Wall Street professionals tell everyday investors what stocks to buy. But now they have to follow some of these amateurs for signs of where the market is headed next. From a report: Venerable institutions Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley are tracking the retail trading frenzy, and hedge funds in New York and London have employees combing through the internet forum of Reddit, Twitter or chat startup Discord in search of trading opportunities. They turned to these sources following a period of market mayhem dominated by amateurs on Reddit's WallStreetBets and the Robinhood Markets Inc. trading app who collectively boosted the shares of GameStop Corp. and other companies that had fallen out of Wall Street's favor.

"It's more art than science because it's uncharted territory," said Simeon Siegel, a BMO Capital Markets analyst who has spent his career covering retail companies. One analyst who turned to WallStreetBets this year for insight was Priyesh Mehta, 26, who advises Cayman Islands-based hedge fund Bovell Global Macro Fund. He said he never considered that a group of traders could band together on online forums with the aim of jolting prices, but as GameStop's shares rose in January he downloaded the Reddit app on his phone, made an account and joined the forum.

For the next few weeks, he spent hours on the platform, familiarizing himself with its design. Mr. Mehta quickly learned that the place to pay attention to was the daily thread of people's trades. He began to recognize names of accounts that posted frequently, an indication that those users may have more sway with the group. Mr. Mehta still monitors the forum and warns Bovell's fund manager of highly mentioned stocks that could see volatility. He is also looking for potential stocks that the firm could bet against. "I never thought that retail traders would actually gain this much power in the market," he said.

Zoom-call blunders can be hazardous to your career. From a report: Nearly 1 in 4 executives have fired a staffer for slipping up during a video or audio conference, and most have levied some sort of disciplinary action for gaffes made in virtual meetings, a survey of 200 managers at large companies found. The survey, commissioned by Vyopta, which helps companies manage their workplace collaboration and communication systems, also found that executives don't fully trust a third of their staff to perform effectively when working remotely. The pessimistic findings illustrate how workers are still getting accustomed to working remotely, which has become commonplace during the Covid-19 pandemic. Daily participants in Zoom calls surged from 10 million a day at the end of 2019 to 300 million in April 2020, the conferencing company has said, and in recent weeks many companies have pushed back their plans to return to offices due to the delta variant's spread. Some Zoom miscues, like New Yorker magazine writer Jeffrey Toobin getting fired for inadvertently exposing himself, have been well-publicized.

The New York Times plans to put its consumer product-review site Wirecutter behind a paywall as the publisher looks to further diversify its subscription business beyond its flagship news product. From a report: Starting Wednesday, readers can purchase a stand-alone Wirecutter subscription for $5 every four weeks, or $40 annually. Those who already pay for the Times' premium digital subscriptions or home delivery will continue to get unlimited access to Wirecutter, with no change to the subscription's price. The Times, in its digital incarnation, is seeking to serve some auxiliary needs that traditional print newspapers once served, including by providing recipes and games and by helping users decide what products to buy, said David Perpich, head of the Times' stand-alone products group. Wirecutter, which the Times Company bought in 2016, is a consumer guide that reviews everything from cable modems to cat litter.

A new generation of detectors let scientists identify a dozen large episodes of bioluminescence, one a hundred times larger than Manhattan -- and that's the smallest. From a report: The ocean has always glowed. The Greeks and Romans knew of luminous sea creatures as well as the more general phenomenon of seawater that can light up in bluish-green colors. Charles Darwin, as he sailed near South America on a dark night aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, encountered luminescent waves. He called it "a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle." As far as the eye could see, he added, "the crest of every wave was bright" -- so much so that the "livid flames" lit the sky. Now, scientists report that ocean bioluminescence can be so intense and massive in scale that satellites orbiting five hundred miles high can see glowing mats of microorganisms as they materialize in the seas. Last month in the journal Scientific Reports, eight investigators told of finding a luminous patch south of Java in 2019 that grew to be larger than the combined areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

"It was an epiphany," said Steven D. Miller, lead author on the bioluminescence study and a specialist in satellite observations at Colorado State University. When a hidden wonder of nature comes to light, he added, "it captures your imagination." The scientists said the close examination of images gathered between December 2012 and March 2021 from a pair of satellites let them identify a dozen extremely large events -- approximately one every eight months. Even the smallest was a hundred times larger than Manhattan. The imagery is opening a new window on the world's oceans, scientists say, and promises to aid the tracking and study of the glowing seas, whose origins are poorly understood. Kenneth H. Nealson, a pioneer of bioluminescence research at the University of Southern California, called the discovery "a big step toward being able to understand" how an enduring mystery of the sea "actually comes to be."

The biggest frustration among new car owners is that they can't get their car and smartphone to talk to one another, a new J.D. Power study finds. From a report: Consumers want their digital lives to follow them seamlessly in the car, which is why Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have become so popular. But if the wireless connection is glitchy, such features don't work, leaving car owners unhappy. "Owners are caught in the middle when vehicle and phone technologies don't properly connect," says Dave Sargent, vice president of automotive quality at J.D. Power.

1 in 4 problems cited by car buyers in the first 90 days of ownership involves infotainment, according to the J.D. Power 2021 Initial Quality Study (IQS), released Tuesday. For the first time in a decade, voice recognition is not the top problem; instead, it's Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, which worsened significantly, especially for those trying to connect wirelessly. About one-third of new cars now come with a built-in WiFi hub, which may or may not be compatible with a phone's operating system.

LinkedIn is telling advertisers to prepare for the end of its short-lived experiment with Stories, after the ephemeral videos failed to catch on among the professional social media set.

Google pushed back the date when its employees must return to the office until after Jan. 10, citing uncertainty related to the pandemic amid a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in various countries around the world. From a report: It will be optional for Google's staffers to work on campus until at least Jan. 10, Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai wrote Tuesday in a memo to employees. The company will give workers 30 days notice before they're expected to go back to offices, but Pichai didn't specify a date when employees, based in the U.S. or elsewhere, must return. "Beyond January 10, we will enable countries and locations to make determinations on when to end voluntary work-from-home based on local conditions, which vary greatly across our offices," Pichai wrote. Google previously delayed a compulsory office return to Oct. 18. The internet giant has said it will ask employees to work in a "hybrid" model, with about 60% going back to the same offices as before the pandemic. In August, Google approved 85% of employee requests to work remotely or relocate once the company's offices fully reopen.

Toxic PFAS compounds are contaminating the air inside homes, classrooms and stores at alarming levels, a new study has found. From a report: Researchers with the University of Rhode Island and Green Science Policy Institute tested indoor air at 20 sites and detected the "forever chemicals" in 17 locations. The airborne compounds are thought to break off of PFAS-treated products such as carpeting and clothing and attach to dust or freely float through the indoor environment. Experts previously considered food and water to be the two main routes by which humans are exposed to PFAS, but the study's authors note that many humans spend about 90% of their time indoors, and the findings suggest that breathing in the chemicals probably represents a third significant exposure route. "It's an underestimated and potentially important source of exposure to PFAS," said Tom Bruton, a co-author and senior scientist at Green Science.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 9,000 compounds used to make products water-, stain- or heat-resistant. Because they are so effective, the chemicals are used across dozens of industries and are in thousands of everyday consumer products such as stain guards, carpeting and shoes. Textile manufacturers use them to produce waterproof clothing, and they are used in floor waxes, nonstick cookware, food packaging, cosmetics, firefighting foam and much more. PFAS are dubbed "forever chemicals" because they do not naturally break down. They accumulate in animals, including humans, and are linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, decreased immunity, hormone disruption and a range of other serious health problems. A February Guardian analysis of household products found fluorine, an indicator of PFAS, present in 15 items. The chemicals are so widely used that it is difficult to say with precision where all the airborne PFAS are coming from, though the new study also detected their presence in carpets and clothing at some sites.

Apple's push to bring satellite capabilities to the iPhone will be focused on emergency situations, allowing users to send texts to first responders and report crashes in areas without cellular coverage. From a report: The company is developing at least two related emergency features that will rely on satellite networks, aiming to release them in future iPhones, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Apple has been working on satellite technology for years, with a team exploring the concept since at least 2017, Bloomberg has reported. Speculation that the next iPhone will have satellite capabilities ramped up this week after TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the phone will probably work with spectrum owned by Globalstar. That's led to conjecture that the iPhone will become something akin to a satellite phone, freeing users from having to rely on cell networks. But Apple's plan is initially more limited in scope, according to the person, with the focus on helping customers handle crisis scenarios.

Microsoft is announcing that Windows 11 will be released on October 5. The new operating system will be available as a free upgrade for eligible Windows 10 PCs, or on new hardware that ships with Windows 11 pre-loaded. From a report: The free upgrade to Windows 11 will start rolling out on October 5th, but like many Windows upgrades in the past, it will be available in phases. New eligible devices will be offered the upgrade first, and then Windows 11 will become available for more in-market devices in the weeks and months following October 5th. "Following the tremendous learnings from Windows 10, we want to make sure we're providing you with the best possible experience," explains Aaron Woodman, general manager of Windows marketing at Microsoft. "We expect all eligible devices to be offered the free upgrade to Windows 11 by mid-2022."

Google and Apple will have to open their app stores to alternative payment systems in South Korea [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], threatening their lucrative commissions on digital sales. From a report: A bill passed Tuesday by South Korea's National Assembly is the first in the world to dent the tech giants' dominance over how apps on their platforms sell their digital goods. It will become law once signed by President Moon Jae-in, whose party strongly endorsed the legislation. The law amends South Korea's Telecommunications Business Act to prevent large app-market operators from requiring the use of their in-app purchasing systems. It also bans operators from unreasonably delaying the approval of apps or deleting them from the marketplace -- provisions meant to head off retaliation against app makers.

Companies that fail to comply could be fined up to 3% of their South Korea revenue by the Korea Communications Commission, the country's media regulator. The law will be referenced by regulators in other places -- such as the European Union and the U.S. -- that also are scrutinizing global tech companies, said Yoo Byung-joon, a professor of business at Seoul National University who researches digital commerce. "Korea's decision reflects a broader trend to step up regulation of technology-platform businesses, which have been criticized for having too much power," Mr. Yoo said.

Microsoft won't ship support for Android apps on Windows 11 in time for the operating system's launch on October 5th. While Android apps running on Windows 11 is one of the big new features of the OS, Microsoft will only start previewing this feature in the coming months. From a report: "We look forward to continuing our journey to bring Android apps to Windows 11 and the Microsoft Store through our collaboration with Amazon and Intel; this will start with a preview for Windows Insiders over the coming months," says Aaron Woodman, general manager of Windows marketing at Microsoft.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Mac, written by Filipe Esposito: Google this week announced the beta release of Chrome 94, the next update to Google's desktop web browser. In addition to general improvements, the update also adds support for the new WebGPU API, which comes to replace WebGL and can even access Apple's Metal API. As described by Google in a blog post, WebGPU is a new, more advanced graphics API for the web that is able to access GPU hardware, resulting in better performance for rendering interfaces in websites and web apps.

For those unfamiliar, Metal is an API introduced by Apple in 2014 that provides low-level access to GPU hardware for iOS, macOS, and tvOS apps. In other words, apps can access the GPU without overloading the CPU, which is one of the limitations of old APIs like OpenGL. Google says WebGPU is not expected to come enabled by default for all Chrome users until early 2022. The final release of Chrome 94 should enable WebCodecs for everyone, which is another API designed to improve the encoding and decoding of streaming videos.

All of California's national forests will be closed starting late Tuesday until mid-September to help "better provide public and firefighter safety due to the ongoing California wildfire crisis," said the U.S. Forest Service in an order (PDF). CBS News reports: The closures will be in effect from August 31 at 11:59 p.m. local time until the same time on September 17, according to the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region. The order doesn't affect the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, the Forest Service said, because it's not in the Pacific Southwest Region. The Forest Service listed in its notice a variety of factors that went into making its decision, including public safety during emergency circumstances, along with decreasing "the potential for new fire starts at a time of extremely limited firefighting resources." Officials also listed criteria for those individuals who are exempt from the order, including those with a specific permit and those who are a federal, state or local officer carrying out an official duty.

Officials said that "more than 6,800 wildfires have burned 1.7 million acres across all jurisdictions in California, and the National Wildfire Preparedness Level ... has been at PL5 since July 14, 2021, only the third time in the past 20 years that the nation has reached PL5 by mid-July -- indicating the highest level of wildland fire activity." The Forest Service said in its order that "forecasts show that conditions this season are trending the same or worse as we move into late summer and fall."

sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine, written by Adam Mann: Like the Greek god Chronos, a good number of stars devour their children. As many as one-third of them have swallowed one or more of their own planets, a new study suggests. The findings could help astronomers rule out stellar systems unlikely to contain Earth-like worlds. The team investigated how often this happens by looking at 107 binary systems containing two Sun-like stars -- akin to the fictional two-sunned world Tatooine in Star Wars. In 33 of these pairs, one of the companions showed elevated levels of iron compared with the other, a sign of planetary cannibalism. These same partners were also rich in lithium, giving further credence to the world-munching hypothesis. Although Sun-like stars are born with substantial amounts of lithium, they burn it away within the first 100 million years of their lives, so seeing it in the older stars in the study sample indicated it likely came from a planet. Using these different lines of evidence, the team was able to model that between 20% and 35% of Sun-like stars consume a few Earths' worth of their offspring. Such events could happen in systems where gravitational interactions among the planets would either fling one into the central star or bring it close enough for the star to slowly vaporize and devour it. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.