(NEW YORK) — It is finally time to light the Olympic torch. After being delayed a year due to the coronavirus, the Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to begin next Friday, July 23, and will run through Aug. 8.
Since spectators won’t be allowed to travel to Tokyo, all eyes will instead be watching Team USA on TV as they take on the world. And what better way to support Team USA than by sporting some patriotic gear and accessories?
In support of the Olympic Games, Macy’s has launched an Olympic store that will run until Aug. 8. You can check out the items here.
(NEW YORK) — Nordstrom just made a commitment to Black-owned businesses.
The store has become the first major retailer to commit to a 10-year agreement with the 15 Percent Pledge, a nonprofit that holds large corporations accountable for supporting Black-owned brands.
“Long-term societal change cannot happen overnight and we’re in this for the long haul,” said president and chief brand officer Peter Nordstrom in a statement.
Nordstrom — which joins other retailers including Macy’s, Old Navy and Sephora in the commitment to 15 Percent Pledge’s mission — announced it would increase its purchases and partnerships with Black-owned or founded retailers tenfold by the end of 2030.
“Nordstrom has established new goals and benchmarks to help it become a more diverse, inclusive and anti-racist organization, and has made strides towards these goals through notable product launches and curations,” 15 Percent Pledge said in a statement.
What is the 15 Percent Pledge?
Created in 2020 by Aurora James, the 15 Percent Pledge is a nonprofit organization that aims to get retailers to commit 15% of their shelf space to products from Black-owned businesses.
According to 15percentpledge.org: “Over 13% of people living in the United States identify as Black and another estimated 2% identify as mixed race, totaling 15%.”
What started out as an Instagram post now has nearly 30 major retailers across three countries addressing racial inequities in retail.
(NEW YORK) — What do you get when National Macaroni and Cheese Day falls in the middle of National Ice Cream Month? A flavor collaboration from two very different comfort foods.
While the creaminess of mac and cheese doesn’t exactly scream ice cream, Kraft and Van Leeuwen put their heads together to create a unique summer treat.
“For the first time ever, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese will launch a limited-edition ice cream in partnership with Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, the cult-favorite brand known for making decadent and delicious ice cream and vegan ice cream with just a few ingredients,” the company announced Tuesday.
The soft orange hue that makes the iconic elbow-shaped pasta pop is made with paprika, annatto and turmeric, according to Kraft, after the brand removed artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from the recipe in 2016.
The exact recipe for the hot-turned cold nostalgic noodle dish being churned up in ice cream form was not officially released, but the brand said just like the pasta, the ice cream remains free of any artificial ingredients.
Starting July 14, the limited-edition flavor will be sold at Van Leeuwen scoop shops in New York City, Los Angeles and Houston, as well as online for $12 per pint, while supplies last. New Yorkers can taste the bold new flavor for free at an ice cream truck that will be stationed by Union Square on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“We know that there is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than ice cream. That is why we wanted to combine two of the most iconic comfort foods to create an ice cream with the unforgettable flavor of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese we all grew up with,” Emily Violett, senior associate brand manager for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — If you were trying to make a purchase on Amazon overnight, you may have run into some issues.
Several users went on Twitter to complain that they couldn’t get past the homepage after logging into their accounts or that they weren’t able to complete their purchases.
The website Downdetector, which tracks outages, says there were more than 38,000 reports of users having trouble with Amazon’s site after 11 p.m. ET Sunday.
(NEW YORK) — Sir Richard Branson is set to briefly leave earth’s atmosphere on Sunday, risking it all to usher in a new era of space tourism that has been propelled by a billionaire-backed commercial space industry.
“We’ve spent 17 years trying to get to this stage,” Branson said in an interview with ABC News’ “Good Morning America” last week. “I’m just expecting the most extraordinary trip of my lifetime and by pioneering it myself, an extraordinary trip of a lifetime for other people in the future.”
If all goes well, Branson will beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos — who revealed he was launching via his own rocket on July 20 — into space by just over a week. While Branson said he doesn’t see it as a “race,” his own spaceflight announcement came just hours after Bezos’ revealed he was bringing along a female pilot whose dreams of being an astronaut in the ’60s were deferred.
The two launches within ten days of each other leave some to speculate whether these billionaires are “democratizing space” as they claim, or seeking bragging rights here on Earth. Still, as with all spaceflights, swaths of viewers from across the globe are expected to tune in — and there are no guarantees of safety as the ultra-rich use themselves as guinea pigs for their space-travel firms.
Here is what to know about Branson’s trip to the edge of space, scheduled to take off Sunday morning.
What is happening and how to watch
Branson, 70, will take-off aboard the first fully crewed flight from his private space-faring firm Virgin Galactic. The spaceflight will be streamed live on Virgin Galactic’s website as well as its Twitter, YouTube and Facebook pages. ABC News will also carry live coverage of the event.
The launch will take place from New Mexico’s Spaceport America, and live coverage will commence at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Branson will serve as a mission specialist on what is being dubbed the Unity 22 mission, the company’s fourth crewed spaceflight on its VSS Unity spacecraft. Branson will be accompanied into space by fellow Virgin Galactic staff: Beth Moses (chief astronaut instructor), Colin Bennet (lead operations engineer), and Sirisha Bandla (vice president of government affairs and research operations).
Pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci will fly the spaceship, with C.J. Sturckow and Kelly Latimer flying the aircraft from which the spaceship will dispatch.
Branson’s role is to evaluate the private astronaut experience to prepare for future customers, which Virgin Galactic expects to do beginning in 2022.
R&B singer Khalid tweeted Friday that he will be at the launch, and debuting a new song.
Flight details
The VSS Unity spacecraft launches from a custom-built “mothership” aircraft, the VMS Eve, that takes off from a conventional runway. At an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet, the spaceship will be released from the aircraft and enter its glide to the edges of space where those aboard can experience just a few minutes of microgravity, as well as novel views of earth and space. Previous test flights for the spaceship reached an altitude of 55.5 miles.
As gravity pulls the spaceship back toward Earth’s upper atmosphere, the astronauts will buckle back into their seats for reentry. Eventually, the spaceship will glide back to Spaceport America for a runway landing. Branson has said in previous interviews that the flight will take about 1 1/2 hours total.
Virgin Galactic has taken heat from critics, including the twitter account of Bezos’ firm Blue Origin, for stretching the definition of “space” as its flights do not go above the Karman line (62 miles above earth) that is defined by many — but not all — as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.
Neither Blue Origin nor Virgin Galactic’s flights will reach Earth’s orbit, however, the way Elon Musk’s SpaceX missions have. Musk on Twitter has called out this “big difference.”
The billionaires’ race to space
The modern commercial space race has been undeniably dominated by the ultra-rich. Blue Origin founder Bezos is the richest man in the world, according to Forbes data, and SpaceX CEO Musk is the third-richest. Branson’s net worth, meanwhile, is some $6 billion.
While this has led some to see space as a new frontier for billionaire daredevils, others have argued that the rise of private sector involvement in space travel has accelerated technological advancements, saved NASA money, and carries the longterm potential to open up space tourism to all who have been curious about the cosmos.
“I truly believe that space belongs to all of us,” Branson said in a statement earlier this month announcing his spaceflight. “After 17 years of research, engineering and innovation, the new commercial space industry is poised to open the universe to humankind and change the world for good.”
Virgin Galactic has stated its mission is “democratizing space” and increasing accessibility. Its initial price of tickets, however, cost $250,000. Bezos, meanwhile, auctioned a seat on his upcoming Blue Origin flight for a whopping $28 million.
As the pandemic spotlighted the nation’s wealth inequality and deepened the divide between the haves and have-nots, not everyone is rooting for the billionaires the way Americans got behind astronauts in the Apollo era. A Change.org petition calling for Bezos to stay in space has garnered headlines and more than 150,000 signatures.
Animosity was exacerbated by recent reports on how Bezos and Musk have avoided paying income taxes.
Earlier this year, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., responded to one of Musk’s tweets about a “multiplanetary” future, calling for him to “focus on Earth.”
“Space travel is an exciting idea, but right now we need to focus on Earth and create a progressive tax system so that children don’t go hungry, people are not homeless and all Americans have healthcare,” Sanders wrote. “The level of inequality in America is obscene and a threat to our democracy.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is set to sign a wide-ranging executive order Friday afternoon aimed at minimizing the stranglehold of monopolies on certain industries and increasing competition among companies, which the White House believes will benefit consumers by driving down prices.
“For decades, corporate consolidation has been accelerating. In over 75% of U.S. industries, a smaller number of large companies now control more of the business than they did 20 years ago. This is true across health care, financial services, agriculture and more. That lack of competition drives up prices for consumers,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Targeting air travel, labor practices, meat processing and more, the executive order contains 72 initiatives overseen by a dozen different government agencies.
Here is some of what’s in the order:
It will allow owners of iPhones, appliances and other machinery to attempt perform repairs on their devices themselves or seek out repairs at independent shops without voiding warranty protections.
It requires the FAA to mandate efficient airline refunds for lost bags and dysfunctional WiFi service.
It aims to lower the price of prescription drugs by urging state and local tribes to import cheaper drugs from Canada, a move long supported by Democrats, and former President Donald Trump.
Hearing aids, which can often run consumers thousands of dollars, would be able to be sold over the counter under the order.
The order will encourage the FTC to limit non-compete agreements that prevent workers from seeking out better-paying jobs and affect some 30 to 60 million Americans. It also encourages the FTC to ban unnecessary licensing requirements for jobs like accounting and hair dressing, which differ from state to state and prove burdensome, especially for military families who frequently move.
These items in particular, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, are “fulfilling [Biden’s] campaign promise to promote competition in labor markets in order to raise wages and make it easier for workers to change jobs and to move between states.”
The changes won’t be immediately evident to Americans since the executive order merely kicks off longer rule-making and regulatory processes. Some of the executive actions are only recommendations, especially on those areas governed by the FTC and FCC, which are meant to be independent agencies not obligated to carry out White House directives.
(NEW YORK) — The NFL and Twitter announced a new game plan on Thursday.
The league extended its partnership with the social network in a multi-year deal, which will include the use of Twitter Spaces, Twitter’s new live audio feature.
“The commitment to Twitter Spaces represents another innovative step forward in the longstanding partnership between the NFL and Twitter,” Blake Stuchin, the NFL’s vice president of digital media business development, said in a statement. “We’re excited to bring NFL fans a new way to engage with live audio ahead of our biggest events of the year and every week throughout the NFL season.”
The league plans to host more than 20 Twitter Spaces for the upcoming 2021 season. They will “include participation from current NFL players and other NFL talent to discuss season matchups and insights,” the NFL said.
“We’re excited to super-serve NFL fans with even more of what they love to see on Twitter, including epic touchdown highlights all season long,” Twitter’s head of U.S. sports partnerships, TJ Adeshola, said in a statement. “In addition to fueling the timeline with the best moments from each game in real time, we’ll be doubling down on innovation by leveraging our live audio format, ‘Spaces’, to bring fans even closer to the game.”
(NEW YORK) — A coalition of 36 states and the District of Columbia are suing Google, alleging the tech giant illegally wields monopoly power over its app store.
The suit, filed late Wednesday in California federal court, is the latest in a spate of bipartisan attacks on Big Tech’s dominance from lawmaker and regulators. It is the fourth antitrust suit filed against Google by government agencies in the past year.
The latest lawsuit specifically takes aim at Google’s Play Store app store. In a complaint that is nearly 150 pages, the state attorneys general argue that “Google has taken steps to close the ecosystem from competition and insert itself as the middleman between app developers and consumers.”
“Unbeknownst to most consumers who own a mobile device running Android, every time they purchase an app from the Google Play Store, or purchase digital content or subscriptions within an app, up to 30% of the money they pay goes to Google,” the complaint said. Moreover, the complaint states that to collect and maintain this commission, “Google has employed anticompetitive tactics to diminish and disincentivize competition in Android app distribution.”
Many of the arguments in the court documents echo similar sentiments expressed by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games, which has repeatedly taken aim at Apple and Google for their app store commissions. A federal judge’s decision regarding Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple is expected to be announced soon.
Wilson White, Google’s senior director of public policy, called the latest lawsuit “meritless” in a company blog post.
“We built Android to create more choices in mobile technology. Today, anyone, including our competitors, can customize and build devices with the Android operating system — for free,” White wrote. “We also built an app store, Google Play, that helps people download apps on their devices. If you don’t find the app you’re looking for in Google Play, you can choose to download the app from a rival app store or directly from a developer’s website.”
“So it’s strange that a group of state attorneys general chose to file a lawsuit attacking a system that provides more openness and choice than others,” White added.
White argues that the lawsuit’s allegations that consumers and developers have no option other than to use Google Play is “not correct,” noting that device makers and carriers can preload competing app stores alongside Google Play on their devices and that most Android devices ship with two or more app stores preloaded.
Moreover, White stated that developers have earned over $80 billion through the Google Play app store and nearly two million American jobs have been created through the “Android app economy.”
“We understand that scrutiny is appropriate, and we’re committed to engaging with regulators,” he added. “But Android and Google Play provide openness and choice that other platforms simply don’t. This lawsuit isn’t about helping the little guy or protecting consumers. It’s about boosting a handful of major app developers who want the benefits of Google Play without paying for it.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been taking aim at the dominance of America’s tech companies in recent years as their size and influence rises. Last month, an outspoken critic of Big Tech’s dominance, Lina Khan, was sworn in as the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, leaving many to speculate if a new crackdown on the industry could be imminent.
(NEW YORK) — You may have noticed that prices for some goods at the grocery store are going up. But now, there’s another type of inflation that consumers should be on the lookout for — it’s called “shrinkflation.”
The term has be coined by experts to describe when manufacturers shrink package sizes but make shoppers pay the same price. And, they warn, the practice is on the rise.
ABC News’ Becky Worley appeared on Good Morning America Thursday to let consumers know what to look out for:
(NEW YORK) — The LEGOLAND Hotel in New York is almost open for business.
The hotel just announced it will open for overnight bookings beginning on Aug. 6 following the opening of LEGOLAND New York Resort on July 9.
This will be the first and only Lego-themed hotel in the Northeast and features 250 guest rooms.
All of the rooms are decorated with Pirate, Kingdom, Lego Friends and Lego Ninjago themes that feature separate sleeping areas for kids.
“Guests are greeted by a fire-breathing dragon at the hotel entrance and will discover more than 2,000 LEGO models inside the hotel,” according to a press release from LEGOLAND New York.
Activities for hotel guests include visits from Lego characters, a heated outdoor pool and creative workshops for kids.
Located at the main entrance of the resort, guests will be close enough to explore all seven lands at the new LEGOLAND New York Resort.
Reservations can be booked now on the LEGOLAND website.
