Amazon is raising wages for frontline workers, Google shuts down stadia, and Instagram bans Pornhub’s account.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Friday, September 30, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
Amazon has announced that it will be raising wages for workers in the U.S. The eCommerce giant said the change would raise the average wage to more than $19 per hour for warehouse and transportation workers. Employees outside of the U.S. will retain the old baseline pay, which is around $15 an hour. The raise would cost the company almost $1 billion per year. That’s just a drop in the bucket compared to what it earns though. In 2021 alone, Amazon posted $469 billion in revenue.
Source: Yahoo Finance
Looks like the game streaming bet didn’t pay off for Google as the company announced the shutdown of Stadia. As a part of the shutdown, Google will be refunding all Stadia purchases, including hardware, software and DLCs. The full shutdown will occur on January 18, 2023. In a blog post, Stadia’s general manager Phil Harrison said the service never gained the traction the company had envisioned. The Verge reports that Stadia employees will take new roles in other parts of the company, and the existing technology will be migrated to other projects.
Source: The Verge
Instagram has permanently banned Pornhub’s account after repeated violations of community guidelines. In response, Pornhub posted an open letter to Meta, describing Instagram’s actions as opaque, discriminatory and hypocritical. Before the permanent ban, the account was already suspended three weeks ago. Instagram said that all accounts, regardless of their celebrity status, are held to the same moderation standards. Additionally, an Instagram spokesperson said it would never disable an account simply because it’s owned by an adult creator.
Source: Tech Crunch
Hollywood star Bruce Willis has apparently allowed an AI company to create a “digital twin” of himself to be used in movies. The actor has allegedly signed the rights to the U.S. firm Deepcake, which will superimpose his face onto other performers. There are several advantages to building a digital twin, especially for movie stars. They can continue to be used if the actor passes away, or to maintain their looks at a certain age. In the case of Bruce Willis, he had to step away from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that affects language or speech. Willis has appeared in over 70 films in his career and is known for his role in Die Hard.
Source: Telegraph
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 briefings 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 Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Tom Li.