Things To Do In SW Florida

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

Google Maps is heading in a new direction with artificial intelligence sitting in the passenger’s seat.

Related Articles

• 
  IRS Direct File won’t be available next year. Here’s what that means for taxpayers

• 
  France moves to suspend Shein’s online market over listings for illegal firearms and sex dolls

• 
  Fortnite maker Epic Games and Google say they’re settling 5-year legal fight over Android app store

• 
  Shipping delays expected after UPS cargo plane crash

• 
  Starbucks’ union workers plan strike next week unless company agrees to a contract

Fueled by Google’s Gemini AI technology, the world’s most popular navigation app will become a more conversational companion as part of a redesign announced Wednesday.

The hands-free experience is meant to turn Google Maps into something more like an insightful passenger able to direct a driver to a destination while also providing nearby recommendations on places to eat, shop or sightsee, when asked for the advice. read more

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Video game maker Epic Games has reached a “comprehensive settlement” with Google that could end its 5-year-old legal crusade targeting Google’s Play Store for Android apps.

Related Articles

• 
  IRS Direct File won’t be available next year. Here’s what that means for taxpayers

• 
  France moves to suspend Shein’s online market over listings for illegal firearms and sex dolls

• 
  Gemini AI to transform Google Maps into a more conversational experience

• 
  Shipping delays expected after UPS cargo plane crash

• 
  Starbucks’ union workers plan strike next week unless company agrees to a contract

Epic and Google revealed the settlement agreement in a joint legal document they filed in a San Francisco federal court Tuesday.

They said it “would allow the parties to put their disputes aside while making Android a more vibrant and competitive platform for users and developers.”

Epic, which makes the hit online game Fortnite, won a victory over the summer when a federal appeals court upheld a jury verdict condemning Google’s Android app store as an illegal monopoly. The unanimous ruling cleared the way for a federal judge to enforce a potentially disruptive shake-up that’s designed to give consumers more choices. Google took another hit in October when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to protect it from the judge’s required app store makeover. read more

By MAE ANDERSON

NEW YORK (AP) — The UPS cargo plane crash on Tuesday at the company’s global aviation hub in Kentucky, which killed at least nine, will temporarily disrupt the supply chain and result in some shipping delays.

Related Articles

• 
  IRS Direct File won’t be available next year. Here’s what that means for taxpayers

• 
  France moves to suspend Shein’s online market over listings for illegal firearms and sex dolls

• 
  Gemini AI to transform Google Maps into a more conversational experience

• 
  Fortnite maker Epic Games and Google say they’re settling 5-year legal fight over Android app store

• 
  Starbucks’ union workers plan strike next week unless company agrees to a contract

But UPS says it has contingency plans in place, and experts say the impact should be cleared up before the peak holiday season.

The plane crashed Tuesday evening as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport, UPS’ largest shipping hub, at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Package sorting at the center was halted late Tuesday and the halt continued on Wednesday. About 416,000 packages can be sorted at the facility per hour, according to a UPS fact sheet. read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Business Writer

Starbucks’ union members have voted to strike at the company’s U.S. stores next week unless it finalizes a contract agreement, the union said Wednesday.

The strike would begin on Nov. 13, which is the day Starbucks plans to distribute free, reusable red cups. Red Cup Day, a Starbucks tradition since 2018, is typically one of the company’s busiest days of the year.

Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing baristas, didn’t say how many stores would be impacted. But it said workers in at least 25 cities planned to strike and more locations could be added if the union doesn’t see “substantial progress” toward finalizing a contract.

Around 550 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-operated U.S. stores are currently unionized. More stores have voted to unionize since 2021, but Starbucks closed 59 unionized stores in September as part of a larger restructuring.

The union and the company have yet to agree to a labor contract. In December 2023, Starbucks vowed to finalize an agreement by the end of 2024. But the company ousted Laxman Narasimhan, the CEO who made that promise, last fall. The union said progress has stalled under Brian Niccol, the company’s new chairman and CEO. read more

Food giant Frito-Lay — maker of the popular snacks Cheetos, Doritos and Lay’s potato chips — announced Tuesday it will shutter two of its manufacturing and warehouse facilities in Orlando, eliminating 500 jobs.

In a letter to the state’s Department of Commerce, the company said it planned to terminate 454 positions this week at its facility off Silver Star Road.

The positions include mechanics, packagers, machine operators, handlers, managers, maintenance workers and the plant’s director, wrote Bonny Bourque of Frito-Lay’s Southeast Division.

The affected employees have been told they will be provided with 60 days of severance pay, according to the letter.

In a separate letter on Tuesday to the state, Bourque said the company also will stop its operations at its smaller facility at 2000 Parks Oaks Ave. by May 9 and eliminate 46 jobs. Those positions include handlers, supervisors, and warehouse workers.

Based in Plano, Texas, Frito-Lay is part of PepsiCo Foods and has nearly three dozen manufacturing plants across the country and Canada. It employs about 60,000 people in total. read more