Galaxy Fold Preorders Start Tomorrow, Apple Pushes Suppliers to Renewable Energy; Amazon Go May Accept Cash; Masters Tourney-Shots Posted Online Within 5 Minutes

Early adapters with deep pockets…rejoice! Preorders open tomorrow for the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the $1980 folding smartphone/phablet. Techcrunch.com says if you’re a player for it, hit Samsung’s website tomorrow. Did we mention that you could buy a decently equipped MacBook Pro for the price of this phone? In other Samsung news, the Galaxy S10 5G will be available via Samsung’s website starting next month. By the time you get that one, 5G will still be only available in a very few spots around the country.

Apple has muscled 15 more of its suppliers, including major ones like Foxconn and TSMC, to make Apple products using 100% clean energy. According to theverge.com, that brings the total number of Apple suppliers up to 44. Apple states that it now expects to exceed its goal of using four gigawatts of renewable energy in its supply chain by 2020 by an additional gigawatt. As of last April, Apple claimed that its own facilities were running entirely on renewables, and it added its retail locations in October. Apple’s own facilities and retail stores only account for 26% of the company’s carbon footprint, though. The other 74% comes from the suppliers.

States and cities have been leaning on Amazon, and now it looks like they may accept cash and EBT cards in Amazon Go stores. Arstechnica.com reports that the change might be in the works due to charges of discrimination. Philadelphia and New Jersey have passed laws banning cashless retail stores on the grounds that they discriminate against the some 8 minion US households that have no access to a debit or credit card…usually due to poverty. New York City and San Francisco are also looking at banning cashless stores. Massachusetts has barred cashless businesses since the 1970’s.

If you are a golf superfan, and can’t make it to the hallowed Augusta National to watch the Masters, you’re in luck. Engadget.com says you can supplement watching the tourney on TV with viewing the shots online within 5 minutes. Or…if you don’t mind the delay, you can just watch the shots themselves, without watching the walking from hole to hole in-between. One down side…for those lucky enough to be on the course in person…no cell phones are allowed. For home viewers, just hit the Masters website or download their app. The videos will be stitched together using AI by IBM, and the Watson supercomputer will figure out which are the most significant and exciting shots.