Technology

Disclosure: Most of the vendors mentioned are clients of the author.

During this ongoing COVID-19 event, itnice to see what appear to be normal product launches. We aren&t likely to see what we think of as &normal &that often anymore, so we&ll all have to adjust to the new normal. But as I watched this launch of well-designed mobile products, one caught my attention: the HP ZBook Studio. I think itthe most potent anti-Apple MacBook product yet created.

Lettalk about that.

The importance of creators during the COVID-19 event

First, during this pandemic, one of the most valuable resources the world has is its creators. It is their innovation that will help us find release from our days locked up at home. Many creative types work from home & even when there isn&t a pandemic. Historically, a significant number of them gravitated to the Apple platform, representing some of Applemost stalwart fans.

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Itback in the days of CRT monitors and this pilot fish has had to get really practical when it comes to dealing with old IT gear.

The practice had been to save old PCs, printers and related electronic junk in an abandoned building owned by the company, fish says. &Then we make an annual trip to the computer recycler in a nearby town.&

But when the boss hears about this, he issues an order: All that stuff goes straight into the trash bin. No discussion — just toss it all in the dumpster, he says.

Fish knows ita really bad idea to dump lead-filled CRTs and circuit boards that way — and probably illegal. So he waits until a week when the boss is away, loads the junk into his truck and carts it off to the recycler. Cost for recycling a yearworth of e-junk: $100.

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The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is deploying a temporary remote work environment based on Microsoft Teams to connect millions of workers around the world amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

The DoD has seen a surge of use on its network as staffers are forced to work remotely due to the pandemic. The increased demand led to the creation of a temporary DoD-only deployment of Teams and other Office 365 tools, dubbed the Commercial Virtual Remote (CVR) environment; itpart of a wider effort to ramp up telework capabilities across various U.S. government agencies and military forces.

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Ventilators assembled by GM and Ventec Life Systems were delivered to hospitals Thursday night with more making their way to facilities today and through the weekend, the first in a 30,000-unit order with the U.S. government.

The deliveries, which went to hospitals in Chicago and Olympia Fields, Ill., are a milestone for the two companies that launched an effort less than a month ago to make thousands of ventilators for hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GM and Ventec announced a partnership March 20 to help increase production of respiratory care products such as ventilators. The companies had initially focused on making Venteccritical care ventilators called VOCSN, a higher end multi-function device that includes a ventilator, oxygen concentrator, cough assist, suction and nebulizer. The device, which has more than700 components, was cleared in 2017 by the FDA.

GM investigated the feasibility of sourcing the materials needed as well as what it would take to build a new clean room and production line within its Kokomo, Ind. factory. GM estimated it would cost about $750 million, a price that included retrofitting a portion of the engine plant, purchasing materials to make the ventilators and paying the 1,000 workers needed to scale up production, the source said. The remaining $250,000 of estimated costs came from Ventec.

The Trump Administration balked at the price tag, putting a contract with the U.S. government in limbo. GM and Ventec planned to push ahead anyway, even as President Trump used Twitter to criticize the automaker and its CEO Mary Barra . Trump then signed a presidential directive ordering GM to produce ventilators and to prioritize federal contracts, just hours after the automaker announced plans to manufacture the devices.

In spite of the scuffle, GM did reach a $490 million contract with the federal government to produce 30,000 ventilators by the end of August. Under the contract, GM is producing a different critical care ventilator from Ventec called the VOCSN V+Pro, a simpler device that has 400 parts. The other more expensive and complex machine had a multi-function capability.

To speed its ability to build ventilators, the government contract calls for the VOCSN unit with ventilator capability only, according to GM.

Production began this week with one shift of workers and is ramping up. Eventually, GM has plans to add a second and then a third shift in the coming weeks, according to a company spokesperson. More than 1,000 workers will be needed over the three shifts.

To date, 10 ventilators have been delivered to Franciscan Health in Olympia Fields. Another 10 were expected to be delivered Friday afternoon to Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago.A third shipment of 34 ventilators will be delivered Saturday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the Gary/Chicago International Airport for distribution to other locations where the need is the greatest, according to GM.

The need for ventilators is urgent as cases of COVID-19 pop up with increasing frequency as widespread testing begins. While some people with COVID-19 reported more mild symptoms, others have experienced severe respiratory problems and need to be hospitalized. The shortage has prompted automakers including Ford and Volkswagen to investigate ways of ramping up ventilator production. Ford and GE Healthcare have licensed a ventilator design from Airon Corp and plan to produce as many as 50,000 of them at a Michigan factory by July.

Automakers are also making face masks, face shields and Powered Air-Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) for healthcare workers.

Applesurvival plan to get through the COVID-19 crisis is both insanely complex and incredibly simple:Stay focused, keep investing, stay optimistic and take care.

Keep your eyes on the road

Speaking to company employees in a meeting that was almost immediately leaked, CEO Tim Cook stressed the simplicity of the companyplan to keep its eyes on the road and its hands upon the wheel.

He warned that the company isn&t immune to the economic calamity of the pandemic, but stressed its advantages as this new journey begins, most particularly its &robust balance sheet."

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If you have ever attended (or tuned into) one of Monzo many community events, you are likely familiar with the work of Simon Balmain. An early employee of the challenger bank, he has played a long term role in helping to build Monzocustomer support and community efforts and was often seen emceeing events.

Now TechCrunch has learned that Balmain is departing to join Sphere, the perpetually stealthy startup founded by Nick D&Aloisio, who previously founded news summary app Summly, which he famously sold to Yahoo aged 17for areported $30 million.

According to sources, the former &Monzonaught& will be tasked with helping bolster Spherecommunity efforts. Sphere began life as a question and answer app that let you find and instantly chat to paid experts on a range of topics but has since pivoted to a chat app built from the ground up for groups.

&Sphere is a chat app for groups to feel closer and achieve more, together,& reads the App Storedescription. Features listed for Sphere Group Chat include the ability to create multiple chats for a single group; send highlighted announcements so no one in a group misses important messages; and send notifications to individuals or everyone who hasn&t read your message &in just one tap&.

Meanwhile, we first reported on London-based Sphereexistence back in October 2017, after being tipped off by sources and uncovering regulatory filings revealing that D&Aloisio had raised funding from Index Ventures, and LocalGlobe (the early-stage VC firm founded by Robin and Saul Klein). And in March last year, the FT reported that Sphere had raised a total of $30 million, adding Michael Moritz as a backer, and noting that the startup had unusually remained in stealth for a whopping 2.5 years.

That was a whole year ago. With a newly recruited community specialist, a less opaque launch is unlikely to be too far away.