Dear Google Bro: A Woman in Tech Responds to the Anti-Diversity Memo That’s Gone Viral - TIME

Dear Google Bro: A Woman in Tech Responds to the Anti-Diversity Memo That’s Gone Viral

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 08:06 AM PDT

Over the weekend, a memo written by an anonymous Google employee — asserting that women fall behind at Google for biological reasons — went viral. A female tech industry veteran responds.

Dear Google Guy Who Is Getting Scorched for Writing Things about Gender Diversity that People Like Me Kind of Hate,

I say sometimes that I really miss having a smart opposition party. Liberals need thoughtful conservatives; the dipshits currently running conservativism have everybody flailing. So along you come, and you seem pretty thoughtful, so it doesn’t seem right for me to heap a bunch of my righteousness on to your Dudebro absurdity.

No, no, no. That’s not fair. What you say is not absurd. You see, it’s easy to get kind of a hair trigger when my first-ever ship gift was, no lie, a teddy bear. It’s not your fault I got a stuffed animal with a bow on it as thanks for 15 months of 70-hour weeks. That is my history; it is not yours. You are trying, and it seems right to engage with you.

Because YES, young man, (I’m guessing you’re a youngish, right-wing, men’s-rights type. That’s fine — takes all kinds and men should indeed have rights) — anyway, YES, whippersnapper, you’re right that a gender gap does not always imply sexism. There are many reasons, well researched, for that gap. I myself am gapped, and am 100% certain that some not all of that is due to choices I made knowingly. (I have agency! I am glad! I would make those same choices again, and need no protection from myself!)

But I am choosing to take you at your word when you say you agree that sexism exists. (Some people think you are questioning that, but your sentences smell sincere to me.)

While I don’t think you and I would much enjoy hanging out, and while I think you have some learning to do, what you have written is not baseless. And I have things to learn, too. I appreciate that you spoke as respectfully as you could. I think it’s truly shitty that you, honest questioner with whom I disagree on some stuff, can’t write your honest questions and thoughts about diversity without getting yelled at.

It is not cool, some of the things people are saying. Shouting that they’ll quit if you aren’t fired seems pretty silly to me. Disagreement should not be a fireable offense.

The fact that so many are calling for your head makes me pretty sad. The orthodoxies of diversity that I see all around me are almost always stated in absolute terms, to the extent that sincere curiosity and questions can get a person a really horrible label (sexist, racist, jerk). I also believe that, in the end, the way feminist orthodoxies get expressed (and I am a pretty orthodox feminist, don’t get me wrong) runs deeply counter to the effort of inclusion. People feel silenced, and so they close off. Instead of bringing questioners along, we shame and alienate them. Surely we on the left can see that this is not a productive approach.

I am a Woman in Tech, and conversations like the one you tried to have are exactly the conversations I want. The ones in which we don’t spout orthodoxy, but instead create an atmosphere where people like you (because tech is chock full of you) and people like me (because you need to hear why I am often uncomfortable) can ask our questions safely.

And when our opinions differ we can tell each other, calmly, why.

And we can talk.

I’m interested enough in this conversation that I invite anyone, man or woman, particularly in tech, to reach out to me if you’d like to have a no-questions-barred, insistently respectful, conversation on the topic of diversity in tech.

Thanks for sharing, Li’l Dudebro. I’m curious whether you’re as open as you say you are. (I’m curious whether I am, too.)

Margot Page has been working in the tech industry for more than 20 years. She is working on a book about her experience.

The Next Apple Watch Will Have a Feature Runners Will Love - TIME Business

The Next Apple Watch Will Have a Feature Runners Will Love

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 01:53 PM PDT

Apple Inc. is planning to release a version of its smartwatch later this year that can connect directly to cellular networks, a move designed to reduce the device’s reliance on the iPhone, people familiar with the matter said.
Currently, Apple requires its smartwatch to be connected wirelessly to an iPhone to stream music, download directions in maps, and send messages while on the go. Equipped with LTE chips, at least some new Apple Watch models, planned for release by the end of the year, will be able to conduct many tasks without an iPhone in range, the people said. For example, a user would be able to download new songs and use apps and leave their smartphone at home.

Intel Corp. will supply the LTE modems for the new Watch, according to another person familiar with the situation. That’s a big win for the chipmaker, which has been trying for years to get its components into more Apple mobile devices. Qualcomm Inc. has been the main modem supplier for iPhones and other Apple mobile gadgets, but the two companies are embroiled in a bitter legal dispute. Apple added Intel as a modem supplier for some iPhones last year.
Apple is already in talks with carriers in the U.S. and Europe about offering the cellular version, the people added. The carriers supporting the LTE Apple Watch, at least at launch, may be a limited subset of those that carry the iPhone, one of the people said. However, AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. in the U.S. plan to sell the device, according to other people familiar with the matter. The new device could still be delayed beyond 2017 — indeed, the company had already postponed a cellular-capable smartwatch last year. Apple declined to comment.
While the Apple Watch remains a small part of Apple’s overall revenue, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said earlier this week it’s the best-selling smartwatch “by a very wide margin.” Sales of the device grew more than 50 percent in the third quarter, Cook added. In the larger wearables category, which includes cheaper fitness bands, Apple ranks third behind Xiaomi Corp. and Fitbit Inc., according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Apple does not break out sales numbers for the Watch like it does for iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Making the Apple Watch more of a standalone device may boost sales of the product. “It would be a game changer,” said Gene Munster, co-founder of Loup Ventures and a long-time Apple analyst. “If they could deliver an experience that isn’t tethered to an iPhone, it could kick start a new direction for the business.” Still, he’s concerned about battery life in such a device.
Last year, Apple took a step toward making the Apple Watch a more independent device by selling some new models with a GPS chip. This allows the device to accurately track distance traveled by wearers when they leave their iPhones behind on walks or runs. The company had planned to release an LTE-capable model last year, but chose to hold off due to battery life issues, Bloomberg News reported at the time. Cramming an LTE radio into a device as small as a watch remains a challenge, but Apple has been exploring ways to improve battery life, people familiar with the company’s work said.
In addition to adding a cellular chip to the Apple Watch, the Cupertino, California-based company is planning software changes for the device. WatchOS 4 is coming in the fall with more Siri voice-enabled features, the ability to connect to gym equipment, send payments in iMessage and display news stories, Apple said in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 2 alongside the iPhone 7 line in September. The company plans to debut three new iPhone models this fall, including one with a revamped design and a 3-D facial recognition scanner for unlocking the device, Bloomberg News has reported. Apple could choose to debut its new Watch models alongside the new iPhone like it did last year. Apple also plans to release its Siri-driven HomePod speaker and the iMac Pro desktop computer in December, the company said in June.

Spain won't 'jeopardise' Brexit deal to regain Gibraltar sovereignty - Guardian

Spain won't 'jeopardise' Brexit deal to regain Gibraltar sovereignty

Spanish foreign minister seeks to allay UK fears that Gibraltar could be used as pawn by European Union in Brexit negotiations

Gibraltar is home to 30,000 people who overwhelmingly say they identify as British.

Hannah Summers

Wednesday 9 August 2017 08.55 AEST

Spain will not seek to block a Brexit agreement by attempting to regain sovereignty over Gibraltar, the country’s foreign minister has confirmed.

Alfonso Dastis allayed fears Gibraltar could be used as a pawn in Brexit discussions, saying Spain would not “jeopardise” a future deal by demanding a change in status to the British overseas territory.

His comments follow rising tensions after Brussels negotiation guidelines indicated that Spain would be given a veto on whether the Brexit deal could be applied to the rocky outcrop ceded to Britain in 1713.

Theresa May reacted in April to the suggestions by insisting Gibraltar’s status was not up for discussion during a withdrawal deal.

Now Spain’s foreign minister has said that while he placed “great importance” on the issue, “which takes the form of a Spanish demand for the completion of our territorial integrity”, he would not block a Brexit deal in order to secure it.

Dastis told the Spanish newspaper ABC: “We will try to convince the Gibraltarians that [joint sovereignty] is a route worth exploring and that it would benefit them, too.”

However, he added: “But what I don’t want to do is jeopardise an EU-UK agreement by subjecting it to a need to alter Gibraltar’s status at the same time.

“I won’t make an agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom conditional on recovering sovereignty over Gibraltar.”

Gibraltar is home to 30,000 people who overwhelmingly say they identify as British. It automatically joined the European Union in 1973 at the same time as Britain, though it did not become part of the customs union.

The territory’s initial inclusion in draft negotiation guidelines issued by the European council president, Donald Tusk, earlier this year caused fury on the Rock, which accused the EU of bullying.

May’s response at the time was to say the government was “steadfastly committed” to the people of Gibraltar, 96% of whom voted to remain in the EU.

The former Conservative leader Michael Howard suggested May would be prepared to go to war to protect the Rock as Thatcher did over the Falklands in 1982.

Spain’s King Felipe sparked anger during a state visit to the UK last month by stating in a speech to parliament that the “two governments” of his country and Britain would find a solution on Gibraltar’s future that would be “acceptable to all involved”.

A joint sovereignty proposal would give Gibraltarians dual Spanish and British nationality. However, 99% of the territory’s residents previously rejected the idea when it was put to them.

Welcoming the latest comments from Spain, the Tory backbencher Bob Neill, a member of the all party parliamentary group on Gibraltar, told the Sun: “If this is a genuine shift in the Spanish position, we welcome it.

“We want the UK to have a good relationship with Spain after we leave the EU. And the people of Gibraltar want a good relationship with Spain, too.”