 |
|
|
|||||
From a distance they look almost like ordinary sailboats, their sails emblazoned with the red-and-white flag of Denmark.But these 10-meter (30-foot) -long vessels carry no crew and are designed for surveillance.Four uncrewed robotic sailboats, known as “Voyagers,” have been put into service by Denmark’s armed forces for a three-month operational trial.Built by Alameda, California-based company Saildrone, the vessels will patrol Danish and NATO waters in the Baltic and North Seas, where maritime tensions and suspected sabotage have escalated sharply since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.Two of the Voyagers launched Monday from Koge Marina, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Powered by wind and solar energy, these sea drones can operate autonomously for months at sea. Saildrone says the vessels carry advanced sensor suitesradar, infrared and optical cameras, sonar and acoustic monitoring.Their launch comes after two others already joined a NATO patrol on June 6.Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins compared the vessels to a “truck” that carries sensors and uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to give a “full picture of what’s above and below the surface” to about 20 to 30 miles (30 to 50 kilometers) in the open ocean.He said that maritime threats like damage to undersea cables, illegal fishing and the smuggling of people, weapons and drugs are going undetected simply because “no one’s observing it.”Saildrone, he said, is “going to places . . . where we previously didn’t have eyes and ears.”The Danish Defense Ministry says the trial is aimed at boosting surveillance capacity in under-monitored waters, especially around critical undersea infrastructure such as fiber-optic cables and power lines.“The security situation in the Baltic is tense,” said Lt. Gen. Kim Jrgensen, the director of Danish National Armaments at the ministry. “They’re going to cruise Danish waters, and then later they’re going to join up with the two that are on (the) NATO exercise. And then they’ll move from area to area within the Danish waters.”The trial comes as NATO confronts a wave of damage to maritime infrastructureincluding the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions and the rupture of at least 11 undersea cables since late 2023. The most recent incident, in January, severed a fiber-optic link between Latvia and Sweden’s Gotland island.The trial also unfolds against a backdrop of trans-Atlantic frictionwith U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration threatening to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to Denmark, a NATO member. Trump has said he wouldn’t rule out military force to take Greenland.Jenkins, the founder of Saildrone, noted that his company had already planned to open its operation in Denmark before Trump was reelected. He didn’t want to comment on the Greenland matter, insisting the company isn’t political.Some of the maritime disruptions have been blamed on Russia’s so-called shadow fleetaging oil tankers operating under opaque ownership to avoid sanctions. One such vessel, the Eagle S, was seized by Finnish police in December for allegedly damaging a power cable between Finland and Estonia with its anchor.Western officials accuse Russia of behind behind a string of hybrid war attacks on land and at sea.Amid these concerns, NATO is moving to build a layered maritime surveillance system combining uncrewed surface vehicles like the Voyagers with traditional naval ships, satellites and seabed sensors.“The challenge is that you basically need to be on the water all the time, and it’s humongously expensive,” said Peter Viggo Jakobsen of the Royal Danish Defense College. “It’s simply too expensive for us to have a warship trailing every single Russian ship, be it a warship or a civilian freighter of some kind.”“We’re trying to put together a layered system that will enable us to keep constant monitoring of potential threats, but at a much cheaper level than before,” he added. James Brooks, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Given the rise of mental health woes, financial strain, and concerns over layoffs, there’s a lot weighing on the modern employee. But one company is hoping to offset the stress with . . . Legos?Deloitte is offering to pay for employees’ Legos to help them connect away their stress. The firm, which already offered well-being items and experiences, updated its employee subsidy program on June 1 to cover the toy. According to internal documents accessed by Business Insider, Deloitte will reimburse employees up to $1,000 for gym memberships and equipment, spa services, gaming consoles, and, now, Legos and puzzles. The move is getting mixed reactions on social media. On X, comments about the Lego perk ranged from “cheaper than therapy” to lots of laughing emojis to utter confusion. One popular post points out that the company had layoffs to cut costs just prior to announcing the Lego incentive, hinting that maybe the funds could be better allocated to retain employees rather than to add offbeat incentives. “Corporate culture is irrevocably broken and backwards,” the post reads. One Deloitte employee told Business Insider that the perk was received with a mix of jokes and enthusiasm. “Most of the responses are things like ‘Lego?!?!? Finally!’ or jokes about how they can now rationalize buying the coveted Millennium Falcon Star Wars Lego set,” the employee said. (The set costs $850). While Legos might be fun, or even therapeutic, employees who are battling against very real modern concerns might need more than building blocks to avoid burnout. And that may be especially true at firms like Deloitte, where the workweek can average 55 hours. Fast Company reached out, but Deloitte declined to comment. Matthew Owenby, chief strategy officer and head of HR at insurance company Aflac, tells Fast Company that employees today are up against big challenges. “Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic first started a national conversation around mental health [and] employee burnout persists at very high levels,” Owenby says. According to the 2024-2025 Aflac WorkForces Report, more than half of all U.S. employees say they face at least moderate burnout, with nearly a quarter experiencing high burnout.” That report also points out that nearly half (47%) of respondents said having an employer who respects the importance of time off helps with their work-life balance. Likewise, 51% said more paid time off (PTO) is the most effective way to alleviate burnout. Shockingly, the report did not ask respondents how much Legos impacted their well-being. Owenby says that addressing the burnout epidemic is not quite as easy as providing a stipend for puzzles and building blocks. Instead he recommends examining employees’ heavy workloads, giving them flexibility and time off. “When asked about the most effective ways to address burnout, employees offered simple and straightforward solutions: giving employees the option to work from home, increasing paid time off, and creating company-sponsored self-care programs,” Owneby said. Again, Legos did not make the list. Sadly, while workers desperately seem to need PTO, they don’t always feel they can take it. A June 2025 report from LiveCareer showed that one in three workers are worried that taking vacation days will lead to layoffs. Fear of layoffs and job insecurity is at an all-time high, and these concerns are influencing the workforce to deprioritize their overall well-being, Jasmine Escalera, career expert for LiveCareer, said in the report. When employees hesitate to take the PTO theyve earned, it can seriously impact their mental health, productivity, and overall engagement at work. That’s not to say that hobbies like social time, crafts, or even playing with Legos can’t be helpful. However, when it comes to employee satisfaction, a Lego allowance feels a bit like, well, child’s play. Because unless those Lego sets come with an extra week of vacation and the time to actually play with them, how much good can they really do for employees anyway?
Category:
E-Commerce
Despite crypto being all the rage (again) in 2025, the announcement yesterday that President Trumps Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (Nasdaq: DJT) is seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a crypto-based ETF has so far done little to turn around the fortunes of DJT stock, which is currently down over 45% since the beginning of the year. Heres what you need to know about the Trump Media crypto ETF and the companys latest stock price movement. What does Trump Media want to launch? Yesterday, Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of President Trumps Truth Social social media network, announced its intention to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) comprising two assets: Bitcoin and Ethereum. Those two cryptocurrencies are the most popular in the world, so its no surprise that Trump Media would focus on combining them into a single ETF. The fund would allow people to invest in two cryptocurrencies at once by purchasing a single share of the ETF. Announcing that it has filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the SEC, declaring its intentions to launch the ETF, Trump Media said that the ETF, officially called the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF, B.T., will hold Bitcoin and Ethereum directly. Bitcoin will make up 75% of the ETFs assets, with Ethereum accounting for 25% of the ETFs assets. The ETF announcement represents a further expansion of Trump Medias business portfolio, which currently includes the Truth Social social media network, the Truth+ streaming platform, and the FinTech brand Truth.Fi. Yet if executives at Trump Media were hoping for a stock price boost from the news, theyll be disappointed today. As of the time of this writing, DJT shares are currently up around 1.69% to $18.98. The stock actually sank yesterday when the news was announced. Investors shrug off the crypto news Yesterday, on the same day that Trump Media filed its SEC paperwork for the crypto ETF, Trump Media shares closed at $18.67. However, todays modest price rise suggests that investors so far dont seem to think that the potential ETF offering will significantly impact the companys financials. One reason for this could be that cryptocurrency ETFs are becoming an increasingly crowded market. As noted by Reuters, Morningstar ETF analyst Bryan Armour said that any company newly entering the crowded crypto ETF market will face challenges. The only way to stand out will be through fees or brand, Armour said. However, another reason could be that many investors still view Truth Socials stock as a belief stocka proxy for Donald Trumps popularity, rather than a company with strong fundamentals behind it. Whatever the reason, the ETF news so far hasnt turned Trump Medias fortunes around when it comes to the companys share price. As of this writing, DJTs share price has fallen over 11% in the last five trading days alone. Over the past month, DJT shares are down more than 27%. And since the beginning of the year, DJT shares have cratered more than 45%. What do Trump Media’s financials look like? On May 9, Trump Media reported its most recent quarterly results, which cover the companys Q1 of fiscal 2025, which ended on March 31. The company reported a net loss of $31.7 million for the quarter. In other Trump business news, yesterday, the Trump Organization, a separate entity from Trump Media, announced its plans to launch a new cellular network called Trump Mobile and also a new smartphone called the T1 Phone. The move largely baffled industry experts. Disclosure: Morningstar was founded by Joe Mansueto, owner of Fast Company‘s parent company.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||