Category Archives: Technology

Technology

Grinch conducts massive “organizational downsizing”, Merry Xmas! : U.S. High Tech/Communications shutdown November 2016

More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise. Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction announcements in November 2016:

Alabama:  Operator of high tech golf driving ranges Topgolf revealed city administrators of Birmingham are giving Topgolf $1.5-million USD in tax incentives!  Topgolf uses golf balls with RFID chips.

Arizona: Tempe based FirstSolar announced it will kill-off 1-thousand 6-hundred jobs in 2017! It’s not blamed on the economy, but on having to re-tool their factories to make a new type of solar panel.

California:  Internet marketing company QuinStreet laying off 57 people in Foster City by January 2017.  Pennsylvania based “Reverse logistics software and returns processing” company GENCO shutting down its Redlands ops, 26 jobs lost by the end of January 2017.  SunEdison suddenly laid off 25 people in Belmont. SunPower issued multiple layoff WARNs, 116 jobs gone by February 2017! Despite reporting a surprise profit of $2-million USD, San Francisco based yelp suddenly laid off 175 international sales people due to declining international sales!    It was revealed that San Francisco based Electronic Health Records (EHR) contractor McKesson eliminated 1-thousand 6-hundred jobs across the country, this past Spring 2016!  In San Francisco, Twitter issued a layoff WARN, 67 people jobless two days after Xmas.  AT&T eliminating 102 jobs in San Ramon, just two days after Xmas!  Marvel Semiconductor issued multiple layoff WARNs for multiple locations, 171 jobs gone by January 2017!  In Sunnyvale, NetApp eliminating 160 jobs by January 2017! Hewlett Packard (HP) finally notified the state that they laid off 609 people between July and August! Local news reports also revealed that HP laid off an additional 18 people in Roseville this month.  In Santa Clara, Violin Memory eliminating 106 jobs by mid-January 2017!  Also in Santa Clara, Intel eliminating 84 jobs right after Xmas, supposedly due to its poor performing ‘wearables’.  Broadcom-Avago finally notified the state that it eliminated 1-thousand 318 jobs, between March and September!  In Glendale, DreamWorks issued a layoff WARN, 170 jobs gone by the end of January!  In Redwood City, Pebble Tech issued a shutdown WARN, 82 jobs gone by December. In San Mateo, GoPro suddenly laid off 138 people, according to their own WARN! Some news media reports say GoPro actually eliminated about 2-hundred jobs! In Mountain View, Symantec continues killing jobs, this time 84 layoffs by February 2017.  Blue Coat Systems eliminating 27 jobs by February 2017.  Internet used-car marketplace Beepi issued a shutdown WARN, 102 jobs gone by December!  However, news reports say that 180 Beepi jobs are being lost due to the tech start-up merging with new rival fair.com!   San Jose based ebay suddenly shutdown its tech development ops in India, all but 15 people lost their jobs.  But wait, there’s more, those 15 people will come to America to take some ‘Merican’s tech job!  Ebay laid off 50 people last year at the same tech development center.  Asian news reports say that in India ebay is losing out to Amazon and Flipkart. In San Jose, Micrel issued a layoff WARN, 41 people outta work the day after Xmas. Cisco Systems suddenly laid off 42 people.  CAM-BAS issued a shutdown WARN, 44 jobs gone in January 2017.  Los Angeles based Rubicon Project laid off 125 people blaming a “comprehensive realignment of the business”! Tustin based Ricoh Electronics announced it is leaving The Golden State for Georgia, at least 147 jobs lost by October 2017!

Connecticut:  ‘Materials’ supplier for circuit boards Rogers Corporation laying off at least 50 people in 2017.  Verizon issued mass layoff WARNs, 558 jobs gone by March 2017!  Norwalk based  Frontier Communications eliminating 1-thousand jobs due to  Frontier taking over Verizon ‘territories’ in several states!

Florida: In Boca Raton, NTT America laying off 15 people in January 2017.  After 13 years marketer Kre8 Media now chapter 7 bankrupt busted and dead.

Idaho: Bodybuilding.com suddenly laid off 90 people in Boise.  The warning-less layoffs were revealed by unnamed employees who reported it to local news media.  Company admin admitted they are conducting “organizational downsizing” as part of their plans to expand their internet ops (never mind that it directly contradicted the new CEO’s statements, earlier in the year, that they would hire more people).

Illinois: Crane’s Chicago Business eliminating jobs.

Indiana: Indianapolis based Angie’s List suddenly laid off 150 people after 3rd quarter losses that were double the losses of the same time last year!

Kentucky: Maker of electronic gas meters Itron shutting down its 37 years old Owen County factory, 411 jobs lost over the next two years!  Local news reports say local officials said the shutdown announcement “caught us by surprise”.

Michigan: The Detroit News-Detroit Free Press warning of layoffs if their employees don’t except buyout offers.

Montana: Blue Cross and Blue Shield eliminating 12 InfoTech jobs by March 2017.

New York: The Wall Street Journal eliminating more jobs as it switches to a new format newspaper.  The new version will have fewer sections.   NYC based, and now Verizon owned, AOL suddenly laid off 5-hundred people! NYC based, and Clinton supporter, Univision laying off as many as 250 people due partly to a $30-million USD loss in its 3rd quarter!  NYC based Thomson Reuters announced it will kill-off 2-thousand jobs globally in 2017, calling it “transforming”!  In NYC, Charter Communications issued a shutdown WARN, 43 jobs gone before the end of the year due to merger with Time-Warner.  In Port Washington, Entertainment One shutting down by June 2017, 65 jobs lost.  Insurance company New York Life plans on eliminating InfoTech jobs between February 2017 and March 2018, via outsourcing/off-shoring. That Which Cannot be Named powerless to stop Yeshiva University from shutting down their Israel Henry Beren Campus Technology Services Division a week before Xmas.

North Carolina:  California based McKesson laid off 60 EHR employees in Charlotte, in addition to the 16-hundred job losses during Spring of this year.   Charlotte based FairPoint Communications warned 110 employees in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire of possible layoffs! Union reps say the actual number of employees targeted for layoffs is 153!

Ohio:TV station WNWO eliminating its in-house news department and contracting with a station in Indiana.

Pennsylvania:  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review printed its last hard-copy edition, 106 jobs lost to Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s new internet publishing only!

Texas:  Marketing software maker Yodle eliminating 1-hundred jobs due to being taken over by rival web.com.

Washington: Intel shutting down their DuPont location, 77 layoffs begin after Xmas, some news reports say it’s because of low sales of its ‘wearables’. Tech news reports say Cyanogen is shutting down its Seattle ops after Xmas. Some employees can transfer to California. Blucora moving its HQ to Texas, 35 Bellevue jobs lost by June 2017.

Tech/Communications shutdown October 2016: NO MORE VERIZON AS IT KILLS 162K JOBS, SO FAR!

LITHIUM BATTERIES SET FIRE TO BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY!

DOG ROBOTS CAN TELL IF YOU HAVE CANCER

SELF DRIVE CAR FAIL: HUMAN DRIVERS UNABLE TO REGAIN CONTROL FROM ROBOT DRIVER?

HIGH TECH FAIL: JAPAN JOINS THE DUMBING DOWN CROWD!

ObamaCare November 2016: “IF I HAVE TO PISS AND SHIT ON MYSELF, I WOULD RATHER BE DEAD!”

Banking/Retail/Service sector November 2016: “NOBODY EVEN KNOWS WE’RE HERE!” 1 STATE, 4-THOUSAND JOBS GONE AFTER XMAS!

Federal, State & Local govt. shenanigans November 2016: “THOSE HALCYON DAYS ARE OVER” ARE ‘LAWMAKERS’ HIGH ON LEGALIZED MARY-JANE?

Food crisis November 2016:  “…LEAN TIMES FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD.”

Dumbing Down, November 2016: “FINANCIAL EXIGENCY” MO PROOF MO EDUCATION DOES NOT EQUAL MO MONEY!

Technology

Self Drive Car Fail! Uber breaks the law in California!

14 December 2016 / 20:50 UTC-07 Tango 06 (25 Azar 1395/15 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1438/17 Geng Zi 4714)

Uber in trouble again, this time they’ve violated California’s self drive car law.

Uber began testing ‘autonomous’ car service in San Francisco without getting the required state permit.  Uber believes they can avoid the permit because their self drive cars still have a human behind the wheel, just in case, which is an apparent loophole in California’s autonomous vehicle law.   State regulators don’t buy the excuse and are prepping to take legal action.

Uber’s Anthony Levandowski also admitted that their self driving Volvos aren’t truly self driving because “We’re just not capable of doing that yet.”

SELF DRIVE CAR FAIL! HUMAN DRIVERS UNABLE TO REGAIN CONTROL FROM ROBOT DRIVER?

Idaho, Technology

Idaho hospital bans smartphones, as lithium batteries set fire to Boise State University!

13 December 2016 (11:33 UTC-07 Tango 06) 23 Azar 1395/13 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1438/15 Geng Zi 4714

Saint Luke’s Health System (supposedly now the largest employer in The Gem State) has banned the spontaneously combustable Samsung Galaxy 7 ‘smart’ phone at all its locations.

The ban applies to employees as well as patients and comes after a charging lithium battery is suspected of setting fire to an office building on Boise State University campus, on 03 December 2016.  Smartphones use lithium batteries, and it’s not just Samsung phones that are spontaneously lighting up.

Recently news media in China reported that at least eight Apple iPhone 6s exploded.  Of course Apple denies there’s a problem (even though there are increasing reports from around the world of iPhones exploding), just like Samsung first ignored reports about their phones exploding.

Then there’s reports of ‘smart’ phone chargers themselves causing explosions in Australia.  Fire investigators in New South Wales concluded the fire was caused when the charger overheated the battery causing it to explode.  By the way, it was an Apple iPhone 6.

But it’s not just those dumb smartphones, even GPS systems have exploded.  In one case it was claimed that by leaving a GPS on your vehicle’s dashboard, exposed to the Sun, can cause the litium-ion batteries to explode.

You can’t use that excuse on all those exploding phones that were tucked away in people’s pants pockets.

A Tesla in Germany that spontaneously combusted

Let’s not forget that lithuim using Tesla cars have been exploding in Germany, United States and Mexico.  And as Recently as August Tesla cars began exploding in France!

Technology

Dog robots and breathalizers can tell if you have cancer?

12 December 2016 / 20:57 UTC-07 Tango 06 (23 Azar 1395/13 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1438/15 Geng Zi 4714)

It’s long been known that pets, especially dogs, react negatively to the breath of people with cancer.  In China scientists have succesfully detected cancer ions in the breath of cancer victims using a mass spectrometer.

Experimental breathalizer for lung cancer detection

Hefei Institutes of Physical Science-Chinese Academy of Sciences detected seven ions directly conected to esophageal cancer.  They claim their mass spectro-breathalizer can detect cancer within three minutes with an accuracy of 85% to 90%.  More research is needed.

In Japan, researchers working with dogs notice that not only are dogs good cancer detectors but they actually improve their detection abilities the more they’re used.  However, according to NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) the ultimate goal of the dog cancer detection program is to eventually replicate it using robots.

HIGH TECH FAIL: JAPAN JOINS THE DUMBING DOWN CROWD!

HIGHEST SKIN CANCER RATE & GOVERNMENT LIES CONNECTED TO IDAHO?

Hospital robot janitor Bioquell to the rescue!

Technology

Self Drive Car Fail! Human drivers unable to regain control from robot driver?

12 December 2016 / 20:17 UTC-07 Tango 06 (23 Azar 1395/13 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1438/15 Geng Zi 4714)

“If someone is designing a method for automated vehicle handover, there will need to be detailed research on that specific method. This study is tip of an iceberg.”-Lene Harbott, Revs Program at Stanford

A new study published by the new Science Robotics journal says self driving cars don’t like being turned off!

The article titled Motor learning affects car-to-driver handover in automated vehicles, presented the results of the Dynamic Design Lab study at California’s Stanford University.  The study showed that differences between human’s explicit and implicit thinking actually made it difficult to take control of a car that has been under total computer control: “…there is this physical change and we need to acknowledge that people’s performance might not be at its peak if they haven’t actively been participating in the driving.”-Holly Russell, Dynamic Design Lab

DON’T HAVE A HEART ATTACK, SOON ARMY ROBOTS WILL SAVE YOUR ASS!

3RD SELF-DRIVE CRASH FOR TESLA!

GOOGLE SELF DRIVING CAR HITS METRO BUS!

CNN Money: Google patent would glue pedestrians to self-driving cars

DRIVERLESS CARS: SHOULD THEY BE PROGRAMMED TO KILL?

TWICE IN ONE WEEK SECURITY BOT INJURES CHILD! CHRISTIANITY BEHIND RISE OF THE MACHINES?

Technology

High Tech Fail: Japan joins the Dumbing Down crowd!

07 December 2016 (04:20 UTC-07 Tango 01) 17 Azar 1395/07 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1438/09 Geng Zi 4714

Despite a reputation for high tech, and being the birth place of internationally popular Manga, Japanese high schoolers are increasingly dumbing down precisely because of their high tech infatuations!

A survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that only 35% of teenagers in Japan like reading about science, and that’s the problem, fewer and fewer Japanese are actively reading.  High schoolers have dropped from an internationally OECD ranked 4th place to 8th place in reading.

NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) interviewed several teachers who said the internet has made it so easy to find answers that, as one teacher said, students “don’t think” about the problems they’re answering.  Apparently students are allowed to access the internet when they take tests in Japanese schools.  NHK showed that most completed tests lacked required written responses, multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank answers were almost exclusively gleened from the internet.

However, Japan’s PISA ( Program for International Student Assessment) Reading Performance rating is still higher than that of the United States!

Technology

Planned Obsolescence: USAF admits it must make its own Drone parts!

Video

In this official U.S. Air Force report it’s revealed that USAF personnel must make their own parts for many aircraft, including the QF-16 target drone (F-16 fighter jets being used as live fire targets):

QF-16 target drone, under going testing with a pilot in the cockpit

 PHINAL PHANTOM PHLIGHT, NO MORE USAF F-4 PHANTOMS!

Technology

No more Verizon, 162K jobs killed, so far! : U.S. Tech/Communications layoffs, October 2016

More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise. Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction announcements in October 2016:

California:  San Jose based Cypress Semiconductor says it will eliminate 5-hundred jobs in an effort to spark growth! Home automation company Savant Systems shutting down a San Francisco location right after Thanksgiving.  Ten years old San Francisco based Twitter eliminating at least 350 jobs globally, as well as shutting down the video appplication Vine!  San Francisco based video game maker MaxPlay laid off most of its 70 employees after a potential new owner backed out of the deal at the last minute.    Palo Alto based Hewlett Packard (HP) continues killing jobs, this time as many as 4-thousand globally, because “markets remain very challenged!”  And get this, HP finally issued WARNs showing that they eliminated 488 California jobs between July and August!   Verizon shutting down Rancho Cordova customer service center, 1-thousand jobs gone by January 2017!  (see New York below)

Connecticut:  Verizon shutting down two call centers, 550 jobs gone by March 2017! (see New York below)

Florida: iQor shutting down their two years old Saint Petersburg tech repair center, 76 jobs gone by February 2017.  NTT America eliminating 51 jobs in time for Xmas.

Iowa: California based Hewlett Packard (HP) laid off 32 people in the Greater Des Moines area.

Louisiana: “The tiny startup that won an Academy Award” Moonbot Studios secretly eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs, it was revealed by former employees.

Massachusetts: Boston based ‘ tech-enabled natural products’ NutraClick laid off 30 employees as part of restructuring, but some news sources said it was because NutraClick got into trouble with the U.S. Federal Trade Commision.

Michigan: Automatic Data Processing shutting down Ann Arbor location, 79 jobs lost by Thanksgiving.

Nebraska: Verizon shutting down its Lincoln call center, 320 jobs gone by March 2017!

New Mexico: New York based IEC Electronics sold off its Albuquerque circut board factory, no word on how many jobs lost.

New York:  IEC Electronics revealed it eliminated at least 73 jobs in Wayne County.   Texas based Dex Media shutting down their Amherst ops, 57 jobs lost in time for Xmas. Verizon shutting down its Orangeburg and Rochester call centers, at least 946 jobs gone between January and June 2017!  It’s part of bigger plans to conduct massive shutdowns across the U.S.  Local news reports say Verizon has already eliminated 162-thousand U.S. jobs!  In Olean, Data Listing-The Connection eliminating 147 call center jobs due to loss of contract!   NYC based AppNexus suddenly laid off 150 people as part of its reorganization in preps for its initial public offering (IPO)!   If the stock markets are doing so good why is Barron’s killing jobs!  An internal email, which was accidentallty sent publicly, revealed that Wall Street Journal owned Barron’s began eliminating jobs in October.  Gannett began eliminating jobs at its The Journal News/lohud.com, proving that being good at your job won’t prevent you from becoming jobless: “It is a difficult day for the newsroom as we struggle with the realities of transformation…..we grieve the loss of incredibly committed colleagues.”-Traci Bauer, executive editor

North Carolina:  Charter Communications eliminating 258 jobs in Charlotte between now and June 2017!  LED light maker Cree continues killing jobs, no numbers were revealed this time but the layoffs took place in North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Pennsylvania: Observer-Reporter suddenly laid off 29 employees, calling it “restructuring”.

Texas:  AT&T says it will layoff an undisclosed number of employees in time for Xmas.

Utah: Salt Lake City based MaritzCX suddenly laid off at least 40 people in Salt Lake City and Fenton, as well an undisclosed number of jobs eliminated at other locations across the country.

Virginia: The biggest U.S. newspaper company, McLean based Gannett, continues killing jobs, this time more than 350 people across the country will become jobless!  Administrators admit its part of their plan to shift to digital, and spend billions of dollars taking over other news outlets.

Wisconsin: Home Security of America shutting down its Cross Plains call center, 121 jobs affected!  Company admin claim most employees will be allowed to work from home, no reason was given for the call center closure.  Gannett shutting down a newspaper printing operation in Waupaca, 52 jobs lost by Xmas.

ECONOMY SO BAD COLORADO ACTIVATES NATIONAL GUARD!

U.S. mining/industrial/logistics layoffs October 2016: “an extended slowdown environment”

September 2016 Tech/Communication layoffs: YES HE CAN, OBAMA GIVES IT ALL TO ICANN!

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed

Technology

Don’t have a heart attack, soon Army Robots will save your ass!

Video

07 November 2016  (01:32 UTC-07 Tango 01) 17 Aban 1395/06 Safar 1438/08 Ji Hai 4714

The U.S. Army’s Medical Department Board publicly demonstrated four experimental CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation) robots, aka Automatic Chest Compression Devices:

MINORITY REPORT: YOUR NEXT JOB INTERVIEW WILL BE WITH A ROBOT NAMED NEOFACE?
OPERATION PACMAN: U.S. ARMY TAKES NAZI ERA ROBOT TANKS TO NEW LEVELS!
ROBOTS TO KILL 80-MILLION JOBS! “… IT WASN’T FUNNY ANYMORE.”
IDAHO ROBOTS REVEAL RADIATION LEVELS TOO HIGH FOR HUMANS

 

Technology, U.S.

Utah: Phinal Phantom Phlight, no more USAF F-4 Phantoms!

Video

03 November 2016  (12:10 UTC-07 Tango 01) 13 Aban 1395/02 Safar 1438/04 Ji Hai 4714

“I felt like we had an opportunity and an obligation to get this aircraft on the road one more time because so many people have this connection with it. It’s just been absolutely amazing for me to do this.”-Lieutenant Colonel Ron King

One of two QF-4 Phantoms on Phinal Phlight at Hill AFB

At the end of October, just in time for Halloween, a couple of Phunky Phantoms of the U.S. Air Force drone type made their phinal phlights at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

In the 1990s iconic F-4 Phantom-2s were converted, at Davis-Monthan in Arizona, into QF-4 target drones for the U.S. military.  In 2015 they were transferred to Holloman in New Mexico for phinal phlight preps.  The last unmanned drone phlight took place in August 2016: “Ironically, the majority of QF-4 missions are flown in the manned configuration to support manned presentation, unmanned flight chase missions, and pilot proficiency training.”– Scott Johnson, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center

The remaining 13 USAF QF-4s will be converted to ground targets for use at White Sands in New Mexico.  Utah’s Hill AFB AFLCMC (Air Force Life Cycle Management Center) System Program Office will continue to be involved with the creation of new target drones for the USAF, like the QF-16.

Official USAF video explainer: