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A delivery app marketing campaign offering a "free lunch" -- aka a $15 promo code valid for three hours -- sent customers and restaurant workers alike into a spiral on Tuesday as thousands of orders jammed the system and disgruntled New Yorkers tweeted through their hunger pains. BuzzFeed News reports: GrubHub's New York City campaign on May 17 touted the physical and mental benefits of eating lunch, but yielded dozens of complaints, cancelled orders and service workers telling BuzzFeed News they were "exhausted" trying to keep up. GrubHub told BuzzFeed News that at times during the promotion that ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the app was averaging 6,000 orders per minute. "It got overwhelming," said Brandon Ching, who was working the counter at Greenberg's Bagels, a popular sandwich spot in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. "We were short-staffed today so it really added extra stress to my day." And customers were frustrated at the delays. Ebenezer Ackon told BuzzFeed News he was in 3,630th place in line to talk to GrubHub's customer service when he gave up, after waiting more than an hour for food, and went to get something from across the street from his apartment. Blake, who didn't want to use his last name, said the small Brooklyn cafe he ordered from received 200 orders in five minutes as soon as the promo began, so they reluctantly had to cancel orders -- including his. [...] Customers may be frustrated about not getting a product they wanted, but for service industry workers it was a day of non-stop stress. A spokesperson from GrubHub sent BuzzFeed News a statement following the fiasco: "It's clear, New Yorkers were hungry for lunch! While we knew 72% of New York workers call lunch the most important meal of the day, our free lunch promotion exceeded all expectations." Tuesday's campaign received six times more orders than a similar promo last year, they said. The company's statement mentioned that "initial demand temporarily overwhelmed" the app and served customers an error message that was "rectified so New Yorkers could enjoy their much-deserved lunch."

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McDonald's customers will face a big change as checkouts in 800 of its UK stores get a revamp

Facility supports a flurry of HPC development, centered in the Czech Republic

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) expanded its European footprint this week as it revealed plans for a new manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic, dedicated to building high-performance compute (HPC) systems.…

After years of crackdowns, Beijing changing its tune on the industry

The vice premier of China and Xi Jinping's economic right hand man, Liu He, has offered a rare show of support to China's tech industry – both domestic and abroad.…

In the three most deprived areas of Basildon community hubs are set to be developed

Courtney Kiddell was last seen on Friday, May 13

Three cars and two sheds to the rear of the properties were completely alight

The attacker tried to steal the man's phone but stabbed his back and stomach in the act

Chip biz bets interconnect tech will cement its cloud claim, one day

Fresh off the heels of Marvell Technology's Tanzanite acquisition, executives speaking at a JP Morgan event this week offered a glimpse at its compute express link (CXL) roadmap.…

It took one driver 90 minutes to leave Colchester following a three lorry crash

There are a few pets from RSPCA Essex locations who are looking for new homes.

There are a few pets from RSPCA Essex locations who are looking for new homes.

Epping Forest District Council felt approving applications for the shops in Loughton and Buckhurst Hill was not likely to cause a public nuisance

They are closed until further notice

The incident occurred last September.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Researchers in China revealed they have developed a contact lens that can sense an increase in pressure within the eye and release an anti-glaucoma drug should the pressure exceed a certain level. Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the team describe how they created the device using an upper and lower lens, with a snowflake-shaped pressure sensor and wireless power transfer device sandwiched between them around the rim of the lenses. The arrangement appears to give the effect of the wearer having golden irises. However, the team say the design allows the necessary components to be included in the device without blocking the wearer's view or irritating the eye. When the pressure inside the eye increases, the gap between the upper and lower lenses decreases. This is detected by the pressure sensor by means of a cantilever. The sensor then sends a signal to the wireless system which subsequently triggers the release of an anti-glaucoma drug, from a hydrogel attached to an electrode, and enables it to cross the cornea of the eye. The drug, brimonidine, acts to reduce the pressure within the eye. The study reveals that the contact lenses have so far been tested on pigs' eyes and on the eyes of living rabbits -- albeit with smaller-sized lenses -- although trials have yet to be carried out in humans. The researchers note the lenses are not only soft and minimally invasive but are also battery-free, adding that the approach could be expanded to help tackle other eye diseases. "We can now imagine that a glaucoma sufferer wearing these contact lenses will not only receive real-time information about the pressures within the eye, since the contact lens has built-in wireless capacity and can easily communicate with an app on your smartphone, but also receive, for example, pressure-relieving drugs when needed," said Prof Zubair Ahmed from the Institute of Inflammation and Aging at the University of Birmingham. "The materials required to create such contact lenses are inexpensive and soon could be mass-produced," he added.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The coalition will form an administration at Colchester Borough Council if approved next week

June debut of zero trust GDAP tool should make it harder for crims to attack through MSPs and resellers

Microsoft has advised its reseller community it needs to pay attention to the debut of improve security tooling aimed at making it harder for attackers to worm their way into your systems through partners.…

Essex could see torrential downpours and frequent lightning

Drivers with dashcam or any evidence are being asked to come forward