Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission + - Google agrees to pay $28m in racial bias lawsuit (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Google has agreed to pay $28m (£21.5m) to settle a lawsuit that claimed white and Asian employees were given better pay and career opportunities than workers from other ethnic backgrounds, a law firm representing claimants says.

The technology giant confirmed it had "reached a resolution" but rejected the allegations made against it.

The case filed in 2021 by former Google employee, Ana Cantu, said workers from Hispanic, Latino, Native American and other backgrounds started on lower salaries and job levels than their white and Asian counterparts.

The settlement has been given preliminary approval by Judge Charles Adams of the Santa Clara County Superior Court in California.

The case brought by Ms Cantu against Google relied on a leaked internal document, which allegedly showed that employees from some ethnic backgrounds reported lower compensation for similar work.

The practice of basing starting pay and job level on prior salaries reinforced historical race and ethnicity-based disparities, according to Ms Cantu's lawyers.

The class action lawsuit was filed for at least 6,632 people who were employed by Google between 15 February 2018 and 31 December 2024, according to Reuters news agency.

Submission + - Overseas universities see opportunity in U.S. 'brain drain' (science.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: When Emma saw a posting for a faculty position in the University of Mississippi’s School of Pharmacy late last year, she thought she’d found her dream job. The early-career chemist, who asked not to use her real name so as not to jeopardize her current role, had already moved from Europe to the United States and was committed to staying.

But by the time she’d cleared the application process and was negotiating for equipment and personnel, she started to have major reservations. “Every day I would see news articles on federal workers who were let go, funds being withheld unless [diversity, equity, and inclusion] initiatives were shut down, and speculation on whether the Department of Education was going to be abolished,” she says. She worried about a lack of future funding, and about ricocheting effects on universities, students, and staff. Last month, “I decided to withdraw my candidacy despite being offered everything I needed,” she says.

Emma now plans to move back to Europe. She’s not alone: Universities around the world have reported seeing an uptick in applications from U.S.-based researchers, who face an increasingly uncertain climate under President Donald Trump’s administration. And some countries and their institutions are already looking to use the opportunity to attract new talent and reverse the steady migration of scientists to the U.S. in recent decades.

Submission + - VW's Cheapest EV Is First To Use Rivian Software (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Volkswagen’s ultra-cheap EV called the ID EVERY1 — a small four-door hatchback revealed Wednesday — will be the first to roll out with software and architecture from Rivian, according to a source familiar with the new model. The EV is expected to go into production in 2027 with a starting price of 20,000 euros ($21,500). A second EV called the ID.2all, which will be priced in the 25,000 euro price category, will be available in 2026. Both vehicles are part of the automaker’s new category of electric urban front-wheel-drive cars that are being developed under the “Brand Group Core” that makes up the volume brands in the VW Group. And both vehicles are for the European market.

The EVERY1 will be the first to ship with Rivian’s vehicle architecture and software as part of a $5.8 billion joint venture struck last year between the German automaker and U.S. EV maker. The ID.2all is based on the E3 1.1 architecture and software developed by VW’s software unit Cariad. VW didn’t name Rivian in its reveal Wednesday, although there were numerous nods to next-generation software. Kai Grunitz, member of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management responsible for technical development, noted it would be the first model in the entire VW Group to use a “fundamentally new, particularly powerful software architecture.” “This means the future entry-level Volkswagen can be equipped with new functions throughout its entire life cycle,” he said. “Even after purchase of a new car, the small Volkswagen can still be individually adapted to customer needs.”

Submission + - Steam on a $100 ARM Single Board Computer (interfacinglinux.com)

Submitted by VennStone
VennStone writes: There's no shortage of videos showing Steam running on expensive ARM SBCs with discrete GPUs, so I thought it would be worthwhile to make a guide for doing it on (relatively) inexpensive RK3588-powered SBCs, using Box86/64 and Armbian.
Science

Physics Is (NP-)Hard 212

Posted by Soulskill from the assume-a-spherical-traveling-salesman dept.
An anonymous reader writes "New research at the boundary of physics and computer science shows that determining the dynamical equations of a system from observations of its behavior is NP-hard. From the abstract: 'The behavior of any physical system is governed by its underlying dynamical equations. Much of physics is concerned with discovering these dynamical equations and understanding their consequences. In this work, we show that, remarkably, identifying the underlying dynamical equation from any amount of experimental data, however precise, is a provably computationally hard problem (it is NP-hard), both for classical and quantum mechanical systems.'"
Television

Futurama Voices Could Be Recast 260

Posted by Soulskill from the bite-my-shiny-metal-*** dept.
Svippy writes "According to reports surfacing on the Internet, Futurama may be recast. The animated series is due to return next year on Comedy Central, but may not be the same as we once knew it. 'As part of the announcement, the show's producers said stars including West, Sagal and DiMaggio had all signed on to return. Turns out that wasn't true. The stars had all expressed interest in returning. But with the budget for Futurama dramatically slashed, the salary offers came in well below what the thesps were asking.' Phil LaMarr posted 20th Century Fox's request for auditions on his Facebook page. However, some are skeptical about whether it's a real casting call or purely a stunt to reduce the salaries of the voice actors."
Windows

Windows 7 To Include "Windows XP Mode" 364

Posted by Soulskill from the os-that-won't-die dept.
Z80xxc! writes "Paul Thurrott's WinSuperSite reports that Windows 7 will include a built-in virtual machine with a fully licensed copy of Windows XP Professional SP3. The VM runs in a modified version of Virtual PC, and applications running in the VM can interact directly with the host operating system as if they were running on the Windows 7 installation itself. While details are scarce for now, it looks as if this feature will only be available as a (free) addon for Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7. Also, a processor supporting hardware virtualization will be required, indicating that this is perhaps aimed more at power users and corporate users, rather than consumers. Microsoft confirmed the feature last night."
Power

Energy-Beaming Space Collector To Also Alter Weather? 274

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the don't-microwave-me-bro dept.
Recently we covered California utility company PG&E's ambitious deal with upstart Solaren to beam energy to earth from a space-based solar collector. What we didn't know is Solaren's patent also covers the alteration of weather elements with that very same system. "By heating up the upper and middle levels of an infant hurricane, they say they could disrupt the flows of air that power the enormous storms. Air warmed by tropical waters flows up through a hurricane and is vented through the eye into the upper atmosphere. Theoretically, you could heat up the top of the storm and lower the pressure differential between layers, resulting in a weaker storm. "
Earth

Shell Ditches Wind, Solar, and Hydro 883

Posted by samzenpus from the do-what-you-know dept.
thefickler writes "Shell has decided to end its investment in wind, solar and hydro projects because the company does not believe they are financially sound investments. Instead Shell is going to focus on carbon sequestration technologies and biofuels. Not surprisingly, and perhaps unfairly, bloggers have been quick to savage the company: 'Between Shell's decisions to stop its clean energy investments and to increase its debt load to pay for dividends, the company is solidifying an image of corporate greed over corporate responsibility.' Is Shell short sighted, or is it just a company trying to make its way in an uncertain world?"
The Internet

Wikipedia's New Definition of Truth 428

Posted by kdawson from the beware-the-man-with-the-lantern dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Simson Garfinkel has an interesting essay on MIT Technology Review in which he examines the way that Wikipedia has redefined the commonly accepted use of the word 'truth.' While many academic experts have argued that Wikipedia's articles can't be trusted because they are written and edited by volunteers who have never been vetted, studies have found that the articles are remarkably accurate. 'But wikitruth isn't based on principles such as consistency or observability. It's not even based on common sense or firsthand experience,' says Garfinkel. What makes a fact or statement fit for inclusion is verifiability — that it appeared in some other publication, but there is a problem with appealing to the authority of other people's written words: many publications don't do any fact checking at all, and many of those that do simply call up the subject of the article and ask if the writer got the facts wrong or right. Wikipedia's policy of 'No Original Research' also leads to situations like Jaron Lanier's frustrated attempts to correct his own Wikipedia entry based on firsthand knowledge of his own career. So what is Wikipedia's truth? 'Since Wikipedia is the most widely read online reference on the planet, it's the standard of truth that most people are implicitly using when they type a search term into Google or Yahoo. On Wikipedia, truth is received truth: the consensus view of a subject.'"
User Journal

Journal Journal: My New Account

Journal by WormBytes

Well I went from my old account with its low five digit Slashdot ID to this new account (with a high six digit ID.) This will be my account forever since I control the WormBytes.ca domain. Welcome home.

Slashdot Top Deals

You will be successful in your work.

Close