A California civil rights agency has filed a lawsuit against Tesla for alleged racial discrimination and harassment at its Fremont factory, according to The Wall Street Journal. "After receiving hundreds of complaints from workers, DFEH found evidence that Tesla’s Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace," said California Department of Fair Employment and Housing director Kevin Kish in a statement. 

The DFEH said Black employees were frequently exposed to racial slurs and graffiti, with one worker saying they heard such slurs 50 to 100 times per day. "Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion creating a hostile work environment," said Kish.

Tesla called the lawsuit "unfair and unproductive" in a blog released prior to the complaint being made public. "Tesla strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints," the company wrote. "Tesla is also the last remaining automobile manufacturer in California. The Fremont factory has a majority-minority workforce and provides the best paying jobs in the automotive industry to over 30,000 Californians." It also said that over 50 previous DFEH investigations over the last five years were closed without any findings of misconduct.

Last October, Tesla was ordered to pay $137 million in damages to a former Black worker who accused the company of turning a blind eye to discrimination and racial abuse in 2015 and 2016. Tesla disagreed with the verdict, with a spokesperson saying the company was "not perfect" at that time but has "come a long way" since then. Tesla recently moved its corporate headquarters to Texas from California, but has also said it would expand its manufacturing activities by 50 percent in California. 

Tesla has previously tussled with the state of California over COVID-19 related plant closures, and isn't the only high-profile company in the DFEH's crosshairs. The agency recently sued Activision Blizzard for alleged harassment and discrimination against female employees. 

The operating system powering Apple's rumored virtual or augmented reality headset may be called realityOS, MacRumors has reported. The term was spotted by multiple sources in recent GitHub open source code and App Store upload logs. "What is Apple's realityOS doing in the App Store upload logs," tweeted iOS developer Rens Verhoeven. "This at least confirms [realityOS] 1) has its own OS & binaries and, 2) has a realityOS simulator," noted another well-known developer, Steve Troughton-Smith. 

The existence of such an OS was first reported by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman as rOS in 2017, and is reportedly known internally as "Oak" at Apple. The "OS" nomenclature would be logical, given the names of Apple's iOS, macOS, iPadOS, tvOS and watchOS operating systems. 

Apple's development of AR/VR headsets has been rumored for years. Apple purchased VR company VRvana in 2017, suggesting it was pursuing the technology. The Informationreported in 2019 that a mixed AR/VR headset would come in 2022, with AR glasses arriving by 2023. 

However, the most recent rumor from Bloomberg suggests that the headset will be delayed until 2023 due to development issues like overheating. They'll reportedly offer computing power on par with an M1 Mac and could be standalone without the need to tether, according to analyst Ming-chi Kuo.

If the references are real, they could suggest that developers are getting or will be getting access to the OS. As Troughton-Smith warned, however, they "could just be a remnant of somebody's pull request from a fake account," too — so take the leak with an appropriate dose of skepticism. 

Most Twitter users can only create videos up to 140 seconds in length, but even so, some people apparently still don't have time for that. Luckily, Twitter has announced that it's testing playback speeds varying from .25x to 2x on Android or the web, similar to what you can do on YouTube, Netflix and other platforms.

Folks like myself (in France, on Android) with access to the feature will see a gear at the top of a video, next to the closed caption option. Selecting that allowed me to choose from a fairly granular range of speeds with sound pitch adjusted so you don't get the "Chipmunks" effect. It could be useful to folks with short attention spans or if you need to slow down a video to hear a word, to name a couple of potential use cases.

Variable playback speeds will work for "tweet videos, amplify videos, voice tweets, videos in DMs and video live replays, depending on their platform," Twitter spokesperson Joseph Nunez told The Verge. Twitter plans to expand the feature to iOS down the road. It's now in testing for select users, but there's no word on when Twitter might roll it out more widely. 

Peloton grew massively during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that things are opening up, it has struggled to maintain growth. Now, the company is shaking things up by replacing its CEO, overhauling the board and laying off around 20 percent of its corporate workforce, according to The Wall Street Journal.

CEO and co-founder John Foley is stepping down as CEO to become executive chairman and will be replaced by former Spotify COO Barry McCarthy, the company told the WSJ. McCarthy will reportedly bring his understanding of content-driven subscription models to Peloton. "I have always thought there has to be a better CEO for Peloton than me," said Foley said. "Barry is more perfectly suited than anybody I could’ve imagined." On top of that, the company is cutting around 2,800 corporate positions. 

On top of its financial struggles, Peloton has been hit by bad press over equipment safety, unpaid employees and even not-so-positive mentions in recent TV shows. With the value of the company tumbling from a peak of $50 billion to around $8 billion last week, it has been a subject of takeover rumors from the likes of Amazon, Nike and even Apple. 

Peloton will discuss its plans to deal with the crisis in more detail when it reveals its second quarter results later today. It's expected to cut $800 million in costs and stop development of its $400 million Ohio factory, among other changes. In January, the company reported $1.14 billion of preliminary Q2 revenue and said it had 2.77 million subscribers. Its earnings call is set today at 5:00 PM ET. 

With the US labor market getting tighter and employees changing jobs or quitting in droves, Amazon has made a big move to become more competitive. The company has boosted its maximum base pay from $160,000 to $350,000, in response to what it calls a "particularly competitive labor market," The Washington Post has reported.

In a recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) blog, the company said that it pays around 50-65 percent of "what 'the market' will pay you." By contrast, it noted that Microsoft paid 75 percent, Google 95 percent and Netflix "top of market." Until now, anything more than $160,000 at Amazon was instead compensated by stock or cash signing bonuses.

This past year has seen a particularly competitive labor market and in doing a thorough analysis of various options, weighing the economics of our business and the need to remain competitive for attracting and retaining top talent, we decided to make meaningfully bigger increases to our compensation levels than we do in a typical year.

According to Amazon's own information, the company's maximum base pay is now also at the top market level, or more. It's also increasing overall compensation for most jobs around the world, with increases "much more considerable than we've done in the past," it wrote. At the same time, it's keeping the alternate compensation options, like stock options and signing bonuses, according to GeekWire. 

The change comes as Amazon's stock options become perhaps less interesting, considering that its share prices are down 15 percent from their peak in July 2021. Potential employees, especially top candidates who have their pick of tech companies, may have noticed that as well. 

Just ahead of Samsung's Unpacked event set for tomorrow, a press release for Samsung's Galaxy Tab S8 lineup has been revealed by leakmeister Evan Blass, The Verge has reported. It confirms many key specs from earlier leaks, including the existence of an "Ultra model," the screen sizes, charging capacity and more.

Samsung will have three models in the lineup, including the 11-inch Galaxy Tab S8, 12.4-inch S8 Plus and big 14.6-inch S8 Ultra. The latter will feature 2,960 x 1,848 resolution with a notch to accommodate the front-facing camera. The other two models will come with 2,560 x 1,600 and 2,800 x 1,752 screens, respectively. 

Other features include support for fast WiFi 6E (with optional 5G), 45-watt fast charging, and a new S Pen Stylus. All models offer a 13-megapixel + 6-megapixel ultrawide rear camera setup, with a 12-megapixel ultra front camera. The Ultra model, however, has a second front-facing 12-megapixel wide camera, hence the aforementioned notch. Samsung may also offer an optional keyboard cover. 

The Galaxy Tab S8 lineup will arrive on February 25th in select markets including the US, Europe and Korea, according to the press release. Pre-orders will open in those markets on February 9th at 10AM ET. 

With crazy fast M1 Pro and Max chips and numerous small improvements, the new MacBook Pros were among the best laptops we saw in 2021. The downside to that is that deals have been hard to find, but luckily, the 14-inch model just fell to a new all-time low at Amazon. You can pick up the base 512GB M1 Pro 16-core version in Space Gray for $1,750 (via a $200 instant rebate) or $250 off the original $1,999 price tag. 

The 2021 MacBook Pros received an Engadget review score of 92, among our highest review scores of the year. That's due in a big way to the incredible performance via the M1 Pro CPU with 16 cores that can keep up with the best Intel or AMD CPUs while delivering 12 hours of battery life. It offers decent graphics performance for media chores or light gaming, too. 

Apple also addressed many of the issues we didn't like about past models. It now comes with the ports that creators need, including three Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, MagSafe power, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. The 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display comes with 3,024 x 1,964 resolution, up to 1,600 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. It's also got a great keyboard (unlike the awful past butterfly models) and a 1080p Facetime webcam.

The downsides are few, but include the lack of ability to upgrade memory or storage, along with a notch that may annoy some folks. It's also pricier than the competition, but Amazon's deal helps make it competitive with any laptop, especially considering the performance.

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With good sound quality, customizable ANC and moisture protection for sweaty workout sessions, Jabra's Elite 4 Active wireless earbuds are already a pretty good deal at $120. If you've been holding out for a discount, however, Amazon has the first one we've seen on this model — they're now available for $102.92 or 14 percent off the retail price. 

Jabra's Elite 4 Active have a lot of tech and features packed into relatively inexpensive wireless earbuds, helping them garner a solid 84 Engadget review score. They offer IP57 water resistance, particularly around the onboard controls, making them ideal for intense workouts. The active noise cancellation (ANC) can be tailored to your needs using the company's Sound+ app. It also comes with the HearThrough transparency feature so you can tell what's going on around you, along with Sidetone, which lets you hear your own voice on a call. 

Sound quality is quite good considering the price, with decent clarity and nice detail, though they lack the wider soundstage found on models from the likes of Sony and Sennheiser. Call quality is also decent and the seven hour battery life (with three additional charges in the case) is excellent. The drawbacks are ANC that isn't as powerful as on Jabra's pricier earbuds, and onboard controls can be difficult to find. Still, the Elite 4 Active earbuds have an impressive feature set for a reasonable price, and the extra discount makes them that much more compelling. 

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Sweden-based price comparison service PriceRunner has announced that it's suing Google for €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion) after a European court ruled that Google breached EU antitrust laws. Last November, the European Union's General Court upheld a decision to fine Google a record €2.42 billion (US$2.8 billion) for favoring its own comparison shopping services over rivals. 

"We are ... seeking compensation for the damage Google has caused us during many years, but are also seeing this lawsuit as a fight for consumers who have suffered tremendously from Google’s infringement of the competition law for the past fourteen years and still today," said PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl. 

PriceRunner claimed that Google has a "monopoly-like position" in Europe adding that it believes it has still not complied with the EU Commission's decision and is "abusing it's dominant position." As such, it claimed that traffic and profits are diverted from itself and other shopping services, and that its offers are higher than other services, harming consumers. "Since the violation is still ongoing the amount of damages increases every day, we expect the final damages amount of the lawsuit to be significantly higher," it wrote.

Google lost its first appeal against the EU fine, but it launched another one last month, saying "we feel there are areas that require legal clarification from the European Court of Justice." Engadget has reached out to Google for comment on the PriceRunner lawsuit. 

Pokémon Legends: Arceus has sold 6.5 million copies after just one week on sale, making it one of the fastest-selling Switch games yet, Nintendo announced. If the official figures hold up, the game will have outsold both Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, both of which sold 6 million copies in the first week. 

That could make Arceus the second-fastest selling Switch title of all time, a big win for an "experimental" game with a far different look and gameplay than mainline Pokémon titles. It doesn't seem likely to catch Animal Cross: New Horizons, however, which sold 11.77 million copies in just 11 days. 

As we've detailed before, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an open-world action RPG set in the Sinnoh region long before the events of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and their remakes. The aim of the game is to create the region's first-ever Pokédex, so you need to carry out research tasks to learn more about each Pokémon. The game has generally received decent review scores, and given that it's part of one of the biggest media franchises on the planet, its success is not a huge surprise.