We’ve spent so long asking tech to turn its attention to real-world problems. Let’s not complain when they do so now. 

In the April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts that the United States will again become a net importer of crude oil and petroleum products in the third quarter of 2020 and remain a net importer in most months through the end of 2021. Fewer barrels are available for export as U.S. crude oil production continues to decline. In addition, net exports of petroleum products will be lowest in the third quarter of 2020, when U.S. refinery runs decline in response to lower demand for refined products.

Layoffs are having a big impact on industries across the board due to COVID-19. This week alone news came out of massive cuts for TripAdvisor, Lyft, and reportedly Juul and Uber. But according to data tracker Layoffs.fyi, the cuts have affected certain job roles more than others. Sales and customer success roles are the most […]

Apple and Google ask for developer feedback on their contact tracing efforts, Facebook sees a “significant reduction” in ads and Microsoft makes life easier for IT managers. Here’s your Daily Crunch for April 30, 2020. 1. Apple and Google release first seed of COVID-19 exposure notification API for contact tracing app developers This is a […]

Modern Games is a new studio working to create games that combine physical and digital play. The company was founded by husband-and-wife team Justin and Amanda Kifer — serial entrepreneurs who previously launched companies including Citizen Local (acquired by MyLife in 2011) and Fidgetly, a fidget spinner company that also created a motion controller for […]

Uber and Airbnb are cutting significant portions of their workforce, Microsoft announces new Surface devices and we talk to Apple Craig Federighi about the new iPad cursor. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 6, 2020. 1. Uber is laying off 3,700 as rides plummet due to COVID-19 In an SEC filing, Uber disclosed plans to […]

YouTube is giving advertisers a few more tools to reach consumers and measure ad effectiveness on TVs. These tools already exist for YouTube on other platforms, but now the Google -owned video service is bringing them to connected televisions. In a blog post, it says this is in response to how YouTube viewership has grown […]

Australia jumped five places to 15th in OECD rankings for employment of mature age workers.

Two young Australian innovators are ready to take their ventures to the next level after sharing in $20,000 in seed funding from PwC during a live pitching event held by the Foundation for Young Australians.

Cyber risk, political interference, and macro-economic volatility rank among the top sources of anxiety for Australian insurers, according to a joint PwC and Centre for Financial Innovation (CSFI) report released today.

The economic impact of obesity will reach $87.7 billion and affect one-third of Australians by 2025 based on current trends and without further intervention.

Australia lags behind the world's best corporate performers in all ten indicators of digital intelligence needed to drive financial performance.

The number of detected cyber security incidents in Australia was the highest worldwide in the last 12 months with an increase of 109 percent, compared to a 38.5 percent increase globally.

Australian CEOs are less confident about domestic growth than their regional peers, and less certain of their ability to capture a return in Asia Pacific markets.

The Cloud Foundry Foundation (CFF) just went through a major leadership change, with executive director Abby Kearns stepping down after five years (and becoming a CTO at Puppet) and the CFF’s CTO Chip Childers stepping into the top leadership role in the organization. For the most part, though, these changes are only accelerating some of […]

Mozilla today launched version 76 of its Firefox browser, and with that, it’s launching a couple of new features that you’ll likely notice if you’re already using the open-source browser. The highlight of today’s release is the enhanced password manager. Firefox Lockwise, as it is called these days, will now ask you for your device […]

In the April 2020 update of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), released on April 7, and before a recently announced agreement by oil producing countries to limit production, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that U.S. crude oil production will average 11.8 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2020, a 4% decline from the 2019 production levels. Crude oil production will average 11.0 million b/d in 2021, a 6% decline from 2020 (Figure 1). If realized, the STEO 2020 production decline would mark the first annual decrease since 2016. The majority of the forecasted production decline occurs between the first and fourth quarters of 2020, dropping from 12.7 million b/d to 11 million b/d (13%) and remaining around that level through 2021. The forecast did not incorporate the April 12 joint announcement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and several other non-OPEC countries to reduce crude oil production. These production reductions may significantly affect global balances and could provide upward price pressure that would affect U.S. crude oil drilling and production. ...

On Monday, April 20, 2020, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil front-month futures prices fell below zero dollars per barrel (b)—at one point, trading at -$40.32/b (Figure 1)—and remained below zero for part of the following trading day. Monday marked the first time the price for the WTI futures contract fell below zero since trading began in 1983. Negative prices in commodity markets are very rare, but when they occur they typically indicate high transactions costs and significant infrastructure constraints. In this case, the WTI front-month futures contract was for May 2020 delivery, and the contract was set to expire on April 21, 2020. Unless they have made other arrangements ahead of time, market participants that hold WTI futures contracts to expiration must take physical delivery of WTI crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma. Typically, most market participants close any futures contracts ahead of expiration through cash settlement in order to avoid taking physical delivery, and only about 1% of contracts are physically settled. The extreme market events of April 20 and April 21 were driven by several factors, including the inability of contract holders to find other market participants to sell the futures contracts. In addition, in this case, the scarcity of available crude oil storage meant several market participants sold their futures contracts at negative prices, in effect paying a counterparty to close out of the contracts. ...

1. Promising coronavirus vaccine candidate from China in talks to be tested globally  Times Now
2. China conducts first successful coronavirus vaccine test on monkeys  Times of India
3. Inactivated PiCoVacc vaccine found safe, efficacious in animal study  The Hindu
4. Chinese drugmaker in talks to test coronavirus vaccine globally: Report  Hindustan Times
5. Covid-19: The race to develop coronavirus vaccines is heating up  Times of India
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Scientists discover a gene in honey bees that solve the mystery over virgin birth  Zee News
2. These ‘mostly useless’ male honeybees lay eggs, produce females  BGR
3. Study: Single Gene Causes 'Virgin Births' in Cape Honeybees | Biology  Sci-News.com
4. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Astronomers in Hawaii capture high resolution images ..ky imaging’ technique, probe into planet's cloud tops  Firstpost
2. Giant Planet More Astounding Than Before  NEWS9 live
3. Scientists obtain 'lucky' image of Jupiter  BBC News
4. New images of Jupiter captured by astronomers using `lucky technique`  WION
5. Scientists probe Jupiter's violent storms, lightning strikes  EdexLive
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Peshawar Remembers its ‘Grandson’ Rishi Kapoor  The Wire
2. When Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt joined Rishi Kapoor in New York, spot...  Hindustan Times
3. Rishi Kapoor To Ranbir Kapoor To Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: Count The Stars In The Throwback Pic Shared By Riddhima Kapoor Sahni  NDTV
4. Rishi Kapoor Diary  Outlook India
5. Hina Khan, Aditya Narayan and Bharti Singh to be part of musical tribute to Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan  India Today
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Amitabh Bachchan Remembers Sridevi And Irrfan In One Frame; See Pic  News18
2. Deepika Padukone & Amitabh Bachchan remember Irrfan Khan  NEWS9 live
3. Deepika Padukone recalls late Irrfan Khan with a throwback video of their tennis game; Says ‘please come back’  PINKVILLA
4. Deepika Padukone Remembers Irrfan Khan With A Sweet Memory From The Sets Of Piku  NDTV
5. Amitabh Bachchan remembers Sridevi, Irrfan Khan  Zee News
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez share the inspiration behind their upcoming track 'Tere Bina' in the  Times of India
2. Iulia On Marriage Rumours With Salman Khan: Spending Life With Someone More Important Than Papers  News18
3. Salman Khan shoots song titled 'Tere Bina' with Jacqueline Fernandez at his Panvel farmhouse; reveals det  Times of India
4. Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez promote new song Tere Bina at his farmhouse: ‘This is our cheapest...  Hindustan Times
5. Tere Bina: Salman Khan And Jacqueline Fernandez Shoot A Music Video At The Actor's Farmhouse  NDTV
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Week 2 of ‘Vande Bharat’: Here is the list where the second mission will be conducted  Times Now
2. Vande Bharat Mission: By air & sea, India’s evacuation operation picks up pace  Times of India
3. First Air India Flight From London Amid Lockdown Takes Off For Mumbai  The Newsopedia
4. ‘Proud moment to bring our people back home’: Crew of India’s first repatriation flight as part of Vande Bharat  The Indian Express
5. Nerve-wracking time for US-bound Indian students targeting Air India repatriation flights  Times of India
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. 'Walked all night on tracks, left behind as I couldn't keep up' says Aurangabad tragedy survivor; 16...  Firstpost
2. Sorry, we have run out of all words today  Mumbai Mirror
3. NHRC issues notice to Maharashtra govt over deaths of migrant workers in Aurangabad train mishap, seeks det...  Zee News
4. 16 walking home to MP fall asleep on rail tracks, run over in Maharashtra  The Indian Express
5. Tragedy on tracks  The Indian Express
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This week, Automattic revealed it has signed all the paperwork to acquire Tumblr from Verizon, including its full staff of 200. Tumblr has undergone quite a journey since its headline-grabbing acquisition by Marissa Mayer’s Yahoo in 2013 for $1.1 billion, but after six years of neglect, its latest move is its first real start since […]

Zhihu may not be as well known outside of China as WeChat or ByteDance’s Douyin, but over the past eight years, it has cultivated a reputation for being one of the country’s most trustworthy social media platforms. Originally launched as a question-and-answer site similar to Quora, Zhihu has grown to be a central hub for […]

When in April of last year, the photo-hosting service SmugMug acquired the photo-hosting service Flickr from Verizon’s digital media subsidiary, SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill said he was committed to breathing new life into the service, calling it “core to the entire fabric of the Internet.” MacAskill didn’t reveal at the time how much SmugMug — […]

The proliferation of data breaches based on leaked passwords, and the rising tide of regulation that puts a hard stop on just how much user information can be collected, stored and used by companies have laid bare the holes in simple password and memorable-information-based verification systems. Today a startup called Persona, which has built a […]

Beyond Meat, the publicly traded producer of plant-based protein replacements for meat, is currently giving other companies in the alternative meat space an education in just how finicky appealing to consumer tastes can be. On the same day that the Canadian Tim Hortons restaurant chain is dropping Beyond Meat products from its menus, the company […]

This morning let's peek at Uber's numbers ahead of earnings and see what we can learn about its 2019 in the micro-mobility world.

Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between. As the economy has worsened, the market for many goods and services has slowed. Some SaaS products have found themselves immune, or even boosted by recently changes in consumer and business consumption patterns and travel […]

Lime has announced that it has raised a $170 million funding round. Uber is the leading investor with existing investors Alphabet, Bain Capital Ventures, GV and others also participating. The Information first reported on the new funding round before the official announcement. As part of the deal, Lime is also acquiring Uber’s micromobility subsidiary Jump. […]

Uber Eats is pulling out of a clutch of markets — shuttering its on-demand food offering in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Ukraine. It’s also transferring its Uber Eats business operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Careem, its wholly owned ride-hailing subsidiary that’s mostly focused on the Middle […]

U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions declined by 2.8% in 2019 to 5,130 million metric tons (MMmt), according to data in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Monthly Energy Review. CO2 emissions had increased by 2.9% in 2018, the only annual increase in the past five years. Because of continuing trends in how much energy the U.S economy uses and how much CO2 that energy use generates, energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019 fell more than energy consumption, which declined by 0.9% in 2019, and gross domestic product, which increased by 2.3% in 2019.

Talk to these three people -- who are more likely to tell you 'no' -- before handing over your hard-earned cash for a franchise business.

The time to start a cleaning company is now.

And how the answer will help you determine the idea for your new business.

First movers get a chance to shape the landscape, but second movers can change the game.

After overcoming challenges at a young age, the makeup mogul is living the sweet life with her cruelty-free cosmetics brand.

First movers get a chance to shape the landscape, but second movers can change the game.

Owners of small businesses, caught between financial struggles and health hazards, must learn to operate as efficiently as they can from the safety of their own homes.

Imelda Staunton has gushed about her time filming Downton Abbey: The Movie.

The actress, 33, told Town And Country that the part in the period drama has 'changed all her life' as she also met boyfriend Michael C. Fox on the show.

The princess, daughter of George V and Queen Mary,  will be played by Kate Phillips in the feature-length adaptation of Downton Abbey which will use her home in West Yorkshire in its set.

The film's producers have allowed eager fans a glimpse of the stunning scenes behind the highly- anticipated period drama Downton Abbey: The Movie.

The actor, 55, teased the possibility of a second Downton Abbey movie being made in the future, as he discussed the feature film with The Mirror on Wednesday.

George Herbert, the eighth Earl of Carnarvon and owner the grand castle which features in Downton Abbey, has revealed that the Queen is a fan of the hit show.

Dame Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess Crawley and  Downton Abbey newcomer Imelda Staunton are set to  face off in a battle of wills in a new dramatic new teaser clip from the upcoming film