Apple Store workers in Atlanta are forming a union ‘because we love this company’

When Elli Daniels started working at the Apple Store in Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta, her hourly wage was $16.50 — rosy by comparison to the federal minimum Georgia adopts, but below average for sales in her metro region. Three years later and in spite of several raises, her pay has nowhere near kept up pace with national inflation, or Apple’s soaring profits for that matter. 

She’s one of the 100 eligible workers at the Apple Store location that petitioned the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, with the backing of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), to hold a union election. It will be the first such election for an Apple retail location in the US.

“One of the biggest things that we’re fighting for is going to be for fair pay and a livable wage, because with Atlanta being such a huge city, it’s just getting more and more expensive to live here,” Daniels told Engadget. “Everybody deserves the opportunity to be able to not worry about whether they can afford food or pay their bills. Everybody deserves to be able to afford to live in the city that they work in.” 

Daniels, a product zone specialist, was clear however, that her and her coworkers’ desire for better pay isn’t borne out of grievance. By all indications a sincere devotee of Apple’s products, she specified that “we want to do this because we love this company, not because we want to turn our back on them.”

Similarly to the Google Fiber retail workers who recently unionized in Kansas City, Missouri, Apple has been completely silent on the issues, according to Daniels. “We haven’t heard anything from Apple corporate at all.” Consequently, the workers and CWA opted to file for both voluntary recognition and a union election simultaneously. Apple’s silence seems to indicate the company intends to let things go to a vote, though we’ve reached out to them for confirmation. 

Over the pandemic years, Apple has raked in tremendous profits, even as the economy at large suffers. It has posted record-breaking quarters over and over, but the winnings aren’t being distributed equally, according to Daniels. Raising wages is an obvious way to relieve material hardship for Apple Store workers, some of whom have “had to leave the company because they just needed more money to be able to pay their bills, because they were growing a family.” But it’s also a philosophical means to “try to close the gap” between corporate and retail employees. “It’s really important that both sides of the coin get fair treatment in the company that we all work for,” she said.

Cumberland workers aren’t alone, either. Apple Store workers in New York City’s Grand Central terminal, backed by the Fruit Stand Workers United, recently called for a minimum wage of $30 per hour. They’re also riding a wave of newfound union sentiment displayed by the first successful unionization vote at a US Amazon warehouse, as well as a rash of successful union drives across Starbucks locations nationwide. As yet, Apple has not seemingly deployed the same captive audience meetings and union-busting techniques those companies have become increasingly associated with. 

“We love Apple no matter what,” Daniels stressed, “I think it’s all just making sure that we all can put our heads together and really make Cumberland the best place that it can be for all of us — both for us that are here now, as well as people that are that are here in the future.”

Productivity software that could have prevented tonight’s capitol evacuation

Earlier this evening, the Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. called for an evacuation of Congress due to an “aircraft that poses probable threat” which was flying circles around Capitol Building airspace, according to the Associated Press’s Zeke Miller. Given the violent riot and attempted insurrection that recently took place there, one could forgive USCP for operating with an abundance of caution. 

What became clear in short order was that the aircraft in question, according to Flight Radar, had taken off from nearby Joint Base Andrews, and was of a make and model in use by Army parachute teams as well as commercial skydivers. Incidentally, that’s because the payload of this suspicious Viking DHC-6-400 was, in fact, parachutists. Parachutists from the Army’s Golden Knights, specifically, who were dropping into Nationals Park during tonight’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. (At the time of this writing, the Diamondbacks are winning, handily.)

As later reported by severaljournalists, the airspace incursion was part of a preplanned Military Appreciation Day — which appears on the Nat’s game schedule and entitles two free tickets to (as it’s written on their website) “ACTIVE DUTY, DEPENDENTS, VETERANS, AND RESERVISTS WITH MILITARY ID OR PROOF OF SERVICE, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.” Whatever your feelings on reverence for the armed forces during sporting events, undeniably these sorts of these happen regularly, and the subset of those displays that involve parachuting service members are not uncommon. 

It’s not precisely clear where the breakdown in communication occurred. Did the Army forget to tell the Capitol Police? Did USCP get the memo but simply lose track of things, as one does in our busy, hyperconnected lives? According to NBC, Capitol Police “were not notified in advance of the planned Golden Knights jump” according to “a law enforcement source.” 

We’ve reached out both USCP and Joint Base Andrews to illuminate the situation. But rather than mock an honest of nationally panic-inducing mistake from the comfort of our keyboards, we thought it best to led our expertise in order to prevent such a situation from occurring again. 

Google Calendar [Free]

It hardly bears mentioning, but Google Calendar is a standby for keeping track of important dates, like birthdays, meetings or when someone might be flying into restricted airspace. There are options to set up push notifications or emails to nudge you when those events are getting close. The last thing you want to do is come up against a deadline and panic!

Slack Notifications [Free with enterprise options]

Do the police or military even use Slack? I have no way to know. But given tonights events maybe they should! Setting up reminders in the workplace messaging application is pretty straightforward. 

Calendar [Free]

Been using Mac’s Calendar software a lot lately and pretty rarely blank on the stuff I’m supposed to be doing (or not doing!) Microsoft has a parallel product in Outlook Calendar, for the Windows users among you. No one trusts me with important stuff like national security, but my hit-rate on never issuing an unnecessary evacuation is 100 percent. I think that speaks for itself. 

Calendly [Free with enterprise options]

Increasingly I seem to be getting invites through this service. I don’t like it very much, but it still beats making a nation of 330 million people believe they’re about to bear witness to a potential tragedy. 

Any.do [Free with premium options]

Haven’t used this task reminder app and don’t plan to. Keep seeing it on lists of ‘best reminder software’ though. Just trying to be helpful. 

A simple text message will do in a pinch [negligible cost per message]

Sometimes things slip! It’s ok. Nearly everyone on the planet has a cell phone on their person at all times these days. Send the relevant party a quick message. While having something potentially annoying drop in your lap last minute is never ideal, it is always preferable to no communication at all. 

We’ll update if we hear back about what exactly happened tonight. The Nationals’ ‘Patriotic Series’ continues on May 29 (Memorial Day), July 4 and September 1, although those dates don’t seem to feature any more parachuting. 

Garmin unveils new Vívosmart fitness tracker after nearly four years

Garmin has launched the latest iteration of the Vívosmart fitness tracker, the long-awaited Vívosmart 5. It’s been nearly four years since Garmin released the previous iteration of the Vívosmart, and for the most part, the new model doesn’t fix what wasn’t broken. It still has the same slim appearance as its predecessor, albeit with a much larger OLED screen and an interchangeable band. 

Unlike older models, the Vívosmart has a connected GPS, so it can connect to your smartphone to track the distance, speed and pace of your runs and bike rides. It includes 14 different modes for activity tracking, including everything from yoga to HIIT workouts to breathwork.

For those who need more than the basics, the Vívosmart 5’s lack of ECG sensors and built-in GPS may be a dealbreaker. Fitness trackers have only grown more advanced since Garmin released the Vívosmart 4 in 2018. The latest models from Apple and Fitbit are packed with multiple health-tracking features, GPS support and state-of-the-art sensors. Garmin’s pricier models include bells and whistles like the Fenix 7‘s multi-LED flashlight and the Instinct 2’s solar charging ability. But for those looking for a solid wearable that can track activity levels, sleep, menstrual cycles, blood oxygen levels and stress, the Vívosmart 5 could be a strong contender.

The Vívosmart 5’s battery claims to last for 7 days on a single charge, but that’s only if you don’t enable the pulse ox or sleep tracking features. It is both swim- and shower-proof, and the silicon band is available in three different colors: cool mint, black and white. The Vívosmart 5 retails for $150, putting it roughly at the same price point as the latest Fitbit Charge and a number of Garmin watches, including the Forerunner 45S.

Tesla nearly doubled its revenue in Q1 despite industry wide supply chain woes

Tesla built 305,000 vehicles in the first “exceptionally difficult” quarter of this year, delivered 310,000 of them, and opened new factories in Berlin and Austin — all while CEO Elon Musk sought a highly publicized hostile takeover of Twitter.

Tesla’s recent factory investments, as well as efforts to shore up its battery component supply chain, are part of the company’s localization strategy, which seeks to lower production costs by building vehicles closer to the markets they’ll eventually be sold in. But like the rest of the automotive industry, Tesla faces an increasingly tight supply of critical semiconductors and rising prices spurred by inflation itself brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also is currently navigating the shuttering of its Gigafactory in Shanghai, which closed due to COVID outbreaks in the region. Work at the factory has only partially resumed in recent days.

At the opening of the Austin Gigafactory earlier this month, Musk confirmed that the long-awaited Cybertruck would finally be going on sale in 2023 and that a wide beta of its Full Self-Driving technology would be rolling out throughout North America this year. However, both the Cybertruck and the upcoming Roadster (as well as “Future Products”) are still listed as “in development,” as opposed to “in production” as the X/S and 3/Y are in this latest investors deck. “We remain on track to reach production of the cybertruck next year,” Musk assured investors and journalists present on Wednesday’s call. Q1 2022 also saw price increases across Tesla’s model lineup and the elimination of gratis mobile charging equipment. Overall, the company posted $3.3 billion in net income up from $438 million last year.

Looking ahead, Musk anticipates another banner year in 2022. While the company’s official outlook estimates a 50 percent increase in vehicle production, “I think we actually have a reasonable shot at a 60 percent increase over last year,” Musk said. He also made mention of the Robotaxi prototype Tesla is developing. “That’s highly optimized for autonomy, meaning it would not have a steering wheel or pedals, and a number of other innovations that I think are quite exciting,” he added. The Robotaxi could reach volume production as soon as 2024.

Instagram’s latest algorithm tweak will ‘value original content more’

Another day, another change to Instagram’s algorithm. The app is tweaking the way it ranks content in order to “value original content more,” according to Instagram Head Adam Mosseri.

Mosseri called out the update in a video on Twitter, saying the change was aligned with Meta’s broader goal of empowering creators. “If you create something from scratch, you should get more credit than if you are reshaping something that you found from someone else,” he said. “We’re going to do more to try and value original content more particularly compared to reposted content.”

In follow-up comments, he added that Instagram already tries to prioritize original content, but that “it’s becoming increasingly important that [we] don’t overvalue aggregators.” It’s not clear how effective this change will be or what its impact will be. Mosseri said that the company does its best to “predict” whether a given photo or video is original, but they “can’t know for sure.”

The move comes as Instagram has taken other steps to incentivize creators to post original content on its platform first, rather than re-sharing clips from TikTok and other apps. But the latest change also seems to be geared toward discouraging accounts that simply aggregate and distribute popular memes and other re-posted content.

It also reflects just how much Instagram’s feed has changed over the last year. The company has been steadily inserting more and more recommendations from accounts users don’t already follow into their feeds.At the same time, the company has been forced to reckon with the fact that many creators have long been suspicious of how the app ranks content. Instagram’s in-app recommendations have also come under fire from lawmakers who have raised concerns of teen mental health and other safety issues. 

But those who dislike Instagram’s ranked feed do finally have an alternative: the company recently brought back its chronological feed, though it’s not enabled by default.

Apple Store workers in Atlanta file for first union election in the US

Workers at an Apple Store in Atlanta have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. This marks the first time that Apple Store employees in the US have formally requested a union election. They’ll be represented by the Communications Workers of America.

Over 70 percent of more than 100 eligible workers at Apple’s Cumberland Mall store have signed union authorization cards. The group includes sales associates, operations specialists, technicians and creatives. The CWA represents workers from across the telecommunications, media and tech industries.

“A number of us have been here for many years, and we don’t think you stick at a place unless you love it,” Apple Genius worker Derrick Bowles said in a statement. “Apple is a profoundly positive place to work, but we know that the company can better live up to their ideals and so we’re excited to be joining together with our coworkers to bring Apple to the negotiating table and make this an even better place to work.”

Engadget has contacted Apple for comment.

Although this is the first Apple Store union drive to result in an NLRB election filing, workers at other locations in the US are attempting to organize. Last weekend, it emerged that employees at the Grand Central Terminal location in New York City were collecting signatures to form a union. That group, Fruit Stand Workers United, this week called for Apple to offer better benefits and pay a minimum of $30 per hour.

Sonicware’s SmplTrek is a battery-powered groovebox for on-the-go beatmaking

Sonicware has stepped into the portable sampler space with its SmplTrek device. The battery-powered groovebox features a built-in mic that’ll help you create samples wherever you are. The SmplTrek also lets you add samples from your phone via USB. There are dynamic mic, guitar and line-level inputs as well, and you’ll be able to store samples on an SD card.

You can auto-slice samples and assign them to pads. Curiously, the SmplTrek has 15 velocity sensitive pads rather than the standard 16. You’ll be able to edit samples with a waveform display and they can be matched to the key and tempo of a song, Sonicware says.

Each song can have up to 16 scenes. Each of those has 10 sequencer tracks, including ones designed for loops, drums, instruments, one shots and external MIDI. The SmplTrek will allow you to mix down a song using mastering effects before exporting it as a single audio file. What’s more, if you connect the groovebox to your phone or PC, you can livestream your music.

The sampler comes with 30 effects included. That’s a respectable number, though until we’re able to try it for ourselves, it’s unclear how good those effects are. The SmplTrek also offers more than 500 sample sounds and north of 100 drum kits out of the gate, so even beginners will be able to start piecing together songs right away.

Sonicware is running a Kickstarter campaign for the SmplTrek. It has blown past the funding goal of just under $39,000 by taking in over $458,000 in pledges so far. At the time of writing, there are a few units left as part of the Kickstarter Limited pledge, which will allow you to secure a SmplTrek for around $300. Sonicware expects to start shipments in October. The company has a solid track record with delivering on crowdfunding campaigns, following its successful LIVEN 8bit project.

It remains to be seen how well the SmplTrek works in practice. At the retail price of $429, it’ll be in the same range as portable samplers from more established names, such as Novation’s Circuit Rhythm and Roland’s SP-404MKII.

A Ghostbusters VR game is coming to Meta Quest 2

Meta hid a heck of a surprise up the sleeve of its boiler suit for the end of its Quest gaming showcase. A Ghostbusters VR game is in the works for Meta Quest 2. Sony Pictures Virtual Reality (SPVR) will publish the four-player co-op game, which is being developed by Far Cry VR: Dive Into Insanity studio nDreams.

Ghostbusters VR (as the game is called for the time being) shifts the action from the franchise’s home base of New York City to San Francisco. No prizes for guessing that you’ll hunt down and trap ghosts with the help of your proton pack and particle thrower. SPVR says the game will have an “extensive and engrossing campaign” that you can experience solo or with up to three friends. No release window was announced, but SPVR says more will be revealed in the coming months. 

It’s not the only Ghostbusters title in the pipeline either. Friday the 13th: The Game developer Illfonic is making Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, which will pit a team of four players against someone else who controls the ghost. That game is scheduled to arrive on PC, PlayStation and Xbox later this year.

‘Among Us VR’ will arrive later this year with literal finger pointing

Meta just held its latest Quest gaming showcase and it included some fresh looks at previously announced games as well as reveals of new titles. The stream offered a more in-depth look at Among Us VR gameplay for one thing, as well as a release window. It’s coming to Meta Quest 2, Rift and S, Steam VR and PlayStation VR later this year.

This version looks like it’ll completely shake up the dynamics of Among Us. It shifts the perspective to first-person rather than a top-down view. You’ll still be running around the level to complete tasks, but you won’t be able to see if there’s a potential impostor right behind you. Hilariously, during the voting phase, you’ll be able to literally point fingers at sus crewmates. Meanwhile, Schell Games, which worked on the VR version, has teamed up with Meta Quest to develop three unannounced projects.

Meta also showed off the initial gameplay trailer for the first officially licensed NFL VR game, NFL Pro Era. Developer StatusPro is using actual game data in a bid to make the experience feel authentic. You’ll play as a quarterback and you can build up your skills in drills, read the defense and call audibles. If you can avoid getting sacked too many times, you can take your team to the Super Bowl. Alternatively, you can just play catch with friends in a virtual NFL stadium. NFL Pro Era, which features all 32 teams and will also be available on PS VR, will arrive this fall.

Speaking of PS VR, one game that platform initially had as an exclusive will land on Quest 2 this summer: Moss: Book II. Polyarc’s sequel to Moss (which is already available on Quest) is well regarded, and more players will be able to check it out in the coming months. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution will arrive this year too. 

In addition, a Mercenaries horde mode for the VR version of Resident Evil 4 just arrived as a surprise free update. You’ll need to take out as many Ganados as possible before time runs out. There are online leaderboards and challenges. Completing challenges will earn you rewards like a black-and-white classic horror mode and golden skins for weapons. Unlocked features will be available in the main game too.

Elsewhere, an electronic mixtape pack is coming to Beat Saber, including songs by Deadmau5, Marshmello and Pendulum. A release date for Cities: VR (a virtual reality take on Cities: Skylines) was announced as well: it’s coming to Quest on April 28th.

The event included trailers for some other titles, including an impressive-looking follow up to sci-fi puzzle game Red Matter, espionage sequel Espire 2, narrative-driven JRPG Ruinsmagus and action-adventure title Bonelab.

At the end of the show, Meta had one last surprise announcement that won’t have been on many people’s radars (or PKE meters): Ghostbusters VR.

‘Sonic Origins’ brings four remastered games to console and PC on June 23rd

Never mind the movies and endless spinoffs — Sega knows you want to replay the classic 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games, and it’s ready to deliver. The company has announced that its Sonic Origins collection will debut June 23rd on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Switch. The $40 (£33) standard version will include remasters of Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD, while a $45 (£37) Digital Deluxe edition adds difficult missions, exclusive music and cosmetics.

Every game has remastered graphics and other “enhancements” for modern hardware. You can play all of them as they were originally intended (including the old aspect ratio), but you can also experiment with features and modes that were never available on your Genesis or Mega Drive. You can play as Sonic, Tails or Knuckles in any of the games, and an “Anniversary Mode” brings in a widescreen ratio with infinite lives. You can earn medallions to unlock content by completing missions.

This won’t satisfy completists. Where’s the remaster of the classic 32X title Knuckles Chaotix, Sega? If you can forgive that oversight, though, this may be the easiest way to either indulge your nostalgia or introduce kids to the other iconic platformer of the 16-bit generation.