week, Parrot Analytics provides Business Insider with a list of the nine most in-demand TV shows on streaming services in the US.

The data is based on "demand expressions," Parrot Analytics' globally standardized TV-demand measurement unit. Audience demand reflects the desire, engagement, and viewership weighted by importance, so a stream or a download is a higher expression of demand than a "like" or a comment on social media, for instance.

Below are this week's nine most popular original shows on Netflix and other streaming services:

Original author: Travis Clark

Universal's "Trolls World Tour" debuted on premium video-on-demand platforms on Friday and was the No. 1 movie on iTunes on Sunday.The movie is the first from a major studio to break the traditional theatrical window and premiere day-and-date on digital or streaming platforms during the coronavirus pandemic.Experts say the rise of digital releases right now is just a short-term solution to the current situation as movie theaters across the US remain closed.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

"Trolls World Tour" has made a splash with its debut on digital platforms, but that's not necessarily bad news for movie theaters.

The animated sequel from Universal Pictures and DreamWorks was the No. 1 movie on iTunes on Sunday. It premiered on premium video-on-demand platforms on Friday as a $20 digital rental, the same day that it was slated to hit theaters. With most theaters closed across the US due to the coronavirus pandemic, "Trolls World Tour" is the first movie from a major studio to break the traditional theatrical window and premiere on digital platforms day-and-date with its theatrical release.

It won't be the last movie to break theatrical traditions.

Disney announced earlier this month that "Artemis Fowl," based on the book series by Eoin Colfer, would premiere on its streaming service Disney Plus on an undisclosed date. The movie was originally slated for release to theaters on May 29. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger, who is transitioning into an executive chairman role to focus on Disney's creative endeavors, told Barrons last week that "there may be a few more [movies] that we end up putting directly onto Disney Plus."

But Iger also noted that Disney will wait for release slots for its big tentpole movies and its this sentiment that suggests that the current popularity of digital releases won't have long-term consequences for movie theaters.

Other movies that were released to digital platforms after a short stint in theaters, like "The Invisible Man" and "Bloodshot," were also popular on iTunes and Fandango Now (though they have already dropped out of the top 10 on iTunes). But experts say this is because it's the only option at the moment.

"The measures being taken right now are because of the unforeseen circumstances," Paul Dergarabedian, the Comscore senior media analyst, told Business Insider. "And consumers have an appetite for new content. We are literally stuck at home."

Technology and media research firm Lightshed Partners pointed out in a recent report that for studios to replace the profits they make with high-grossing movies through premium video-on-demand services, tens of millions of units would have to be sold. 

"You quickly realize just how big the PVOD transactions need to be for the math to work for a studio," the report said.

In another report, Lightshed Partners did credit Universal for dropping "Trolls World Tour" on digital but said that it's a low-risk experiment for families stuck at home. Long term, PVOD could struggle once theaters reopen, especially given that audiences can watch movies on Netflix at no extra cost, the firm said.

Original author: Travis Clark

I usually do a digital sabbath from Friday sundown to Sunday morning. No email. No meetings (except urgent ones). I used to do no phone, but the text dynamic to coordinate getting together has made that difficult (even in the world of Covid) so I check the lock screen on my phone a few times a day and deal with anything important.

Until yesterday, I hadn’t had a digital sabbath since 3/14. I also hadn’t had a day off since 3/14.

Friday night I crashed. My last call ended around 6:20 pm. My inbox was still full of stuff, but I had no energy to even look at it. We had a Zoom dinner with Ryan and Katherine, although it didn’t involve food since they eat late and I blew it by not being ready for dinner until three minutes before dinner was supposed to start … After dinner, Amy and I went downstairs and watched a little more Hunters, which I think we’ve decided to stop watching after episode two.

We went to bed around 10 pm. When we crawled into bed, I committed to Amy to have a digital sabbath. I knew she was worried about me and I hit a self-aware point that I was on the edge of good vs. not good emotionally and physically.

I woke up around 10 am. I had a strong green recovery score on my Whoop for the first time in a while (I’ve had plenty of red, some yellow, and an occasional green, but never very strong …). I went to the bathroom, meditated, and had a cup of coffee on the couch with Amy.

I then went for a run. I’m very out of shape relative to my norm because of a January back injury (muscle) combined with no consistency in exercise the last month. That ended a week ago as I started running again with some swimming tossed in.

I then ate a little and finished reading Facebook: The Inside Story by Stephen Levy which I had started on March 8th. I hadn’t opened a book since mid-March and as I read the second half of it, I realized I wasn’t very interested in it.

I then broke digital sabbath and did a Zoom call that I noticed showed up on my Zoom Room calendar. I’m glad I did it as it helped resolve some outstanding issues on a project that is launching this upcoming week.

I read a little more (Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life after Which Everything Was Different by Chuck Palahniuk), had some leftovers (thanks Amy for cooking so much!) and then went downstairs and watched 93 Days.

I was in bed by 9:30 pm. When I woke up this morning, I felt very refreshed.

Digital sabbath will simply begin again for me.

Original author: Brad Feld

Business Insider spoke with Melinda Gates about COVID-19, the prospect and timeline of making an effective vaccine, and how the world will be permanently changed by the coronavirus.Gates said it would likely take about 18 months for a vaccine to become widely available, and that it should first go to healthcare workers to help them keep others safe.She said this pandemic was not a once-in-a-century situation, like the Spanish flu. Because the world is now a global community, we're likely to see other pandemics in our lifetimes, Gates said.Even after things get back to normal, "our psyches are going to permanently changed ... I hope we change to realize that we're a global community."Read the full interview below.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Melinda Gates is the cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated more than $45 billion to tackle some of the world's toughest problems, including vaccination research and combating pandemics, from coronavirus to Ebola.

Gates and her husband have long been concerned about a pandemic and have warned that we need to be more prepared at a global level.

In a wide-ranging interview with Gates on Thursday afternoon, she gave her thoughts on the coronavirus pandemic, the inequality of it all, and how the world can go back to semi-normal. The highlights:

The world needs a vaccine delivered at mass scale to go back to "normal." A realistic timeline is about 18 months, the same time it took to create an Ebola vaccine.It is possible we won't be able to find an effective vaccine for coronavirus, although Gates thinks that is highly unlikely.The idea of herd immunity solving coronavirus is far-fetched. Gates said that would require more than half the population to get coronavirus (which isn't anywhere close to happening) and a lot of death along the way.To effectively roll out a vaccine, Gates believes you need to first give it to health workers, then to high-risk groups, then distribute it equitably to different countries and communities. The vaccine also has to cost very little with a fund to cover it for everyone. What the US is doing right now, pitting states against each other for supplies and allowing wealthy individuals to access tests first, would be disastrous for a vaccine rollout.To prepare for the second wave of coronavirus this fall, or even a next pandemic, we need mass testing from the get-go, voluntary data sharing from people so that we can trace who has been tested and where they have been, and vaccine stockpiles so that you can distribute those as soon as you see signs of an outbreak.Gates said there would "absolutely" be more pandemics in our lifetime. Coronavirus is not a once-in-a-century occurrence like the Spanish flu.If you want to help vulnerable, poor communities survive coronavirus, Gates recommends giving to the WHO COVID Solidarity Fund, United Way, or America's Food Fund.

This is a transcript of Business Insider Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell's conversation with Melinda Gates, cofounder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

We need a vaccine to be widely distributed before the world will start to feel normal again. Gates says we won't get that for at least 18 months.

The Gates family. Bill Gates/Facebook

Alyson Shontell: How is it going in the Gates household?

Melinda Gates: Like all other families, it's been a complete change of life for all of us. But we are also incredibly privileged, and we know that, and our kids know that. But yes, life has changed drastically. The kids are studying online. Bill and I are doing all of our meetings via video teleconference. I'm a terrible cook, so I'm heating things up a lot more, and everybody's trying to pitch in to do what needs to get done in terms of things around the house.

And the other thing I would just say is every night, we've had this tradition for a long time of saying grace before meals. And what that looks like is that we all go around and say something we're thankful for. Pretty much every night what comes up from the kids and us is we're thankful for our health and for the fact that we're not going hungry and the fact that we can still do our work and the kids can still learn. It's kind of amazing.

Shontell: We heard Dr. Fauci say earlier this week that things probably won't return to normal until we have a vaccine. What do you think is a realistic timeline for a wide distribution of a vaccine? Is anything faster than 18 months really safe?

Gates: I think it's likely 18 months. Just from everything we know from working with our partners for many, many years on vaccines, you have to test the compounds. Then, you have to go into preclinical trials, then full-scale trials. And even though I'm sure the FDA will fast-track some of these vaccine trials like they did with Ebola, still by the time you get it through the trials safety- and efficacy-wise, then you have to manufacture the vaccine and manufacture at scale. I think it really is 18 months.

The good news that I'm seeing on that front, though, is so many scientists are coming forward, and I'm seeing CEOs come forward and say, "I have this platform we can use." Pharmaceutical companies are coming together already to say, "How do we build up the manufacturing capacity so it's there when we get a vaccine and we can basically just run it through the manufacturing process?" I'm seeing lots of good things come forward, but it's a process that needs to run its full course, because you don't want to put something in someone's body that is harmful.

Shontell: Right. It seems like, in addition to creating something we've never had before, you do really have to do these human tests in a way that's safe so that you're not creating a vaccine that maybe cures coronavirus but gives you something else.

Gates: I'd add also that we need to know who it's safe to give the vaccine to and in what dosages. We know COVID-19 is affecting people who are particularly vulnerable health-wise if they have diabetes, or a heart condition, or they have asthma. You have to make sure that, safety-wise, you're not giving somebody a vaccine that's going to affect their heart. So yeah, there are lots of issues there that have to be tested.

It's possible we won't be able to create a coronavirus vaccine, although Gates thinks that's highly unlikely. Also, herd immunity is not the solution.

Gates with students at the Solar Preparatory School for Girls in Dallas, May 3, 2019. Pivotal Ventures

Shontell: If at the end of this 18-month period, or however long it is, we do feel like we've got a vaccine, what do you think that vaccine will actually look like? Is it possible that we actually won't be able to create a vaccine at all? Could that be one scenario?

Gates: Well, it's possible. We have to look at how far science has come even in the last five years. And the number of compounds we have, there's something like 14,000 compounds that we, with our partners alone, have. And there are many, many, many others testing compounds that we're looking at to see, "Is this promising?" Could that one be promising? And we have high throughput screening now of compounds. I really think we're going to find a vaccine.

We found a vaccine for Ebola, right? And we did that in about an 18-month time frame, and that was hard. When I see the scientific community all coming together the way they are around the globe and sharing data and sharing information, we're going to get a vaccine.

Shontell: OK, so you'd say that it's a high likelihood.

Gates: High likelihood.

Shontell: That's very, very good to know.

Gates: The other thing to think about is, in the meantime, there's another whole strand of work going on, which is the therapeutics accelerator. Through the accelerator, we're trying to find medicines so that if you get COVID-19, hopefully we can boost your immune system or tamp down the effect of the disease on you. So again, hopefully, we'll come up with some medicines that will also help so people don't get as sick as they're getting and landing in the ICU, which is what's truly tragic.

Shontell: Is there anything to this idea of herd immunity? Could we be closer than we think on that, or is that far-fetched thinking?

Gates: That's still very far-fetched today. You don't get herd immunity until you have a huge percent of your population that has had the disease. We know that from all the diseases in the past that humans have had. So no, we're still a long way from herd immunity. And you can't count on that because a lot of people are going to die in the meantime if you let the experiment run and you just let the disease run its course in communities. Sure, we could get herd immunity and we will get so much death. That's why it's so important to remind people the only tools we have today are physical distancing, handwashing, and wearing masks in public. We have to go with what we know works.

How to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to the masses: 1. Make it cheap and buy it for everyone. 2. Give it to healthcare workers. 3. Give it to the highest-risk people. 4. Come up with an equitable way for everyone else to get it (the US is screwing that up right now).

Gates in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Pivotal Ventures

Shontell: Once we have a vaccine, what do you think is the best way to distribute it to the masses? Who should get it first? How would we do it on such a big scale?

Gates: We have to make sure that the vaccine is very low priced and that there's a fund for buying it for everyone, whether you're in a low-, middle-, or a high-income country. And that's doable. We've done that with the Vaccine Alliance that exists today. That's been in existence since 1990, so we know how to do that piece.

But we also have to distribute very carefully. The very first people that need to get this vaccine are healthcare workers, because if you can keep them safe, they can help keep others safe. Then you need to distribute it to the people who are the very most vulnerable. That is, they have underlying health conditions, some of the ones that we've talked about before. And from there, you then make it distributed completely equitably across society.

And even the United States is going to have to really work at that. COVID-19 is exposing all the inequities we have in our healthcare system. And so we need to look at, OK, does Mississippi get this vaccine at the same time California gets it and New York gets it? We can't do this game that we're playing right now where you have 50 different states competing for resources for masks and PPE, that makes zero sense. You need a national strategy that will equitably distribute this vaccine and we first look at the vulnerable populations.

Shontell: To touch on that point, as you mentioned, there are so many inequalities coming to light with this pandemic, from who has been able to get initial testing on to how it's affecting different genders in different ways, to more African Americans in the US dying of this than other races. When you think about it, social distancing, stocking up on food, and handwashing are all privileges that some of the poorest communities don't have.

You've done a lot of work on equality efforts, and you've said it's the best way to fix everything in society is to level the playing field. How do we start leveling the playing field so the next time it's better for everybody? How do we help the people who are in the poorest, most vulnerable communities right now?

Gates: We have to start by remembering that COVID-19 anywhere is COVID-19 everywhere. And if we keep that front and center in our minds, then we will start to think really deeply about these most vulnerable populations.

The thing that keeps me up at night — because I've traveled to Africa so many times and been in so many townships and slums — is if you are a person living in those conditions, you can't begin to handwashing or social distance. In those situations, we need to start with food. People need to be able to feed themselves. And then if they feel like they have COVID symptoms, then they don't have to go out of the house looking for food.

When I think forward about how we would do this, right now, we have to focus on the pandemic today right in front of us. We have to take the tools we have and try and distribute them as equitably as we possibly can. That means a national response that is thought out and strategic. So you start there.

When you plan for the future, you start to plan it out the way we did for other diseases that came into the world. You would create a vaccine stockpile. We've actually been quite involved with that for cholera, which we don't get much in the United States anymore, but you get in a lot of places in the developing world or in refugee camps. And when there's a stockpile of vaccine, then when you see an outbreak or a vulnerable population get it, it's already basically paid for and you ship the vaccines out.

We have to have not a national stockpile of vaccines but an international stockpile of vaccines for something like COVID. We can predict some of these types of disease outbreaks; we just haven't been planning it. We plan for things like an earthquake or a fire. We need to plan for disease. We are a global community. People travel. We've just learned that New York mostly got infected from people coming back from Europe. We have to plan for these things as a global community in the future.

How to be ready for the 2nd wave to hit this fall: Are you ready to give up your personal data and get tracked?

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Shontell: Clearly, we were caught flat-footed and unprepared here in the US especially. There's talk of a second wave of coronavirus potentially hitting in the fall. What are the things we need to do to plan for it? What has to be done by the end of the summer to put us all in a much better shape for it? And then I'm curious what we need to have in place to prevent something like this moving forward, if that's even possible.

Gates: In terms of what we need to do to prepare ourselves this fall, first of all, all the way through this, we need to listen to the medical experts and the science experts. They know what's real. We need to do the disease modeling to see where the outbreaks are going. We need to plan resources appropriately and share them in the United States with all the states in an equitable way.

And then we need to do massive testing. We have to have testing at wide scale so that you can get a test and you can know if you're positive. And if you're positive, then you self-isolate. Unless you get further disease, you then get telemedicine. You figure out if you need to go to the health system. And you have different tiers of the health system, places people can go for oxygen versus people who go to the ICU.

We can do that, kind of. You can do that triage of people if you have a test. To be frank, we also need to be able to share all that testing data so that eventually the US would be a place like South Korea, where I can literally prove on my phone "I took a test this morning — I'm COVID-free" or "Guess what? I had COVID before and I tested for antibodies in my system. I can be out in society working maybe now." You could literally have a code on your phone that says, "Tested this morning" or "See? I have a COVID antibody."

And so we can start to see who can be in society versus who needs to self-isolate. But without testing and contact tracing and some way of being able to prove to one another we're safe, you can't plan for a full eventual reopening of society. We need to do get that up and running at scale at a national level.

Preparing for the next epidemic is a whole different conversation. You'd have tests available from the get-go. You would have fought through the civil-liberties issues of people sharing their health information willingly or not willingly. Am I willing to share my health data so that you know if I got it?

Early on, people with COVID had symptoms we didn't know to track. If we had known that from the get-go because they were able to share their information into a national database voluntarily, we would have known to tell people, "Look for these symptoms. Self-isolate just in case you have it." We have to be able to start thinking through those types of systems as a country so that we're prepared for whatever comes next.

Whose job is it to solve a pandemic, the elite's or the government's?

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and cofounder, attend the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 7, 2016, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Shontell: Yes to all of that. Edelman put out on their annual Trust Barometer in January. They found that trust in media is really low right now. Trust in the government is really low too. But trust in business leaders is the highest group, and people seem to put the most faith in business leaders to solve some of society's biggest problems.

You and Bill have done a tremendous amount with the foundation. You're seeing Mark Zuckerberg giving a ton of money toward this. Sheryl Sandberg is doing the same. Jack Dorsey just pledged a big chunk of net worth to help fight COVID. Lots of people are stepping up. Bezos as well.

Is it the responsibility of business leaders to do this versus the government? Is this something we should come to expect? How do you kind of view the responsibility of the people who are in positions of the most privilege as we tackle something as wide-scale is this?

Gates: What I'm seeing is people stepping up. I sometimes wish people could see the number of emails we're receiving daily at the foundation, not just Bill and me, but our scientists and our head of global health. We're seeing CEOs come forward. We're seeing philanthropists come forward. We're seeing people who have knowledge and data saying, "Should we look at this? What should we do?" I am seeing the best of humanity come out right now in some of these leaders who are stepping forward and doing the right thing.

"Is this the responsibility of business?" was your question. It's the responsibility of all of us. Business won't be able to solve this. There's no way business or philanthropy can solve this alone. It takes the government. It's government who puts out huge amounts of money into our healthcare system to take care of everybody, to take care of the most vulnerable. It's philanthropy and business and nonprofits coming together with government to have a national response. That is the only way we're going to be able to care for all Americans.

But what I see is amazing scientists like Dr. Fauci stepping up and giving all the right messages. Those are the people we should be listening to, and I am seeing so many people come together behind the scenes to try and do the right thing. While the vulnerable is what keeps me up at night, one of the things that keeps me encouraged when I wake up in the morning is seeing so many people doing the right thing.

This is not just a once-in-a-century pandemic. 'We are absolutely going to have more of these.'

Shontell: Is this a once-in-a-century pandemic like the Spanish flu, or do we need to expect to face more pandemics like this moving forward?

Gates: This is not a once-in-a-century pandemic. We are absolutely going to have more of these. This thing is highly infectious, COVID-19. But it is not nearly as infectious as measles. And we dealt with measles in the world. We know how to deal with measles. We're going to see more, so we need to plan for them. And we haven't planned for them as a global community.

Shontell: Why do you think we'll see more pandemics?

Gates: We'll see more because of all kinds of reasons, but mainly because we're a global community and we travel and we spread disease.

Alyson: To end on a positive note, we are going to get through this, right? It will be hard, but we will get through this. I'm curious from your estimation: What timeline are we looking at for life to feel normal again? Or are we in a new normal, and are there things that we should expect to be permanently changed?

No one really knows when things will feel normal again. But be prepared for some permanent changes, including to your psyche.

REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Gates: I definitely think there are going to be things that are permanently changed. Our psyches are going to be permanently changed. We are learning some things about how to do more meetings online. We're learning how to take care of each other online. People are reaching out to the elderly in their homes and doing video calls and sending emails or dropping a meal off. What's going to change is our psyche, and I hope we change to realize that we're a global community.

To the question of when does society reopen in what we think of as our normal form, nobody really knows the answer to that. It really is when we get a vaccine at scale.

Will we get, over time, probably some partial reopenings of society where you can do certain smaller group things or be out walking with one friend or two friends? I think we will start to see some partial reopenings.

We have to follow the data, though, of how is that working in Wuhan right now? How did it work in South Korea? How does it work in Germany? The places that are kind of ahead of us on both their response and when they got the disease? And then, we'll start to be able to see, OK, where can we open up pockets of society over time? For right now, we need to be physically distant from one another.

Shontell: If the average person wants to give to help a vulnerable person or community, what's the best way to do that other than social distancing? Is there some cause to give to or something that's most helpful?

Gates: Yes. You could go globally. You could go to the WHO COVID Solidarity Fund. Locally, you could go to United Way. America's Food Fund is another place you can go. I would give also to local domestic-violence organizations. We see domestic violence on the rise for many, many people, particularly women. Any of those would be amazing places to go and to give, even if you only give $10 — $10 or $100, it all makes a difference.

Shontell: I'm leaving this conversation very hopeful. Thank you for all efforts you and Bill and the foundation are doing in helping fight this. You were early to realizing the problems of pandemics, and we are grateful that you're on it.

Gates: Thanks, Alyson. Be safe. Be well.

Original author: Alyson Shontell

Apple's Face ID doesn't work when your face is obstructed, making it difficult to quickly unlock your iPhone while wearing a protective face mask.There is no easy, convenient way to get around this, but one trick discovered by the Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab worked for me, but only under specific circumstances.A more practical solution may be adjusting your notifications settings so that you can view incoming alerts without unlocking your iPhone.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you're an iPhone owner, you've probably recently dealt with the inconvenience of having to type in a passcode to unlock your iPhone. 

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended wearing face coverings in public places where standing six feet apart from others may be difficult — like the grocery store, for instance.

That means you probably won't be able to unlock your iPhone using Face ID, Apple's facial recognition system, while running errands. It's not by any means the most important coronavirus concern right now, but it can be a minor annoyance.

That may be especially true for those looking to reduce the number of times they touch their phone's screen while out in public to avoid the spread of germs. 

If you're hoping to find a way around this, I have some good news and some bad news.

First, the bad: There doesn't seem to be any easy, foolproof way to get Face ID to work while wearing a mask.

That's because Face ID creates a depth map by projecting and analyzing more than 30,000 invisible dots over your face, so it's looking for areas like your nose and mouth every time it attempts to unlock your phone. Even if you try wearing a mask during the setup process, your iPhone will notice if your face is partially obstructed and will urge you to remove any coverings before proceeding.

Now the good news: I did manage to find one approach that worked for me. It's based on a tutorial from the Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab, first discovered by Abacus News, a tech site specializing in coverage of Chinese gadgets. That method involves re-enrolling your face with Face ID while holding your mask over half of your face.

But even so, it only works under very specific circumstances, and I had to try enrolling my face a few times before I managed to get it working. It's also worth noting that others have tried this method and found it unsuccessful.

The effectiveness may also vary depending on the type of mask you're wearing. For this test, I wore a homemade mask that covers the bottom portion of my face — from the tip of my nose and below — that I created using a folded bandana and two hair ties. 

Here's a look at how I got Face ID to work for me while wearing a mask. 

Original author: Lisa Eadicicco

Hello!

It's been a dark few weeks, but there's been some light in the past few days, as the number of patients in New York ICUs dropped for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, and there was some promising data on a potential treatment. 

As Andrew Dunn reports, more than two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 patients improved in condition after receiving remdesivir, an experimental antiviral treatment from Gilead Sciences. More tests are needed, as the study had no control group, but the lead author called the observations "hopeful." You can read Andrew's story on remdesivir and 14 other leading treatments that are now being tested against COVID-19 here. 

Here are the 15 leading coronavirus treatments already being tested in COVID-19 patients, and the major trials now underway to see if they work

The pandemic is upending medical research across the board, as big pharma mobilizes to find a treatment. GSK for example is betting $250 million on buzzy biotech Vir as the two team up to hunt for coronavirus treatments and vaccines. In related news, Blake Dodge reported this week that Alphabet's life-sciences firm Verily may use its giant patient registry to help sign people up to test coronavirus treatments.

And Blake separately reported that tests that can tell if you're immune to the coronavirus are on the way. She breaks down the companies racing to bring them to the US healthcare system here. 

The flip side here, as Andrew and Blake report, is that dozens of biotechs are putting clinical trials on hold as the search for a coronavirus vaccine makes it harder to find cures for cancer, heart disease, and neurological disorders. 

(For more on how Andrew is covering the high-stakes race for a coronavirus vaccine, he talked to deputy executive editor Olivia Oran about his reporting.)

Meanwhile, Apple and Google on Friday announced they are building a system to track COVID-19 cases. But as Rob Price reported, the plan is let down by America's testing failures.

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Startups to watch

From Melia Russell and Paayal Zaveri:

The coronavirus outbreak has changed not only where people work from, but how they work and what tools they use.

Already, apps like Zoom and Slack have seen huge increases in usage in the past few weeks, as users grab onto ways to stay connected in their work and personal lives while social distancing.

The urgent need for better work tools could catapult some enterprise startups into the pantheon of unicorn startups, as their users multiply and venture capital investors jump to fund them.

They asked VCs to tell them about one startup in their portfolio, and one where they have no financial interest, and came up with a list of 30 startups to watch. You can read more here. 

30 startups creating the future of work that will prosper in 2020, according to VCs

Elsewhere in startup news:

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

A real estate meltdown

The week started with the news that WeWork board members are suing SoftBank for backing out of its plan to buy $3 billion of shares. Meghan Morris reported that former CEO Adam Neumann is still weighing legal options.

Meghan and Dan Geiger then revealed that WeWork rival Knotel is scrambling to pay millions in bills that started stacking up before the coronavirus hit, and hasn't paid April rent at some locations. They also got leaked Knotel financials, which show it struggled to hit sales targets.

Elsewhere:

Below are headlines on some of the stories you might have missed from the past week. Stay safe, everyone.

-- Matt

Original author: Matt Turner

Silicon Valley billionaires are collectively pledging billions of money from their personal fortunes towards relief funds against the devastating impact of the coronavirus.This week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced he was donating $1 billion towards a relief fund, which he said is roughly 28% of his net worth.Other execs have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, but compared to their net worth this may not be as much as it seems.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As the coronavirus outbreak has spread, tech companies and their executives have hastened to donate medical supplies and cash. 

Companies including Facebook, Apple, and Tesla have pledged millions of dollars in the form of both cash and medical resources like masks, protective gear, and ventilators.

Individual executives are also kicking in. Bill Gates, who founded his philanthropic organization the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 20 years ago, has been particularly vocal about the crisis, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey this week announced he was setting up a $1 billion fund.

But to Silicon Valley billionaires, who make up some of the world's richest individuals, even enormous sums of money can make up only a fraction of their net worth.

Here is a breakdown of how much money four tech billionaires have pledged versus how much their estimated net worth is, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Original author: Isobel Asher Hamilton