US labor regulator says Apple violated employee rights with restrictive work rules

The National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) has determined that Apple’s rules around leaks violate workers’ rights, Bloomberg has reported. Apple’s actions and statements from executives “tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees” from exercising their rights, a spokesperson said in a statement.

The decision stems from complaints by former employees Cher Scarlett and Ashley Gjøvik. Scarlett alleged that Apple work rules “prohibit employees from discussing wages, hours or other terms or conditions of employment,” in violation of labor laws. Gjøvik, meanwhile, complained that an email sent by CEO Tim Cook vowing to punish leakers violated federal laws. Apple’s policies prohibiting staff from disclosing business information, talking to reporters and other actions were also illegal, Gjøvik alleged. 

In the email in question, Cook wrote that “we do not tolerate disclosures of confidential information, whether it’s product IP or the details of a confidential meeting… people who leak confidential information do not belong here.” That was in response to the leak of a company-wide meeting that was effectively tweeted live by a journalist, as TechCrunch noted.  

The NLRB will issue a complaint against Apple unless the company settles, the spokesperson said. Apple has yet to comment, but a company attorney previously said, “Apple fosters an open and inclusive work environment whereby employees are not just permitted, but encouraged, to share their feelings and thoughts on a range of issues, from social justice topics to pay equity to anything else that they feel is an important cause to promote in the workplace.”

Gjøvik was fired by Apple in 2021 for leaking confidential information and told TechCrunch she believes she was let go in retaliation after filing an EPA report about toxic fumes in her office. She complained to the NLRB that she was let go illegally, but the board has yet to issue a ruling on that subject. 

The NLRB recently found that Apple violated federal law with anti-union meetings in Atlanta. Earlier this month, Apple agreed to review its labor practices, saying in an SEC filing that it would assess its “efforts to comply with its Human Rights Policy as it relates to workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in the United States by the end of calendar year 2023.” 

China’s biggest search engine is to set launch a ChatGPT rival in March

Chinese search giant Baidu aims to introduce a ChatGPT-like AI service that gives users conversational results, Bloomberg has reported. It’ll be based on the company’s Ernie system, a large-scale machine-learning model trained over several years that “excels at natural language understanding and generation,” Baidu said in 2021. 

Open AI’s ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm of late, thanks to its ability to answer fact-based questions, write in a human-like way and even create code. Microsoft invested $1 billion in Open AI back in 2019, and reportedly plans to incorporate aspects of ChatGPT into its Bing search engine. 

Google, meanwhile, likely sees the technology as a threat to its search business and plans to accelerate development of its own conversational AI technology. CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly declared a “code red” over ChatGPT and may be preparing to show off 20 or more AI-products and a chatbot for its search engine at its I/O conference in May. 

Baidu has reportedly seen lagging growth in search and sees ChatGPT-like apps as a potential way to leapfrog rivals. “I’m so glad that the technology we are pondering every day can attract so many people’s attention. That’s not easy,” he said during a talk in December, according to a transcript seen by Bloomberg.

ChatGPT has largely drawn positive attention, but the downsides have come into focus as well. Technology news site CNET was forced to correct AI-written articles due to errors and concerns about plagiarism. And New York City public schools recently banned ChatGPT over cheating concerns, because it can create articles and essays that can be difficult to distinguish from student-created content. 

San Francisco asks California regulators to halt or slow the rollout of driverless taxis

San Francisco city officials have sent letters to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) asking to slow or halt the expansion of Cruise and Waymo robotaxi services in the city, NBC News has reported. San Francisco Transportation Authority (SFTA) officials wrote that unlimited expansion would be “unreasonable” in light of recent safety incidents in which vehicles blocked traffic and interfered with emergency vehicles. 

Alphabet’s Waymo and Cruise, owned by GM, both operate fully driverless services (without backup drivers) in the city. Last June, Cruise gained permission to charge for rides in set areas of the city between the hours of 10PM and 6AM. Waymo is allowed to give driverless vehicle rides but is waiting for another permit before it can charge for them. 

“A series of limited deployments with incremental expansions — rather than unlimited authorizations — offer the best path toward public confidence in driving automation and industry success in San Francisco and beyond,” the letter reads.

The services have had their challenges. A small fleet of Cruise robotaxis in San Francisco suddenly stopped operating on a street in the city’s Fillmore district, blocking traffic for several hours. Another Cruise vehicle was pulled over by confused cops and then promptly went on the lam. The NTSA recently opened a probe into Cruise’s self-driving vehicles over hard braking, traffic blocking and other issues. 

In one as yet unreported incident, Cruise vehicles also reportedly interfered with emergency responders. Firefighters had to smash the window one of the company’s robotaxis to prevent it from running over a firehose, according to the letter. 

However, Cruise pointed out that the service has been safe so far. “Cruise’s safety record is publicly reported and includes having driven millions of miles in an extremely complex urban environment with zero life-threatening injuries or fatalities,” a spokesperson told NBC News.

The letters may have been prompted by Cruise’s stated plans to operate its robotaxi service 24 hours a day rather than just at night. It’s been approved for that by the California DMV, but is waiting on permission from the CPUC. (Both companies also operate driverless ride services in Phoenix, and Cruise’s self-driving taxis are available in Austin, Texas as well.)

The SFTA isn’t against the 24/7 expansion, but has requested more data like how often and for how long Cruise’s vehicles block traffic. It also wants robotaxis to stay off primary routes during rush hour until they prove they can operate “without significant interruption of street operations and transit services.”

Google agrees to provide clearer information on its services to EU users

Google has agreed to provide clearer information to users browsing Google Store, Google Play Store, Google Hotels and Google Flights in Europe, the EU Commission announced in a press release. It will soon show whether it’s acting as an intermediary or selling products directly, and better inform consumers about deliveries, returns and repairs and more. It’s making the moves to comply with EU regulations following a dialogue with the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) that started in 2021. 

“EU consumers are entitled to clear, complete information so that they can make informed choices,” said commissioner for justice Didier Reynders in a statement. “The commitments made by Google are a step forward in this direction.”

Google Flights and Google Hotels will soon make clear to consumers whether they’re selling directly or merely acting as an intermediary for other companies. They must also state what was used as a reference price for discounts, and clarify that Google Hotels reviews aren’t verified. Finally, they must conform to the same transparency rules followed by other platforms like Expedia.com. 

Meanwhile, Google Store and Google Play Store must provide “clear pre-contractual information” on delivery prices, right of withdrawal and repair or replacement options. They must also make it easy to find information on vendors including their legal name and address, along with “direct and effective” methods of contact, like live telephone agents. 

Finally, it must show users how to provide different country versions of the Google Play Store to conform to EU geo-blocking regulations, while allowing them to use payment from any EU country. As it stands now, Google restricts changes to country of residence to once a year, which can cause users to lose content or any credit. The change is designed to let consumers “enjoy the same rights and access the same content, wherever they are in the EU.” Neither Google nor the EU Commission have yet to say when the changes will go into effect. 

IK’s iRig Stream Mic Pro is a do-it-all microphone for musicians and content creators

IK Multimedia has launched the iRig Stream Mic Pro designed to be more versatile than typical multimedia mics from Blue and others. It combines a multi-pattern condenser microphone with a 24-bit, 96 kHz audio interface for iOS, Android, Mac and PC. Tha…

WhatsApp’s native Mac app beta is now available to all

Mac users who have been waiting for a native version of WhatsApp can now download it without restrictions, WaBetaInfo has reported. The new app is optimized for Mac hardware and built with Mac Catalyst, so it should be faster and more efficient than the current web-wrapped Electron version. You also get a new interface with three panels to easily flip between chats, calls, archived and starred messages, while seeing contacts and interactions at a glance.  

Apple’s Catalyst was designed to allow developers to port iOS apps over to macOS or create just one version that can run on either platform. Since the Mac was developed on Catalyst, that lends some hope that a long-awaited version may also come to iOS. In 2021, Meta said that it was expanding multi-device support for WhatsApp, leading to speculation that an iPad app was forthcoming.

Last year, WhatsApp released a native version for Windows 10 that works without the need for a smartphone. It looks much the same as the Mac app and also offers increased reliability and speed.

The native macOS app has been around for several months on TestFlight, but that only offers limited slots for testers. Now that it’s in a full beta, though, you can download it directly from WhatsApp’s website. 

Lightyear suspends production of its first solar EV to concentrate on its second

After shipping its first solar EV only weeks ago, Dutch automaker Lightyear has announced that it’s suspending production of that model (called the 0) to focus on the more affordable Lightyear 2. It made the move after opening a waitlist for the Lightyear 2 that generated more than 40,000 subscriptions on top of the existing 20,000 pre-orders from fleet owners. 

“In order to safeguard our vision, we had to decide to redirect our focus and resources completely towards Lightyear 2,” the company wrote in a press release. “This means in effect that we had to suspend the production of Lightyear 0.” The company didn’t provide a timeline for Lightyear 2 production or other details.

The news does raise concerns about the company’s financial situation. Lightyear said it submitted a request “to open suspension of payment proceedings” in relation to its operating company responsible for producing the Lightyear 0. (Companies in The Netherlands can request to have debts frozen for 18 months to buy time to reorganize, according to TechCrunch.) The company said it hopes to “conclude some key investments in the coming weeks in order to scale up to the Lightyear 2.”

The Lightyear 0 costs nearly $300,000 and was designed to produced in limited quantities, much like the Polestar 1. On the other hand, the Lightyear 2 will cost around $40,000, according to the company. It’s supposed to have up to 500 miles of range, aided by its solar panels, but the company has yet to reveal other details or show complete images of the vehicle.

The concept of both EVs is the same. The car’s solar panels can provide up to 44 miles of range on a sunny day, meaning drivers with relatively short commutes may rarely need to charge their vehicles. For longer distances, the vehicles have battery packs that provide nearly 400 miles of extra range, in the case of the Lightyear 0. That’s also aided by very slippery aerodynamic profiles.