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starcitizenprivateer · 6 years ago

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Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2019

February saw Cloud Imperium devs around the world working hard to deliver the incredible content for the soon-to-be-released Alpha 3.5 patch. Progress was made everywhere, from locations like ArcCorp to the gameplay developments afforded by the New Flight Model. Read on for the full lowdown from February’s global workload.

Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2019

AI – Character

February’s roundup starts with the AI Team, who made improvements to the existing character collision avoidance system. The changes began with adjustments to the smooth locomotion path, with the data now coming from the collision avoidance calculation to make sure the character has enough free space.

Time was spent generalizing the options a vendor can use so that designers no longer have to write them into the behaviors. Instead, the correct options are automatically selected based on the environment and (eventually) from the shop services.

They’re also restricting combat behavior to allow better scalability when adding new tactics and are investigating some of the bugs found in the Alpha 3.4 release.

AI – Ships

Throughout February, the AI Team improved various aspects of dogfighting gameplay, including evasive maneuvers. Now, when an AI pilot has an enemy on its tail, it will try to utilize different break-aways with increasing and varied angles. It will also try to keep momentum and chain together attack maneuvers. To achieve this, the team exposed new ‘SmoothTurning’ subsumption tasks to the behavior logic.

When detecting enemy fire, AI pilots will utilize evasive maneuvers to create a diversion.

They also implemented automatic incoming/outgoing ship traffic over planetary landing areas. They are currently generalizing ship behaviors to enable the designers to easily set up traffic on multiple cities, capital ships, and so on.

Animation

Last month, Animation provided the remaining animation sets for previous characters already found in the Persistent Universe (PU), including Hurston, Battaglia, and Pacheco. They also finished off a new batch of animations for the ship dealer. Work continues on animations for future yet-to-be-announced characters too, which includes getting approval for the initial poses and animations before going forward with the final clean-up.

American Sign Language (ASL) emotes are being added to the game and are currently being improved with the addition of facial animations.

Finally, Animation is currently syncing with Cinematics for a few interesting segments that backers will get to enjoy soon…

Art – Tech

Tech Art invested significant effort into optimizing rig assets so that they work better with the facial runtime rig logic and the ‘look at’ and ‘mocap’ re-direction components. Since eye contact is one of the fundamental means of human communication, any error or tiny deviation can cause the ‘uncanny valley’ effect and immediately break immersion.

“If the eyes of an actor converge just slightly too much, they appear cross-eyed. However, if they don’t converge enough, they appear to look through you, as if distracted. If the eyelids occlude the character’s iris just a little too much, which, depending on the distance, could amount to just 2-3 pixels vertically, they look sleepy or bored. Conversely, if they expose too much of the cornea, they appear more alert, surprised, or outright creepy.”

So, the alignment of the virtual skeleton’s eye joints with respect to the eyeball and eyelid geometry is of utmost importance. Likewise, the ‘look-at’ system needs to control all relevant rig parameters and corrective blendshapes (not just the rotation of the eyeballs themselves) to create truly-believable runtime re-directions of the mocap animations.

Alongside facial work, the team completed several weapons-related tasks, such as fixing offsets during reload animations and locomotion issues for the pistol set. They also completed R&D related to playing animations in sync with character usables within cinematic scenes and helped Design to unify the character tags in Mannequin.

Art – Environment

Predictably, the Environment Team is racing towards the completion of ArcCorp and Area 18 – they’re currently working with and implementing the custom advertising provided by the UI department. The planet itself is in the final art stage and now includes skyscrapers rising above the no-fly zone to provide the player with landing opportunities and interesting buildings to fly around.

Concurrently, the ‘Hi-Tech’ common elements are steadily progressing, with the transit, habitation, and security areas all moving to the art pass stage. Players will see these common elements (alongside garages and hangars) when they’re added to microTech’s landing zone, New Babbage.

The new transit connection between Lorville’s Teasa spaceport and the Central Business District (CBD) is almost ready for travellers. This route will allow players to move directly between the two locations and bypass L19, cutting travel time for high-end shoppers.

Work on organics is ongoing, as are improvements to planet tech, with the artists hard at work creating a library of exotic-looking flora to fill the biomes of New Babbage with. Players can see it for themselves towards the end of the year.

The community can also look forward to upcoming information on the early work the team has done on procedural caves.

Audio

Both the Audio Code Team and the sound designers finished their work on the new camera-shake and ship-vibration systems. Now, when an engine kicks in, the ship shakes and hums. This also extends to the player, with events like a ship powering up causing minor camera shake.

The sound designers also added new sound samples to a range of ships as part of the rollout of the New Flight Model. By adding ‘one-shot’ samples to each of the various thrusters, they brought out more complexity in the sounds heard during flight.

The Audio Team spent the majority of the month creating the sounds of Area 18. Due to the melting pot of ideas and themes present in the new area, the sound designers tested new methods to bring out the unique atmosphere. Additionally, they created the sound profiles and samples for the Gemini S71 assault rifle and Kastak Arms CODA pistol, both of which will appear in the PU and SQ42.

Currently, the Audio Code Team is working towards an updated tool that better allows the sound designers to implement created assets in-engine whilst simultaneously testing how they sound.

Backend Services

Backend Services continued to lay the foundation for the new diffusion network to help scalability for the backend structure of the game. Emphasis is on ensuring the Dedicated Game Servers (DGS) correctly connect to the new diffusion services, particularly the variable, leaderboard, and account services.

February marked the near-end of work on the new Item Cache Service (a massive portion of the backend has now turned micro-service) and began the end-point between DGS and this service, too. As work is completed on the new diffusion services, testing will ensure a smooth transition to the new network.

Support was also added for subsumption services to read directly into the DataCore P4k system for increased efficiency and unification.

With the approaching publish of Alpha 3.5, Backend Services began work on logistics, syncing closely with DevOps to ensure that new services are up and running correctly while maintaining legacy services where necessary.

Community

The team celebrated Valentine’s Day with community-made cards and limited-time ship offers, including Anvil’s F7C-M Heartseeker – a special version of the Super Hornet shooting straight for the heart. During the Be my Valentine greeting card contest, most Citizens got creative with their favorite image editing software, though some went old-school with scissors and crayons to create fantastic crafts to share their love across the galaxy.

Also this month, Argo Astronautics released their latest addition to the ‘verse, the SRV. The ‘Standard Recovery Vehicle’ is built for tugging ships, ground vehicles, and massive cargo containers through the stars using its integrated tractor tech. If you’re looking for more information about this rough and rugged ship, head to the Q&A that answers questions voted-on by the community. As a bonus, Shipmaster General John Crewe stopped by Reverse the Verse LIVE for some in-depth tug-talk.

In the February issue of Jump Point (our subscriber-exclusive magazine), Ben Lesnick took a detailed dive into the ARGO SRV’s design process and went on a worker’s tour of Hurston. The Narrative Team also introduced us to the Human holiday Stella Fortuna and shed light on the history of the revered Rust Society.

A major update to the Star Citizen roadmap gave a look at what’s coming to the Persistent Universe in 2019 and what can be expected in upcoming releases.

Released in January, but worthy of another mention, is the official Star Citizen Fankit, which was put together to help all of you share your enthusiasm and engagement. Star Citizen lives by the support it receives from the community, so take a look at this treasure trove of assets and get creating!

The team is also excited to announce that our physical merchandise will soon be receiving a well-deserved face-lift. Having received a lot of feedback over the years, it’s clear that Citizens are passionate about merch and to make the store experience the best it can be, your input was needed. Thanks to everyone who contributed feedback to our thread on Spectrum!

Content – Characters

The Character Team revisited the hair development pipeline in February. With the help of the Graphics Team, they developed new tools and shader tech to improve the realism of hair while maintaining quality and performance. More work went into mission-giver Pacheco, including textures and rigging, with her hairstyle being used to trial the new hair pipeline. Work continues on the assets required for DNA implementation and the female player character, while refinement of the Xi’an concept is making great progress.

Design

Throughout February, Design focused on implementing Area 18’s shops, NPCs, and usables. Last month marked the end of implementation, with March being used for polish to ensure a believable and immersive experience upon release. The team also gained a new member to help with mission implementation and improvement, who is currently setting their sights on the Emergency Communication Network (ECN) mission set.

Regarding the economy, the US Design Team worked with their UK counterparts on the objective criteria and value of objects in-game, laying down the track for acquiring item properties and their values. A system was built to help create an abstract representation, which is both robust and modular enough to allow easy adjustment in the future when the details are finalized.

DevOps

DevOps had a busy month working on the build system and pipeline that supports feature stream development. After several long nights, they rolled out the upgrades and have been happy with the results so far – internal systems are running smoothly without errors and each evolution improves efficiency and storage consumption.

They’re now attempting to further compress existing data which, when multiplied by hundreds of thousands of individual files, will make a real impact to the dev’s daily development efforts.

Engineering

February saw the Engine Team spend time on general Alpha 3.5 support, such as profiling, optimization, and bug fixing. They also improved the instance system used in compute skinning and refactored it on the CPU and shader for better maintainability, created a budget-based output-buffer system for skinning results (so they only have to skin once per frame), made more tangent reconstruction optimizations, and worked on wrap-deformation using the color stream.

Basic HDR display support was added to the editor, as was a new hue-preserving display mapping curve suitable for HDR display output. The team provided material layer support for planet tech v4 and continued to improve character hair, which included initial hair mask, support for edge masking, and pixel depth offset. Game physics is progressing with Projectile Manager 2.0, as well as optimizations to wrapped grids and state updates. Support was added for ocean Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) wave generation to physics buoyancy calculations, as well as exposed optimized terrain meshes.

A major system initialization clean-up was completed as part of an initiative to share core engine functionality with PU services, work began on the lockless job manager (a complete overhaul for faster response in high-load scenarios), and a new load time profiler was created. The team are currently wrapping up the ‘ImGUI’ integration and introducing a temporary allocator for more efficiency when containers are used on stack.

They made the switch to the Clang 6 compiler to build Linux targets (including compilation cleanup of the entire code base) and plan to switch to the latest stable release (Clang 8.x) in the near future.

Finally, they finished a ‘create compile time’ analysis tool (utilizing new Visual C++ front and backend profiler flags) to gather, condense, and visualize reasons for slow compile and link times. As a result, various improvements have already been submitted and further action-items defined.

Features – Gameplay

A large portion of Gameplay Feature’s month was dedicated to implementing the new DNA feature into the character customizer. In addition, the team was responsible for creating and setting up the user interface (UI) and accommodating the female playable character, both of which are scheduled for Alpha 3.5.

Another major focus was on video streaming for comms calls, which consisted of a refactor of the comms component to utilize the voice service call mechanism. Research was made into the VP9 streaming format and video streaming improvements were completed that will be rolled out in the upcoming release.

Lastly, support was given to the US-based Vehicle Features Team, with updates to the turret sensitivity HUD, gimbal assist UI, and the shopping service entity registration.

Features – Vehicles

Gimbal Assist and its related HUD improvements were finalized and polished, allowing for better balancing of this new weapon control scheme. Turrets were also improved, as the team added a HUD and keybinds for input sensitivity, implemented adjustable speeds for gimbal target movement based on proximity to center aim, and fixed bugs with snapping and erratic movement.

A lot of work went into scanning improvements, which included adjusting the area for navpoint scanning, enabling use of the navpoint hierarchy, and adding a Boolean to opt into the scanning data. This endeavor also covered adjustments to make scanning more involving by setting up AI turrets to generate signatures and be scannable and adding specific icons for scanned/unscanned targets. Ping and blob were implemented to display on the radar too, including focus angle and ping fire.

To round out the month, they continuing to make item port tech optimizations, developed tech for utilizing geometry component tags in the paint system, and fixed a handful of crash bugs.

Graphics

Last month, the Graphics Team’s work on the PU was spread between several smaller tasks. There were many shader requests from the artists, such as adding new features to the hard surface shader and ISO support for decals in the forward rendering pipeline.

The team also continued with the CPU optimizations from last month. This included a 3x performance saving on the cost of building per-instance data buffers for the GPU and better support for the depth pre-pass to help occlude hidden parts of the frame with less CPU overheads.

To help the artists optimize their content, the team worked on an improved render-debugging tool that reports how many draw instructions (draw-call) a particular object requires along with a breakdown of why each instruction was needed. Once complete, this will allow the artists to dig into their material and mesh setups to save valuable CPU time.

Level Design

The Level Design Team soldiered on with ArcCorp’s Area 18, bringing the designer whitebox up to greybox. They began planning the modular space stations that will be built this year too, including looking at the libraries, rooms, and content that goes into them. The procedural tool is also now at a stage where they can slowly start ramping up the modular station production.

Live Design

The Live Team refactored existing missions to make them scalable to make more content available in the planetary system (other than Crusader). Significant progress was made on a new drug-stealing mission for Twitch Pacheco, as well as a BlackJack Security counter-mission that tasks less morally-corrupt players with destroying the stash.

Another focus was on implementing a variety of encounters with security forces and bounty hunters when the player holds a high crime stat.

As well as practical work, time was taken to define the next tier of many aspects of the law system, such as punishment, paying fines, bounty hunting, and so on.

Lighting

Last month, the Lighting Team focused on developing the look of Area 18. Lighting Area 18 is a mixture of clean-up work from the previous versions to match new standards and lighting the new exterior layout to a series of targets set by the Art Director. The team is working closely with the Environment Art and VFX teams to ensure that new advertising assets and visual effects ‘pop’ from the environment and provide interesting and varied visuals.

Narrative

Working closely with the Environment Art and Mission Design teams, February saw the Narrative Team further fleshing out of lore relating to ArcCorp and its moons. From new mission giver contract text to the catchy slogans gracing Area 18’s numerous billboards, a lot of additional lore was created to bring these locations to life.

Additionally, expanded wildline sets for security pilots, bounty hunters, and combat assist pilots were scripted and recorded. The AI and Mission teams will use these sets to begin prototyping and testing out new gameplay for inclusion in future builds.

Also, the Narrative Team made progress on generating the specific text needed for on-screen mission objectives. Currently, this is placeholder text from the designers who worked on levels, but moving forward, the hope is to begin using the proper in-lore objectives.

Player Relations

The Player Relations Team was busy preparing for Alpha 3.5 (including getting ready to test the New Flight Model) as well as boxing off the work created over the holiday period.

“As always, we’d like to point all players to our growing Knowledge Base, which now has 120+ articles and saw almost 450,000 visitors this month! We will continue to grow this by adding more ‘How To’ articles, patch notes, and live service notifications there as well as on Spectrum.”

Props

February saw headway into Area 18’s props: the core street furniture is now in and the team has moved onto the dressing pass, adding in new assets to give life to the streets, alleyways, and landing zone.

As the month closed out, the team jumped into release mode to get a head start squashing bugs and generally tightening up the upcoming release.

Things ramped up on the publishing side in February as the team prepared Alpha 3.5 for the Evocati and PTU. Testing continues on the New Flight Model and other systems as they come online, such as the new weapons, ships, and locations. QA leadership continues to train the newer testers and improve the overall testing process.

The AI Feature Team kept the Frankfurt-based QA testers busy with new features, such as the improved avoidance system and new break-away maneuvers. Testing mainly consists of making sure they’re working as intended, as well as noting visible improvements to what was already in place (in the case of the avoidance system). Combat AI received perception updates which were tested by QA to address issues where the FPS AI would not recognize the player being present in their vicinity.

On the backend, changes to the subsumption visualizer are being tested to ensure no new issues have been introduced in preparation for their full integration into the editor. Testing for ArcCorp and Area 18 is currently underway too.

The Universe Team discovered that mining entities were not appearing in the client due to discrepancies in how they were spawned in the server. This was tracked down and fixed, though testing will continue to make sure it’s working as intended.

Ships

The Vehicle Content Team wrapped up the MISC Reliant Mako, Tana, and Sen variants for Alpha 3.5. They’re now in testing with QA who are addressing bugs before the vehicles go live. The designers and tech artists have been busy with the Origin 300i, which will reach QA for testing in the near future.

Back in the UK, the team continued production on the 890 Jump, bringing more rooms into the final art stage from greybox (including the hangar area). The Carrack is heading towards a greybox-complete state and select areas are being polished for review.

Development continues on the Banu Defender which is utilizing a new style of production that caters to its organic art style. ZBrush is being used to sculpt the interior before transferring the high-density model to 3ds Max, where it is then rebuilt (low-poly) for the game engine. A large portion of the exterior greybox is complete and looking fantastic.

Last but by no means least, the interior updates to the Vanguard wrapped up with essentially the entire area from the cockpit seat backwards being completely redone. This is more than was initially anticipated, but the team feels that it’s worth it. Now that the interior rework has been finalized and the framework for the variants agreed upon, the Ship Team can start on the exterior changes to accommodate them and continue with the variant-specific items.

System Design

The System Design Team is working on improving and upgrading the no-fly zones used across ArcCorp. Since the existing system now needs to support an entire planet, it has proven quite a challenge.

For social AI, the team’s working on unifying vendor behaviors and making sure they’re built in a modular fashion. For example, the team can easily graft new actions onto the base behavior of a shop keeper to allow them to pick up objects, give them to the player, and interact with things on the counter without having to build new ones from scratch.

As with social AI, the team focused on restructuring FPS AI behaviors to make them more modular, with the goal to make it easier to implement specific chunks of logic. For mining, they added new mineable rocks on ArcCorp’s moons. Wala in particular will have a new type of rock that fits better with the crystalline formations available on the moon.

Finally for System Design, AI traffic over Area 18 is currently being developed. The team’s starting small, with a few ships landing and taking off around the spaceport, but they’re also investigating ways to expand it while being mindful of performance.

Turbulent

RSI Platform: On February 14th, Turbulent supported the announcement of a new flyable variant of the Super Hornet, the F7C-M Heartseeker. They also made major updates to the CMS backend which required all hands on deck.

Services: This month’s game service work was focused around developing support for transporting video streams over the comms channels. This will allow the streaming of a user’s face/in-game texture to another player outside of the bind culling bubble, enabling in-game video calls over wider distances. This method also enables the transmission of in-game video streams to web clients.

Turbulent spent considerable time standardizing services to enable them to run within a new local development environment. This will allow the entire Star Citizen universe’s services to run locally on dev systems to develop and iterate with the entire stack.

The Turbulent Services Team also began work on an administration interface for game designers and game operators to display real-time information about the state of the universe. This application can display information about groups, lobbies, and voice channels along with details of online players, quantum routes, and probability volumes.

As in January, UI supported the Environment Team with in-fiction advertising and branding for Area 18, including animation and hologram textures. They also made headway on the 3D area map using the concepts shown last month as visual targets. Finally, they began working out how to bring the rental functionality from the Arena Commander frontend to in-game consoles in Area 18.

VFX

The VFX Team updated the existing particle lighting system to a more modern system. The previous version was based on tessellation, which increased the rendering cost and had limitations on shadow resolution. The new one is a global change that will remove the need for tessellation and improve shadow receiving for crisper, smoother shadows. ArcCorp’s Lyria and Wala will be the first moons to use this new particle lighting system when it’s ready for deployment. It will help the particles integrate into the moons more realistically and address issues when the particles have long shadows going through them, such as during sunrise and sunset.

They also continued to iterate on thruster damage effects and began rolling it out to all ships.

Several new weapon effects were worked on, including a new ballistic hand cannon and ballistic assault rifle. They also carried out extensive visual exploration for the new Tachyon energy weapon class.

Finally, significant time was invested in improving the VFX editor’s UI layout and functionality. Although not as glamorous as planet dressing and effects, improving the quality-of-life for artists is important and helps them to work faster too.

Weapons

The Weapon Art Team completed the Gemini S71, Kastak Arms Coda, Banu Singe Tachyon cannons, Gallenson Tactical ballistic cannon reworks, and five variants of the Aegis Vanguard nose guns.

Conclusion

WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH…

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footmantravelagency · 3 years ago

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Cruising is back—here’s what to expect, from ‘vaccinated only’ zones to a revamped buffet

Published Fri, Jun 25 20219:00 AM EDTUpdated Fri, Jun 25 20211:42 PM EDT

Laura Begley Bloom, special to CNBC

Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas cruise shipCourtesy of Royal Caribbean

Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Edge is set to depart from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 26 to sail through the Caribbean with beefed-up health and safety measures, including the crew and all guests ages 16 and older fully vaccinated. Cruises from Royal Caribbean, Carnival and other lines will soon follow.

“Cruise lines have gone to great lengths to make sure there will never be a significant outbreak of Covid-19 on a ship again,” says Gene Sloan, senior reporter for cruise and travel at The Points Guy.

Some have added protocols including social distancing, reduced capacity, face mask policies, temperature screenings, medical facilities designed for Covid-19 testing and more.

“Every major line also now has a plan should even one or two passengers start feeling sick with Covid-like systems,” says Sloan.

Of course, nothing is foolproof: Royal Caribbean recently canceled the first sailings of its newest ship, Odyssey of the Seas, after eight crew members tested positive for Covid; six were asymptomatic and two had mild symptoms, according to NBC 6 in Miami. The ship’s inaugural cruise, scheduled to leave from Fort Lauderdale on July 3, has been pushed back to July 31.

Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley said in a statement that “the positive cases were identified after the vaccination was given and before they were fully effective,” and that the company delayed the cruise out of an “abundance of caution.”

Still, travelers are ready to hit the high seas. World cruises are selling out, the maiden voyage for the new Disney Wish, launching next year, is already booked solid, and cabins this summer are hard to come by, partly due to fewer ships in the water and reduced capacity, as well as people rebooking trips that were canceled over the past year.

“There’s been a lot of pent-up demand,” says Chris Gray Faust, managing editor at Cruise Critic.

Here’s what travelers can expect as they start cruising again.

Less crowded ships and ports

If you can find a cabin on a ship, it could be a great time to sail due to the current capacity reductions required by the CDC, says Lisa McGregor, owner of Passport Pleasures Luxury Travel, a Florida-based agency that specializes in cruise voyages.

“Just like when we were flying last year and the planes were empty, now you have an opportunity to sail with fewer people and have a lot more breathing room,” says McGregor.

A socially distanced cruise activity on Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas

A socially distanced cruise activity on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas

Another perk, according to Sloan: “The ports that cruises visit also are less crowded than usual, so you’ll be welcomed with open arms. Many of the places cruise ships go rely heavily on tourism to survive, and they haven’t had much business in more than a year. They are thrilled that cruise ships are coming back.”

Some money-saving deals

Even though there’s reduced capacity and high demand, cruise lines are enticing people with sales and promotions. For instance, Carnival is offering 40% off sailings, Royal Caribbean is giving 60% off a second passenger, Princess is throwing in shipboard credits, and even Crystal — a super luxury line with butlers — is extending discounts.

But according to Anne Scully, a partner at Embark Beyond, she’s seeing waitlists for popular cruises and demand extending into 2022 and 2023. “Things are pretty tight right now,” she says.

Showing proof of a vaccination

Vaccination requirements vary by cruise line and port of departure, but some ships require proof of vaccination or have perks for vaccinated travelers. Cruise lines will have a way to indicate vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers, whether it’s with a wristband or a mark on your seacard.

Gray Faust says that when she recently traveled on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas, which departed from the Bahamas, she had to show her original vaccination card when checking in on the ship and had to upload it online to get in and out of the Bahamas.

The vaccine card was also useful on land. “The Bahamas will not let people eat indoors unless they’re vaccinated,” says Faust. “So we had to show our vaccine card to eat inside a restaurant.”

Vaccination and mask zones

Cruises won’t only be available to people who have been vaccinated — but you’ll have a much more enjoyable time if you are.

According to CDC rules, ships that have at least 95% of crew and passengers fully vaccinated can use their discretion when it comes to mask rules. Ships that don’t meet those numbers can have designated areas for fully vaccinated passengers where masks and physical distancing are optional.

Royal Caribbean, for example, just released its new health and safety protocols for the July and August sailings from Miami on Freedom of the Seas. The line will designate some bars, lounges, restaurants, and events for vaccinated guests only, with no masks required. In the Main Dining Room, there will be areas for vaccinated guests to dine separately.

Unvaccinated guests will also need to pay for additional Covid testing.

“It’s expected these sentiments will be mirrored for the line’s other ships, particularly the ones sailing from Florida and Texas,” says travel expert Pauline Frommer.

A different kind of buffet

Despite early reports that the legendary cruise ship buffets would fall victim to Covid, it looks like they are here to stay. They’re just going to be different, and the rules will change from line to line.

A buffet on Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas ship

A buffet on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas shipCourtesy of Royal Caribbean

The big takeaway: Many buffets will no longer be self-service, and many will require reservations or reduced numbers in the dining room.

“You go through the line and you point at something and the crew will serve it to you,” says Faust, of the revamped buffet she experienced on Adventure of the Seas. “They’ll give you as much as you want and you still have all the choices that you’re used to.”

Cleaner ships

CDC guidelines require enhanced cleaning procedures, but some cruise lines are going even further. “They’ve implemented all sorts of new safety protocols on ships, many behind the scenes,” says Sloan. “Some lines have spent millions revamping air handling systems on ships, for instance, so that no cabin shares the same air.”

Reservations needed

A socially distanced show on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas

A socially distanced show on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the SeasCourtesy Gene Sloan

Gone are the days when you can show up on a ship and wing it — in the post-pandemic era, you’ll need to make a lot of reservations, from shows to a spot at the gym. Faust points out that this is a way for cruise lines to discreetly do contact tracing, should something go wrong.

New technologies

The cruise experience is also going high-tech to help keep passengers safe. Besides the ubiquitous QR code menus you see at many restaurants these days, you can expect contactless payment systems, virtual reservations and virtual lines, thermal temperature checks, UV sanitization and more.

New ships

While it’s not pandemic-related, a lot of new ships will set sail.

Over the next 18 months, look for new ships from: Disney, the company’s first launch in more than a decade; Carnival, with a groundbreaking deck-top roller coaster on the Mardi Gras; Royal Caribbean, including what will be the world’s largest ship; Crystal Cruises, Lindblad Expeditions, Seabourn, Viking, Regent and more.

“New ships are going to have more amenities; they’re going to be more modern,” says Faust. “It’s like staying in a tired hotel room versus a new hotel room.”

Small-ship expedition cruising will be hot

According to Bob Simpson, vice president of expedition cruising at Abercrombie & Kent, twice as many guests booked the company’s small-ship expedition cruises in Q2 of this year compared with the same time in 2019.

“The very elements that define [small-ship cruising] — remote destinations, small ships, outdoor adventures and a focus on learning — closely align with what travelers value most right now,” he says.

Flexibility will be key

According to McGregor, the cruise lines want to make sure you’re comfortable booking a trip — and are willing to work with you if you need to make a change. “There are flexible cancellation policies throughout the industry.”

But check the fine print. “Make sure you understand what the lines are requiring,” says McGregor. “What’s the cancellation policy? Is it cash back or a future cruise?”

Evolving rules and regulations

Getting to this point where cruises are embarking hasn’t been easy, and regulations are changing by the minute.

For instance, in October 2020, the CDC issued a “framework for conditional sailing order” saying that cruise lines could resume voyages if they follow health and safety rules, including a mandate that a cruise ship must have 98% of its crew and 95% of its passengers fully vaccinated, as well as protocols and policies for social distancing, reduced capacity, face masks, temperature screenings, Covid-19 testing and more.

But on June 18, a federal Florida judge ruled that the CDC’s orders were an overreach of power and issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the CDC from enforcing its guidelines in Florida. In April, the state had sued the CDC, demanding that it allow cruise lines to immediately resume sailing from U.S. ports.

Meanwhile, a new Texas state law says that businesses can’t require vaccines. It hasn’t been determined if this will apply to cruise lines, but Carnival Cruise Line is still planning to start fully vaccinated voyages out of Galveston on July 3.

A slow return to normal

Sloan, who predicts that things might not return to normal until well into 2022, has witnessed the gradual resumption of cruising firsthand. In November 2020, he was on the high-profile SeaDream 1 — the first Caribbean cruise since the start of the pandemic — when Covid broke out on the ship. Last week, he sailed in the Caribbean on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas.

“The development of Covid-19 vaccines has been a game-changer,” says Sloan. “When the outbreak occurred on SeaDream 1, nobody on the ship was vaccinated for Covid-19. They tested every passenger for Covid-19 before boarding, and every passenger was negative. But without a vaccine, there wasn’t a second layer of defense to stop Covid-19 from spreading should a passenger later test positive.”

And that’s what happened according to Sloan — a passenger who initially tested negative started feeling ill, subsequently tested positive and began spreading to others.

“Now, with so many passengers vaccinated — on Adventure of the Seas, it was 94% of all passengers — it is unlikely that Covid-19 would spread if a passenger fell ill,” says Sloan.

Faust was surprised by how normal things already seemed on her cruise: “I played a ton of trivia. I heard live bands. I went to different restaurants. I sat by the pool,” she says.

Checking in with your doctor

If you are deciding whether or not to sail, discuss your health risks with your doctor, stay up to date on where Americans can travel and seek guidance from the CDC, the World Health Organization and other health authorities.

According to Dr. Robert L. Quigley, senior vice president and global medical director of International SOS, the best way to protect yourself and others is to get fully vaccinated at least two weeks prior to your trip.

“On the ship itself, the CDC recommends maintaining six feet of social distance from anyone who is not traveling with you, both indoors and outdoors,” says Quigley. “And when engaging in activities with other passengers, be sure to also wear a mask, avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, and wash your hands frequently, particularly after touching any surface.”

Choosing your destination wisely is also important, says Quigley. “Places with low Covid-19 infection rates and/or high vaccination rates should represent the lowest risk to you in your travels. Clearly multiple port stops, as part of the cruise, only increases your chance of exposure,” says Quigley. “So do some research ahead of time.”

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dippedanddripped · 4 years ago

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LONDON — Trade talks between Britain and the U.S. continue apace — just don't mention the looming election.

The third round of negotiations entered its second week on Monday and the British government hopes to make headway across the board. But with former Vice President Joe Biden holding a commanding lead in the polls over Donald Trump, U.K. negotiators face the prospect of a change in the lineup of the opposing team before a final deal is struck.

So why talk now?

“The extreme unpredictability of American policy until after the election means what might or might not be available from the U.S. to the U.K. is just inherently unknowable,” said Ian Shapiro, Sterling professor of political science at the Yale School of Management.

The way the November election turns out, he said, could reshape the future of the U.K.-U.S. trade deal in ways Britain cannot control and he cautioned the U.K. about its chances of striking a quick mini deal before the end of the year.

However, U.K. officials and business leaders don't expect many American trading priorities to change significantly even if there's a switch in the White House.

The fast start to talks is less about concluding an agreement and more "about the urgency [for the U.K.] to develop trade policy independently in the face of Brexit," said a member of Britain's business community, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The sentiment was also echoed in a report by center-right think thank Policy Exchange, which argued "Brexit emphasizes the need for the U.K. to recalibrate its relationships with the world’s three major economic and geopolitical hubs — North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe." For the U.K., that means the value of a U.S. deal is "as much geo-strategic as it is commercial."

There are also some on the British side who hope talks with the U.S. will increase pressure on the European Union, aiding the U.K.'s parallel negotiations with the bloc.

Whereas both sides were bullish about a quick deal last September, telling the Sun newspaper one could be struck by July 2020, they now play down prospects of a deal by the end of the year.

“It’s going to take time, to be honest,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told an Economics Club of New York event in June.

“We’ve been clear that there is no specific timeframe [for a deal],” said a U.K. Department for International Trade spokesperson. “Our focus is on getting a deal that works in the best interests of the U.K.”

What if Biden wins?

If Trump does lose November's vote, Lighthizer might push to reach an agreement before Biden takes office on January 20. But even if that happens, U.K. officials could find themselves back at the negotiating table once Lighthizer’s replacement is in place.

If Republicans maintain control of the Senate, it could also be months before all of Biden’s Cabinet nominees are approved. Other nominations, such as for secretary of state or defense, are likely to take precedence over Lighthizer’s USTR position, which will likely cause more delay.

Whoever is in the White House next year must wrap up talks with Britain by April 1 to qualify for “fast-track” status and speed the deal through Congress. This is because the ability for Congress to “fast-track” a deal expires on June 30 and the White House must give Congress 90 days' notice of plans to give an agreement that status.

Another complication could be if Biden was less enthusiastic about striking a large trade deal with Britain and instead picked up where the Obama administration left off in its pivot toward the East, Shapiro said, calling it “Obama's big unfinished piece of business.”

This could potentially see Biden rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that Trump abandoned by executive order in early 2017. After Trump pulled out of the pact negotiated by the Obama administration, the remaining 11 countries made some tweaks and renamed it the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said: “It’s going to take time, to be honest.” | Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times via AP, Pool

Last month, U.K. Trade Secretary Liz Truss put the importance of the government’s talks to join the Asia-Pacific bloc on par with the U.S. deal as Britain searches for more options for geopolitical alignment.

“The assumption in Whitehall is that if Biden wins, we won’t need to do a bilateral trade deal because we might both end up in CPTPP. That is already committed to high standards of animal welfare. Some of the sting will be removed from those issues,” a Tory adviser told the Sunday Times.

Biden's campaign officials have also played down his appetite for large-scale deals.

“He's not gonna go [into office] in 2021 and start talking about re-entering or about entering new trade deals before he has done the work at home to make the investments in American job creation, American competitiveness, and American communities,” a senior official told reporters last month.

Special relationship

But the election is far from over yet, and former Trump administration officials argue both sides could gain from a U.S.-U.K. agreement.

“I think there are very significant practical reasons why both countries are interested in an FTA,” said former USTR General Counsel Stephen Vaughn, a partner in the international trade team of law firm King & Spalding. “We’re both market-based economies that have a long history of trading with each other. We have close relationships in almost every area of international dealings, and from the U.S. perspective, it would be the biggest economy with which we have ever done an FTA.”

Vaughn, who worked closely with Lighthizer for years, notes that both countries have strong services sectors and strong protections for intellectual property rights. It makes sense for the two sides to fashion an agreement that reflects that situation and becomes a model for other trade pacts, he said.

Geopolitically, the agreement would underscore the deep relationship between the United States and the U.K. and give Washington a lift in dealing with an array of issues with both China and the EU, added Clete Willems, who worked in the Trump White House as deputy assistant to the president for international economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council.

Willems, who now works at the Akin Gump law firm in Washington, took issue with the idea that the U.K. is involved in one-sided negotiations with the United States, where it will be forced to give up more than it can expect to get in return.

“The reality is in a negotiation like this, the U.S. is clearly also going to give up things for the U.K. and it’s going to be very helpful to their industry,” Willems said. “They are a major country with a major economy and they are an equal partner to the U.S.”

He brushed off suggestions that the U.S. pursuit of strong intellectual property protections for its pharmaceutical companies would hurt the U.K.

“The U.K. has one of the most advanced pharmaceutical sectors in the world. So having groundbreaking pharmaceutical provisions is going to benefit the U.K. as much as it benefits the U.S.,” Willems said.

Sticking points

That said, there are difficult issues for the countries to resolve that make a deal this year unlikely.

In particular, on agriculture, where there is strong resistance in Britain to allow more imports of U.S. meat products because of concerns over animal welfare, including the veterinary drugs used by U.S. producers and methods used to decontaminate slaughtered poultry.

A U.K. government spokesperson said Britain “has been clear it will not sign a trade deal that will compromise our high environmental protection, animal welfare, and food safety standards.” Chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef, they point out, “are not permitted for import into the U.K. This will be retained through the EU Withdrawal Act and enshrined in U.K. law at the end of the [Brexit] transition agreement.”

Another tricky issue is the U.K.’s decision to move ahead with a digital services tax, which the United States sees as a discriminatory tariff imposed on its biggest tech companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Key U.S. lawmakers have signaled they are unlikely to approve an FTA with the U.K. unless there is a favorable resolution.

“Unilaterally imposing a discriminatory tax that unfairly targets U.S. businesses damages efforts to achieve a multilateral solution and unnecessarily complicates the path forward for a U.S.-U.K. trade deal,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the panel’s ranking member, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), in a joint statement last week.

However, many American companies, and especially those with operations in the U.K., are more interested in the outcome of the U.K.-EU negotiations than the trade talks between Washington and London.

Still, even some who have been less enthusiastic about the U.S.-U.K. negotiations see potential gains.

“This negotiation was inspired more by politics than economics,” said Michael Smart, a managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors, an international economic policy advisory firm, and a former White House and Senate aide.

“But it could deliver commercial benefits if it breaks new ground on trade liberalization and regulatory convergence. In order to do that, both sides need to be flexible and creative on issues like agriculture, investment, digital trade and financial services,” Smart said.

#united kingdom #european union #trade talk #donald trump

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empmoniitor · 4 years ago

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REMOTE WORK – TEAM COMMUNICATION CHEAT SHEET FOR ALL TEAM MEMBERS

To work together and to ensure success, your team should communicate well. Communication is the key to business success. Rightly said – To survive and thrive, it is very important to have an effective remote team communication strategy.

Doing remote communication with your team is easier when you will approach it in the right way. When the communication is good, it works amazing, each of your team members comes together, and you all see them around each other.

But how do teams communicate the right way? Here are some of the tips and tools which we recommend –

KEEP A REGULAR CHECK-IN

Working Remotely seems to be a very lonely thing. So it is very necessary to keep a check with your remote employees daily. You can initiate video call meetings using tools like zoom, google hangouts to bring with ideas, work, or just to catch up. Plan at least 2 meetings every week and keep yourself ready for Adhoc calls. Talk to your team members every single day. Discuss everything, and share thoughts, ideas with each other.

By keeping a check on your remote employees regularly, you will be able to know the status of current or future roadblocks before they arise to become an issue.

In order to track the progress, you can also create a daily activity report template. It will make it easier and faster to track daily check-ins. That way, you can track problems and progress that may otherwise go unnoticed or fall to the wayside in a remote setting.

CREATE AN OFFICE CULTURE ONLINE

Before starting with this point I want to ask one question – the day your workplace turned full-time remote, what exactly do you miss? Most likely, the people. Company culture is what makes a perfect work environment.

The way how people perceive each other, culture is formed. It may mean a quick conversation while preparing coffee or getting a happy hour after work. Employees want to be respected and valued wherever they work. You don’t have to come up with major rewards or glamorous decorations to prove that you respect your workers. A quick celebratory blog or infographic shared with the whole team can be a perfect way to prove you respect the good work they have accomplished.

But aside from honoring and celebrating workers, how can you build the corporate culture when all of you operate remotely? Communicate with your peers frequently while operating remotely. Don’t be afraid to chat, and more, on anything you’d be at the workplace. Share pictures of your meal, your dogs or babies. People are going to be looking for a human connection after a few days.

You can bring the office culture online with initiating digital events and hangouts. You can also create fun online activities which is one of the finest ways to bring the office culture to your entire staff too. Polls, Quizzes, Storytelling, discussions about popular movies, tv shows are enough. It is not compulsory that your work chat should be all about work. You can even host an online Trivia night where your remote employees can play with each other. You can create an online simple invitation and send it to your employees so that they know about every single digital event.

TAKING CARE OF TIME ZONES

Addressing time zone variations will save a lot of hassle and confusion for remote teams upfront. This might sound like a trivial problem but a remote team needs to know the time zones of everybody. This is probably one of the toughest challenges a simulated team will encounter regularly.

Time zone can truly have a huge impact on a company’s efficiency. When arranging meetings the managers should check the time zones of all their remote team members and ensure that they don’t allow anyone to go online too early or remain unreasonably late.

One smart thing that you can do is to provide a time zone conversion app to everyone and ask to use it whenever the scheduling of the meeting is done. Make sure to keep everyone in your team in the loop.

COMMUNICATION PLAN IS NEEDED

Communication between remote teams typically doesn’t happen organically; a plan is required to push it. Since teams are not in a co-located workplace together, everybody has to be diligent about developing a plan for communication—one that can function not just inside departments, but also one-on-one with managers and workers.

Managers and company executives should schedule weekly meetings with their employees. Create a well-planned structure of every project, assign tasks, and systematize the workflow. Also, Managers, team leads should carry out one-on-one meetings with team members to closely work on projects. There should be transparency in the communication process. The team heads should have honest and open conversations with their remote workers about communication expectations. The clearer the expectations, the more successful the team will be at communicating.

USE EMOTICONS AND GIFS

When everyone is communicating through the written text, it is very difficult to understand how somebody is feeling. You cannot understand what the person is trying to say. While working on the office space you and your team can look at each other and can understand emotions. But while working remotely you cannot have face to face conversations. So, to eradicate this barrier, make your team use emoticons and gifs to express themselves.

For example – “Alex, I need to speak with you” can be interpreted to be happy, just neutral, or angry. Try to put smileys when you talk. “Alex, I need to speak with you :)” It will help Alex to sit back and relax and does not get stressed out for the coming conversation.

PROVIDE TRAINING AND INCENTIVES FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT.

Offering immersive training programs is a perfect opportunity to show remote workers that you think for their growth and advancement at the company. There are a variety of technology courses accessible at places such as Udemy, or you can develop your training courses for issues like enhancing leadership and upgrading professional skills.

Also, Check Out Our Related Blogs –

Important Tips & Tools for Team Leads to Manage Remote Workers

09+ Creative Ways To Keep Your Remote Employees Engaged

05 Unbelievable Ways You Can Manage Remote Employees Effectively

THE TOOLS

For the remote team communication to go smooth, the most needed thing is the company’s digital toolbox. Employees can easily be led out of sight as there are no in-person interactions while working remotely. Therefore, it is very important to set up a tech stack that provides several ways for communication.

Some of the most excellent remote work software which allows smooth instant messaging, video conferencing, document collaboration, and meeting schedules are –

REMOTE TEAM COMMUNICATION TOOLS

1. ZOOM

For face timing with your remote team, Zoom is just the perfect tool. It is a video conferencing tool that is meant for both large and small group meetings. It also offers great mobile accessibility. It allows its users to create unique meeting URLs so that each meeting occurs in its own space. Google Hangout is the other alternative if your remote team needs a video conferencing tool.

2. GOOGLE CALENDAR

Google Calendar gives remote teams a simple and easy way to view and share team members’ calendars for smooth and seamless meeting scheduling. In case you need to set up a meeting with more than one person, you can look at the respective person calendars and find an open time slot.

Also, Google calendar provides its users with one setting that allows them to indicate their office working hours. If you have scheduled a meeting with a person outside your office timings, then a notification alert is sent to you. You can also add the Zoom Scheduler Chrome extension, which allows you to schedule Zoom meetings directly from your calendar.

3. SLACK

Slack is one of the most interesting chat tools which you and your team can use for casual conversations. It offers its users to initiate one-on-one chats or quick group conversations via streamlined channels. To add a little bit fun to your conversations you can add emojis, gifs as well. Also, you can make separate channels department wise, one for company announcements, one for project discussions, and so on.

4. GOOGLE DRIVE

One of the most important things which are needed for a remote team is document accessibility. And Google Drive is the most versatile and popular tool using which you can create google doc sheets, spreadsheets, sliders and can store them forever. Also, at one time these sheets can be accessed by multiple team members and can be updated or modified in real-time. Sharing the doc files is very easy and fast. You can even create folders and can share team drives for logos, images, important documents, etc.

Managing remote teams is all about keeping healthy team communication habits, alignment, and fostering the connections that help your remote teamwork better and faster. Also, you need to focus on creating culture, connecting with your team regularly, appreciating their achievements and efforts, and ensuring a personal touch.

Here, In this blog, I have got you the team communication cheat sheet and some great tools that you must use to keep the communication going. Start connecting and strengthening your remote team.

Originally Published On: EmpMonitor

#EmployeeMonitoring #EmployeeProductivity #EmployeeManagement #EmployeeManagementSoftware #RemoteEmployees

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inexcon · 6 years ago

Text

RSI Comm-Link: Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2019

Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2019

AI – Character

They’re also restricting combat behavior to allow better scalability when adding new tactics and are investigating some of the bugs found in the Alpha 3.4 release.

AI – Ships

When detecting enemy fire, AI pilots will utilize evasive maneuvers to create a diversion.

Animation

American Sign Language (ASL) emotes are being added to the game and are currently being improved with the addition of facial animations.

Finally, Animation is currently syncing with Cinematics for a few interesting segments that backers will get to enjoy soon…

Art – Tech

Art – Environment

The community can also look forward to upcoming information on the early work the team has done on procedural caves.

Audio

Currently, the Audio Code Team is working towards an updated tool that better allows the sound designers to implement created assets in-engine whilst simultaneously testing how they sound.

Backend Services

Support was also added for subsumption services to read directly into the DataCore P4k system for increased efficiency and unification.

Community

A major update to the Star Citizen roadmap gave a look at what’s coming to the Persistent Universe in 2019 and what can be expected in upcoming releases.

Content – Characters

Design

DevOps

They’re now attempting to further compress existing data which, when multiplied by hundreds of thousands of individual files, will make a real impact to the dev’s daily development efforts.

Engineering

Features – Gameplay

Lastly, support was given to the US-based Vehicle Features Team, with updates to the turret sensitivity HUD, gimbal assist UI, and the shopping service entity registration.

Features – Vehicles

To round out the month, they continuing to make item port tech optimizations, developed tech for utilizing geometry component tags in the paint system, and fixed a handful of crash bugs.

Graphics

Level Design

Live Design

Another focus was on implementing a variety of encounters with security forces and bounty hunters when the player holds a high crime stat.

As well as practical work, time was taken to define the next tier of many aspects of the law system, such as punishment, paying fines, bounty hunting, and so on.

Lighting

Narrative

Player Relations

The Player Relations Team was busy preparing for Alpha 3.5 (including getting ready to test the New Flight Model) as well as boxing off the work created over the holiday period.

Props

As the month closed out, the team jumped into release mode to get a head start squashing bugs and generally tightening up the upcoming release.

Ships

System Design

The System Design Team is working on improving and upgrading the no-fly zones used across ArcCorp. Since the existing system now needs to support an entire planet, it has proven quite a challenge.

Turbulent

VFX

They also continued to iterate on thruster damage effects and began rolling it out to all ships.

Weapons

The Weapon Art Team completed the Gemini S71, Kastak Arms Coda, Banu Singe Tachyon cannons, Gallenson Tactical ballistic cannon reworks, and five variants of the Aegis Vanguard nose guns.

Conclusion

WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH…

$(function() { Page.init(); window.Page = new RSI.Game.About(); }); http://bit.ly/2CiAmjS

#RSI.CommLink.Repost

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sad-ch1ld · 6 years ago

Link

via RSI Comm-Link

Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2019

AI – Character

They’re also restricting combat behavior to allow better scalability when adding new tactics and are investigating some of the bugs found in the Alpha 3.4 release.

AI – Ships

When detecting enemy fire, AI pilots will utilize evasive maneuvers to create a diversion.

Animation

American Sign Language (ASL) emotes are being added to the game and are currently being improved with the addition of facial animations.

Finally, Animation is currently syncing with Cinematics for a few interesting segments that backers will get to enjoy soon…

Art – Tech

Art – Environment

The community can also look forward to upcoming information on the early work the team has done on procedural caves.

Audio

Currently, the Audio Code Team is working towards an updated tool that better allows the sound designers to implement created assets in-engine whilst simultaneously testing how they sound.

Backend Services

Support was also added for subsumption services to read directly into the DataCore P4k system for increased efficiency and unification.

Community

A major update to the Star Citizen roadmap gave a look at what’s coming to the Persistent Universe in 2019 and what can be expected in upcoming releases.

Content – Characters

Design

DevOps

They’re now attempting to further compress existing data which, when multiplied by hundreds of thousands of individual files, will make a real impact to the dev’s daily development efforts.

Engineering

Features – Gameplay

Lastly, support was given to the US-based Vehicle Features Team, with updates to the turret sensitivity HUD, gimbal assist UI, and the shopping service entity registration.

Features – Vehicles

To round out the month, they continuing to make item port tech optimizations, developed tech for utilizing geometry component tags in the paint system, and fixed a handful of crash bugs.

Graphics

Level Design

Live Design

Another focus was on implementing a variety of encounters with security forces and bounty hunters when the player holds a high crime stat.

As well as practical work, time was taken to define the next tier of many aspects of the law system, such as punishment, paying fines, bounty hunting, and so on.

Lighting

Narrative

Player Relations

The Player Relations Team was busy preparing for Alpha 3.5 (including getting ready to test the New Flight Model) as well as boxing off the work created over the holiday period.

Props

As the month closed out, the team jumped into release mode to get a head start squashing bugs and generally tightening up the upcoming release.

Ships

System Design

The System Design Team is working on improving and upgrading the no-fly zones used across ArcCorp. Since the existing system now needs to support an entire planet, it has proven quite a challenge.

Turbulent

VFX

They also continued to iterate on thruster damage effects and began rolling it out to all ships.

Weapons

The Weapon Art Team completed the Gemini S71, Kastak Arms Coda, Banu Singe Tachyon cannons, Gallenson Tactical ballistic cannon reworks, and five variants of the Aegis Vanguard nose guns.

Conclusion

WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH…

$(function() { Page.init(); window.Page = new RSI.Game.About(); });

#RSI Comm-Link #star citizen #roberts space industries

0 notes

olgagarmash · 3 years ago

Text

Amedisys Looks to Pull Away from the Home Health Pack with ‘No Brainer’ Contessa Deal – Home Health Care News

Aging-in-place company Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) on Wednesday announced plans to acquire hospital-at-home pioneer Contessa Health for $250 million.

From a nuts-and-bolts perspective, the deal — expected to close later this summer — makes a ton of sense for Amedisys.

Among the strategic benefits, for example, it gives the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based company an unprecedented range of in-home care capabilities, adding acute-level care to its existing mix of home health, hospice and personal care services. In addition to expanding its in-home care continuum, Contessa comes with turn-key partnerships with highly regarded health systems and ample experience operating in the world of risk, something Amedisys has long prioritized.

Yet from a broader, more long-term view, the deal was about so much more, Amedisys CEO and Chairman Paul Kusserow told Home Health Care News.

“We’re taking home health to new places,” Kusserow said. “That’s always been our ambition. I know it seems a little arrogant, but I believe this acquisition shows how we’re continuing to find new places to drive care in the home, to drive aging in place. We’re continuing to lead in that effort.”

Today’s home health landscape remains highly fragmented, with the top 10 companies accounting for slightly more than 25% of the national market share. While they’ve all taken different paths to becoming home health giants, their overall business models sometimes look similar, defined by a focus on the three traditional in-home care service lines.

With Contessa under its roof acting as a unique business segment, Amedisys instantly pulls away from the contemporary home health pack, Kusserow explained.

Additionally, by adding hospital-at-home, SNF-at-home and palliative care programs to its bag of in-home care tricks, Amedisys simultaneously grows its total addressable market from about $44 billion to $73 billion.

“As we dug into this, I saw a really comprehensive, thoughtful business that took risk and cared for higher-acuity patients,” Kusserow said. “And it’s able to expand our market in ways that I don’t think we could get to, nor do I think the rest of the industry could get to, within the next four or five years.”

In many ways, the same could be said for what Amedisys does for the Nashville, Tennessee-based Contessa.

When Contessa launched in 2015, there were plenty of individual hospital-at-home programs, but few up-and-coming companies that specialized in acute care in the home. That’s mostly still true, with Contessa, Medically Home and DispatchHealth often viewed as the de facto market leaders.

But health care entrepreneurs and others have increasingly shifted their focus to the hospital-at-home space as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning the current field may soon become crowded.

Once its deal with Amedisys is finalized, Contessa will be in a class of its own, Travis Messina, the company’s founder and CEO, told HHCN.

“We’ve heard a pretty consistent message from health system executives, that they’re growing wary of having a partner for home health, a different partner for hospital-at-home, a different partner for et cetera, et cetera,” Messina said. “The partnership and company, once the deal is closed, will be able to provide the full continuum of services in the home. I think that continuity is something that’s highly attractive to those executives.”

How it came together

Deals can sometimes come together in a few months. In a sense, Amedisys’ agreement to acquire Contessa came together over several years.

Prior to taking over the CEO role at Amedisys in 2014, Kusserow had held various leadership roles at Alignment Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq: ALHC) and Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM). His previous experience also included time with the Ziegler HealthVest Fund, San Ysidro Capital Partners, Roaring Mountain and Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC).

At one point, Kusserow was even involved with building Clinically Home, an early adopter of the hospital-at-home program.

“It was always an idea I really loved,” he recalled.

In those pre-Amedisys days, Kusserow and Messina had crossed paths on numerous occasions, with the former taking an interest in the latter’s developing career. When the time came for Kusserow to move on from Clinically Home, he attempted to bring in Messina to help guide the company — but was ultimately rejected.

“It’s actually a funny story,” Kusserow told HHCN. “When Travis first started out, I thought, ‘Wow. Smart guy. Why don’t we give him a chance?’ And he turned me down.”

Clearly, Messina had his own hospital-at-home ambitions. He formed Contessa after serving as chief investment officer of Martin Ventures, growing it from a small startup to a home-based care innovator with seven major health system partnerships and about 140 employees — raising tens of millions of dollars in the process.

While Contessa was doing well before the pandemic, the spotlight on home-based care placed “a lot of increased focus” on its model, Messina said. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) “Acute Hospital Care at Home” waiver accelerated interest as well.

As of June 28, CMS had approved 68 health systems and 142 hospitals in 32 states to participate in the hospital-at-home initiative, publicly available data shows.

With more momentum than ever, Messina and his team began thinking about Contessa’s next chapter.

“We were actually going out and looking to private equity funds to be that partner for growth going into the future,” Messina said. “But after sitting down with the Amedisys team, … it made sense that this would enable hospital-at-home and SNF-at-home, allowing Contessa to succeed at its highest potential. The capabilities they bring from their experience of rendering care in the home — and the quality of the nurses that they bring into the home — is unmatched.”

The $250 million purchase price represents a multiple of 3.9 times 2022 revenue, according to Amedisys. Other tech-enabled health care services companies are trading at about 6 times 2022 revenue.

“It became clear that they were going out for another round of financing or potentially selling,” Kusserow said. “My team came to me and said that … if we’re going to walk the talk, we’ve got to get this company.”

“It was a no-brainer,” he added.

Strategic advantages

In Wednesday’s announcement, leaders from Amedisys and Contessa hammered home the transformational nature of their agreement.

There are, however, more immediate strategic advantages as well.

Amedisys currently delivers home health, hospice and personal care services across 39 states and Washington, D.C. It’s able to do so through its workforce of roughly 21,000 employees, the company’s lifeblood and greatest asset, according to Kusserow.

In recent years, Amedisys has invested heavily in recruiting and retention initiatives, which include the use of predictive analytics to track and prevent turnover. Acquiring Contessa would add to those efforts, as many clinicians seek to sharpen their skills through new care delivery models.

“Nurses are hard to find, particularly higher-level skilled nurses,” Kusserow said. “And they’re hard to keep. When we go into a marketplace, this gives nurses a chance to be at the vanguard of new types of care. It validates home health, too, for a lot of these folks.”

Contessa’s model likewise depends on highly skilled clinicians who are comfortable tackling an array of complex conditions in the home. But to grow beyond its current seven-state footprint, Contessa knew it needed to acquire more health care professionals.

Instead of diverting resources toward hiring, Contessa can now lean on Amedisys’ workforce, Messina noted. Besides fast-tracking growth, having a partner like Amedisys will go a long way toward reassuring physicians, he said.

“One of the most critical components of our model is to ensure that the physicians who are admitting patients to the program are comfortable with the nurses who are at the patient’s bedside,” Messina said. “If you don’t create that trust, there is no way you will drive adoption of the model.”

What’s more, teaming up with Contessa also gives Amedisys a strong foot in the door with health systems like Mount Sinai, Highmark Health and others.

“It brings us into a new audience with a new conversation, but with an established product that they value,” Kusserow said.

On top of all the aforementioned advantages, acquiring Contessa will also fuel admissions growth in the home health and hospice departments while giving Amedisys more firepower to establish risk-sharing arrangements.

“We believe that this is where the world’s moving,” Kusserow said. “And this is where we have to play.”

source https://wealthch.com/amedisys-looks-to-pull-away-from-the-home-health-pack-with-no-brainer-contessa-deal-home-health-care-news/

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ncmagroup · 4 years ago

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by Brian Trautschold

Well before the age of coronavirus — it seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? — we were seeing a steady, rapid increase in sales teams who were transitioning to remote work.

And for good reason: It can benefit everyone. Employees, especially millennials, appreciate the flexibility to work from anywhere, and sales orgs open themselves up to a much larger pool of talent when they’re not limited to hiring locally.

But sales teams face unique challenges when they go remote — even when they’ve had plenty of time to plan for the transition. It’s always a challenge, for example, to put the right tools in place and hire people who can handle a certain level of independence.

So when your sales team unexpectedly and hastily goes remote… well, that’s even harder.

One of the biggest challenges sales managers face? Keeping tabs on their teams from afar. Especially if you’re a manager who wasn’t prepared for the remote shift, it can feel like you’re suddenly wearing blinders. How do I know what my reps are doing all day? How do I know if they’re staying on track?

The good news is the same basic sales coaching principles and best practices still apply, and they’ll still help you maintain a system of accountability. They just may require a few tweaks.

Here are 5 tactics every sales manager should implement to keep your reps accountable, aligned, and on a path to success — even when you’re not sharing a sales floor.

Set daily activity targets

Add a little (more) structure

Reinvent your 1:1s

Shore up your tech stack

Leverage your team

1. Set Daily Activity Targets

Many sales teams set daily activity targets to keep reps on track. It’s a great way to ensure your people hit their longer-term objective targets and ultimately achieve results.

Remote sales managers may want to take daily activity targets one step further. Why? At 8 a.m., 5 p.m. feels like it’s a long way off. Your reps may overestimate what they can get done if they don’t pace themselves as they would in the office.

To help, consider setting multiple activity targets throughout the day. One Ambition customer runs a “10×10” program for their remote reps: Every morning, reps need to make 10 calls by 10 a.m. Managers get a private alert in email or Slack when reps haven’t hit their target, so they can jump in if they need to help a rep get back on track.

2. Add a Little (More) Structure

Every sales manager has a unique coaching style. It may range from total independence — essentially setting your reps free — to complete micromanagement. Of course, the most effective sales managers tend to have a style that falls somewhere in the middle.

If you’ve found your sweet spot, that’s great. You don’t need to overhaul your approach or methodology. In fact, that could do more harm than good since your team is already trying to adapt to the substantial and stressful changes COVID-19 has introduced.

But do consider adding more structure to your existing coaching program.

What does that mean, specifically? For starters, weekly 1:1s just isn’t enough if you want your team to stay connected, aligned, and motivated. A few ideas:

“Brown bag” lunches

You don’t have to be in the office to share a meal together. Set up regular (and casual) “Lunch and Learns” with your whole team — webcam required. Pick a topic to cover or skill to hone. Or better yet, crowdsource ideas from your reps.

Peer-to-peer coaching

Peer learning often happens organically in an office setting, but working from home can feel like working in a silo. Jump in and help newer, less experienced reps connect with more experienced reps by designating time for peer coaching opportunities on a weekly or biweekly basis.

Then, step back. The magic of peer coaching happens when your manager isn’t looking over your shoulder!

Cross-departmental meetings

Make an effort to stay abreast of what’s happening in tangential departments, like Marketing, Sales Enablement, and Product.

Sure, you may hear updates during all-hands meetings or via Slack, but since you’re no longer absorbing important details through osmosis at the office, consider setting up a time for your team to interface with a representative from another department.

Keep in mind, no one likes pointless, fluffy meetings. Adding in extra, structured opportunities to coach and connect is smart when your team is distributed. Just make sure that every calendar invite has a clear objective and agenda.

3. Reinvent Your 1:1s

Your 1:1 “template” should be a living, breathing thing. No, you don’t need to change up your questions every week, but these meetings should evolve as your team grows and changes.

That said, when your team is going through a major transition, it’s a prime time to rethink your 1:1 format. A few things to keep in mind:

Strike the right tone

Be empathetic. We’re all dealing with an unprecedented crisis, and it’s adding stress to everyone’s lives, on both a professional and personal level. Of course, your 1:1s should be much more than a temperature check — but start there.

Ask how your reps are doing. Show you care about their physical and mental wellbeing during this trying time. Right now, there’s no such thing as “business as usual.”

Troubleshoot WFH challenges

Working from home can be a whole different ball game, especially if your reps have roommates hanging around, or if they are parents trying to wrangle tiny interns, thanks to closed schools and daycares. Help your people troubleshoot issues that are blocking their productivity, and think through ways you can provide flexibility while still helping them stay on track.

Let your reps lead

Remember: coaching sessions are not mini-performance reviews. In fact, your reps should be leading the sessions. This approach is even more critical for remote reps since you don’t get the chance for regular, casual interaction.

As always, guide the conversation with a solid mix of thoughtful, open-ended questions. Ask questions that encourage your reps to make observations about their performance and draw conclusions based on those observations, then apply them to new and different circumstances.

4. Shore Up Your Tech Stack

Fortunately, most of the tools we’re now using to stay connected aren’t new. Zoom, Slack. We were already using them.

Of course, staying connected is one thing. Staying accountable and motivated is another. These are the tools you need to ensure performance doesn’t take a nosedive.

Sales coaching software

With fewer opportunities to interface with your reps, you need to make the most of the time you have together. Our mantra: automate what you can.

Find ways to take administrative work off your plate, like scheduling coaching sessions, recording notes and coaching conversations, creating and tracking action plans, etc.

Send your reps their 1:1 questions ahead of time (bonus if you can automate that, too), and make sure you get their responses before your session starts so you can spend time on a meaningful conversation.

Sales gamification software

Sales contests are a tried-and-true tactic to add a layer of accountability while also getting your reps fired up to sell. Bonus: healthy competition (and maybe some friendly trash-talking) can provide a welcome distraction from everything that’s happening in the world right now.

The key to remote competitions is visibility. Make sure you’ve got a sales gamification tool that integrates with email and Slack, so everyone can celebrate wins together. And make sure leaderboards screens are accessible through URLs.

5. Leverage Your Team

Of course, you want your reps to feel accountable to you: you’re their manager and you’re helping to steer the ship.

At the end of the day, though, it takes every person on your team to achieve results and hit The Number. Sales should be a team sport — so find ways to encourage collaboration and nurture relationships, even when your people are apart. You’ll add a layer of “peer accountability,” and it’s also just a great culture play. Consider:

Weekly shout-outs

During your regular team meetings, set aside time for reps to shout out their teammates for something they did that was particularly smart or well-executed. If you don’t already do this, you’ll find that reps look forward to earning recognition from their team.

Remember, this requires overcommunication throughout the week and performance visibility, which leads us to our next point.

Increased visibility

As a manager, you hopefully have easy access to performance data and insights for your reps. But do your reps have that same easy access?

Make it easy to see the team and individual progress against goals — even better if it’s automatically visualized in charts or graphs, so you and your reps aren’t having to run Salesforce reports or shuffle through spreadsheets.

Team competitions

As noted above, sales competitions are a great way to ignite the competitive spirit. Make sure you’re not limiting yourself to only individual competitions. Run team competitions — especially ones where you’re pairing up newbies with seasoned pros — so that teammates can collaborate together and hold each other accountable. Or try some of these team-building activities.

Bottom Line

Whether you’ve always been remote or it’s a recent, potentially short-term shift, you can optimize a distributed team without overhauling every process and workflow. In other words: Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.

But do think through ways you can adapt your management style to a new situation. Adding in extra layers of accountability, when done thoughtfully and with your team front of mind, you’ll be able to keep your remote team on track, even in uncertain conditions.

Go to our website: www.ncmalliance.com

5 Ways To Create Accountability for Remote Sales Teams by Brian Trautschold Well before the age of coronavirus — it seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?

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automaticpostinfluencer · 5 years ago

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Italy death toll overtakes China’s, 25 million jobs at risk

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.

Global cases: More than 229,000

Global deaths: At least 9,300

US cases: At least 10,755

US deaths: At least 150

All data above is provided by Johns Hopkins University.

2:00 pm: Nearly 25 million jobs could be lost globally

The new coronavirus could claim up to 24.7 million jobs, according to International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates.

The United Nations’ labor agency suggested this was a worst-case, or “high,” scenario of global unemployment but said internationally-coordinated policy response could mean a significantly lower impact. In this case, it estimated a “low” unemployment scenario of 5.3 million. It therefore calculated a “mid” scenario of 13 million jobs lost, 7.4 million of which would be in high-income countries. —Vicky McKeever

1:47 pm: Dow rebounds, recovering earlier losses

1:36 pm: State Dept to instruct Americans not to travel abroad

The State Department is expected to announce a level four travel advisory applying to all U.S. citizens for international travel amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, NBC News reported, citing two officials with knowledge of the matter.

The advisory, the highest of its kind, would instruct all Americans abroad to either return to the U.S. or prepare to shelter in place. The level four advisory also dictates that Americans cannot travel abroad. Less than a week ago, the State Department upped the travel advisory to level three, which calls for U.S. citizens to reconsider travel. —Amanda Macias

1:22 pm: US cases top 10,000, New York leads the surge

1:18 pm: Italy’s death toll overtakes China’s

A worker carries out sanitation operations for the Coronavirus emergency in Piazza dei Miracoli near to the Tower of Pisa in a deserted town on March 17, 2020 in Pisa, Italy.

Laura Lezza | Getty Images

Italy’s death toll has hit 3,405, meaning the country now has more reported deaths than China.

The death toll in China, where the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, in Hubei province late last year, currently stands at 3,249, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

After sweeping through China in early 2020, the virus spread to Europe where Italy — and particularly the northern Lombardy region, which is home to financial hub Milan — became the epicenter. —Katrina Bishop

1:14 pm: Charter staff reportedly continue to report to offices against government guidelines

Staff at Charter Communications are continuing to report to the telecom’s corporate offices, shirking government guidelines that Americans avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, according to a Tech Crunch report. Staff in offices around the country have shown symptoms of the flu-like illness, according to internal communications seen by TechCrunch, and employees told the outlet that several have tested positive. Charter did not immediately provide a comment to CNBC but denied one of the positive tests reported by TechCrunch. —Lauren Feiner

1:04 pm: Key Democrat Hoyer says House will look at ‘all options’ to tweak voting as virus hits Congress

12:53 pm: Retail group says White House should allow key businesses like truck rest stops, pet stores to stay open

Customers line up to shop at a Costco store in Brooklyn as the Coronavirus, COVID19, outbreak continued unabated on March 19, 2020 in New York City.

Victor J. Blue | Getty Images

A major retail trade group is asking the White House to clarify its guidance and help keep pet stores, truck rest stops and distribution centers open.

In a letter to President Donald Trump, the National Retail Federation’s CEO Matthew Shay said some state and local officials are ordering retailers to shut down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus – but closing businesses that should stay open. They said the government should also clarify CDC instructions to limit gatherings to less than 50 people, saying they should not apply to big-box stores, grocers or wholesale clubs where there’s space for people to spread out.

The group called for a broader definition – of “essential retail businesses.” They listed retailers that should be exempt from mandated closures, including pet stores, distribution centers, farm stores with livestock feed, hardware stores, gas stations and highway rest areas for truck drivers. —Melissa Repko

12:47 pm: Dentists reduce hours, postpone elective procedures to combat coronavirus

Dr. Allen Ghorashi reduced his dental practice’s hours this week because of the coronavirus, but he hoped he could still help patients who needed fillings, dental implants or other routine procedures.

He changed his mind after seeing the most recent guidelines from the American Dental Association urging dentists in the U.S. to postpone elective procedures and only offer emergency care. Ghorashi’s practice, Valley Dental Group in Ramsey, N.J., will only see emergency patients for the next two weeks.

Dentist offices across the country are changing their practices to align with these guidelines. Others are shutting down completely. —Hannah Miller

12:40 pm: European shares close 3% higher in rocky session after stimulus

European markets closed higher, after some volatility during the session, with investors monitoring the coronavirus outbreak and digesting new policy announcements from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BOE).

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 2.9% after rebounding either side of the flatline throughout the day. Telecoms stocks jumped 5% to lead gains while basic resources fell 0.4%. —Holly Ellyatt, Elliot Smith

12:32 pm: Coronavirus $1,000 relief check plan not even final yet and experts say fraudsters are already looking to cash in

12:22 pm: Trump says he is ‘OK’ with forbidding buybacks as condition of corporate bailouts

President Donald Trump said that he would not oppose barring companies that receive federal assistance during the coronavirus pandemic from conducting stock buybacks.

“It takes many many people in this case to tango, but as far as I’m concerned conditions like that would be okay with me,” Trump said during a White House press conference. —Tucker Higgins

12:13 pm: Tesla will take temperatures of Fremont factory employees and hand out masks, internal email says

Tesla is taking extra precautions at its Fremont car assembly plant to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to an e-mail the company’s North American head of human resources, Valerie Workman, sent to employees overnight. Among other measures, employees will have their temperatures taken before they enter the factory.

The e-mail to employees from HR also said Tesla would rearrange operations as much as possible to enable “social distancing,” allowing people to keep 6 feet apart from one another. Masks would also be distributed to workers throughout the day, the e-mail promised. —Lora Kolodny

12:07 pm: Trump directs FDA to examine whether malaria drug can be used for coronavirus

President Donald Trump said he directed the Food and Drug Administration to investigate whether an existing drug given to malaria patients can also be used to treat the novel coronavirus.

The announcement at the daily coronavirus briefing came hours after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the White House’s massive economic stimulus proposal would include $500 billion for direct payments to Americans. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Kevin Breuninger

12:03 pm: Trump doubles-down on blaming China for coronavirus pandemic

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks speaks on the latest developments of the coronavirus outbreak, while flanked by White House coronavirus response coordinator Debbie Birx (L), and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams (R), in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House March 19, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

11:55 am: MLS postpones more matches, considers pushing back end of season

Major League Soccer extended the postponement of its matches in order to follow CDC guidance to postpone events involving more than 50 people over the next eight weeks. MLS said in a statement that it is focused on playing the entire 2020 season. The league is currently evaluating options such as pushing back the end of the season and playing the MLS Cup in December, which is when it was held prior to the 2019 season. —Hannah Miller

11:48 am: Oil surges 23%, on track for best day ever, rebounding from Wednesday’s steep losses

U.S. oil jumped 23%, putting it on track for its best day on record, clawing back more than half of the losses from Wednesday’s steep slide.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 23.4%, or $4.77, to trade at $25.12 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude jumped 9.5%, or $2.37, to trade at $27.29 per barrel. —Pippa Stevens

11:44 am: Cramer: ‘We cannot have the fat cats make money at the expense of the workers’

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said that whatever happens on the other side of the coronavirus crisis CEOs should not benefit more than their employees.

“I like anything that protects the workers,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.” “We cannot have the fat cats make money at the expense of the workers.”

The “Mad Money” host was lamenting the moral hazards of the 2008 financial crisis, when companies got bailouts and chief executives got incentives as many workers lost their jobs. —Matthew J. Belvedere

11:30 am: Disney warns that coronavirus is making it hard to predict future performance

Disney is warning investors that the coronavirus pandemic has affected so many of its business segments that it’s becoming more challenging for the company to estimate its future performance.

“We have closed our theme parks; suspended our cruises and theatrical shows; delayed theatrical distribution of films both domestically and internationally; and experienced supply chain disruption and ad sales impacts,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. —Sarah Whitten

11:21 am: Bank of England cuts rates again and ramps up bond buying to combat coronavirus impact

The Bank of England (BOE) cut interest rates to 0.1% and ratcheted up its bond-buying program, in an effort to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

At an emergency meeting, the central bank’s monetary policy committee voted unanimously to lower borrowing costs by 15 basis points and to increase the BOE’s bond-buying program to £645 billion ($752 billion US), up £200 billion.

The BOE had previously cut rates to 0.25% from 0.75% on March 11. —Sam Meredith

11:11 am: New York Gov. Cuomo orders 75% of non-essential workforce to stay home as cases surge to 4,152

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered 75% of the workforce in non-essential services to stay at home, approved mortgage relief and took other measures.

Cuomo said the state confirmed 1,769 new cases in the last day, bringing the number of confirmed cases in New York to 4,152 and pushing the total number of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. well over 10,000, based on the state’s new case count and data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Due to the spike in COVID-19 cases, Cuomo ordered 75% of the workforce in non-essential services to stay at home, a 25% increase from a day earlier. Essential services include businesses dealing with food, pharmacies, healthcare, shipping, and supplies. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Noah Higgins-Dunn

11:08 am: What to do if you can’t make your rent or mortgage payments

Millions of U.S. households are expected to face financial burdens in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. If you are facing reduced hours or job loss and are worried about making your rent or mortgage payment this month, stay calm — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will suspend “all foreclosures and evictions” through the end of April.

That said, you will still want to discuss your options with your mortgage lender or landlord if you have experienced a disruption in your income. CNBC’s Make It offers advice on how to deal with landlords and lenders. —Alicia Adamczyk

11:02 am: Restaurant reservations grind to a halt

Restaurant reservations made through OpenTable ground to a halt in five U.S. cities on Tuesday as restaurant dining room restrictions go into place, according to data from the company. Honolulu’s restaurant bookings have fallen the least, with a decline of 55% compared to a year ago. The Bookings Holdings platform only tracks reservations, not takeout or delivery. —Amelia Lucas

10:49 am: L Brands stops taking new lingerie orders online

The owner of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works said it is suspending all “new” online orders for lingerie in the U.S. and Canada from March 17 through March 29.

L Brands said, instead, its Bath & Body Works business online will be prioritizing hand sanitizer and soap sales. It said this business is being fulfilled by a third party.

L Brands said all workers will receive pay and benefits during the shutdown. It had already announced earlier in the week it was closing all of its stores temporarily. But it is trying to get some Bath & Body Works locations back up and running sooner. — Lauren Thomas

10:31 am: Uber stock skyrockets after company says it has plenty of cash to get through crisis

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi during the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, September 25, 2019.

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

Uber stock rose as much as 35% after the company held a call with investors before trading began and said the company has plenty of cash on hand to get through the coronavirus crisis and is seeing growth in other areas of the business as rides fall dramatically as people stay home.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company’s rides segment is seeing a 60% to 70% decline in areas hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, but has also seen growth in its food delivery business Uber Eats.

“We believe we’re already seeing worst of the impact and the recovery in some places,” Khosrowshahi said on a call with analysts. “Once things start moving, Uber will too.” —Jessica Bursztynsky

10:27 am: Trump wants direct payments of $1,000 for adults, $500 for kids in stimulus bill, Mnuchin says

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin laid out details of the Trump administration’s plan to send Americans relief money as part of a massive stimulus package to blunt the impact of the novel coronavirus crisis. Mnuchin said in a Fox Business Network interview that the plan would send payments directly to Americans totaling $500 billion.

That money would be divided into two large tranches.

“The first one would be $1,000 per person, $500 per child. So for a family of four, that’s a $3,000 payment,” Mnuchin said. “As soon as Congress passes this, we get this out in three weeks. And then, six weeks later, if the president still has a national emergency, we’ll deliver another $3,000,” Mnuchin said. —Kevin Breuninger

10:23 am: Coronavirus could kill millions in the US: ‘Do the math,’ CDC advisor says

The new coronavirus could kill millions across the U.S., said Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine.

“It would not surprise me,” she told CNBC when asked whether the U.S. could see millions of deaths. “We need to prepare for the worst.”

Neuzil sits on the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and is part of the leadership team of infectious disease experts working with NIH to test a coronavirus vaccine and therapies to treat those sick with COVID-19.

“We have 350 million people in the United States, and you do the math,” she said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” If 70 million people are eventually infected with this virus and again if there are multiple waves of this virus, then you can do the math and then you can get there.” —Will Feuer

10:11 am: Stop & Shop, other grocers have special shopping hours for seniors

Long lines form at a grocery store in Waltham, MA on March 13, 2020 as citizens stock up amid growing coronavirus cases.

Suzanne Kreiter | Boston Globe | Getty Images

Early each morning, customers at Stop & Shop who are older or more vulnerable to the coronavirus will have a new way to fill up their refrigerator and pantry: An hour and half when they can shop before other customers arrive.

Stop & Shop, Target, Walmart, and Amazon-owned Whole Foods are among the grocers testing the new approach to try to protect people with a higher risk of getting sick as confirmed cases of COVID-19 rise across the U.S. As Americans prepare for prolonged stays inside of their homes, grocery stores have drawn large crowds and frenzied shoppers.

By designating special time slots, retailers aim to make it easier for senior citizens and shoppers with medical conditions to safely navigate stores and buy food and household necessities. —Melissa Repko

10:07 am: Democrats warn that one or two direct payments to Americans won’t be enough

Democrats are gearing up for a fight over whether direct payments to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic will be enough. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is among those arguing for expanded unemployment insurance as a source of relief.

“A single $1,000 check would help someone pay their landlord in March but what happens after that?” the New York Democrat said on the chamber floor Wednesday. “A thousand dollars goes by pretty quickly if you’re unemployed. In contrast, expanded unemployment insurance — beefed-up unemployment insurance — covers you for a much longer time and would provide a much bigger safety net.”

An aide for Schumer did not immediately answer whether the senator opposed to the concept of direct payments entirely, or just the form currently outlined. —Lauren Hirsch, Kevin Breuninger

10:01 am: Ex-Trump advisor Gary Cohn warns the US will have ‘massive unemployment very, very quickly’

Gary Cohn

Kristoffer Tripplaar | The Washington Post | Getty Images

The U.S. unemployment rate will rise swiftly and dramatically as the coronavirus brings the American economy to a stop, former top White House economic advisor Gary Cohn told CNBC. “I believe that we are going to have massive unemployment very, very quickly,” Cohn said on “Squawk Box.”

Cohn’s comments came shortly after the Labor Department said jobless claims rose to 281,000 last week, an increase of 70,000 from the week prior.

The former Goldman Sachs president is not alone in forecasting a continued jump in unemployment. Pantheon Macroeconomics’ Ian Shepherdson earlier told CNBC he thought next Thursday’s jobless claims could soar to around two million. —Kevin Stankiewicz

9:56 am: GM, Ford studying whether auto factories can be used to make medical supplies

General Motors and Ford Motor are studying whether they can use their auto factories to support production of ventilators and other medical equipment to help combat the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the nation.

GM CEO Mary Barra spoke with the Trump administration Wednesday about the automaker’s decision to pause production, the company said in a statement. “She also indicated GM is working to help find solutions for the nation during this difficult time and has offered to help, and we are already studying how we can potentially support production of medical equipment like ventilators,” according to the statement.

Ford also confirmed the company has had preliminary discussions with the government and is looking into the feasibility of producing medical equipment. —Noah Higgins-Dunn, Phil LeBeau

9:53 am: Flattening the coronavirus curve — What this means and why it matters

The World Health Organization has repeatedly underlined the importance of “flattening the curve” in order to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, calling on countries around the world to impose sweeping public health measures.

In epidemiology, the curve refers to the projected number of new cases over a period of time.

In contrast to a steep rise of coronavirus infections, a more gradual uptick of cases will see the same number of people get infected, but without overburdening the health-care system at any one time.

The idea of flattening the curve is to stagger the number of new cases over a longer period, so that people have better access to care. —Sam Meredith

9:50 am: Three pillars of Trump’s case for reelection are collapsing all at once

President Donald Trump speaks at an evening “Keep America Great Rally” at the Wildwood Convention Center on January 28, 2020 in Wildwood, New Jersey.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

In just over a month, the three pillars underpinning President Donald Trump’s argument for reelection have all collapsed. Trump’s reelection campaign was designed under the premise that the economy would be strong through November, but that’s not true anymore.

Trump also planned to make socialism a central focus of his attacks. But without Bernie Sanders to run against, this argument becomes a lot less potent.

Finally, Trump campaigned on “draining the swamp” of big government. Now he wants Americans to trust in big government to fight coronavirus and save the economy. —Christina Wilkie

9:44 am: Bank of America says the recession is already here: ‘Jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed’

Bank of America warned investors that a coronavirus-induced recession is no longer avoidable — it’s already here.

“We are officially declaring that the economy has fallen into a recession … joining the rest of the world, and it is a deep plunge,” Bank of America U.S. economist Michelle Meyer wrote in a note. “Jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed and confidence depressed.”

The firm expects the economy to “collapse” in the second quarter, shrinking by 12%. GDP for the full year will contract by 0.8%, it said. —Pippa Stevens

9:32 am: Stocks fall slightly a day after the Dow closed below 20,000 for first time since 2017

Stocks opened lower, building on the previous session’s steep losses as the coronavirus crisis rages on.

“Markets are clearly in a state of panic and forced liquidations – but risks remain skewed to the upside and this should become much more apparent once some of the solvency issues are addressed,” Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said in a note.

The moves followed yet another violent day on Wall Street on Wednesday. The Dow dropped 1,338.46 points, or 6.3%, on Wednesday and clinched its first close below 20,000 since February 2017. The Dow was down more than 2,300 points at the lows of the session. The S&P 500 dropped 5.2% to 2,398.10 and closed nearly 30% below a record set last month as both indexes sank further into bear markets. —Fred Imbert, Thomas Franck

9:30 am: Olive Garden’s parent Darden Restaurants pulls earnings outlook and dividend

A take-out order from a Darden Restaurants Inc. Olive Garden.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Darden Restaurants reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations. The company also withdrew its fiscal 2020 outlook and suspended its quarterly dividend, citing the uncertainty it faces as states mandate the closure of dining rooms due the coronavirus epidemic.

Darden has fully drawn down its $750 million credit facility “out of an abundance of caution.”

“With the drawdown of our revolver, and cash on the balance sheet, we will have approximately $1 billion in cash on hand,” CFO Rick Cardenas said in a statement. “We believe this positions us well to deal with potential near term volatility under the current market conditions.” —Amelia Lucas

9:26 am: Investor Ray Dalio estimates the corporate losses in the US will top $4 trillion

Investor Ray Dalio told CNBC the coronavirus outbreak will cost U.S. corporations up to $4 trillion, and “a lot of people are going to be broke.”

“What’s happening has not happened in our lifetime before … What we have is a crisis,” Dalio said in a “Squawk Box” interview. “There will also be individuals who have very big losses. … There’s a need for the government to spend more money, a lot more money.”

The total U.S. GDP at the end of 2019 was more than $21 trillion. The founder of the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund also estimated the global corporate losses will amount to $12 trillion due to the pandemic.

Dalio said the fiscal stimulus package should be $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion at a minimum, depending on the form of the financial relief such as loan guarantees and credits. —Jeff Cox

8:41 am: Airbnb hosts lose out as cancellations pile up

Airbnb hosts are beginning to feel the impact of the coronavirus pandemic following a change by the company to its cancellation policy that has allowed guests traveling over the next month to receive full refunds on their bookings, overriding existing policies put in place by hosts to protect themselves in such situations.

That change has already cost Airbnb hosts in California, Florida, Kansas, Utah, Michigan and the state of Washington to lose thousands of dollars in reservations, numerous hosts told CNBC.

Now, as cancellations continue and new bookings dry up, many hosts around the country have empty calendars for the coming weeks and are facing uncertain futures as the due dates for their mortgages, utilities bills, homeowners association fees and property taxes draw near. —Salvador Rodriguez

8:37 am: Weekly jobless claims jump ahead of surge in coronavirus layoffs

Jobless claims rose to 281,000 last week, reflecting only the first indications of the impact the coronavirus will have on the U.S. employment picture.

That number reflected a significant rise from the previous week’s 211,000.

Companies are just starting to announce coronavirus-related layoffs, many of those in the hospitality industry, so the real damage probably won’t start showing through until next week’s count, which will entail the period through this Saturday. —Jeff Cox

8:08 am: Stock futures point to more losses

Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes pointed to more losses at the open, building on the previous session’s steep losses as the coronavirus crisis rages on.

As of 7:58 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down more than 500 points, implying an opening loss of more than 400 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also fell.

7:54 am: One person dies every 10 minutes in Iran

An Iranian woman wears a protective face mask, following the coronavirus outbreak, as she walks in Tehran, Iran March 5, 2020.

Nazanin Tabatabaee | West Asia News Agency via Reuters

COVID-19 kills one person every 10 minutes in Iran, the health ministry spokesman tweeted, as the death toll in the Middle East’s worst-affected country climbed to 1,284.

“Based on our information, every 10 minutes one person dies from the coronavirus and some 50 people become infected with the virus every hour in Iran,” Kianush Jahanpur tweeted. —Reuters

7:28 am: Spain’s death toll climbs more than 200 overnight

Spain’s health ministry said its national death toll soared by 209 to 767 fatalities from the previous day as the total number of coronavirus cases climbed by a quarter to 17,147. On Wednesday, there were 13,716 cases in Spain. —Reuters

7:25 am: Virus could inflict record-setting damage on the US jobs market

The first wave of bad economic news directly related to the coronavirus crisis is likely to come from the jobs market, and that could be delivered sooner rather than later.

Virtually all of the economic data releases out now cover periods before the COVID-19 spread began to zero in on the U.S. Some of those reports have hinted at a slowdown heading into the worst of the virus period, but the extent of the damage has been hard to gauge. That will change over the next week or so when the Labor Department releases the tallies for weekly jobless claims. The latest weekly unemployment numbers are expected out at 8:30 a.m. ET. —Jeff Cox

7:08 am: Italy’s lockdown will be prolonged, prime minister says

Two carabinieres are seen at a checkpoint during the coronavirus outbreak 18, 2020 in Milan, Italy. Italian Government continues to enforce the nationwide lockdown as measures to control the coronavirus spread. (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Pier Marco Tacca | Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Italy’s lockdown is set to be extended beyond the current end-date of April 3, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said as its death toll rises at a record rate. Speaking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Conte said measures taken to close schools and universities and to restrict movement throughout Italy would have to be prolonged.

“The total blockade will go on,” Conte said. “The measures taken, both the closure of [public] activities and the ones concerning schools, can only be extended,” he told the paper. —Holly Ellyatt

6:33 am: Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has coronavirus

Michel Barnier, who leads the EU’s Brexit negotiations, has said he has contracted the virus. Announcing the news on Twitter, he said he was “doing well and in good spirits.” —Holly Ellyatt

6:20 am: Burberry’s sales plunge 80%

Burberry was already closed inside of Macy’s earlier in the week.

Source: Lauren Thomas, CNBC

Luxury brand Burberry said sales in the final weeks of March would plunge by up to 80% as the impact of coronavirus on consumers, already seen in China, has spread to Europe and the U.S. The British brand said like-for-like sales in the final weeks of its financial year to March 28 would be down 70% to 80%, and as a result fourth-quarter sales would be 30% lower, Reuters reported. —Holly Ellyatt

6:14 am: Medtronic says it has increased ventilator production by 40%

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mp3monsterme · 5 years ago

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Over the last couple of years we have seen growing references to multi-cloud. That is to say, people are recognizing that organisations, particularly larger ones are ending up with cloud services for many different vendors. This at-least in part has come from where departments within an organization can by meaningful resources within their local budgets.

Whilst there is a competitive benefit of the recent partnership agreement between Microsoft and Oracle given the market margin AWS has in comparison to everyone else. Irrespective of the positioning with AWS, this agreement has arisen because of the adoption of multi-cloud. It also provides a solution to the problem of running highly resilient Oracle database setups using RAC, DataGuard etc can be made available to Azure without risk to security and the all important network performances that are essentially to DB operation. Likewise, Oracle’s SaaS offerings are sector leaders if not best in place, something Microsoft can’t compete with. But at the other end, regardless of Oracle’s offerings, often organisations will prefer Microsoft development ecosystem because of the alignment to office tooling, the ease of building solutions quickly.

Multi-cloud even with the agreements like the Microsoft and Oracle one (See herehere), doesn’t mean there won’t be higher costs in crossing clouds. Let’s see where the costs reside …

Data egress (and in some cases ingress as well) from clouds costs. Whilst the ingress costs have been eliminated because it can be seen as a barrier to selling services, particularly big data. Data egress can however be an issue. Oracle have made this cost very low to be almost negligible, but not necessarily others as the following comparison shows …

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Establishing the high performance connections That the agreement supports needed between Azure and Oracle cloud is the same tech for cloud to ground do incur a cost. In Oracle’s case there is a fee for the connection (not a large cost, but one that exists none the less) plus any traffic fees the provider of the network connection spanning the data center locations. This is because you’re leasing capacity on someone’s dedicated fiber or MPLS services. Now, this should prove to be small as part of the enabler of this offering is that both Oracle and Microsoft cloud DCs are often actually physically provided by the same provider or at-least the centers a physically pretty close, as a result of both companies gravitating to locations close together because of the optimal highly available infrastructure (power, telecommunications) legal and commercial factors along with the specialist skills needed.

If data egress is the key challenge to costs, what drives the data egress beyond the obvious content for user interfaces? …

Obviously you have the business data flows, some of these flows will be understood by the business community. But not all, this is down to the way data from cloud can be exposed to another. For example inefficient services with APIs that requires frequent polling and not using expressing the request efficiently, rather than perhaps express the request using HTTP header attributes and other efficiencies or even utilize frameworks such as webhooks so data can be pushed.

High speed data access, often drives data replication having databases in multiple clouds with mirror image data in each location even if the majority of the data is not necessarily needed. This can happen with technologies such as Kafka which for non compacted topics will mean every event can be replicated even if that event has a short life time.

One of the hidden costs, is the operational tasks of gathering logs to a combined view so end to end insights can be obtained. A detailed log can actually yield more ‘data’ by volume than the business flows themselves because it is semi structured, and intended to be very readable and at the most granular level there to help debug and test.

In addition to the data flows, you need to consider how other linkages in addition to the Oracle-Azure connection are involved. In the detailed documentation it is not possible to get your on-premises location connected to one of the clouds (e.g. Oracle FastConnect, and then assume your traffic can hop to Azure via the bridge using FastConnect and Azure’s ExpressRoute. To have have performance to your solution parts in both Azure and Oracle Cloud, you still need to have FastConnect and ExpressRoute configured to your on-premises location. This of course may impact how bulk data for lift and shift app use cases such as EBS maybe applied. For example, if you choose to regularly bulk data transfer between on-premise and EBS via the app/middleware tier rather than via direct DB, and that mid tier is running in Azure – you will need both routes established.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the Oracle-Azure cloud to cloud linkage is a step forward, but ‘the devil is in the details‘ as the saying goes. To optimize the benefits and savings we’d suggest that you;

you’ll need think through your use cases – understand data flow and volume (someone bulk syncing application data with a data warehouse?),

define a cloud data strategy – to layout principles, approaches and identify compliance needs, this is particularly helpful for custom solution development, so the right level of log data is consolidated with the important details, data retention addresses compliance requirements and doesn’t ratchet up unnecessary costs (there is a tendency to horde data just in case – if this is really wanted, think about how its stored),

based on business common usage models define a simple forecasting formula – being able to quantify data costs will always makes it easier to challenge back data hording tendency,

confirm the inter-cloud network vendor charges when working with multi-cloud.

Costs in Multi-Cloud Over the last couple of years we have seen growing references to multi-cloud. That is to say, people are recognizing that organisations, particularly larger ones are ending up with cloud services for many different vendors.

#AWS #Azure #Cloud #costs #data #ExpressRoute #FastComnect #Oracle #OracleCloud

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nahoo883 · 6 years ago

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President Bolsonaro should boost Brazil’s entrepreneurial ecosystem

Romero Rodrigues Contributor

Romero Rodrigues is a managing partner at Redpoint eVentures, the Brazilian-focused arm of the Silicon Valley venture firm Redpoint.