BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Coronavirus: Vodafone and TalkTalk report surge in internet use
Vodafone has said it is experiencing a 30% rise in internet traffic across its UK fixed-line and mobile networks. More people are working from home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, putting more demand on all networks. TalkTalk, another internet provider, said that its daytime network traffic had risen 20% since Monday. One EU official has suggested that online TV services should stream ... Read more
2020-03-18 20:17:16
Facebook content moderators paid to work from home
Facebook will pay its third-party US content moderators to work from home. On a call with reporters, Facebook's chief Mark Zuckerberg said the contract workers would still get their full salaries even if they were unable to do all their normal tasks. The company will also increase use of artificial intelligence to moderate content during the coronavirus crisis. Mr Zuckerberg said its work-from- ... Read more
2020-03-18 20:16:45
Amazon is temporarily refusing to stock certain items in its warehouses, to cope with overwhelming demand for household essentials due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It means third-party sellers of non-essential items could find it difficult to ship orders to customers.
The move will last until 5 April and cover warehouses in the US and Europe.
Some items – including many brands of toilet paper – remain out of stock on Amazon’s UK website.
The decision to restrict warehouse stocks to household essentials and medical supplies has been met with dismay by some sellers of other products.
“My sales just doubled and Amazon halted all my shipments,” said one in a post on discussion site Reddit.
“This is absolutely crazy,” wrote another – though they added they had been “prepared” for disruption.
Third-party sellers can still list and sell items on Amazon but they would have to carry out packing and shipping of the products themselves.
Amazon told the BBC: "We are temporarily prioritising household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfilment centres so we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. We understand this is a change for our selling partners and appreciate their understanding."
Amazon was "doing the right thing", one US-based seller told the BBC.
"Small businesses will hurt because of it and some will completely go bankrupt if the supply chain disruption goes beyond a month," said Samantha Morrison, who sells a range of electrical and computer-related goods via Amazon.
She said it was nonetheless important that Amazon remained able to provide essential items to people in a time of need.
Ms Morrison added that she thought her own business would be minimally impacted as she had enough stock to "weather the storm".
Andrew Helgeson, a seller based in Lincoln, said he had "no idea" how many fewer orders he would be able to ship because he has been relying on Amazon's services for eight years.
Mr Helgeson sells items including DVDs and Blu-ray discs and said he would have to switch to packaging the products individually himself at home.
"We will get around it, always do, you have to be able to adapt," he told the BBC.
He added that he had already applied for a three-month mortgage holiday from his bank and would be seeking other government help.
2020-03-18 20:16:22
Coronavirus: How easy it for the UK to make more ventilators?
British engineering firms have been called on to switch to making medical ventilators as concern grows about the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. For patients critically ill with Covid-19, access to a ventilator could be a matter of life or death. The machines get oxygen into the lungs and remove carbon dioxide from the body when people are too sick to breathe on their own. That might sound ... Read more
2020-03-17 18:31:06
Coronavirus: Social giants police web with AI as staff sent home
Major websites are turning to automatic systems to moderate content as they tell their staff to work from home. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are all relying on artificial intelligence and automated tools to find problematic material on their platforms. The tech giants admit this may lead to some mistakes - but say they still need to remove harmful content. The coronavirus scare has led to a su ... Read more
2020-03-17 18:30:38
UK mobile networks face problems
The UK's mobile networks have experienced problems with their services. EE told the BBC it was something "affecting all operators and we are working closely to fix it". The problem has been blamed on "interconnect issues" between the operators. "We don't believe it is connected to the rise in home working [due to the coronavirus]," added EE. O2 had posted on its w ... Read more
2020-03-17 18:29:12
Trump angers Beijing with 'Chinese virus' tweet
China has reacted angrily after US President Donald Trump referred to the coronavirus as “Chinese”. A foreign ministry spokesman warned the US should “take care of its own business” before stigmatising China. The first cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. However, last week a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman shared a conspiracy theory, alleging the US Arm ... Read more
2020-03-17 18:27:28
Coronavirus: Broadband firms say no issue with extra demand
UK broadband companies say they can cope with increased demand as many more people stay at home during the coronavirus crisis. Internet service providers (ISPs) say they have contingency plans in place and that the network can deal with extra daytime demand. Video calls and other work applications should have little impact. But some traffic-heavy services are seeing a surge in use around the wo ... Read more
2020-03-16 17:51:04
Coronavirus: 3D printers save hospital with valves
A 3D-printer company in Italy has designed and printed 100 life-saving respirator valves in 24 hours for a hospital that had run out of them. The valve connects patients in intensive care to breathing machines. The hospital, in Brescia, had 250 coronavirus patients in intensive care and the valves are designed to be used for a maximum of eight hours at a time. The 3D-printed version cost less t ... Read more
2020-03-16 17:50:40
Google's coronavirus site launches amid Trump confusion
A coronavirus testing project by Google has been thrown into confusion over comments made by US President Donald Trump. He said the company was developing a website for all Americans to check whether they should get tested. However, Google's sister company Verily had actually been working on a pilot limited to California's Bay Area. Two sites launch on Monday - but only the localised one contai ... Read more
2020-03-16 17:50:11