Google acquires MicroLED startup Raxium to help boost its AR ambitions

Google has purchased a startup called Raxium specializing in MicroLED displays as part of its Devices & Services group, 9to5Google has reported. Raxium is developing what it calls “ultra-compact, low-power, high resolution” displays, so Google may be planning to use it in future augmented or virtual reality devices. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

“Today we’re announcing that Google has acquired Raxium, an innovator in single panel MicroLED display technologies,” wrote Google senior VP of Devices & Services, Rick Osterloh in a short blog post. “The team at Raxium has spent five years creating miniaturized, cost-effective and energy efficient high-resolution displays that have laid the foundation for future display technologies.”

A deal with Raxium was rumored last March in a report from The Information. Google was supposedly interested in owning the company to gain more control over key display components for future AR/VR products, rather than outsourcing as it generally does now. It could also use the tech on future Pixel phones or its Starline immersive videoconferencing product, according to the report. 

To date, MicroLEDs have seen meager commercial production due to high manufacturing costs, apart from some very exotic products. Raxium, by contrast, says its on the “cutting edge of bringing monolithic integration” like that used in silicon computer chips, to MicroLEDs. That could allow them to be mass-produced far more cheaply.

Unlike Meta and other rivals, Google hasn’t said much about its augmented reality plans, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t working on it. Last year, news of Google’s Augmented Reality OS leaked out late last year through job listings and the company reportedly plans to release an AR headset by 2024. 

Apple’s AirTag 4-pack has never been cheaper

If you have several items (or pets) you want to keep track of, this is a great chance to grab multiple Apple AirTags at once. You can pick up a four-pack from Amazon and Best Buy for $84.55, or $14.45 less than its retail price of $99. That’s even cheaper than the a recent deal we spotted on Amazon, where it was being sold for $89. The catch is that the Best Buy deal is only available today, with only 20 hours left as of this writing. While Amazon is matching Best Buy on price, delivery may take upwards of 10 days if you choose that route.

Buy Apple AirTag (4-Pack) at Amazon – $84.55Buy Apple AirTag (4-Pack) at Best Buy – $84.55

AirTags are probably the best choice if you have an iPhone, especially if you have a newer device. These coin-sized trackers come equipped with Apple’s U1 ultra-wideband chip that acts as a beacon allowing devices that have the same chip to find it more easily. That means if you have an iPhone 11 or newer, you can simply press the “Find” button in the Find My app to access its precise tracking capabilities and narrow down your search.

Since the AirTag was made to make items easier to find, it comes with a speaker that can play an alert tone that was surprisingly louder than we expected when we tested it out. Apple also says the device is easy to pair as its AirPods — we found that to be the case — and has user-replaceable batteries. Perhaps the only downside if you’re an iOS user is that it doesn’t have a built-in keychain ring, which means you may have to purchase extra accessories to attach it to whatever it is you want to track.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Intuit owes customers $141 million after it ‘cheated’ them out of free tax services

TurboTax maker Intuit will pay $141 million “for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free,” the NY Attorney General’s office wrote in a press release. It must also suspend its “free, free, free” ad campaign for TurboTax that baited customers with the promise of free tax preparation, then switched them into a paying service.

The company agreed to a settlement with all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, Ars Technica reported. The company must refund nearly 4.4 million consumers who used TurboTax’s Free Edition between 2016 and 2018, then discovered they had to pay to file. Many didn’t realize they had the option of of filing for free using the IRS Free File program available via a separate product. 

“Intuit cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services they were entitled to,” said Attorney General Letitia James. “For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers.”

For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers.

A multistate investigation found that “Intuit engaged in several deceptive and unfair trade practices that limited consumers’ participation in the IRS Free File Program,” the New York AG wrote. Specifically, Intuit used similar names for both its IRS Free File product and commercial freemium TurboTax product and used search engine ads to steer customers looking for the former to the latter. It also “purposefully blocked its IRS Free File landing page from search engine results during the 2019 tax filing season,” the NY AG wrote. 

The AG office said that it marketed the freemium product through ad campaigns “where ‘free’ is the most prominent or sometimes the only selling point… however, the TurboTax ‘freemium’ product is only free for approximately one-third of US taxpayers.” 

Intuit released a statement expressing no regret and said the required ad changes would have little impact on its business. “As part of the agreement, Intuit admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to pay $141 million to put this matter behind it, and made certain commitments regarding its advertising practices,” the company wrote on its blog.

As part of the agreement, Intuit admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to pay $141 million to put this matter behind it, and made certain commitments regarding its advertising practices.

Intuit dropped out of the the IRS’s Free File Alliance last year, saying an exit would help it focus on “further innovating” without being encumbered by Free File program rules. Eighteen months prior, the IRS introduced new Free File rules that prohibit members from “engaging in any practice” that would prevent their free software from showing up on Google or any other search engine. They were also required to call their apps “IRS Free File program delivered by [product name].”

Senator Elizabeth Warren once called the Free File Alliance “a front for tax prep companies who use it as a gateway to sell expensive products no one would even need if we’d just made it easier for people to pay their taxes.” Other countries including the UK and Japan allow return-free filing for many citizens, but Intuit, H&R Block and other companies have lobbied against such a move in the US. 

The payouts, amounting to about $30 per person for each tax year, are supposed to take place within 30 days of the signing of the agreement. After that, the Attorneys General of each state will “have sole discretion concerning the administration and distribution of the Settlement Fund.” 

Meta will limit hiring this year due to slowing revenue growth

Meta is limiting its intake of new employees as part of its efforts to cut costs due to weak revenue forecasts, according to CNBC and Bloomberg. Facebook’s parent company is slowing the pace or pausing hiring for most mid-to-senior level positions altogether. It has started putting recruitment on hold, the sources said, after holding off on hiring new entry-level engineers over the past weeks. 

Facebook’s latest quarterly earnings results were better than expected, and its daily active users even bounced back a bit from last quarter. However, the company also expects a revenue drop next quarter in part because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Company CFO David Wehner said during the earnings call that Meta “experienced a further deceleration in growth following the start of the Ukraine war due to the loss of revenue in Russia as well as a reduction in advertising demand both within Europe and outside the region.” 

In addition, Facebook expects to lose $10 billion in revenue due to the changes in Apple’s privacy settings on iOS. Apple introduced a new feature earlier this year that limits advertisers’ access to the unique IDFA code associated with users’ devices. That identifier is what gives companies a way to link a user to their Facebook data and show them targeted ads. Facebook even rolled out a prompt asking users to allow the company to track their activity across websites and apps before the change was implemented in hopes to curb its effects on the company’s business.

A Meta spokesperson told the publications:

“We regularly re-evaluate our talent pipeline according to our business needs and in light of the expense guidance given for this earnings period, we are slowing its growth accordingly. However, we will continue to grow our workforce to ensure we focus on long-term impact.”

Insider previously reported on leaked internal memos, wherein Wehner said that the hiring freeze will last the rest of the year. It will affect almost every team across the company, which won’t be recruiting “engineers, managers and even some director level talent” throughout 2022.

Google’s ‘raters’ are pushing for $15 an hour

Part-time employees at RaterLabs — an AI vendor whose only known client is Google — are campaigning to qualify for the $15 hourly minimum wage the tech giant promised to its “extended workforce” back in 2019.

Yahoo Financereported that the quality raters whose sole job is evaluating Google’s search and ad results for accuracy don’t qualify for sick leave, PTO or other benefits the company provides for its TVCs (temporary workers, vendors and independent contractors). Google increased base pay following critical reporting of its treatment of TVCs in 2018 — the same year it was revealed the majority of Google’s workforce was not directly employed by the company.

A number of RatersLabs employees believe the work they do is vital enough to Google that they should receive the higher pay and benefits of their peers. Christopher Colley, who has worked for the Google vendor since 2017, told Yahoo Finance that he only earns $10 an hour, and hasn’t qualified for a raise over the five years he’s worked at RaterLabs. Colley is also part of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU-CWA), a subgroup of the Communications Workers of America focused on organizing full-time and part-time workers of Alphabet.

“The raters work from home, use their own devices, can work for multiple companies at a time, and do not have access to Google’s systems and/or badges,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget. “As noted on the policy page, the wages and benefits policy applies to Alphabet’s provisioned extended workforce (individuals with systems and/or badge access to Google).”

Among the hurdles workers need to jump in order to qualify for the pay bump afforded to some TVCs is a minimum 30-hour workweek. As AWU-CWA was quick to point out, RaterLabs contractors are capped at only 26 hours.

Employee accounts on RatersLabs’ Indeed profile describe low morale, low pay and an unclear feedback process. “Reviews are monthly, with one bad review potentially costing you the job […] Guidelines can change the week before the review and you can be ‘graded’ based on them despite doing the work way before,” wrote a former RatersLab employee in January 2022. “The job is very flexible, pay is mediocre, and you have no chance for advancement.”

This isn’t the first time that Google’s army of raters have spoken out about low pay, no opportunities for advancement and subpar working conditions. In fact, RatersLabs was formed by the CEO of Leapforce, a company that also hired raters for Google search and ad products. Back in 2017, Leapforce raters spoke out about chaotic working conditions, resulting in at least three contractors being fired, two of whom claimed their separations from the company were acts of retaliation. As Ars Technicanotes, a number of Leapforce workers filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board which were eventually resolved via settlement. Appen — which acquired Leapforce in May of 2017 — is also the parent company of RatersLabs.

TikTok will explore sharing ad money with creators

TikTok creators might soon have an easier way to profit from their posts. As part of a TikTok Pulse ad solution, the social media giant will start “exploring” a program that shares ad revenue with influencers, publishers and well-known public personas. Those with at least 100,000 followers will be eligible in the first stage, TikTok said.

The company told TechCrunch it will launch Pulse in the US this June, with other countries due in the fall. TikTok will split revenue equally between itself and producers. That’s slightly worse than Instagram (where creators get 55 percent), but still significant.

The appeal is clear: if you’re popular enough, you could make money with every post. That could encourage more posts on TikTok, not to mention spare some video makers from relying heavily on sponsorships or donations.

This also helps TikTok, of course. It could prevent stars from jumping to Instagram or other, potentially more lucrative rivals. However, it might also encourage more creators to produce ad-friendly clips — you might see cleaner, less polarizing material. That won’t be thrilling if you like TikTok’s more political or risqué content, but it might help TikTok withstand increasingly fierce competition.

Amazon warehouse worker will propose reforms at a shareholder meeting

Amazon leaders might face an uncomfortable moment at the company’s next shareholder gathering. Daniel Olayiwola will become the first Amazon warehouse worker to present a resolution at the firm’s annual general meeting on May 25th. The San Antonio-based employee’s proposal calls for Amazon to end both its staff surveillance and productivity quotas. The practices force workers to “prioritize speed over safety,” Olayiwola said, and there have reportedly been few meaningful changes.

The staffer pointed to OSHA data showing that Amazon’s injury rates were “well above” national averages, particularly at automated facilities and during peak periods. He blamed this in no small part on policies like Time Off Task, which monitors the amount of time workers spend away from their station tools. The combination of surveillance and quotas reportedly gives employees little room for breaks or a safe, sustainable work pace.

We’ve asked Amazon for comment. The online retailer has softened its approach in some respects, such as averaging Time Off Task over a longer period to reduce the strain on warehouse personnel. Founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos pushed for Amazon to become the “safest place to work.”

Amazon still keeps a close eye on productivity, however, and has recently been accused of pushing workers past the breaking point. Employees and contractors at the Illinois warehouse that collapsed during a deadly tornado last year were reportedly pressured to keep working despite the extreme danger, for instance.

We wouldn’t count on the resolution passing. Shareholder resolutions at many companies frequently fail if they challenge the status quo, and Olayiwola’s would demand a major change to Amazon’s policies. Even if the proposal doesn’t survive, though, it highlights the mounting tensions between Amazon and a rank-and-file demanding better working conditions.

Sonos may roll out its own voice assistant next month

It seems Sonos is gearing up to roll out its own long-rumored voice assistant in the coming weeks. Sonos Voice is said to offer voice control for music playback on many of the company’s devices, offering owners another option if they’d rather not use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Sonos will first roll out Sonos Voice in the US on June 1st as part of a software update, according to The Verge. The feature should arrive in other countries later. Smart speakers and soundbars that support the S2 platform will all reportedly gain Sonos Voice support. A rumored $250 soundbar called Sonos Ray will likely be among those.

At the outset, Sonos Voice is said to support Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Deezer and Sonos Radio. It’s believed that the voice assistant won’t work with Spotify or YouTube Music at the jump, which are pretty significant omissions. As you might expect, you’ll be able to ask Sonos devices to play artists, albums, songs or playlists from compatible services.

Voice commands will reportedly be handled on-device, and won’t be recorded or processed in the cloud. Unsurprisingly, the wake word is expected to be “Hey Sonos.” Users should still be able to control other connected home products via Alexa or Google Assistant on Sonos devices.

Sonos has had uneasy relationships with the likes of Amazon and Google over the years. In 2020, Sonos sued Google over alleged speaker patent infringement. The US International Trade Commission finalized a ruling on the case earlier this year, which resulted in Google having to make some minor changes to some products.

Amazon-owned PillPack will pay nearly $6 million over DOJ’s insulin suit

PillPack, an online pharmacy owned by Amazon, will pay $5.79 million to the U.S. government and states to settle a fraud suit related to its insulin distribution practices, the Department of Justice announced on Monday. The company admitted to sending customers full cartons of insulin pens — in some cases more than they needed or were prescribed — while under-reporting their days-of-supply to circumvent limits from Medicare and Medicaid. The result? PillPack effectively overbilled the government agencies for some insulin shipments between April 2014 and November 2019.

“Pharmacies are trusted to provide accurate information to Government healthcare programs and to prevent waste when dispensing medications to patients,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “PillPack abused this trust by dispensing insulin refills long before patients needed them and by falsely reporting the days-of-supply of insulin actually dispensed to prevent its claims for reimbursement from being denied.”

PillPack’s technology, which Amazon acquired in 2018, was used to create Amazon Pharmacy. But, as The Verge notes, PillPack still operates on its own. In a statement to Axios, an Amazon spokesperson noted that the company changed its distribution practices in 2019 and deflected the fraud allegations, saying that it “was common among pharmacies to not open pre-packaged boxes of insulin pens to ensure customers had enough life-saving medication.” At the very least, the spokesperson said, customers weren’t billed for the extra insulin pens.