Lawsuit by Apple Retail Employees Over Off-the-Clock Bag Searches Dismissed
U.S. District Judge William Alsup today dismissed a lawsuit against Apple that had been brought by several retail employees over Apple’s policy of conducting required security searches of personal bags without compensation after workers had clocked out for meal breaks or at the end of their shifts, reports Bloomberg. The class action lawsuit covered thousands of employees at Apple’s California retail stores.
(Photo via Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke)
The ruling by a San Francisco federal judge Saturday releases the company from having to compensate as many [as] 12,400 former and current employees from 52 stores throughout the state a few dollars a day for time spent over a six-year period having their bags and Apple devices searched at meal breaks and after their shifts. A law professor who reviewed filings in the case estimated Apple could have been be on the hook for as much as $60 million, plus penalties.
In his ruling, Alsup noted that employees could have avoided the searches, as some employees did, by not bringing personal bags to work. The lawsuit had been restricted to California as the U.S. Supreme Court had previously ruled workers are not entitled to compensation for time spent in post-shift bag searches under federal law.
An attorney for the plaintiffs in the case reports they are weighing their potential next steps, which could include an appeal of Alsup’s ruling.
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Google adds Fly Labs to its Photos team
With the acquisition of Fly Labs, Google looks to expand upon its Photos team.
Just this past week, Google acquired the company Fly Labs in order to improve upon its Photos team and app. With the recent success the company has had, Google believes it will be a well worthy pickup.
Fly Labs has a suite of apps including Tempo, Fly Crop and Clips. All of which are guided towards editing one’s photos and videos. The apps are said to last in the Play Store for the next three months, but include no further updates. It’ll be interesting to see how Google implements the technology into its already good Photos application. But as you may know, good is never enough to Google. There’s always room for improvement, and this will likely be a good one time come the update’s release.
Source: Fly Labs
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US Army lab develops a way to read soldiers’ brains
Military intelligence analysts spend a lot of time scrutinizing countless images from various sources, such as drones and surveillance systems. An automated program developed by cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Anthony Ries, however, can make the process a lot faster. Ries works for a US Army research facility called the “The MIND (Mission Impact Through Neurotechnology Design) Lab,” which has just began testing a program that can interpret brain waves. In simpler words: it can read human minds. During a recent test, he hooked up a soldier to an EEG connected to one of the lab’s desktop computers and asked him to look at a series of images on screen flashing at a rate of one per second. Each image falls under one of five categories — boats, pandas, strawberries, butterflies and chandeliers.
Source: US Army
Lawsuit claims AMD lied about the number of cores in its chips
Processor makers regularly exaggerate the performance of their chips (remember Intel’s obsession with clock speed?), but AMD is learning that there are limits around what you can claim. It’s facing a class action lawsuit accusing the company of misleading buyers about the number of cores in its Bulldozer-based CPUs. It would advertise that a given processor had eight cores, for example, when it effectively had four — each core in AMD-speak was really half of a module, and couldn’t operate independently. As such, that Bulldozer part couldn’t handle as many simultaneous instructions as you’d expect in a true eight-core design. That was bound to be a disappointment if you were a performance junkie expecting eight-way computing in your gaming PC or server.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Legal Newsline
T-Mobile slashing $100 off top smartphones before the holiday deals
The holidays are coming and that can only mean one thing for avid tech shoppers – some hot deals are about to come! Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner, kickstarting Christmas shopping with some of the hottest offers you will see all year. T-Mobile doesn’t want you to wait around, though.
The Un-carrier is getting jolly with $100 discounts on top smartphones (plenty of them are on our list of best smartphones). And this discount applies whether you are buying the smartphone at full price or through an installment plan. All users have to do is access the T-Mobile Super Smartphone Deals website and click on “Apply Coupon”. After that, simply follow the usual purchase method and add your phone(s) to your cart. The discount will be applied during checkout.
Which phones are discounted?
You can’t just buy any phone. This deal is limited to 11 handsets, but they happen to be some of the best devices currently in the market. Here’s a list:
- LG G4
- LG V10
- Samsung Galaxy S6
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
- Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4
- Samsung Galaxy Note 5
I know, those are only 7 phones and I said there were 11 included in the offer. This is because the other 4 are from Apple. We don’t tend to cover that kind of stuff here, but if you are into those phones it’s easy to assume which ones they are. With that said, let’s get back to talking about these hot Android smartphones.
Some of these are actually pretty hot deals. The LG G4 can be had for only $379.76, and the Galaxy Note 5 is only $599.99 after the discount.
Limitations?
There are a few things to keep in mind. For starters, we don’t know how long this deal is going for, so you should act as quickly as possible if interested. We are also not sure if this applies only to new lines, or upgrades as well. What we do know is you can’t use these deals on top of other offers and it is a web-only discount. You can’t just waltz into a T-Mobile store and get $100 off!
Are you signing up?
There you have it, guys. Winter is coming, and the deals are already arriving. Are any of you getting one of these phones? Which one?
HTC One A9 pre-orders get pushed back in the United States
HTC has sent out an email to all who ordered the company’s glorious One A9 handset. Apparently, pre-order shipments in the United States have been delayed.
HTC has indicated the wait will be multiple weeks depending on your carrier and that it will begin shipping orders on November 10th. Sprint has seen the heaviest delays thus far, but others aren’t far behind. Verizon has also pushed back the shipping date, although no specific day has been mentioned. According to HTC’s press conference, the grey and silver variants will be among the first to ship, with the red and gold versions to follow a few weeks later. However, the company decided to accept pre-orders of all color options going against their previous statement. Up until this point, HTC hasn’t elaborated much on this other than the fact that orders have been backed up.
If HTC seriously wants to change things around, this has not been a good start considering some won’t get their hands on the device they ordered until December depending on color and carrier. We’ll notify you if any changes are made. In the meantime, check out our written comparison of the HTC One A9 and Google’s new Nexus 5X.
Via: Android Police
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Hearthstone gets new functionalities with well improved update
Blizzard’s already popular ‘Hearthstone’ game has expanded to ‘Hearthstone: The League of Explorers.’
The update will replace the current app, so there is no need to download a separate application. It includes a whole new experience with a bevy of new elements and 45 additional cards. These can then be used to fight off the enemy and explore new territory. The app also brings four new wings to the single player mode for more opportunities to gain rewards.
Perhaps the biggest addition is including all-new class challenges. This will allow users to advance their skill set and more. Users can also discover new game boards and play around with the new Discover keyword feature. Last but not least, extra super challenging modes have been included just in case you feel like a pro. Those interested can check out the feature set in the video down below.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Blizzard
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BuzzFeed returns to SXSW lineup following online harassment fiasco
BuzzFeed said it would only come back to the South by Southwest festival panel roster if organizers put online harassment back on the agenda, and it’s making good on its word. The web firm tells Recode that it’s returning to SXSW 2016’s lineup now that the event has instituted a day-long Online Harassment Summit. The SXSW team has “moved in the right direction,” BuzzFeed says. There’s no word yet on whether or not fellow abstainer Vox Media is returning, although it won’t be surprising if the online publisher follows suit.
Source: Recode
Staples Debuts iPad Pro Pre-Orders With November 25 Launch Date
With Sam’s Club having started taking pre-orders for the iPad Pro on Friday and selling out within hours and MacMall also moving to accept pre-orders ahead of an expected launch next week, Staples is the latest major U.S. retailer to allow customers to begin placing orders for the new device.
Staples is offering all Wi-Fi models of the iPad Pro for pre-order, as well as a number of accessories including the Apple Pencil, Smart Keyboard, and both Smart Covers and Silicone Cases in charcoal gray and white. One catch for those looking to order through Staples is that the office supply retailer is quoting a launch of November 25, the day before Thanksgiving. With Apple and other retailers apparently anticipating a launch towards the end of next week, Staples customers wouldn’t be among the first to get their hands on the new device.
Staples is also not offering any discounts on the iPad Pro at this time, selling the 32 GB models for $799 and 128 GB models for $949. The Apple Pencil is priced at $99 and the Smart Keyboard is available for $169, while the Smart Covers are priced at $59 and the Silicone Cases at $79.
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Get the new ZTE Prestige half-priced this holiday season from Boost Mobile
Although the ZTE Prestige is normally priced at $99.99, Boost Mobile is offering it for only $49.99 for a limited time. This offer will only last for the holiday season, and you can take advantage of it at any participating Boost Mobile exclusive retail stores or participating independent dealers. New and existing Boost Mobile users will be eligible to redeem this offer nation-wide. To see a list of locations where you can take advantage of this hot deal, check Boost Mobile’s store offers.
The ZTE Prestige pairs with a no-contract plan and is a pretty slick device in its own right. Especially for $50. The device has a 5-inch display and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. The rear-facing camera is 5-megapixels and the front camera is 2-megapixels. The phone boasts a gig of ram and a 31.1GHz quad-core processor. The device only has 8GB of internal storage, but you can add external storage up to 32GB.
See also: Boost Mobile will reward you with more data for paying your bill on time
The Prestige is brand new on the market as of today, and the discount applied toward the phone doesn’t include taxes. This limited offer would make an excellent gift, but you have to act quick because it all goes away on January 3. After that, you’re gonna be paying twice as much for this little gem.
Does this look like something you might be interested in? It looks like a good gift for younger, first time users of smart phones. Will you be taking advantage of this deal, or letting it slide by? Let us know in the comments!
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