Technology

Are you working from home? Are you lonely? Do you miss human interaction? Did you finally get your home office setup looking good? Then join us today for our first-ever (and possibly last) TechCrunch-Equity Livestream-Hangout Extravaganza.

From Team Equity we&ll have Danny Crichton, Alex Wilhelm, new addition Natasha Mascarenhas, our producer Chris Gates, TechCrunch Editorial Director Henry Pickavet, and perhaps even some puppies. ItBYOB, naturally, but if itafter lunch where you are, cocktails are allowed.

We&ll have a loose agenda of things to argue about, but it won&t be as much fun as it could be without you.

So join us here on Zoom. And make sure to check out TechCrunchTwitter handle at @TechCrunchfor updates just in case we can&t figure out how to Zoom into anything.

Thatit, really. We&re excited to try this out and we&re excited to see you. Cameras on, letgo!

For the second time this week trading on the New York Stock Exchange halted for 15 minutes this morning when a market drop triggered the exchangeinternal circuit breaker, shortly after 9:30am.

The control, part of the NYSEautomatic provisions to pause trading, has been put to the test since markets first began realizing the extent of the economic damage a worsening COVID-19 outbreak could cause in the U.S.

The circuit-breaker system used by the NYSE — and other large U.S. trading platforms per SEC rules — was implemented after the Black Monday stock crash of 1987, when major exchanges fell 20% in one day.

As the economic fallout from a widening COVID-19 outbreak manifests, it may challenge the digital contingency provisions of Americalargest stock exchange.

TechCrunch received some background on the circuit-breaker system from the NYSE.

&The equities and options exchanges have procedures for coordinated cross-market trading halts if a severe market price decline reaches levels that may exhaust market liquidity,& a spokesperson said.

The NYSE has three circuit-breaker thresholds that switch on if there are significant declines in the S-P 500previous day value: a Level 1 (for a 7% drop), Level 2 (at 13%) and Level 3 (at a 20% decline), per info provided to TechCrunch by the NYSE.

A Level 1 or Level 2 decline shuts down the market for a minimum of 15 minutes; a Level 3 circuit-breaker suspends NYSE activity for the remainder of the trading-day, according to the exchange.

After President Trump announced a U.S.-Europe travel-ban Wednesday evening, the Dow fell 2100 points shortly after opening Thursday, activating the NYSELevel-1 control, to halt a rapid value drop in stocks.

&The market-wide circuit breaker triggered this morning operated exactly as designed, giving investors additional time to absorb information and understand whathappening in the market,& an NYSE spokesperson told TechCrunch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S-P 500 — which track the performance of major stocks on the NYSE and NASDAQ — have lost over 20% in value since the COVID-19 (aka coronavirus) began to the spread in the U.S.

By mid-day Thursday, the Dow was on track for its sixth-worst decline in history.

Market volatility around COVID-19 — which originated in China and has spread to Europe and the U.S. — will test the NYSEcontingency plans for a sustained market selloff.

While therebeen some chatter about Americalargest stock exchange shutting down completely — which hasn&t happened since the September 11 attacks — there are no plans to close at the moment.

&The NYSE is carefully monitoring the spread of COVID-19 and has robust contingency plans, tested regularly, to enable continuous operation of the NYSE exchanges should any facilities be impacted,& a spokesperson told TechCrunch.

In a memo obtained by Reuters, the NYSEChief Operating Officer Michael Blaugrund noted the exchange had limited visitors and closed some public-facilities within its 11 Wall Street structure.

The NYSE also shared a contingency memo with TechCrunch describing business continuity plans for the stock market, and its big digital-board, to operate trading remotely if there is a personnel shutdown of the main-floor.

Update: This story was updated to include reference on circuit-breakers being used across major U.S. securities-exchanges.

The coronavirus pandemic has left governments floundering, businesses unprepared and citizens scrambling for hand sanitizer like itworth its weight in gold.

The sense of general unpreparedness has a lot of people on edge. Not surprising, since we&re on the edge of a global health emergency and itimpossible to predict exactly how government, travel or day-to-day business will operate during this outbreak.

Many tech companies already allow their staffs to work from home. Remote work policies are increasingly popular across the tech industry as companies push flexible working arrangements. In doing so, these companies have to prepare their IT infrastructure to accommodate remote working.

Granted, setting up a company to allow remote work is not an overnight job. It requires time and effort — but more importantly, investment and budget. Itan even bigger task to do it securely and without opening a door for hackers to walk in. But with the coronavirus spreading, nowa better time than ever to roll out a plan.

Secure your remote setup: The basics

Remote work has one fundamental security principle: Let in the right people to do the right things. In other words, your employees need to be able to do their jobs as if they were at the office.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 came out in much of the world a week ago – now, finally, it's made its way to our little island too, as Samsung has just released its 2020 Galaxy S smartphone series in the UK.

The phone range, announced in late February, consists of the base device, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, and the mighty, top-end Galaxy S20 Ultra, which

Bollinger Motors, the Michigan-based startup known for its rugged electric SUV and pickup truck, unveiled Thursday a chassis designed for a Class 3 commercial vehicle that has the potential to expand its customer base.

The move reflects a broader trend among EV startups to at least consider commercial applications for its vehicles in an effort to generate more revenue in this capitally intensive business. Rivian, for instance, has struck a deal with Amazon to provide electric vans for the e-commerce company.

Now, Bollinger Motors is jumping in. The companyCEO Robert Bollinger said they saw potential for commercial applications when the company first built its B1 SUV.

&When we first built our Class 3 B1, we knew there was a commercial aspect to the platform,& Bollinger said in a statement. &Not only cab-on-chassis, but entirely new truck bodies can fit on our E-Chassis, and help propel the world to all-electric that much faster.&

This E-Chassis is the same platform shared with BollingerB1 SUV and the B2 Pickup. It will also accommodate future models and other trucks developed by Bollinger Motors, the company said. The E-Chassis can be customized to meet customer requests and will include 120 kWh battery pack or an optional180 kWh battery pack, all-wheel drive, dual motor, portal gear hubs, hydraulic anti-lock power brakes and the ability to carry a 5,000-pound payload.

The E-Chassis will be built along its B1 and B2 vehicles and will be available to commercial customers in 2021, the company said.

They're here: the editorial teams at TheIndianSubcontinent, APC, TechLife and PC Gamer have checked over a huge field of candidates from 2019 and narrowed down to a (reasonably) compact list of finalists – these are the products and companies our expects believe have what it takes to be winners.

There can only be one winner in each category, of