Employee sues Google for ‘illegal’ confidentiality policies
The Information has reported that a Google employee brought a lawsuit against his employer, accusing the company for internal confidentiality policies that supposedly breach California labor laws. One of the more egregious complaints is that Google apparently runs an internal “spying program” that encourages employees to snitch on one another if they think someone leaked information to the press. Further, Google apparently warns employees to not write about potentially illegal activities within the company, even to Google’s own attorneys. There’s even a note that prohibits employees from writing “a novel about someone working at a tech company in Silicon Valley” without approval.
The employee, known only as “John Doe” in the suit, said that one of the reasons for this strict policy is that the company is very fearful of leaks to the press, so much so that anyone who’s guilty of it could be fired. In fact, the employee in question was apparently falsely accused of doing just that. “Confidential information” is classified as “everything at Google,” and can’t be shared with “press, members of the investment community, partners, or anyone else outside of Google.” Essentially, the lawsuit alleges that employees are barred from discussing anything about Google anywhere.
According to the lawsuit, current labor laws state that employees should be able to discuss workplace conditions and potential violations inside the company without the fear of retribution. Additionally, that it should relax the policies so that employees are allowed to speak about the company to outsiders under certain circumstances.
The lawsuit was filed in the California Superior Court in San Francisco under California’s Private Attorneys General Act. If successful, the state would collect 75 percent of the penalty, while the rest would be paid out over to the company’s 65,000 employees. Since there are 12 alleged violations in the suit, the maximum fine could amount to $3.8 billion, with each employee getting about $14,600.
“Google’s motto is ‘don’t be evil.’ Google’s illegal confidentiality agreements and policies fail this test,” the lawsuit said.
Source: The Information
Apple’s tiny, totally wireless AirPods get meticulously torn down
After having been delayed for months — for reasons never publicly confirmed, no less — Apple’s AirPods are finally here. And really, what better to way to celebrate one of the most curious delays in Apple history than by tearing those things apart? The folks at iFixit have done just that (as always), and the end result is a fascinating look at $160 worth of meticulously crafted silicon and audio parts. Spoiler alert: there’s more glue in them than you’d think.
As you might imagine, the tiny scale of Apple’s work and all the glue sealing everything in place make the AirPods a nightmare where repairs are concerned. In fact, all the components are so tightly packed in there that the idea of replacing parts or fixing them in general is downright laughable. Still, this kind of surgery does a great job illustrating the insane, compact origami that goes into modern consumer gadgets. And if nothing else, iFixit’s strangely gorgeous imagery more thoroughly explains the importance of the AirPods’ most questionable design choice: those stems that dangle out of your ear.
People stare, but they probably don’t realize that those stems are mostly all battery — their charge capacity works out to 1 percent of the iPhone 7’s — with long antennas glued to them to maintain a strong connection between the Pods themselves and the phone. (For what it’s worth, we’ve had a pair of AirPods for months and the multiple wireless connections were more-or-less rock-solid the entire time.)
Knowing that doesn’t make the stems look any better, though, as evidenced by all the shade thrown at me by coworkers whenever I wear these things. Also nestled deep within there is what makes the AirPods really tick: the minuscule W1 chip. It’s responsible for the Pods’ dead-simple pairing and power-sipping tendencies, which so far have been the big reasons our review units have seen such consistent use. The level of tension subsides when attention is turned to the AirPods’ charging case, but make no mistake: if you’re a fan of lilliputian tech, this is one teardown you have to see.
What’s on TV: ‘The Walking Dead: A New Frontier,’ ‘Sense8’
The third season of Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead series is here, with the first two epsidoes available on PC, Xbox One and PS4. While most TV shows drop off for a holiday break, we’ll enjoy bowl games including the mighty Ohio Bobcats vs. Troy in the Dollar General Bowl. If that’s not your speed, then just open up Netflix. It’s new miniseries The OA is perfect binge material for a long weekend, plus this weekend it’s dropping a Sense8 holiday special, and a new time travel series, Travelers. On TV, BBC America airs a Doctor Who Christmas special episode Sunday night. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
Blu-ray & Games & Streaming
- The Magnificent Seven (4K)
- Sully (4K)
- 31
- Storks (4K) (3D)
- F1 2016 Official Review
- ESPN 30 for 30 Season 2
- Oasis: Supersonic
- The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 1 & 2 (PS4, PC, Xbox One)
- Lethal VR (PS4)
- Wild Guns Reloaded (PS4)
Tuesday
- Gabriel Iglesias: I’m Sorry for What I Said When I Was Hungry, Netflix, 3AM
- Ten Percent (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- The Break (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- WWE Smackdown, USA, 8PM
- Brooklyn Nine-nine, Fox, 8PM
- WWE Smackdown, USA, 8PM
- Terry Crews Saves Christmas, CW, 8PM
- Michael Buble Sings and Swings, NBC, 8PM
- New Girl, Fox, 8:30PM
- Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best is Yet to Come, NBC, 9PM
- Good Behavior, TNT, 9PM
- Teen Wolf, MTV, 9PM
- Inside the NFL, Showtime 9PM
- Scream Queens (season finale), Fox, 9PM
- Shooter, USA, 10PM
- Aftermath (season finale), Syfy, 10PM
- Cyberwar (season finale), Viceland, 10:30PM
- Too Legit, MTV, 11PM
- Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11PM
Wednesday
- The Timeline (season finale), NFL Network, 8PM
- Lip Sync Battle Holiday Special, Spike TV, 8PM
- Terry Crews Saves Christmas, CW, 8PM
- Star, Fox, 9PM
- Poinsettia Bowl: BYU vs. Wyoming, ESPN, 9PM
- NFL Turning Point, NBC Sports Network, 9PM
- Frequency, CW, 9PM
- Vikings, History, 9PM
- Blood & Fury: America’s Civil War, American History Channel, 10PM
- Game Changers with Robin Roberts, ABC, 10PM
- Incorporated, Syfy, 10PM
- Epic Fails of 2016, MTV, 11PM
- Happy Holiday’s Love, MTV, MTV, 11:30PM
- Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11PM
Thursday
- The Grand Tour, Amazon Prime, 7PM
- Potato Bowl: Idaho vs. Colorado State, ESPN, 7PM
- Giants/Eagles football, NBC, 8:25PM
- Nightwatch, A&E, 9PM
- The Great American Baking Show, ABC, 9PM
- Alone, History, 9PM
- Falling Water (season finale), USA, 10PM
- Pure Genius, CBS, 10PM
- Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11PM
- This is Not Happening (season finale), Comedy Central, 12AM
Friday
- Sense8 Christmas Special, Netflix, 3AM
- Travelers (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- Trollhunters (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- Dollar General Bowl: Ohio vs. Troy, ESPN, 7PM
- A Home for the Holidays, CBS, 8PM
- Terry Crews Saves Christmas (season finale), CW, 8PM
Saturday
- Bengals/Texans football, NFL Network, 8:25PM
- Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Middle Tennessee State, ESPN, 8PM
Sunday
- Broncos/Chiefs Sunday Night Football, NBC, 8:20PM
- 60 Minutes, CBS, 7PM
- The Librarians, TNT, 8PM
- Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio, BBC America, 9PM
‘Emoji Movie’ teaser sends an eggplant text to 2017
Listen: Nobody had high hopes for a movie based on language-abbreviating conversational images. In fact, it’s probably against their broad-strokes ambiguity to give them life and personality in a film. But The Emoji Movie is coming in August 2017 and we all have to deal with that by watching the film’s first trailer and queuing up our collective sighs.
Discover the secret 🌎 inside your📱. Only on your 📲. Watch the new #EmojiMovie 😄🎬 teaser trailer now! (best viewed on your phone) pic.twitter.com/8C062Br969
— The Emoji Movie (@EmojiMovie) December 20, 2016
Like any youthspeak, emojis have been the subject of countless thinkpieces dissecting the era’s new symbolic patois, from how-did-we-get-here to the dilemma of consciously diversifying emoji skin tone to our inevitable societal conversion into thinking exclusively in emoji. I’ve frontloaded these existential excursions out of the assumption that The Emoji Movie won’t go near any of them. But maybe, as you rewatch the trailer for the third time scraping meaning from less-than-a-minute of talking blobs, you’ll scare up some hope, any hope, that 2017 will rebound so hard that this film pulls a Lego Movie and shocks us all.
Source: The Emoji Movie (Twitter)
Apple Releases Firmware Update 7.7.8 and 7.6.8 for AirPort Base Stations With Back to My Mac Bug Fix
Apple today released new firmware updates for its Wi-Fi base stations, including the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule. The 7.7.8 update is available for 802.11ac base stations, while the 7.6.8 update is available for 802.11n base stations.
According to Apple’s release notes, the update fixes an issue that caused AirPort base stations from appearing in the AirPort Utility when Back to My Mac is enabled. The firmware updates can be installed using the AirPort Utility app for iOS or OS X.
Apple has reportedly stopped development on its AirPort wireless routers, with no new AirPort products planned for release, but the company will continue to offer bug fixes and updates in the near future.
Discuss this article in our forums
First LG UltraFine 5K Display Orders Shipping Out Soon
The first U.S. customers who placed orders for an UltraFine 5K Display from LG will begin receiving their shipments over the next few days, with Apple starting to send out pre-shipment notifications this afternoon.
MacRumors reader Jesse, who placed an order for an UltraFine 5K Display order when orders were briefly accepted in late November, has got a notice that his order will ship out soon with an expected delivery date of December 28 to December 29.
Apple first took LG 5K Display orders on November 28 with six to eight week shipping estimates, but supplies sold out quickly and no more were available for order. Those orders placed in November will be arriving to customers ahead of schedule and before the end of the year.
The display became available for sale again just this morning, with initial shipment estimates of three to five business days. Shipping estimates quickly slipped to two to four weeks, but the first customers who ordered new displays this morning may also get them in late December.
The LG 5K UltraFine Display was created in partnership with Apple for the new MacBook Pro. The display connects to the MacBook Pro over Thunderbolt 3 and include features like built-in USB-C ports for charging, stereo speakers, P3 wide color gamut support, a camera, and a microphone.
Apple has extended its discounted pricing for the LG 5K Display until March, making it available for $974 instead of $1,299.
Related Roundup: Displays
Discuss this article in our forums
LG UltraFine 5K Display Works at Lower Resolution With Older Macs Using Adapter
There has been some confusion as to whether the LG UltraFine 5K Display works with older Macs, but a new support document published today answers that question and makes it clear exactly which Macs can be used with the display and at what resolution.
At its full 5120 x 2880 resolution, the LG 5K display can only be used with Apple’s latest 2016 MacBooks, which have Thunderbolt 3 support. That includes the 15-inch MacBook Pro, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with no Touch Bar.
Using an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter and a Thunderbolt cable, the LG 5K Display can be used at 4K resolution with older iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models. A full list is below:
3840 x 2160 at 60Hz
– Mac Pro (Late 2013)
– MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later
– MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2014) and later
– iMac (Retina, 27-inch, Late 2014) and later
– iMac (Retina, 21.5-inch, Late 2015)
– iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015)
– MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)
– MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)
3200 x 1800 at 60Hz
– Mac mini (Late 2014)
For the Mac mini and the Mac Pro, Apple recommends using the LG UltraFine 5K display as a second monitor as it might not turn on until the machines are booted into macOS. Features like Boot Picker and macOS Recovery may not work on the display when used with those machines.
Power delivery features are only available for Macs equipped with Thunderbolt 3, which means only the three newest MacBook Pro models will be able to charge through the display. Power is not delivered when connecting the display to a Mac using the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, so on older Macs, a separate power supply will need to be used.
Apple started selling the LG 5K UltraFine Display this morning. While the first orders placed offered shipping estimates of three to five days, supplies were quickly exhausted. Orders placed now will ship out in two to four weeks.
Related Roundup: Displays
Discuss this article in our forums
Kenmore 27132 review – CNET
The Good The $950 Kenmore 27132 top-load washing machine is extremely gentle on clothes and you can find it on sale at Sears for $700.
The Bad This washer’s instrument panel looks nice enough, but its small digital screen isn’t very easy to read. Competing models perform better.
The Bottom Line Kenmore’s 27132 doesn’t distinguish itself in any significant way. Consider other top-loaders before you buy this model.
Order from Sears.
Everything about Kenmore’s $950 27132 top-load washing machine is middle-of-the-road.
- The 27132 looks fine, but the digital screen on its display is small and difficult to read
- This washer has a steam function, but fewer advanced options than GE’s $900 GTW810SSJWS
- It performs decently well, but not as well as Kenmore’s $720 22352 or GE’s $650 GTW485ASJWS
The 27132 is ultimately tough to recommend given its average performance and lack of features.
This Kenmore washing machine doesn’t quite…
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Gettin’ to know the 27132
While this $950 Kenmore top-loader has a standard white design finish, its LED status lights, transparent top lid and curved display panel give it a slightly more luxury look. The 27132 also features a high-efficiency impeller cleaning mechanism in its 4.8-cubic-foot bin. That’s something you won’t find on Kenmore’s 22352 or GE’s GTW485ASJWS, both of which rely on traditional agitators to wash clothes.
Want more details on the difference between impellers and agitators? Check out my washing machine buying guide.
Take a look at this chart for an overview of the 27132’s specs versus other sub-$1,000 washers:
Comparing washing machines
| Kenmore 27132 | Kenmore 22352 | GE GTW485ASJWS | GE GTW810SSJWS |
| $950 | $720 | $650 | $900 |
| White | White | White | White, Metallic (for $1,000) |
| 4.8 cubic feet | 4.2 cubic feet | 4.2 cubic feet | 5.1 cubic feet |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| 169 kWh/year | 238 kWh/year | 152 kWh/year | 152 kWh/year |
| 27.5x37x27.9 inches | 27.5x37x28 inches | 27x44x27 inches | 28×44.5×29 inches |
| 1 year, limited | 1 year, limited | 1 year, limited | 1 year, limited |
| 120V; 60Hz | 120V; 60Hz | 120V; 60Hz | 120V; 60Hz |
| No | No | No | Yes, Android and iPhone |
As far as side-by-side comparisons go, Kenmore’s 27132 holds its own pretty well. It may have one or two less cleaning cycles than the competition, but it has a larger cleaning capacity than Kenmore’s 22352 and GE’s GTW485ASJWS (due to its space-saving impeller).
But when you compare it directly to its closest competition — GE’s GTW810SSJWS, the 27132 loses appeal. GE’s GTW810 has a larger cubic-foot capacity, two additional cleaning cycles and a related app for advanced automation. The GTW810 also has a larger digital display on its control panel, making it easier to read how much time is remaining on a cleaning cycle.
Related links:
- This affordable washer is tougher on clothes than stains
- Wi-Fi smarts can’t save this underperforming washer from itself
- How we test washing machines
- There’s a speed demon hidden behind this dryer’s stodgy looks
Cleaning power
To test a washer’s ability to remove stains from clothes, we run fabric strips stained with skin oil, mineral oil, pig’s blood, cocoa and aged red wine through three identical cleaning cycles. Then we calculate how much of the original stains remain. The lower the stain remaining score, the better the washer removed stains.
LeEco Le S3 review – CNET
The Good LeEco’s Le S3 is fast and affordable.
The Bad The phone lacks a headphone jack and NFC, has a clunky interface and its video streaming service doesn’t offer many compelling shows.
The Bottom Line The LeEco Le S3 is a decent budget phone, but the Motorola G4 Plus is better.
The Le S3, the second widely available phone from Chinese phone/TV/video streaming/electronics/basically everything company LeEco, is a less expensive variant of the more powerful LePro 3. At $250 it’s relatively cheap, and packs in some pretty decent hardware. But it isn’t as good as the Moto G4 Plus, our current favorite for the price range. (UK and Australian details have yet to be announced but the US price converts to £200 or AU$340.)
LeEco’s Le S3 phone shines silver
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A few things I liked:
- Clean design: At sub-$300 you’d expect a cheap-feeling phone made out of plastic. But the S3 has a polished aluminum body and shiny metallic trimmings that give it a smart look.
- It’s fast: On paper, the S3 was much faster than other similarly priced Android phones (like the G4 Plus and Samsung Galaxy J3) in benchmark scores to popular testing apps. Day-to-day tasks like launching the camera and scrolling through sites were smooth.
Live content from the internet is accessible with this Live button in the center of your home screen.
Josh Miller/CNET
Things I didn’t like:
- Clunky interface: Just like the LePro 3, the software layer that dresses up Android needs work. Navigating around can be unintuitive, there’s no app drawer (Huawei and Xiaomi do this, too) and your recent apps are merged together with quick settings in one messy page.
- All the video stuff: LeEco’s live broadcasting video service — which sits in your home screen dash and can’t be removed — has clips you can browse from time to time. But there’s nothing really there that I’d actually watch on the regular. The other Le video app and the LeView YouTube video curator don’t have compelling content either.
- Camera’s meh: The phone takes good enough shots for casual pictures and social media, but they aren’t as sharp as other 16-megapixel cameras. And while you can’t tell on a smaller phone screen, images look a lot blurrier and muddier when zoomed in or on a computer desktop.
- Battery life is only OK: The phone has enough battery life to last a workday without a charge and during our lab tests for continuous video playback on airplane mode, it ran 11 and a half hours. While that’s decent, other rival phones lasted 13 to 16 hours.
- No headphone jack or NFC: Unless you love dongles, it’s a drag not to be able to plug in my regular headset to listen to music and calls. And without an NFC chip, you can’t do things like purchase stuff with Android Pay.
The phone also doesn’t have a headphone jack.
Josh Miller/CNET
Other phones you should consider for $200-$250
- Moto G4 Plus ($250, £229 and AU$399): It’s got expandable memory, is water resistant and takes sharper pictures.
- Asus ZenFone 3 ($199, which converts to £159 and AU$269): This one has a more advanced camera that also includes laser-guided autofocus.
- Samsung Galaxy J3 ($110-$180 depending on US carrier, £140 and AU$329): Super cheap and available through major carriers and retailers. Not as powerful as the Le S3, but it’s easier to use and has a long-lasting battery.
- The Google Nexus 5X or OnePlus 2 (prices vary): If you’re willing, look into deeply discounted devices that were released in 2015. Though they may have “last year’s technology,” they are reliable and are still more powerful than the S3.
AIVAnet 