On this week's Xbox show, new talent takes over Halo Infinite, Phil Spencer gives an idea of what to expect performance-wise from Xbox Scarlett, Gears 5 comes out swinging at Gamescom, PUBG does an awesome thing, and more!

If you are already applying your Data Science skills or getting ready to contribute to analyzing COVID-19 data, then be sure to take sufficient time to appreciate the context of the numbers to focus on what's most important as we collaborate on this global battle.

Increasing accuracy in your models is often obtained through the first steps of data transformations. This guide explains the difference between the key feature scaling methods of standardization and normalization, and demonstrates when and how to apply each approach.

Interactive visualizations are an effective method for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents a repository filled with just such insightful interactions.

Also: A Concise Course in Statistical Inference: The Free eBook; ML Ops: Machine Learning as an Engineering Discipline; Learning during a crisis (#DataScience 90-day learning challenge) ; Free High-Quality Machine Learning & Data Science Books & Courses: Quarantine Edition

What are Some 'Advanced ' #AI and #MachineLearning Online Courses?; 24 Best (and Free) Books To Understand Machine Learning; Top 5 must-have #DataScience skills for 2020

John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor and author of "A Sense of Urgency."

Justin Fox, editorial director of the HBR Group and author of "The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street."

Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Dan McGinn, HBR senior editor.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, author of "No One Understands You and What to Do About It," explains the science of perception.

Darrell Rigby of Bain and Jeff Sutherland of Scrum explain the rise of lean, iterative management tactics, and how to implement them yourself.

Professors Michael Toffel, of Harvard Business School, and Aaron Chatterji, of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, discuss the emerging phenomenon of CEO activism. They explain how political polarization in the U.S. and employee expectations around company values are pushing corporate leaders to enter into controversial political and social debates. Toffel and Chatterji are the coauthors of the HBR article “Divided We Lead.” We also hear from PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, who talks about standing up for transgender rights and what he tells other CEOs who ask his advice on taking on an activist role.

Sunil Gupta, a professor at Harvard Business School, argues that many companies are still doing digital strategy wrong. Their leaders think of "going digital" as either a way to cut costs or to attract customers with a flashy new app. Gupta says successful digital strategy is more complicated than that. He recommends emulating the multi-faceted strategies of leading digital companies. Gupta's the author of “Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business."

Sinéad O'Sullivan, entrepreneurship fellow at Harvard Business School, discusses how space is much more important to modern business than most people realize. It plays a role in making food, pricing insurance, and steering self-driving cars. While moonshot projects from SpaceX to Blue Origin drive headlines, the Earth-facing space economy is booming thanks to plummeting costs of entry. As tech companies large and small compete to launch thousands of satellites, O'Sullivan says we are actually running out of space in space.

Dutch restaurant ETEN, which is part of Amsterdam's Mediamatic Arts Centre, is trialing an innovative approach to social-distancing dining. As reported by Reuters, a series of small greenhouses (max. capacity: 3) has been constructed along the waterfront outside of their restaurant.

Servers wear gloves and facemasks.

Food is served on long planks, so the servers can slide them onto the tables without entering the greenhouses.

Ditto for busing the dishes afterwards.

If I can point out one flaw, it's that the tables need those server-summoning buttons they have in Asia. In the photo below, you can clearly see the two dudes on the right are desperate for refills.

And while the solution is Dutch, the marketing contains a bit of French. "Organisers call the project 'Serres Séparées' (Separate Greenhouses)," Reuters reports, "because they say it sounds better in French."

Dave M. Finklang, CPA/CGMA, MBA, tax partner at Anders, has been named a Best Accountant in St. Louis by Small Business Monthly (SBM). Each month, SBM polls readers and asks them to help identify the best in the region in… Read More

The post Anders Partner Dave Finklang Named a Best St. Louis Accountant appeared first on Anders CPAs.

Jorge Silva/Reuters

• As some countries have started to lift their lockdown measures, public places have been making changes to adapt to government-issued social distancing measures. 
• More public places are using tape, floor markers and plastic dividers to help people comply with social distancing guidelines. 
• Photos show how people are trying to adapt to a new way of life during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As some countries begin to lift their coronavirus lockdown measures, public places have been getting creative to adjust to social distancing guidelines.

From waiters wearing personal protective equipment to schools using plastic dividers between children, these photos show the world is adjusting to life under the coronavirus pandemic.

As countries begin to slowly lift their lockdown measures, many changes have to be made to public life in an effort to prevent second waves of COVID-19.

One of the places that have to adapt the most is restaurants. Some have been coming up with creative ways to enforce social distancing measures, including putting up dividers on tables.

But in some places, a plastic divider is not enough. Diners in this Bangkok restaurant, for example, have been asked to sit diagonally from each other to maximize their distance.

See Also:

• Shanghai Disneyland cast members told to wear face masks and avoid guest contact ahead of next week's reopening as China emerges from pandemic
• A West Virginia worker told us what it was like living at his factory for 28 days to help make PPE, and says he would 'absolutely' do another 'lock-in' to help
• These photos show thousands flocking to New York's parks over the weekend after Mayor de Blasio said that good weather 'is very much a threat to us'

SEE ALSO: LA's skies are smog-free and peacocks are roaming the streets of Dubai. Photos show how nature has returned to cities shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.

This Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG) is intended to help small businesses comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Respiratory Protection standard (63 FR 1152; January 8, 1998). OSHA’s goal for this document is to provide small entities with a comprehensive step-by-step guide complete with checklists and commonly asked questions that will aid both employees and employers in small businesses with a better understanding of OSHA’s respiratory protection standard.

With many construction sites remaining operational during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is extremely important to maintain compliance with all social distancing guidelines and requirements. NECA developed recommendations that are specific to construction projects that continue to be operational. While these are fairly comprehensive, they are not all-inclusive. The needs of each site can vary. State or other local requirements can be more restrictive and would take precedent.

NECA is sponsoring a safety stand down on April 29 to recognize the many electricians and utility workers have been deemed essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and continue to go to work each day and make sacrifices to better our country.  Take part and share a note or photo with #NECASafety, and on NECA’s LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. Please share the number of workers who participated with safety@necanet.org so we can feature this in the future. Material for your safety stand down can be found below at the NECA Coronavirus Resource Center.   

The St. Louis Blues are in the midst of a historic run toward Lord Stanley’s Cup. This is especially exciting for St. Louisans as the Blues were in dead last in the NHL as 2018 turned to 2019 with talk… Read More

The post Banking on the Blues: How the St. Louis Economy Could Benefit from the Stanley Cup Finals appeared first on Anders CPAs.

The new revenue recognition standard includes important provisions that manufacturers need to be aware of. Effective 1/1/2019 for private companies with calendar year ends, the new standards will change the way manufacturing companies recognize revenue.
Variable Consideration
Manufacturing companies will… Read More

The post How the New Revenue Recognition Standard Will Impact Manufacturers appeared first on Anders CPAs.

1. NECA Helps Secure Construction Industry Exemption in Final IRAP Rule

On March 10, 2020, the Department of Labor released the final rule of the Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAP) regulation. The final rule contains a permanent construction industry exemption, thereby protecting our industry from participation in IRAPs. NECA released a statement thanking the Administration for recognizing that the construction industry has longstanding expertise in the creation and execution of apprenticeships.

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA strongly advocated for the construction industry’s exemption, with thousands of NECA contractors sending comments to the Department of Labor. By securing this exemption, the long-established, gold standard apprenticeship model that NECA Contractors utilize will remain intact and not be subjected to these parallel programs which will operate with less scrutiny and limited educational requirements.

2. The House Introduces Legislation to Address COVID-19 Outbreak

Washington D.C., like the rest of the nation and world, is responding to the outbreak of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus). On the evening of March 11, President Trump addressed the nation live from the  Oval Office. On Capitol Hill, negotiators continue to work to find a compromise between competing coronavirus response bills.

NECA’s Look Ahead: In response to the crisis, the Senate plans to cancel a previously scheduled recess week. The House will gavel out today and will return to Washington D.C. on March 23, 2020 to finish the negotiations on a final response package. NECA CEO, David Long, released the following statement in response to the legislative and regulatory negotiations: “ NECA government affairs remains fully engaged with Members of Congress, the Department of Labor, and OSHA on how to best handle the COVID-19 outbreak with safety being a top concern for our contractors and their employees. We continue to monitor legislation coming out of Congress to address the economic impact of this outbreak and will inform our contractors on how to best work with the new regulations when they are finalized.”

3. NLRB Chairman Testifies Regarding Funding      

On March 11, 2020, the House Committee on Appropriations held a hearing on the National Labor Relations Board Budget Request for FY 2021. Testifying on behalf of the NLRB was the Honorable John Ring, Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB budget request and justification documents can be found here.

NECA’s Look Ahead: The NLRB’s FY 2021 budget request funds their mission to protect the rights of employees, unions, and employers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). NECA believes that lawmakers should continue to fully fund the NLRB and encourage their leadership to expedite the hiring of their regional offices.

AOL Instant Messenger will come to an end on December 15, 2017. It had a long run. It first arrived in 1997.

Read more on howtoweb.com

In open world games, level design is the central feature, not the game system. Discover key issues designers must address when planning their open world. ...

Presentation management puts a strategic workflow process around presentation files, such as: PowerPoint, video, images, PDFs, and any other file types you use in business

The latest piece rounding up the week's notable writing and videos in games includes pieces on new games from Cloudpunk to Industries Of Titan, plus a bunch of neat historical writing & research. ...

For decades, organizations have tried to unlock the collective knowledge contained within their people and systems. And the challenge is getting harder, since every year, massive amounts of additional information are created for people to share. We've reached a point at which individuals are unable consume, understand, or even find half the information that is available to them.

Estate planning is often an overlooked aspect of financial wellness, but it is one of the most important components. Due to the complexity of the topic, many people do not have a current estate plan to fit their financial planning… Read More

The post Understanding Revocable, Irrevocable and Charitable Trusts appeared first on Anders CPAs.

Building brand esteem and reputation is one of the most precious but least understood dynamics in the business world.

OPC under the Companies Act, 2013 is a separate legal entity having perpetual succession, which is required to be registered as per the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013.

The Code has expanded the definition of “employer” as well as “employee”, resulting in a broad based applicability of the regulations and is now applicable to employees in both organised and unorganised sectors.

The biggest cause of such fires is non-delegation of tasks to responsible people with clearly defined accountability. When you delegate, you have to allow time for people to step up and demonstrate their abilities.

The Ministry of MSME, therefore, offers the Assistance to Training Institutions Scheme for providing financial aid to institutions to impart entrepreneurship development programs.

Saving lives more important than stock market numbers: Donald Trump

GST collections fall below Rs 1 lakh cr-mark, March revenues stand at Rs 97,597 cr

“The Directorate of Intelligence & Criminal Investigation (I&CI) of the income tax department during August and September 2019 obtained LRS data from several banks in Mumbai and Delhi and verification of the top 100 cases was undertaken. However, nothing adverse was found,” said the report, which was submitted to SIT probing black money earlier this year.

For businesses looking at using technology and automation, the key is to identify the functions that need tech intervention, the efficiencies and results it can provide and the level of disruption the transition process is likely to create.

Once the situation returns to normalcy and services resume, the customers can either opt to go to the store and pick up their jewellery or get it delivered to their doorstep, Tanishq said in a statement.

To get the benefit of the voice banking offering, customers need to download the Alexa / Google Assistant and link their ICICI Bank account through a secure two-factor authentication process.

Each scheme has a specific investment objective that tells investors what the scheme aims to achieve - it can be capital appreciation, regular income, liquidity etc.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order pausing immigration for 60 days to protect the jobs of Americans laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ​​Nasscom noted that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided an excellent roadmap for any subsequent potential recommendation for non-immigrant and other visa categories.

"CBDT may need to clarify reporting requirement for unlisted equity shares in foreign companies for NR/NOR,” said Sonu Iyer, tax partner and people advisory services leader at EY India.

Stocks in news: Airtel, Indusind, HPCL and Titan