U.K. Supermarket to Have ‘Quieter Hour’ for People With Autism

By Ceylan Yeginsu

LONDON — Dim the lights. Silence the piped-in music. Turn down the checkout beeps. For an hour on Saturdays, a British supermarket chain is introducing a weekly “quieter hour” aimed at helping people with autism have a better shopping experience by easing sensory overload.

The move by the supermarket, Morrisons, which begins on Saturday and runs from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., has been welcomed by the National Autistic Society, which says that even small changes can make a big difference in the lives of people with autism and their families.

“Around 700,000 people are on the autism spectrum in the U.K.,” Tom Purser, of the National Autistic Society, said in an email. “This means they see, hear and feel the world differently to other people, often in a more intense way, which can make shopping a real struggle.”

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people communicate and relate to others and how they experience the world around them. More than 60 percent of people with autism avoid shops, and 79 percent say they feel socially isolated, according to figures published by the society.

Zuckerberg defends Facebook users’ right to be wrong – even Holocaust deniers

Mark Zuckerberg defended the rights of Facebook users to publish Holocaust denial posts, saying he didn’t “think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong”.

In an interview with Recode published on Wednesday, the CEO also explained Facebook’s decision to allow the far-right conspiracy theory website
Infowars to continue using the platform, saying the social network would try to “reduce the distribution of that content”, but would not censor the page.

Zuckerberg’s comments came the same day that Facebook announced a new policy pledging to remove misinformation used to incite physical harm.

The CEO’s remarks to Recode have reignited debates about free speech on the social network at a time when Facebook is continuing to face scrutiny over its role in spreading misinformation, propaganda and hate speech across the globe.

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter resigns as chairman of company’s board after apologizing for racial slur

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter has resigned as chairman of his company’s board after admitting and apologizing for using the N-word during a May conference call.

The company said in a statement it will appoint a new chairman in the coming weeks. Olivia Kirtley will act as the company’s lead independent director, it added.

News of Schnatter’s resignation came shortly after Yahoo Sports reported that the Major League Baseball had indefinitely suspended its Papa Slam promotion — a campaign that both sides have collaborated on since 2016.

The incident in May came to light after Forbes magazine detailed the incident in an article on Wednesday. The report said Schnatter was on a call with marketing agency Laundry Service when he tried to downplay comments he made about the National Football League and allegedly said, “Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s.”

Schnatter complained that the KFC founder never faced public backlash. The call was a role-playing exercise for Schnatter to prevent future public relations fumbles.

Shares of Papa John’s fell by as much as 5.9 percent to a new 12-month low of $47.80 a share in intraday trading Wednesday — erasing $96.2 million in market value. The stock recovered somewhat, closing down 4.8 percent at $48.33 a share. Papa John’s is down 13 percent so far this year while Domino’s shares are up 48.5 percent.

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Oprah Winfrey is about to get into the restaurant biz

The media mogul on Wednesday announced that she had made an undisclosed equity investment in True Food Kitchen, a health-driven restaurant chain based in Phoenix. The restaurant, which was named the 2018 top emerging restaurant brand by data firm Fishbowl, offers sustainable, local and organic meals, including vegan and vegetarian options.

True Food Kitchen declined to disclose how much Winfrey invested in the company, but said she would join the brand’s board of directors and act as a consultant. Private equity firm Centerbridge will remain the restaurant’s controlling shareholder.

Winfrey sought out True Food Kitchen’s CEO Christine Barone after dining at the chain with friend and health expert Bob Greene. Winfrey and Barone discussed a possible collaboration and the restaurant’s future over lunch at Winfrey’s house several months ago.

“I love bringing people together over a good meal,” Winfrey said in a statement. “When I first dined at True Food Kitchen, I was so impressed with the team’s passion for healthy eating and, of course, the delicious food, that I knew I wanted to be part of the company’s future.”

Facebook shared private user data with Chinese phone makers

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook shared personal information culled from its users’ profiles with other companies after the date when executives have said the social network prevented third-party developers from gaining access to the data, the company confirmed Friday.

The records included information about the friends of Facebook users, including phone numbers and breakdowns analyzing the degrees of separation between people on the social networks, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Why Is IHOP Changing Its Name? 3 Guesses Why It Wants to Be Called ‘IHOb.’

IHOP announced on Twitter this week that, as of June 11, it’s changing its name to “IHOb.” The original post now has about 5 million views and 25,000 likes. It’s also sparked a couple of obvious questions like, “What does the ‘b’ stand for?” and “Does IHOP really need a rebrand?”

March 20 (UPI) — Amazon became the second most valuable company in the world Tuesday, surpassing Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in stock value.

Amazon’s stock market value increased 2.7 percent by the end of the day, bringing its total value to $768 billion at $1,586.51 per share. The stock jump was enough to pass Alphabet, which fell 0.4 percent for a total value of $762.5 billion.

The milestone comes days after Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos topped the Forbes annual billionaires list with a total wealth of $112 billion, becoming the first American to pass the $100 billion mark.

Last month, Amazon surpassed Microsoft in value.

Apple has a comfortable lead at the top spot with an $889 billion valuation.

But Amazon is rising fast, increasing in value by 85 percent over the past 12 months, including 35 percent so far in 2018, CNBC reported.

As neither company shows any signs of slowing down, Wall Street analysts predict at least one of them may soon reach a value of $1 trillion, which would be the first for any company.

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Google pledges $300M for news initiative

March 20 (UPI) — Google pledged $300 million Tuesday to start a new initiative to “elevate and strengthen quality journalism” throughout the next three years.

The campaign to be known as the Google News Initiative includes programs to combat the spread of false information and to drive subscriptions to news publications, Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler wrote in a blog post.

“The commitments we’re making through the Google News Initiative demonstrate that news and quality journalism is a top priority for Google,” Schindler wrote. “We know that success can only be achieved by working together, and we look forward to collaborating with the news industry to build a stronger future for journalism.”

As part of the initiative Schindler said Google is creating a Disinfo Lab alongside the Harvard Kennedy School’s First Draft to combat misinformation during elections and breaking news event when the company said “bad actors” often attempt to target Google platforms to spread inaccurate content.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic want answers after Facebook’s latest controversy involving the 2016 election.

The growing scrutiny comes after news broke that Cambridge Analytica, a data firm with ties to President Donald Trump’s campaign, reportedly gained access to information about 50 million Facebook (FB) users.

The data was collected by a professor for academic purposes in accordance with Facebook rules, the company said. But then the information was transferred to third parties, including Cambridge Analytica. The transfer violated Facebook policies.

Facebook on Friday night said it has booted Cambridge Analytica from using its platform.

News of the data transfer sparked renewed questions about whether the social media company does enough to protect its users.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Saturday that her office is opening an investigation into Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote on Twitter Saturday that “Zuckerberg needs to testify before Senate Judiciary.”

“It’s clear these platforms can’t police themselves,” she said. “They say ‘trust us.’

ST. STEPHEN, S.C. — For eighth-grader Lakaysha Governor, her daily two-hour school bus commute had been spent catching up with friends and trying to tune out distractions from unruly preschoolers.

Now, thanks to Google, the aspiring forensic anthropologist said she’s able to spend that time finishing up her daily school work so she’s free to engage in her favorite activity once she gets home: reading.

Lakaysha is one of nearly 2,000 students in South Carolina’s rural Berkeley County benefiting from a grant from Google, which on Monday unveiled one of its 28 WiFi-equipped school buses in the area. The tech giant has also given the school district 1,700 Chromebooks, the stripped-down laptops on which public school children do their class and homework as school books largely are replaced by online worksheets and articles.

Some students like Lakaysha in this sprawling, rural district about 50 miles north of Charleston spend a total of two hours riding the bus to and from school each day. With much of students’ homework now online-only, that’s time lost in terms of trying to prepare for the next day.

Lilyn Hester, a Google spokeswoman based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, told CBS affiliate WCSC-TV that the “Rolling Study Halls” pilot program at Berkeley County offers the district an opportunity to “bridge the digital divide.”

“A Rolling Study Hall is like an extended classroom. It addresses the needs of students that don’t WiFi or Internet access in their home” Hester said.

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