TLDR 2020-02-03

Apple will close its official stores, corporate offices, and contact centers in China until February 9 due to the coronavirus outbreak. It has also limited employee travel to China to 'business critical' matters. Apple provided care kits to employees, regularly took employees' temperatures, and deep cleaned its stores and offices in the Wuhan area. Its online store will remain open. The coronavirus outbreak could affect Apple earnings and manufacturing capability. Other companies such as Tesla, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have also temporarily shut down operations in the country due to the virus.

Samsung is likely to announce its next folding phone this month. The phone is rumored to be called the Galaxy Z Flip, and it will probably be revealed at Samsung's Unpacked event on February 11th, along with the Galaxy S20 flagship smartphone. Video of the Galaxy Z Flip has been leaked on Twitter. A 19-second video is available that shows the phone being opened and closed.

We live in strange times, and now many villages and cities in China are using drones equipped with speakers to patrol and communicate with civilians during the coronavirus outbreak. This two-minute video shows drone footage with audio of the drone operator telling civilians to wear their face masks and to stay home. The text in the footage claims that the video is from Inner Mongolia. There is some discussion in the thread saying that the video is civilian-made and not from official sources, as civilians have been receiving communications with opposing information.

Californian scientists have developed a swim controller that can turn regular jellyfish into cyborg speed demons. The device enhances a jellyfish's natural motions using electrical impulses, similar to the way a pacemaker regulates heart rate. Once attached, the cyborg jellyfish can swim almost three times faster than unmodified jellyfish while using only twice the metabolic energy. The device doesn't harm the jellyfish and there are no negative effects after being removed. Scientists hope to be able to use cyborg jellyfish to carry sensors into the ocean to gather data from hard-to-reach locations.

After leaving Google as a software developer two years ago, Michael Lynch set out to build his own software business. In the second year, the business was still not profitable, but it had improved significantly. Lynch worked on several projects, with his 'Is It Keto' both bringing in the most revenue and having the highest running costs. During this time, he learned that higher prices could actually bring in more customers, ideas need to be screened and dumped when appropriate, having higher goals can result in bigger wins, and that life is much more enjoyable as a founder.

Elon Musk has released his latest single 'Don't Doubt Ur Vibe' on SoundCloud and Spotify under the label Emo G Records. This is Musk's followup to his first single 'RIP Harambe'. The lyrics and vocals were written and performed by Musk. A link to the four-minute track is available.

A group of Instacart employees voted to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546 on Saturday. Managers distributed anti-union literature prior to the vote, claiming that a union would drain paychecks and have a great deal of control over workers. Most of Instacart's workforce are independent contractors, but around 12,000 workers are legally employees. Instacart has stated that it supports the action of its workers. Workers at Instacart do not receive healthcare and other benefits as their work hours are capped at 29 hours a week. The tech industry has seen unprecedented levels of organization amongst its workers recently. In the last few months, many companies have experienced worker-led strikes, protests, and online boycotts. The victory sends a message to other gig workers around the country who are fed up with working conditions at Silicon Valley tech companies.