The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reached a settlement with Amazon about alleged hazardous workplace conditions at ten of the tech giant's facilities. Under the terms of the settlement, Amazon will pay a penalty of $145,000 and must implement "corporate-wide ergonomic measures" to reduce the risk of worker injuries. OSHA will also continue inspecting the facilities for the next two years. On the government side of the agreement, OSHA is withdrawing nine of its ten ergonomic citations against the company.Ergonomic injuries are also known as musculoskeletal disorders. These can include sprains and strains experienced on the job.A rep from the Department of Labor told ABC News that this settlement is the "largest of its kind" and "will resolve all outstanding ergonomic litigation" against Amazon. However, it will not impact a separate investigation into Amazon allegedly concealing workplace injuries that is currently underway at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Amazon has denied those charges.Amazon's workforce also made news this week as strikes began at multiple facilities in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York. Members of the Teamsters union organized the effort, with several union chapters voting yesterday to take action against the company. The Teamsters had called on Amazon to negotiate around working conditions, wages and benefits, asking the company to agree to bargaining dates for a contract by December 15. Local journalists from Hell Gate captured footage of the first day of strikes in Queens, NY, showing a peaceful picket line being broken by local police, who reportedly erected barricades to allow contractors to enter and leave the Amazon distribution center.If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazons insatiable greed," Teamsters General President Sean M. OBrien said in a statement from the organization. "We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-to-pay-osha-145000-in-workplace-safety-settlement-230933629.html?src=rss

Waymos fleet of driverless vehicles are operating in more cities and a study indicates that may reduce crashes on roadways. The study, a non-paid partnership between Waymo itself and reinsurer Swiss Re, indicated Waymos cars result in fewer insurance claims than those operated by people.Swiss Re analyzed liability claims from collisions covering 25.3 million miles driven by Waymos autonomous cars. The study also compared Waymos liability claims to human driver baselines based on data from over 500,000 claims and over 200 billion driving miles. The results found that Waymo Driver demonstrated better safety performance when compared to human-driver vehicles..The study found cars operated by Alphabets Waymo Driver resulted in 88 percent fewer property damage claims and 92 percent fewer bodily injury claims.Swiss Re also invented a new metric to compare Waymo Driver against only newer vehicles with advanced safety tech, like driver assistance, automated emergency braking and blind spot warning systems, instead of against the whole corpus of those 200 billion driving miles. In this comparison, Waymo still came out ahead with an 86 percent reduction in property damage claims and a 90 percent reduction on bodily damage claims.Of course, there are two glaring issues. First is that Waymo currently only operates in cities, which, yes, account for the bulk of crashes in the US, but rural areas account for a much higher number of crashes (especially fatal ones) proportional to their population. (The study, incidentally, states that having exurban data included in the baseline metrics actually cuts against Waymo's true safety numbers.) Second: Waymo simply hasn't been around that long. It's very hard to get an accurate measure of the system when its real-world testing period has been so relatively short.The numbers may look good for Waymo Driver in studies but they arent perfect by any stretch. Waymo issued its second recall over the summer when one of its robotaxis hit a street level telephone pole at 8 mph in Phoenix. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into Waymo and found 24 incidents that involved crashes or traffic violations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymos-driverless-cars-are-apparently-an-insurance-companys-dream-220746643.html?src=rss

It's here! The Steam Winter Sale is underway now and runs through January 2. That leaves you plenty of time to internally debate whether you really need to buy yet more games and ultimately convince yourself that yes, in fact, you do.Several notable titles from the Summer Sale are once again seeing similar discounts this season. Baldur's Gate 3 is 20 percent off and you can buy it for $48. At $27, Cyberpunk 2077 is half off and Elden Ring is $36, which is 40 percent off.If you've already had your fill of Elden Ring, you can save 40 percent on a different Souls-like. Lies of P takes the familiar gameplay in a dark retelling of the Pinocchio fairy tale and you can grab it for $36. There's also a 60 percent discount on No Man's Sky, which is still getting regular content patches; soar into infinite space for $24. Another great deal is for the original Cities: Skylines, which is a calmer and more stable experience than the game's troubled sequel has been. The simulator is 70 percent off, costing just $9.Steam sales are always a great time to fill up on indie hits. We here at Engadget are bonkers for Balatro, which you can save a dollar on at only ten percent off, but there are many steeper sales to explore. Feline-focused Stray is $18, or you can play a more sinister critter in Cult of the Lamb for under $13. For $14, you can fish and roll sushi to your heart's content in the quirky Dave the Diver. Slay the Spire is just over $6 and the perennial favorite Stardew Valley is down to $8.A bunch of classic titles are up to 90 percent off. Stellar first-person shooter Titanfall 2 is a mere $3. Go nuclear in Fallout 4 for $8. The trio of games in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition can all be yours for $5. Divinity Original Sin, the sprawling RPG that helped prove Larian Studios was the right team to make Baldur's Gate 3, is $4.That's just scratching the surface of what's included in this season's Steam sale. Take a look over your wishlist and see what else you might want to buy. Happy holidays!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/tis-the-season-for-the-steam-winter-sale-to-take-all-your-money-202852825.html?src=rss

OpenAI releases Mac desktop ChatGPT features.

Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.

Looking for NYT Strands answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, including the spangram.

Micron's stock plummeted Thursday following the company's earnings report and its weaker-than-expected guidance for the second quarter.

Amazon workers at seven facilities in New York, Georgia, California and Illinois went on strike Thursday.

Health-care AI startup Suki is building patient summary and Q&A features using Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform.

Issue #25 of befores & afters magazine features candid interviews with the filmmakers behind some of the biggest animated features of 2024. Go behind the scenes of Inside Out 2, Moana 2, The Wild Robot, Ultraman: Rising, Transformers One, That Christmas and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.Here are the filmmakers befores & afters interviewed for this issue, each one at VIEW Conference 2024:Kelsey Mann, Director, Inside Out 2, Pixar Animation StudiosChris Sanders, Director, The Wild Robot, DreamWorks AnimationShannon Tindle, Director, Ultraman: Rising, NetflixHayden Jones, Overall VFX Supervisor, Ultraman: Rising, ILMSimon Otto, Director, That ChristmasJustin Hutchinson-Chatburn, Production Designer, That ChristmasAmy Smeed, Head of Animation, Moana 2, Disney Animation StudiosWill Becher, Supervising Animator and Stop-Motion Lead, AardmanRob Coleman, Creative Director & Animation Supervisor, Transformers One, ILM, SydneyFind issue #25 at your local Amazon store:USAUKCanadaGermanyFranceSpainItalyAustralia JapanSwedenPolandNetherlandsThe post The big animated features are covered in issue #25 of befores & afters mag! appeared first on befores & afters.