Technology | Common News Update

Apr122021 by adminNo Comments

NHS Covid-19 app update blocked for breaking Apple and Google’s rules

Technology

PA MediaAn update to England and Wales's contact tracing app has been blocked for breaking the terms of an agreement made with Apple and Google.The plan had been to ask users to upload logs of venue check-ins - carried out via poster barcode scans - if they tested positive for the virus. This could be used to warn others.The update had been timed to coincide with the relaxation of lockdown rules.But the two firms had explicitly banned such a function from the start.Under the terms that all health authorities signed up to in order to use Apple and Google's privacy-centric contact-tracing tech, they had to agree not to collect any location data via the software. As a result, Apple and Google refused to make the update available for download from their app stores last week, and have instead k...

Apr112021 by adminNo Comments

Brazil’s virus outlook darkens amid vaccine supply snags

Technology

RIO DE JANEIRO -- April is shaping up to be Brazil’s darkest month yet in the pandemic, with hospitals struggling with a crush of patients, deaths on track for record highs and few signs of a reprieve from a troubled vaccination program in Latin America's largest nation.The Health Ministry has cut its outlook for vaccine supplies in April three times already, to half their initial level, and the country’s two biggest laboratories are facing supply constraints.The delays also mean tens of thousands more deaths as the particularly contagious P.1 variant of COVID-19 sweeps Brazil. It has recorded about 350,000 of the 2.9 million virus deaths worldwide, behind only the U.S. toll of over 560,000.Brazil's seven-day rolling average has increased to 2,820 deaths per day, compared with the global a...

Apr112021 by adminNo Comments

Amazon defeats historic Alabama union effort

Technology

Getty ImagesAmazon has defeated activists hoping to establish the company's first unionised warehouse in the US.Workers at the Bessemer, Alabama warehouse voted 1,798 to 738 against the effort, labour officials said. That represented a majority of votes cast in the contest, which was seen as a key test for Amazon after global criticism of its treatment of workers during the pandemic.The union said it would challenge the results.It accused Amazon of interfering with the right of employees to vote in a "free and fair election", including by lying to staff about the implications of the vote in mandatory meetings and pushing the postal service to install a mailbox on company grounds in an effort to monitor the vote."Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees...

Apr102021 by adminNo Comments

After Amazon: Labor tries to regroup in wake of Alabama loss

Technology

WASHINGTON -- Despite the strongest public support and the most sympathetic president in years, the American labor movement just suffered a stinging defeat -- again.Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, overwhelmingly voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in much-anticipated election results announced Friday.Amazon and business groups celebrated the decision, saying warehouse workers got a chance to weigh the pros and cons of union membership -- and voted to reject it.But labor activists argue that the lopsided vote shows how unfairly the odds are stacked against union organizing efforts and highlights the need for Congress to reform U.S. labor law. The House last month passed such legislation -- the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) A...

Apr102021 by adminNo Comments

Amazon wins vote preventing Alabama warehouse workers from unionising

Technology

Amazon workers have voted not to unionise at one of the company's warehouses in Alabama in a major victory for the company.The majority of the 3,215 votes cast from roughly 5,800 workers in Bessemer, Alabama, were against unionising, according to a preliminary count by the US National Labor Relations Board. Defeating the move to unionise will be seen as a great success for Amazon, which has reportedly spent millions to monitor and tackle union activities among its workforce, including hiring intelligence analysts to track staff suspected of organising. Image: The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union is bringing a complaint against the company. Pic: AP The Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) has complained that ...