Author: openjargon

• Fisker initiated another round of layoffs on Wednesday, multiple sources told Business Insider.
• The company has gone through a series of cuts and warned it might go out of business.
• Henrik Fisker has said the company is in talks with other automakers regarding a potential acquisition.

Embattled EV startup Fisker kicked off another round of layoffs on Wednesday, four sources with knowledge of the issue told Business Insider.

Fisker has made multiple cuts to its workforce over the last few months. In February, Fisker CEO Henrik announced plans to cut 15% of its staff. Most recently, Fisker sent a round of layoff notices on April 29.

The series of cuts are designed to eventually bring the workforce down to a skeleton crew of only "mission critical" staff, one Fisker employee with knowledge of the issue said.

The total number of employees impacted by this latest staff reduction wasn't clear. A spokesperson for Fisker declined to comment.

Fisker has warned multiple times over the past few months that the company might go out of business within the year. On April 29, the company sent out notices to staff in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, warning employees that they might be laid off in two months if the company is not able to find a buyer or additional funding.

That same month, Fisker had told workers in an all-hands meeting that it was in talks with four automakers regarding a potential buyout.

Last week, Fisker's CEO told staff in a companywide meeting that the company had reached out to other automakers in addition to the initial four regarding an acquisition.

"I do hope we're closing in on something serious here in weeks rather than months," Henrik Fisker said at the time.

In March, Business Insider first reported that Fisker had delivered over 6,000 of its all-electric SUV, the Fisker Ocean, since its launch. A year prior, the company said it had "approximately 65,000" reservations for the vehicle ahead of its US launch in June 2023, but the company has faced negative reviews and cancellations since its launch.

Do you work for Fisker or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email at gkay@insider.com

• The Equinox EV is a solid addition to the electric crossover market.
• I found that Super Cruise elevates the experience behind the wheel.
• The Equinox EV is priced and designed to compete directly with Tesla's mass-market cars.

There's another electric Chevrolet crossover on the market as the bowtie brand leans into EVs while others are pulling back.

I got to take the new all-electric Equinox EV on a quick drive in Metro Detroit and came away impressed with the little hatchback's performance.

Two trims are available on dealer lots today, with a starting price of $43,295. That's a new, much-needed option in the sub-$50,000 price range for EVs. GM is also promising even cheaper options for the Equinox later this year, with a base model that starts at $34,995.

The Equinox EV has an EPA-estimated range of 319 miles. Its DC fast-charging capability of up to 150 kW enables 77 miles of range to be added in 10 minutes of charging, according to GM estimates.

The Equinox EV also boasts plenty of cargo space, with 57.2 cubic feet of storage with the second row folded down.

This little Tesla fighter, priced and designed to compete directly with Model 3 and Model Y, delivered a smooth ride on GM's pre-selected course that included surface road and highway driving.

The Tesla influence on the Equinox EV is undeniable

The first things I noticed as I approached the Equinox EV for my test drive were the door handles. When the vehicle is locked, the handles lay flush with the door. Unlocked, they pop out like a level to pull and open the door.

This is a direct nod to Tesla, which originated this door handle design. On a mostly sunny 75-degree day, they didn't give me any trouble, but cold weather does seem to cause trouble for these mechanical door handles.

The styling on the Equinox EV turns a milquetoast mom car into a stylish prowler

The gas-powered Equinox is one of many boring crossovers in Chevrolet's portfolio. The layman might not be able to distinguish it from a Trax or a Blazer.

But the electrified version is designed to stand out, with a hood that swoops down to narrow headlights, helping give the crossover a menacing stance. More sculpting around the back wheels also gives it a wider appearance, too, making it more distinct from its gas-powered counterpart.

Sleeker design is a must-have in the electric crossover market, which also includes lookers like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Mustang Mach-E.

Unlike the sparse Tesla models, Equinox EV has buttons, nobs, and vents that accent the space

I've always found the sparse interior of the Model 3 and Model Y to feel a bit cavernous, so I was glad to see a lot of accenting and design cues built into the Equinox EV's interior.

Some trims also have more fun color combinations for the leather seating to add a bit of personality inside the car.

Still, overall I found the interior of the electric car to be somewhat underwhelming. I've sat in a lot of Chevrolet interiors over the years, this one didn't feel all that different or special.

Super Cruise elevates the experience in the Equinox EV

While the Equinox EV's interior leaves a bit to be desired, the optional Super Cruise hands-free technology elevates the driving experience to make the Equinox EV feel more special than your average crossover.

I sat back and enjoyed the sunny ride on the highway while Super Cruise navigated traffic.

The Equinox EV is a solid addition to the electric crossover market, but Chevy has a lot to prove with Ultium

Overall, I enjoyed my time behind the wheel of the Equinox EV. It delivers the zippy ride you expect from a battery-powered car, and Chevrolet's engineers have tuned the car to hug corners and feel smooth and stable out on the road.

There aren't a ton of extra frills or surprises, but the Equinox EV gave me just about everything I would want out of an electric crossover — the type of EV I'd be most likely to add to my own driveway.

But I can't help but wonder how some of the troubles with the Ultium technology in the Blazer rollout will affect its chances up against Hyundai, Kia, and Tesla. Electric car customers today are less patient than the techy early adopters who pioneered the market.

Chevrolet is hoping to take advantage of this shift in customer preferences with its trusted reputation as a legacy brand, flooding the market with EVs while others are pulling back. But the Blazer's messy launch, which included a stop-sale to repair software issues, might have an effect on how even the most loyal Chevrolet owner views the Equinox EV.

• A group of content creators, with an animation company Thinko, created Amazon Dating, a satirical dating platform where people can fake-purchase their dream date.
• The website looks eerily similar to Amazon's real site and has functional features that allow users to "buy" the featured dates.
• Some people said putting a price on people, especially on black people during Black History Month, is problematic. Some found Amazon Dating humorous for drawing parallels with the toxic nature of online dating.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Online dating can often make people feel more like commodities than singles looking for love, with photo-heavy profiles for others to swipe through, and suggested chat-up lines.

With that in mind, content creators Suzy Shinn, Atlas Acopian, and Morgan Gruer collaborated with animation company Thinko and created the satirical service Amazon Dating.

On it, users can "buy" people they want to date just as easily as they would a book, a vacuum cleaner, or an avocado-shaped pool float with a removable pit on Amazon.com.

Every person who's "for sale" on Amazon Dating comes with a price, reviews, a bulleted description of hobbies, and even a drop down to choose how tall you want them to be.

They've also added relationship-related features that match Amazon's typical style. Instead of offering different sizes for the humans featured, the Thinko team added "love language" options for each person, so you can choose whether your digitally-designed dream date enjoys words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch, or another love language from Gary Chapman's best-selling book.

Different people cost different amounts, which raised some concerns

When you go to the fully functional Amazon Dating homepage, you can see different people as if they were available to purchase.

Although Thinko noted that Amazon Dating was a joke, some viewers didn't like that they monetized humans at different prices.

Others said they found the project funny.

Amazon Dating allows you checkout like you would on the real Amazon website

After browsing the selection of potential dates on Amazon Dating, users can click and "buy" them.

To test the function, Insider "bought" Teddy, 87, in the size "words of affirmation" and at a height of 5'5". Teddy also happened to be the "Deal of the Day."

One previous Teddy customer noted in the reviews section that Teddy was a great gift for a family member.

"I bought as a wedding gift for my great Aunt who is in her 80's and was getting remarried," the faux review read. "They had a cute reaction."

After hitting "add to cart," a review window appeared just like it does for any real Amazon order.

Once the order was placed, a fake confirmation message was generated.

The website has other functional features, including a downloable 'non-ghosting agreement'

In addition to being able to fake-purchase people, Amazon Dating has other clickable and interactive features that poke fun at dating in the digital age.

If you click on the "legal" button in the top menu, for example, you're redirected to a downloadable document called a "Non-Ghosting Agreement."

"This Non-Ghosting Agreement is entered into by and between __________________ ("Disclosing Party") and ___________________ ("Receiving Party") for the purpose of preventing the unauthorized action of "Ghosting," as defined below," the document reads.

And if users click the button for Prime Video, they're redirected to the popular video chatting website Chat Roulette.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company has "no comment" on Amazon Dating.

Editor's note, May 24, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect the chosen name of a source mentioned in the story.

• Read more:
• Since my partner and I moved in together, we can't stop fighting and rarely have sex. What should I do?
• I'm single and sober, but women seemed turned off by my booze-free lifestyle. How can I find love?
• TLC's 'Hot and Heavy' show about 'mixed-weight' couples could hurt and stigmatize fat people, experts say

• Apple could be releasing an all-screen foldable MacBook in 2026.
• Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said production costs could rival the $3,500 Vision Pro headset.
• The rumored MacBook would come with an as-yet-announced M5 series processor.

Apple could be gearing up to release an all-screen, foldable MacBook for 2026, and it may cost quite a bit.

That's according to Ming-Chi Kuo, a much-followed analyst who has previously been a go-to for Apple product predictions, having often done so accurately.

In a Thursday blog post, citing a survey, the supply-chain analyst at TF International Securities said that the product, Apple's first foldable-screen device, could measure 20.25 inches, though "Apple is also considering using an 18.8" panel instead."

The "target mass production schedule for the panel and assembly" is Q4 2025 and H1 2026, respectively, he wrote. That compares to a previous estimate of 2027.

Still, the cost for consumers could reach Vision Pro pricing levels, Kuo wrote. The Vision Pro has a retail price tag of $3,499.

That's because the cost of making a hinge and display that "make the panel as crease-free as possible" looks hefty. It requires "high design specifications," and current preliminary estimates put the panel costs at around $600—$650 and hinge costs at $200—$250 each, he said.

However, "if production yields improve significantly by the time of mass production, these costs could decrease." Plus, "due to the more defined product positioning of the foldable MacBook, the shipments are expected to be significantly higher than those of the Vision Pro. Shipments are estimated to exceed 1 million units in 2026," Kuo estimated. That's a boon for Apple after the mixed success of the headset launched earlier this year.

The MacBook could also come with a yet-to-be-announced M5 chip. When Apple introduced the new iPad Pro on May 7, the tech giant introduced the M4, calling it an "outrageously powerful chip for AI."

• Singapore Airlines announced it will no longer serve meals when the seatbelt light is on.
• This comes after a passenger died and dozens were injured on a flight due to severe turbulence.
• Singapore's swift act to protect the safety of its people and customers is smart and praiseworthy.

Singapore Airlines flight attendants will no longer serve meals when the seatbelt light is on.

Singapore's flag carrier changed its in-flight service policy to ensure its people's and passengers' safety following a fatal turbulence event on one of its flights on May 21.

The airline's prohibition on meal service during turbulence joins its existing policies, which already ban hot beverage service during rough air.

The policy change smartly signals to customers the airline's willingness to act to ensure their safety. In addition, it sends a message to the company's flight attendants that their employer has their safety in mind.

Getting hit in the face by your seatmate's omelet is not fun, but being flung aloft by turbulence while pushing a metal cart can result in serious injuries. The primary job of a flight attendant isn't to serve drinks or dinner. They are in-flight safety professionals. It's their job to work as a team to get you off the plane quickly and safely in the event of an emergency. And their ability to do so is compromised if they've been injured during meal service.

Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, about 10 hours into its journey from London to Singapore, encountered sudden, severe turbulence while cruising 37,000 feet above over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar. The Boeing 777-300ER, which had 211 passengers and 18 crew members on board, diverted to Thailand and landed safely in Bangkok.

The incident resulted in more than 40 injured passengers and crew hospitalized, and the death of one passenger, a 73-year-old British man. According to hospital officials in Bangkok, 22 of those people suffered spinal injuries, while another six suffered skull or brain injuries.

All airlines have a response plan for when the unimaginable happens. Just like the quality of service on flights, some airlines have their act together more than others.

In this case, Singapore responded quickly on social media, posting a series of updates that offered clear and concise information on the incident. They followed that up with action by quickly flying a team of staff from Singapore to Bangkok for additional manpower on the ground and standing up dedicated customer service teams trained in handling crisis situations. Singapore Airlines also organized emergency flights to get uninjured passengers to their destinations while also flying the families of the injured to Bangkok.

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong has also met with customers, crew, and their families in Bangkok, the airline said.

Singapore Airlines' response to the incident thus far should be commended. Crisis response is difficult in the best of situations. It is remarkable that they could execute their plan so capably on foreign soil.

• Companies are leveraging 5G for faster speeds, expanded capabilities, and connectivity.
• Cybersecurity professionals at the RSA conference said security is crucial for 5G.
• This article is part of "5G and Connectivity Playbook," a series exploring some of our time's most important tech innovations.

Companies are already using 5G to transform their business models.

With 5G, organizations now have faster internet speeds, expanded capabilities, and an additional avenue of connectivity.

Across sectors, 5G has helped employees work remotely and allows companies to connect from factory floors, warehouses, and more. 5G also enables faster connections for tasks like remote surgery, better customer experiences for people living in remote areas, and agriculture work like driverless tractors. It has also presented a new challenge for cybersecurity.

Business Insider spoke with telecom providers and device makers at the RSA conference earlier this month in San Francisco. They shared how 5G is transforming businesses and security, and how much more is to come.

"I think 5G has impacted the overall state of security just because of the innovation it brings to us," Christine Gadsby, the vice president of product security at BlackBerry, said. "We have to keep track of innovation and make sure we can secure it. 5G is definitely an area where innovation if we're not careful, will outpace the reality of security and our ability to secure."

How 5G is transforming businesses

Telecom providers are using more 5G services within their companies and as business offerings. Large businesses present a big growth area.

Verizon's staff now have laptops with 5G SIM cards that can connect to 5G networks, Chris Novak, the senior director of cybersecurity consulting at Verizon Business, said.

"We take pride in making sure the network is secure and very reliable and something organizations can trust," Novak said.

Telecom companies can also provide private 5G networks to businesses, offering them low latency and high bandwidth to transfer large volumes of data securely. This is especially useful for industrial plants that may have limited WiFi connectivity.

For example, NTT, a Japanese telecom company, offers 5G services to consumers and private 5G services to businesses, particularly in the manufacturing and automotive industries. Businesses can customize these networks to include their security policies and capabilities.

"Because it's under your control, you manage it and you secure it the way you secure your other assets," Shahid Ahmed, a group EVP at NTT, said. "By its very nature of being private, under your control, and not being a public network, it's inherently much more secure."

Overall, customers are using 5G to become more efficient, Gadsby said.

"Customers are thinking about productivity," she said. "They want faster, cheaper, smarter. Customers are really out for quick, fast connection speeds."

5G provides better security

Cybersecurity professionals say that 5G was designed with security in mind from the start, and breaches have been uncommon so far. Businesses are also increasingly partnering with firms to build in cybersecurity from the start.

"Today when we look at it and see how it works, it very much continues to be the most secure thing we ever operated," Novak said.

Casey Ellis, the founder and chief strategy officer of the crowdsourced security company Bugcrowd, said that he's seen growing demand from telecommunications customers to get security feedback on 5G systems to identify vulnerabilities and improve their design architecture.

Earlier this year, Bugcrowd partnered with T-Mobile to hold a 5G Bug Bash, where developers hacked into 5G equipment, apps, and radio systems to find vulnerabilities. This allowed them to work with T-Mobile and other telecommunications companies to fix them.

"It's making sure the vulnerabilities are in the hands of folks that go off and fix the problem," Ellis said. "Usually what we'll do in a more technical or complicated domain is put the hackers that found the issue in touch with the fixer long-term so they can collaborate, not just finding the broken thing."

Managing risks

While connecting to a 5G network is more secure, the biggest risk with 5G is that hackers might gain access to connected devices. Increasingly, more cellular and Internet of Things devices are being connected to organizations' 5G networks, which means more opportunities for hackers if organizations don't properly manage their security.

Novak said some customers are worried because the technology is still relatively new, so they face some unknowns. He added that there's a significant gap between how fast a hacker can exploit vulnerabilities and how fast an organization can patch vulnerabilities.

That's why cybersecurity professionals say constant assessment is critical. Organizations should know what their assets are and lock them down to prevent data losses. They should have full visibility into what devices are connected to their networks and protect them by making sure they use a mature security provider.

In addition, organizations should understand what data is going in and out of devices connected to their networks and should examine traffic patterns for unusual or suspicious activity. Organizations should also make sure their 5G hardware and software are being mended if there are vulnerabilities.

With the rise of generative AI, AI cybersecurity tools can improve network quality and security and analyze network traffic.

"We're always looking at how we can make improvements and how we can make future iterations and updates more secure today," Novak said. "We're always continuing to evaluate what the threat landscape looks like. You don't know what vulnerabilities are out there until someone starts poking around and making it do things it wasn't supposed to do."

The future of 5G

The 5G transformation has not happened as fast as expected, nor has it been deployed at a large scale yet. Still, the cybersecurity landscape and threats in 5G will continue to evolve, Novak said.

Given geopolitical tensions between the US and China, the supply chain will continue to be a more crucial issue for 5G infrastructure.

At the same time, 5G will expand the cybersecurity market, and there's still plenty of room for new players to arise. In the future, more security companies could focus on 5G security for cars, airplanes, medical devices, and more. And in the next five to 10 years, 6G will become more common, Mihoko Matsubara, the chief cybersecurity strategist at NTT, said. She stressed the importance of raising awareness about cybersecurity in connected devices.

"We will see more companies, regardless of size or organization, using 5G as a natural tool for business operations," Matsubara said.

• Russia has pulled combat forces from Africa to support its new offensive in the Kharkiv region.
• Africa Corps units recently deployed to fight with other Russian forces, Western intelligence said.
• The Russian Africa Corps was created last year and consists of former Wagner Group mercenaries. 

Russia has moved some combat forces from Africa to help support its latest offensive efforts in northeastern Ukraine, according to a new Western intelligence assessment.

Over the past week, Moscow has deployed units from its Africa Corps to fight around Vovchansk, a small city in Ukraine's Kharkiv region that has been at the center of intense fighting in recent days, the UK defense ministry wrote in a Friday intelligence update.

The Russian defense ministry created the Africa Corps last year as a way to expand its footprint on the continent and also in the Middle East. The military formation, which has the same name as a World War II Nazi unit, consists of more than 2,000 regular soldiers, officers, and mercenaries — including many who once served in the notorious Wagner Group.

In Ukraine, Africa Corps units have been deployed alongside regular Russian military forces and Storm-Z penal units made up of convicts and troops with disciplinary charges to support the ongoing Kharkiv offensive, Britain's defense ministry noted.

Russia's defense ministry "almost certainly redeployed detachments from the Africa Corps to the Ukrainian border during April 2024 in preparation for this offensive," the defense ministry said. "It is highly likely that Russia is reinforcing its war on Ukraine with resources previously assigned to Africa."

Other Africa Corps detachments are believed to have deployed to Syria, Libya, Burkina Faso, and Niger, the UK said.

The Wagner Group — which long operated as a shadowy extension of Russia's foreign policy apparatus until their involvement in the Ukraine war thrust the mercenaries into the limelight — has a history of activity in those countries. The organization has also been accused of committing various atrocities and human rights violations across Africa.

Russia has moved to assume more control over Wagner in the year since the mercenaries staged a failed mutiny last June, sparked by grievances over the Ukraine war. Moscow's grip on the ruthless organization only tightened after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a still-mysterious plane crash just two months later.

The recent deployment of certain Africa Corps units to the Kharkiv region appears to underscore Russia's commitment to its new offensive.

Earlier this month, after gathering tens of thousands of troops near the border, Russia launched an assault into the region in an attempt to carve out a buffer zone near its territory.

The limited incursion is also designed to stretch thin Ukrainian forces across the sprawling front line and pin down Kyiv's defensive efforts around Kharkiv, possibly signaling the start of what could be a multi-pronged summer offensive.

Nearly two weeks into the offensive, Russia has captured a small amount of territory along the border and is closing in on Vovchansk, which had a pre-war population of more than 17,000 people.

The city has been at the heart of brutal fighting and has fallen victim to Moscow's devastating glide-bomb strikes. Imagery shared to social media shows widespread destruction.

Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a Friday update shared to Facebook that Russia had conducted multiple assaults in the Kharkiv direction, but Kyiv's troops were fighting back and able to repel the attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Kharkiv city on Friday, where he held meetings on the battlefield situation and received updates on defensive operations around Vovchansk.

He wrote in a post on X that "we paid special attention to the housing needs of our people who had been displaced from Kharkiv region territories targeted by enemy shelling."