Jean Thompson, Author at Dual Cow

Apple Vision Pro Review: First Headset Lacks Polish and Purpose

Mar

Apple Vision Pro Review: First Headset Lacks Polish and Purpose

Linked media - Associated media About 17 years ago, Steve Jobs took the stage at a San Francisco convention center and said he was introducing three products: an iPod, a phone and an internet browser. “These are not three separate devices,” he said. “This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.” At $500, the first iPhone was relatively expensive, but I was eager to dump my mediocre Motorola flip phone and splurge. There were flaws — including sluggish cellular internet speeds. But the iPhone delivered on its promises. Over the last week, I’ve had a very different experience…

Starbucks and Union Agree to Work Out Framework for Contract Talks

Mar

By Jean Thompson

Investments and Business

Starbucks and Union Agree to Work Out Framework for Contract Talks

Associated media - Associated media Workers who have helped lead the organizing said the development had surprised them. “It still feels pretty surreal right now,” said Michelle Eisen, a longtime barista at a Starbucks in Buffalo that was the first company-owned store to unionize during the current campaign. “There has not been a single call I’ve been on today where either I wasn’t crying or everyone else wasn’t crying.” If a framework is agreed to and quickly leads to contracts, experts said, it could be a major development in labor relations in corporate America, where companies like Amazon and Apple…

What to Know About Lead Poisoning in Children

Mar

By Jean Thompson

Health

What to Know About Lead Poisoning in Children

Linked media - Associated media How do I know if my children have high blood-lead levels? Lead exposure can go unnoticed until levels accumulate, doctors say. High levels of lead can result in stomach pain, vomiting, fatigue, learning difficulties, developmental delays and even seizures. Pediatricians recommend blood tests for infants and toddlers who live in homes built before 1978 or have other risk factors. Medicaid programs and some states require screening, but it is not typically advised for children older than 3. While officials have said there is no safe level of lead, parents do not automatically need to worry…

OpenAI Seeks to DismissParts of The New York Times’s Lawsuit

Mar

By Jean Thompson

Science and Technology

OpenAI Seeks to DismissParts of The New York Times’s Lawsuit

Associated media - Connected media Representatives for OpenAI and the Times Company did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The motion asked the court to dismiss four claims from The Times’s complaint to narrow the focus of the lawsuit. OpenAI’s lawyers argued that The Times should not be allowed to sue for acts of reproduction that occurred more than three years ago and that the paper’s claim that OpenAI violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an amendment to U.S. copyright law passed in 1998 after the rise of the internet, was not legally sound. The Times was the first…

Alabama IVF Ruling: What to Know About the Costs of Moving Embryos

Mar

By Jean Thompson

Investments and Business

Alabama IVF Ruling: What to Know About the Costs of Moving Embryos

Related media - Linked media “There’s a lot that goes into moving these safely and properly,” said Angeline Beltsos, chief executive physician at Kindbody, which has 35 clinics across the country and provides fertility benefit coverage for employers, including Walmart. Will my health insurance cover the cost to move my embryos if I can no longer get I.V.F. in my home state? Maybe. Some coverage could be broad enough to pay for the transport of embryos. “It is likely that employees working for large employers have some kind of coverage,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, the chief executive officer of Purchaser Business…

A Fading Weapon in the HIV Fight: Condoms

Mar

By Jean Thompson

Health

A Fading Weapon in the HIV Fight: Condoms

Associated media - Associated media Gay and bisexual men are using condoms less than ever, and the decline has been particularly steep among those who are young or Hispanic, according to a new study. The worrisome trend points to an urgent need for better prevention strategies as the nation struggles to beat the H.I.V. epidemic, researchers said. Over the past decade, prevention medication known as PrEP has helped fuel a moderate drop in H.I.V. rates. And yet, despite persistent public health campaigns promoting the drugs, they have not been adopted in substantial numbers by Black and Hispanic men who are…