“insurmountable challenges”: U.S. hi-tech/communications breakdown, September 2018

Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction and chicanery announcements in September 2018:

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Japan based Honda begins recalling vehicles due to software failures. 

GM-Chevy recalls vehicles because computer controlled steering can fail

Ford recalls pickups because seat belts catch fire?

High-tech features mean higher car repair bills

Streaming TV Prices Are Marching Higher

WHY DO TECH ELITES STOP THEIR OWN KIDS USING CELLPHONES?

ALABAMA: Montgomery based TV station owner Raycom Media warning of downsizing starting in November, as a result of merging with a competitor.

CALIFORNIA: San Rafael based video game maker Telltale Games suddenly laid off 225 people (most its employees) due to “a year marked by insurmountable challenges”!  Video game maker Carbine Studios suddenly laid off 47 people in Aliso Viejo.  San Francisco based bitcoin trader Kraken suddenly laid off 57 people, but denies its going to shutdown. The country’s largest online thrift store operation, ThredUp, shutting down its San Leandro ops, 118 jobs gone the week before Xmas!   Augmented reality products company Meta suddenly laid off 88 people in San Mateo.  Credit.org/Springboard Solutions finally notified state unemployment administrators that it shutdown its Riverside ops, and killed 214 jobs back in July!  CoreLogic issued a shutdown WARN for its ops in Los Angeles, 60 jobs gone before Thanksgiving.  Translation company United Language Group issued a shutdown WARN for its Burbank office, 85 jobs gone before Thanksgiving.  CentralSquare Technologies issued a shutdown WARN for its San Diego operations, 144 jobs gone in March 2019!  Qualcomm eliminating 94 jobs in San Diego, right before Thanksgiving. Semiconductor manufacturer support company Entegris issued a shutdown WARN for its San Diego location, taking place right after Xmas.  Online based home loan company Renovate America eliminating 83 jobs in San Diego by the end of October.  ‘Cloud’ based investment company Addepar issued a layoff WARN for its ops in Mountain View, 20 jobs gone before Thanksgiving.  VeriFone eliminated 69 jobs in San Jose.  Online ‘dollar’ store Hollar issued a layoff WARN for its ops in Commerce, 23 jobs gone right after Xmas.

Tesla founder Elon Musk accused of fraud by federal government!

Elon Musk co-founded PayPal Blacklists Infowars for ‘Promoting Hate’

Instagram co-founders resign in latest Facebook executive exit

James Woods locked out of Twitter

ADOBE TO BUY MARKETO FOR $4.75 BILLION

On 04SEP2018, in San Diego the U.S. Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Innovation Awards honored three Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) teams for their ability to modify video war-games to actually kill fellow humans!  Developers of the Augmented Reality System for Topside Gun Crew Command and Control (aka GunnAR) were able to “… very quickly modify a commercial DAQRI headset software and build out the first iteration of the heads-up display (HUD)……It wasn’t long after that we were able to participate in a pier-side demonstration, later followed by two live fire demonstrations.”

FLORIDA: Wisconsin based financial services technology company Fiserv Incorporated eliminating 58 fiserv.forum jobs in Lake Mary.  Comcast issued a WARN, 86 jobs in Sarasota gone by Xmas. Switzerland based robotics company ABB issued a WARN, 22 jobs in Coral Springs gone by Xmas.  Pomeroy (now Getronics) issued a WARN, 79 jobs in Tampa gone by February 2019.

GEORGIA: CNN Ratings Collapse, Losing To Nickelodeon And Fox News 

IDAHO: Connexions Loyalty issued a WARN for its Boise ops, 175 jobs gone right before Thanksgiving!

ILLINOIS:  Local news media reporting that Nokia is eliminating 500 jobs in Naperville, between now and Xmas!  Nokia would not confirm the layoff numbers but did confirm there will be layoffs, at one time Nokia’s Naperville ops employed 1-thousand-8-hundred people.  Technology deployment services company Watcher Incorporated eliminating 85 jobs in Macon County, by Thanksgiving.

KENTUCKY: Gannett Satellite Information Network laying off 73 people in Louisville.

MASSACHUSETTS: Switzerland based TE Connectivity eliminating 86 jobs in Worcester, and shutting down electronic cable manufacturing in the city by March 2019.

MICHIGAN:  LenderLive Network issued a shutdown WARN for its ops in Madison Heights, at least 45 online loan processor jobs gone before Thanksgiving, due to consolidation of operations.  More taxpayer funded hi-tech video games for the military as the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) hosted a NATO technology demo at the Keweenaw Research Center (KRC) to showcase mobility prediction software, called Next-Generation NATO Reference Mobility Model (NG-NRMM) Development.  It’s for predicting problems with logistical ground transportation of military supplies: “We’ve digitized every pebble in the proving ground here into a database and they can have that database. So, they can drive that vehicle through the terrain in the computer and try to predict the mobility, as we call it, of that vehicle going through that rough terrain.”-Jay Meldrum, KRC

MINNESOTA: Optical inspection tool maker S-T Industries eliminating 60 jobs in Saint James, date yet to be determined.

NEBRASKA:  Omaha based ‘health’ food store, and online site, Eat Fit Go Healthy Foods-EatFitGo.com is now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, and shutting down two brick-n-mortar locations, in the hopes of fostering “long-term success.” 

NEW YORK: NYC based Verizon suddenly laid off 50 people due to a sudden consolidation of video production.

SiriusXM to buy Pandora for $3.5 billion

NORTH CAROLINA: “This new software is amazing! The speed is mind-blowing! The parking heading colors are cool. The auto-execute feature is a game changer.”-First Sergeant Alex Joy,  3rd Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment (3-27 FAR) Fort Bragg, about the new M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) Software System Suite Version 8.0

Video of HIMARS strike in Afghanistan, 09SEP2018:

OKLAHOMA: GateHouse Media buys The Oklahoman Media Company

PENNSYLVANIA: Fox will sell Sky stake to Comcast for about $15 billion

TEXAS: Dell is considering going public once again

VIRGINIA: Pentagon based U.S. Army is calling for military vehicles to be updated with common hardware/software, calling the open source vehicle program Common Infrastructure Architecture.

WASHINGTON: Insurance software solutions company Vertafore shutdown its office in Bothell, 50 jobs gone due to moving its HQ to Colorado.

U.S. Tech/Communications breakdown, August 2018: “UNPRECEDENTED DECLINES” “UNEXPECTED AND UNFORESEEABLE”