Journal

Amnesty International says children as young as 7 are used to mine cobalt, a key component in lithium-ion batteries.

Amnesty International has issued a damning report claiming that Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Sony and car makers Daimler and Volkswagen are not doing enough to ensure that minerals mined by child laborers are not making it into the batteries the companies use to power their products. The report traced the sale of cobalt, one of the main components used to make lithium-ion batteries, from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo where children as young as 7 are used to mine the material.

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Chinese New Year set to be banner day for the ride-sharing giant

Uber China, the ride-sharing company’s unit in the Asian powerhouse, is set to experience massive expansion this year, reports TechCrunch. Currently Uber is available in 22 cities in the most populous country on the planet, but that number is set to rapidly grow to more than 100 cities by the end of 2016.

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Travel through the space-time continuum in style.

Hollywood often envisions astronauts of the future in bulky, bulbous get-ups—more deep-sea diver than trendsetter—but the new design by Adidas Y-3 for Virgin Galactic looks instead to the sleek, fitted jumpsuits of race car drivers for inspiration. Eventually all astronauts, pilots, operations and maintenance teams, and hosting staff of Richard Branson’s consumer spaceline will don the custom pieces.

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People say they love hard workers but they really love natural talent—a bias with troubling implications when it comes to hiring.

In his 2016 State of the Union address, President Obama spoke of the “uniquely American belief that everybody who works hard should get a fair shot.” It’s a hopeful value we all say we share: rooting for the striver who ascends the corporate and social ladder through years of grit and effort. But it’s also one that past evidence suggests we’re willing to betray—demonstrated by all the companies and colleges that select applicants with natural talent or untapped potential over those who’ve advanced by hard work alone.

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Today, Starbucks launches in-store integration with Spotify in 7,500 U.S. stores. The CD era really is dying, isn’t it?

The next time you walk into a Starbucks, listen carefully. The music you hear may not depart too radically from the usual Starbucks vibe, but it will be noteworthy nonetheless. That sound you hear? It’s the death knell of the compact disc, making way for the on-demand, streaming-centric future of music.

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In one of the first cases of its kind, a casino operator is suing a cybersecurity firm for allegedly failing to contain a data breach.

Nevada casino operator Affinity Gaming is suing cybersecurity firm Trustwave, alleging that Trustwave failed to contain or detect the extent of a 2013 cyberattack. The breach led to customer credit card numbers being stolen.

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In addition to launching a personal fitness platform, Costolo will be taking his talents to venture capital firm Index Ventures.

Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo took to Twitter (where else?) on Tuesday to announce his latest undertaking: a platform for personal fitness that will “make the road to personal transformation fun and social.” Sharing screenshots of his Notes app, Costolo explained that the new company would “go beyond measurement to motivate,” supplementing the work of wellness professionals like cofounder Bryan Oki.

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I think it’s too late for Palin, hold up.

Matchbook is calling for authors to submit 70-character stories to subvert those hyper-personalized ads in your search sidebar.

Imagine that you search for “short story” in Google. More likely than not, any ads that pop up next to your search will (hopefully) be related to short stories, or fall within the realm of literature in general.

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Cape Productions has the exclusive buy-in from ski resorts to offer customers drone footage, and it’s because of its commitment to safety.

Talk about being on stage. I’m lying in at least a foot of fresh powder from the snowstorm overnight, frantically trying to re-attach the ski that went flying when I face-planted. There’s almost no one around, but my every move is being watched, and filmed in HD, by a drone hovering just overhead.

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