Amazon employees call on the company to stop selling books deemed anti-trans

In 2021, a handful of Amazon employees quit the company over its decision to sell books that suggest kids who identify as transgender are mentally ill. Now, a group of employees is protesting its continued sale of those books by disrupting a Pride event at its headquarters in Seattle. According to The Washington Post, around 30 members of the organization No Hate at Amazon laid on the ground wrapped in trans flags to stop the company’s annual Pride flag-raising tradition. An organizer said: “Amazon does have standing policies against hate speech in its content and technically they say we don’t sell it.” But in truth, those contentious books are still listed on its website.

In a petition the group previously circulated to get Amazon to stop selling anti-trans books, it specifically named two titles: Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier and Johnny the Walrus by American conservative political commentator Matt Walsh. “By continuing to sell and promote anti-trans books and repeating the rhetoric of the anti-trans hate movement, Amazon upper management has allowed the store that we build and operate to be complicit in [the anti-trans] hate movement,” the petition reads.

At least one employee who participated in the event quit the company this week. Senior software engineer Lina Jodoin explained that it’s more than just about the sale of those books, but also about the response they’ve gotten from management when they tried to escalate their concerns. And based on the company’s response to the protest, it will keep on selling those titles.

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told The Post in a statement:

“As a company, we believe strongly in diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a bookseller, we’ve chosen to offer a very broad range of viewpoints, including books that conflict with our company values and corporate positions. We believe that it’s possible to do both – to offer a broad range of viewpoints in our bookstore, and support diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Apple’s AirPods Pro are just $180 right now

If you’ve been keeping an eye out for discounts on the Apple AirPods Pro, now’s your chance to grab a pair. The wireless earbuds are currently listed for $180 at Amazon — not quite an all-time low, but still $69 less than its usual retail price of $249. Unlike the basic AirPods, the AirPods Pro come with silicon tips that enable a more comfortable fit and give them the seal necessary for effective noise cancellation. We gave the earbuds a score of 87 in our review, praising them for having better audio than previous models due to their built-in amplifiers and the ability to automatically tune low- and mid-range frequencies to each user’s ear. In addition, we praised the earbuds for giving users hands-free access to Siri voice assistant and having IPX4 water resistance.

Buy Apple AirPods Pro at Amazon – $180

That said, Apple’s second-gen AirPods are also on sale for $100 right now. In case you’re looking for something cheaper and don’t mind that the model doesn’t have silicon tips, you can still get a pair for $100 or $59 off its retail price of $159. They aren’t quite that different from the first iteration of the earbuds, but they’re better at seamlessly connecting with your devices, thanks to the H1 wireless chipset.

But if you’re on the lookout for over-ear headsets, then head over to Amazon to see the website’s deal on the Apple AirPods Max. You can get the AirPods Max in Space Gray or Silver for $450, or $99 off its retail price. In our review, we discussed how the headphones have an excellent balanced sound quality, solid active noice cancellation and a lengthy battery life.

Buy Apple AirPods Max at Amazon – $450

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The largest plant in the world is an ancient self-cloning sea grass

Shark Bay, an Australian World Heritage Area, serves as home to various animals that feed on its thriving sea grass. Turns out that sea grass called Poseidon’s ribbon weed, or Posidonia australis, is a single ancient plant that’s been cloning itself for the past 4,500 years. Researchers from The University of Western Australia and Flinders University studied samples of the organism taken from across the bay and generated a DNA fingerprint with 18,000 genetic markers. What they found was that the sea grass stretching across 180 kilometers (112 miles) — the size of Cincinnati, as The New York Times notes — of Shark Bay is just a single plant. 

Senior author Dr. Elizabeth Sinclair said they’re often asked how many plants grow in sea grass meadows. For Shark Bay, lead author and UWA student Jane Edgeloe said: “The answer blew us away — there was just one! That’s it, just one plant has expanded over 180km in Shark Bay, making it the largest known plant on Earth.”

The Posidonia apparently clones itself by producing new shoots growing out of its root system. It doesn’t reproduce sexually, because it’s most likely unable to: The organism has a condition called polyploidy, which means it inherited 100 percent of each parent’s genome instead of just 50 percent from each. Since polyploidy often results in sterility, cloning might be the only way for the Shark Bay Posidonia to proliferate. 

Sinclair said its polyploidy might have also made it more resilient than usual, though. It could have given the organism the “ability to cope with a broad range of conditions, which is a great thing in climate change.” It remains to be seen whether the Shark Bay Posidonia will continue to thrive in the face of modern climate change, but the researchers may find out soon enough. They’ve set up a set of experiments to figure out how it survives in environments with variable conditions that include a wide range of temperatures and salinities, as well as extreme brightness and darkness.

You can read the group’s paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

China’s military scientists call for development of anti-Starlink measures

China must develop capabilities to disable and maybe even destroy Starlink internet satellites, the country’s military researchers said in a paper published by the Chinese journal Modern Defense Technology. The authors highlighted the possibility of Starlink being used for military purposes that could aid other countries and threaten China’s national security. According to South China Morning Post, the scientists are calling for the development of anti-satellite capabilities, including both hard and soft kill methods. The former is used to physically destroy satellites, such as the use of missiles, while a soft kill method targets a satellite’s software and operating system. 

In addition, the researchers are suggesting the development of a surveillance system with the ability to track each and every Starlink satellite. That would address one of their concerns, which is the possibility of launching military payloads along with a bunch of satellites for the constellation. David Cowhig’s Translation Blog posted an English version of the paper, along with another article from state-sponsored website China Military Online that warned about the dangers of the satellite internet service. 

“While Starlink claims to be a civilian program that provides high-speed internet services, it has a strong military background,” it said. Its launch sites are built within military bases, it continued, and SpaceX previously received funds from the US Air Force to study how Starlink satellites can connect to military aircraft under encryption. The Chinese scientists warned Starlink could boost the communication speeds of fighter jets and drones by over 100 times. 

The author warned:

“When completed, Starlink satellites can be mounted with reconnaissance, navigation and meteorological devices to further enhance the US military’s combat capability in such areas as reconnaissance remote sensing, communications relay, navigation and positioning, attack and collision, and space sheltering.”

Between hard and soft kill, the researchers favor the latter, since physically destroying satellites would produce space debris that could interfere with China’s activities. The country previously filed a complaint with the United Nations about the Tiangong space station’s near-collision with Starlink satellites. Apparently, the station had to perform evasive maneuvers twice in 2021 to minimize the chances of collision. Destroying a few satellites also wouldn’t completely take out the Starlink constellation, seeing as SpaceX has already launched over 2,500 satellites at this point in time. 

Snapchat’s Shared Stories will let you collaborate with friends of friends

Snapchat has updated its Custom Stories feature to allow more people to participate. While the original version of the feature only gives you a way to add friends to view and contribute to your Stories, the new version called Shared Stories allows the friends you add to add their own contacts. Say you’re cooking and want your friends to add their cooking Stories, too — just add them to the group, so they can add more people, as well. Snap says that makes it easier “for the whole soccer team, camp squad, or group of new coworkers to get in on the fun.”

Like regular Stories, shared ones will only be visible for 24 hours before disappearing, but it doesn’t have a chat component, probably because it’s assumed that not all participants would know each other. The app will also use automatic language detection and other review tools to monitor additions and make sure they’re all safe. Finally, you will get a notification if you’ve joined a Shared Story with someone you’ve blocked. That gives you the chance to leave the Story if you’re not comfortable sharing a part of your life with those users. 

Snapchat has released and promised a number of other new features over the past couple of months, likely in an effort to get people to use the app more in face of slowing revenue growth. In April, it introduced a new suite of creator-friendly editing tools called “director mode” that will help you produce more polished content. It also introduced an ASL alphabet lens that you can use to learn the ASL alphabet and released the capability to share YouTube videos directly on the platform. 

Respawn’s ‘Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’ arrives in 2023

Respawn Entertainment has confirmed that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order that it first announced earlier this year, is happening. At the Star Wars Celebration event in Anaheim, the studio has revealed that Jedi: Survivor is a direct sequel to Star Wars: Fallen Order, which is an action-adventure game released back in 2019. Survivor is set five years after the events of its predecessor and will still feature the protagonist Cal Kestis (and his droid companion BD-1) as one of the last remaining Jedi in the galaxy that’s ruled by the Empire.

The studio said Jedi: Survivor will expand on the first game’s combat system — and perhaps improve on it, too. Some players weren’t quite fond of Jedi: Fallen Order’s combat and considered it a weak aspect of the game. Jedi: Survivor is scheduled to come out in 2023, with Electronic Arts aiming to get it out by the end of its fiscal year in March. Respawn is currently developing it for the latest generation of consoles, particularly the Xbox Series X|S and the PlayStation 5, though it will also be released for PCs. The studio doesn’t seem to have plans to release it for older consoles like the Xbox One and the PS4.

You can watch an official teaser for the upcoming game in the video below:

Google Nest Audio bundle offers two smart speakers for just $120

If you’re looking to get a few smart speakers for your connected home, this may be your chance to grab a handful at a discount. You can get a pair of Google Nest Audio smart speakers right now from Adorama for $120. If you just want the one, you can also grab a singular speaker for $65, saving $35 in the process.

The Google Nest Audio has always offered a robust music experience without a hefty price tag to go with it, but now it’s even more affordable at $80 or 40 percent off the bundle’s regular price. While we didn’t find the Nest Audio to be quite on par with bigger music-focused speakers when it comes to audio quality when we tested it out, it still sounds a lot better than the Nest Mini.

Buy Google Nest Audio Smart Speaker 2-Pack at Adorama – $120Buy Google Nest Audio Speaker at Adorama – $65

It’s loud enough for small- and medium-sized rooms, and pairing two of them can deliver stereo sound. Since it’s a Google smart speaker, it supports Assistant voice commands, and you can tell it to play what you want after linking it to your account and your music streaming services. Like other Nest speakers, it’s covered in cloth for a clean, minimalist aesthetic that will complement most home decor. And at 7 inches tall and only 3 inches thick, it will fit in most places you decide to put it. 

If you’d rather get a smart display, the second-generation Google Nest Hub is also down to $65, which is $35 off the usual price and one of the best deals we’ve seen it dropped to an all-time low of $55 in March. Its bigger sibling, the Google Nest Hub Max is also on sale at Adorama for $179, or $50 off its retail price. With its 10-inch touchscreen, the Nest Hub Max is the biggest Google smart display available and also has the best sound quality. We gave it a score of 86 in our review, praising it not just for having a great display and sound quality, but also for its ability to double as a Nest Cam and to play and pause media with gestures.

Buy Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen) at Adorama – $65Buy Google Nest Hub Max at Adorama – $179

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PayPal has been laying off workers to reduce costs

PayPal has laid off workers in risk management and operations this week, according to Bloomberg. It’s the latest in a series of layoffs within the company — and it also won’t be the last. The publication says the payment processor also recently reduced its employee numbers in Chicago, Omaha, Nebraska and Chandler, Arizona. Further, it previously revealed that it was going to permanently lay off 80 people working in its headquarters in San Jose, California.

While the company approved plans to strategically reduce its workforce in 2020, these recent layoffs come after PayPal’s growth showed signs of slowing down. In the first quarter of the year, spending on the platform increased by 15 percent to $323 billion, which is the smallest growth it has seen in five years. The lack of availability of certain products due to the global supply chain crisis may have contributed to that, as well as the fact that people returned to in-store shopping after pandemic restrictions had eased. 

PayPal spent $100 million in severance pays and other expenses related to the job cuts, and it expects to spend even more. In the long run, though, the restructuring will save the company $260 million a year. The payment processor is just one of the many tech companies that’s reducing headcount or implementing freezing hires due to the economic slowdown. Microsoft, Meta and NVIDIA will limit their hiring due to tumbling stock prices and slowing sales and revenue growth. Uber and Lyft are also cutting back on hiring as part of their cost-cutting measures. More recently, Instacart announced that it’s doing the same thing in order to focus on profitability ahead of its planned IPO.

UK watchdog is investigating whether Google restricts competition in ads

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched a second investigation into Google’s ad tech practices. This probe, in particular, will look into the role Google plays in the “ad tech stack,” or the set of services that facilitate the sale of online advertising space between advertisers and sellers like online content providers. The organization explained that Google has strong positions at various levels of the ad tech stack and charges fees to both publishers and advertisers. 

It’s examining three key parts of the stack in which Google plays key roles, since it owns the largest providers for each. CMA will examine Google’s practices for demand-side platforms, which give advertisers and media agencies a way to buy a publishers’ space for advertising from many sources. It will also look into the company’s practices relating to ad exchanges that can automate the sale of publishers’ inventory. Finally, the CMA will examine Google’s publisher ad servers that manage a publisher’s inventory to decide which ad to show at a given time based on the bids and direct deals for the space. 

Google’s practices — if indeed questionable — could distort competition, the CMA said. It could contractually tie these various services together, for instance, so users won’t have a choice but to go with Google all the way, making it difficult for smaller rival services to compete. 

According to Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s Chief Executive:

“Weakening competition in this area could reduce the ad revenues of publishers, who may be forced to compromise the quality of their content to cut costs or put their content behind paywalls. It may also be raising costs for advertisers which are passed on through higher prices for advertised goods and services.”

The organization is also investigating whether Google and Meta colluded over ads. That probe is all about digging into the advertising agreement between the two companies codenamed “Jedi Blue” and figuring out if that deal hinders competition in online advertising. 

Amazon is taking up to 60 percent off WD and SanDisk storage for today only

If you’re building a new PC or just need a storage device for your computers and gaming consoles, make sure to check out Amazon today. You can get both internal and external disk drives, as well as memory cards, for up to 60 percent off from the website’s ongoing one-day Western Digital and SanDisk sale. One of the most deeply discounted items included in the event is Western Digital’s 2TB Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD that’s currently listed for $170, or $210 off its original price. The component went on sale at Amazon earlier this month, but this is the lowest price we’ve seen it go for on the website. It has read speeds of up to 560MB/s, sequential write speeds of up to 530MB/s and is compatible with computers that have standard SATA connectors.

Buy Western Digital and SanDisk storage and memory products at Amazon

In case you’re looking for a memory card, the SanDisk Ultra microSDXC card with 400GB capacity is also on sale for $36, down $34 or almost half its original retail price. It’s compatible with most devices that have microSD card slots, such as Android phones and tablets, and it has transfer speeds reaching 120MB/s that will let you move up to 1,000 photos within a minute.

For portable storage devices, there’s SanDisk’s Extreme PRO Portable SSD with a 2TB capacity. It’s currently on sale for $260 — its all-time low on the website — or $250 off its retail price. The device has 2000MB/s read or write speeds, comes with a USB-C and a USB-A cable and can work with both Windows and Mac computers. 

But if you need external storage with an even bigger capacity for your home or office, you can get Western Digital’s 10TB Elements Desktop Hard Drive HDD instead. It’s currently available for $175 — not quite an all-time low, but still $125 lower than its retail price of $300. The storage solution is plug-and-play ready for Windows PCs, but you can also use it for your Mac computers, as well as for your PS4 and your Xbox consoles.

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