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Waymo posted on X today that it has opened fully autonomous rides on LA freeways to its employees. The company noted that this is a preliminary step toward bringing its vehicle fleet onto highways for all passengers in the city.

After getting approval to begin local robotaxi operation in March 2024, Waymo offered autonomous rides in LA at a small scale, with a waitlist for interested customers. In November, the waitlist ended so any Angelenos could call for a ride. But for a sprawling city like LA, having access to a highway is all but essential for getting around, so adding freeways to the cars’ capability would mark a big improvement in how useful Waymo robotaxis will be there.

Waymo, which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet, has set its sights on its first international expansion. The business said it anticipates starting vehicle tests and mapping in Japan early this year. On the home front, Waymo is also slated to launch in Austin and Atlanta in early 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymos-autonomous-robotaxis-are-starting-to-merge-onto-la-freeways-191035547.html?src=rss 

A majority of workers at a Whole Foods location in Philadelphia have voted to unionize, as reported by Reuters. This makes the Pennsylvania store the first to unionize under Amazon’s ownership, and the second time overall.

Workers voted 130 to 100 for representation, according to the National Labor Relations Board, which translates to nearly 60 percent of workers choosing to unionize. Workers at this particular location filed to hold a union election back in November. A successful vote is just the beginning of this process, however, as a contract has yet to be ratified and accepted by both parties.

“We are ready to bring Whole Foods to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair first contract that reflects the workers’ needs and priorities,” Wendell Young IV, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, said in an email.

Coming as no surprise, Whole Foods expressed disappointment over the outcome of the vote. A company representative told Reuters that it already offers “competitive compensation, great benefits and career advancement opportunities.” Ahead of the vote, workers cited the need for better wages and benefits.

As previously noted, this is the first successful unionization bid for Whole Foods workers since Amazon bought the company in 2017 for nearly $14 billion. It’s not, however, the first time a Whole Foods location has voted to unionize. Workers in a Wisconsin location voted to unionize back in 2002, but the union was dissolved the following year.

In the interest of full disclosure, I worked at a Whole Foods location in 2005 and, one day, someone snuck in the store to hand out pro-unionization pamphlets. Management sent an armed guard around to collect the pamphlets from us. It was weird. 

It’s no secret that Amazon isn’t exactly a friend to unions. Workers in Quebec unionized last year but, surprise, the company now says it’s closing the entire facility. Amazon is worth over $2.5 trillion dollars and has doubled in value throughout the past year or so.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/whole-foods-workers-form-first-union-since-amazon-acquisition-180026628.html?src=rss 

It seems that X is getting ready to finally roll out the payments app the company’s leaders have long been promising The company will introduce X Money later this year with Visa as partner, CEO Linda Yaccarino announced.

According to Yaccarino, X Money will support person-to-person payments via users’ debit cards with the ability to transfer funds to a bank account, much like Venmo. The service will also allow you to deposit money into an “X Wallet.”

Bothe Yaccarino and X owner Elon Musk have long promised to bring financial services to X as they attempt to turn the platform into an “everything app.” In a memo last year, Yaccarino said the company planned to support banking and payments features for users. Musk has also said he wants people to be able to run their “entire financial world” via X.

So far, X Money sounds like it’s a long way off from that vision, though Yaccarino said the Visa partnership is the “first of many big announcements about X Money this year.” X hasn’t disclosed specifics about how X Money will work for users or how it might make money off the service. X’s business is reportedly struggling. Musk recently told employees that “our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we’re barely breaking even,” in a memo reported by The Wall Street Journal.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/xs-payments-app-will-be-available-later-this-year-181046773.html?src=rss 

Heads up, Animal Crossing fans: if you haven’t yet bought the paid version of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and plan to do so, it might be a good idea to snap it up in the next day or so. The mobile game is currently $10, but the price will double to $20 after 1AM ET on January 31. That’s when the introductory offer comes to an end.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete arrived in December, a few days after Nintendo shut down the free-to-play edition. Folks who played the original version can still transfer their save data via their Nintendo account and continue from where they left off. The deadline transferring the data is 2AM ET on June 2.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp debuted on iOS and Android in 2017. It employed a freemium model with microtransactions, but Nintendo has since decided to ditch that approach. While you’ll now need to pay for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete upfront, the current iteration of the game doesn’t have any in-app purchases. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/heads-up-animal-crossing-pocket-camp-complete-will-only-be-10-for-a-couple-more-days-183525135.html?src=rss