Notorious facial recognition company Clearview AI has agreed to permanently halt sales of its massive biometric database to all private companies and individuals in the United States as part of a legal settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union, per court records.

Monday's announcement marks the close of a two-year legal dispute brought by the ACLU and privacy advocate groups against the company over allegations that it had violated Illinois data laws. Additionally, Clearview will not offer any of its services to Illinois local and state law enforcement agencies for the next five years, though Federal agencies and state departments outside of Illinois will be unaffected. The settlement must still be approved by a federal judge before it takes effect.

“By requiring Clearview to comply with Illinois’ pathbreaking biometric privacy law not just in the state, but across the country, this settlement demonstrates that strong privacy laws can provide real protections against abuse,” Nathan Freed Wessler, a deputy director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in Monday's statement. “Clearview can no longer treat people’s unique biometric identifiers as an unrestricted source of profit. Other companies would be wise to take note, and other states should follow Illinois’ lead in enacting strong biometric privacy laws.” 

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Tesla has sued a former employee who it is accusing of stealing trade secrets related to its supercomputer project, Bloomberg reported on Friday. According to a filing in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, thermal engineer Alexander Yatskov quit on May 2 after having joined the company only a few months earlier, in January. According to Tesla, Yatskov admitted to transferring confidential information to his personal devices and later handing over a "dummy" laptop after company officials confronted him on suspicion of theft.

In addition to breaching a non-disclosure agreement intended to protect trade secrets, Bloomberg reports that Tesla is also accusing Yatskov of misrepresenting his experience and skills on his resume. Bloomberg also says that Yatskov declined to comment. 

“This is a case about illicit retention of trade secrets by an employee who, in his short time at Tesla, already demonstrated a track record of lying and then lying again by providing a ‘dummy’ device to try and cover his tracks,” Tesla wrote in the filing, reports Bloomberg.

CEO Elon Musk has been teasing Tesla's supercomputer project, called "Dojo," since at least 2019. Last summer, the company finally explained the project in more detail, laying out a goal of using AI to analyze massive amounts of vehicle data, ideally resulting in a safer, more refined autonomous driving experience. The computer, which offers 1.8 exaflops of performance and 10 petabytes of NVME storage running at 1.6 terabytes per second, trains itself using video from eight cameras inside Tesla vehicles running at 36 frames per second. 

Tesla claimed last year that although this approach generates a tremendous amount of data, it is still more scalable than building high-definition maps around the world. At the time, Tesla indicated that the system was most successful in sparsely populated areas where cars could mostly drive uninterrupted. Even so, the company also touted some early successes in denser areas, including Dojo's ability to learn new types of traffic warnings, pedestrian collision detection and pedal misapplications (accidentally hitting the gas instead of the brakes). 

It's no secret these days that GPU makers profited from the early cryptocurrency mining boom, but NVIDIA is now facing some repercussions as a result. The company is paying $5.5 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission charges it failed to disclose that crypto mining played a "significant" role in its surging revenue from GPU sales throughout fiscal 2018. NVIDIA allegedly violated both the Securities Act and Securities Exchange Act when it didn't reveal that its success was tied to a "volatile business," potentially misleading investors who might have thought this was the result of the firm's usual gaming-focused strategy.

The SEC's order also said NVIDIA misled investors by acknowledging that crypto demand did affect other aspects of its business at the time. That implied mining wasn't a significant part of the gaming business' success where it was for other products, according to the regulator. NVIDIA will have to abide by a cease-and-desist barring it from future rule-breaking.

An NVIDIA spokesperson declined to comment. The brand has increasingly seen crypto mining as more of a liability to its gaming GPU sales than a benefit, though. It started limiting the mining capabilities of RTX GPUs in 2021 in a bid to free up cards for the intended audience. The company even launched dedicated mining cards that year in a bid to satisfy crypto fans without cutting into demand for its GeForce GPU line.

The payment is tiny for a company that made $7.6 billion in its most recently reported quarter. With that said, the modest settlement was somewhat expected given an unsuccessful past attempt to demand compensation. Tom's Hardwarenoted in March 2021 that a judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing NVIDIA of deceiving investors — it was no secret many GPUs were destined for crypto miners, the judge ruled. While the SEC found wrongdoing, it was going to have a harder time showing that NVIDIA caused enough damage to warrant a large penalty.

Activision Blizzard is continuing a hiring spree in light of its ongoing harassment scandal. Blizzard has hired Jessica Martinez as its first Vice President of Culture. She'll both implement and expand the game studio's culture strategy, and lead a learning and development team that will help create a work environment where people feel "safe, valued" and eager to cooperate.

Martinez is a 14-year veteran of Disney, where she was a Chief of Staff and advised both the Chief Security Office and the parks' Chief Technology & Digital Officer. She was known for building a diversity- and values-focused culture, according to Blizzard, and led efforts to harmonize security when Disney bought key Fox studios and channels.

The move comes just weeks after Activision Blizzard hired diversity chief Kristen Hines. It also follows months of employee shuffles and organizational efforts in the wake of the scandal. The publisher has ousted or disciplined numerous workers for participating in or tolerating a hostile work culture, including former Blizzard president J. Allen Brack. It also launched a "Workplace Responsibility Committee" to fight discrimination and harassment. 

Whether or not these measures will be enough still isn't clear. Activision Blizzard chief Bobby Kotick has remained despite pressure to resign and a New York City lawsuit. The Communications Workers of America union, meanwhile, has filed a complaint with US labor officials accusing the company of silencing talk about harassment lawsuits. While Martinez may bring valuable cultural improvements, there's still evidence the firm is resistant to some forms of change.

TurboTax maker Intuit will pay $141 million "for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free," the NY Attorney General's office wrote in a press release. It must also suspend its "free, free, free" ad campaign for TurboTax that baited customers with the promise of free tax preparation, then switched them into a paying service.

The company agreed to a settlement with all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, Ars Technica reported. The company must refund nearly 4.4 million consumers who used TurboTax's Free Edition between 2016 and 2018, then discovered they had to pay to file. Many didn't realize they had the option of of filing for free using the IRS Free File program available via a separate product. 

"Intuit cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services they were entitled to," said Attorney General Letitia James. "For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers."

For years, Intuit misled the most vulnerable among us to make a profit. Today, every state in the nation is holding Intuit accountable for scamming millions of taxpayers.

A multistate investigation found that "Intuit engaged in several deceptive and unfair trade practices that limited consumers' participation in the IRS Free File Program," the New York AG wrote. Specifically, Intuit used similar names for both its IRS Free File product and commercial freemium TurboTax product and used search engine ads to steer customers looking for the former to the latter. It also "purposefully blocked its IRS Free File landing page from search engine results during the 2019 tax filing season," the NY AG wrote. 

The AG office said that it marketed the freemium product through ad campaigns "where 'free' is the most prominent or sometimes the only selling point... however, the TurboTax 'freemium' product is only free for approximately one-third of US taxpayers." 

Intuit released a statement expressing no regret and said the required ad changes would have little impact on its business. "As part of the agreement, Intuit admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to pay $141 million to put this matter behind it, and made certain commitments regarding its advertising practices," the company wrote on its blog.

As part of the agreement, Intuit admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to pay $141 million to put this matter behind it, and made certain commitments regarding its advertising practices.

Intuit dropped out of the the IRS's Free File Alliance last year, saying an exit would help it focus on "further innovating" without being encumbered by Free File program rules. Eighteen months prior, the IRS introduced new Free File rules that prohibit members from "engaging in any practice" that would prevent their free software from showing up on Google or any other search engine. They were also required to call their apps "IRS Free File program delivered by [product name]."

Senator Elizabeth Warren once called the Free File Alliance "a front for tax prep companies who use it as a gateway to sell expensive products no one would even need if we’d just made it easier for people to pay their taxes." Other countries including the UK and Japan allow return-free filing for many citizens, but Intuit, H&R Block and other companies have lobbied against such a move in the US. 

The payouts, amounting to about $30 per person for each tax year, are supposed to take place within 30 days of the signing of the agreement. After that, the Attorneys General of each state will "have sole discretion concerning the administration and distribution of the Settlement Fund." 

Part-time employees at RaterLabs — an AI vendor whose only known client is Google — are campaigning to qualify for the $15 hourly minimum wage the tech giant promised to its "extended workforce" back in 2019.

Yahoo Financereported that the quality raters whose sole job is evaluating Google’s search and ad results for accuracy don’t qualify for sick leave, PTO or other benefits the company provides for its TVCs (temporary workers, vendors and independent contractors). Google increased base pay following critical reporting of its treatment of TVCs in 2018 — the same year it was revealed the majority of Google's workforce was not directly employed by the company.

A number of RatersLabs employees believe the work they do is vital enough to Google that they should receive the higher pay and benefits of their peers. Christopher Colley, who has worked for the Google vendor since 2017, told Yahoo Finance that he only earns $10 an hour, and hasn’t qualified for a raise over the five years he’s worked at RaterLabs. Colley is also part of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU-CWA), a subgroup of the Communications Workers of America focused on organizing full-time and part-time workers of Alphabet.

“The raters work from home, use their own devices, can work for multiple companies at a time, and do not have access to Google’s systems and/or badges,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget. “As noted on the policy page, the wages and benefits policy applies to Alphabet’s provisioned extended workforce (individuals with systems and/or badge access to Google)."

Among the hurdles workers need to jump in order to qualify for the pay bump afforded to some TVCs is a minimum 30-hour workweek. As AWU-CWA was quick to point out, RaterLabs contractors are capped at only 26 hours.

Employee accounts on RatersLabs’ Indeed profile describe low morale, low pay and an unclear feedback process. “Reviews are monthly, with one bad review potentially costing you the job [...] Guidelines can change the week before the review and you can be 'graded' based on them despite doing the work way before," wrote a former RatersLab employee in January 2022. "The job is very flexible, pay is mediocre, and you have no chance for advancement.”

This isn’t the first time that Google’s army of raters have spoken out about low pay, no opportunities for advancement and subpar working conditions. In fact, RatersLabs was formed by the CEO of Leapforce, a company that also hired raters for Google search and ad products. Back in 2017, Leapforce raters spoke out about chaotic working conditions, resulting in at least three contractors being fired, two of whom claimed their separations from the company were acts of retaliation. As Ars Technicanotes, a number of Leapforce workers filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board which were eventually resolved via settlement. Appen — which acquired Leapforce in May of 2017 — is also the parent company of RatersLabs.

Activision Blizzard has been hit with another lawsuit, this time from New York City officials. The suit, which was first obtained by Axios, takes aim at CEO Bobby Kotick. It accuses him of being "unfit" to negotiate his company's pending sale to Microsoft, citing his "personal responsibility and liability for Activision’s broken workplace."

The suit was filed by the New York City Employees' Retirement System and pension funds that represent police, teachers and firefighters. The plaintiffs, who own stock in Activision Blizzard, argue that the Microsoft deal allows “Kotick and his fellow directors a means to escape liability for their egregious breaches of fiduciary duty.”

Since last July, Activision Blizzard has been the target of multiple lawsuits. It has been accused of fostering a "frat boy" culture and some have made allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination. In March, a wrongful death suit was filed against the company. Activision Blizzard also said in a filing yesterday that it's cooperating with a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation on "disclosures on employment matters and related issues."

In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kotick was aware of many of the alleged instances of harassment and that he may have protected employees who were accused of misconduct. That report, and the alleged workplace problems, are said to have prompted the buyout. The companies announced the sale in January.

New York City claims the $68.7 billion Microsoft deal, which was valued at $95 per share, undervalues a company that was trading at close to that price before the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued it last summer and started a wave of litigation. The NYC plaintiffs are demanding access to various company documents, including those related to the pending takeover and details on the five other possible buyers that Activision mentioned in filings on sale talks.

Activision Blizzard shareholders last week overwhelmingly approved the Microsoft deal. The companies hope to close the merger by the end of June 2023, though they require approval from regulators in the US, UK, China, the European Union and some other markets. Should the sale go through, Kotick stands to make as much as $520 million.

Workers at the first US Apple Store to file for a union election will decide whether to unionize next month. According to an agreement obtained by The Verge, employees at Apple's Cumberland Mall retail location in Atlanta will begin voting on June 2nd, with the ballot box open until June 4th. All approximately 100 regular full- and part-time staff at the store will be able to participate in the election.

Citing “a source familiar with the situation,” The Verge reports Apple wanted the vote to be held in July. That was a move the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the union that seeks to represent the employees at the Cumberland Mall location, reportedly opposed on account the later date would have afforded Apple more time to attempt to dissuade workers from unionizing. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment.

Apple hasn’t explicitly come out against its frontline workers organizing, but those involved in the union drive at the company’s Grand Central Terminal location in New York have accused Apple of employing “union-busting” tactics, including messaging that has tried to convince employees that unionization isn’t in their best interests.

“We are fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple,” the company said when news of the Grand Central Terminal drive first broke. “We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full time and part time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits.”

Among other concessions, workers at the Cumberland Mall location hope to push Apple to compensate them better, offer more opportunities for career advancement and build a safer workplace. "One of the biggest things that we're fighting for is going to be for fair pay and a livable wage, because with Atlanta being such a huge city, it's just getting more and more expensive to live here," Elli Daniels, an employee at the store, told Engadget. "Everybody deserves the opportunity to be able to not worry about whether they can afford food or pay their bills. Everybody deserves to be able to afford to live in the city that they work in."

Like the recent vote at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, the Cumberland Mall election could have historic ramifications. If workers vote in favor of organizing with the CWA, it would become the first unionized Apple Store in the US. That’s an outcome that could inspire Apple workers at other retail locations. 

Apple has hired a longtime Ford engineer and executive to work on its long-gestating car project, according to Bloomberg. Desi Ujkashevic had been with the automaker since 1991. Before leaving the company in March, Ujkashevic was Ford's global director of automotive safety engineering.

She previously oversaw the global body engineering team, safety engineering for Ford of Europe and the global design technical operations division. In her early years at Ford, according to her LinkedIn profile, Ujkashevic held roles in vehicle engineering, testing and durability. She has also worked on Ford's electric vehicle efforts and regulatory issues. In other words, she seems like exactly the kind of person you'd want to hire for an EV project.

Apple is said to have started work on an autonomous vehicle in 2015. However, those efforts have suffered several setbacks over the years, partly as a result of strategy and staffing changes. Doug Field, who was said to have led Project Titan, left Apple to rejoin Ford last September. However, the reported hire of Ujkashevic is another indication that Apple is still trying to build its own EV.

For what it's worth, in a recent LinkedIn post, Ujkashevic said she was "excited to start my next adventure and I hope to continue to contribute to society and advancing technology with a purpose [...] ultimately making a better world!"

The latest report on Meta’s VR ambitions has likened Project Cambria, its next headset beyond Quest series, to a “laptop for the face” or even a “Chromebook for the face.” Presumably with a rather different price tag.

A report from The Information suggests Meta will unveil its own VR operating system, which is based on Android. This will work with web-based tools and services, as well as some Quest apps. Technical specs are still unknown, but we can expect higher-res screens to make text easier to read — the aim could be to ensure the VR headset is usable in work situations.

We haven’t yet seen an entirely new VR device since the company rebranded, but all this suggests that, compared to the Rift and Quest devices, the use cases could be broader, or at least tap into some of that sweet enterprise segment. Companies are more likely to pay for cutting-edge VR and AR hardware — still Microsoft’s approach to the segment.

The headset will have outward-facing cameras for mixed reality functions, so it could tie together Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse ambitions in one fell swoop. For now, rumors and reports suggest Project Cambria will hit shelves around September, costing over $800.

— Mat Smith

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Square Enix sells the studios behind Tomb Raider and Deus Ex

Embracer just picked up some major gaming IPs.

Swedish game company Embracer Group has just made a blockbuster deal to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal for what seems like a bargain $300 million. Those studios represent around 1,100 employees across eight global locations, with more than 230 games in development, 30 of those being AAA titles. Alongside this acquisition news, another Deus Ex revival is incoming — powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Crystal Dynamics has already said it’s developing a new Tomb Raider game.

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The best gifts for the new grads in your life

Work, rest and play.

Engadget

Whether your graduate is going after their first job or continuing their education, these gadgets can support their first professional steps — or simply help them relax during those early career challenges. We’ve even curated a guide for gifts that duck in at under $50.

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EU charges Apple over NFC payment restrictions on iOS devices

It’s part of the Commission's antitrust probe into Apple's payment practices.

The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager confirmed the EU has formally charged Apple over its iOS payment features. This could result in a substantial fine if it is upheld. In a statement, Vestager said the Commission had "indications that Apple restricted third-party access to key technology necessary to develop rival mobile wallet solutions on Apple's devices."

The Commission opened a dual review into both Apple's in-app and NFC payment systems in June 2020, noting the company's choice could stifle competition and reduce consumer choice.

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Scientists 'knit' soft robotic wearables

These could eventually turn into assistive gloves for the disabled.

CSAIL

Designing and manufacturing soft robots is tricky. Now, scientists from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have come up with a new process called PneuAct, which uses computers and a special knitting process to design and digitally fabricate the soft pneumatic actuators. These actuators have conductive yarn for sensing so they can essentially "feel" or respond to what they grab.

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