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14-hour days and no bathroom breaks: Amazon’s overworked delivery drivers

Drivers report being underpaid and having to urinate in bottles in their vehicles to keep up with delivery rates James Meyers worked as a driver for several Amazon delivery service providers in Austin, Texas, for about one year until he quit in October 2020 citing the immense workloads and poor working conditions. Continue reading… Drivers …

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‘I learned about storytelling from Final Fantasy’: novelist Raven Leilani on Luster and video games

Drawing on her own cathartic relationship with role-playing games, Leilani uses gaming as a narrative device and an inspiration in her acclaimed debut There is an extraordinary and telling moment in Raven Leilani’s acclaimed novel Luster, about a young black woman who has an affair with a middle-aged white man and ends up living with …

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An Impossible Project review – warm and fuzzy nostalgia in retro doc

Florian Kaps – Vienna’s answer to Steve Jobs – enthuses over analogue hardware and makes a persuasive case for life beyond the digital realm Here is a documentary about the resurgent interest in retro culture that comes across like a warm fuzzy blanket of nostalgia for pre-Covid days. The central figure is “Doc” Florian Kaps, …

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‘Wolf in watchdog’s clothing’: India’s new digital media laws spark fears for freedoms

Everything from online news to social media and streaming platforms are captured by the regulations, branded ‘palpably illegal’ by opponents Not long before he was elected as India’s prime minister in 2014, Narendra Modi spoke of his dreams of a “digital India”, where “access to information knows no barriers”. But this week, unprecedented barriers on …

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Fortnite creator Epic Games launches Australian legal action against Google

Epic’s court battle with Google over being banned from the Play Store, mirrors one it has launched against Apple over its App Store removal Epic Games has launched new legal action against Google in Australia over alleged anti-competitive behaviour after Fortnite was kicked off the Google Play store last year. It is the second such …

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Police raids across Europe after encrypted phone network shut down

Belgian, Dutch and French police ‘looked over shoulders’ of gangs after hacking Sky EEC network Police in Belgium and the Netherlands have arrested at least 80 people and carried out hundreds of raids after shutting down an encrypted phone network used by organised crime groups. Belgian, Dutch and French police said they had hacked into …

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Facebook sets out plan for ‘effortless’ virtual reality socialising

Users could effectively ‘teleport’ to connect with friends in more planet-friendly way, says Zuckerberg Facebook has unveiled the first of a wave of virtual reality innovations that its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, hopes will allow for effective “teleportation” by the end of the decade. One experimental project aims to track hand movements using nervous signals …

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‘Computers are marvellous!’: older people embrace internet in lockdown

Pandemic has prompted some people to confront their insecurities about venturing online Before the pandemic struck, 79-year-old Jim Whelan barely used his computer. The online world was a mystery and an irrelevance to him. A year on, however, Whelan can give computer geeks half his age a run for their money. “Although I had been …

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Bitcoin rise could leave carbon footprint the size of London’s

Research estimates cryptocurrency will consume as much energy as all datecentres globally The surge in bitcoin’s price since the start of 2021 could result in the cryptocurrency consuming as much energy as all the data centres in the world with an associated carbon footprint the same as that of London, according to research.. Alex de …

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Archive, 1891: The first London to Paris telephone service begins

In March 1891, the laying of a cross-Channel subsea cable enabled the first international telephone service between Britain and France. See how the Guardian reported events 10 March 1891 Continue reading… In March 1891, the laying of a cross-Channel subsea cable enabled the first international telephone service between Britain and France. See how the Guardian …

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