I often see stories that don’t get the attention they deserve online. Stories of extreme injustice that people don’t share or comment on as frequently as other stories. Talk about a new phone, and the people come running. Talk about sexism in the workplace, and the internet turns a blind eye.
That’s why, this week, I was sure to amplify a few stories that I knew wouldn’t get the attention they deserve. As a woman in tech, someone who has experienced or seen friends go through similar problems, I feel like I have a duty to ensure these stories are heard.
So, this week we had three stories that were close to my heart. The go into sexism at the workplace, sexist bias in search results, and how to fight back.
On top of that, we had some incredibly interesting news from a Facebook co-founder. Apple behaved disappointingly when it comes to consumer rights. I reviewed a vertical mouse (get one!) and I wrote a how-to for installing Steam games that are incompatible with your system, specifically so you can download Micro Mages. Definitely give that a look.
So, without further ado, let’s get this rewind started.
In This Article:
Leaf and Core Rewind
This Plugin Removes Sexist Bias from Search Results
Your search results are disgustingly sexist. Go ahead, try searching for computer scientists. Every result you see is based off the work of one woman, Ada Lovelace. Her result will be buried on the page. So will Grace Hopper’s, despite the fact that she invented the compiler. To non-programmers, she’s why programming isn’t complete torture. She made programming languages possible. Nearly every computer scientist on the list owes at least some of their success to her.
There are other issues. Search “school girl” and you’ll only get porn, sexualized, and even racially fetishized results. Search “school boy,” and you’ll get school boys. Search “CEO” and you’ll disproportionately find photos of men, showing fewer female CEOs than there actually are.
It’s sexist bias that runs through our algorithms. Because there are so few women in STEM, there are few people noticing this problem.
Pantene made a plugin that eliminates this bias in search results. It’s far from perfect, but it’s worth taking a look, if only to see what the web would be like if it wasn’t so sexist.
Employees Walk Out at Riot Games After Company Uses Forced Arbitration to Stall Gender Discrimination Lawsuits
The upset Riot Games employees named their group “Rioters Unplugged.” Photo: Nathan Grayson/Kotaku
Riot Games is an incredibly sexist and toxic workplace. Women were harassed, passed over for promotions because they didn’t respond to sexual advances, ignored in meetings, treated like they never had any ideas (while men later claim credit for them), and more. Furthermore, even the men were subject to harassment from Riot’s “bro” atmosphere. The COO of the company would “ball tap” (smack a person’s testicles) and fart on employees. Riot said they’d improve, but the ball tapping farter is still the COO. Still! I think any of us will admit we’d be fired the first time we farted on an employee, let alone being known around the office for assault.
Riot has done little to nothing to improve. Furthermore, they’re blocking discrimination lawsuits from moving forward by enforcing forced arbitration, an un-American and un-Constitutional policy that takes away a person’s right to due process in exchange for a job.
That’s why, last week, Riot employees walked out, a movement they’re calling “Rioters Unplugged.” It’ll likely be the first of many such protests from the group until employees begin to filter out. Riot will inevitably wither, unable to find replacements. They’ll serve as a dark lesson to listen to employees and not mistreat them.
How to Install Micro Mages on the Mac (or Any Windows-Only Steam Game)
I am so excited about this game. Micro Mages is a new game for the NES. The cartridge will be shipping out to Kickstarter backers within the next few weeks, and I’m more than excited for it. However, Windows users can download a version of it now from Steam or Itch.io. Mac users and other users won’t be left out though. The Steam version comes with a ROM that can be played in an NES emulator. However, Steam won’t allow non-Windows devices to download the game. There’s a workaround, and I’ll walk you through it in this article.
Also, there are easier ways to install the game through Itch.io, and I’ll let you know about those as well.
The guide isn’t just useful for Micro Mages though. It’ll show you how to download other non-Mac Steam games, which you can play through Windows emulation or virtualization software.
Vertical Mouse Review (Aukey)
Protect your wrists! If you sit at a computer for a long time every day, you’ve got to be thinking about ergonomics. If your not, you’re going to hurt your wrists permanently. A vertical mouse puts your wrist in a more natural position, and can really save you in the long run. Definitely consider checking one out!
Apple Attacks Right to Repair Laws with Ridiculous Threats. What is Right to Repair, and Why Does Apple Hate It?
Product repairs aren’t impossible, but Apple wants to make it that way.
Right to repair laws say you own your possessions. Therefore, you should be allowed to fix them or get someone else to fix them if they break. You should get that choice. However, companies like Apple and John Deere make significant money off of blocking those third party and at home repairs. Right to repair laws free consumers to choose who will repair their devices, forcing competition into an otherwise monopolistic market. Apple hates it, but everyone else benefits. How have they been able to keep right to repair off the table for so long?
Former PayPal Employee Seeks Trial for Gender Discrimination Claim
The “PayPal Mafia,” men who got rich from PayPal and now control large swaths of tech. Photo: Robyn Twomey/Fortune
PayPal discriminated against Theresa Pasinosky. That’s just a fact. She was the perfect candidate to head up Xoom’s international expansion, having already worked for Xoom and done international market research for them. However, the VP at PayPal, Julian King, has a problem relating to women. He said she had children, and couldn’t do the travel. He then hired a friend of his, someone who used to report to Theresa, to head up the project, despite the fact that he too had children. She complained to HR, and was later fired in what was clear retaliation.
However, because of forced arbitration, her case may never go to court, and she may never get justice.
PayPal’s sexism has spread throughout Silicon Valley. The “PayPal Mafia” saw to that. Here’s why what happened at PayPal was so particularly heinous, and how PayPal has spread its brand of sexism throughout the valley. Also, here’s why there’s hope.
Facebook Co-founder Thinks We Should Break Up Facebook
Left: Mark Zuckerberg. Photo Jessica Chou/NY Times. Right: Chris Hughes. Photo Damon Winter/NY Times.
Chris Hughes co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg. He has since left the company, but regrets the monster he helped create. Now he has a few ideas on how to protect American innovation, democracy, and freedom online. It comes down to breaking up Facebook and regulating speech on the platform.
Here’s everything he laid out and why it makes sense.
Around the Web
Here are a few stories you might have missed from around the web this week and last week. It’s a slightly bigger rewind, but you shouldn’t miss them!
Google Now Lets You Auto-Delete Your App Activity, Location, and Web History: Frederic Lardinois, Tech Crunch
I stopped using my (free) Google Home Mini. Why? In order to be effective, it required me to allow Google to track my every movement. Why? Good question! For some reason, Google wouldn’t allow my Google Home Mini to even turn out my lights without an eternity of my location data. Thanks to having an Android phone with me during the week days, as I’m an Android developer, I effectively was tracked at all times. Unacceptable.
Google’s softening that privacy violating blow slightly, but not by enough. Now you can set your data to auto-delete after 3 months or 18 months.
But you know what Google? Shove it. This isn’t nearly enough. How about you don’t capture my every location—free for any Google employee to spy on—just because I want to turn off the lights with my voice?
iOS Reportedly Getting its Very Own Swipe-to-Type Keyboard: Lucas Matney, TechCrunch
I often keep SwiftKey on my iPhone, only for its swipe text entry. When you’re riding a train, holding a skateboard in one hand, your phone in the other, and trying to lean up against a wall or hold the poll with your phone hand, you suddenly realize just how awful the iPhone keyboard is for one handed use. The best form of one handed text entry we have is swiping. The Gboard and many stock Android boards have it, but it’s been only on third party keyboards on the iPhone for years now. This is frustrating because it can make switching between emoji and text more difficult, as there’s a third keyboard entry in there, so you can’t just toggle.
iOS 13 may finally change that. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg usually has a good source for Apple leaks. He says Apple’s working on a keyboard with swipe text entry. However, he states that Apple could decide to keep this keyboard internal.