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Unsurprisingly, few people have considered the inherent dangers of robot vacuums, aside perhaps from the early buyers who saw them track pet poop through every room. Yet companies and hackers have used them to spy, eavesdrop, map houses, and worse. Now federal rules are placing almost all future robot vacuums…
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A Fender Stratocaster is the kind of guitar musicians name. Since the 1950s, guitarists and technicians have prized the Strat’s capabilities, mastering and modifying it to produce some of the defining sounds of classic rock music. But does that give the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation control over the shape of…
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Outside of Severance, most employers appreciate some openness at the workplace. Many even encourage sharing and bonding, saying, “We’re a family here!” But just as in some real families, anyone living a life that the boss disapproves of could get kicked out. Kevin Baillie is a veteran visual effects (VFX)…
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Decentralized camera networks have ignited fear and distrust among Americans suspicious of surveillance technology, and not without good reason. Law enforcement abuses of Flock Safety cameras have led to firings and backlash across the country, but Flock is only one company of many in the mass surveillance field. For several…
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In recent years, the City of Chicago has experienced record‑breaking heat, flash‑flooding from intense downpours, and repeated episodes of hazardous wildfire smoke drifting in from Canada, with air‑quality readings at times among the worst in the world. Chicago is fighting back in one of the few ways it can.
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In Oregon, archaeologists have found traces of bison and extinct camel remains at the ancient habitation site of Rimrock Draw, indicating that people have been hunting in the area for at least the last 18,000 years. Much later, the coastal peoples of the Pacific Northwest built their shared cultures and…
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Recent constitutional law developments have complicated the already tangled problems that unhoused people — as well as the cities that host them — must face every day. Some of the nation’s most visible homelessness problems appear in San Francisco, Berkeley, and its neighboring Bay Area cities, due to the region’s…
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On June 29, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to rescind decades-old guidance on affirmative action plans for businesses. These guidelines have been in place since 1979, together with a related compliance manual advising employers on their use. The materials provided a roadmap for businesses to implement affirmative action…
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On June 25, the Supreme Court issued a ruling with wide-ranging consequences for anyone claiming injuries related to glyphosate, the pesticide marketed as Roundup. The court’s 7-2 ruling in Monsanto Company v. Durnell effectively ends thousands of pending state-law claims that Roundup’s manufacturer failed to warn users that glyphosate could…
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During the 1920s, four-year-old Jackie Coogan was one of America’s favorite movie stars. When Coogan came of age after years of hard work in Hollywood, he learned he was penniless — his parents had run through the millions he earned. Soon afterward, California became the first state to regulate…
