This Week in Tech

‘Complete Control’: Apple Accused of Overpricing, Restricting Device Repairs – This Week in Tech – 10/21/2018

‘Complete Control’: Apple Accused of Overpricing, Restricting Device Repairs

Apple often overestimates the cost of repairs to its products and threatens third-party shops who are willing to fix them for a fraction of the price, a CBC News investigation has learned…


Most Americans Aren’t Aware That Facebook Owns WhatsApp, or That Google Owns Waze

In the past six months, many have been rudely awakened by the lack of privacy within the behemoth data platforms of Facebook and Google. A recent report by Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans are significantly changing their relationship with Facebook, with about half taking breaks from the platform in one way or another…


After Leaked Video, Sanders and Warren Demand Bezos Answer for Amazon’s “Potentially Illegal” Union Busting

After a leaked training video provided a rare glimpse into the aggressive tactics Amazon deploys to prevent its workers from organizing and bargaining for better working conditions, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to CEO Jeff Bezos on Wednesday expressing alarm at his trillion-dollar company’s “potentially illegal anti-union behavior” and demanding a copy of the full video…


Elon Musk: Rapid-Transit Test Tunnel Under LA Opens to Public Dec. 10

Elon Musk tweeted that his Boring Company will unveil a stretch of a rapid-transit tunnel under Los Angeles to the public on Dec. 10…


Winamp 5.8 Media Player Released in All Its Nostalgic Glory

Back in the days before we got our music from the cloud using Spotify and Pandora, we would use MP3 players to play our music. When it came to players, there was (is?) no player more popular than Winamp…


IBM Just Proved Quantum Computers Can Do Things Impossible for Classical Ones

A team of researchers from IBM, the University of Waterloo, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) today published the results of an experiment proving a quantum computer can do things a classical one cannot. This may be a watershed moment in the history of computer science…


Printer Makers Are Crippling Cheap Ink Cartridges Via Bogus ‘Security Updates’

Printer maker Epson is under fire this month from activist groups after a software update prevented customers from using cheaper, third party ink cartridges. It’s just the latest salvo in a decades-long effort by printer manufacturers to block consumer choice, often by disguising printer downgrades as essential product improvements…