There are some 200,000 blind people in Israel. Though those citizens must navigate an at times difficult post-pandemic world (as is this case with visually impaired people everywhere), there’s at least one place—albeit an unlikely one—where conditions have actually improved since the start of the pandemic: McDonald’s, the largest chain restaurant in the country. Earlier this month, the fast food behemoth announced an extended partnership with RightHear, an Israel-base
Some 400 years after the original Mayflower sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, its unmanned robotic descendant has completed the first transatlantic crossing solely on its own decision-making. After seven years of planning and 40 days at sea, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) finally pulled into Halifax, Nova Scotia, on June 5 after a 3,500-mile journey from Plymouth, U.K. Originally headed to Washington, D.C., the ship—which is propelled by a solar-driven hybrid electric motor and ba
Today, the Supreme Court settled a long-standing split among lower courts about which kinds of transportation workers qualify for a federal limit on forced arbitration—and, surprisingly, the justices voted unanimously to expand that class of workers. The case at hand involved an airplane cargo supervisor, Latrice Saxon, who took Southwest Airlines to court for overtime issues back in 2019. Southwest argued she couldn’t do that because she was bound by an arbitration agreement. Saxo
The practice of medicine often requires making the most of a tragic situation, learning from illness to help people stay healthy. Look no further than the act of organ donation. The donor’s selfless act can transform a loss into hope for the sickest patients—those identified most in need of an organ transplant by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nation’s transplant system. Every organ donor has the potential to save up to eight lives and improve quality
The rise of online transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic has been well documented. In 2021, digital payments increased by 14% in the U.S. Since 2019, U.S. e-commerce has grown by more than 50%. The amount of money that changes hands digitally each year around the world is now north of $5 billion. These numbers are staggering, but the story is familiar: Payments are undergoing a revolution from physical to digital. Less well-documented, perhaps, is the corresponding rise in digital payments f
Apple is hosting its annual WWDC developer conference at its Apple Park campus this week, after two years of virtual events. Even now, the scene in Cupertino is a scaled-back affair, with fewer developers and fewer media. Yet the company has rarely seemed so jubilant at gathering the Apple Faithful. The first thing you encounter here are the greeters, who are extra friendly this year. They’re everywhere; you’re never more than 15 feet from one–or a clump of 10— of the
Scott Keeney has been buying and selling on eBay since he was a kid. Keeney—better known by his music moniker DJ Skee—has also become a well known figure in the world of collectible trading cards, even producing a line of custom sports cards with industry powerhouse Topps. But until recently, Keeney says, his collection was somewhat disorganized, making it hard to see at a glance what cards he owned. Travel and other professional obligations only compounded the problem, making it d
Apple really doesn’t want you to replace your Mac with an iPad. That much became clear at the company’s WWDC event, where it announced more half measures to make the iPad feel more—but not too much more—like a laptop. With the launch of iPad OS 16 this fall, you’ll be able to open apps in floating windows, connect the iPad to external monitors, and adjust the iPad’s display scaling to fit more elements on the screen. These improvements, however welcome,
Most of Axon’s ethics board has resigned over the company’s fast-tracked idea for a Taser-equipped drone, swiftly collapsing the most prominent advisory panel in the police technology industry. Following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Axon announced last week plans to mount its Taser weapons on autonomous drones in order to stop school shootings. The idea sparked concerns about privacy, safety, and potential abuses, and blindsided the legal experts, technologists and former
A number of high-profile whistleblowers in the technology industry have stepped into the spotlight in the past few years. For the most part, they have been revealing corporate practices that thwart the public interest: Frances Haugen exposed personal data exploitation at Meta, Timnit Gebru and Rebecca Rivers challenged Google on ethics and AI issues, and Janneke Parrish raised concerns about a discriminatory work culture at Apple, among others. Many of these whistleblowers ar