Tesla isn't the only company in Elon Musk's portfolio to have issues with sexual harassment. Women who previously worked at SpaceX, including mission engineer Ashley Kosak and four others speaking to The Verge, have accused the company of doing little to stop sexual harassment. Male staff reportedly made numerous unwanted advances, lewd comments and physical contact. Kosak claimed one coworker went so far as to visit her house and insist on touching her, while former intern Julia CrowleyFarenga (who sued SpaceX in 2020) said a male employee blocked her from getting hired after she reported his controlling behavior.

SpaceX was allegedly reluctant to take significant action. While the women did report incidents to SpaceX's human resources, the company appeared to be more interested in keeping the company's plans on track than on dealing with harassment. HR asked Kosak to propose solutions to sexual harassment, but there was no follow-up — and both HR lead Brian Bjelde as well as company president Gwynne Shotwell were apparently unaware of her allegations when she met them.

We've asked SpaceX for comment. In an email The Verge obtained, however, Shotwell was aware of Kosak's web essay on the matter and said HR would conduct both in-house and independent audits of its practices. She also reiterated SpaceX's "no A-hole" policy and that targets of harassment should still report incidents to HR or managers. Shotwell didn't touch on concerns of retaliation, though, and the news came just as six more Tesla workers sued over sexual harassment claims.

All of the affected women pinned the problems on a leadership and company culture that prioritized the mission over workers' wellbeing. Elon Musk sees engineers as a "resource to be mined," Kosak said, rather than people to be cared for. Throw in an overwhelmingly male workforce that leaves women isolated (one complainant likened it to a "boys' club") and women may have little chance of meaningfully addressing harassment. If that's the case, any long-term solutions may require management and policy changes, not just better enforcement of the policies that exist.

The US' Emergency Alert System often relies on audio to grab your attention, but what if you have hearing issues? The FCC hopes to fix that. The Commission has proposed rules that would make the alerts more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. Most notably, the move would require partners to use internet-based alerts when possible — this would offer "superior" visuals to the old version meant for over-the-air TV.

Another potential rule would demand clearer, more descriptive TV alerts. The FCC is also exploring ways to upgrade the legacy emergency alert system to display "more visual information" alongside the warning message.

Chairwoman Rosenworcel and all FCC commissioners support the three proposals. In that light, it's less a question of whether they'll move forward as how well they'll work. Ideally, you won't have to worry about missing useful information in an alert if you can't listen in. It's just not certain how the system will evolve, or how well online messaging will hold up in the event of crises that disrupt internet access.

Mobile voting hasn't had much traction in the US, but that apparently isn't for a lack of trying. The US Postal Service has confirmed to The Washington Post that it secretly developed and tested a blockchain-based mobile voting system ahead of the 2020 election. The project was purely "exploratory" and was abandoned in 2019 after University of Colorado researchers discovered security flaws, including the risks of impersonation, denial of service attacks and "techniques" that compromised privacy.

However, it might be the lack of transparency that raises the most concern. The USPS didn't coordinate with other federal agencies, and it asked the university to sign a non-disclosure deal that prevented them from naming the institution involved. Election security officials just learning of the blockchain voting project were worried it might erode trust in the democratic system already hurt by unsupported claims of significant fraud during the 2020 vote.

The Postal Service has considered electronic voting before, but centered its attention on those who can't easily vote, such as soldiers and people with disabilities. This was a practical exercise that could have applied to a large swath of voters, not just a small group that can't realistically use mail or in-person balloting.

The end result was the same with or without the test: the 2020 election continued to rely on paper ballots, and federal agencies focused more on establishing a paper trail to reduce the chances of Russia and other actors from tampering with the vote. The revelation shows there wasn't a completely united front, though, and suggests vote-by-smartphone efforts aren't about to take off any time soon.

LastPass has been sitting under LogMeIn's wing for six years, but it won't be for much longer. LogMeIn has revealed plans to once again make LastPass a standalone company. The move is meant to "accelerate" growth in password management and secure sign-ins by providing more dedicated resources to LastPass. That includes a faster rollout of 2022 features, LogMeIn said.

The full extent of those features wasn't clear, but LastPass hinted at "faster, seamless" password filling, an improved mobile app and more third-party tie-ins for corporate customers. You should also see more support channels and a website redesign.

LogMeIn saw itself taking advantage of good timing. Its entire brand has thrived during the pandemic, with LastPass in particular seeing "tremendous" growth from its mostly business-focused audience. Ideally, this helps LastPass preserve that momentum and compete against rivals like Dashlane, AgileBits' 1Password and Zoho. Whatever happens, it's safe to say LastPass is headed in a new direction that could affect how you use it.

Ford's autonomous delivery experiments now include potentially vital services. The automaker is launching a six-month pilot project that will have self-driving shuttles bring fresh food to residents of a Detroit senior living center, the Rio Vista Detroit Co-Op Apartments, that might otherwise have challenges fetching groceries. The free-of-charge offering will have the "low-speed" vehicle drive a fixed route between a Ford facility and Rio Vista, with a safety driver and a remote team ready to take over if necessary.

Notably, the shuttle doesn't involve Ford's partner Argo — this is a distinct effort between Ford's in-house autonomy team and the company's Quantum Signal AI subsidiary. The two have modified the shuttle to help with packing and unloading food, but it's otherwise a stock machine (as far as autonomous shuttles go, at least).

There's certainly a degree of publicity grabbing involved — Ford is conducting a pilot that doubles as a goodwill campaign. This will help Ford study slower self-driving technology and remote control, though. It also hints at a future where driverless vehicles help seniors maintain their quality of life when travel is impractical.

It's now that much more affordable to scoop up an AirTag and track your keys or bag from your iPhone. Woot is selling single units of Apple's item tracker for $25 to Amazon Prime Members, and $27 for everyone else. The sale runs either until the end of 2021 or supplies run out, so this might be ideal for last-minute gifts or post-holiday splurging. Just be aware that Woot's return policy isn't the same as Amazon's, although you will have until January 31st to return anything purchased by December 31st.

The AirTag has a handful of tricks to help it stand out from other find-my-stuff devices. The NFC-based pairing makes it easy to set up with iPhones, but the real star of the show is ultra-wideband support that helps you find tags with high precision. So long as you have a UWB-equipped Apple handset (the iPhone 11 or newer), you may know the exact spot where you lost your goods — helpful if something fell between the couch cushions.

The main catch, as is often the case with Apple gear, revolves around the ecosystem. While you can use an Android phone to help return an AirTag-equipped device or (soon) spot nearby tags, you'll need an iPhone to set up those tags and track them from afar. You'll also need accessories if you want to clip a tag to a keychain or backpack. The batteries are replaceable, though, and the simple design might be appealing if you think the alternatives are unwieldy or dull.

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People aren't done hijacking major politicians' Twitter accounts for financial gain. TechCrunch reports an intruder temporarily seized control of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account on December 12th in local time. The attacker tweeted a bogus claim that India had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and pointed users to a (thankfully broken) scam website. The post was at odds with India's well-known disdain for cryptocurrency.

The Prime Minister's office didn't say much about the incident. It acknowledged that Modi's account had been "briefly compromised," but that it contacted Twitter and "immediately secured" the politician's profile. Twitter told TechCrunch something similar.

It's not certain just who's responsible, or how they hijacked the account (some speculated the attackers exploited a website flaw). This wasn't a large-scale campaign like the one that defaced the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk and other major figures, though. It's chiefly concerning that someone breached Modi's account in the first place — world leaders are expected to have strict security, and Twitter even has a system for protecting high-profile users against attacks. While those measures aren't foolproof, they theoretically reduce the chances of incidents like this.

Amazon just made it easier to rationalize the Fire TV Cube as a do-it-all speaker and streaming hub. The internet retailer has put the Fire TV Cube on sale for $75, or $45 off. That's a record low price for the media device, and even better than the Black Friday pricing from just two weeks earlier. You may want to act quickly.

The Fire TV Cube is still a very capable box two years after its introduction. It can play the latest 4K HDR video (including in Dolby Vision and HDR10+) from virtually every major video service, complete with Dolby Atmos sound. As a smart speaker, meanwhile, it offers hands-free Alexa that can help you control your smart home or get answers whether or not the TV is turned on.

If there's a reason for pause, it's Amazon's own lineup. The company recently introduced a Fire TV Stick 4K Max that, at a $55 normal price, may be a better value if you're more interested in streaming than Alexa chats. At this sale price, though, the Cube makes plenty of sense if you're looking for a single Amazon device to handle your living room tech duties, whether it's checking the weather or catching up on Wheel of Time.

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CNN just landed a big name for its upcoming streaming video service. The network has revealed that Fox News host Chris Wallace is leaving his TV home of 18 years for CNN+ ahead of that service's early 2022 launch. The departing Fox News Sunday anchor said he was eager for the "freedom and flexibility" streaming would allow for interviewing major figures.

In his last Fox News Sunday show, Wallace said he wanted to both "try something new" and to "go beyond politics." He didn't indicate where he was heading next during that broadcast, however. Wallace is believed to be jumping ship as his contract expires.

WarnerMedia, meanwhile, wasn't shy about touting its coup. The Wallace hire showed CNN's "commitment" to both CNN+ and journalism as a whole, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker said.

It's too soon to say if CNN's move will prompt a talent war among streaming news outlets like CBSN. Fox News Sundayhasn't always fared well against comparable shows, like Face the Nation. Regardless, Wallace represents a big bet — CNN is clearly hoping his name will draw viewers to its internet-only service and provide an edge over competitors that might only see streaming as a nice-to-have extra.

One of the Halo series' best-known multiplayer modes is coming to Halo Infinite sooner than you might have expected. As Windows Centralnotes, 343 Industries community lead Brian Jarrard has confirmed a dedicated Slayer playlist is coming as part of an update on December 14th. This will be a "basic" mode rather than the variants 343 wanted to release after the holidays, but the developers planned to "bolster and expand" it in the future.

The Slayer playlist is coming alongside three already-promised options that include Fiesta, FFA and Tactical Slayer (SWAT). The December 14th update will also remove or ease the requirements for existing challenges while adding more to accompany the new playlists. There's a new challenge category based on player score that should better reflect your in-game performance, although it's only billed as an "initial step" toward true performance-based experience points.

This addition won't satisfy fans still waiting for promised features like campaign co-op or Forge, which won't arrive until mid-2022 at the earliest. However, the Slayer playlist release shows that 343 is eager to court those enthusiasts as quickly as it can, even if it means stripping out some extras.