Amazon Hiring 100,000 Warehouse Employees; Apple Plans an iPhone 9 Plus; Google Delays Coronavirus Site; Uber Eats Waives Some Delivery Fees; DoorDash Stockpiled Hand Sanitizer & Gloves- But Not for All Drivers

With an uptick in ordering due to the COVID-19 virus, Amazon is looking to hire an additional 100,000 warehouse employees to try to keep pace with the volume. Geekwire.com notes that Amazon will spend over $350 million to increase wages at fulfillment centers, delivery operations, and retail stores, too. The wages will be boosted by around $2 an hour in the US. This expansion would push Amazon’s global workforce up to almost 900,000.

Every time Apple updates its latest code to developers, intrepid geeks find more nuggets about upcoming products in it. Now, 9to5mac.com reports that apparently Apple won’t just be releasing a smaller, cheaper iPhone 9. There will also be an iPhone 9 Plus. The 4.7 inch replacement to the iPhone 8 has been widely expected, but it appears there will be a 5.5 inch handset, too. Both will have much more power than the 8 series, running the A13 Bionic chip, but will keep the home button and Touch ID, as opposed to Face ID on the more expensive line of phones. The new phones will support Apple Pay and Express Transit, which the iPhone 8 and 7 models cannot. (Note that they may be iPhone 9, SE2, or who knows what. No leak about the name has been uncovered as yet.)

Google has announced that they are delaying launch of the informational coronavirus website they plan to launch to ‘later this week.’ According to theverge.com, the search giant wants to have a bit more time to fill out some of the features on the new informational site. Even after launch, it’s unlikely that the site will be as comprehensive as what the White House promised last week. Apparently, Jared Kushner hyped up what the site would be able to do to Trump before he announced it on TV last week.

Uber Eats is waiving delivery fees for over 100,000 independent restaurants in the US and Canada. Engadget.com says they are also launching daily marketing campaigns to promote delivery from local restaurants, particularly ones which are new to the app. The eateries can also opt into daily payments on all Uber Eats orders, rather than weekly billing. The company has also committed 300,000 free meals on Uber Eats to first responders and healthcare workers in the US and Canada. As other delivery services, they are strongly encouraging users to select no-contact delivery. Uber is also offering 2 weeks of pay to drivers and delivery people who test positive for COVID-19 and those who are forced to quarantine.

DoorDash stockpiled hand sanitizer and gloves for its delivery drivers to be safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, they are only offering the items in 400 of the 3000 cities where they do business. Businessinsider.com reports that they are just offering the sanitizer and gloves to drivers in cities that have seen the biggest effects of COVID-19. That was some 400 cities as of the first of the week. When contacted, spokesperson Liz Jarvis-Shean said “We’re working to expand that [number] as the needs grow.” The items are available to Dashers online at a special store…they’re free, except the cost of shipping.

I’m Clark Reid