Apple has now, for the fourth time, had to adjust its return-to-office plans. Workers were slated to begin a hybrid schedule in February, though the rapid spread of the Omicron variant has thrown a wrench in those contentious plans.

Over the course of the pandemic, Apple has repeatedly attempted to set guidance for when in-person work would begin again. The initial target of September 2021 was been received poorly by some employees who formed a "remote work advocates" Slack channel and circulated a letter critical of the policy proposal. The Delta variant necessitated further delays, which were targeted to January, and then February of 2022. 

The rapid transmissibility of Omicron has brought back mask mandates for Apple stores around the country this week. Three retail locations in Annapolis, Ottawa and Miami were also closed after outbreaks of the virus.

Lyft, Uber and Google parent Alphabet have also pushed back their office returns, with the latter two, like Apple, setting no new target date. It's nearly certain that other companies with the option of remote work will follow suit in the coming days and weeks. 

They may not be a household name yet, but workers at Vodeo Games are trying to set a positive example for their industry. The studio, which was founded this year by Threes designer Ashley Vollmer, has successfully unionized with CODE-CWA — the Communication Workers of America's Campaign to Organize Digital Employees.

Operating out of various locations in the US and Canada, the all-remote team of 13 is an unusual case for a few reasons. Foremost, about half of the bargaining unit are independent contractors – typically the exact sort of workers left out of, or deemed ineligible for, a union.

And while much of the push to unionize digital workspaces in recent years has focused on curbing abuses by management and pay imbalances, Vodeo's does not appear to stem from a need to course-correct away from imminent disaster. Rather, their desire to unionize seems rooted in wanting to maintain an equitable workplace. “They’re not organizing because there’s some big scary boss, like Bobby Kotick or someone,” campaign lead for CODE-CWA Emma Kinema told Polygon. “They’re organizing because they care so much about the work they do, and they want more of a say over how it’s done — the conditions in which they work to actually make those games that they care about.”

As Kinema alludes to, the games industry has been going through a period of great internal upheaval. Whistleblowers within Rocksteady, Riot, Wildlife and Quantic Dream, have detailed harassment and discrimination. There has also been increased pushback against industry practices such as “crunch,” in which studios demand herculean overtime hours from staff in order to hit targeted release dates. Some Activision-Blizzard workers walked off the job, demanding among other things, the resignation of their CEO, Bobby Kotick. They've set up a strike fund and are in the midst of their own union drive. 

“All workers deserve a union and a say in how their workplace is run, no matter where they work, what their employment status is, or what kind of conditions they work under," Myriame Lachapelle, a producer at Vodeo Games, wrote in a statement to press. "We have been inspired by the growing worker organizing within the gaming industry and hope we can set a new precedent for industry-wide standards that will better our shared working conditions and inspire others to do the same.”

Vodeo released its first game, the Peggle-like RPG Beast Breaker, in September to largely positive reviews. It's available for PC, Mac and Switch.

iFixit announced today it will join forces with Microsoft to manufacture and sell official repair tools for some Surface models. The partnership will kick off with a display debonder, a display rebonder, and a battery cover.

The models these Microsoft-sanctioned tools are designed for aren't the friendliest to at-home tinkering. Many — like the Surface Laptop Go and Surface Pro 7+ — have neither guides nor repairability scores from the iFixit. This might explain why, at least for now, these pro-grade tools aren't being offered to consumers. 

"iFixit Pro independent repairers, Microsoft Authorized Service Providers, Microsoft Experience Centers, and Microsoft Commercial customers," will be the only entities allowed to use these new devices, according to iFixit. "While not necessary to complete a DIY repair, these new tools are designed to prevent damage and will help technicians performing a high volume of repairs, and assist in improving accuracy and matching factory-level adhesion."

According to The Verge, it was Microsoft that approached iFixit about joining forces, despite (and because of) iFixit's vocal criticism of the Surface line's poor repairability. Wider availability of official repair tools, and the development of new ones, could be on the horizon if both companies see positive results.

Microsoft is the latest company to partner with iFixit. Previously the right-to-repair advocate has worked with HTC and Motorola as an official parts source for Vive headsets and smartphones, respectively. 

Tornadoes ripped through six states on Friday, killing dozens. Among the dead were six workers at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, IL, which collapsed while they sheltered inside. The incident is now the subject of an OSHA investigation.

The mass casualty event is likely Kentucky's "deadliest tornado system in state history," according to ABC. The twisters also touched down in December, well outside the normal tornado season. While this may have been an unusually extreme weather event for many reasons, Amazon's decision to schedule its workers during potentially deadly conditions isn't. Reportedly, at the time the cyclone touched down in warehouse's parking lot — producing winds estimated at 155 miles per hour — the facility was not only operating, but undergoing a shift change. 

Amazon operates a staggering number of fulfillment, sortation and delivery centers across the country, and as a result, some of them are bound to be taken by surprise by the forces of nature. Excessive snow on the roof of one warehouse in Pennsylvania resulted in an evacuation when workers noticed the it buckling. Two contractors were killed by a collapsing wall when a tornado touched down without warning in Baltimore. 

But the National Weather Service had been warning of possible tornadoes 36 hours ahead of the deaths in Edwardsville; the morning before the storms it cautioned of the "likely threat" of "damaging winds in excess of 60 mph." Edwardsville is in what FEMA categorizes as Wind Zone IV, the part of the country at the greatest risk of tornadoes. 

Amazon is perhaps better known in media coverage for its punishing productivitygoals. But its operating standards have produced a pattern of incidents where workers were expected to clock in during extreme weather events. Warehouses stayed open during tropical depression Ida in September, the torrential rains of which caused widespread flooding and led to 14 deaths in New York. Some of Amazon's drivers told me they were delivering packages through the floodwaters of hurricane Irma back in 2017.

The Camp Fire of 2018 was the deadliest and costliest wildfire in California's history. Smoke from the destruction also briefly made Sacramento the most polluted city on earth. Despite air quality warnings being issued for the city on November 8th, an Amazon warehouse there did not send its workers home until the afternoon of the 10th. 

By far, however, the most pervasive issue across Amazon's warehouses has been extreme heat. Workers in the Pacific Northwest were expected to report for duty during a historic heatwave this past summer which was eventually deemed a mass casualty event. Specifically, a worker complained that some areas of a warehouse in Kent lacked fans, and estimated temperature inside hit 90 degrees. New York warehouse workers also reported fainting and excessive heat around the same time. In May of this year, excessive heat led to a death inside the company's Bessemer, Alabama warehouse. 

These are only some of the most recent examples. Workers have been lodging similar complaints for at least a decade about dangerous temperatures inside Amazon's facilities in Chicago, Portland and Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, among others. Even when immediate symptoms like fainting, vomiting or heat stroke are not present, long term heat exposure can exacerbate existing health problems such as heart conditions and asthma. 

None of this speaks to criticisms of Amazon's safety measures related to COVID-19, or its objectively sky-high injury rate compared to other warehousing operations.

What's concerning is that, according to the overwhelming majority of the scientific community, severe winds, rain and heat are likely to get worse due to man-made climate change. Amazon, however, has not offered a satisfactory explanation for why it continues to schedule shifts during potentially deadly weather, nor would it provide Engadget with any details of the extreme weather plan in effect at the Edwardsville facility. 

“We’re deeply saddened by the news that members of our Amazon family passed away as a result of the storm in Edwardsville, IL," an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by the tornado. We also want to thank all the first responders for their ongoing efforts on scene. We’re continuing to provide support to our employees and partners in the area.”

Whether or not the average person considers Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson to be explorers of the cosmos after their respective joyrides into the upper atmosphere, they and their crew members have met the Federal Aviation Administration's criteria "astronauts." They're even giving them a little medals! And they'll be the last of their kind ever produced.

The administration announced an abrupt end to its Commercial Space Astronaut Wings program today. The 2021 recipients include Bezos and Branson, as well as Star Trek actor William Shatner; since it was created in 2004, the honor has been given to 24 individuals, 15 of whom received their wings this year. Starting January 1, 2022, those who would normally qualify for wings will instead only be recognized on the FAA's website.

"The Wings program was created [...] to recognize pilots and flight crew who furthered the FAA’s mission to promote the development of vehicles designed to carry humans into space," the FAA wrote. "With three commercial space companies now licensed by the FAA to fly spaceflight participants, and companies conducting operations, [program creator Patti Grace Smith's] vision is largely fulfilled."

An ego trip 50 miles up is, arguably, substantively different from spending time on the ISS or landing on the Moon. So while it might gall some to see two guys who already have everything claiming a soon-to-be-extinct bit of space travel memorabilia, keep in mind that it's one of many similar baubles. Astronauts still can be awarded different, arguably nicer-looking wings from each branch of the military, in three different degrees. NASA also produces non-military pins for astronauts, and a separate pins for civilians who take part in missions. If anything, the refusal to gift knickknacks for scientifically pointless exercises in polluting the environment suggests humankind's esteem for real space travel remains untarnished.

A bill announced yesterday would open social media company data to scrutiny by outside researchers. Sponsored by Senators Klobuchar (D-MN), Coons (D-DE)and Portman (R-OH), it proposes to use the National Science Foundation as the intermediary between sensitive platform information and requests from interested parties. 

Senate aides, speaking under condition of anonymity to the Wall Street Journal, claim the bill is a direct response to recent disclosures about negative externalities associated with Instagram. Documents shared with the Journal in September indicated Meta (then known as Facebook) had conducted internal studies which found use of the Instagram app was damaging to mental health and body image for some users, especially teen girls.  

The bill also follows a Senate subcommittee on child safety hearing this Wednesday where lawmakers grilled Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri over these same issues. Many came armed with their own experiences creating dummy accounts meant to mimic teenagers, and the disturbing content the platform pushed these accounts towards, including self-harm and "anorexia coaches."

While the proposed bill would apply broadly to large social media companies, Meta has a particularly bad track record regarding disclosure for academic purposes. It managed to taint a raft of ongoing studies by providing incomplete data sets in September. A month earlier it actively deplatformed New York University researchers who were studying misinformation and political ads on Facebook. (Their findings indicated that misinformation flourishes there.)

It's too early to know exactly what shape this bill will take should it move forward. But as Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told Mosseri earlier this week, “the days of self-policing are over.”

Rare's beloved collect-a-thon platformer Banjo-Kazooie will be the latest title added to Expansion Pack, Nintendo's premium online subscription. Expansion Pack — itself an addition to Switch Online — already supports a wealth of classic games from the early 3D era, like Star Fox 64, SuperMario 64, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, as well as some memorable additions from the Sega Genesis library. 

The roadmap for Expansion Pack teased Banjo-Kazooie back in September, but the company has now confirmed it will be playable on modern hardware come January 2022. While Switch Online can be purchased in 1-, 3- or 12-month increments, Expansion Pack is only available as a year-long subscription. It retails for an additional $50 on top of Switch Online's $20 annual price tag. 

Gollum promises to be a journey through Middle Earth through the eyes of one of its least heroic inhabitants. Now we're getting to lay eyes on how it'll look in action, thanks to a new trailer released during the Game Awards.

We've been teased with some idea of its locales already, like the fire and brimstone of Mordor, and the lush forest of Mirkwood. It's also been revealed that dialog options will allow players to carve a narrative path based on the choices of either the bitter and debauched Gollum, or his timid but moral alter-ego Smeagol. 

Initially scheduled for release in 2021, Daedalic Entertainments Gollum is set to come out at some point next year, and will be available for PC, Playstation, Xbox, and Switch. The company has also claimed it will be the first in a series of games set in Tolkien's worlds.

Annapurna Interactive—now practically a byword for beautiful, experimental games—have struck oil publishing some unlikely titles, like 2019's Groundhog Day-meets-flight sim Outer Wilds, or the splattery meditations of The Unfinished Swan. Announced today, the studio's newest gambit will be a turn-based RPG based around small town drama and the tension between immigrants and their second-generation kids.

Thirsty Suitors drops players into the story of Jala, who visits her a suffocating hometown to attend a wedding, and in the process is confronted by her history of romantic mistakes and a string of the titular suitors summoned by her grandmother. The turn based battles against ex lovers recall Scott Pilgrim, but will be broken up by cooking and skateboarding segments, all rendered in a gorgeous cell-shaded style. (Not too late to call this one Tony Hawks' Pro Dater, folks.)

Watch the reveal trailer here.

Google told employees at a virtual all-hands meeting Tuesday that it will not be adjusting workers' pay to match inflation. In other words, Google's rank and file will be effectively earning less, even while the company has thrived, achieving record profits for five consecutive quarters.

According to audio shared with CNBC, CEO Sundar Pichai read a question from his staff concerning the rising cost of just about everything, and the decision by some companies to offset those hardships with commensurate pay raises. The company's vice president of compensation, Frank Wagner, reportedly responded that: “As I mentioned previously in other meetings, when we see price inflation increasing, we also see increases in the cost of labor or market pay rate," and that "those have been higher than in recent past and our compensation budgets have reflected that.”

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Raises of this kind are fairly standard for many businesses, and are typically referred to as "cost of living adjustments." Wagner, however, claimed any potential pay raises ought to reflect "performance" instead of a smaller but more broadly implemented increase.

Google has shown a willingness to adjust compensation related to the realities of the pandemic: by cutting pay for workers who chose to remain remote in locations with lower costs of living. In some cases these salary reductions were estimated to be as much as 25%, according to Reuters.