WMATA Silver Line Opening Runs Smooth
There’s some exciting news for NoVa Metro riders this week. Phase 1 of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s notorious Silver Line has finally opened this weekend to commuters. Five new stops were added, connecting East Falls Church to Tysons Corner and Reston, VA with 11 miles of brand new track.
According to the Associated Press, nearly 10,000 commuters have utilized the new stations during Monday’s morning commute with no noted delays. By 9 am, over 7,500 trips had been taken from Wiehle-Reston East. According to WMATA, 260,000 riders will benefit from shorter trips and wait times with the added stations, especially those traveling on Green and Yellow lines.
Of the daily 710,000 trips taken on a weekday, Metro says only 10% of Metro riders will sustain a longer wait due to the increased number of commuters in the system. During rush hour, Silver Line trains run every six minutes. The rest of the day and weekends, trains will run 12 minutes apart.
Moto X’s New Digital Tattoo Unlocks Phone with a Tap of the Wrist
Moto X owners now have one of the weirdest and easiest ways to unlock their phone: An NFC digital tattoo. On Tuesday, Motorola wrote a blog introducing a product designed by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group and VivaLnk Inc., that can unlock a Moto X with a simple wrist tap. It’s called Digitial Tattoo, and it’s essentially a temporary tattoo with NFC capability embedded. The nickel-sized tattoo has a looped, chrome design and the adhesive only lasts five days. Supposedly it can last through jogging, showering, and other rigorous or wet activities. You can buy a pack of 10 Digital Tattoos from Vivalink for $9.99, although they’re currently on back order.
I actually find the idea pretty cool, since I never lock my phone simply to avoid fumbling with it. Something like this would allow me to keep my Moto X secure without much hassle. All that said, $9.99 for 50 days of mobile security convenience is no better than the NFC device called Skip, which does the same thing for $9.99 and is a permanent pocket clip.
For the full rundown and video explanation on the Digital Tattoo for the Moto X, read on below.
A phone should be as unique as you are—not only in the design of your device, but how you use it. Last year at the All Things D “D11” conference, Regina Dugan talked about new digital tattoo technology that would make it easier to unlock your phone. Now the moment is here: We’re excited to see this new technology brought to life for Moto X by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group and VivaLnk Inc.
Source: Motorola
LG Shows off Largest Foldable and Rollable Display
Just when you thought 2014 couldn’t get cooler, a 18″ LG OLED display was spotted bending and folding without a bit of distortion or breaking. The prototype technology was showcased by LG Display and is currently claimed as the world’s largest flexible and foldable OLED display. In the videos below, you can see a demonstration of LG’s prototype being bent, folded, and even rolled without damaging a single pixel of the 1,200 x 810 resolution. According to Engadget, the screen is made with polyamide film, a material that is thinner and more flexible than plastic. There was also a demo of a transparent version of the screen. LG is promising flexible OLED screens up to 60″ in the future. Perhaps the first iteration of the LG G Flex wasn’t such a gimmick after all.
What to Expect from Comic Con 2014
Just in case you forgot, we thought it might be good to remind readers that over 15,000 people are arriving in San Diego this week for Comic Con 2014, which started today. So what can the varied mass of gamers, comics fans, and amateur and professional cosplayers look forward to this week? We’ve put together a quick list below.
Microsoft to Layoff 18,000 Staff, Change Nokia X Devices to Windows Phone
Last week, Microsoft sent a memo to its staff members announcing a 14% cut of staff due to strategic emphasis on its work with Nokia on smartphones. The cuts are, in part, due to Microsoft inheriting 32,000 employees with its acquisition of Nokia in September 2013. This morning, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella sent another memo to all employs to further inform staff of cuts. The 18,000 jobs to be cut include 12,500 jobs described as “professional and factory workers.” The first 13,000 layoffs will take place over the next six months. Within the memo, Nadella explains the strategy involved with the cuts along with Microsoft’s intention to offer severance to all employees affected.
The main purpose of these cuts, according to the Nadella, were described as the following:
“Our workforce reductions are mainly driven by two outcomes: work simplification as well as Nokia Devices and Services integration synergies and strategic alignment.” In addition, these changes are driven by Microsoft’s pledge to cut $600 million of costs within 18 months acquiring Nokia.
Meanwhile, the cuts are being favored by Wall Street and shareholders who have seen Microsoft as an overly large company since the acquisition. Today MSFT’s stock price opened at 45.45 this morning and as of 11 am has dropped a dollar to 44.40. On Thursday, Microsoft went up 2.8% in pre-market. Shares have gone up over 25% under Nadella’s leadership so far.
Microsoft also explained that Nokia devices will be further embedded with Microsoft, especially in Nokia X product design, which currently runs Google’s competing smartphone OS, Android. This means Microsoft will almost definitely halt all plans for Nokia devices to include Android in attempt to keep a competing market share of its OS on more Nokia devices. The memo stated “…we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows.”
For the full memo, check below or head over to Microsoft’s news website.
From: Satya Nadella
To: All Employees
Date: July 17, 2014 at 5:00 a.m. PT
Subject: Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture
Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction as a productivity and platform company. Having a clear focus is the start of the journey, not the end. The more difficult steps are creating the organization and culture to bring our ambitions to life. Today I’ll share more on how we’re moving forward. On July 22, during our public earnings call, I’ll share further specifics on where we are focusing our innovation investments.
The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year. Of that total, our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs, comprising both professional and factory workers. We are moving now to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months. It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we are adding roles in certain other strategic areas. My promise to you is that we will go through this process in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible. We will offer severance to all employees impacted by these changes, as well as job transition help in many locations, and everyone can expect to be treated with the respect they deserve for their contributions to this company.
Later today your Senior Leadership Team member will share more on what to expect in your organization. Our workforce reductions are mainly driven by two outcomes: work simplification as well as Nokia Devices and Services integration synergies and strategic alignment.
First, we will simplify the way we work to drive greater accountability, become more agile and move faster. As part of modernizing our engineering processes the expectations we have from each of our disciplines will change. In addition, we plan to have fewer layers of management, both top down and sideways, to accelerate the flow of information and decision making. This includes flattening organizations and increasing the span of control of people managers. In addition, our business processes and support models will be more lean and efficient with greater trust between teams. The overall result of these changes will be more productive, impactful teams across Microsoft. These changes will affect both the Microsoft workforce and our vendor staff. Each organization is starting at different points and moving at different paces.
Second, we are working to integrate the Nokia Devices and Services teams into Microsoft. We will realize the synergies to which we committed when we announced the acquisition last September. The first-party phone portfolio will align to Microsoft’s strategic direction. To win in the higher price tiers, we will focus on breakthrough innovation that expresses and enlivens Microsoft’s digital work and digital life experiences. In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.
Making these decisions to change are difficult, but necessary. I want to invite you to my monthly Q&A event tomorrow. I hope you can join, and I hope you will ask any question that’s on your mind. Thank you for your support as we start to take steps forward in evolving our organization and culture.
Via: Reuters 247Wallstreet
Source: Microsoft
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