Amazon is offering to help distribute the COVID vaccine in the US Joe Biden has set a goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the next 100 days, and Amazon is offering its distribution centres and logistical expertise to make that happen.  Amazon executive Dave Clark wrote in an open letter that “Our scale allows us to make a meaningful impact immediately in the fight against COVID-19, and we stand ready to assist you in this effort.” Amazon also asks that “frontline workers” such as its own workers in distribution centres, and those working in delivery, should get the vaccine “as a priority” - which seems pretty fair, if a little self serving.  Considering I can find a useless thing i don’t need on Amazon and have it arrive the next day, I’d be happy with Amazon making a similar offer in Australia.  Alibaba’s Jack Ma makes his first public appearance in months  Jack Ma, the billionaire co-founder and former chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has appeared publicly for the first time since late October 2020 In September 2020, Ma criticized regulators as having a “pawnshop mentality” when it came to technology, and asked the government for less regulation around money lending. This reportedly infuriated the Chinese government.  A month later, Chinese regulators cancelled the IPO of Ant Group, Ma’s fintech start up, saying it didn’t “meet the listing conditions or disclosure requirements”. The move knocked $68 billion off the value of Alibaba.  Ever since, Ma has not been seen, leading some to fear for his safety. His video today, which was described as “happy and positive, and did not look like a hostage video” -- has helped Alibaba shares rebound by 8%  LG prepares to exit the smartphone market The Korea Herald reports that the CEO of LG sent out an internal memo to staff on Wednesday, hinting that LG is considering exiting the smart phone business.  In a follow up to the Herald, a spokesperson for LG said : “Since the competition in the global market for mobile devices is getting fiercer, it is about time for LG to make a cold judgment and the best choice. The company is considering all possible measures, including sale, withdrawal and downsizing of the smartphone business.” It’s an amazing fall for LG, who with HTC and Samsung were once the high flyers in Android phones. HTC has already ceased smartphones, which they blamed on spending too long chasing Windows phones.  LG on the other hand, seemed to constantly misjudge the timing of features for its phones, and was constantly out-marketed by Korean rival Samsung.  Increasingly, LG has looked to crazy gimmicks to market it’s phones, see roll up displays and that weird wing phone. But when was the last time you saw an LG phone in the wild?  Qanon followers struggle to cope with Inauguration day  Axios dove into the Qanon private groups and message threads to see how followers of Q are dealing with the inauguration of Joe Biden.  Overall the message boards were a mixture of anger and disappointment that “Trump did not black out U.S. communications networks and send in the military to arrest Biden and other Democrats and celebrities.” Axios notes “QAnon prophecies have failed before — all of them, in fact.” but this seems different, as the theory spun further and grander following the election - which made the non-event even more disappointing. This may be one disappointment too many for the followers.  Academics and researchers have warned there will be a lot of “angry, aimless, and humiliated” Q supporters looking to latch onto something new, and fear right wing groups may use this as a recruitment drive - so if you know a friend who somehow found themselves a Q believer, offer them support and understanding, not ridicule.   See a style='color: gr