With files from Tom Li
Facebook suffers a massive outage on Monday, a federal court orders Tesla to pay a former worker $137 million, and Windows 11 is officially here.
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It’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Wednesday, October 6, and I’m your host, Jori Negin-Shecter.
Facebook’s many services suffered a massive outage on Monday, affecting billions of users. Its scope was far reaching, hitting services including Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and even Facebook’s internal systems. In the six hours that they were down, users flocked to other social media sites like Twitter, and Facebook’s employees had to resort to Apple FaceTime and Discord to stay connected. The cause was later revealed to be a faulty configuration change that took down the backbone routers. Further, Facebook assured its users that this was not the result of a cyber attack. In a comical twist, Facebook’s domain, Facebook.com, even briefly appeared for sale, gaining a humorous reply from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. [The Verge]
A San Francisco federal court has ordered Tesla to pay a former worker $137 million. The worker, Owen Diaz, said he faced racist abuse while working for the company as an elevator operator. According to a CNBC report, Diaz said he faced a hostile work environment, in which his colleagues degrade his Black workers with epithets and graffiti. The report also explained that this case was only able to happen because Diaz did not sign Tesla’s mandatory arbitration agreement, under which the company requires its employees to resolve disputes without a public trial.
Finally, today is a big day for Windows as Windows 11 has officially launched. The new operating system brings a refreshed interface, a few fancy new functions, and a revamped Windows Store. Although it brings lots to the table, it has received mixed public reception, with some calling it nothing more than a glamorous makeover of Windows 10. There’s no hurry to upgrade immediately though, as Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10 until at least October 2025. [Mobilesyrup]
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Friday at 3 pm. If you have a suggestion or tip, please drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Jori Negin-Shecter.