Amazon employees in Maryland say they were fired for organizing workers

Amazon is once again facing allegations of firing union organizers. The Washington Postreports employee group Amazonians United has filed National Labor Relations Board charges accusing Amazon of illegally firing two workers at a Maryland warehouse for labor organizing. The staff at the DMD9 delivery outpost in Upper Marlboro allegedly lost their jobs for both collecting petition signatures and promoting a large-scale walkout protest in March.

The petitions, created in August and December of 2021, pushed for improved working conditions that included healthier food, less restrictive bathroom breaks and pay raises that had been granted at other facilities. The August petition led to some changes, but Amazon’s refusal to budge on the December petition prompted the March walkouts. One of the fired employees, Jackie Davis, said she was fired weeks later without a clear or justified reason.

Company spokeswoman Kelly Nantel denied any wrongdoing in a statement to The Post. Amazon fired Davis for “time theft” and not being at the facility after clocking in, the representative claimed. Nantel also maintained that worker support for a movement “doesn’t factor” into terminating employment, and that the staffers simply didn’t meet “basic expectations.”

The charges come in the wake of numerous accusations of anti-union activity on Amazon’s part. The NLRB found that Amazon illegally fired a New York union organizer last fall, while two workers at a Staten Island warehouse claimed they were fired for helping to organize the first successful Amazon union election. The tech pioneer has also been accused of intimidation tactics that include threats of lower pay, labeling labor organizers as “thugs” and multiple attempts at interfering with union votes. In 2021, Amazon spent $4.3 million on consultants known for thwarting unionization campaigns.

Whatever the reasons for these latest firings, it may be difficult for Amazon to avoid pressure to change. Amazonians United has secured some improvements by replacing conventional union strategies with grassroots relationship building and pressing for smaller material gains. This won’t necessarily lead to more successful unionization efforts, but it won’t be surprising if there are more reforms.

Robots learn to shape letters using Play-Doh

Humans aren’t the only ones working with Play-Doh. MIT CSAIL researchers have created a system, RoboCraft, that teaches robots how to work with the kid-friendly goo. The platform first takes the image of a shape (in this case, a letter of the alphabet) and reinterprets it as a cluster of interlocking particles. The bot then uses a physics-oriented neural network to predict how its two “fingers” can manipulate those spheres to match the desired outcome. A predictive algorithm helps the machine plan its actions.

The technology doesn’t require much time to produce usable results. It took just ten minutes of practice for an robot to perform roughly as well (and in some cases better) than humans remote-controlling the same hardware. That’s not the same as having a human shape the Play-Doh by hand, but it’s no mean feat for a machine discovering how to perform the task for the first time. Robots frequently struggle with soft objects where they tend to thrive with firm shapes.

RoboCraft-trained bots aren’t about to produce elaborate sculptures. The results are still imprecise, and the machine works slowly using just two fingers. The team is already developing a method of making dumplings, though, and plans to teach robots to use additional tools (such as a rolling pin) to prep the food.

The CSAIL scientists already have an idea of where the technology might be deployed. Kitchen robots could take over more responsibilities, while artistic automatons might create pottery. Eventually, technology like this could help the elderly and people with mobility issues by taking over household duties that require subtle motor skills.

Meta settles US lawsuit over housing discrimination

Meta has agreed to settle 2019 charges that it enabled housing discrimination through ad targeting. The deal with the Justice Department will have the company end use of a “Special Ad Audiences” tool that allegedly used a discrimination-prone algorithm to widen the reach of housing ads on Facebook. Meta is instead developing a new method, the “variance reduction system,” to ensure home ads match their eligible targeted viewers.

The decision to retire Special Ad Audiences also applies to credit and employment ads, Meta added. The company said all three categories were part of a “deep-rooted problem” with discrimination in the US.

This is the first time the DOJ has used a case to tackle algorithmic biases under the Fair Housing Act, according to officials. Meta said it collaborated with the Department of Housing and Urban Development for over a year to more accurately target ads and avoid discrimination. The new system will also be subject to DOJ approval and monitoring.

The firm had already limited ad targeting in 2019 after settling another lawsuit accusing it of violating housing discrimination law. Advertisers haven’t been allowed to target campaigns based on age, gender or ZIP code. Special Ad Audiences was launched at the same time to help address issues with a previous system, but Meta said its algorithms needed to adapt to ensure fairness.

A settlement isn’t shocking. Meta has faced other accusations of allowing problematic ad targeting in fields like politics. Other tech heavyweights have also faced penalties. The Federal Trade Commission slapped Twitter with a $150 million fine for reportedly “deceptive” ad targeting that relied on sensitive contact information. The agreement could help Meta avoid similar punishments, and suggests it’s willing to cooperate when ad systems come under scrutiny.

Microsoft will phase out facial recognition AI that could detect emotions

Microsoft is keenly aware of the mounting backlash toward facial recognition, and it’s shuttering a significant project in response. The company has revealed it will “retire” facial recognition technology that it said could infer emotions as well as characteristics like age, gender and hair. The AI raised privacy questions, Microsoft said, and offering a framework created the potential for discrimination and other abuses. There was also no clear consensus on the definition of emotions, and no way to create a generalized link between expressions and emotions.

New users of Microsoft’s Face programming framework no longer have access to these attribute detection features. Current customers can use them until June 30th, 2023. Microsoft will still fold the tech into “controlled” accessibility tools, such as its Seeing AI for people with vision issues.

The exit comes as Microsoft has shared its Responsible AI Standard framework with the public for the first time. The guidelines illustrate the tech firm’s decision-making process, including a focus on principles like inclusion, privacy and transparency. This also represents the first big update to the standard since it was introduced in late 2019, and promises more fairness in speech-to-text tech, stricter controls for neural voice and “fit for purpose” requirements that rule out the emotion-detecting system.

Microsoft isn’t the first company to have second thoughts about facial recognition. IBM stopped work in that field over worries its projects could be used for human rights abuses. With that said, this is still a major change of heart. One of the world’s largest cloud and computing companies is backing away from AI that could have a substantial impact.

South Korea launches a satellite with its first domestically-made rocket

South Korea just took an important step toward becoming a spacefaring nation. The New York Timesreports the country successfully launched a satellite payload into orbit using a domestically-made rocket for the first time. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s 200-ton Nuri vehicle (aka Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II) ferried both a working satellite (for performance verification) and a dummy into orbit at an altitude of 435 miles.

The accomplishment was a long time in coming. South Korea first launched a satellite into orbit in 2013, but it co-developed the mission’s Naro rocket with Russia. Nuri also didn’t have the smoothest path. An initial test launch in October 2021 lifted a dummy satellite into space, but an oxidizer tank failure led to a premature burnout that prevented the satellite from staying in orbit.

The successful flight is just the first step in a major expansion of South Korea’s spaceflight efforts. Officials plan four more Nuri test launches between 2023 and 2027, and the verification payload will help test components for more satellite missions, including surveillance satellites to monitor North Korea. Long-term plans include a more powerful rocket as well as an uncrewed Moon lander that would arrive by the early 2030s.

The flight helps South Korea join just a handful of countries with similar spaceflight capabilities, including the US, Russia, China, France, India and Japan. There’s also large degree of national pride involved. This helps South Korea reduce its dependence on American satellites and rockets, including SpaceX’s Falcon 9 — it won’t have to worry as much about differing priorities and launch schedules.

Facebook clamps down on fake and paid reviews

Facebook has long taken action against fake reviews, but now it’s formalizing that stance. As The Verge notes, Facebook parent company Meta has updated its Community Feedback Policy in the US to explicitly ban fake and paid reviews on its platforms. Users can’t post a bogus review for a restaurant in hopes of getting a free meal, or take kickbacks to leave glowing opinions about a product.

The revised policy also forbids “irrelevant” and spam reviews, not to mention those that include graphic or otherwise offensive content. Meta will pull reviews that violate policies, and reserves the right to suspend access to some or all of its products. Habitual violators could face suspensions or permanent bans for their Facebook accounts, and businesses could lose access to product listings and tags.

You might not see a dramatic increase in crackdowns when the new policy mainly continues an existing strategy. It’s also uncertain how well this commitment will hold. Facebook removed 16,000 fake review groups last year in response to a UK watchdog’s concerns, but there’s no guarantee it will catch every offender. An official policy indicates commitment to tackling the problem, though, and could help Meta justify bans when perpetrators complain.

Fitbit will fix frequent disconnections for Charge 5 owners

If your Fitbit Charge 5 has had flaky performance lately, you’ll be glad to hear that a solution is on the horizon. 9to5Google has learned Fitbit is promising a fix for frequent disconnections between the activity tracker and its host phone. If you’re affected, the Bluetooth connection will spontaneously drop and prevent your wearable from syncing fitness data, whether you’re using an Android phone or iPhone.

Reports of the problem first surfaced in January. Common solutions like rebooting the Charge 5 have little effect. Fitbit also hasn’t offered a stopgap solution or indicated the likely culprit.

There’s no timeline for the expected patch, and it’s not clear how many users have the issue. This certainly isn’t what Fitbit would hope for, though. The Charge 5 sits next to the Luxe at the top of Fitbit’s activity tracker lineup, and is competing as much with some lower-end smartwatches as it is fitness devices. The disconnections won’t help the Charge fare well against rivals in a market that still has fierce competition from the likes of Amazfit and Garmin.

iOS 16 will let you skip CAPTCHAs on some websites

iOS 16 might just help you avoid the CAPTCHA anti-bot systems that stand between you and some web sign-ins. As MacRumorsnoticed, Apple used WWDC 2022 to detail a Private Access Token system in iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura that skips CAPTCHAs altogether for some apps and websites. Enable an Automatic Verification feature and supporting sites will use iCloud to verify both your Apple ID and your device, presenting a token that proves you’re trustworthy. You might not have to enter inscrutable text or tap pictures of traffic lights just to show that you’re human.

Apple noted that devices won’t share sensitive data linked to your account (such as the email address or phone number). The company also won’t know who’s making the verification request, so it can’t tie these checks to specific providers. The token system is billed as more respectful of privacy, as it doesn’t track your IP address. It could also improve accessibility by making CAPTCHA-verified sites usable by more people with disabilities.

Importantly, the technology could easily see widespread adoption that might extend beyond Apple hardware. Cloudflare and Fastly have already unveiled plans to support the token approach, potentially bringing it to millions of websites. Also, Apple worked with those companies and Google to make Private Access Tokens an open standard. While there’s no direct Android equivalent yet, the technology seen in iOS 16 hints at a future where few people need to manually complete CAPTCHAs.

Spray-on plant coating could replace wasteful plastic food wrap

Plastic food wraps might not be a bane to the environment for much longer. Rutgers University and Harvard University researchers have developed a plant-based coating that would be greener and safer than plastic packaging. The approach “sprays” fibers based on biopolymer and polysaccharide (the most common carbohydrate in food) that wrap around your food. The resulting protection is strong enough to protect against bruising, and includes natural antimicrobial agents (citric acid, nisin and thyme oil) that can fight harmful bacteria and viruses in addition to preventing spoilage.

In tests, the coating extended the shelf life of avocados about 50 percent. It takes just three days to biodegrade, and you can rinse the coating off with water. Scientists even envision turning the fibers into sensors that could activate to kill bacteria.

There’s no mention of near-term plans to put this spray-on wrap replacement into production. It could be a long while before you’re picking up bread or fruit with eco-friendly protection. Still, it may be just a matter of time before this technology reaches your grocery store. The coating could reduce the load on landfills, limit the spread of microplastics and minimize food waste.