tech

Tech jobs soar as overall US job market dips

Anthony D. Swenson 2 months ago

US employers added an estimated 391,000 IT jobs last month, following both gains and losses in the sector in recent months, IT trade group CompTIA Inc. reported Friday.

The unemployment rate for technology jobs held roughly steady at 3%—the same level as a year ago—compared with a 6.7% overall unemployment rate.

Companies in all sectors cut 140,000 jobs in December, ending seven months of job growth in the wake of a sharp contraction in March and April, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Within the technology sector, employers last month added 22,200 jobs, after cutting 8,600 in November, including technology workers, as well as sales, marketing and other non-tech staff, CompTIA said.

Technology teams, both inside and outside the tech sector, have become an essential resource during the pandemic, as businesses rely on remote work and business-continuity tools to keep running amid lockdowns and travel restrictions.

In a global survey of

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Gov. DeSantis announces legislation to crack down on big tech, online censorship

Anthony D. Swenson 2 months ago

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced support of legislation to protect Floridians’ from online social media censorship.

The governor made lengthy comments from Tallahassee Tuesday morning about big technology companies, saying that Floridians deserve to have their online data and their ability to participate in social media online protected.

“It’s high time that we step up to the plate to ensure the protection of the people and their rights,” DeSantis said, while standing alongside legislative leaders at the Florida Capitol.

He called big technology companies “enforcers of preferred narratives” whose interests are “not in the public interest.”

“As these companies have grown and their influence expanded, big tech has come to look more like big brother with each passing day,” DeSantis said.

The legislation proposed by Florida’s Republican legislators, aims to target technology giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, and Apple.

The companies have been the subject

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Worker deaths put Big Tech in China under scrutiny

Anthony D. Swenson 2 months ago

By Vivian Wang, The New York Times

It was 1:30 a.m. just days before the new year, and the 22-year-old employee of Pinduoduo, a Chinese e-commerce company, was leaving after a long day of work. Suddenly, she clutched her stomach and collapsed. Her co-workers rushed her to a hospital, but six hours later, she died.

Less than two weeks later, a young Pinduoduo worker leaped to his death during a brief visit to his parents. The next day, a third employee said he had been fired after criticizing Pinduoduo’s work culture.

The day after that, a delivery driver for another technology company set himself on fire, demanding unpaid wages.

“I want my blood and sweat money,” he said in a video shared widely on Chinese social media in recent weeks.

The string of deaths and protests has reopened a national debate around the power of China’s biggest technology companies

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Why Hollywood needs computer games tech more than ever

Margaret R. Servin 9 months ago

Kim Libreri, an award-winning visual effects artist based in Northern California, has worked on movies including Artificial Intelligence and War of the Planet of the Apes.

For nine years he has been working with a piece of technology better known for computer games, in particular the smash-hit Fortnite.

The Unreal Engine, owned by Epic Games, provides the building blocks and tools that a computer game developer needs, but is increasingly an attractive technology for TV and film producers.

The latest version of technology, Unreal Engine 5, is coming out next year, and Epic has been heavily trailing its features. Check out the list of the most popular engines to save your time and make the game developing easier.

It should allow visual effects artists like Mr Libreri to slot graphics and images straight into a scene, with little fuss.

“With traditional filmmaking, a director and cinematographer might shoot a scene

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