• A Tesla slammed into a police cruiser during a traffic stop in Massachusetts in December 2019.
• The driver told the state trooper at the time that the car was on Autopilot, according to an incident report first reported by NBC 10 Boston.
• The state police say he's now facing criminal negligence charges related to the wreck.
• Tesla's Autopilot instructions say a driver should always be ready to take over from the computer at any time.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Massachusetts state trooper was in the middle of a traffic stop in December when a Tesla slammed into his patrol car, pinning him between it and the stopped vehicle.

Now, the driver of the Model 3 — which was apparently on Autopilot at the time of the crash — is facing criminal charges of negligent driving, NBC 10 Boston reports, citing court documents.

Maria Smith, a college student, recounted the scary crash to the local news channel this week. "Before I knew it, my car was flying forward," she said. "I looked behind me, and my whole back windshield was blown out. There was glass in my hair."

The driver, Nicholas Ciarlone, told the trooper at the scene of the crash that the car was on Autopilot and he "must not have been paying attention," NBC 10 Boston reported, citing the incident report. He could not be reached for comment, and is set to be arraigned in September.

The Massachusetts State Police confirmed the charges to Business Insider. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla's Autopilot has been front-and-center in several high-profile incidents. Under normal circumstances, the software can maintain speed and direction while monitoring for obstacles so long as the driver is paying attention. But while Tesla's instructions tell drivers to constantly monitor the program and remain ready to take over on moments notice, there have been plenty of instances caught on video of drivers sleeping, leaving the drivers seat, or even filming an adult movie.

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NOW WATCH: Pathologists debunk 13 coronavirus myths

• NPower is a non-profit organization that trains military veterans and young adults in underserved communities for careers in technology. 
• The program is based across eight different regions in the US and Canada and serves 1,400 students annual via a 16-week classroom program and a paid internship. 
• David Reilly, who leads global banking and markets, enterprise risk and finance technology
  and core technology infrastructure at Bank of America, serves as board chair for NPower. Reilly did not attend college. 
• Reilly said the program serves as a great way for organizations to fill entry-level technology positions, which continue to grow, from a pool of talent that is diverse.
• Sign up here for our Wall Street Insider newsletter.

Carolina Ferreira doesn't fit the traditional profile of a Wall Street employee.

Having left high school at 17 and with no college education, Ferreira's initial understanding of white-collar jobs came mostly from television shows like Suits. It wasn't that Ferreira had a tough time believing she'd ever work in finance. It wasn't even a consideration.

"I never had any exposure to the corporate world. Not even like by third-hand by my parents or family members," said Ferreira, who parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic. "It was just nothing I've ever seen. So just nothing I could ever imagine for myself."

And yet, Ferreira did just that. After going back to high school at 20 to get her diploma, Ferreira enrolled in NPower, a non-profit that trains military veterans and young adults from underserved communities for careers in tech. Through NPower, Ferreira landed an internship at Bank of America in 2017 working as a technical support analyst for the bank's FICC trading floor.

See more: Bank of America just hired a Citi exec to oversee how it deploys AI, as Wall Street works to understand the regulatory and legal implications of using the tech 

It was quite the introduction to finance for Ferreira, who was tasked with ensuring the information flow between salespeople and traders on complex transactions was seamless.

"It was insanely overwhelming," said Ferreira of her first day on the job. "I had nervous sweats for half the day."

Nerves aside, Ferreira excelled, and enjoyed, her new role. She was offered work as a contractor after her internship ended, and then eventually a full-time position working with the commodity trading floor.

Ferreira's experience is just one of the many success stories to come out of NPower.

Founded in 1999, NPower runs programs out of eight regions in the US and Canada, serving roughly 1,400 students annually, Bertina Ceccarelli, CEO of NPower, told Business Insider. Students receive 16 weeks of classroom instruction across a variety of tech topics and also participate in a paid internship that runs a minimum of seven weeks. The majority of students have no formal training in technology beforehand, and most either have little or no college education. 

NPower says after completion of the program, which is free, about 80% of graduates either continue their education or get jobs. 

"Our mission, I like to say at the highest level, really is to move people from poverty to the middle class," Ceccarelli said. 

Read more: Bank of America's summer internship will be entirely virtual. A talent exec runs through how the bank's 2,000 global interns will learn, network, and volunteer without stepping into an office.

A Bank of America executive has ties to NPower 

While NPower works with a variety of industries — placing grads at consulting, pharmaceutical, and consumer packaged goods companies — financial services remains one of its biggest participants, Ceccarelli said. 

Bank of America, in particular, has been a strong supporter of the organization, hiring 63 students out of NPower's New York program, with employees also volunteering over 4,600 hours of their time through activities such as guest lectures. 

The executive leading those efforts is David Reilly, who leads global banking and markets, enterprise risk and finance technology and core technology infrastructure at Bank of America and serves as board chair for NPower.

Reilly has a non-traditional background himself, having not attended college. As a result, he told Business Insider, he always looks to give back to those who find themselves in similar situations as he did all those years ago.

And that work has paid off, Reilly said, who estimated some of the best people he's hired have been those with the right attitude and curiosity, as opposed to a laundry list of degrees from prestigious universities.

"What I've found you get back in return is an incredible amount of loyalty and drive and that these people will run through walls for you. And then they will go on to have astonishing careers," Reilly said. 

"They need someone to give them a chance, to give them an opportunity. And my experience has been if you do that, the balance of trade is way in the corporations favor. And what you get back in return, it's just astonishing," he added. 

NPower can also serve to fill gaps around data science and diversity

To be sure, there are commercial benefits to the program as well. Reilly said as companies rely more heavily on tech, there is a greater need to fill entry-level roles that require IT skills. He cited one estimate that suggests there will be 3.5 million unfilled technology jobs by 2021. 

In particular, Reilly said data science will be the biggest need. While things like cyber and basic coding skills are all important, experience handling data will be in the highest demand. 

"The resource that everybody is now grappling with is that of data. You speak to anybody at any large corporation they'll tell you, 'I don't lack for data. I lack for insight. If only I could draw more insight from the data that I've got, I could serve my clients better," Reilly said. 

However, that's not to say graduates from prestigious universities will no longer be sought after by Wall Street firms. While tech, compared to investment banking or trading, has more flexibility to recruit outside of so-called target schools, those who attend the most exclusive colleges being offered the best opportunities in finance is a trend that's not likely to end anytime soon.

NPower also provides an opportunity for companies to tap into a more diverse talent pool from underserved backgrounds, a consideration nearly all of corporate America has reevaluated more seriously in recent weeks. 

Reilly said Bank of America will continue to work hard to provide entry-level opportunities via the program. As for NPower, he said the organization will look to be more public about how it can help companies in need technical talent from more diverse backgrounds. 

"You win whichever way you cut it. You get access to terrific talent. You get to help kids that really need it. You get to do right by a community in which you operate and which you serve. And you get talent in your organization with a level of drive, commitment, loyalty, energy and determination that you just can't teach," he said. 

Read more:

SEE ALSO: Bank of America just hired a Citi exec to oversee how it deploys AI, as Wall Street works to understand the regulatory and legal implications of using the tech

SEE ALSO: Bank of America's summer internship will be entirely virtual. A talent exec runs through how the bank's 2,000 global interns will learn, network, and volunteer without stepping into an office.

SEE ALSO: Goldman Sachs' top tech exec explains how a fresh slew of senior hires are transforming the bank's approach to building products

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NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence

• Endeavor CMO Bozoma Saint John is leaving to become Netflix's head of marketing, the streaming company confirmed on Tuesday.
• She'll replace Jackie Lee-Joe, who joined Netflix in July 2019 from BBC Studios.
• Before Endeavor, Saint John had recently worked at both Uber and Apple.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Endeavor CMO Bozoma Saint John is leaving the company to become Netflix's marketing boss, the streaming company confirmed on Tuesday. She will start in August, Netflix said.

She'll replace Jackie Lee-Joe, who joined Netflix in July 2019 from BBC Studios.

"I'm thrilled to join Netflix, especially at a time when storytelling is critical to our global, societal well-being," Saint John said in a statement. "I feel honored to contribute my experience to an already dynamic legacy, and to continue driving engagement in the future."

Saint John, a former Apple Music marketing exec who has also worked as Uber's chief brand officer, joined Endeavor in 2018. Endeavor is the parent company of Hollywood talent agency WME. Saint John went to Uber in 2017 as the company dealt with the scandals that forced former CEO Travis Kalanick to resign.

"Bozoma Saint John is an exceptional marketer who understands how to drive conversations around popular culture better than almost anyone," Netflix content boss Ted Sarandos said in a statement. "As we bring more great stories to our members around the world, she'll define and lead our next exciting phase of creativity and connection with consumers."

Saint John's predecessor, Lee-Joe, leaves after less than a year on the job. During her time at Netflix, Lee-Joe spearheaded marketing strategies behind Netflix original movies "The Irishman," which was nominated for the Oscar for best picture, and "6 Underground."

Netflix spent $2.65 billion on marketing in 2019 and $2.37 billion in 2018.

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NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

• On May 20, Amazon launched a major new video game that was in development for over five years: "Crucible."
• Just one week later, the game completely dropped off the charts and was deemed a flop out of the gate.
• Now Amazon is pulling the game from digital storefronts and putting the game back in "closed beta" — a term used in game development to signify a game isn't complete.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Amazon, the biggest company in the world, launched a big-budget free-to-play video game called "Crucible" at the end of May.

Now approximately one month after launch, "Crucible" has already come and gone from the top 100 charts, and Amazon is outright pulling the game from digital stores. 

"Starting tomorrow, 'Crucible' is moving to closed beta," a note posted to the game's developer blog said.

Though it's being pulled from largest gaming platform, Steam, users who already own the game will still have access to it in the closed beta.

"You'll still launch 'Crucible' through Steam (you don't even need a new download), you'll keep all the progress and customization items you've already earned, and the battle pass, reward tracks, and in-game store will continue to be supported," the post said.

The note said the move was intended to "help us focus on providing the best possible experience for our players as we continue to make the game better."

After Wednesday morning, the only way into the closed beta will be through a sign-up process that will launch at some point in the "near future."

If this is the first you're hearing about "Crucible," you're forgiven. As of May 21, the day after it launched, "Crucible" had about 25,000 concurrent players at its peak. By May 22, two days after launch, it had already disappeared from Steam's top 100 — a list of most played games on Steam that bottoms out around 5,000 concurrent players. 

Which is to say: As of May 22, two days after launch, fewer than 5,000 people were playing "Crucible" at any given time.

If you're interested in participating in the "Crucible" closed beta, you can pick up the game on Steam before Wednesday at 9 a.m. ET.

Got a tip? Contact Business Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@businessinsider.com) or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a nonwork device to reach out. PR pitches by standard email only, please.

SEE ALSO: Amazon just launched a major video game, but it looks to already be a major flop

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NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

• Disney Plus is now available for a monthly price of $6.99 a month, or an annual rate of $69.99 a year.
• For these prices, subscribers get ad-free access to thousands of movies and TV shows, including programming from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and 20th Century Fox. 
• There's also a bundled package option with Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN+ for $12.99 a month, which is about $5 a month cheaper than paying for each service separately. 

One of the most affordable streaming services on the market is now available on your TV. Disney Plus, a new ad-free streaming platform created by the Walt Disney Company, launched on November 12, 2019. To date, around 50 million people have signed up for Disney Plus around the world. 

The service features programming from not only Disney, but also all of Disney's subsidiaries: Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and 20th Century Fox. Subscribers can enjoy movies and TV series old and new, including programming that can only be found on Disney Plus, like "Hamilton" and "The Mandalorian."

Find more information about the cost and features of Disney Plus below. 

Updated on 06/30/2020 by Steven Cohen: We've revised this article to include information about the end of Disney's free trial promotion for Disney Plus. Added links to additional Disney Plus articles.

How much does Disney Plus cost? 

There are a few different prices, depending on whether you want to pay on a monthly basis, commit to a yearlong subscription, or bundle Disney Plus with Hulu and ESPN+. Though the standalone Disney Plus options originally came with a free seven-day trial for new subscribers, this promotion is no longer available.

• Month-by-month subscription: $6.99 a month (comes out to $83.88 for a year)
• Yearly subscription: $69.99 a year 
• Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN+ bundle: $12.99 a month ($17.97 a month if you sign up for each service individually)
• Disney Plus, Hulu (ad-free), and ESPN+ bundle: $18.99 a month ($23.97 if you sign up for each service individually). Read on to find out how to get the bundle with the ad-free version of Hulu. 

What's included in this price? 

• Ad-free streaming of thousands of Disney movies and TV shows, including original movies, series, and documentaries exclusive to Disney Plus
• Unlimited downloads
• Ability to stream on four devices simultaneously
• Ability to add up to seven profiles 

How does the price of Disney Plus compare to that of other streaming services? 

Disney Plus offers a competitive price. Here's how it compares to other popular, on-demand streaming services. The prices shown are for the ad-free plans (if applicable). 

• Netflix: $8.99 to $15.99/month 
• Hulu: $11.99/month 
• Amazon Prime Video: $8.99/month ($119 per year with a full Prime membership)
• Apple TV: $4.99/month
• HBO Max: $14.99/month

What are the Disney Plus bundle options?

If you want to watch sports content and additional movies and TV shows from non-Disney sources, you should consider the bundle option.

The Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN+ bundle costs $12.99 a month. If you sign up for each of these services individually, the total would come out to $17.97 a month. This means that you can enjoy a $5 discount when bundling the three together.

With that said, just like the standalone Disney Plus plans, the bundle does not currently include a free trial. It should also be noted that the version of Hulu included in the bundle by default still features ads. If you pay a bit more, however, you can upgrade to the ad-free version of Hulu and still take advantage of the bundle discount.

In order to enjoy the ad-free version of Hulu while getting the savings of the bundle, you need to become a Hulu customer first. Here's what to do: 

1. Sign up for ad-free Hulu ($11.99/month). 
2. Sign up for the Disney Plus bundle with the same email address you used to sign up for ad-free Hulu. 
3. You will have new Disney Plus and ESPN+ accounts but will continue to be billed separately for your Hulu subscription. 
4. Every month, Disney will credit you $5.99, which is the value of the ad-supported Hulu in the original bundle.
5. This will bring your monthly total for all three services to $18.99. 

Read everything else you should know about Disney Plus here:

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Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the rise of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting the weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes.

Businesses are foreseeing immense potential and are investing heavily in this burgeoning chatbot economy. In the near future, chatbots may do everything from distributing media content to offering personalized concierge services.

In The Chatbots 101 Report, Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, breaks down how chatbots work and looks at the future of the market.

This exclusive report can be yours for FREE today.

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• SAP says it will suspend advertisements on Facebook and Instagram as it endorsed the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign against the social network.
• "We will suspend all paid advertisements…until the company signals a significant, action-driven commitment to combating the spread of hate speech and racism on its platforms," the company said in a statement. 
• Major companies, including Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Unilever, have pulled ads on Facebook in the wake of the mass protests against racism following the killing of George Floyd. 
• Facebook has been criticized for allowing President Trump to post what many consider hateful content that also incited violence.
• In a recent interview with Business Insider, SAP CEO Christian Klein had cited the rise of racism as one of the issues he worries about.  "It's really now time to stand up against racism. For way too long, we've just ignored that. All of us were too silent about that."
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Tech giant SAP says it has joined the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign against Facebook and will suspend all paid advertisements on the social network.

SAP, one of the biggest enterprise software companies in the world, said it will also stop advertising on Instagram, which Facebook owns.  

"We will suspend all paid advertisements…until the company signals a significant, action-driven commitment to combating the spread of hate speech and racism on its platforms," the company said in a statement. 

"For real, meaningful change to occur, we must recognize, acknowledge and address our own role in the systems that perpetuate systemic racism."

In an interview with Business Insider earlier in June, SAP's CEO Christian Klein had pointed to the rise of racism as one of the issues he's concerned about.

"I see the news every day about what is happening in the US," he said. "It's really now time to stand up against racism. For way too long, we've just ignored that. All of us were too silent about that."

SAP joins other major corporations, including PepsiCo and Hewlett-Packard, that have pulled their ads from Facebook or Instagram in the wake of the mass protests against racism sparked by the killing of George Floyd. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been criticized for declining to take any action on posts by President Donald Trump on the social network that appear to encourage violence towards protesters.  

Got a tip about SAP or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at bpimentel@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @benpimentelor send him a secure message through Signal at (510) 731-8429. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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SEE ALSO: These 12 artificial intelligence startups are poised for success, particularly in a post-COVID world, according to experts

SEE ALSO: The CEO of SAP on why having 2 chief execs didn't work out for the tech giant amid the coronavirus crisis: 'You have to make fast decisions. You cannot wait forever.'

SEE ALSO: Here's why $12.4 billion cloud startup Snowflake's reported IPO plans could make it 'the blockbuster enterprise listing for 2020'

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NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

• Google sister company Verily Life Sciences has suspended employee spot bonuses for the remainder of 2020. It says it will redirect the money into diversity and inclusion programs instead.
• Employees aren't happy about it. In an internal letter sent to management, viewed by Business Insider, employees are calling on leadership to reinstate spot bonuses and subsidize diversity efforts by other means.
• The decision "implies that these efforts are charity causes not worthy of their own investment," employees wrote.
• Employees told Business Insider the decision is "demotivating" at a time where they are working around the clock on Verily's COVID-19 screening and testing efforts.
• Do you work at Verily? Contact reporter Hugh Langley using Signal or secure email (+1 628-228-1836 / hslangley@protonmail.com).
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google sister company Verily Life Sciences has told employees it is suspending spot bonuses through 2020 and will redirect the money to diversity and inclusion programs.

Verily employees were told last week that the spot bonus money would instead be used to subsidize the company's internal product inclusion group as well as other social justice programs including clinical trial recruitment of underrepresented populations, according to internal documents viewed by Business Insider.

Employees at the healthcare company are frustrated by the decision, according to an internal memo. Some employees also said it devalued their colleagues' hard work and long hours during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, they said redirecting funds from bonuses sent the message that diversity programs were low priorities to Verily not worth their own budgets. 

Staffers in Verily's division in charge of screening and testing for COVID-19, Project Baseline, have written to management asking for spot bonuses to be reinstated. "These programs should be invested in their own right given our strong financial position," reads the letter. Employees have asked Verily's leadership to provide company milestones for all of its diversity and inclusion efforts and to fund them through traditional company funding sources.

"The use of spot bonuses to subsidize social justice programs such as Healthy@Work for HBCUs [Historically Black colleges and universities], clinical trial recruitment of underrepresented populations, and an internal Product Inclusion group implies that these efforts are charity causes not worthy of their own investment," the letter wrote.

The letter also called on the company to create a board of executives and employees "that define success and measure progress against all diversity, inclusion, and social justice goals."

Verily spokesperson Carolyn Wang confirmed that the bonuses had been cut. "One of our company values is 'Do More Good' and we're constantly looking for ways to put this into action and to be responsive to the broader environment around us," she wrote in a statement emailed to Business Insider.

"At this time, we think it's important we put our money where our mouth is, and direct some of our discretionary funds — such as those typically used to fund a spot bonus program (which is separate and distinct of our annual bonus program) — to bolster our efforts to ensure our products and services are accessible to the people who need them. This requires making a few small sacrifices, but why wouldn't we do that?"

'Very demotivating'

Verily, which was formerly known as Google Life Sciences and now lives under Google's parent company, Alphabet, launched its COVID-19 screening and testing website back in March. It has since continued to grow the number of testing facilities across the US, and more recently announced the launch of a research study to determine the accuracy of antibody tests.

The unrest illustrates the fierce toll current events are taking on the company, as it scrambles to respond to a worsening pandemic while also managing a new reckoning on racism in the workplace. 

Several current employees, who spoke to Business Insider on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, said that the news of spot bonuses had irked a lot of people inside the company. Many employees are currently working very long hours as Verily continues to scale its COVID-19 projects, they said.

One current employee described the removal of spot bonuses as "very demotivating" and said there were now much higher expectations of employees since the company focused its work on the pandemic. "If you're not working on the weekend, you're seen as slacking off," they said. "There are people working seven-day weeks and trying to avoid burnout."

This was also alluded to in the letter sent to management by employees: "Verily taking away employee spot bonuses after what many consider to be the most grueling and difficult time of our careers show a lack of recognition." Verily's CEO Andrew Conrad is meeting with the Baseline team on Wednesday to discuss issues, one source said.

In a company-wide email in late June peppered with song lyrics, a departing senior counsel on the team also referenced the intense workload faced by the team.

"Although things are looking a little like a Ghost Town right now and it may simultaneously feel like A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall and that the Beds are Burning, I know that you Will Survive like the Dragonslayers that you are!" she wrote. "Although you Didn't Start The Fire, keep showing up, being Brave, and Dreaming the Impossible Dream."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid

• California has seen a resurgence of coronavirus cases in recent days, hitting a new peak for its largest single-day tally of new infections on Monday.
• But many influencers and celebrities living in the state are posting content on social media that makes it appear as if life has returned to normal. 
• Influencers like MTV star Tana Mongeau, music artist Jason Derulo, and TikTok creator Addison Rae Easterling have been throwing or attending parties, posting videos in groups without masks, and rarely filming themselves taking precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. 
• "This is a time for people who do have followers who are influential to use that influence to save lives," said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles' public health director.
• Subscribe to Business Insider's influencer newsletter: Influencer Dashboard.

Los Angeles is bracing for a potentially devastating wave of coronavirus cases as COVID-19 transmissions and hospitalizations both spiked this week.

But on social media, many influencers seem to be living in their own reality.

"Quarantine is over miss mama," beauty influencer Jeffree Star said to his 15 million followers on Instagram last week. And he's not alone in sharing that sentiment.

For LA's celebrities and influencers, it appears life has returned to normal, with many choosing to collaborate without masks in videos, host parties, and in some cases travel out of the country.

Influencer and MTV star Tana Mongeau, who has 5 million followers on YouTube and Instagram, threw a two-day birthday bash at a Beverly Hills mansion last week and documented the event on Instagram.

Noah Cyrus was at the party, along with influencers Charly Jordan (3 million Instagram followers), Ashly Schwan (460,000 followers), Cole Carrigan (353,000 followers), Imari Stuart (275,000 followers), Hunter Moreno (165,000 followers), and others.

None of the guests were seen wearing masks on Mongeau's Instagram Stories, but they were gifted custom shirts with Mongeau's name on them and filmed themselves sipping Don Julio 1942 tequila. (Mongeau's management firm did not respond to Business Insider's repeated requests for comment.)

Social-distancing measures like wearing masks and staying six feet apart are still recommended in most states in the US including California, and health officials are now requiring CA residents to wear masks in public.

As popular stars like Mongeau have partied without masks or social distancing, the number of coronavirus cases in the US, and especially in California where many influencers reside, has continued to spike. The state of California broke a record on Monday for its highest-day number of new COVID-19 cases. And LA health officials said on Monday that the number of city residents currently infected or infectious to others was approximately 1 in 140, up from last week's estimate of 1 in 400. 

"We are seeing an increase in transmission," Dr. Christina Ghaly, LA County's director of health services, said on Monday. "We're seeing more people get sick and go into the hospital. This is very much a change in the trajectory of the epidemic over the past several days. It's a change for the worse and a cause for concern."

Coronavirus cases are spiking and the influencers living in hot spots seem to be ignoring reality

Influencers who continue to hang out with non-household members or in large groups without masks could be sending a mixed message about whether they are taking the public health crisis seriously.

Music artist Jason Derulo, who has over 25 million followers on TikTok, has been appearing in group videos with other TikTok stars throughout June. Derulo recently uploaded a video of himself dancing on a staircase with 12 other influencers without masks. (Derulo's representatives did not respond to a request for comment.)

Khloé Kardashian hosted a birthday party this week and while she posted a photo on Instagram of custom masks emblazoned with her face made for the occasion, none of the pictures she posted after showed any guests actually wearing them (though the gathering appeared to include mostly family members and was held outside).

Director of A&R at Capitol Records, Carter Gregory, hosted a birthday party over the weekend in Los Angeles. On Instagram, celebrities and influencers like TikTok star Addison Rae Easterling (21 million followers on Instagram), musician Madison Beer, along with Netflix's "Too Hot to Handle" star Harry Jowsey, were seen in photos of the party without masks and in close proximity to other guests. Others in attendance included Nikita Dragun (7 million followers), Anastasia Karanikolaou (8 million followers), Lauren Wood (1 million followers), musician Diplo, and NFL star Odell Beckham Jr.

The photo-editing app PicsArt sponsored the event. 

"PicsArt chose to sponsor Carter's 'Birthgay' event in support of Pride, and specifically Black Pride," a spokesperson for the company told Business Insider. "Of course, safety matters most so we confirmed beforehand that proper distancing and masks would be enforced per state guidelines. To our understanding, this event was limited to a small group of close friends, and entry was not permitted to anyone not wearing a mask. After seeing the photos surface, it's unfortunate that it seems social distancing wasn't followed given the positive intent of the event."

Capitol Records did not respond to a request for comment.

Clothing retailer Boohoo also received backlash after sponsoring a party in May for the Beverly Hills-based TikTok group, Clubhouse. The influencer group subsequently traveled to Tulum, Mexico this month, where they documented themselves hanging out on the beach and attending a dance club — no masks in sight.

"The more people you're around who aren't in your household, the more likely you are to come into contact with someone who is asymptomatic but infected," LA public health director Barbara Ferrer said on Monday. "Always wear a face covering and keep physical distancing."

'A challenging issue': Marketers are trying to keep up with varying guidelines across the country

Almost all states have some form of face covering guidelines, some more lenient than others. 

Influencer-marketing agencies that connect creators and brands for business opportunities want influencers to follow state guidelines when participating in a paid campaign.

"We're reviewing our policies and in discussions with influencers about the best ways to stay safe during sponsorship shoots, but with ordinances varying so much across different areas of the country this is a challenging issue," said Evan Asano, CEO of Mediakix.

In a new law, residents of California must wear some type of face coverings in public, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"For our partnerships, BEN contractually requires that all influencers comply with federal, state, and local regulations — including all restrictions and rules surrounding COVID-19," said Ricky Ray Butler, the CEO of the influencer marketing agency BEN. "If we see a video or content concept that makes us uncomfortable — whether it includes large gatherings, travel, or a lack of social distancing and masks — we advise the influencer, in consultation with the brand, to make the appropriate revisions. We're continuing to monitor the situation and counsel our partners as regulations evolve." 

The pandemic is not over

Influencers aren't the only LA residents who appear to be ignoring public health guidelines in recent weeks.

On Monday, the city reported a jump in the number of its residents who said they had recently come in "close contact" with a person they didn't live with, based on survey data collected by the University of Southern California. 

"I know that we all want to go back to normal, but we are nowhere near that normal," Ghaly said. "If you can stay home, people should. People should minimize interactions with others outside of their households."

Some influencers are addressing the new public apathy toward following health precautions head on.

Doctor Mikhail (Mike) Varshavski, who is a board-certified primary care physician and popular YouTube influencer with 5 million subscribers, posted a video to YouTube on the latest coronavirus spike this month. 

"Unfortunately, it seems like over the last few weeks we've become victims to 'Caution Fatigue' and reverted back to the behavior that caused our new cases to spike in the first place," Varshavski wrote in the video description, and he expressed why it's important to still wear a mask and stay six feet apart from someone.

"The pandemic is not over just because you're over it," influencer and activist Tyler Oakley, who has 5 million followers on Instagram, said last week. 

Over the last few months, Oakley has been posting content like at-home work outs and information on the coronavirus with his followers, encouraging his fan base to continue to follow social-distancing recommendations. 

"If you're an influencer or have the ability to influence people in any space whether you're a celebrity or on the internet — whatever your sphere of influence — please take that responsibility seriously," Ghaly said. "Please use that as a chance to be a role model."

"This is a time for people who do have followers who are influential to use that influence to save lives," Ferrer added.

For more stories like this, subscribe to Business Insider's influencer newsletter: Influencer Dashboard.

For more on the business of influencers, according to YouTube stars, check out these Business Insider Prime posts: 

• A TikTok influencer group launched a new 'travel house' with a 26-person trip to Mexico in spite of the pandemic: Influencer group Clubhouse traveled to Mexico to launch Clubhouse Explore and now they are eyeing Iceland and Bali.
• We built the first-ever interactive database of the top managers and agents for YouTube creators, Instagram influencers, and TikTok stars: An inside look at who is working with the top creators on social media in 2020.
• The influencer economy hasn't been destroyed by the advertising meltdown, as creators make money from merch, subscriptions, and even personalized shout-outs: Creators and marketers are adjusting their businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic and showing why the influencer industry won't collapse.

SEE ALSO: A TikTok influencer group launched a new 'travel house' with a 26-person trip to Mexico in spite of the pandemic. Now it's eyeing Iceland and Bali.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly

• Putnam's Global Technology Fund has outperformed nearly all of its peers over the last five years.
• Di Yao, the fund's co-manager, said he and his partner have focused on companies that the market either doesn't understand or with which it's not familiar. 
• They've found some of their best bets overseas and among smaller companies in the US; but they've also placed some winning bets on some of the tech giants.
• Yao told Business Insider about 3 stocks he particularly likes in his portfolio — Microsoft, Sea Limited, and Applied Materials.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Di Yao isn't afraid to make big bets on well-known stocks or to invest in companies that few people in the US know about.

As the co-manager of Putnam's Global Technology Fund, he's done both. And the strategy has paid off in a big way. Of all the tech-focused mutual and exchange-traded funds, Yao's ranks fourth in performance over the last five years, topping not only most other actively managed funds, but all the passive ones also, according to Morningstar Direct.

Yao and co-manager Neil Desai are big believers that the tech industry provides big opportunities for growth because of all the innovation and disruption that happens.

But they also believe that the market is inefficient, and there's money to be made when investors as a whole fundamentally don't understand a company or its potential, whether it's one of the tech giants or a relatively unknown firm overseas, Yao told Business Insider in an interview last week. Instead of spreading their bets on all the usual suspects in technology, Yao and Desai focus on those underestimated companies, sometimes in a big way.

"We want our bets to be meaningfully generating performance," Yao said.

Yao and his team have found many of their favorite bets overseas and among smaller tech companies in the US. Part of the reason for that is that many of those companies, particularly the ones that are located outside the US, tend to fly under investors' radar screens. Generally, there are few financial analysts who study and write reports about those companies, few institutional investors that own their stocks, and little written about them in the press.

Yao and his team look at second- and third-order effects

What makes such companies particularly attractive is when they stand to benefit from long-term but not well-appreciated trends that are in their favor, Yao said. He and his team like to look at both big trends in tech and major news events to figure out what their longer-term second- and third-order effects might be and which companies are likely to see a boost from them.

For example, when Apple announced earlier this month that it would replace Intel's chips with its own processors in its Mac laptops, Yao and his colleagues didn't spend too much time thinking about what that move might mean for Apple or Intel's stocks. Instead, they started thinking about how the move might shake up the PC chip industry and even the entire supply chain for notebook computers, he said.

Companies that aren't well known or understood that are likely to benefit from such long-term trends make for ideal investments, Yao said.

"These are typically what we see as multi-bagger stock opportunities that we want to invest in," he said. "Once [such a stock] is well understood by the Street, we tend to move on to our next opportunity."

But Yao and his team have also found big opportunities in the tech giants. About five years ago, they made a bet on Amazon, figuring that Wall Street didn't understand the potential value of Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing business. That business has since driven Amazon's huge and growing profits and helped send its stock soaring.

"At that time, Amazon's AWS asset was entirely underappreciated," he said.

Yao sees similar opportunities today in large tech companies, smaller ones, and those operating overseas. Here are some of his favorite bets in his fund's portfolio:

Microsoft

Ticker: MSFT
What it does: Offers productivity software, cloud services, and video game hardware and software.
Shares owned by the Global Technology Fund (as of 2/29/20): 513,108
Value of the fund's stake (as of /30/20): $104.4 million
Portion of portfolio's total assets (as of 5/31/20): 18.4%
Yao's thesis: Microsoft today offers a similar opportunity as Amazon five years ago. Many investors see the company as simply a runner up to Amazon in the cloud computing business. But Microsoft's cloud offerings, which collectively go by the name Azure, are broader and distinct from Amazon's, he said.
Yao's take: "Microsoft's Azure cloud capability is a vastly underestimated asset."

Sea Limited

Ticker: SE
What it does: Operates online retail stores and an internet-based video game service targeting Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
Shares owned by the Global Technology Fund (as of 2/29/20): 319,907
Value of the fund's stake (as of 6/30/20): $34.3 million
Portion of portfolio's total assets (as of 3/20): 3.1%
Yao's thesis: Sea operates in the markets dominated in China by Tencent and Alibaba and has the potential to be as big as both of them combined. The countries it operates in have about the same average gross domestic product per person as China, but their populations are younger, and their e-commerce and online gaming markets are less mature, Yao said. Sea has a chance to become the dominant provider of both in Southeast Asia, he said.
Yao's take: "This market has a huge potential."

Applied Materials

Ticker: AMAT
What it does: Manufactures equipment used in the production of semiconductors.
Shares owned by the Global Technology Fund (as of 2/29/20): 188,843
Value of the fund's stake (as of 6/30/20): $11.4 million
Portion of portfolio's total assets (as of 3/20): 2.4%
Yao's thesis: Applied is a leading player in a very consolidated industry that has historically posted strong returns on invested capital, he said. It and its rivals have often been discounted by investors because the business is cyclical; business goes up and down as chipmakers ramp up for new generations of technology. But some emerging business trends are likely to even out some of that cyclicality, he said. Most notably, the push, in the wake of the trade tensions with China and the coronavirus crisis, to reverse globalization and bring back production to the US and other countries is likely to spur the construction of new factories, each of which will need chip-making equipment. That's going to translate into better earnings and stock price growth than investors are anticipating, Yao said.
Yao's take: "When we see a company with both earnings upside and also valuation upside, we bet big on this company and look to long-term returns."

Got a tip about the tech industry or tech investing? Contact Troy Wolverton via email at twolverton@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

• Read more about tech investing:
• Denny Fish's tech fund has trounced competitors for years using a combination of proven winners and up-and-comers. He outlines 10 high-upside stocks he's banking on for the future.
• Ali Khan has dominated his tech-investing peers for 5 years running. He breaks down why he steers clear of hyper-growth companies — and explains why Salesforce and Adobe possess his ideal qualities.
• The "FAANG'' tech giants recovered fast from the share price plunge due to COVID-19, but that rebound for Apple, Alphabet, and Facebook defies logic, a longtime tech investor says
• Here's why tech IPOs are starting to see a surprising, and sudden, snapback

SEE ALSO: With the Nasdaq back in record territory, here are the top 10 best-performing tech-focused funds to consider investing in

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

Hello! Welcome to the Advertising & Media Insider newsletter, your weekly fix of industry news. I'm Lucia Moses, deputy editor here. You can sign up for this newsletter here.

Facebook fallout

For years, industry experts have been saying Facebook's ad business will be untouchable as long as it continues to work for advertisers. Even initially, some wrote off the current boycott as just a self-serving gesture by some lefty brands. But as it's mushroomed to big-name advertisers, you have to ask if this is the moment that could actually dent Facebook's business long-term.

Already, brands are moving their dollars to perceived safer havens like TikTok, Google, and Pinterest.

The view of marketing vet Rishad Tobaccowala is that the big change will be a year or two from now as some of these companies, under pressure at all levels, untether themselves from the platform. Meanwhile, the small and medium-sized advertisers, including the Facebook-birthed direct-to-consumer companies, that are the lifeblood of Facebook's business will keep it humming.

Read more of our coverage here:

• Advertising execs break down why TikTok, Amazon, and TV networks will be the biggest winners of the growing Facebook boycott
• Confessions of a CMO: A Fortune 500 chief marketer on whether boycott statements are just PR moves, if they'll really hurt Facebook, and why it's hard to quit the platform
• Facebook and advertisers are locked in an image war, and advertisers are winning 

Toxic culture at GMMB

A lot of companies are getting examined for their toxic culture, but few share the progressive bona fides of Omnicom's GMMB, the political ad and PR agency whose founders helped elect presidents Clinton and Obama.

As Sean Czarnecki reported, its reputation has attracted scores of people of color to work there, but what they found was a workplace that was rife with what sources called systemic racism. From Sean's story:

Some former GMMB staffers say the firm tokenized employees of color to win business.

They said GMMB added employees of color to pitches for big accounts like The James Irvine Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though those employees were responsible only for administrative tasks.

"At the time, I almost saw it as a good thing," a white former staffer said of this practice. "We want to reflect our diversity and values. That's how senior staff present it. I bought into that until I had this conversation with a Black employee about what it feels like to have their face on random proposals they didn't have a hand in."

Read the full story here:

Insiders at Omnicom agency GMMB say the workplace is rife with 'systemic' racism, where people of color are tokenized and treated like 'the help'

Can influencers fix Quibi?

As critics pick over Quibi's stumbling launch, some are asking where the streaming service went wrong and how to fix it. One idea is that the new streaming service lean more on influencers and less on traditional talent for its shows. But as Amanda Perelli and Ashley Rodriguez reported, Quibi has had a strained relationship with influencers from the start.

Read more here:

Quibi says influencers are a key part of its strategy but insiders say it repeatedly dismissed 'YouTuber ideas' in favor of familiar TV formats

Here are other great reads from advertising, media, and beyond:

• A TikTok influencer group launched a new 'travel house' with a 26-person trip to Mexico in spite of the pandemic. Now it's eyeing Iceland and Bali.
• Former Snap exec Imran Khan's e-commerce startup Verishop is opening up to 3rd-party sellers
• Kat Schneider quit her VC gig while pregnant so she could launch a vitamin brand for the Instagram generation. Now her $125 million startup, Ritual, is facing its biggest test.
• Quibi insiders explain how its Hollywood roots led to a traditional approach to mobile TV: 'If it can be on YouTube, it can't be on Quibi'
• Google will expand free retail listings to its main search page in a bid to fend off a growing ad rivalry with Amazon 
• YouTube stars reveal their monthly earnings, how much they get paid for 1 million views, and their average CPMs

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading!

— Lucia

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

• Broadus Palmer flung himself into a high-paying career in cloud computing without a college degree and says anyone can do the same.
• His path to tech was a long and windy one which began in earnest by his expensive sneaker collecting hobby. He was using "sneaker bots" to help him buy and sell sneakers on the internet when he decided to learn more about how the bots worked.
• That led him to spend nearly a year self-studying a number of cloud certifications.
• He was turned down for all the jobs he applied to until a hiring manager grew enamored by his passion and created a job for him.
• Palmer now makes his living teaching people cloud technologies for Cloud Guru and runs his own tech career-coaching company called Level Up With Broadus.
• Palmer says that despite COVID-19 unemployment rates and civil unrest, now is actually the perfect time to start a new career in cloud computing.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The defining moment in Broadus Palmer's life came during his first job after high school when a Good Morning America crew showed up at his workplace.

He was a teller for a quick-loan company and a woman was on camera with GMA telling the nation how such loans  exploited her. He quit that job immediately and went to work for a regular bank, realizing on that day that he wanted a career of helping people, not inadvertently hurting them. 

It would take another decade and a half for Palmer to really fulfill that mission, finding his way to a tech career after a decade spent working in more conventional retail banks. Married with a young family, the pay of a banker just wasn't enough. Retail banking jobs, even at the senior staff level, tend to top out at less than $50,000 a year, according to Glassdoor.

"I wanted a challenging career and to be better paid. I wanted financial stability. I always wanted to get into tech but didn't know what I wanted to do in tech. I was talking to friends, peers and all telling me 1,000 different ways: do this or do that. It was not helping me," he told Business Insider.

And there were other obstacles. Palmer liked computers and all things gadgets but had no idea how they operated. And he was an adult without a college degree. The leap into high-paying tech jobs seemed out of reach.

But it wasn't. His future was found at his feet. 

From sneakers to sneaker bots

"I'm a sneaker collector," he says but admits it's a costly hobby. He was paying for the shoes, and earning side cash, by turning his passion into a side hustle, buying and selling sneakers over the internet.

In an effort to get the best prices, he did what lots of so-called "sneakerheads" do. He hired a "sneaker bot" service. These computer programs watch all the sneaker auction sites to buy and sell athletic shoes at the best prices. They work faster than manually bidding.

One day it occured to him that he had no idea how these bots worked.

So he looked into it and learned "these bots were installed in servers in the cloud. I didn't know about the cloud," he said. The more he read the more curious he became, until he discovered that major cloud provider Amazon Web Services had free, self-study entry level-cloud training. "AWS had no prerequisites. Just come in and do it," he says.

Palmer also leaned that cloud architect jobs were some of the highest-paying and in-demand. "I discovered that the average pay was $136,000 and I thought, that's what I want to do."

But he still needed help getting there. So he researched boot camps as a way to educate himself but gagged at their high prices. "I came across companies wanting $4,000 for a two-day training. I can't learn this in two days," he said.

When he found Linux Academy, which charged $29 a month at the time (it is now owned by Cloud Guru and charges $50 a month or $379/year), he was at first suspicious, but he asked around, discovered it was legit and gave tbe online training courses a try.

He blasted through his first two AWS certifications. "I was on fire," he said.

But then he failed the third and hardest certification. Impostor's syndrome — that feeling of not being good enough — hit hard.

"I came home and told my wife that this isn't something I want to do," Palmer said. His wife told him to keep trying and sure enough, after a couple of weeks of study, he passed that next test, too.

All told, he spent eight months taking online classes and building a project portfolio, which he used as a substitute for a lack of internships. And then he was ready to apply for jobs.

Another smart tactic

Palmer also did another really smart thing: He began publicizing his cloud learning journey early on, posting videos on LinkedIn and YouTube. He knew that he didn't have the internships and job experience, so he thought he'd make up for it with enthusiasm. 

Even then, it was rough going. He applied at five jobs, got interviews at all of them but no offers. When the Linux Academy posted a job for a trainer, he thought he was a shoo-in because they had trained him. But he didn't get that job either, since he didn't have five years of training experience they wanted.

Instead the hiring manager shocked him by telling Palmer, "I love passion. You are doing this on your own. You got certified on your own and using our platform. I created a new position for you yesterday," Palmer remembers.

The starting salary wasn't as high as that $130,000 goal but it was far above the bank. He quit the bank job and started on his new role supporting trainers. In a year, he was promoted to full trainer and today he trains people on AWS and Google cloud technologies.

The people who had seen his videos started coming to him, asking for advice on how they, too, could get into tech.

Ane he realized he had a business idea on his hands: career coaching. He launched a company called Level Up with Broadus. While his day job teaches people the technical skills, his coaching business charges $3,000 for 16-20-weeks of career coaching to learn everything else from technical interviewing skills to building a project portfolio on Github.

He's now coaching a couple of dozen people and employs three contract employees. He's been so busy, he hasn't even done a proper promotional website yet. 

And he says, two years after starting his journey, he is now exceeding that $130,000 salary goal he set for himself.

Social unrest, COVID-19 and a new cloud career?

As a Black man in tech without a college degree, Palmer has a unique perspective on an industry that has notoriously struggled with diversity.

"I want people to know that we can do whatever we put our minds to. Everyone," he says.

He said he started his coaching business specifically to help more Black people get into tech, and he especially wants to counter the myth that tech isn't a viable option for them. People who didn't go to college "can't fathom someone making six figures in a tech career," he says. "They think you have to be genius out of the womb and know about computers."

But to anyone out of a job during COVID-19, no matter your background, Palmer has this message: invest in yourself, your education, your training and you can do it.

And as Black people increasingly succeed in tech, they will create the change the industry needs, from Black-run tech startups, to more Black people in big tech companies.

"Regardless of what we are going through, we need to rise up and be resilient," he says. "If you don't see diversity in tech, the tech industry has an opportunity. This is where we use brains to solve problems and build the future. Everyone can build a future we want."

SEE ALSO: Big Tech salaries revealed: How much Apple, Tesla, Amazon, and 10 other tech giants pay their workers, from engineers to salespeople

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Pikes Peak is the most dangerous racetrack in America

• Salesforce plans to double the number of Black employees it has in leadership positions within the US, and increase overall representation of Black employees by 50% by the end of 2023.
• Currently 1.5% of Salesforce's leadership team are Black or African American and 2.9% of employees across the company identify as Black or African American, so its goals equate to having 3% of its leadership team and 4.35% of its overall employees be Black. 
• Its part of a series of steps Salesforce announced to address racial equality and justice both inside and outside the company. 
• In addition, Salesforce made some outward facing commitments to support Black businesses and suppliers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Salesforce is committing to double its number of Black employees in leadership positions within the US by the end of 2023, and increase overall representation of Black employees in the US by 50% by the end of 2023, the company announced Wednesday.

Currently only 1.5% of Salesforce's US leadership team— meaning, people at the VP level or above— are Black or African American, so the company's goal equates to getting that number to 3%. Across the company only 2.9% of Salesforce's US employees identify as Black or African American, which means its goal would be to increase that to about 4.35%. Salesforce has 49,000 total employees globally, with over 30,000 of them in the US.

These new commitments build on Salesforce's previous goal to making sure that by 2023 half of its US workforce is composed of people who identify as either women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Multiracial, LGBTQ+, veterans, or people with disabilities. 

The announcement come as part of a series of steps Salesforce is taking to address racial equality and justice both inside and outside the company. It comes as part of a widespread reckoning in the business world over systemic racism and racial injustice in the country, following protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black people killed by police. Microsoft made a similar commitment to increasing Black leadership in late June. 

Earlier this month Salesforce said it put together a task force of executives from its equality, recruiting, philanthropy, procurement and government affairs teams to look at what Salesforce could do to address racial justice and equality. Its announcement lays out a series of steps it will take to increase its representation of Black leaders and employees within the company. 

It plans to add diversity recruiters to focus on hiring from underrepresented minority groups and launch a referral program specifically to recruit candidates from Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. It is also revamping its promotions process and will provide company-wide unconscious bias and equality training for all employees by the end of the year. Additionally, it will expand a leadership training program to provide more mentorship for Black employees from executives. Earlier this year Salesforce made Tony Prophet head of recruiting in addition to his existing role as chief equality officer. 

In addition, Salesforce made some outward facing commitments to support Black businesses and suppliers. The company said it will spend $100 million with Black-owned businesses over the next three years and increase spending with minority owned businesses by 25% each year. Through its venture capital arm, Salesforce Ventures, it is committing to investing $100 million into companies led by Black and underrepresented minority founders with the goal of tripling the total number of Black and underrepresented minority founders in its portfolio by the end of 2023.

Salesforce says it will also continue to evaluate how its technology is used. It previously came under criticism for its contract with US Customs and Border Patrol in 2018, and subsequently set up an ethical and humane use team that determines if Salesforce's technology is being used ethically and not to harm or racially discriminate.

Do you work at Salesforce? Contact this reporter via email at pzaveri@businessinsider.com or Signal at 925-364-4258. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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NOW WATCH: How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship

• You can follow and unfollow shows on Quibi to know when a new episode of a show is available, save a show to watch later, or remove it from your feed. 
• To follow a Quibi show, tap and hold the show's window until the pop-up menu appears, then tap "Follow."
• To unfollow a Quibi show, locate it on your "Following" page and then select "Unfollow" from the title's menu. 
• Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.

With all the shows to choose from on the streaming video service Quibi, keeping track of the ones you want to watch can be challenging. That's why the mobile app makes it easy to "follow" the shows you want. 

When you follow a slow, it appears in a personalized list for easy viewing. When you're done watching a show or no longer want to see it in the list of shows you're following, you can unfollow it with just a tap. 

Here's how to follow and unfollow a show on Quibi. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Apple)

Samsung Galaxy S10 (From $699.99 at Walmart)

How to follow a show on Quibi

1. Open the Quibi app. 

2. Find a show you want to follow, either from the For You feed or by searching for it on the Browse screen. 

3. Tap and hold the show. After a moment, a pop-up menu will appear.

4. Choose "Follow." 

5. Tap the "Following" tab at the bottom of the screen to see the show on your following list. 

How to unfollow a show on Quibi

1. Select the "Following" tab at the bottom of the Quibi app screen. 

2. Tap the three dots in the corner of the show you want to unfollow. 

3. Tap "Unfollow," and the show will disappear from the list. 

Related coverage from Tech Reference:

• You can now watch Quibi on your TV — here's how to do it in 3 simple ways

• How to use the 'watch later' list on HBO Max to save movies and shows you're interested in

• How to move channels on your Roku to prioritize the icons you click on most often

• How to search for movies and shows on Netflix, or use category tags to narrow down your search

• How to clear your watch history on Hulu in 2 different ways

SEE ALSO: The best streaming services you can sign up for online

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new edition of Insider Today. Please sign up here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"We are living in an Idiocracy." — Washington Post conservative columnist Max Boot bemoaning the stupidity of the federal government's refusal to advocate ubiquitous mask wearing and thereby save 5% of GDP.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Hong Kong police arrested more than 300 people protesting a new security law imposed by China. Police said nine arrests were under the new law, which criminalizes any speech promoting Hong Kong's independence from China.

Seattle police are clearing the CHOP protest zone. On Wednesday morning the mayor declared the area an unlawful assembly, and more than 100 officers from the Seattle Police Department and FBI are sweeping it. There have been four shootings in CHOP's brief existence as a police-free zone, including one on Monday that killed a 16-year-old. 

We're six months into the coronavirus crisis, and there's a lot we still don't know. Where it came from. The mortality rate. Why the young get less sick. What actually kills people. How it spreads. The 11 questions we need to answer to defeat the pandemic.

Republican leaders finally embrace masks — except for President Donald Trump. Conservative media and politicians who shunned masks are praising them now that the pandemic is racing through red states. Fox News' Steve Doocy said, "'MAGA' should now stand for 'Masks Are Great Again.'"   

A new theory for why "Sun Belt" states are getting hammered … air conditioning.  A Harvard epidemiologist suggested that hot weather in the South may be driving people inside, where they "re-breathe" air circulated by air conditioning. Tuberculosis can spread this way. Maybe the coronavirus can too.

On the other hand, Trump reportedly expects a vaccine in the fall. There's just no way that's happening. It's his latest example of magicalthinkingabout the coronavirus.

VIEWS OF THE DAY

Skyrocketing coronavirus cases in Arizona, Texas, and Florida are slowing the economic recovery.

Lockdowns may have worsened the economic impact of the coronavirus, but they didn't cause it. The main reason our economy has been crippled is that Americans are, wisely, changing their behavior to reduce the chance of getting sick.

This sensible caution — and the economic impact that results from it — are visible in this chart of restaurant reservations in Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Economist Paul Krugman posted the chart, which is based on data from the restaurant-reservations app OpenTable. 

The chart shows the seven-day median of restaurant activity in the three states. The index is still down 50 to 60% from last year.

More broadly, the recovery of the US economy as a whole also appears to be slowing as the coronavirus surges. Here's a recent real-time economic-activity index chart from Jefferies. In addition to the recent slowing, the chart shows how far we have to go to get back to normal.

What's the best and easiest way to restart our economic recovery? A national mask-wearing mandate. As we discussed yesterday, Goldman Sachs estimates that this simple step would allow us to avoid new lockdowns and preserve an astounding 5% of GDP. — HB

Don't celebrate the US cornering the market in remdesivir 

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is crowing over the administration's "amazing deal" to corner the market in remdesivir, the Gilead drug that has proved mildly effective in speeding up recovery from COVID-19. For the next three months, the US will buy more than 90% of Gilead's supply, enough to treat about 500,000 patients. 

So what have we accomplished? We've infuriated our allies and friends by locking them out of the market and guaranteed that patients and insurance companies will pay a high price for a slightly useful treatment. 

The remdesivir gloating is a very good metaphor for the whole misbegotten US response to the pandemic. The administration wants us to spend tons of money on a meh drug because they couldn't be bothered to spend a lot less money to slow the spread of the disease. Imagine the benefit we'd get if we had spent that billion-plus dollars on a public awareness campaign about masking, or on hiring 10,000 contact tracers? Hoarding mediocre medicine for already sick people — people who, incidentally, also have already passed their most infectious stage — is just about the least efficient, least valuable use of a COVID dollar. — DP

Hong Kong is gone

China passed its mysterious national security law meant to curb protests in Hong Kong. It's worse than what analysts and observers were imagining. 

• It outlaws subversion, a crime that includes any attempt to "interfere, obstruct or damage" the function of any Chinese government or Hong Kong government agency. 
• Secession is also a crime, as is inciting, aiding, abetting, or financing either of these activities.
• Terrorism is defined as everything from throwing Molotov cocktails to anything that "seriously endangers public safety."
• The law prohibits anyone from aiding "terrorists" with information, funds, materials, labor, transportation, and technology, among other things.
• Foreign collusion is also prohibited. That includes anything from receiving financial aid to plotting with foreigners to obstruct the policy of the People's Republic of China.

Participants in these crimes face three to 10 years in prison.

This law's net is wide. Anyone from protesters calling for an independent Hong Kong to taxi drivers who helped them avoid police could be imprisoned. China's secret police on the ground in Hong Kong are now codified into law, and the mainland government has wide latitude to take jurisdiction over these cases.

And so with that, Hong Kong as an open society governed by the rule of law is over. By the time the US was threatening to pass sanctions against people involved in enshrining and implementing this security law, it was too little, too late. There are two reasons for that, both are failures of the Trump administration.

1. Trump doesn't care about human rights, or Hong Kong, so he wasted precious months glad-handing Chinese President Xi Jinping in exchange for soybean purchases.
2. The US State Department now thinks it can execute US foreign-policy objectives by going it alone. That is a mistake. To put pressure on a country like China, we need our allies.

We could've done better, but we didn't, and now we've lost Hong Kong. — Linette Lopez

QAnon was never funny, and now it threatens the entire Republican Party.

Lauren Boebert, a Colorado gun-rights activist with a penchant for saying nice things about QAnon, beat a Republican incumbent yesterday in a House primary and is favored to be elected to Congress in November. A few weeks ago, a more overt Q-enthusiast, Marjorie Taylor Greene, won a Republican primary in Georgia in a safe district and will almost certainly be woo-wooing down to Washington to peddle her conspiracist junk. A Q-person also won the Republican Senate primary in Oregon. Trumpworld has moved from flirting with Q to making out with it, as Trump himself regularly retweets Q-ish accounts, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn is snuggling up to his QAnon admirers. 

QAnon, the perfervid, incomprehensible deep-state conspiracy theory that worships Trump like a god, has transformed in three years from joke to lunatic fringe to criminal enterprise (remember the Pizzagate attack?) to a genuine force in conservative politics.

In the 1980s, the followers of Lyndon LaRouche briefly panicked the Democratic party by sneakily winning primaries and evangelizing his conspiracist rantings. QAnon is like LaRouche but vastly more dangerous because it's grabbed hold of the party establishment. Rather than disavowing it or distancing themselves from it, the GOP and its president tacitly welcome Q to the party. Normal politics can't survive when it's infected with people who want to destroy it. The Republican Party should purge itself of this poison.  — DP

And now Trump is on the wrong side of the immigration debate

According to Gallup, the US has changed its mind about immigration. Support for increasing immigration into the US is at its highest level since 1965, with 34% of American poll respondents in favor. Only 28% of respondents were in favor of decreasing immigration, a record low.

Not only is Trump on the wrong side of the debate, but it also seems the longer he sticks around, the more wrong he becomes. — LL

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

US companies added 2.37 million workers in June, according to ADP's survey. But that's less than the 2.8 million economists expected. 

Apple developer war rekindled after a yoga app was rejected from the App Store. The Down Dog app says Apple rejected it because it didn't autobill users when free trials ended. It's just the latest feud between apps and Apple over billing terms. 

LIFE

The "Hamilton" movie arrives on Friday, streaming on Disney Plus. Filmed in 2016, it's not merely a throwback to Obama-era optimism and multiculturalism, The New York Times review said. It's "more vital, more challenging than ever."

24 eggs. 3 different methods. 4 different cooking times. Hard-boiled eggs look vastly different depending on how you cook them.

THE BIG 3*

Boris Johnson offers British visas to 3 million Hong Kong residents. The prime minister is responding to China's new security law, which he says violates the Sino-British joint declaration concerning governance of the territory.

Fauci: Drinking inside a bar is one of the most dangerous things you can do now. 

Fox News fires White House correspondent Ed Henry. It said Henry was the subject of a complaint involving "willful sexual misconduct in the workplace."

*The most popular stories on Insider today.

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• We have tested and extensively researched dozens of smartwatches to find the best makes and models for all sorts of users.
• After much testing, we find that the Apple Watch Series 5 is the best smartwatch overall currently, thanks to a now always-on display, improved design, and extensive health-related features.
• Of course, the Apple Watch is exclusive to iPhone owners, so we have many options for Android users as well from the high-end to the more approachable.

Smartwatches aren't yet the most necessary tech purchases even in 2020, but they may be one day. For those of you who like to live on the cutting-edge side of the tech world, there's no better techie status symbol than one of the best smartwatches.

Thankfully, smartwatches are a lot more attractive than they used to be, so you don't have to worry about strapping a clunky, futuristic gadget on your wrist anymore. We've tested dozens of smartwatches over the years, and these are the very best ones we've used.

There's a smartwatch for everyone on this list, whether you're an iPhone user who needs the latest and greatest Apple Watch, a tech geek who wants to pay for your latte with your wrist, a fashionista, or a WearOS aficionado, we've got you covered.

Here are the best smartwatches you can buy:

• Best smartwatch overall: Apple Watch Series 5 
• Best smartwatch for Android users: Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2
• Best feminine smartwatch: Kate Spade Scallop 2
• Best stylish smartwatch for men: Fossil Q Carlyle HR
• Best fitness smartwatch: Garmin Forerunner 935

Updated on 07/01/2020 by Antonio Villas-Boas: Updated links for accuracy. Added new links to related buying guides to help readers make a more complete purchase decision. Added fitness enthusiast option. Added best option for Android users. 

SEE ALSO: 10 Apple Watch bands that look great and cost under $25

SEE ALSO: The best smartwatches for women

The best smartwatch overall

The Apple Watch Series 5 has a new always-on display and great new fitness features that make the best smartwatch you can buy better than ever.

It doesn't get better than the Apple Watch Series 5. The unique modern design works for both men and women. The smartwatch comes in 40mm and 44mm styles to fit wrists big and small. You can buy it in several finishes to match your style and there are dozens of Apple-made and third-party watch bands to make the Watch your own. 

No other smartwatch offers this much variety and customization, especially when it comes to female-friendly options. The Apple Watch is the only smartwatch I've ever worn regularly each day for months on end. I've reviewed dozens of WearOS watches, and although many of them are nice looking as well, they're not as fully featured or easy to use as the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch boasts cutting-edge smartwatch tech including mobile payments with Apple Pay, stand-alone GPS, full waterproofing up to 50 meters, and thousands of apps. The user interface is very simple and attractive. It's easy to use and it has advanced, easy-to-use fitness tracking features, thanks to a plethora of sensors and an excellent heart rate monitor. The Series 5 even has a built-in compass for navigation.

The Series 5 now has an always-on display, so you don't have to raise your wrist to activate the watch face — now you can always see the watch face just like you would on an analog watch. It's a cool feature that you can turn on or off. Some reviewers have said that it impacts battery life negatively, so keep that in mind if you enable the feature.

Best of all the Apple Watch has several great health-focused features, including the ability to detect when you fall and even alert emergency contacts if need be, as well as an electrical heart rate sensor that works with an app to alert you to heart health issues. The electrocardiogram (ECG) app has been certified by the Food & Drug Administration.

You can also get an LTE version of the Series 5 for standalone smartwatch functions like calls, texts, and internet access. That way, you can leave your phone at home when you go out on a run or a long hike.

The LTE connection will cost you about 10 bucks a month at most carriers, and the LTE model does cost more. There's a non-LTE version, too, if you're not interested in the new feature. Most people probably don't need LTE, frankly, unless you regularly go on hikes or long runs and you don't want to be weighed down with your phone. Still, it's a nice option to have.

The Series 5 lasts a full day on a charge, but you can get more out of it if you don't get notifications from every app on your iPhone.

While other companies struggle to pack tons of tech into bulky smartwatches, Apple effortlessly offers all the tech you need in the most compact and attractive smartwatch you can buy.

Pros: Gorgeous larger screen, slimmer watch case, haptic feedback from the crown, great watch faces, tons of band options, lots of apps, new health-focused features

Cons: Expensive, battery life is short, only works with iPhone

The best smartwatch for Android users

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 is a fantastic fitness-focused smartwatch for Samsung fans.

The Samsung's Galaxy smartwatch lineup has been getting better every year as more apps and features are added. While it has the word "Active" in its name, the Galaxy Watch Active2 perfectly suitable for fitness or general wearing.

You can get it in two sizes: 40mm and 44mm — just like the Apple Watch. It has a slim, sleek round watch case so it looks more like a normal watch than a piece of tech.

You can get it in a aluminum (WiFi/Bluetooth) and stainless steel (LTE) and choose between silver, gold, and black finishes. The watch has a simple silicone band, but you can also get leather bands for the watch. It's rated at 5ATM for water resistance, so you can swim with it.

The Galaxy Watch Active2 can automatically track workouts, which is surprisingly a big plus for the Samsung watch, as Google's Wear OS watches don't have automatic workout detection. The heart rate monitor also helps the watch track the intensity of your workout.

The watch even has sleep tracking built in, something the Apple Watch doesn't come with. Based on your metrics, the companion app generates insights to help improve your overall fitness.

Just like with any other smartwatch, you'll also get notifications from your phone and you can access many popular apps. 

Pros: Sleek design, gorgeous screen, great fitness tracking, heart rate monitor, LTE option, auto workout tracking, sleep tracking, swim-proof

Cons: Requires a bunch of extra Samsung apps to work if you don't own a Samsung smartphone

The best feminine smartwatch

The Kate Spade Scallop 2 is a truly feminine, whimsical, and charming smartwatch that packs serious tech features like a heart rate monitor, GPS, and NFC for mobile payments.

Most smartwatches are unisex and are not specifically made for women. Even though Fossil, Skagen, and Apple make very convincing unisex watches that women can wear, none of them are unapologetically feminine. If you, like me, have been waiting for a super feminine smartwatch that's made for women, you're in luck.

The Kate Spade Scallop 2 is the ultimate women's smartwatch. The round metal watch casing is relatively slim, very sleek, and absolutely adorable because it has the cute little detail of scalloping around the watch face.

The watch face options are classic Kate Spade designs. You get a sultry winking moon face with perfectly curled lashes, calling you a leading lady; cute bubbly balloons for a digital watch face with numbers; a speeding cab that reassures you that you'll be there in a New York minute; and a daisy that loses petals as the time ticks away in a classic game of "He loves me; he loves me not."

The cute scalloped silicone band in black or a leather band in blush pink and the well-made, slim metal bracelet style watch band complete the feminine look. It is these little touches that make this watch so fun. 

Google's WearOS software (formerly Android Wear) lies underneath the cute exterior with all its skills and limitations. Like all the other WearOS watches in our guide, you can pair it an iPhone or Android device to get apps and all your notifications.

The second-generation Scallop even has GPS, NFC for payments, and a heart rate monitor, making it more high tech than the original.

Pros: Adorable design, feminine watch faces and casing, cute straps, subtle details for fun, GPS, NFC, heart rate monitor

Cons: A bit expensive

The best smartwatch for fashionable men

Fashion-forward men who aren't into the high-tech futuristic look will love Fossil's Q Carlyle HR with its classic design and smartwatch powers.

Fossil is one of the few fashion brands and watchmakers that's making actively gorgeous smartwatches. The Q Carlyle HR is the ultimate WearOS watch for men who want their smartwatch to look like a high-end wristwatch.

It's a hefty smartwatch that feels luxurious, but it doesn't cost a couple thousand dollars like the Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch. Our guy friends just love the stainless steel casing with the chunky metal watch band, but you can choose a number of different finishes.

You can get the smartwatch in dark gray, black, and silver finishes with metal or leather straps. The straps are interchangeable with any 22mm watch band you can buy from Fossil and others.

When it comes to tech, the Q Carlyle isn't the most high-end one on this list, but it runs WearOS and it's compatible with thousands of apps. You can send texts, view your notifications, and track your activity — just like you would on any smartwatch. The latest generation also has NFC for mobile payments, GPS, and a heart rate monitor.

Pros: Classic watch look, WearOS, use any 2mm watch band you like

Cons: No LTE

Best smartwatch for fitness enthusiasts

The Garmin Forerunner 935 Running GPS Watch is a fitness enthusiast's dream that has long battery life and measures several metrics you won't find on general purpose watches.

Smartwatches running Apple's, Samsung's, and Google's operating systems come with decent fitness tracking features and functionality, but then there are smartwatches that bring fitness tracking to a whole other level. We're talking about smartwatches from Garmin. 

We had a competitive distance runner try the $500 Garmin Forerunner 935 for 1,000 miles — and it's better than any running watch he's ever used. With that testimonial in mind, the Forerunner 935 is our top choice for fitness enthusiasts, at least for those who can allocate up to $500 for a device that's specifically geared towards fitness. 

When you're spending this much on a fitness tracking device, you're better off reading the full review to find out what's good and what's not about the Forerunner 935. And realizing that the Forerunner 935 is expensive, we know of some less expensive fitness trackers that will work just fine for the majority of fitness folk. 

Pros: Long battery life, waterproof, durable glass face, built-in barometer and thermometer, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, and the ability to measure more metrics than we can list here

Cons: Expensive, reduced GPS accuracy when running on a track, built-in thermometer only measures temperature right above your skin

What else we considered

We're currently in the process of testing several new smartwatches that were just released, so stay tuned for a bigger update. Here are the ones we're currently looking into and testing.

• Garmin Vivoactive 4S: Garmin makes great fitness-focused smartwatches, and the 4S looks to be a good Apple Watch alternative, as it has many of the same specs.
• Fitbit Versa 2: The Fitbit Versa 2 could be a great contender for the best smartwatch upgrade for people who have an old Fitbit tracker and want to try out a smartwatch for the first time.
• Michael Kors Access Lexington 2: Michael Kors has been making smartwatches alongside Fossil for years now. If you like MK, you'll probably like this watch as it has many of the same features.

• San Francisco is now the third city in the world with the most billionaires, per a new Wealth-X report.
• The tech hub gained two billionaires in 2019, bringing its total billionaire count to 77.
• San Francisco beat out cities including London, Moscow, and Beijing. New York is No. 1, with 113 billionaires.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

San Francisco's pool of billionaires has ballooned just a bit more in the past year, according to a new report.

The Wealth-X Billionaire Census is an annual report put out by the comprehensive wealth database. For the new data, Wealth-X analyzed developments in the global billionaire population based on net worth and wealth distribution in 2019.

Most billionaires — 788, to be exact — call the US home, beating out China, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Europe, however, leads the ranking when broken down by nationality. The cumulative wealth of American billionaires accounts for 28% of the global billionaire population per the report.

New York remains the city with the most billionaires, with Hong Kong clocking in second. And third is San Francisco, the 49-square-mile city in Silicon Valley that's home to much of the region's tech elite. The city gained two billionaires in 2019, bringing its billionaire population to 77. 

Moscow, London, and Beijing directly trail behind San Francisco. The only other US city besides New York on the list is Los Angeles, which sits at No. 7 with 44 billionaires. 

San Francisco sat in fifth place in 2016, as Recode notes. Its rise in the ranks is largely thanks to the thriving tech industry and its startup and big tech ecosystems. Tech stocks and initial public offerings have been known to turn founders into millionaires — and even billionaires — seemingly overnight.

The tech boom has also fueled a homelessness and affordability crisis, driving up housing prices in a city already bound by water and stringent zoning restrictions.

The report comes as the pandemic continues to exacerbate a stark wealth divide in the US, as Business Insider's Kate Taylor wrote. The health crisis has disproportionately impacted lower-income Americans who don't have the luxury of working remotely or have access to robust healthcare and sick leave options.

The rich on the other hand have boosted the private air travel economy to flee coronavirus hotspots, are able to pay private labs for COVID-19 tests, and are spending thousands on air purifiers and hazmat suits.

American billionaires have become nearly 20% richer since the start of the pandemic, according to a June report by the Institute for Policy Studies. Six in particular, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Tesla's Elon Musk, have seen their net worths balloon by more than $2 billion each since March.

Silicon Valley's 1% have spent millions on doomsday prepping over the years, investing in Lasik eye surgery, New Zealand apocalypse hideouts, and "go bags" filled with guns and food. Some wealthy tech execs have reportedly already fled to their doomsday shelters in the Kiwi nation to escape the pandemic.

SEE ALSO: San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood, where Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey owns $30 million worth of homes, is a parade of oceanside mansions. Here's what it's like inside.

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• The rapid adoption of telemedicine amid the coronavirus is forcing Boston Scientific and other healthcare companies to quickly pivot to expand their offerings. 
• As many as 80% of the nearly 884 million in-person physician visits each year could become virtual, according to Boston Scientific Chief Digital Health Officer David Feygin. 
• The Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer is seeing a surge in usage of its "Ask Angie" platform, which uses augmented reality and other tech to aid customers remotely. 
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80%. 

That's the eye-popping portion of the nearly 884 million in-person physician visits each year that Boston Scientific Chief Digital Health Officer David Feygin thinks could be handled entirely remotely. 

A few years ago, industry insiders may have balked at that number. But now, as the coronavirus pandemic discourages people from close human-to-human contact, it is suddenly a very realistic estimate. 

Telehealth has soared in popularity during the outbreak. And as positive cases grow and officials estimate the worst is still ahead, healthcare companies are quickly pivoting to support the rapid adoption. 

At Boston Scientific, the Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer that reported nearly $11 billion in revenue in 2019, that means a focus on creating virtual solutions for mentoring or service support, and even remotely overseeing the insertion of devices like pacemakers and catheters.  

"We need to build tele-everything capabilities for what is going to be a tele-first healthcare reality," Feygin told Business Insider. "Before, digital was a nice-to-have. It improved outcomes and drove some efficiency. But now it's absolutely critical to safety, to patients actually receiving care, and to our own business continuity." 

Now, Boston Scientific is putting into practice certain nascent solutions that it was piloting, but never thought would play such a prominent role in its daily operations. 

Its "Ask Angie" program, for example, provides remote help to customers that are having trouble setting up or operating Boston Scientific's products. The system uses augmented reality from vendor Help Lightening to superimpose an expert's hands over a customer's real-world camera view to help guide the setup of new devices.

While the virtual hand can't grab anything, it can point or draw on the screen to aid users. Adoption of the program increased slowly over the past few years, but usage nearly quadrupled in April amid the outbreak. 

Feygin likened the overall pivot to the ongoing push across corporate America to be cloud-first— or a move away from physical centers as the primary data storage venue. 

"The floodgates are really open," he said. "The patients like it, the physicians love it, the insurers understand that it actually saves them money, and the regulatory barriers have really come down." 

Utilizing a 'center of excellence' 

Feygin credits the ability to adapt nearly overnight to meet the surge in telemedicine to a multi-year transformation in its IT department. 

Like other firms, the company pivoted to an agile-like team structure — one that utilizes small, cross-functional teams tasked with a specific goal to quickly produce minimum viable products that could then be constantly improved.

Read more: Amazon, Microsoft, and JPMorgan have relied on a 'scrum' strategy to improve workflow. Its cocreator claims it can also solve systemic racism in the workplace.

It's a major shift from management styles that kept employees largely siloed within their own departments and delayed the release of new products or features until they were fully tested. 

"All of the work that we've put in...is now just more relevant than ever," said Feygin. "We are doing the exact same work we have been doing, just doing it 10-times faster." 

The company employs what some refer to as the "hub-and-spoke" model, where a central organization — often dubbed the "Center of Excellence" — is tasked with overseeing various innovation hubs.

It's a common approach that organizations use when trying to roll-out new digital tools, as it allows for advocates of the technology to work directly within various business units with a goal of spurring more wide adoption. Other companies, like Amazon, take a top-down approach to implementing emerging tech. 

Now, the agile method is being more widely-used across the company, according to Feygin. 

"The organization has become much more laser focused on a handful of things that are going to help us get back to business, and obviously help us help our customers get back to business," he said. 

SEE ALSO: Goodyear's CEO on driving simulators, 'intelligent' tires, and all the tech the 121-year-old company is preparing for the age of self-driving cars

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• Apple is re-closing an additional 30 stores in the US as coronavirus cases spike across the country, according to CNBC.
• Apple will be re-closing stores in Alabama, California, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, and Oklahoma.
• The decision comes after Apple said it would close stores in Texas, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple is re-closing 30 additional stores in the US, a move that comes after the tech giant began re-closing stores in June as COVID-19 cases have spiked throughout the country, according to CNBC. 

The new store closures will occur in Oklahoma, California, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, and Alabama, according to the report. Additional stores in these states will be closing tomorrow, the report says. Apple previously re-closed stores in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Arizona.  

Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

"Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas," Apple said in a previous statement regarding store closures. "We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible."

The closures come as COVID-19 cases have spiked across the US. According to an analysis by The New York Times, coronavirus cases are increasing in the majority of states, including those in which Apple has decided to re-close its stores. Some of these states were also among the first to ease their sta-at-home restrictions, such as Texas and Florida.

The US set another record for new coronavirus cases on June 30, according to The New York Times, as 48,000 new cases were announced. Eight states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, also recorded single-day highs, according to the Times. 

Apple said in May, when it outlined its approach to reopening, that re-closing stores would be an option.

"We look at every available piece of data — including local cases, near and long-term trends, and guidance from national and local health officials," Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of retail and people, said in a letter at the time. "These are not decisions we rush into — and a store opening in no way means that we won't take the preventative step of closing it again should local conditions warrant."   

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