The right to repair movement gains momentum in the U.S. and beyond, LinkedIn has a long-list of companies that are hiring right now and they include several tech companies, and a story about maintaining your digital history catches fire.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Monday October 26, and I’m your host Alex Coop.
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Fix, or Toss? The ‘Right to Repair’ Movement Gains Ground | Both Republicans and Democrats are pursuing laws to make it easier for people to fix cellphones, cars, even hospital ventilators. In Europe, the movement is further along. from technology
It’s a lot harder nowadays to fix things yourself. Cars, smartphones, even tractors are becoming increasingly connected to the internet or some kind of network, often loaded with hardware and software that’s impossible to maintain or replace. Plenty of recent reporting is shedding light on how both Republicans and Democrats are pursuing laws to make it easier for people to fix their products. Across the pond in Europe, the movement is further along. The European Commission announced plans in March for new right-to-repair rules that would cover phones, tablets, and laptops – not tractors – by 2021. Closer to home, Massachusetts voters are considering a measure that would make it easier for local garages to work on cars. A quick refresher about right-to-repair rules: Members of the movement say the goal is to require companies to make their parts, tools and information available to consumers and repair shops so they can keep devices from ending up in the landfill or scrap heap.
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Many industries — from shipping to online learning — are hiring to meet coronavirus-related demand. A post on LinkedIn has compiled dozens of openings across Canada. Several tech companies are on the list. A few highlights: Enterprise software firm OpenText is hiring for 500 positions nationally, while security company G4S is hiring over 200 people across Canada. Hootsuite and gaming publisher Ubisoft is seeking new hires for multiple departments. [LinkedIn thread]
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And lastly, a crash course on how to clean up your digital history across social media, email and other applications is catching some attention on Reddit. Wired includes some helpful ways to dig through your Gmail, for example, to access and delete messages from years past, and also introduces us to some helpful auto-deleter tools for Twitter, like TweetDelete and Tweet Deleter.
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. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening.