Hives full of drones would serve as hubs to fulfill Amazon orders in urban areas, as suggested in a patent filed by the online retail giant. According to the patent, a cylindrical tower would receive truck-delivered goods at its base, and the goods would be distributed by robots throughout the facility, with airborne drones flitting to and from the cylinder's upper stories to make final deliveries.
Companies should prepare employees for an active-shooter situation, writes safety-training expert Judie Smithers. She offers nine tips for training, including how to spot potentially violent behavior, how to evacuate or hide, and what to do when law enforcement arrives.
Nearly 70% of millennials believe that student-loan debt is a more important issue than threats from North Korea, and nearly half say it's more serious than global warming, a survey finds. About 43.3 million student borrowers hold education-related debt worth $1.41 trillion, the survey states.
⋅ Reuters⋅The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model)⋅Market News International⋅Financial Times (tiered subscription model)
The Alternative Reference Rates Committee, which comprises major international banks, has chosen a Treasurys-backed repurchase agreement rate as an alternative to the London Interbank Offered Rate. "I am confident the new reference rate chosen today by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee is based on a deep and actively traded market and will be highly robust," said Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell.
Kroger sold 8.2 billion units of private label goods last year, marking a record for the retailer, and it will look to build on that success by adding more exclusive products to its 30,000-SKU private label lines, the company said. The retailer has expanded its private label lines by about 60 items per month for the last year and a half and has added about 1,000 products to its private label offerings so far this year.
Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said in a joint statement that they do not support the current version of the Senate health care bill, arguing that it does not do enough to unravel the structure of the Affordable Care Act, but they expressed willingness to negotiate. Republican leaders can only afford two defections from their party and still pass the bill.
Sixty-seven percent of marketers invest in video on Facebook, 51% spend on YouTube video and a quarter invest in video on Instagram and Twitter each, per Animoto. Sixty-three percent of respondents plan to up their spend on Facebook video in the next year, 62% intend to invest more in YouTube video, 52% will spend more on Twitter video and half say they're increasing Instagram video spend.
A group of subdistributors for Kellogg are asking for compensation after they were let go from their jobs when Kellogg changed distribution from direct-store delivery to the warehouse model. The subdistributors are threatening a class-action lawsuit if Kellogg does not respond.
Hacking group CyberTeam took to Twitter to claim responsibility for a distributed-denial-of-service attack that took Skype offline, saying that the attack was "all for fun." In a tweet, the group suggested that it would attack digital gaming platform Steam next.
A complete response letter was issued by the FDA to Pfizer regarding its biologics license application for Retacrit, or epoetin alfa, a biosimilar of Amgen's Epogen and Janssen Biotech's Procrit, intended to treat anemias linked to chronic kidney disease, chemotherapy and perioperative settings. The letter was related to a warning letter issued in February regarding a facility in Kansas that is a potential manufacturing site for the product.
Low streaming quality increased viewers' negative emotions 16%, while engagement dropped 20%, per an Akamai study that used the Sensum Insights platform. The study also found that 76% of viewers would quit using a service if multiple streaming issues occurred.
⋅ Forbes
Sales of previously owned homes in the US in May recovered from a sharp decline in April, and strengthening demand from homebuyers drove up the prices sellers were able to demand, the National Association of Realtors said. Sales rose 1.1%, and the median selling price surged 5.8%.
A research team at University of California at San Diego has unveiled a new skin patch containing enzymes that feed off sweat and have real-life technological capabilities and applications. In tests, researchers used the soft, stretchable electronic-skin-based biofuel cell to power a radio for two days and now are looking at how the wearable biofuel cell might be used for wearable devices to track a person's health.
A bill proposed Thursday will create a carrier certificate that allows package deliveries by drones in the US. Amazon and Google are developing programs for drone deliveries; Amazon made its first delivery in the UK last year.
American Hotel Income Properties, a Canadian real estate investment trust, said it is closing on the purchase of 18 Hilton Worldwide and Marriott International hotels for around $407.4 million. AHIP will own 113 hotels in 33 states once the acquisition is finalized.