Technology

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing issued a statement saying Riot Games has failed to inform its employees of their right to speak to the government about instances of harassment and discrimination. In a press release, the DFEH — the body also suing Activision Blizzard for discrimination and harassment — stated that it has asked the courts, “to compel Riot Games Inc.’s compliance with the Court’s June 4, 2021 order requiring the company to send a notice to its workers about their rights to speak with DFEH.” In 2018, an extensive investigation by Kotaku revealed Riot Games fostered an environment in which female employees were harassed, belittled, and passed up for promotion. In November of that year, one current and one former employee filed a class-action lawsuit acc...

People always look at me weirdly when I say that I use Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Live with my iPhone 12 Pro. But it’s a pairing that makes sense for me: First, I need something that sits entirely within my ear, without a stem that’s going to risk being knocked about by a bike helmet’s strap. Second, they work with Samsung’s companion Galaxy Buds app on iOS, so I can still access their advanced features. And third? I just love that they’re shaped like little kidney beans. But if you were to try the same thing with Samsung’s newer Galaxy Buds Pro or Galaxy Buds 2 you’ll find Samsung’s iOS earbud companion app hasn’t been updated to support them. Samsung wants you to buy a Samsung phone, so it appears to be locking you out of numerous little features, much like how Apple’s AirPods Pro are similar...

For the first time ever, there’s an official water shortage at the largest water reservoir in the US. Today, the US Bureau of Reclamation declared a water shortage at Hoover Dam’s Lake Mead, which 25 million people across the Western US and Mexico rely on for water. It’s the first time this kind of declaration had been made on the Colorado River, the main source of water for Lake Mead, CNN and E&E News report. The declaration will trigger mandatory cuts to water use starting January 1, 2023. California, Arizona, and Nevada all tap water from Lake Mead. Based on federal guidelines for shortages brokered in 2019, Arizona will lose 18 percent of its annual apportionment of water from Lake Mead, and Nevada will lose seven percent of their annual allotment. Mexico, which also gets water fro...

Tesla is now under investigation by the United States government agency, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Specifically, the agency is investigating the manufacturer’s autopilot system due to an error with spotting parked emergency services vehicles. The fault has resulted in a number of accidents, which resulted in 17 injuries and one death according to NHTSA. The death of a Florida man occurred in 2018 as the engaged autopilot system crashed into a tractor while the driver was not actively operating the vehicle. Additionally, NHTSA has pinned down 11 accidents since 2018 which were the result of Tesla’s autopilot system or its Traffic Aware Cruise Control according to The Associated Press. The accidents involved collisions with vehicles with engaged hazard light...

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is suing NASA over a Moon landing contract that was awarded to a rival aerospace company, Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Blue Origin was one of three companies in competition for a contract to land NASA’s astronauts on the Moon for the first time since 1976, proposing a $5.9 billion USD lunar landing system. NASA had originally said it would give two companies Human Landing System contracts, but in April, it was announced that only SpaceX’s $2.9 billion USD Starship proposal had been chosen. In addition to Blue Origin, Dynetics, which mostly serves the United States government, was passed over. The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims today. While specific details of the suit are under wraps, a Blue Origin spokesperson told CNBC that the company is “to ...

Peloton is ready to address at least one of its treadmill recalls. Regular Tread owners can now get their equipment fixed, which will involve a technician coming to users’ homes. They can schedule the visit starting this month. The company recalled both the Tread Plus, its more expensive first treadmill, and the Tread, its newer, cheaper device, in May after reports of multiple injuries and at least one death on the Tread Plus. There were 18 incidents of the regular Tread’s touchscreen falling and causing minor cuts and bruises in the UK and Canada. Peloton and the Consumer Product Safety Commission haven’t said exactly what was wrong with the Tread — only that the touchscreen could loosen — or how it’s being fixed. Only 1,050 units of the Tread exist right now, so it’s not a massive recal...

Tinder said on Monday that it will make its ID Verification feature available to all members around the world “in the coming quarters,” according to a news release. The feature will allow users to verify their identities by uploading documentation; in Japan, where the feature has been live since 2019, a passport or license is typically used, but that may vary from place to place. The company said it will take into consideration recommendations from experts and input from Tinder members about which documents would be used in each country as well as local regulations and laws while it rolls out the feature. Tinder says it will use the feedback to ensure the process is inclusive and “privacy-friendly.” Rory Kozoll, head of trust and safety product at Tinder, said the company is taking a “test...

Bluesky, the Twitter-funded effort to create a decentralized social network standard, has finally found a project lead — the creator of Happening, Jay Graber. Bluesky and Graber have also begun hiring for the project’s first developers, meaning the slowly gestating project might finally become a bit less “blue sky” and a bit more real. Besides experience leading the work on Happening’s event organizing features, Graber worked on Zcash, a cryptocurrency created by the Electric Coin Company that uses zero-knowledge cryptography to secure transactions. Graber was also one of the authors of a report Bluesky published in January detailing its research into decentralized web systems. While the report didn’t explain how Bluesky itself would work, it did highlight some of the areas Graber and her ...

If you’re a blind or low-vision iPhone user who relies on the FlickType keyboard to type, I’ve got some bad news — you’re about to become a casualty of the fight between Apple and one of its staunchest critics. Developer Kosta Eleftheriou has announced that he’s discontinuing the iPhone keyboard portion of his app, and says that keyboard will automatically be removed in a future update. It’s with a heavy heart today that we’re announcing the discontinuation of our award-winning iPhone keyboard for blind users. Apple has thrown us obstacle after obstacle for years while we try to provide an app to improve people’s lives, and we can no longer endure their abuse. pic.twitter.com/cH1HCQzeP1 — FlickType Watch Keyboard (@FlickType) August 16, 2021 You might have heard the entir...

Founded in the 1960s in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, MODENA is revered for its innovative approach to in-home solutions. Bolstering the brand’s constant global expansion is its design studios, research centers and manufacturers located across the world. To celebrate 40 years of continued innovation, the label has partnered with Marvel on a series of limited-edition home appliances.  For its latest collection, the homeware brand has tapped three iconic characters from the Marvel franchise including Iron Man, Captain America and Black Widow channeling their iconography on a range comprising of a refrigerator, water dispenser, water heater and vacuum cleaner. Serving as the debut release of the partnership, other fan-favorite characters such as Hulk, Black Panther and Thor are cur...

Amazon refreshed its Fire HD 10 tablets in late April, and it added a faster processor and more RAM to make its biggest budget-friendly model a better value. Now is a great time to buy one, as the Fire HD 10 with 32GB of storage and ads on the lock screen is $50 off its usual price, bringing it down to $100. The ad-free version is $115. And, if 32GB of storage doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough, you can purchase an affordable 256GB microSD card that can greatly expand its internal storage for things like apps, movies, and more (it supports up to a 1TB microSD card). The slightly more capable Fire HD 10 Plus is also far less expensive than usual. Normally $180, it’s $130. This upgrade won’t be for everyone, but it has more RAM (4GB compared to 3GB in the standard Fire HD 10), a “soft-touch f...

A quick Google search for “sharks” drums up a sampling of headlines of recent sightings. “Leopard Sharks Return to La Jolla Waters in Droves,” reads one, while another highlights a “cluster of juvenile great white sharks off Pacific Palisades coast.” There’s been a steady stream of these kinds of stories all summer: sharks swimming eerily close to unknowing swimmers nearby. Drones are actually helping researchers dispel some misguided fears If there seem to be more shark sightings than ever, it may be thanks to drones. Aside from driving some scary headlines, drones are actually helping researchers dispel some misguided fears: it turns out that shark encounters aren’t actually so rare. People often don’t even realize when there are sharks around them, drone footage shows, and much of the t...