California introduces right-to-disconnect bill

Even if 2024 brings burnout, overwhelm, budget cuts, hiring freezes, waves of layoffs, and more, there will still be few regulations in the U.S. to prevent employers from responding by leveraging employees at their desks or at home on their smartphones and laptops ask.

(Of course, France showed us all, introducing a right-to-disconnect policy back in 2017. Those pesky, totally right French people…)

This week, California Assemblyman Matt Haney introduced AB 2751, the “Right to Disconnect” proposal. If passed, every employer in California would accurately regulate a person’s work hours and ensure they would not be required to respond to work-related communications after hours. The period during which salaried employees may need to work extended hours needs to be stipulated in the contract.

“I do think that California is the state that creates a lot of these technologies but is also the state that introduces how we make them sustainable and renew our protection of the times we live in and the world we create,” Haney said. San Francisco Standard.

He’s right: California is the birthplace of Gmail, the iPhone, though not Slack – watch out for Vancouver, Canada.

— Matt Smith

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Smart Swim 2 is smaller, lighter and more practical.

Form launched Smart Swim goggles in 2019. They feature built-in displays that show real-time data while swimming, and their successor, the Smart Swim 2, is improved in every way. The Form compresses and folds the existing model, with a technology package that’s 15% smaller than its predecessor. It’s also working on improving comfort and fit, making the goggles longer, with more adjustable straps and a wider, interchangeable bridge.

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The company is removing Just Walk Out from grocery stores in the United States.

Amazon is removing its much-hyped “Just Walk Out” technology from all of its U.S. fresh grocery stores. Self-checkout systems use cameras, sensors and good old-fashioned human eyeballs to track items as people leave the store, charging customers accordingly without having to manually scan items.

One problem is that the system doesn’t use artificial intelligence object detection and advanced intelligence like Amazon would have you believe. According to reports, more than 1,000 people in India scan data entered by cameras to ensure accurate checkouts.

Amazon has tried to sell the technology to other retail chains, but its only major deal has been with Starbucks in a handful of locations. These systems require high ceilings to accommodate cameras and sensors. Reuters It is suggested that many retailers view Amazon as a competitor and do not want Amazon in their systems. For now, the system will continue to be used in select UK stores.

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