With files from Jori Negin-Shecter
Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 OS leaks online, Amazon executives worry about high employee turnover, and the Biden administration forgives student debt for Tech students.
It’s all the biz/tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Thursday, June 17 and I’m your host Alex Coop.
An early version of Microsoft’s Windows 11 Operating System leaked online earlier this week, causing a stir with its new user interface, new start menu, and other key changes. Screenshots of the new-look first appeared on Chinese website Baidu on Tuesday before eventually making their way over to Twitter. Some of the most noticeable changes featured in the leaked screenshots include a new-look start menu. a different menu location, now featured in the middle of the taskbar, as well as new rounded corners on open windows. Microsoft is expected to officially announce their newest OS on June 24th at their scheduled Microsoft Event. [The Verge]
here's a first look at Windows 11. There's a new Start menu, rounded corners, a new startup sound, and more https://t.co/VDS08QPsl5 pic.twitter.com/OkCyX3TtmI
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 15, 2021
A report from the New York Times Tuesday detailed that Amazon Warehouse turnover numbers are sky-high, with employees quitting just “days and weeks” after being hired per the report. The New York Times further detailed that hourly employees hired between July and October of last year had a turnover rate of 150%, leaving Amazon executives fearful that the company could run out of hirable employees in the United States. During the height of the pandemic last year, with Americans increasingly turning to Amazon for daily essentials such as toiletries and food, the company heavily bolstered its workforce, bringing in as many as 350,000 employees during the aforementioned July to October stretch. [Reddit]
And lastly, IBM unveiled one of Europe’s most powerful quantum computers during an event at its German headquarters Tuesday. The machine is housed in a 9-foot (2.7 meter) tall glass cube to shield the qubits from noise and other physical disturbances – to which they can be sensitive. According to German news site DW News, the quantum computer is to be housed 20 km southwest of Stuttgart. It will be operated by Germany’s Fraunhofer research institute and is the company’s first quantum computer in use outside of the US.
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