COVID-19 remote work and learning protocols sent Acer's September revenue soaring to 29.51 billion Taiwan new dollars ($1.03 billion), its highest monthly showing in six years, said the company Monday. September revenue was up 21.3% from the 2019 month and 8.2% higher than August. Q3's 80.03 billion Taiwan new dollars ($2.8 billion) was the highest in 23 quarters, rising 27.3% from a year earlier and 22% from Q2. Acer’s Q3 Chromebook revenue soared 94.4% from the 2019 quarter.

The 2021 Cable-Tec Expo is anticipated to be an in-person event and is scheduled for Oct. 11-14 in Atlanta, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers said Monday. This year's Cable-Tec Expo Virtual Experience is underway. In a talk Monday, Cisco Cable Access business Chief Technology Officer John Chapman said there are "too many [technology] choices" for building future broadband networks. He said DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 systems are being deployed now, and the extended spectrum and full spectrum versions of DOCSIS 4.0 likely will be available in 2022 or 2023.

Jabra and HP are collaborating on a video and audio bundle for pandemic-era meeting room needs, said the companies Tuesday. The bundle combines the Jabra PanaCast panoramic 4K video solution with HP Elite Slice, a conferencing tool for Microsoft Teams and Zoom. It frees users from having to manage “multiple hardware and software components” for videoconferencing needs, they said. Videoconferencing equipment installation and maintenance “can be an extensive and arduous task,” they said. “Having one management system that can easily control, access and maintain the entire meeting room setup is important for today's businesses.”

Nearly nine in 10 "business leaders" who work for CTA member companies view “flexible work arrangements” as the most important benefit for the next five years, the association reported Tuesday. CTA canvassed 240 respondents online Aug.11-Sept. 11, finding 40% say their companies allow “designated telework/work from home day(s) during the pandemic.” Roughly seven in 10 expect to hire more employees to work remotely, and 80% plan to do more job interviews by video chat or teleconference. Fewer than a quarter expect to hire employees to work onsite in the next five years. Sixty-two percent say their companies hadn't “displaced” any workers through furloughs or layoffs “as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic” and don't expect they will. A quarter of the companies have let employees go. Three-quarters of respondents report difficulty finding job candidates “with the right skills and abilities.” Fifty-seven percent crave candidates with data analytics skills, while equal 56% proportions seek recruits who excel at software development or project management.

Stay-at-home COVID-19 directives fueled a surge in U.S. consumers using paid video streaming services, reported CTA Thursday. The 71% proportion of streamers using a paid service outpaced the segment using traditional pay-TV services (58%) for the first time, it said. A quarter of consumers added at least one paid streaming service within the past few months, said the report. “Consumers are watching more content and watching longer, as new innovations in format and delivery draw in millions of first-time users," said Sayon Deb, CTA manager-market research. "New digital activities such as virtual concerts, livestreaming and shared viewing on social platforms are also resonating with consumers.” Paid and free video streaming services had 19 and 15 point increases from 2018, CTA said, while cable, satellite and fiber pay-TV services fell 15 points over two years. TV is the primary screen for entertainment for 92% of consumers, said a survey of 1,001 U.S. respondents 18 and over, fielded July 30-Aug. 5. Some 47% of U.S. adults have been playing more video games since the pandemic began, led by gaming console use, up 42% year on year. About 85% of mobile gamers play weekly; daily gaming is up 26%. About 20% U.S. adults subscribe to a digital gaming service; 28% signed up for the first time during the pandemic.

The GAO should do a tech assessment of COVID-19 contact tracing apps, wrote House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and committee Republicans Friday. “Challenges that may reduce the effectiveness of these technologies include low adoption rates, testing delays, privacy concerns, and interoperability of the apps,” wrote Walden, Health Subcommittee ranking member Michael Burgess, R-Texas, and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. “We are also interested in the relationship between testing and state contact tracing programs.” They requested information about successful efforts by foreign countries. The agency didn’t comment.

Review the Department of Health and Human Services' cyber incident response capabilities, a bipartisan group of Commerce leaders told GAO. "Protecting HHS computing operations during the pandemic response is paramount to the nation’s security, economic well-being, and public trust," said a Friday letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro from House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., along with Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and ranking member Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. HHS Chief Information Security Officer Janet Vogel "recently acknowledged that the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis has placed a new target on HHS, and malicious actors have boosted their efforts to infiltrate the agency and access sensitive data," the lawmakers said. "In addition, it was reported in March 2020 that HHS suffered a cyber-attack on its computer system ... [that] was part of a campaign of disruption and disinformation that was aimed at undermining the response to the coronavirus pandemic and may have been the work of a foreign actor."

President Donald Trump urged negotiators Friday to "Go Big" amid the latest restart in talks for the next COVID-19 aid bill. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters Trump approved a "revised" aid package for more talks between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The offer is reportedly for $1.8 trillion in aid. That would be $400 billion less than the House-passed, revised version of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act. HR-8406 includes more than $15 billion in broadband funding (see 2010020044). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., meanwhile, said he thinks passage of an aid measure is "unlikely" before the Nov. 3 election.

IDC estimates 45% of organizations have employees working full time from home, vs. 14% before COVID-19, reported the company Thursday. “Many organizations anticipate that work-from-home employees will remain a large proportion of the workforce,” it said. “Supporting hybrid workforces and ensuring that remote and work-from-home employees have the same sets of connectivity and productivity tools as their in-office counterparts will be essential.” Other predictions: (1) By 2023, 75% of grocery e-commerce orders will be picked up curbside or in store, “driving a 35% increase in investment in onsite or nearby micro-fulfillment centers." (2) Telemedicine will be a “permanent fixture,” with healthcare providers increasing spending by 70% on connected health technologies by 2023. (3) Nearly a third of restaurants using third-party delivery platforms will transition to “native delivery options” to eliminate third-party fees. (4) At least 30% of small and medium businesses will fail by 2021, sparking "a new wave of single-employee “microbusiness-powered and ecosystem-first disruptors" by 2023.

The FCC doesn’t have legal authority to use E-rate funds to pay for wireless connections so students can learn at home, Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter to Senate Democrats posted Thursday. “The Commission must act within the bounds of the statutory authority given to the agency by Congress and use E-Rate program funding for broadband and other ‘services’ provided to school ‘classrooms,’” Pai wrote: “As such, wireless connectivity and devices supplied to students at home unfortunately do not qualify for E-Rate support under the law, regardless of whether they are being used for educational purposes.” A September letter by most Senate Democrats asked Pai “to utilize the E-Rate program to close” the homework gap “without further delay.”