Ronna McDaniel saw her earnings jump in 2020 after initially making $123,000 when Trump picked her in 2017. She is now seeking a fourth two-year term.
Tabletop roleplaying game company Paizo has released a statement following the delayed announcement of Wizards of the Coast’s Open Gaming License 2.0. The company, whose staff includes several former Wizards of the Coast executives, developers, and lawyers, has announced that it will be pursuing the creation of a new…
Instacart will pay workers $5.1 million as part of a settlement after it allegedly failed to provide some benefits, as The San Francisco Chronicle reports. San Francisco accused the company of violating healthcare and paid sick leave ordinances. The company, which has not admitted to wrongdoing, will pay an additional $150,000 to cover the city’s legal costs and pay for a settlement administrator to distribute the funds.
“Instacart has always properly classified shoppers as independent contractors, giving them the ability to set their own schedule and earn on their own terms,” Instacart said in a statement. “We remain committed to continuing to serve customers across San Francisco while also protecting access to the flexible earnings opportunities Instacart shoppers consistently say they want.”
People who worked as independent contractors for Instacart in the city between February 2017 and December 2020 are eligible for payments based on how many hours they worked. San Francisco estimates that between 6,000 and 7,000 people are affected by the settlement. The city and Instacart previously reached a similar settlement that covered an earlier time period. San Francisco has settled a benefits-related case with DoorDash too.
After December 15th, 2020, Instacart workers were subject to Proposition 22, which afforded them some benefits without the company having to define them as employees. An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in 2021 that the measure was unconstitutional, but it remains in force while Instacart, DoorDash, Uber, Lyft and other gig companies who bankrolled Prop 22 appeal the decision. Another suit — filed by San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego — claims that Uber and Lyft drivers should have been classed as workers until Prop 22 passed.
The US government has reportedly passed on buying more HoloLens-based AR combat goggles from Microsoft after discovering the current version has some kinks to work out, according to Bloomberg. So instead of ordering more of the current model, the government approved $40 million for Microsoft to develop a new version.
The updated combat goggles will address test results from last year when 70 soldiers wore the current version during three 72-hour scenarios simulating combat conditions. The results showed that the soldiers suffered “headaches, eyestrain and nausea” and that the system had too many “failures of essential functions.” In addition, more than 80 percent of soldiers who reported discomfort began experiencing it less than three hours into the 72 hours test.
The Army had initially requested $400 million to buy up to 6,900 pairs of the goggles as part of the $1.75 trillion government funding bill. Instead, Congress approved $40 million from that sum to develop the new version. The Army has already given Microsoft $125 million to create a revised model, and it still plans to spend up to $21.9 billion over the next decade for as many as 121,000 devices.
The Department of Defense contract has significantly boosted Microsoft’s ability to profit from its AR device. Before working with the DoD, the company had marketed the headset for enterprise manufacturing, training and other industrial purposes. Although Microsoft has hinted at an eventual consumer version of HoloLens, the company hasn’t yet announced any specifics — and its plans are hazier after the company has reportedly struggled to form a coherent strategy for its headset.
If you have a sick kid at home, pay attention to these.
Is your MacBook refusing to charge past 80 percent? That’s a battery-longevity feature that Apple included but we’ll show you how to bypass it.
Apple has made some controversial app bans, especially in the China App Store. Now its investors are demanding greater transparency about the practice.
Google’s Pixel lineup of devices sport some of the best photography skills in the smartphone market, but the Pixel’s camera app can be susceptible to bugs.
Some people, like disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, really just don’t know when to stop talking. Despite facing eight counts of U.S. criminal charges and living under house arrest, SBF, as he’s often called, decided it was a good time to launch a Substack newsletter.
If you’re having trouble downloading or playing games because of slow Xbox download speeds, we have some tips to get your speed back up to where it belongs.
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