Hasta La Gadget!

According to Robert Morris University-Illinois, an athlete is an athlete, whether their playing field is physical or digital. The institution this week announced that it has added the first ever eSports sector to its Athletics program. Four words, folks: League of Legends scholarships.

It’s been two years since Nikon’s medium-format D800 and D800E SLRs hit the scene, and that’s just about an eternity for gadget nerds. What exactly has Nikon been doing since then? Well, aside from working on top-tier beauties like the D4 and D4S,…

It seems that Grand Theft Auto Online has seen its heist missions delayed, but is this going to stop whispers on the details of this particular bunch of missions from being divulged? Apparently no, as one solitary gamer has alleged details on the first batch of heists before they are officially revealed. This particular leak itself hails from DomisLive, where there are accompanying credits to Lazy Gamer and Demetri, who happens to be the very same YouTube user who did deliver accurate details in the past concerning GTA Online’s I’m Not A Hipster update, amongst others.

Of course, just like a disclaimer in financial reports as well as investment prospectus, previously correct leaks does not set a precedent that future leaks will be correct, so it is best to take this bit of news with a pinch of salt.

The alleged GTA Online file is said to carry descriptors on what has been touted to be the game’s incoming heists, as well as other match types. As for the heists themselves, they would include “Prison Van Rescue”, “Drop Off Hooker”, “Funeral”, “Territory Takeover”, “Fight Gangmate”, “Cop Territory”, “Ornate Bank Heist” and “FIB Grab”. As with all other rumors, only time will tell whether it will eventually be proven correct and true or not.

GTA Online Heist Missions Rumored To Have Leaked , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Traffic congestion in major cities continues to prove itself to be a problem that is difficult to solve, and with the ownership of cars rising every single year, this is one issue that does not look as though it will be solved anytime soon. Folks over in Tel Aviv, Israel, however, might benefit from a half kilometer long loop of elevated sky cars to get around, at least when you are on the campus of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Assuming initial testing and feasibility studies of constructing such a network goes well, it might eventually see adoption into a commercial network so that the masses too, will be able to enjoy a comfortable, hassle-free commute each day.

skyTran is the company behind this idea, and each of these sky cars will be able to hold two adults comfortably, being suspended from elevated magnetic tracks, proving itself to be an alternative transport method that might just help alleviate the choked arteries of vehicles that snake themselves across the bustling city each day.

It is widely expected for the sky car system to be fully operational by the end of next year, which is an optimistic date by all accounts. The whole idea of the sky car system would be to let passengers book a vehicle via a smartphone app, heading to the corresponding station and get into the booked ride before arriving at their destination. Expect these sky cars to have a maximum speed of 70km/h (43mph) during testing, although a commercial solution should see higher speeds for greater efficiency.

Sky Cars Network Set To Debut In Israel , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

WASHINGTON — The Swedish furniture giant Ikea is raising the minimum wage in all of its U.S. stores, and it’s doing so in a way that may raise the bar for American retailers.

The famous seller of ready-to-assemble home goods will base the wage floor for each of its stores on the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which estimates what salary a worker would need in order to get by in a particular geographic area.

According to Ikea, the move will boost the average store minimum wage to $10.76, a 17 percent increase, and bring raises to approximately half of the company’s 13,650 U.S. employees. The new rates will go into effect on Jan. 1, according to Rob Olson, chief financial officer and acting president of Ikea U.S.

“It’s all centered around the Ikea vision, which is to create a better everyday life for the many people,” Olson told The Huffington Post. “The many people is, of course, our customers and consumers, but it’s also our co-workers.”

The company’s move will likely become a talking point in the national debate over increasing the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, which hasn’t been raised since 2009. Democrats in Congress want to gradually raise it to $10.10 per hour and tie it to an inflation index. Republicans have opposed that plan, saying businesses can’t afford it.

Ikea said it does not plan to raise prices for customers in order to pay for the wage increases.

Using a living wage calculator to determine area salaries appears to be without precedence among major retailers. The new minimum wage will vary at each of Ikea’s 38 stores — as well as its five distribution centers, two service centers and one manufacturing plant in the U.S. — depending on the cost of living in each location. Olson said none of the minimum wages will be set below $9 per hour, and those in the priciest markets will top $13.

The company will use MIT’s living wage rate for a single adult without children. It’s the lowest category in the calculator, but almost invariably higher than the federal or state minimum wage rates. In many cases, it also would be higher than the starting wages workers could expect at other retailers.

For instance, according to the calculator, the minimum wage at the Ikea store in College Park, Maryland — in the pricey Washington metro area — would be at least $13.20 per hour. That’s more than a dollar above what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists as the average wage for a Washington-area retail salesperson as of May, and more than $2 above the average wage for a cashier. (The minimum wage at the company’s store in Merriam, Kansas, by contrast, would be at least $9.36 per hour, though the cost of living is significantly lower there.)

According to Olson, the new minimum wage structure is part of a broader Ikea effort to make its pay and benefits package more attractive. In the past year, the company increased the employer match on its 401(k) and began auto-enrollment to incorporate more workers, he said. It also launched a separate retirement account for employees who are with the company for at least five years.

The move to the living wage calculator required a new way of thinking, Olson said. Instead of setting wages according to what other retailers pay in particular markets, the company decided to evaluate what workers would reasonably need in order to support themselves. Setting a single baseline minimum wage for all its U.S. stores didn’t make sense, he added.

“What we decided to do was stop looking at the competition and focus solely on the co-worker,” Olson said. “A co-worker in one market isn’t concerned with what it costs to live in another market. That’s the way we’ve looked at it.”

The MIT Living Wage Calculator is a popular online tool developed in the early-2000s by Amy Glasmeier, currently a professor of economic geography and regional planning at the school. The calculator uses geographic data on the costs of food, housing, transportation and health care to project the minimum a worker needs to live.

Glasmeier said the calculator is used about 50,000 times a month on average. She’s heard from labor unions, local office holders and even business owners about how it might be used to set baseline wages. Not surprisingly, she also hears often from people who are struggling to get by.

“I get emails from people all over, asking for help or asking where [the calculator] came from,” Glasmeier said.

As evidenced by Glasmeier’s inbox, plenty of people believe the calculator’s projected living wages are too low. (“I get a ration of hot air from people every day,” she said.) In turn, some will argue that the new minimum wages offered by Ikea are unrealistic living wages. But Glasmeier said the calculator’s projections are for the very bare minimum that someone would need in order to eke by, not to save or get ahead.

“I feel we’re looking at the minimum living wage,” she said.

As Ikea noted, the new average minimum wage for its U.S. locations will be $3.51 above the current federal minimum wage. Olson said the company will periodically reevaluate its wage structure and adjust it for the rising cost of living.

Though it’s long enjoyed a reputation as a good employer, Ikea has taken heat over the years from workers and unions in the U.S., who say the company isn’t as generous here as in Europe. Workers at the company’s plant in Virginia voted overwhelmingly to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union in 2011, citing low wages and unpredictable work schedules.

Ikea isn’t the first company to institute an across-the-board minimum wage hike in recent months. Earlier this year, Gap Inc. announced that it would raise its wage floor throughout the U.S. to $9 per hour this year and $10 next year. The company said the raise would benefit more than two-thirds of its 90,000 workers. President Barack Obama, among others, praised the retailer for the move.

Although it may become part of the political discussion, Olson said Ikea’s decision should not be read as an endorsement of any legislative proposals on the minimum wage, in Congress or elsewhere.

“We’re not advocating for a federal or state movement,” Olson said. “We’re more focused on our co-workers and doing the right thing for them.”