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U.S. TikTok Shop employees received a memo on Tuesday, recommending staff to work from home Wednesday ahead of “difficult decisions.” The memo, which was earlier reported by Bloomberg, told staff they would be updated on “organizational and personnel changes” via email, followed by HR outreach, suggesting possible layoffs. TikTok Shop, the Chinese-owned company’s marketplace feature launched in 2023 in the U.S., allows users to shop for products via the app. The marketplacewhich hosts everything from popular U.S. brands like Crocs to third-party merchandise from Temu and Sheinhit $100 million in single day sales on Black Friday alone. “TikTok Shop is the fastest-growing sales channel weve ever had at MaryRuths. It took off faster than Amazon, faster than retail, faster than anything weve seen,” Jay Hunter, chief revenue officer of vitamin and supplement company MaryRuth’s, said via LinkedIn. “Its messy. Its unpredictable. But the upside is real.” The video app and its parent company ByteDance have faced several challenges this year, including a looming threat of a ban in the U.S. and a month-over-month decline in TikTok Shop sales due to Chinese-based foreign sellers affected by tariffs, Business Insider reported. While specific details regarding changes and scale are yet to be released, the memo follows a series of restructuring efforts to TikTok’s e-commerce unit. In April, TikTok let go several staff members from the U.S. e-commerce unit’s governance and experience team, due in part to failing to meet performance goals. Later that month, reorganization efforts gave more control to executives from the company’s China-based operations, including Mu Qing, who authored the Tuesday memo, per Bloomberg. Fast Company reached out to TikTok for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publishing.
Category:
E-Commerce
With 24/7 service, thousands of locations, and affordable food, Waffle House is a go-to road-trip stop. And soon the chain will offer yet another draw to drivers looking for somewhere to take a break: Waffle House diners across the South will be getting electric vehicle (EV) chargers as soon as 2026. Waffle House is partnering with BP Pulse, the EV charging network operated by energy company BP, to bring direct-current (DC) fast chargers to diners across the South and Southeast, including in Texas, Georgia, and Florida. There are more than 2,000 Waffle House locations across the country; BP Pulse didn’t say how many will ultimately get EV chargers through this effort, but that “an initial tranche of 50 sites” is already in progress. Each site will have six EV charging bays, featuring 400-kilowatt DC fast chargers. Different fast chargers boast different speeds; BP Pulse says its 400 kW chargers can get a vehicle to 80% in as little as 15 to 30 minutes, though it depends on factors like the vehicle’s battery size. Those chargers will be equipped with both combined charging system (CCS) and North American charging standard (NACS) connectors. The first of those stations is expected to go live in 2026, per BP Pulse. This isnt Waffle Houses first foray into the world of EV charging. In February 2024, the chain announced that a location in Tennessee would get EV chargers through EnviroSpark. That initiative received National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding from the states Department of Transportation. (EnviroSpark also got NEVI funding to install EV chargers at a Virginia Waffle House.) NEVI was part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and set aside $5 billion for states to expand the national EV charging network. The Trump administration, however, has thrown the NEVI program into chaos. This February, the administration told state transportation directors that they couldnt spend that funding, pausing the initiative and halting EV charger projects across the country. The EnviroSpark Waffle House EV charging stations ultimately had their NEVI awards rescinded due to the federal pause. The NEVI pause shouldn’t hurt this latest Waffle House deal, though; BP Pulse says it isn’t contingent on any incentives. BP Pulse already has a network of more than 8,000 EV charging locations across 46 states, and also operates internationally. California has long dominated in terms of EV adoption, but Southern states are becoming big EV players. The second largest state for EVs, based on the number of registrations, is Florida, followed by Texas. Waffle House also makes sense as a hub for EV chargers: The diners are open 24/7 (even, notoriously, through some major storms), and are conveniently located along major corridors and off highway exits, making them an easy place to stop and top off your EV battery. Charging up while fueling up on an All-Star Special will be convenient and fasta perfect option for enjoying the Waffle House experience while charging your EV on the go, David Repp, director of Innovation at Waffle House, said in a statement. This story was updated to include more information about Waffle House’s earlier Tennessee and Virginia EV charger projects.
Category:
E-Commerce
Google wants to give people access to its Gemini AI assistant with the blink of an eye: The company has struck a partnership with eyeglasses makers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to make AI smart glasses, it announced at its Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View Tuesday. These glasses will be powered by Googles new Android XR platform, and are expected to be released in 2026 at the earliest. To show what Gemini-powered smart glasses can do, Google has also built a limited number of prototype devices in partnership with Samsung. These glasses use a small display in the right lens to show live translations, directions and similar lightweight assistance. They also feature an integrated camera that gives Gemini a real-time view of your surroundings and can also be used to capture photos and videos. Unlike Clark Kent, you can get superpowers when you put your glasses on, joked Android XR GM and VP Shahram Izadi during Tuesdays keynote presentation. [Photo: Janko Roettgers] Going hands- (and eyes-) on Google demonstrated its prototype device to reporters Tuesday afternoon. Compared to a regular pair of glasses, Googles AI device still features notably thicker temples. These house microphones, a touch interface for input, and a capture button to take photos.Despite all of that, the glasses do feel light and comfortable, similar to Metas Ray-Ban smart glasses. The Google glasses big difference compared to Metas reveals itself almost immediately after putting them on: At the center of the right lens is a small, rectangular see-through display. It doesnt obstruct your view of the world when not actively in use. However, during the demo, I at times noticed a purple reflection from the waveguide thats at the core of the display in the upper right corner of my field-of-view. Googles AI assistant can be summoned with a simple touch gesture. Once active, Gemini automatically accesses the outward-facing camera of the glasses, which makes it possible to ask about anything you see. During my short demo, the assistant correctly described the content of a painting, identified its painter, and offered some information about books hand-selected by Google for the demo. In addition to AI assistance, the glasses can also be used for live translation and navigation. Google only showed the latter to members of the media. When in Google Maps mode, the glasses automatically display turn-by-turn walking directions while looking up. Look down, and the display includes a small, circular street map floating in front of you. The display itself looked bright and legible, even when showing multiple lines of text at a time. However, Google conducted these demos indoors; its unclear how bright sunlight will impact legibility. Also unknown at this point is how long the batteries of such a device will last. Android XR glasses are designed for all-day wear, according to Izadi, but that doesnt really tell us how many hours they can be used at a time. Lots of open questions Third-party apps were also notably absent from the demo. Izadi said Tuesday that glasses running Android XR will work with your phone, giving you access to your apps while keeping your hands free. How exactly that will work is unclear, as the display integrated into the prototype was too small to display the full UI of most apps. Most likely, Android XR will render apps in a simplified, device-optimized fashion, similar to the way apps show up on smart watches such as the Apple Watch and Googles Android Wear devices. The emergence of these kinds of devices also raises more fundamental questions about privacy. The prototype device shown at Googles event this week has an LED thats supposed to signal to bystanders when it takes photos or records video, and an internal LED that signals to the wearer when footage is being captured. However, the LED doesnt turn on on while Googles Gemini assistant observes the world through the camera. According to a Google spokesperson, thats because any video ingested this way is not being stored, but only temporarily used to make sense of the world. Bystanders, however, may not be as receptive to that distinction. They may assume that a device that can see the world at all times also continuously captures video. Lastly, its still unclear what Googles vision for other form factors looks like. The company also announced plans to release a pair of tethered AR glasses in partnership with Chinese AR startup Xreal Tuesday. With displays in both eyes, that device will be able to render much more immersive experiences, and presumably emphasize entertainment and work applications over more basic assistance. In addition, Googles roadmap for Android XR-powered devices includes glasses without any display at all. These are likely going to be similar to Metas Ray-Ban smart glasses, albeit with access to Googles Gemini assistant instead of Metas AI. Omitting a display brings down the manufacturing costs of smart glasses, while also helping with an important goal: To make devices that look and feel familiar to anyone who has ever worn a pair of glasses. We know that these need to be stylish glasses that you’ll want to wear all day, Izadi said.
Category:
E-Commerce
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