Apple will pay out $2 million to California retail employees
A long-running class action lawsuit between Apple and employees of its retail stores in California came to a quick conclusion today. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2011 by four former employees but expanded in 2014 to include around 20,000 Apple retail employees in California. The suit alleged that Apple failed to give employees adequate breaks, failed to pay wages in a timely manner after employees left the company and failed to provide accurate wage statements. The case finally went to court in San Diego back in October, and as Apple Insider reports today a jury has now ordered Apple to pay out $2 million in restitution.
The settlement works out to about $95 per employee included in the class, and $2 million is a tiny fraction of the $42.4 billion Apple pulled in during Q3 alone. For its part, Apple claimed it has offered adequate breaks in accordance with California Labor Code for years before the lawsuit was filed. The company has not yet commented on today’s settlement, but the employees who were denied breaks while helping customers pick out new iPhones and iPhones will see their cash as soon as the lawyers get their cut.
Source: Apple Insider
2016 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk review – Roadshow
The Good On paper it’s got the most off-road capability in its class. The Cherokee comes with the excellent Uconnect system.
The Bad No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. The Cherokee has much less cargo space than competitors and the Trailhawk trim line suffers a bit on the pavement.
The Bottom Line If you expect to go off-road, the Trailhawk is a great choice. However, if you plan to stay in civilization, the top-of-the-line Overland trim line may be the better choice.
Many folks shopping for a midsize crossover just want a vehicle with all-wheel drive that performs well in any kind of weather, like the Mazda CX-5 or Toyota RAV4. If, however, you want a vehicle that can cross a creek and drive through a rainstorm on an unmaintained dirt road to your secluded cabin in the woods, let me tell you about the 2016 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. Just be prepared for a few on-pavement concessions.
The Cherokee, around in some form or another since 1974, debuted as a full-sized SUV. Over five generations it morphed into its current midsize crossover platform, and it currently keeps pace in sales with both the popular Wrangler and Grand Cherokee.
The Cherokee is available with a four-cylinder engine, but at 4,000 pounds I was glad for the extra grunt of the 3.2-liter V6 power plant. It’s an extra $1,745 but produces 271 horsepower and 239 pound-feet of torque. It’s definitely the better choice and well worth the extra coin.
Power goes to the pavement through a nine-speed automatic transmission. Yes, nine speeds. I was surprised at the well-behaved gearbox. It never searches for a gear and it willingly steps down two gears, and often three or four, during passing.
I took the Trailhawk on a road trip from Roadshow HQ in San Francisco to Los Angeles and averaged a dismal 22.8 miles per gallon, all while driving 70 to 80 mph for six hours at a time, a bit less than the EPA highway rating of 24 mpg. However, that’s much less than the EPA highway rating of the Subaru Crosstrek, at 33 mpg, and the Toyota RAV4 at 28 mpg.
Take a gander at the 2016 Jeep Cherokee…
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The Cherokee is available in nine different trims, but only the Trailhawk goes through Jeep’s rigorous off-road testing and wears the Trail Rated badge. I was hoping to get the thing on the dirt, but alas our busy schedule worked against us. We hope to revisit the Trailhawk, as it’s got all kinds of off-road goodies that the adventurous will appreciate. At minimum you need two things to make a vehicle off-road-worthy: a locking rear differential and a low range. The Trailhawk has both, plus more features that make it the most dirt-worthy option in its class.
The Cherokee has 8.7 inches of ground clearance and is outfitted with skid plates on the underbody, fuel tank and front suspension. The Selec-Terrain system lets you pick from auto, snow, sport, sand/mud or rock driving modes. High approach, breakover and departure angles help get the Cherokee Trailhawk up and over obstacles and it can ford up to 20 inches of water. The cherry on top is the 56:1 low gear ratio, perfect for high-torque, slow-speed rock crawling. It’s not a Wrangler, but it certainly is approaching one and on paper it kicks butt over other soft-roaders like the Subaru Forester or Crosstrek.
A grown-up Cherokee
The interior of the Cherokee Trailhawk belies its go-anywhere capabilities. The seats are comfortable and there is plenty of leather, with the added bonus of the excellent
Uconnect
navigation head unit. The optional 8.4-inch screen may seem crammed with information, but it’s all thoughtfully laid out and easy to navigate. Included with Uconnect are Siri Eyes Free compatibility, a new drag-and-drop menu bar and a Do Not Disturb function that sends phone calls straight to voicemail and can generate an automatic reply to text messages. It’s not as good as having Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but it’s a good start.
Divoom Voombox Travel 3 review – CNET
The Good The Divoom Voombox 3 is an inexpensive mini Blueototh speaker that’s splash- and shock-resistant and sounds decent enough for its low price and small size. It also has speakerphone capabilities and a built-in carabiner for clipping onto a backpack or belt loop.
The Bad You get what you pay for: It distorts at higher volumes, and the bass is limited.
The Bottom Line For its ultralow price, the Divoom Voombox Travel 3 delivers more than you’d expect.
Divoom’s Voombox Travel 3, a Bluetooth speaker that’s about the size of a creme-filled doughnut, can be found online for a mere $20 (this exact model doesn’t appear to be available in the UK or Australia, but versions of the Travel are available in the UK for around £20).
No, this little guy didn’t blow me away with its sound, but I don’t expect that much for 20 bucks, and the Voombox Travel 3 slightly exceeded my low expectations. I noticed an uptick in sound quality from the original Voombox Travel I reviewed a few years back, but it’s not a big leap.
What you get in the box.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Like all these micro speakers, it’s strongest in the midrange, so it sounds best with your favorite soft rock and acoustic material (it did well enough with several tracks from Sting’s “The Last Ship” album, for example). Its 5 watts of power allows it to play reasonably loud — enough to fill a small hotel room — but once you start throwing more complicated songs at it, your music will fray around the edges and distort a bit. There’s some bass but not a lot. It certainly sounds better than your phone’s or tablet’s speakers.
You can lay the speaker flat, but I found it sounded better standing vertically and pointed directly at me (I used its built-in carabiner to hang it from a hook). It’s splash-resistant and rated to deliver six hours of battery life, which is decent enough for a speaker this size. A microphone is on board for speakerphone calls.
This competes with such speakers as the now-discontinued Logitech X100, which also retails for less than $20 and is similar in shape. The Divoom speaker feels more durable, and — unlike the old Logitech — it’s splashproof. But I can’t say the Divoom sounds better than the X100 or is a definitely better choice than that speaker. It’s just a little different — and both are recommendable at their low price points if a a tiny portable speaker is what you’re looking for.
‘1979 Revolution’ lands on Android
1979 Revolution: Black Friday is a powerful adventure game about a photojournalist, Reza, who gets tangled up in the movement to overthrow the Shah of Iran around 1979. And now, the complete game is on Android. 1979 Revolution hit Google Play today for Android devices, following its launch on PC, Mac and iOS earlier this year.
1979 Revolution is all about the decisions that players make during the revolution, and at times it feels more like a documentary than a game. It’s infused with true stories and real photos of the Iranian Revolution, as collected by creator and iNK Stories founder Navid Khonsari. Khonsari lived in Iran until he was 11, and his home videos and personal experiences are scattered throughout the game.
As a former Grand Theft Auto developer, Khonsari is well aware of the impact that video games can have on broader society, he told Engadget in October.
“I’m not saying games can provide world peace because there’s a lot of other parts that need to move, but they can actually start a conversation that goes beyond the single dimension of how countries, regions, people, politics and conflicts are being portrayed in single, five-minute news pieces that generalize an entire nation or group of people,” he said.
The United Nations agrees with Khonsari. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization highlighted 1979 Revolution in a November paper about the ways video games can support peace education and conflict resolution.
“1979 Revolution: Black Friday is a distinctive example of how a digital game can explore the complex and ambiguous ethical dilemmas faced by individuals in a historically and culturally accurate zone of conflict,” the paper reads.
Iranian authorities banned the sale of 1979 Revolution in the country, claiming it is an “anti-Iranian” game. In response to the ban, iNK Stories translated the entire experience into Farsi. It’s now available in seven languages — English, Spanish, Russian, German, French, Turkish and Farsi — and all of these languages are accessible in the Android version.
Source: Google Play
This Harman Kardon speaker packs Microsoft’s Cortana
The first speaker with Cortana built-in is almost here.
Last week, Microsoft hinted it wanted to compete with devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo, both of which are always-listening, connected speakers packing their own voice assistants. Although Microsoft hadn’t announced any devices, nor are the company’s device partners, it suggested it was ready to allow Cortana to go up against Google’s Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa.
Now, Harman Kardon has revealed it’ll be the first third-party device maker to add Cortana, which is Microsoft’s version of a voice assistant, to a speaker. It published a video to tease the audio hardware, which is launching sometime next year. In a 30-second clip, it’s obvious that the upcoming speaker looks like Amazon Echo, though it appears to feature a display at the top. Keep in mind Amazon is rumoured to be working on a a new Echo device with a display, as well, though there’s been no sign on when we can expect that to debut.
It appears as though the display on Harman Kardon’s speaker will provide access to Cortana’s user interface. Microsoft has been explaining lately that it wants to put Cortana on devices with screens, including Internet of Things (IoT) gadgets like smart toasters and thermostats.
So, this speaker should be the first of many products designed to showcase Cortana, but we don’t yet know pricing or availability.
California tells Uber to get a permit for its self-driving cars
You know how Uber was certain that its San Francisco self-driving car test was legal, and didn’t need a permit? It might want to rethink that assessment. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles tells Uber that it must get a permit to try out its autonomous ridesharing vehicles on state roads, just as 20 other companies have done. And the agency isn’t asking nicely. In a letter to Uber, the DMV warns that the firm “must cease” the San Francisco operation and apply for a permit if it wants to avoid “legal action.”
We’ve reached out to Uber for comment and will let you know what it says. However, it previously argued that having a driver ready to take over meant that it didn’t require a permit. That’s supposedly only for cars that are completely capable of driving themselves, which isn’t true here. However, it might not be reading the law correctly. As University of South Carolina law professor Bryant Walker Smith explains to the AP, Uber may be obeying the letter of the law but not the spirit — permits were intended as a “gateway” to public launches, and might be necessary regardless.
As it stands, the state may have solid evidence of why it’s so cautious. Mere hours after the test went live, Charles Rotter posted video of a self-driving Uber clearly running a red light. While there were no dire consequences, and Uber states that it was due to “human error” in a vehicle that wasn’t part of the pilot, there’s no guarantee that the next incident won’t be the fault of the car or won’t be as harmless. A permit isn’t a surefire way of preventing accidents, but it would reassure officials that Uber isn’t taking any dangerous shortcuts. In the meantime, you can read Uber’s full statement on the red light incident below.
“This incident was due to human error. This is why we believe so much in making the roads safer by building self-driving Ubers. This vehicle was not part of the pilot and was not carrying customers. The driver involved has been suspended while we continue to investigate.”
Via: AP
Source: California DMV
Twitter wasn’t at Trump’s tech summit because it’s ‘too small’
President-elect Donald Trump held a summit today with leaders from the tech industry, but there was a key omission: Twitter. Reuters reports the meeting included Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella among others. Not at the table? Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. The transition team’s official reasoning is that “the conference table was only so big” and that with a $13.85 billion market capitalization, Twitter was “too small” to invite.
But one of Reuters’ sources claims otherwise, saying it was a retaliation for the microblogging service’s refusal to allow a sponsored hashtag for #crookedhillary during the first two presidential debates — a decision that apparently came down from Dorsey himself. Twitter’s reasoning was that is might mislead users who wouldn’t be able to tell if the campaign had paid for the emoji (a bag of money with wings) that would automatically append the hashtagged tweets.
Given Trump’s love of the platform as a communications tool, a way to delete things he’s said prior, and his 17.3 million followers’ adoration of using it for abuse, Twitter’s absence raised a few eyebrows. We’ve reached out to the company for more information and will update this post should it arrive.
Source: Reuters
Wear some Android and Chill this holiday!
Wear some Android and Chill, and celebrate all things comfortable!
Whether it’s a t-shirt, sweatshirt, hoodie or mug, we’re celebrating all things Android and Chill here at AC. It’s cold in many parts of the world right now, so what better way is there to get comfy than adorning your favorite piece of Android apparel and cozying up to a show on Netflix?
That’s right, for a limited time, grab some Android and Chill and wear it proudly!
See at Teespring
Or, if that’s not what you’re into, check out AC’s entire lineup of apparel, some holiday-themed and some just generally awesome, for some other ideas!
How to watch porn on Google Daydream [NSFW]
Watching porn on Google Daydream doesn’t take much at all.
Porn in VR is popular for plenty of different reasons, not the least of which is being able to experience your adult entertainment in an immersive way that puts you in the middle of the action. If you’re new to VR, or you’ve just picked up that awesome new Google Daydream headset, you may be wondering how it is you actually get to watch porn. After all, it isn’t as though you can search for it in the Play Store.
Well, have no fear, we’ve got all the details for accessing porn on your Daydream headset.
Read More at VR Heads!
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