New York bill would ban ‘Pokémon Go’ stops near sex offenders
New York state might not just ban sex offenders from playing games like Pokémon Go — it may eliminate the incentives for them to play, too. A group of senators have introduced a bill that would prevent augmented reality game developers from placing objectives (such as pokéstops) within 100 feet of where a registered sex offender lives. Companies that don’t heed the warning could face fines of up to $100 per day for every location that violates the legislation.
The measure has yet to reach a vote, and there’s no guarantee that it’ll become law. It certainly faces some daunting obstacles. The bill could easily be considered redundant when there’s already a ban on offenders playing AR games, and banning objectives may cause serious problems for players in dense urban areas like New York City. Also, it’s not as if this would stop determined offenders — they’d just have to walk a little farther from home to find their targets. As important as children’s safety is, the bill might not do much to help.
Via: Polygon
Source: New York State Assembly
Basis recalls Peak smartwatch for burn risk from overheating
Back in June, Basis stopped sales of its fitness-focused Peak smartwatch following reports that the wearable was overheating. Today, the company issued a recall for the device, citing the risk of burns or blisters due the device running hot. When it first acknowledged the issue, Basis said it was working on a software update that would remedy the temperature problem and urged customers not to use the wearable until a solution was in place. However, the company revealed today that “despite our best efforts,” it couldn’t find a fix that wasn’t detrimental to the overall user experience.
If you’re a Basis Peak owner, you can return the wearable and any accessories to the company for a full refund. Basis urges all customers, even those who haven’t encountered any issues, to stop using the device immediately and send it back. The company will no longer support the gadget, but users will still be able to access any stored data until December 31, 2016. At that point, all Peak services will shut down, so the watch won’t sync and it will become unusable. For more information on the recall, Basis set up a support site to guide customers through the process.
Source: Basis
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 costs at least $850 in the US
Pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 7 have started in the US, and it’s clear that you’ll be paying a pretty penny for Samsung’s pen-toting flagship phone. The best deals among major carriers are at Sprint and T-Mobile, where the Note 7 will cost $850 if you buy it outright — it may be wiser to go with the installment plans ($35 monthly for 2 years at Sprint, $33 per month with $70 down at T-Mobile). AT&T will sell you the new Note for either $880 outright or $37 per month for 2 years, while our overlords at Verizon offer it for $864 up front or $36 per month over 2 years.
At least you’ll get perks for ordering early. As a general rule, carriers are offering a free Gear Fit 2 or 256GB microSD card if you pre-order. AT&T will also give you a free Gear S2 or 99-cent Galaxy Tab E if you’re willing to subscribe to a data plan for that second device, and it’s continuing a promo where buying a second qualifying Samsung device will score you $695 in bill credits. In T-Mobile’s case, you can choose a year’s worth of Netflix as your freebie if shows are more important than fitness or storage. While your bank account might be hurting by the time you leave the store, you might not have to go accessory shopping at the same time.
Via: Mashable
Source: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon
Apple fixes its gender pay gap, makes small diversity gains
Gender and ethnic diversity remain one of the tech industry’s biggest problems, but this year more big companies are actually shaping up. In its latest Diversity Report, Apple announced today that it’s fully erased the gender pay gap among men and women in the U.S. “for similar roles and performance.” While a noteworthy accomplishment, Apple’s previous wage difference wasn’t very large, with women making 99.6 cents for every dollar a man makes, Business Insider reports. Both Microsoft and Facebook also announced earlier this year that they’ve erased any pay differences among genders.
“We’re now analyzing the salaries, bonuses, and annual stock grants of all our employees worldwide,” Apple wrote. “If a gap exists, we’ll address it. And we’ll continue our work to make sure we maintain pay equity.”
Apple’s overall workforce is now 68 percent male and 32 percent female, a minor shift from last year when it was 69 percent male and 31 percent female. Women account for 37 percent of its new hires, compared to 35 percent last year and 31 percent in 2014. Under-represented minorities, meanwhile, make up 27 percent of new hires (24 percent last year and 21 percent in 2016).
Overall, 54 percent of Apple’s new hires are minorities (which includes Asians, who are more highly represented in the tech world). The below chart shows how Apple’s new hires compare to its existing employees.
Despite its slow and steady progress in overall diversity, Apple’s leadership teams haven’t improved. In fact, the amount of white executives has actually increased to 67 percent from 54 percent a year ago. Among Apple’s retail leadership team, white members now account for 76 percent, compared to 69 percent last year.The gender status of leadership roles, meanwhile, has remained stagnant at 72 percent male and 28 percent female.
Back in January, we also noted that Apple was making very slow gains in diversity. Last year, it also committed $50 million towards getting more minorities hired in the tech world
Source: Apple
You can now pay your Comcast bill at thousands of 7-Elevens
For those who prefer to pay their cable or internet bills in cold, hard cash, Comcast’s new partnership with PayNearMe will allow you to do just that at some 7,700 7-Elevens. Finally, customers can re-up their gigabit internet and grab a couple taquitos anytime, night or day.
Customers will still need a smartphone to make their payments, of course. The in-person payment option works by going to the “Pay Bill” section of the XFINITY My Account app, where users can download a barcode for the amount they’d like to pay. A participating 7-Eleven will scan the barcode, take the payment (plus a $1.25 fee for every transaction) and send a digital receipt to the customer’s phone.
“About five percent of our customers prefer to pay their bills in cash each month,” Comcast’s VP of Customer Service strategy said in a release. “This new partnership gives those customers a payment option that is convenient and simple.”
Now that Comcast is being sued in Washington State, more customers might actually want to consider paying in cash — part of that $100 million lawsuit alleges that the cable company harmed some customers’ credit scores by conducting unnecessary credit checks.
Sony’s original series ‘Powers’ won’t return for season three
Although it lasted two seasons, Sony’s original superhero crime drama Powers unfortunately won’t be returning for a third. According to series creator and comic book author Brian Michael Bendis on Twitter, “season 2 was the last. at least for now.”
this is hard to tweet, but word is that @POWERStheSERIES is sadly, no more. season 2 was the last. at least for now. 1/2
— BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) August 3, 2016
i’ll type more about it later, but thank you ALL for your support. such a fantastic personal experience that you gifted all of us. 2/2
— BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (@BRIANMBENDIS) August 3, 2016
For Sony, the show was a bit of a trial run to test the waters of original programming on its PlayStation Network, so the show’s cancellation doesn’t bode well for more full-length streaming series on PSN. As for the most devoted followers of Powers, Bendis did tell fans that the comic book version he first published in 2000, which eventually became the basis of the series, will live on at Marvel with a new storyline called “Diamond Days.”
Apple’s Workforce is Slightly More Diverse This Year
Apple has released updated diversity numbers that reveal its overall workforce, including tech, non-tech, and retail jobs, is 68% male and 32% female as of June 2016, a slight change from a 69%-31% split in 2015.
Apple profiled some of these employees, including Divya, Ryan, Adrienne, Aurelio, Edith, Riad, Charissa, and Kully, and shared a Creating Opportunities page highlighting its diversity programs and partnerships.
Denise Young Smith, Vice President of Worldwide Human Resources at Apple:
“Diversity is more than any one gender, race, or ethnicity. It’s richly representative of all people, all backgrounds, and all perspectives. It is the entire human experience.”
Apple’s race and ethnicity breakdown among U.S. employees is 19% Asian, 9% Black, 12% Hispanic, 2% Multiracial, 1% Other, and 56% White, representing a 2 percent increase in White employees and a 1 percent increase in both Asian and Hispanic employees compared to last year’s data.
Females represent 37% of Apple’s global new hires, while U.S. underrepresented minorities represent 27% of global new hires. Apple defines underrepresented minorities as “groups whose representation in tech has been historically low — Black, Hispanic, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander.”
Apple said that it has achieved pay equity in the United States for similar roles and performance as of August 2016. The company said female employees earn one dollar for every dollar male employees earn, while underrepresented minorities earn one dollar for every dollar white employees earn.
We see diversity as everything that makes an employee who they are. We foster a diverse culture that’s inclusive of disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, and service to country. We want all employees to be comfortable bringing their entire selves to work every day. Because we believe our individual backgrounds, perspectives, and passions help us create the ideas that move all of us forward.
Creating an inclusive culture takes both commitment and action. We’re helping employees identify and address unconscious racial and gender bias. We’re cultivating diverse leadership and tech talent. We’re continuing our advocacy for LGBTQ equality, investing in resources for Veterans and service members and their families, and exploring new ways to support employees with disabilities. We’re also strengthening our common bonds through on-campus groups, events, and programs.
Apple has shared its recently filed Federal Employer Information Report EEO-1 [PDF], representing employees as of August 2015.
Note: Due to the nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Tag: diversity
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Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 10 With Bug Fixes and Feature Tweaks
Apple today released another update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 10 includes bug fixes and updates for JavaScript, web APIs, Apple Pay, Apple Pay, Web Inspector, MathML, rendering, accessibility, and security. As of release 8, Safari Technology Preview has supported Apple Pay in the web browser, a feature set to launch as part of macOS Sierra.
The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Versions are available for developers running both macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.
Apple’s goal with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can be run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while aimed at developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Tag: Safari Technology Preview
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1Password Introduces $2.99/Month Plan for Individuals, With 6 Months Free at Sign-Up [Updated]
Password managing app 1Password today announced the launch of a new subscription plan for individual users priced at $2.99 per month. The new model will be added to 1Password’s existing subscription tiers, including a team plan (beginning at $3.99 per month) and a family plan ($4.99 per month). This will allow users not in need of enterprise- or family-related perks to join in on 1Password’s various subscription benefits.
According to AgileBits, the company behind 1Password, the biggest advantage of signing up for a subscription on the password organizing app is that users will “get all the 1Password apps for every platform, along with Pro Features, free updates, and free upgrades to every new version of 1Password.” The service allows its subscribers to cancel at any time and alleviates the worry of having to face licenses and paid upgrades down the line.
The individual subscription service runs on the same new hosted platform that AgileBits created for 1Password Teams and 1Password Families. The company said that using the $2.99 per month subscription model provides users with “the simplest and most feature-packed way to use 1Password.”
Our new individual hosted service comes with everything you expect from 1Password, along with these new features:
-Built-in automatic sync across all devices
-Data loss protection
-Web access to your data on 1Password.com
-Item History for restoring deleted or changed items
-Secure Document storage
-Brand new multi-factor security model
As a launch special, anyone who signs up for the new individual plan will get the first six months of 1Password free, without needing to even add their credit card information into the app. To take advantage of the offer, users will need to sign up for the $2.99 per month model before September 21, 2016. The 1Password app is available to download from the iOS App Store for free [Direct Link] — with the option to choose a one-and-done upgrade to 1Password Pro for $9.99 — and the Mac App Store for $64.99. [Direct Link]
Update: As 1Password mentioned on Twitter, the company has “no plans to eliminate standalone licenses,” so any user who prefers to avoid subscription tiers can still do so.
Tag: 1Password
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Apple Music for Android No Longer in Beta
Apple today updated its Apple Music app for Android to version 1.0.0, officially dropping the app’s beta status and announcing its full release. Apple Music is one of the first Apple-branded apps that Apple has brought to Android devices.
First introduced in November of 2015, Apple Music for Android made the Apple Music platform available on Android-based smartphones and tablets for the first time. When the app initially launched, Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue said Apple wanted to bring Apple Music to “everyone in the world” and let people enjoy music “no matter where you were and what products you were using.”
Over the course of the beta testing period, Apple added a handful of new features to the app to bring it in line with the iOS app, including support for music videos, family billing plans, a home screen widget, saving songs to an SD card, and more. Apple Music for Android and Apple Music for iOS now share many of the same features, so the music listening experience is the same across multiple platforms. Today’s update, in addition to removing Apple Music for Android’s beta status, also includes minor performance and stability improvements.
Apple Music is now available on Android. Thank you for your feedback during the beta period.
This update includes equalizer settings and a variety of performance, playback, and stability improvements.
Apple Music for Android is available from the Google Play Store for free. Customers who are new to Apple Music can sign up for a three-month free trial to test out the service.
Tags: Android, Apple Music
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