Astra Inc., based in Almeda, Calif., is one of many space companies jostling for business in the small payload market. The company built four rockets last year but has yet to have a successful launch. It is counting on a $500-million financing derived through a planned merger with Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Holicity Inc. As CNBC points out, Astra is competing with numerous small rocket launchers including BlackSky Holdings Inc., AST & Science...
Global smartphone sales overall were down by 5.4% in Q4 of 2020 and 12.5% for the full year. Apple, however, bucked the trend with smartphone shipments growing by 3.3%. Samsung, the most recent leader, saw sales fall by 14.6%. Apple has 20.8% of the global smartphone market coming out of the fourth quarter. According to information and advisory firm Gartner Inc., Apple's 5G iPhone 12 put the company over the top.
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-02-22-4q20-smartphone-market-share-release
With the majority of the downtown office workforce ensconced at kitchen tables or spare bedrooms, developers and owners of office buildings are brainstorming about how to attract workers back to the traditional corporate workspace. The key, writes Andrew Marquardt with Fortune Magazine, is the touchless building and ultra-quality HVAC systems.
https://fortune.com/2021/02/21/covid-safe-offices-buildings-skyscrapers/
Uber Technologies Inc. has reached the end of the line in its attempt to prove its drivers are contractors in the U.K.. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has ruled that Uber's drivers are its employees. That could be a major blow for Uber's business model and a significant gain for drivers who could now be entitled to minimum wage, holiday pay and rest breaks, says the BBC. Legal challenges in other countries...
One of the risks of being the first company in a new market is being sideswiped by copycat competitors. In a way, that is what has happened to Elon Musk who founded Tesla Inc. in 2003. In this Forbes report, transportation writer Alan Ohnsman describes how many of Musk's former employees at Tesla left to launch their own EV and battery companies to challenge Tesla in what is now a cutthroat market.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2021/02/19/the-tesla-mafia-elon-musks-ex-employees-vie-to-become-his-top-rival/?sh=2673ec3a9ea0
When it comes to growing business, esports companies can provide valuable lessons for traditional professional sport organizations, including those in the National Hockey League. Although it will be difficult to knock the Dallas Cowboys football team off its top global valuation perch of $5.5 billion, four esports companies already have a higher market value than the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes. As Visual Capitalist points out, esports teams have the advantage of being part...
It's easy to take for granted accomplishments by space agencies when we see regular footage of rockets, satellites, and capsules docking at the ISS. But the image released by NASA of Perseverance, its latest rover to land on Mars, brings the phrase "seven minutes of terror" into perspective. The seven minutes refers to the amount of time that NASA's mission control at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California remained out of radio contact...
At least one financial expert feels that FOMO -- fear of missing out - is at the heart of Bitcoin's mind-boggling climb to $1 trillion in market value this week. Bitcoin has increased in value by $415 billion in 2021 alone, says Bloomberg. Market analysts note that major investments by companies such as Tesla and MicroStrategy could soon produce bubble market conditions.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/bitcoin-hits-us-1-trillion-value-as-crypto-jump-tops-other-assets-1.1565700
Nevada governor Steve Sisolak is pitching a concept to attract technology companies to his state. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the proposed legislation, under the name "Innovation Zones" would authorize companies that bring "groundbreaking technologies" to Nevada to set up independent, alternative forms of local government. Those companies would be required to own at least 50,000 acres of undeveloped land, have $250 million in their bank account, and promise to invest $1 billion...
Now that hordes of cellphone users have cut the cord to land lines, ambulance, police and fire departments have found themselves struggling to locate emergency victims. That s because, unlike land-line phones, cellphones do not provide exact locations. To help upgrade the 9-1-1 system, the Public Safety Next Generation 9-1-1 Coalition has asked the federal government for $15 billion to be funded through the government's $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill. That bill did not make it...
