David Lidsky's Blog, page 363

Dockworkers’ union suspends port strike until mid-January

The temporary end to the strike came after the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance reached a tentative agreement on wages.

The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports reached a deal Thursday to suspend a three-day strike until January 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract.

Why airlines are turning to Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi

Starlink overtook a group of GEO providers, including Anuvu, Intelsat, Panasonic Avionics, and Orange Business, across a fleet of over 200 aircraft.

Last week, Air France was the latest major airline to announce it will be moving its in-flight Wi-Fi to the Starlink network, offering it for free to members of its frequent flier program. 

OpenAI’s newest tool feels less like a chatbot, more like Google Doc

Canvas allows writers and coders to edit longer-form work in a document-style interface.

OpenAI has just introduced Canvas, a new tool designed to take ChatGPT beyond simple chat interactions and into a more collaborative workspace for writing and coding. Unlike the traditional chat window, Canvas opens a separate work area with a chat window on the right side, allowing users to work side-by-side with ChatGPT, refining and editing ideas directly within their documents or code. With this addition, OpenAI is clearly responding to the main problem of its previous interface: The chat back-and-forth, the rinse and repeat of output, and its character response limitation are just not good for working on more complex, multistep projects over time.

Port strike: Here’s what items come into the ports—and what goes out of them

If the strike picks up again or in January, at issue would be the supply chain on a number of products, as well as the flow of everything from consumer goods to critical electronics.

Update: On Thursday, October 3, the International Longshoremen’s Association—the union representing some 45,000 striking dockworkers at ports along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast—agreed to suspend the strike until January 15, 2025.

Hims & Hers Health stock tanks after FDA says competitor Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug shortage is over

The San Francisco telehealth company had capitalized on the shortage by making copycat versions of popular brand-name GLP-1 medications.

Shares of Hims & Hers Health fell almost 10% today following an announcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that competitor Eli Lilly’s obesity and diabetes drugs are no longer facing supply constraints, and have been removed from the shortage list.

How shuttered nuclear plants like Three Mile Island could make a comeback

With electricity demand rising, especially to power data centers and electric vehicles, some nuclear plants could also become candidates for reopening.

Constellation, an energy company that provides electricity and natural gas to customers in 16 states and Washington, announced on Sept. 20, 2024, that it plans to restore and restart Unit 1 at Three Mile Island, a nuclear plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, that was shut down in 2019. Microsoft has signed a 20-year agreement to purchase electricity generated by the plant to offset power demand from its data centers in the mid-Atlantic region.

McDonald’s is finally bringing this super-popular sandwich to the U.S. Here’s why

The fast-food chain has been experimenting with its menu to try to lure back inflation-weary customers, and the Chicken Big Mac is its newest offering.

Sure, everyone loves a Big Mac, but a Chicken Big Mac?

Cigarettes, sugar, prescription opioids: Here’s how to fight market-driven epidemics

Market-driven epidemics follow a familiar script.

In 2023, 42 state attorneys general sued Meta to remove Instagram features that Meta’s own studies had shown – and independent research had confirmed – are harmful to teenage girls.

U.S. bans more Chinese imports over allegations of forced labor

The additions to the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act marks the first time a China-based steel company or aspartame sweetener business have been targeted by U.S. law enforcement, DHS said.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it would ban the import of goods from a Chinese steel manufacturer and a Chinese maker of artificial sweetener, accusing both of being involved in the use of forced labor from China’s far-west region of Xinjiang.

Why your 401(k) will be safe after the election

After the election results come in, regardless of which party wins the White House, the uncertainty dissipates, and markets get back to work.

Much like those annoying political TV ads, the warnings come back every four years: All the uncertainty around the U.S. presidential election could have big consequences for your 401(k)!