Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
Impeachment Inquiry, Amazon Care & Job Ghosting
All the news you need in 10 min:
Today's episode is brought to you by Blinkist and MM LaFleur.
Story Summaries
All the news stories mentioned in today's episode are listed with links below, so you can spend as much -- or as little -- time as you want perusing the latest happenings...
LISTEN at 0:31 – Impeachment Inquiry:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced plans to move ahead with a formal impeachment inquiry -- only the fourth in American history. This is the first step in the impeachment process and basically means a formal investigation into whether or not President Trump committed "high crimes and misdemeanors." Democrats have been divided on whether or not to take this step, but more are on board following the new accusations against President Trump. Reports say he pressured Ukraine’s leader to launch a corruption investigation into the Biden family. Trump says he did nothing illegal and his phone call's transcript will be released as soon as today. The government whistleblower behind the complaint may speak with a House committee as part of the ongoing investigations. Stay tuned.
Read more: WSJ, NBC News, NYT, AP, Washington Post, CBS News ,FOX News, The Hill, ABC News
LISTEN at 2:43 – Trump-Ukraine Meeting:
President Trump is set to meet with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York City. Yes, the same leader involved in all the controversy above. Also, Trump spoke before world leaders yesterday and said the U.S. will continue to look after its own interests. He encouraged other countries to do the same.
Read more: CNN, NBC News, CBS News, Politico
LISTEN at 3:14 – Ruling Before Brexit:
Britain's top court unanimously ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson illegally suspended Parliament. British lawmakers are now back in session, which gives lawmakers more time to figure out how to handle leaving the European Union. The Brexit deadline is October 31st, and there’s still no divorce deal in place.
Read more: BBC, The Guardian, CNN, NYT
LISTEN at 3:50 – “Right to Be Forgotten”:
In a big win for Google, a European Union court determined the “right to be forgotten” rule doesn’t apply outside the E.U. The rule gives people in the E.U. the right to ask Google to delete embarrassing or outdated information about them from the web.
Read more: TechCrunch, BBC, NPR
LISTEN at 5:41 – Mind-Reading Tech:
Facebook bought CTRL-labs, a company that makes a mind-reading wristband that reads signals from your brain. Facebook hopes to use this technology in new gadgets, but critics are worried about privacy.
Read more: Business Insider, The Verge
LISTEN at 6:20 – Amazon Care:
Amazon just launched a virtual health clinic called Amazon Care. The virtual service offers video visits with a doctor and optional in-person, at-home follow-ups. For now, this is only a pilot program for Amazon employees in Seattle.
Read more: CNBC
LISTEN at 6:40 – One Device, Many Voices:
Amazon plans to let you use different voice assistants on one device. For example, if you say the 'wake word' for Microsoft's voice assistant, that one will respond even on an Amazon Echo device. Amazon, BMW, Sonos and Spotify have signed on, but Google, Apple and Samsung have not. Also of note: Amazon’s hardware event is today. Alexa-enabled tech like wireless earbuds and an Alexa-powered home robot are among the rumored devices.
Read more: CNET, Reuters
LISTEN at 7:28 – Lyft Options:
Lyft wants to make it easier to find a ride. The Lyft app will now include car rides, bikes, scooters, car rentals and mass transit so riders can compare options in one place. The new feature is expected to roll out over the next few weeks.
Read more: Engadget, Business Insider
LISTEN at 8:12 – Job Ghosting:
The number of employees disappearing without explaining why has gone up recently. A survey from Indeed found 83 percent of employers have had job applicants ghost them, and about half of the job-seekers surveyed said they have skipped interviews or stopped answering hiring managers.
Read more: CNBC, CNN