PlayStation DualSense controllers are up to 21 percent off in Days of Play sale

You can get new PlayStation controllers and other accessories from Amazon at a discount from the Days of Play sale that begins today, May 25th. All six PS DualSense controllers are currently on sale at Amazon, including the latest colors launched in December. The basic black controller is available for $59, while the white one is listed for $60, or 14 percent off its original price of $70. For the same prices, though, you can also get one of the vibrantly colored DualSense controllers that typically cost $75.

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The Cosmic Red, Nova Pink and Galactic Purple controllers are listed for $59, which is the lowest price we’ve seen for them on the website. You’ll have to pay $1 more for the Starlight Blue variant, but that’s still a steal if you’re eyeing the color in the first place and investing in a similar-colored face plate for your PS5, as well. The DualSense controllers have such advanced haptic feedback, that developers can program it to give you a feel of what’s happening on screen — they can tweak the haptics to make you feel the difference between your character walking on grass and trudging through sand, for instance. DualSense’s analog triggers can also recreate the feel of in-game tools, such the resistance of a bow when you pull on its string to shoot an arrow. 

The Playstation HD Camera is also on sale for $49 or $11 less its retail price. It has dual wide-angle lenses, is capable of 1080p capture and has a built-in adjustable stand. Meanwhile, the PlayStation PULSE 3D Wireless Headset is currently available for $10 off at $90. It’s fine-tuned for 3D Audio on PS5 consoles, has noise—canceling mic and can last for up to 12 hours on a single charge.

You can also get few physical games at a discount from the sale, including Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection for $30 instead of $50. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for the PS5 is available at $30 off for $40, while Death Stranding is on sale for 22 percent off at $20. The discounted copy of Death Stranding is for the PS4, but you can upgrade your copy for the PS5 for an additional $10. Finally, you can also get Elden Ring for $10 off at $50, The King of Fighters XV at $20 off for $40 and Deathloop at 58 percent off for $25.

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Insta360’s Sphere lets DJI’s latest Mavic Air drones capture 360-degree video

Insta360, best known for its action and 360 degree cameras, has just launched an interesting drone camera. The Insta360 Sphere attaches around the body of DJI’s Mavic Air 2 or Air 2S drones, letting you film 5.7K 360 footage or create regular 2D videos with the option of reframing them later in post. Better still, Insta360’s tech ensures that the drone is “invisible” in shots.

Since 360 cameras film in all directions, half the video can be obstructed by the drone itself. However, Insta360 mounted cameras on either side of the drone to ensure it doesn’t appear in the footage. To provide seamless footage, “Insta360’s proprietary dynamic stitching algorithm makes the whole drone (including the propellers) disappear automatically,” the company wrote. 

The Sphere attaches to Mavic Air 2/2S drones with an “ultra-secure” mechanism, and doesn’t affect its structural integrity or impact the GPS signal or control system. Insta360 is also promising smooth flights via its FlowState stabilization tech that’s been fine-tuned for the Sphere. At the same time, you can simultaneously capture video from the drone’s own camera. 

The company showed off some fancy footage in a YouTube video, with barrel rolls and dolly zooms, created in its Insta360 app. The Insta360 Sphere is now available in the US and mainland China for $430.  

Lyft joins Uber in cutting back on new hiring

After Uber announced that it was cutting back on hiring and other expenses due to the economic slowdown, rival Lyft is doing the same, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Given the slower than expected recovery and need to accelerate leverage in the business, we’ve made the difficult but important decision to significantly slow hiring in the US,” Lyft President John Zimmer reportedly wrote in a memo to staff.

There are no layoffs planned. However, the decision means the company will give priority to fewer initiatives and not fill many current open roles, focusing instead on critical roles that support its core rides business, the memo further states. 

Tech companies have been hard hit during the economic slowdown, with Amazon reporting its slowest growth in nearly 20 years and Snap shares declining 43 percent after it reported earnings yesterday. Lyft has been hit particularly hard, having lost more than 60 percent of its value since the beginning of 2022, with a 15 percent decline alone yesterday.

Lawmakers ask Google to stop collecting location data before reversal of abortion rights

Senator Ron Wyden and 41 other Democratic lawmakers are urging Google to stop collecting and keeping location data that could be used against people who’ve had or are seeking abortions. In a letter (PDF) to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers referenced the Supreme Court draft obtained by Politico in which SCOTUS justices have voted to reverse Roe v. Wade. The landmark case protected the federal rights to abortion across the country, and states with trigger laws will immediately criminalize abortion if it truly gets overturned. 

“[W]e are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google’s current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care,” the lawmakers wrote. Their issue mostly lies with how Google designed Android so that it also has to receive location data if a third-party app asks users for access to their location information. On iOS, Google can only collect information data while people are using Google Maps. 

As Google reveals in its transparency reports, it routinely gets court orders, subpoenas and search warrants from law enforcement agencies looking to get their hands on user information. In the first half of 2021, for instance, the tech giant received 50,907 requests for disclosure of user information involving 115,594 accounts. A total of 82 percent of those requests resulted in the disclosure of some information. 

In their letter, the lawmakers pointed out how a quarter of the court orders Google gets is for “geofence” data, which can show information on people near a particular location at a given time. They means it could be used to identify people who visit reproductive health clinics and other places that help people seek access to abortions.

The signees praised Google for being one of the first companies to require a warrant before disclosing user data, but they said it’s not enough. They compared Google to Apple, saying the latter shows that it’s “not necessary for smartphone companies to retain invasive tracking databases of their customers’ locations.” By continuing to collect location data, the lawmakers say Google is creating a digital divide, since those who can afford iPhones have greater protection against government surveillance. 

They closed the letter with this plea:

“[W]e urge you to promptly reform your data collection and retention practices, so that Google no longer collects unnecessary customer location data nor retains any non-aggregate location data about individual customers, whether in identifiable or anonymized form. Google cannot allow its online advertising-focused digital infrastructure to be weaponized against women.”

Injury rates of Amazon’s delivery contractors climbed 40 percent last year, new report claims

Drivers for Amazon’s rapidly growing third-party delivery partner network are being hurt on the job with shocking frequency according to data compiled in a new report by the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC) — and the rate of injuries increased dramatically between 2020 and 2021.

Among the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) drivers it found OSHA data for, SOC claims there was “nearly one injury per five full-time-equivalent workers” in 2021 — an incident rate of 18.3. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’s most recent incident rate average among “couriers and express delivery services” stands at just 7.5 per 100. According to SOC, the 2021 injury numbers represent an approximately 40 percent increase from the previous year.

There are some important limitations to the findings SOC — which itself is a collaboration between Service Employees International Union, Teamsters, Communications Workers of America and United Farmworkers of America — published however. Because DSPs are subcontracted, their injury data is submitted individually to OSHA; SOC was able to obtain incident logs for 201 such delivery companies that work with Amazon, but estimates that pool represents just ten percent of the total DSP workforce. Still, given the wealth of reporting on injury rates among Amazon’s warehouse staff, the report indicates that trend may be broadly applicable to the company’s workforce.

Working for a DSP, according to a lawsuit filed by one such company earlier this year, involves assenting to “near complete control” by Amazon without the ecommerce giant providing the “required safeguards.” DSP drivers are also regularly monitored by Amazon through the company’s Mentor app and surveillance cameras installed in their vehicles. According to one driver in Indianapolis that SOC spoke to in March, Amazon uses a system of scores that rank drivers against their own co-workers in terms of delivery speed and completion rate; the driver said she knew of 15 drivers who were terminated for not meeting Amazon’s performance demands. The aforementioned lawsuit notes that “exceedingly aggressive time limits that could rarely be safely met” are a mainstay.

“This report cherry-picks data from less than 10% of our delivery partners to tell an inaccurate and misleading story,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, told Engadget. “Safety is a priority across our network, which is why we’ve rolled out technology like innovative camera systems that have helped lead to an overall reduction in accident rates of nearly 50%, and we’ll keep investing in new safety tools to try and get better every day.” It’s not clear if DSPs are obligated to share their injury data with Amazon as well as OSHA; Engadget has reached out for clarification.

The DSP program — which Amazon first launched in 2018 to reduce its reliance on USPS, UPS and Fedex — has grown rapidly since then to a network of over 2,000 companies. As Bloombergnoted, many DSP operators are veterans, retirees, first-time business owners and other neophytes to the logistics business. The same productivity demands placed on drivers are similarly leveraged against DSP owners who have reported razor-thin margins, and a feeling of being trapped in the program by “exit fees” if they choose to leave.

Harley-Davidson made an electric mountain bike without front or rear suspension

Harley-Davidson’s Serial 1 brand unveiled its latest ebike model on Tuesday, and it’s something of a head-scratcher. The company describes the Bash/Mtn as a mountain bike, but unless you have the technical skills to go under-biking, you probably don’t want to take its newest ebike on anything but the most forgiving single-track.

That’s because the Bash/Mtn features a fully rigid aluminum frame and fork, with no front or rear suspension. It also doesn’t come with a dropper post, and as far as I can tell, there’s no elegant way of adding one on your own. The only shock absorption this bike comes with is its SR Suntour NCX seat post, which offers up to 50mm of travel.

Harley-Davidson claims those missing features are actually the reason to buy the Bash/Mtn. “No fussy suspension to tune, no finicky drivetrain to adjust — just two wheels, one gear, and one purpose, to provide the most direct connection between you and the trail,” the company said.

Once you get past the unorthodox design, the Bash/Mtn looks like a decent e-bike. It features a removable 529Wh battery the company says will provide between 30 and 95 miles of range, depending on the terrain and drive mode you use. It takes just under five hours to charge the battery to full, though you can get it up to 75 percent after about two-and-a-half hours. As a Class 1 e-bike, the Bash/Mtn will stop providing you with assistance once you’ve reached a speed of 20 miles per hour. Completing the package are TRP hydraulic disc brakes and 27.5-inch tubeless-ready tires from Michelin.

At $3,999, the Bash/Mtn is on the more affordable side of what you can expect to pay for an electric mountain bike from companies like Canyon, Giant and Trek, but then those models are entirely different bikes. Harley-Davidson plans to produce only 1,050 units of the Bash/Mtn, with 525 units slated for sale in the US.

Activision Blizzard employees form a committee to fight workplace discrimination

A dozen current and former Activision Blizzard employees have formed a committee aimed at protecting workers from discriminatory practices at the studio, outlining a list of demands for CEO Bobby Kotick, newly appointed diversity officer Kristen Hines and chief human resources officer Julie Hodges. 

As detailed by The Washington Post, the group’s demands include ending mandatory arbitration in discrimination cases, improving on-site lactation rooms, protecting workers from retaliation, increasing support for trans employees and instituting independent investigations in cases of discrimination, including sexual harassment. The employee group, called the Worker Committee Against Sex and Gender Discrimination, submitted their demands to the studio’s leadership team today.

The committee specifically demands private lactation rooms and appropriate storage spaces for breastmilk and pumping equipment. Breastfeeding workers at Activision Blizzard have documented their issues with the studio’s lactation rooms, describing them as filthy, uncomfortable and poorly secured. Employees said fridges for breast milk were also used to store beer, that people pumping often had to sit on the floor and that breast milk was sometimes stolen. In regards to trans rights, the group demands the creation of a trans network similar to the in-house women’s resource network and for software tools to be wiped of employees’ deadnames.

In response to the formal call for change, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson provided Engadget the following statement: “We appreciate that these employees want to join with us to further build a better Activision Blizzard and continue the progress we have already made. We have, for example, already upgraded our lactation facilities, waived arbitration, hired new DEI and EEO leaders, and collaborated with employees to make our policies and processes more trans inclusive, just to name a few issues the letter raises. We thank these employees, and will continue to work with all of our employees on our journey to be a better company.”

In October 2021, Activision Blizzard changed its policies and waived mandatory arbitration for individual sexual harassment and discrimination claims. The company intends to extend this policy to class actions regarding sexual assault or harassment, in order to comply with a US law enacted in early March 2022 banning these types of arbitration agreements.

The changes at Activision Blizzard follow a year of legal troubles, intense regulatory scrutiny and employee walkouts at the studio. Activision Blizzard executives have been accused of cultivating a sexist, discriminatory workplace in multiple lawsuits over the past year. California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing first sued Activision Blizzard in July 2021 after conducting a two-year investigation into allegations of unchecked sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination and a pervasive “frat boy culture” at the studio. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal group, followed up with a similar lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in September 2021. Activision Blizzard settled the federal EEOC lawsuit this March, agreeing to establish an $18 million fund to compensate employees who experienced discrimination at the studio.

Backed by the Communications Workers of America, Activision Blizzard employees have been advocating for change and unionization — to some degree of success — since the lawsuits were filed. CWA called the $18 million settlement “woefully inadequate,” arguing it would provide the maximum compensation to just 60 workers, when there were likely hundreds of claimants. 

Former Activision Blizzard employee and campaign organizer for the tech-industry group CODE-CWA, Jessica Gonzalez, appealed the $18 million settlement this week, seeking an increase in compensation. Gonzalez is one of the 12 employees in the Worker Committee Against Sex and Gender Discrimination. 

An additional lawsuit accusing Activision Blizzard of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation was filed this week by a current employee. And there’s the wide-ranging investigation into the studio’s workplace practices currently underway at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Update 5/25 11:55AM ET: Added comment from Activision Blizzard.

Apple’s latest Pride Edition Watch bands include a nod to the company’s history

With the start of June a week away, Apple has announced two new Pride-themed Watch bands. The first one is a take on the company’s classic sport loop style. The design features a color gradient that incorporates the iconic rainbow colors seen on a vari…

Stellantis and Samsung SDI to build $2.5 billion EV battery plant in Indiana

Automaker Stellantis and Samsung SDI are teaming up to build a $2.5 billion EV battery plant in Indiana, reported CNBC. It’ll be the first US-based battery plant for Stellantis, which has an umbrella of 16 brands that include Jeep, Maserati, Dodge, Fia…