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☆ Gap settles Patagonia trademark lawsuit over 'iconic' pocket design
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Andrew Goudsward | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 1 (Reuters) - Outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia Inc has settled its lawsuit accusing Gap Inc (GPS.N) of illegally copying the "iconic" snapped flap pocket that the company has long featured on its fleece outerwear. The outfitter alleged the jackets were intended to confuse shoppers into believing they were Patagonia products or that Patagonia let the retailer use its trademarks. Gap denied the claims and argued in court filings that Patagonia had waited too long to bring the lawsuit. Gap also filed a counterclaim asking a judge to rule that the design of Patagonia’s Snap-T pullover fleece is not legally protected. (This story has been corrected to say "Patagonia products" not "Gap products" in paragraph 5)Reporting by Andrew GoudswardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Andrew Goudsward Organizations: Patagonia Inc, Gap Inc, Thomson Locations: Patagonia, San Francisco federal

☆ Colombian Amazon plane crash: children's plight is the latest in a long list of air travel mishaps
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Stefano Pozzebon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The three adults onboard, including the pilot and the children’s mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, died in the crash. Calderon dismisses the idea that his job is particularly high risk, but he concedes flying in the Colombian Amazon is not for the faint hearted. Soldiers stand next to the wreckage of a plane during the search for child survivors on May 19, 2023. Moreover, this type of older airplanes are often the most apt to operate in the limited infrastructure of the airfields in the Colombian Amazon. This year the Colombian government budgeted the equivalent of over $200 million to boost airports across the Amazon region over the next 30 years, and to open eight new commercial flight routes Amazon region.

☆ McDonald's and Chick-fil-A are tracking your location to make sure your fries are perfectly crispy when you come collect your mobile order
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

McDonald's and Chick-fil-A are tracking the locations of customers who place mobile orders. McDonald's introduced a geofencing feature to its app in March. Restaurant Business reported that McDonald's geofencing technology alerts a restaurant when a mobile order customer is three minutes away. It includes an order-ahead lane where customers can drive up and retrieve mobile orders from a conveyer belt, dedicated parking spots for delivery drivers, and pick-up shelves where customers can collect orders. Chick-fil-A has also tested an express drive-thru lane exclusively for mobile orders, allowing them to skip the traditional drive-thru line.

☆ Here are six lighthouses the government is literally giving away for free
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US General Services Administration (GSA) is offering a record number of lighthouses to the public. The GSA will give away six to nonprofits and government entities, and sell another four via public auction. The lighthouses are being offered as part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. Since its inception, over 150 lighthouses have circulated through the NHLPA program, the GSA said. See the six lighthouses that GSA is giving away for free this year:

☆ Fixer-Uppers With Waterfront Views: The U.S. Is Unloading Lighthouses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Looking for a place with waterfront views? The government might have a deal for you. The General Services Administration said on Friday that it was giving away six lighthouses to nonprofits or government agencies that promise to maintain them, and planned to sell four others to the public at auction. The lighthouses are on some of the most picturesque waters in New England and the Midwest. But aspiring lightkeepers should be prepared to do some repair work before living out their 19th-century maritime fantasies.

☆ Russia's fearsome S-400 air-defense missiles are getting unexpected missions as Moscow struggles in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia's S-400 is a highly regarded weapon designed to intercept a variety of aircraft and missiles. But in Ukraine, Moscow has pressed its S-400s into service to intercept US-made HIMARS rockets or, more bizarrely, to bombard Ukrainian cities. Ukraine has used the S-300 — predecessor to the S-400 — and the American-made Patriot to intercept Kalibr cruise missiles and even Kinzhal hypersonic weapons. A more suitable system to destroy HIMARS rockets would be Israel's Iron Dome, which has frequently intercepted small rockets and even mortar shells. An S-400 missile is launched at a military base in southern Russia during an exercise in September 2020.

☆ Meet the climate startup turning a 5,000-mile stretch of seaweed from a plague of coastal communities into a giant carbon store
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

London-based Seaweed Generation is one such startup dedicated to seaweed sequestration. She's part of a wave of new "blue economy" entrepreneurs taking advantage of seaweed for carbon removal. Seaweed GenerationThe seaweed RoombaEstridge's Seaweed Generation has developed a robot that she described as a "Roomba meets Pac-Man." Seaweed Generation will work in waters with around 4,000 meters of depth and no upwelling current, which could bring sargassum back to the surface. Seaweed Generation has a planned pilot with the government of Antigua, which is invested in protecting its tourism industry.

☆ Creepy close-up images of the sun reveal yarn-like strands, dark pores, and a 'light bridge' crossing a decaying sunspot
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The sun looks spooky and mysterious in new images from the world's most powerful solar telescope. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has been observing the sun from the Hawaiian island of Maui since it first opened in 2020. Its first video, below, showed roiling solar plasma, each cell the size of Texas. Dark "pores" on the solar surface indicate powerful magnetic fields, which are likely driving the dark threads visible in the atmosphere above. The bright yellow surface plasma cools until its density is so low that it drops below the surface, through the dark lanes between cells.

With the end of another earnings season in sight, Wall Street's attention has turned to Washington and the debt ceiling deadline. Republican negotiators on Friday walked out of talks on raising the debt limit , abruptly ending a positive week of discussions that appeared to be leading toward a deal. Democrats and the White House have been pushing for a "clean" hike to the debt limit that would push the next deadline past the 2024 presidential election, while Republicans are pressing for spending cuts. Many investors believe this ongoing game of chicken over the debt limit is largely for show, since the U.S. has never defaulted on its debt obligations. U.S. President Joe Biden hosts debt limit talks with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other congressional leaders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2023.

DHAKA, May 18 (Reuters) - Apparel makers in Bangladesh are considering rare bulk exports by air to Europe and the United States, as they race to meet deadlines and avoid cancellations after a cyclone delayed shipments, caused power cuts and disrupted production. Bangladesh, the world's second-largest garment exporter, has already been hit by weakening global demand, with exports falling in both March and April. Another garment owner who supplies H&M said some of his shipments had been delayed. Power cuts in the last two months, first due to a scorching heatwave, and then the cyclone, have put more stress on apparel companies. "Now there are also chances of missing orders for the next season, as we are struggling to provide samples on time due to the regular power cuts," Ehsan said.

☆ Tractor maker Deere's future in precision agriculture hinges on space-based connectivity
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Morgan Brennan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

But the farm equipment maker has been planting the seeds for an increasingly high-tech and autonomous future – one that critically hinges on space. But connectivity is the linchpin of this vision, and space fills a void left by fiber and traditional cellular signals. "We think satellite communications is a really intriguing, interesting technology to pursue to sort of solve that communications gap." Last fall the company put out a request for proposal to the satellite communications industry to partner on space-based connectivity services. "We had this opportunity to bring two industries together — satellite space communications and agriculture — and say, 'What kind of value could we create?'"

☆ Ukraine's military may not be able to retake Crimea, but it can make life hell for Russians there, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Retaking the peninsula would be tough, but Ukrainian forces can isolate it, two US experts say. Supplying Russian forces on the peninsula — including the Black Sea Fleet — would require far more airlift capacity than Russia has. "Rattled by attacks, short of supplies, and somewhat isolated, Russian forces in Crimea could become less capable." It is possible that Russia could devise some defense or countermeasure against USVs, especially if they have naval and air superiority over the Black Sea. Sapping the capabilities and morale of Russian forces by disrupting their supply lines is one thing.

Garmin's Forerunner fitness trackers have long been one of the brand's most popular among serious runners. After dozens of technological generations and improvements over the years, the latest is the Forerunner 935. To truly put this advanced running watch to the test, we had competitive distance runner, Ted Westbrook, put the 935 through 1,000 cumulative miles of running. A mid-size watch with premium featuresThe Forerunner 935 is a mid-sized watch for the average man and a large watch for the average woman. Whether you're a competitive runner or just want to improve your fitness and cardio, the Garmin Forerunner 935 is a worthwhile investment.

☆ Balloons detect mysterious sounds in the stratosphere below the human hearing limit. Scientists can't explain.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Solar-powered balloons are recording mysterious sounds below human hearing in the stratosphere. These balloons listen to the Earth from a dozen miles up, but not in frequencies that the human ear can detect. "In the infrasound domain our planet is very rich," Bowman, a scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, told Insider. "I think one of the reasons humans can't hear infrasound is because we'd go nuts if we could." But Bowman wants to see more people flying infrasound-recording stratosphere balloons.

☆ 'Ketchup boat guy' plans to paint a Heinz bottle on his new boat after the company came up with more cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Heinz gave Elvis Francois another $9,900 this week on top of the almost $15,000 it donated in April. Francois survived weeks at sea on ketchup in January and Heinz wanted to help him get a new boat. The company paid Elvis Francois $26,761 East Caribbean dollars ($9,900) on Tuesday so he could complete work on his boat. Elvis Francois plans to paint a Heinz bottle on his new boat. A Heinz representative told Insider: "We're happy that Elvis is safely able to get back on water."

☆ More than 25% of biodiversity is under our feet — but we're destroying it. A biotech startup that's raised $56 million has a plan to help save our soil.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Amanda Paule | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The women-led biotech startup Trace Genomics is working to reverse human-caused soil erosion. Soil-data companies such as the Iowa startup Trace Genomics are trying to help farmers reverse that trend. Prasanna Kankanala, Trace Genomics' director of research and development, visits a client's farm. The opportunity to help fight crop diseases led Parameswaran and Diane Wu, her cofounder, to start Trace Genomics in 2015. Where a chemical test might run him $20, Trace's test could run him $200.

☆ Pandemic-related asylum restrictions known as Title 42 expire, straining U.S. immigration system
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

The expired rule, known as Title 42, was in place since March 2020. While Title 42 prevented many from seeking asylum, it carried no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. Migrants cross the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents before Title 42 ends, in Matamoros, Mexico May 10, 2023. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had already warned of more crowded Border Patrol facilities to come. They were quickly apprehended by Border Patrol agents.

☆ No quick deal in sight as EU countries start talks on new Russia sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Widely differing perspectives mean a quick deal is not expected, several diplomats said. She added the EU would stop transit via Russia of more of its exports, including advanced tech products and aircraft parts. Diplomatic sources familiar with the proposal - drafted by von der Leyen's Commission - said it also included blacklisting "tens" of new companies, including from China, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. NO SWIFT DEAL SEENAll 27 EU countries must agree for new sanctions to take effect in what would be the bloc's 11th round of such measures since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. A diplomatic source from an EU country hawkish on Russia was frustrated the Commission's proposal did not include stopping Russian diamond imports or nuclear energy cooperation.

☆ A Ukrainian donation drive built an 'Army of Drones' and picked up an unusual system called a 'Shahed Hunter' for Kyiv's forces
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It has used the funds to purchase thousands of UAVs, and systems to hunt Russian drones. The Shahed Hunter system is a network of radars and signal jammers that can detect Russian drones from around 25 miles away, Fedorov said. It's unclear where, exactly, the Shahed Hunter systems have been used or how many times they have been deployed. But Fedorov noted that Ukraine needs more of the systems to defend against continuous waves of Russian drone attacks. On Sunday night alone, Ukraine's air defense systems shot down 35 drones — 30 of which targeted Kyiv, according to the country's defense ministry.

☆ ‘The federal government is not doing their job,’ NTSB chair says about automated driving tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy sharply criticized federal regulators Thursday for not doing enough to monitor and test automatic driving technologies. “The NTSB has called on regulators to set performance minimums for these features, to test vehicles rigorously against those standards and provide the results to consumers. That’s because the IIHS and Consumer Reports worked directly with automakers to get them to add it. “Consumer Reports and IIHS tried to get ahead of this because there was no movement from regulators,” she said. Consumer Reports test drivers will still use an actual interstate highway to test features that only function when the car recognizes that it’s on a divided highway.

☆ Drones over Kremlin likely launched from inside Russia, US experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Ostorozhno Novosti/Handout via REUTERSSummary Kremlin citadel has extensive anti-drone protections400-plus km journey from Ukraine unlikelyIf launched in Russia, multiple drone types possibleWASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - The drones that crashed over the Kremlin earlier this week probably evaded an extensive number of defenses in and around Moscow, suggesting they might have been launched from inside Russia, U.S.-based drones experts said. "Spoofing" occurs when a counterfeit GPS signal is sent to replace a legitimate one, electronically fooling guidance systems on drones or other devices. "Of all the types of one-way attack drones, the aircraft used in this instance appears to have been a fixed-wing aircraft and among the larger one-way attack drones currently in use or development," said drone expert Dan Gettinger at the Vertical Flight Society, an engineering advocacy group. China, India, Taiwan and Ukraine are among a clutch of nations producing drones of this size and capability, Gettinger said. Gettinger, who published a paper on one-way attack drones on Thursday, said if the aircraft was launched from within Russia, there was a significantly greater number of aircraft capable of carrying out this attack.

Other NATO allies have donated 10 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, according to the State Department. Depending on the location and strength of the jamming, a rocket can still launch and result in a successful strike with significant damage. Widespread Russian jamming can have drawbacks for their own forces as well, impacting their ability to communicate and operate. For nearly a year, the HIMARS system has been the longest-range rocket system Ukraine has, allowing troops to fire up to six rockets in quick succession at Russian positions as far as 50 miles away. “Jamming is like the weather or the terrain, it’s something that happens that you have to deal with,” the official said.

☆ NASA footage reveals 4 types of solar eruptions and 'holes' that could affect Earth as the sun grows more active
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The sun is slamming Earth with solar flares and high-speed eruptions of plasma. Solar flares can have the power of 1 billion hydrogen bombsA solar flare erupts — the bright flash on the bottom right of the sun — on March 28, 2023. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the upper right – on March 3, 2023. CMEs are common culprits of solar storms on Earth, since they can send a powerful flood of solar particles washing over the planet. Coronal holes open a highway for solar windA video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the massive hole in the sun's atmosphere.

☆ US retailers cut most number of jobs in April -report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. retailers replaced technology firms in cutting the most number of jobs in April, as companies show little signs of easing their belt-tightening drive in an uncertain economy. Higher interest rates to counter the impact of inflation have muddied the outlook for the U.S. economy, forcing Corporate America to undertake stringent measures to protect itself from any fallout from a potential recession. So far this year, major retail and consumer companies including Gap Inc (GPS.N) and Walmart (WMT.N) have announced job cuts. The report also said job cuts last month fell 25% to about 67,000 - the lowest so far in the year, taking total layoffs to around 337,000 jobs since the start of the year. Reporting by Akash Sriram and Tanya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The International Space Station is hiding in this mind-blowing photo, as it passes the sun. Can you spot it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The International Space Station passes the sun in a gorgeous portrait by photographer Andrew McCarthy. Can you spot the space station in this portrait of an increasingly active sun? It erupts high-energy radiation into space, some of which slams into the International Space Station rocketing around Earth. The space station zips across the sun like a fast-moving needle in a haystackMcCarthy's multi-telescope setup to capture his photo of the space station crossing the sun. He used the sunspots as a visual cue, knowing the space station would pass in front of them.

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