Brigadoon Daily = September 30, 2020

Amazon unveils payment by hand-waving: Amazon unveiled a new biometric payment system using palm recognition, to be made available to rival retailers, and also promoted as a replacement for badge entry at stadiums or workplaces. The system called Amazon One was touted as "a fast, convenient, contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store, presenting a loyalty card, entering a location like a stadium, or badging into work more effortless."

Inside the airline industry's meltdown: Coronavirus has hit few sectors harder than air travel, wiping out tens of thousands of jobs and uncountable billions in revenue. While most fleets were grounded, the industry was forced to reimagine its future.
Guardian

Will app-based employment make workers easier to manipulate? Minute control of employees’ workplace activities has been a goal of some managers and management scholars for more than 100 years. But actually exercising such control is a difficult proposition: unmotivated employees do poor work, money alone has limited motivational power, and non-pecuniary motivational efforts are generally clumsy and transparent. But with more and more people working “gig economy” jobs mediated through an app, Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert considers whether contemporary companies can combine behavioral insights with enormous amounts of data to more effectively guide the actions of their labor forces. Watch the video - click here.

Bloomberg: Palantir direct listing reference price set at $7.25 by NYSE

Rise of the ghost kitchens: How virtual restaurants are reshaping LA's dining economy
LAT

Delivery apps are ruining grocery stores: There was a time, not so long ago, when grocery shopping could be a pleasure. It could also be a joyless time suck, of course — a chore, a scourge — but in the right mood, and under the right circumstances, it was a delight. You could examine ten thousand different types of cereals. You could inspect the plums!
Rachel Sugar

The future of Airbnb: Home-sharing’s challenges aren’t only about social distancing and hygiene. Overtourism, racial bias, fee transparency, and controlling the party crowd are also in the mix.
NYT