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The National Labor Relations Board has accused Apple of infringing on its employees rights to advocate for better working conditions. In a complaint spotted by Reuters, the agency alleges Apple illegally fired an employee who had used Slack to advocate for workplace changes at the company. Separately, the NLRB accuses Apple of forcing another worker to delete a social media post. The case stems from a 2021 complaint filed by #AppleToo co-organizer Janneke Parrish. In October of that year, Apple fired Parrish for allegedly sharing confidential information, a claim she denies. Per the complaint, Parrish used Slack and public social media posts to advocate for permanent remote work. She also shared open letters critical of the tech giant, distributed a pay equity survey, and recounted instances of sexual and racial discrimination at Apple. According to the labor board, Apples policies bars employees from creating Slack channels without first obtaining permission from a manager. Instead, workers must direct their workplace concerns to either management or a People Support group the company maintains. An example of the type of concerns some employees used Slack to voice can be seen in a 2021 tweet from former Apple employee Ashley Gjvik. We look forward to holding Apple accountable at trial for implementing facially unlawful rules and terminating employees for engaging in the core protected activity of calling out gender discrimination and other civil rights violations that permeated the workplace, Parrishs lawyer, Laurie Burgess, told Reuters. Apple did not immediately respond to Engadgets comment request. Provided Apple does not settle with the agency, an initial hearing is scheduled for February with an administrative judge. The NLRB is looking to force the company to change its policy and reimburse Parrish for the financial hardships she suffered due to her firing. Last week, the NLRB accused Apple of forcing employees to sign illegal and overly broad confidentially, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/nlrb-accuses-apple-of-illegally-restricting-employee-slack-and-social-media-use-200059723.html?src=rss
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The soundtrack to the spider-bot-crawling 1997 Ghost in the Shell game adaptation is coming to the West for the first time. Titled Ghost in the Shell: Megatech Body (as an ode to the Fuchikoma mech you pilot in the game), the soundtrack was produced by Takkyu Ishino. Its available to pre-order on iam8bit ahead of its 2025 release. The PS1 game adaptation had late-90s gamers piloting a spider-like mech (first appearing in the 1991 manga), blasting enemies to smithereens with twin machine guns and guided missiles. Masamune Shirow, the original mangas author, wrote and illustrated its story and art design. But as 90s shooters often figured out, firing guns nonstop for hours on end is much better with a badass techno soundtrack pumping in the background like an energy drink for your ears. In addition to Ishino, it includes warehouse-shaking bangers from Mijk Van Dijk, The Advent, Joey Beltram and Brother from Another Planet (among others). iam8bit The soundtrack album first arrived in Japan alongside the game in 1997 in a single-disc version and an expanded two-disc limited edition. In an apparent nod to the original, the 2025 soundtrack for the West will be available on CD (23 tracks), a double LP (11 tracks) and a 12-inch picture disc ( a carefully curated six tracks). You can now pre-order the three Ghost in the Shell: Megatech Body variants on iam8bit. The CD (packaged in a stunning 3D lenticular case) costs $43, the vinyl version is $55 and the picture disc (which comes on an illustrated two-sided disc that pays homage to the original release) costs $50. The soundtrack is expected to arrive in Q2 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/the-ghost-in-the-shell-ps1-soundtrack-is-finally-coming-to-the-west-194447885.html?src=rss
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Robot vacuums across the country were hacked in the space of several days, according to reporting by ABC News. This allowed the attackers to not only control the robovacs, but use their speakers to hurl racial slurs and abusive comments at anyone nearby. All of the affected robots were of the same make and model, the Chinese-made Ecovacs Deebot X2s. This particular robovac has developed a reputation for being easy to hack, thanks to a critical security flaw. ABC News, for instance, was able to get full control over one of the robots, including the camera. One victim of this weeks hacks was a Minnesota lawyer named Daniel Swenson. He told ABC that he was watching TV when the robot started making weird noises, like a broken-up radio signal or something. Through the app, Swenson could tell that a stranger was accessing the live camera feed and the remote control feature. He reset the password and rebooted the vacuum, but thats when the weirdness really started. It immediately started moving again of its own accord and the speakers began emitting a human voice. This voice was yelling racist obscenities right in front of Swensons son. "I got the impression it was a kid, maybe a teenager," said Swenson. "Maybe they were just jumping from device to device messing with families." Ultimately, he said it could have been worse, such as if the vacuum silently spied on his family for days on end. Swensons device was hacked on May 24. That same day another Deebot X2s in Los Angeles began chasing around a dog. This vacuums speakers also shouted abusive comments. Five days later, a similar incident happened in El Paso. It remains unclear how many of the companys devices have been hacked in total. At the root of this issue is a security flaw that allows bad faith actors to bypass the required four-digit security PIN in order to gain control of the vacuum. This issue originally came to light in December 2023. The Bluetooth connector also has a flaw that allows for complete access from up to 300 feet away. However, the attacks occurred throughout the country, so the Bluetooth vulnerability is an unlikely culprit. According to Gizmodo, the company has developed a patch to eliminate the aforementioned security flaw thatll roll out sometime in November. We reached out to Ecovacs to get a confirmation on this.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/hackers-are-making-robot-vacuums-randomly-yell-racial-slurs-184017187.html?src=rss
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