23andMe will pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit over a data breach that affected more than 6.9 million customers. As part of the proposed settlement, the genetic testing site will compensate affected customers and provide them with access to a security monitoring program for three years. 23andMe disclosed the data breach last October, but it didn’t confirm the overall impact until December. Customers using the DNA Relatives feature may have had information like names, birth years, and ancestry information exposed through the breach. At the time, 23andMe attributed the hack to credential stuffing, a tactic that involves logging in to accounts using recycled logins exposed in previous security breaches. In January 2024, c...

At 12:01 am on Friday, 33,000 Seattle and Portland area Boeing workers with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) went on strike.  It’s the first time since 2008 that workers at Boeing, one of the world’s two major commercial aircraft suppliers, have walked off the job. The strike won’t affect commercial air travel, but the work stoppage, which affects nearly 20 percent of Boeing’s workforce, could cost the company as much as $1 billion per week and will likely drive the company’s already-flagging stock price down further. It could also have ramifications for the US economy overall; Boeing is one of the US’s biggest manufacturers, and its roughly 10,000 suppliers in all 50 states could be impacted if the work stoppage stretches on.  Boeing and IAM had been negotiating a new contract for weeks, and seemed to reach a deal Sunday that would have provided a 25 percent wage increase over the next four years and new benefits to workers. IAM leaders recommended their members take the deal, but 96 percent voted to reject it, setting the stage for Friday’s strike once the old contract expired.  Union members argue that the raise was not enough to make up for the skyrocketing cost of living. They’re striking for a 40 percent wage increase, as well as more input into product safety and a return to the pension system that they gave up in a 2014 contract. IAM workers are also demanding that future Boeing aircraft be manufactured in the unionized shops of the Pacific Northwest, rather than at a non-unionized factory in South Carolina. The Boeing workers’ demand for a say in the future of their industry is part of a trend; United Auto Workers members, during their strike last summer, also demanded input into the union’s involvement in manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles.  The work stoppage affects plants in locations throughout the Pacific Northwest: Everett and Renton, Washington, where Boeing’s aircraft are assembled; Portland, Oregon, where parts are manufactured; and Moses Lake, Washington, along with Edwards Air Force Base in California, where aircraft are stored and undergo repairs. As the strike begins, there’s potential for Boeing’s workers to win further concessions from the company. In particular, the frustration of Boeing’s key customers — namely, large airlines like Southwest, Alaska, and American — could provide IAM with significant leverage. Many commercial flights are full, and orders for the company’s 737 and 777 models are already delayed. Airlines have also had to deal with major problems with Boeing planes in recent years, including a terrifying incident in January, in which a door plug flew off during an Alaska Airlines flight, and two deadly plane crashes in 2018 and 2019. The company is embroiled in multiple legal battles due to its catastrophic safety failures. “You’re talking about all the big airlines,” Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School, told Vox. “People don’t want to be afraid to fly in an airplane, so [Boeing is] going to have all of the pressure from your primary customers, which are the airlines, saying, ‘Wait a minute, don’t mess with your workers. We want them to build them correctly. We don’t need any issues or problems.’” Boeing has lost an estimated $27 billion since 2019 due to its series of cascading crises. It’s currently $60 billion in debt and its stock price has fallen 38 percent so far this year. Boeing’s aerospace program has also suffered from recent high-profile difficulties. Its many serious missteps are, as Vox’s Marin Cogan wrote in March, due at least in part to a highly corporatized structure at the company that in recent decades has focused less on solid engineering than on shareholder returns. Those issues are not fixable without investing in the industry-leading engineering for which Boeing used to be known — and doing so requires an ability to retain a workforce of highly trained employees. Whether that leverage and the company’s financial woes are enough to get workers what they want remains to be seen. But it may not take long: As of Friday, the union and the company have both said they are ready to get back to the bargaining table. 

Anker’s next puck-shaped accessory is an SD and microSD card reader called the MagGo USB-C Adapter that can be used with laptops, tablets, and smartphones. When connected to an iPhone 15 or 16, it can also unlock ProRes 4K recording at 60fps if the memory card supports at least 220MB/s write speeds and 256GB capacity. The MagGo USB-C Adapter — available in white, black, or teal finishes for $34.99 from Anker or Amazon — is MagSafe compatible, so it can be secured to the back of an iPhone and kept out of the way while recording video. Since it does end up blocking both of the ways an iPhone can be charged, Anker has included an additional USB-C port on the MagGo that will pass along up to 42.5W of power.

The series' occasional set-ups for elements of the main Lord of the Rings saga go a long way in establishing the world about to be lost in Sauron's machinations.

Enlarge Researchers still don’t know the cause of a recently discovered malware infection affecting almost 1.3 million streaming devices running an open source version of Android in almost 200 countries. Security firm Doctor Web reported Thursday that malware named Android.Vo1d has backdoored the Android-based boxes by putting malicious components in their system storage area, where they can be updated with additional malware at any time by command-and-control servers. Google representatives said the infected devices are running operating systems based on the Android Open Source Project, a version overseen by Google but distinct from Android TV, a proprietary version restricted to licensed device makers. Although Doctor Web has a thorough understanding of Vo1d and the exceptional reach it has achieved, company researchers say they have yet to determine the attack vector that has led to the infections.

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Cinnamon buns. Consumer Reports on Thursday reported the concentration of lead it found in 36 ground cinnamon products, leading to a round of startling headlines. The testing is particularly nerve-racking given that it closely follows the tragic poisoning of at least 519 US children, who were exposed to extremely high levels of lead from purposefully tainted cinnamon in applesauce snack pouches. With that horrifying event in mind, parents are likely primed to be alarmed by any other lead findings in cinnamon. So, how concerning were the concentrations Consumer Reports found? And does one need to strictly adhere to the limits the organization recommends? By my calculations, not very and probably not. It's really not an alarming report. Similar to the outlet's chocolate testing before it, the lead concentrations found in cinnamons were largely within standard ranges. In all, the report is more of a reminder that trace amounts of heavy metals are present in various common foods. And such watchdog testing can play a crucial role in keeping consumers safe, especially with underfunded and underpowered regulators.

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The Emmy-winning actor wrapped up his time in Westeros in 2019, but he hasn't left the HBO show behind.