Amazon has begun testing gaming technology in some of its fulfillment centers on a voluntary basis to both entertain employees and encourage them to be more productive. Screens show simple games that reflect digital representations of employees' actions, and workers advance in the game faster as they speed up their work.
A bill creating a US national artificial intelligence strategy and providing $2.2 billion for research and development has been introduced by US Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Brian Schatz D-Hawaii. The bill also would establish a national AI coordination office.
Students at one Alabama junior high school have been studying various cultures, including those of Europe, Africa and Native Americans, to created songs, dances and other artistic expressions. As part of a North Alabama Arts Education Collaborative Program, students learned the social studies material and the arts at the same time.
Federal Reserve officials are discussing ways to drive inflation higher that are more effective than previous efforts, which for a decade have kept the central bank short of 2%. Strategies include letting prices rise as much as 3% or 4% in some years, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans says.
⋅ CNN
Kroger and Walgreens have partnered with zero-waste platform Loop for a pilot program in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Loop provides reusable packaging on hundreds of food products and everyday household items that is later picked up by a delivery service to be cleaned and refilled.
Health care facilities are seeking alternatives to EHR processes that have led to burnout among physicians. Many say that open interoperability guidelines, rather than frameworks tailored to individual vendors or platforms, are the solution.
⋅ ClickZ
Marketers' propensity toward "shrink-and-squeeze" mobile marketing design (i.e., simply making your content fit mobile screens), can be missing the big picture, according to a Forrester report. Thomas Husson, author of "Reimagine Mobile to Activate the Total Brand Experience," says mobile is much like "electricity in the second industrial revolution," noting that augmented reality, voice, visual search and other tools can be used to create unique consumer experiences.
Agility Robotics, a startup that's designed walking, upright robots, has partnered with Ford. The companies say they will utilize as many as 100 self-driving Ford vehicles equipped with the robot, which can deliver packages.
Urban Outfitters has launched a monthly clothing rental subscription service called Nuuly, which it hopes will attract new customers and spur brand fans to spend more. Subscribers will pay $88 per month to rent up to six items from Urban Outfitters, Free People and Anthropologie.
⋅ Reuters
A unanimous US Supreme Court decision has thrown out a lower court decision that had revived lawsuits accusing Merck of failing to warn patients about fracture risks associated with Fosamax, an osteoporosis drug. The court agreed with the drugmaker that it cannot be penalized after the FDA rejected its proposal to add a warning to the label.
Charter Communications netted 428,000 broadband customers in the first quarter along with 176,000 new wireless lines while growing revenue by 5.1% compared to the period a year ago. The company reported gains in small and medium-size business video subscribers although overall it shed 145,000 video customers.
Changing weather patterns are leading to higher temperatures and safety and labor groups are urging the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to create heat stress standards for workers. OSHA currently has no clear guidelines on heat but has sought to enlighten employers on the dangers.
Elon Musk on Wednesday said that Tesla's Solar Roof tiles will be manufactured at a slower rate to ensure they last as long as expected. Musk's comment came as his company reported a reduction in solar installations.
In 2018, UPS delivered 5.2 billion packages and documents, and some of those deliveries included human organs and tissues. UPS made its first successful live organ delivery in 2016 -- a "gift" package with a kidney for a woman in South Carolina. "When I see them [UPS] in the store and all I just look at them and smile. You know, in the truck and it's UPS -- they delivered my kidney," said Sharon Cauthen.
Italy's Monteverdi Tuscany, Arizona's Enchantment Resort and New Zealand's Matakauri Lodge top this list of hotels that feature luxury spas.