Category Archives: Technology

Will.i.am. and Honeywell Unveil $299 Face Mask

After all, what are shoes, Will.i.am said, but protective equipment for the feet? We’ve just forgotten that was their original purpose because shoes have become a form of self-expression. You could not, he pointed out, “walk into a mall or a restaurant or an airplane without shoes on,” just as you aren’t supposed to walk […]

The Robots Are Coming … to Mow Your Lawn

This article is part of our new series, Currents, which examines how rapid advances in technology are transforming our lives. Even before last winter’s snow had fully melted, the roar of leaf blowers began to punctuate the quiet of many towns, renewing noise battles that had only intensified as more people worked from home. Leaf […]

Supreme Court Backs Google in Copyright Fight With Oracle

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion. Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not participate in the case, which was argued before she joined the court. In dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., said leapfrogging […]

Amazon Illegally Fired Activist Workers, Labor Board Finds

SEATTLE — Amazon illegally retaliated against two of its most prominent internal critics when it fired them last year, the National Labor Relations Board has determined. The employees, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, had publicly pushed the company to reduce its impact on climate change and address concerns about its warehouse workers. The agency told […]

Amazon’s Clashes With Labor: Days of Conflict and Control

In recent weeks, a heated discussion about whether Amazon’s workers must urinate in bottles because they have no time to go to the bathroom — a level of control that few modern corporations would dare exercise — has raged on Twitter. “Amazon is reorganizing the very nature of retail work — something that traditionally is […]

Can the Gleam of High-End Watches Thrive on Audio-Only Clubhouse?

It has been called the perfect social media platform for a pandemic, and also a lockdown fad. Clubhouse, the invitation-only social audio app valued at $1 billion, counts Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey and Drake as members. Brands in beauty, fashion, tech, travel and luxury have been experimenting with the buzzy platform, and now it is […]

Facebook acknowledges personal information of 500M users posted online, says data is ‘old’ – National

The phone numbers and personal data of more than 500 million Facebook users has been posted online by a low-level hacker in a forum for free. Alon Gal, CTO of Hudson Rock, a cybercrime intelligence firm first discovered the leak on Saturday. Read more: Head of Facebook Canada warns news posts could be blocked […]

That Spotty Wi-Fi? There’s $100 Billion to Fix It.

WASHINGTON — Kimberly Vasquez, a high school senior in Baltimore, faced a tough problem when the pandemic began. She had no fast internet service in her home, but all her classes were online. Marigold Lewi, a sophomore at the same school, was regularly booted off Zoom classes because of her slow home connection. Ms. Lewi […]