Hasta La Gadget!

Want to draw attention to your ears? Just add one of these glass octopus tentacles crafted by Japanese glass artist Genki Hirano. The tentacles, created for a sea life-themed design festival, are sure to be a conversation piece. Personally, I try to draw as little attention to my ears as possible, on account of them already being unusually large and sticking out like the stop sign on the side of a school bus when it’s dropping kids off, but to each their own.

Unfortunately, for anybody interested in Hirano’s fancy glass versions, they were only available for sale at a festival. Fortunately for anyone okay wearing cheap plastic versions, Hirano has teamed up with toy makers to offer plastic gashapon versions in vending machines all over Japan for around 400 yen (~$4). Admittedly, I bet the glass versions were significantly more expensive and much more likely to break if they fell out of your ear.

But does it sound like the ocean when you’re wearing one? I doubt it. It probably just sounds like it’s hard to hear anything out of that ear. Now somebody just needs to make a version that attaches to wireless headphone earbuds, and you’ve got yourself a real money maker! Just don’t hold me to that if you end up with a storage unit full of unsold octopus tentacle earbud attachments.

[via Neatorama]

Amazon fulfillment center laborers in the United Kingdom have launched the first company strike involving warehouse employees in the country’s history. The strike began yesterday in Coventry, demanding more than the 50 pence per hour wage increase that the company offered.

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Social media and peer pressure can be powerful tools in modern society and both play a huge, horrifying role in the super smart and scary new film Talk to Me. Directed by YouTubers RackaRacka (real names Danny and Michael Philippou), this Australian horror film follows a group of friends who meet up to try this new,…

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Massachusetts politicians are still pushing for better working conditions for ridesharing drivers. New bills in the state House and Senate would not only pursue collective bargaining rights across companies, as with past measures, but would guarantee a minimum wage, paid sick leave and other benefits. Companies like Uber and Lyft would also have to cover some driver expenses and pour money into the government’s unemployment insurance system.

The new legislation wouldn’t decide whether drivers are employees or independent contractors. However, Senate bill co-sponsor Jason Lewis told the State House News Service his bill would establish requirements that apply regardless of a driver’s status. Previous bills would have tasked workers with negotiating for benefits that are now included, Lewis says.

Massachusetts sued Uber and Lyft in 2020 for allegedly misclassifying drivers as contractors and denying protections granted under state labor law. The companies responded with a proposed ballot measure that would have offered benefits in return for requiring that drivers be treated as contractors. The state’s Supreme Judicial Court rejected that proposal last June.

We’ve asked Uber and Lyft for comment. In a statement, the Service Employees International Union (a bill proponent) says the bill “rewrites the rules” and gives condition drivers have sought for over a decade. The Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work, an industry-run organization that opposes the legislation, previously claimed that measures granting employee status don’t reflect a “vast majority” of drivers that want to remain contractors. The coalition prefers bills that would bring the anti-employee ballot proposal to the legislature as well as create portable benefit accounts.

The state has been one of the major battlegrounds for ridesharing work conditions, but it’s only one part of a larger fight. Uber and New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission have fought over pay raises, while a California law meant to reclassify many gig economy workers as employees has faced unsuccessful attempts to carve out exemptions for companies like Uber and Lyft.

Several of Microsoft’s Azure-powered services experienced outages early this morning, impacting many of the core systems behind Microsoft’s biggest programs.