Global IT spending on cloud-based infrastructure grew 2.2% in Q1, while investments in “non-cloud environments plunged 16.3%, reported IDC Thursday. “The broadening impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was the major factor driving infrastructure spending,” it said. “Widespread lockdowns across the world and staged reopening of economies triggered increased demand for cloud-based consumer and business services.” IDC forecasts the Q1 pace “will continue through rest of the year as cloud adoption continues to get an additional boost."
Some 31 Apple stores were shown closed on the company’s website Thursday, including seven in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced the state will pause further reopening phases amid the surge in COVID-19 cases. The Department of Health State Services estimated 50,774 active cases statewide. Apple showed all four Houston stores closed; the Texas Medical Center reported intensive care unit beds at 100% capacity Wednesday. Harris County, Houston's home, led with 25,786 confirmed cases Wednesday, said Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Seven states reported new highs for current coronavirus hospitalizations this week, saidThe Washington Post : Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. All six Apple stores in Arizona were temporarily shuttered. The state had the biggest upward trend of new cases, said Johns Hopkins. In Florida, Apple stores in Estero and Naples were shown closed, while four of five stores in North Carolina -- and both South Carolina stores -- were shuttered. Two of four Tennessee stores -- Germantown and Nashville -- were closed. Apple began a gradual reopening of U.S. stores last month (see 2005180043) after it temporarily shut all U.S. storefronts in March. The company didn't comment.
More than a quarter of the more than 1 million people searching online for new homes at the peak of COVID-19 in April and May were looking at locales in other U.S. regions, said Redfin. There was a “huge increase” in people in large metropolitan areas “looking online at homes in small towns,” it said Thursday: The pandemic and resulting work-from-home trends are “accelerating migration patterns.” New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles had the biggest “net outflow” of users in April and May, the digital real estate brokerage said.
Rev launched live, real-time captions for Zoom virtual meetings users, said the speech-to-text company Thursday. Zoom quickly became the leading video conferencing platform during the pandemic, but it previously lacked “a solution for on-screen captions,” it said. Captions are “a necessity for some in these new virtual environments,” it said. “They aid in clear communication, which can support schools' and businesses' overall productivity while remote." The service costs $20 monthly per user for individuals and small businesses. Terms for larger enterprises are negotiable. Captioning takes five minutes to set up and is 80%-plus accurate, said Rev.
Analytics company Verint partnered with Viziblezone on COVID-19 contact tracing software for smartphones to help return employees to physical work spaces, said the Israeli startup Thursday. “While many global brands have already stated their intention to keep employees working from home, this solution has particular benefit for companies who require their workforce to be physically present.”
The “spike” in over-the-top “engagement” that began at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic “has since plateaued” but is "holding steady for now," reported Comscore Wednesday. Consumption of OTT content grew through the roof in terms of total homes and viewing hours. The researcher estimates 69.8 million homes used OTT in April, up by 5.2 million from the same 2019 month. The average home viewed 102 hours of OTT content in April, an increase of 17 hours from April 2019, it said: The use of “pure-play” vMVPDs to view OTT content jumped 70% in February through April, compared with the same 2019 period.
Mediacom, which provided unlimited data to broadband subscribers during the pandemic, starting in September will offer up to 100 Gb of additional data free to any customers who hit their monthly allotment, it said Wednesday. It's also extending through August its free access to all its Wi-Fi hot spots, free 60 days of its low-cost internet service for new qualifying families and 12 months of discounted Internet 60 service pricing to new customers.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Technology Engagement Center (CTEC) urged Congress Tuesday to appropriate additional broadband funding in future COVID-19 legislation, including money to address the homework gap separate from the existing E-rate program. Lawmakers have been offering a range of broadband funding proposals, including a push by House Democrats to allocate $100 billion as part of the Moving Forward Act infrastructure legislative package (see 2006220054). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., released a legislative framework last week (see 2006190062). CTEC wants Congress to ensure COVID-19 broadband funding is technology neutral and doesn’t duplicate money going to projects via other programs. The group also wants Congress to “establish funding without existing [Communications Act] Section 254 limitations, such as existing [eligible telecom carrier] requirements.” The legislation should allow funding to be used “for leasing tower space in addition to capital expenditures” and “should be distributed to those who can stand up” a broadband network “quickly,” CTEC said. COVID-19-specific homework gap funding shouldn’t come out of USF coffers, but the FCC can “borrow" from "E-rate rules” to administer it, the group said: It “should last for only the duration of the national emergency and be targeted to low-income households without a home broadband connection or in jeopardy of losing their broadband connection,” along with related equipment.
Wireless networks held up well during the pandemic, CTIA reported Tuesday. It's “the ultimate stress test for wireless networks,” CTIA said. Voice traffic increased 20-40% on wireless networks and data nearly 20% after the pandemic started, the group said. Traffic patterns changed "overnight" and hot spot use surged, CTIA said. “U.S. wireless networks did what they were designed to do: handle these dramatic shifts and increases in use with relative ease.”
Fandango is rolling out COVID-19-related resources to support the reopening of movie theaters across the country, including an app that gives social distance seating maps, safety policies for more than 100 theater chains and a search filter to locate reopened theaters.