Real IT Center

* California's Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) went into effect in January, adopting a narrow definition of independent contractor that forces Uber and other gig economy businesses to choose between reclassifying workers as employees or risking significant liability for misclassification. * The law serves as a reminder to California businesses to be careful when classifying workers as contractors.  * Classifying independent contractors falls into two main categories: the "right to control" test (often called the "IRS test") and the tougher "ABC test" recently adopted in AB5. * Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have recently poured $30 million into Proposition 22 — a ballot measure intended to exempt major ridesharing and food delivery companies from AB5. If California residents vote the measure into effect in November, Uber and Lyft can continue classifying drivers as contractors.  * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In September 2019, Californ...

* Luminar, which makes sensors for autonomous vehicles, said Monday it was selling itself in a deal valued at $3.4 billion via a SPAC merger with Gores Metropoulos. Volvo and the tech mogul Peter Thiel are also chipping in. * The deal means that Luminar will become a public company trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAZR. * Luminar makes lidar sensors, which bounce lasers off objects to help self-driving cars sense their surroundings, at much cheaper rates than many of its competitors. * The founder and CEO of Luminar is Austin Russell, a 25-year-old who founded the startup in 2012 while in high school. * Russell attended Stanford to study physics but dropped out at 18 after winning a Thiel Fellowship to build Luminar. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Luminar, a self-driving-car startup founded by CEO Austin Russell at the age of 17 while he was in high school, said Monday it would go public in a $3.4 billion merger with a special purpose acqui...

* Apple has apologized after it tried to force WordPress to add in-app payment options to a free app. * WordPress' founder said on Friday that Apple was refusing to allow any updates to the WordPress iOS app until the website builder added in-app purchases, from which Apple takes a 15-30% commission. * Apple is in a fierce fight with developers including "Fortnite" maker Epic Games and Spotify over its rules on in-app purchases. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Apple has backed down in its latest skirmish with a developer over its App Store rules. The tech giant on Sunday issued a rare apology to WordPress after it pressured the website builder to add payment options to its free iOS app, or else be blocked from updating. "We believe the issue with the WordPress app has been resolved," an Apple spokesman told The Verge. "Since the developer removed the display of their service payment options from the app, it is now a free st...

* Microsoft's largest intern cohort to-date worked remotely as the coronavirus closed down the firm's headquarters in Redmond, Washington.  * Four summer interns described how they adjusted — including buying desks to accommodate Microsoft-deliver computer equipment, to receiving the swag and gifts that their teams sent to their doors. * Interns also described challenges collaborating virtually with teams they've never met, feeling intimidated by coworkers, understanding different work styles of their colleagues, and replacing water-cooler chats with messaging over Teams and email.  * The interns also grappled with their work as George Floyd's murder and Big Tech antitrust hearings to Congress sparked conversations across the country. * As the first intern class to experience a completely virtual internship, the cohort gave advice for future interns who might work from home at the pandemic drags on. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. As with...

* Twitter on Sunday placed a "public interest notice" on a tweet President Donald Trump sent earlier in the day in the latest example of the platform fact-checking his tweets. * Just after 7 a.m. on Saturday, Trump tweeted unsubstantiated claims about ballot drop off boxes, which have been implemented by states to allow residents to drop off mail-in ballots without relying on the postal service. * "We placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our Civic Integrity Policy for making misleading health claims that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting," Twitter said. * After Twitter began to flag some of Trump's tweets in May, he joined other conservatives in calling social-media platforms biased against conservatives, and he signed an executive order to regulate Twitter and similar companies. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Twitter on Sunday placed a "public interest notice" on a twe...

* Google's product inclusion team works on making the company's products better for more users, but it was born from one of Google's 20% projects. * Annie Jean-Baptiste, Google's head of product inclusion, explains how the group came about in a new book. * The group has worked on Google products including Pixel smartphones and virtual reality headsets. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Earlier this year, Google announced it had more than 2,000 employees across the company working on inclusion and diversity in its products. This group of "inclusion champions" was set up to think inclusively about things like gender, age, ethnicity, and disabilities as products are designed. But the group's origin story was born from one of Google's once-ubiquitous "20% projects," where employees dedicate 20% of their time to building something outside of their usual focus. Annie Jean-Baptiste, Google's head of product incl...