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Spotify latest tech name to cut jobs, axes 6% of workforce

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Read time : 2 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE- This March 20, 2018 file photo shows the Spotify app on an iPad in Baltimore. Music streaming service Spotify says it’s cutting 6% of its workforce, becoming yet another tech company resorting to layoffs as the economic outlook worsens. CEO Daniel Ek announced the restructuring in a message to employees that was also posted online Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Music streaming service Spotify said Monday it’s cutting 6% of its global workforce, or about 600 jobs, becoming yet another tech company forced to rethink its pandemic-era expansion as the economic outlook weakens.

CEO Daniel Ek announced the restructuring in a message to employees that was also posted online.

As part of the revamp involving a management reshuffle, “and to bring our costs more in line, we’ve made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our number of employees,” Ek wrote.

Big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google announced tens of thousands of job cuts this month as the economic boom that the industry rode during the COVID-19 pandemic waned. Continue reading

Obnoxiously loud car? A traffic camera might be listening

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

A woman walks using her headphones on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, in New York. After the relative quiet of the pandemic, New York City has come roaring back. Just listen: Jackhammers disrupt the peace and fleets of honking cars, trucks and buses again clog thoroughfares as millions of denizens return to the streets — their voices and clacking heels adding to the ear-splitting din. In one of the world’s noisiest cities, the cacophony has returned louder than ever. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — After the relative quiet of the pandemic, New York City has come roaring back. Just listen: Jackhammers. Honking cars and trucks. Rumbling subway trains. Sirens. Shouting.

Over the years, there have been numerous efforts to quiet the cacophony. One of the latest: traffic cameras equipped with sound meters capable of identifying souped-up cars and motorbikes emitting an illegal amount of street noise.

At least 71 drivers have gotten tickets so far for violating noise rules during a yearlong pilot program of the system. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection now has plans to expand the use of the roadside sound meters.

“Vehicles with illegally modified mufflers and tailpipes that emit extremely loud noise have been a growing problem in recent years,” said City Council member Erik Bottcher, who heralded the arrival of the radars to his district to help reduce “obnoxious” noise. Continue reading

As Davos opens, Oxfam urges windfall tax on food companies

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

FILE – A woman does a shopping in a supermarket in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec. 9, 2022. Food companies making big profits as inflation has surged should face windfall taxes to help cut global inequality, anti-poverty group Oxfam said Monday Jan. 16, 2023 as the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting gets underway. (AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk, File)

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Food companies making big profits as inflation has surged should face windfall taxes to help cut global inequality, anti-poverty group Oxfam said Monday as the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting gets underway.

That’s one of the ideas in a report by Oxfam International, which has sought for a decade to highlight inequality at the conclave of political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

The report, which aims to provoke discussions on panels featuring corporate and government leaders this week, said the world has been beset with simultaneous crises, including climate change, the surging cost of living, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the world’s richest have gotten richer and corporate profits are surging.

Over the past two years, the world’s super-rich 1% have gained nearly twice as much wealth as the remaining 99% combined, Oxfam said. Meanwhile, at least 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation is outpacing their wage growth, even as billionaire fortunes are rising by $2.7 billion a day. Continue reading

As elites arrive in Davos, conspiracy theories thrive online

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

People set up the stage at the eve of the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos from Jan. 16 until Jan. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

By SOPHIA TULP Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — When some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential figures gathered at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting last year, sessions on climate change drew high-level discussions on topics such as carbon financing and sustainable food systems.

But an entirely different narrative played out on the internet, where social media users claimed leaders wanted to force the population to eat insects instead of meat in the name of saving the environment.

The annual event in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos, which opens Monday, has increasingly become a target of bizarre claims from a growing chorus of commentators who believe the forum involves a group of elites manipulating global events for their own benefit. Experts say what was once a conspiracy theory found in the internet’s underbelly has now hit the mainstream. Continue reading

Ukrainian startups bring tech innovation to CES 2023

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Read time : 5 mins

Level : Intermediate

Packaging made from leaves is on display at the Releaf Paper booth during the CES tech show Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

By JAMES BROOKS Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The past year has been difficult for startups everywhere, but running a company in Ukraine during the Russian invasion comes with a whole different set of challenges.

Clinical psychologist Ivan Osadchyy brought his medical device, called Knopka, to this year’s CES show in Las Vegas in hopes of getting it into U.S. hospitals.

His is one of a dozen Ukrainian startups backed by a government fund that are at CES this year to show their technology to the world.

“Two of our hospitals we operated before are ruined already and one is still occupied. So this is the biggest challenge,” Osadchyy said.

“The second challenge is for production and our team because they are shelling our electricity system and people are hard to work without lights, without heating in their flats,” he said. Continue reading

CES startups face cautious investors amid economic woes

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

An exhibitor demonstrates the OneThird avocado ripeness checker during CES Unveiled before the start of the CES tech show, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, in Las Vegas. More than a thousand startups are showcasing their products at the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas, hoping to create some buzz around their gadgets and capture the eyes of investors who can help their businesses grow.(AP Photo/John Locher, File)

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) — More than a thousand startups are showcasing their products at the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas, hoping to create some buzz around their gadgets and capture the eyes of investors who can help their businesses grow.

But amid the slew of layoffs in the tech industry and an economic landscape battered with high inflation and interest rates, many may be met with cautious investors looking for products that can deliver quick returns instead of hype.

Analysts say the event this year has somewhat of a muted tone compared to prior shows, when many companies routinely unveiled pie-in-the-sky projects that never saw the light of day. Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at the consumer tech research firm Creative Strategies, said this time around, many of the tech items displayed during the show’s media preview days, which occurred Tuesday and Wednesday, have been less “flamboyant” compared to prior years, which showcased things like talking microwaves and smart jeans that vibrate to direct users.

“The economy — and I think the mood in general — is a little bit negative around tech,” Milanesi said. “It’s really getting companies to focus on real value for customers.” Continue reading

South Asian eateries try ‘going local’ as recovery strategy

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Read time : 5 mins

Level : Intermediate

People sit for a meal at a local restaurant in Goa, India, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. Across South Asia, hotels and restaurants have faced profoundly challenging circumstances over the past few years, rendering business plans ineffective and forcing a reset in strategies, say industry observers. Experts say revenge eating out after the pandemic restrictions were eased in 2022 have helped bring back investments in the restaurant business. (AP Photo/Vineeta Deepak)

By VINEETA DEEPAK Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hotels and restaurants across South Asia have had to adapt and reimagine dining out since the pandemic ripped through the region, forcing many out of business.

Those that have survived are tapping local sources and going online.

In India, from hole-in-the-wall casual eateries to fine dining, restaurants were devastated by lockdowns and virus outbreaks, with millions losing their jobs since COVID-19 hit in early 2020.

In neighboring Sri Lanka, where the tourism-driven economy also has been hammered by political upheavals and shortages, the situation remains dire.

Saman Nayanananda, a food and beverage manager at a hotel chain in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, says going local for food sourcing and menu offerings is vital.

Nayanananda, who was in New Delhi recently for the South Asian Food for Thought festival, survived a devastating tsunami in 2004 that killed 230,000. He lived through a prolonged civil war that ended in 2009 and witnessed the aftermath of deadly 2019 Easter terrorist attacks. After every calamity, the economy managed to get back on its feet. Continue reading

Time zone by time zone, another new year sweeps into view

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Read time : 6 mins

Level : Advanced

Fireworks explode over the Chao Phraya River during New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New Year’s celebrations swept across the globe, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks — and marking an end to a year that brought war in Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global worries over inflation.

The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved across Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia and Europe and into the Americas.

The ball dropped on New York City’s iconic Times Square as huge crowds counted down the seconds into 2023, culminating in raucous cheers and a deluge of confetti glittering amid jumbo screens, neon, pulsing lights and soggy streets. Continue reading

64% Of Americans Believe Social Media Is Bad for Democracy

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Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Robyn Goldfarb

Social media has become an epicenter for news and politics. More than 4.74 billion people across the world use social media to stay up to date on current events and express their opinions on political and social issues. Ans it’s not going away. Experts are forecasting nearly 6 billion users on the major platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok by the end of 2027.

Some analysts have argued that social media is one of the most significant contributors to the decline of democracy around the world. The Pew Research Center surveyed 19 economies to discover how the citizens of these countries view social media and if they see it as a constructive or destructive aspect of political life.

A Force for Good and Bad

Pew Research posed the overarching question of whether people believe social media is good or bad for democracy. Across the 19 advanced economies polled, 57% say that social media has been more of a good thing, while 35% say it has been bad. Continue reading

The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

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Read time : 6 mins

Level : Advanced

Will Smith, right, hits presenter Chris Rock on stage while presenting the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

By JOCELYN NOVECK AP National Writer

Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, in and maybe out again. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

But the slap? The slap was everywhere.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t on the level of a moon landing, or selection of a pope. But henceforth all you need say is “the slap” and people will know what you mean — that moment Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars and a global audience said, “Wait, did that happen?” Even in the room itself — maybe especially in the room itself — there was a sense everyone had imagined it, which helps explain why things went on as normal, for a bit.

The pandemic was over, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward in 2022, with mask mandates dropping and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets! Continue reading