Starbucks offering backup care benefit to U.S. workers
SEATTLE — Starbucks’ U.S. employees have a new benefit: subsidized backup care for children and adults.
The company said employees will get up to 10 backup care days each year to use when regular care is unavailable. More than 180,000 employees will be eligible.
In-home backup care for kids or adults will cost employees $1 per hour. Care in a child care center costs $5 per day.
Starbucks is partnering with Care.com, a company that connects people to caregivers. Starbucks will also offer its employees free senior care planning through Care.com.
Bigger screens for Google Pixel phones
NEW YORK — Google’s new Pixel phones mirror an industry trend toward lusher, bigger screens and add twists on the camera for better pictures.
The third generation of Pixel phones unveiled Tuesday at an event in New York features screens that span from one edge to another. It’s the first time Google has embraced the format, which Samsung has had for a few years and Apple adopted last year.
But Google is undercutting Apple on price. The Pixel 3 will be available Oct. 18 starting at $799 — $200 below the least expensive iPhone XS. A larger version, the Pixel 3 XL, costs $100 more.
Google is also hiring photographer Annie Leibovitz to take pictures with the new Pixel in an effort to persuade consumers that its camera is superior.
Beyond the camera, Google is using artificial intelligence to help screen calls. Just tap on a button for Google’s voice assistant to ask the caller about the purpose of the call. You see a transcript of the response on the screen. You can choose to pick up or ignore the call. Callers are warned that they are talking to a robot and that a transcript would be made.
IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the Pixel 3 doesn’t break new ground on hardware, but “software is a different story. It’s mostly about convenience here.”