Month: April 2022

There were many stories last week about the plans of Apple Store workers to organize. Although Apple has not yet made a statement regarding its plans to unionize, the company is already working with antiunion lawyers to stop them.

Recent instances of union talks

Apple Store workers at Grand Central in New York City are starting to unionize. These employees seek to improve the quality of working conditions, earn more vacation time and better retirement, and secure a $30-per-hour minimum wage. A few days later news came out that the employees of the Apple Store in Atlanta would be the first to vote in a union election. Employees there ask for similar benefits as the New York City store.

Littler Mendelson also represents Starbucks

The Verge reports that Apple is working with San Francisco-based Littler Mendelson law firm to de-escalate the union fights. Littler Mendelson represents Starbucks to prevent its union partners organizing. The firm previously helped McDonald’s in 2014 when workers were calling for $15 an hour wages.

The management of Apple is attempting to stop their employees exercising their rights to join unions by keeping Littler Mendelson, a notorious union-busting company,” stated Sara Steffens (CWA Secretary-Treasurer). The workers at Starbucks (another Littler client) aren’t buying it, and so will Apple workers.

An anonymous Apple Store employee in New York told The Verge that the company has been spreading anti-union messaging during meetings. “There’s a lot of misinformation that’s been spread trying to scare the masses,” the employee said. They are panicking .”

Apple declined to comment to The Verge regarding hiring Littler Mendelson for its anti-unionization efforts.

Workers at Keywords Studios, which have in the past supported BioWare’s quality assurance (QA) efforts, are moving toward unionization according to paperwork filed in Canada. Polygon confirmed the filing with the Alberta Labour Relations Board Monday.

An account called KeywordsUnitedYEG posted a notice on Reddit’s Alberta forum, also on Monday, noting that workers had organized under the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401 to become the certified bargaining agent for a unit of employees of Keywords Studios B.C. Union workers could test the next Mass Effect and Dragon Age games.

Keywords is a company that provides “long-term and cost-efficient video game testing solutions” for other developers, according to its website. Some of the partners include Square Enix, Electronic Arts and Blizzard Entertainment. According to the company’s official site, it provided QA for the most recent Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles — which are BioWare’s most successful series.

This represents another step towards unionization within the gaming industry. Some studios are willing to join forces despite resistance from management and publishers. Raven Software, a support QA studio that worked on the popular Call of Duty franchise, is also in the early stages of a unionization effort.

Polygon reached out to United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union Local No. 401 as well as Keywords, BioWare, and Electronic Arts for additional comment.

Since Apple introduced AirTag last year, multiple interesting stories related to the item tracker have been shared on the web. A man lost his luggage on a trip to his wedding used AirTags with a PowerPoint presentation in order to request his bag.

Elliot Sharod and his wife, Helen, were flying back to the U.K. from their wedding in South Africa on April 17. The couple purchased tickets that included stopovers at Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt. However, they were forced to change their flight schedule due to the pandemic. Their luggage was not returned to the U.K. after they made it.

Luckily, Sharod placed an AirTag inside each bag so that he could track them on the map. The Find My app enabled the couple to track their bags on a map and discovered that the luggage they had taken to Frankfurt was not with them to London.

AerLingus was the airline that operated the flight and stated that Sharod would receive the bags at his home. Only two bags of the three were delivered to Sharod’s home that night.

After multiple calls and emails to Aer Lingus without a solution, Sharod then complained on Twitter, but even that didn’t seem enough. That’s when Sharod took a different approach: he posted videos and even made a PowerPoint presentation with screenshots from the Find My app showing exactly where his lost bag was.

He told CNN that the bag was located in two different places in Pimlico, and it has never moved since April 21. However, the airline was unable to find it, so Sharod contacted the police as he now believes the bag was stolen.

While this saga doesn’t seem to be nearing an end, it’s always interesting to see how useful AirTag can actually be in situations like this. Hopefully, Sharod will be able to get his lost bag back.

Update: With the help of the police and thanks to the AirTag’s location, Sharod was able to get his bag back.

Do you have interesting stories about Apple’s AirTag technology?

Do you have any interesting stories about Apple’s AirTag?

Read also:

• YouTuber sends AirTag to Tim Cook, and Apple returns it with a letter
• AirTag foils plot to sell and recover stolen truck in Texas

Twitter has made it official: it will accept Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company at a value of $54. 20 per share. After Elon Musk made what he described as his “best, final and best” offer to buy the company earlier in this month. Head below for the full details on Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

Elon Musk is buying Twitter

Initial reports suggested that Twitter wasn’t interested in Musk’s offer of the acquisition. Twitter’s board adopted a poison pill “ in order to prevent hostile takeovers. Then, reports earlier on Monday indicated that Twitter’s board of directors were considering the offer and the company could announce the deal as soon as Monday afternoon.

That has now come to fruition, with Twitter announcing that it has indeed accepted Musk’s offer to acquire the company. The deal is valued at $54. 20 per share, for a total value of $44 billion. This means that Twitter shareholders will receive $54. 20 per share owned.

Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, said, “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. We are proud of our team and feel inspired by their work .”

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“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Mr. Musk. I also hope to improve Twitter by making it better, open-sourcing the algorithm to boost trust and defeating spambots. Twitter is a great platform. I am excited to work with them and their community to make it .”

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Twitter says that Musk has secured $25. 5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing an approximately $21.0 billion equity commitment. The company will become privately owned once the agreement is done.

This deal was “unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors” and is expected to close this year.

Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, said:

Twitter is a tool with a global purpose. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.

Musk stated that Twitter should be made private to allow it to thrive. The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Jeff Bezos, said Twitter’s current structure “will not help this society” and “will never prosper.”

I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.

However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter must be transformed into a private business.

What do you make of Twitter’s acceptance of Musk’s acquisition offer? Let us know down in the comments.

“Locked Out” is one of the many puzzles you’ll encounter in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and you can complete it once you are able to go to both Coruscant and Naboo. Our “Locked Out” puzzle guide explains where to find the door code and complete this Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga puzzle.

The start of the “Locked Out” puzzle is at a guy locked out of his apartment in Naboo. We’ve marked his location below, but he’s also marked on your map with a Kyber Brick. It’s not clear if you will need to speak with him in order to find his key.

Image: Traveller’s Tales/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

The key code to enter his apartment is on Coruscant, specifically in the Uscrus District. To find the key code console, enter the doorway as shown below. You will need a Protocol Droid unit to use the console, but if you’re far enough in the game to have access to Coruscant and Naboo, you should be able to use C-3PO.

Image: Traveller’s Tales/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Head back to the NPC’s apartment in Naboo. After entering the key code you will be allowed to access the apartment of the NPC and receive your reward, a Kyber Brick HTML1.