Technologies

Some Apple shareholders want a civil rights audit

The tech giant has faced accusations of allowing a hostile work environment to grow under its majority white and male leadership.

Apple shareholders will likely vote next year year on a proposal tied to online criticism the company has faced from some of its employees, calling for a civil rights audit after victims detailed stories of harassment and abuse at the company. It also comes after the US National Labor Relations Board began investigations into complaints filed by two former employees.

The proposal, earlier reported by MarketWatch, seeks to draw attention to Apple’s employee base, which is 47% white and 66% male, according to the company’s public data. The shareholders told MarketWatch that despite Apple’s public commitments to support racial justice, its progress diversifying its own ranks has been slow.

«It is unclear how Apple plans to address racial inequality in its workforce,» the proposal, shared with MarketWatch, says. «Apple currently has no Hispanics and only one Black member on its executive team.»

SOC Investment Group, which reported owning 22 million shares of Apple stock earlier this year, worked on the proposal with Trillium Asset Management, which earlier reported owning more than 1 million shares of Apple. The Service Employees International Union was also reportedly involved. The proposal is expected to be voted on during Apple’s 2022 shareholder meeting; last year’s meeting occurred in February.

Apple declined to comment. Representatives from SOC, Trillium and the SEIU didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move is the latest in a series of public efforts to draw attention to Apple’s corporate culture at a time of intense scrutiny. Employees have publicly accused the tech giant of allowing a hostile work environment to develop in parts of the company. Apple’s ultra-secretive work culture, they say, is unintentionally adding to this problem by discouraging people from speaking up about these issues.

Apple isn’t the only company facing these types of questions. Current and former employees at Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Pinterest have also raised concerns, speaking out on a range of issues, including workplace harassment.

What’s notable about Apple is how unusual it is for its workers to publicly criticize the company. Earlier this year, a group of employees published an open letter to CEO Tim Cook and the company’s senior leadership, asking the tech giant to improve how it treats its 160,000 employees and «fulfill its promise of inclusion, diversity and equity.»

In the letter, the group asked for increased privacy over personal information; transparent and fair compensation; an audit of all relationships with other companies; increased accountability across leadership and human resource teams; and a process for sharing group concerns. The letter also asks for a reinvestigation of all reports of «racism, discrimination, abuse, harassment, concerted activity suppression and retaliation» at Apple.

Technologies

This Transformable Electric Truck Could Become the Cheapest EV in the US

Merging retro touches with a high-tech electric platform, the Slate Truck offers a customizable, budget-friendly alternative to traditional EVs.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #686

Hints and answers for Connections for April 27, #686.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle might make you hungry — especially if you spot the four words in the blue category. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Do the math.

Green group hint: Tresses.

Blue group hint: Munchies.

Purple group hint: Think Stockholm.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Calculator buttons.

Green group: Amounts of hair.

Blue group: Salty snack unit.

Purple group: Swedish ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is calculator buttons. The four answers are equals, minus, percent and times.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is amounts of hair. The four answers are lock, shock, thatch and tuft.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is salty snack unit. The four answers are Combo, Goldfish, Ruffle and Taki.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Swedish ____. The four answers are Chef, Fish, massage and meatball.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 27, #420

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 420 for April 27.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Sleep used to be so simple, but now it can be complex, as we try to add in extra things to help us get that good night’s rest. Today’s NYT Strands puzzle highlights sleep assistance, and a few of the words are tricky. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Sleep tight

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Zzzzz…

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BEDS, MINE, TAKE, TAKES, TAKER, STAKE, LATS, EARL, PLUG, PLUGS, ROUT, MIKE, DATE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: