Apple's head of diversity is leaving a week after the company pledged $100 million to fight racial injustice

* Apple's head of diversity and inclusion Christie Smith has left the company. * Her departure comes a week after the company pledged $100 million to establish a new fund called the Apple Racial Equity and Justice Initiative. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Apple has lost its chief diversity officer one week after it promised to establish a $100 million fund to fight racial injustice. Bloomberg was the first to report that Apple's head of diversity and inclusion Christie Smith was leaving the company. Smith has worked for Apple since 2017, and the company confirmed her departure in a statement to Bloomberg: "Christie Smith will be leaving Apple to spend more time with her family and we wish her well. Our Inclusion and Diversity team continues to report directly to Deirdre O'Brien on the Executive Team." Deirdre O'Brien is Apple's senior vice president of retail and people. Apple told Bloomberg her departure was planned two months ago, but a source familiar with the matter said her last day was Tuesday. Apple announced last week it was launching the Apple Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, a $100 million fund aimed at fighting racial injustice and promoting diversity both inside the company and out in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd. According to the company's most recent 2018 diversity report 9% of its US employees are Black, up from 7% in 2014. Only 6% of its US tech workers are Black, which is the same level the company was at in 2014. SEE ALSO: Apple is facing rage and insurrection from developers over the commission it charges apps on the App Store Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak
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Apple has backed down in its latest developer fight, apologizing to WordPress after it pressured the website-builder to add in-app payments

* 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...

SpaceX has a 'go' from NASA to return 2 astronauts to Earth on Sunday as Hurricane Isaias threatens several Florida splashdown locations

* NASA on Saturday gave SpaceX a "go" to undock the company's first crewed space mission, called Demo-2, and land it on Sunday evening. * Hurricane Isaias complicated original plans to return two astronauts to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship in the Atlantic Ocean. * Elon Musk's aerospace company may now try to splash down NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley in the Gulf of Mexico. * Two out of seven total landing sites near Florida must have good weather conditions, and NASA has until about 5 p.m. ET on Saturday to call off the undocking. * Should the weather worsen, NASA and SpaceX can try again a day later or some other date over the next two months. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have a "go" to return to Earth this weekend and wrap up an historic space mission for both NASA and SpaceX. Behnken and Hurley launched to orbit aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehic...

What an independent contractor actually is and how it's classified under California's Assembly Bill 5, the gig worker law Uber, Lyft, and others are fighting with a November ballot measure

* 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...

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