News in Technology
#1 China’s “996” Technology Workers Make Working Hours Public
A public website where employees of Chinese technology companies have been posting their working hours has gone viral. More than 4,000 people have posted as of Thursday.
The website’s purpose is to illuminate the public on the workers crisis affecting workers in China’s technology field called “996.” This “culture of overtime” has been criticized in the past, but this new campaign is increasingly impactful. Dubbed “Worker Lives Matter”, workers add their company name, position, and working hours to a spreadsheet posted to GitHub.
“996” has been publicly criticized for being problematic since 2019. In August, China’s top court said that what “996” describes is illegal.
“The list would be an effective reference tool for workers when choosing jobs,” one of the website’s creators said in a post.
Moreover, other posts revealed that a five-day work week with 10 to 12 hour days was common for Chinese companies. However, 996 working hours are still reported on some posts. In a post viewed 6 million times, one of the creators of China’s question-and-answer site Zhihu said, “We hope to make a contribution to the boycott of ‘996’ and the popularization of ‘955’.” (“955” means 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week.)
#2 Best Buy Black Friday Deals Will Begin Early Again This Year
Thursday on NBC’s Today Show, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry confirmed that the store’s Black Friday sale will begin next Tuesday. There will be a “Black Friday price guarantee” if the prices drop as the week progresses.
#3 Apple’s New Series 7 Watches
On Friday, the Series 7 Apple Watch will be available to purchase at $399 for the 41-mm and $429 for the 45-mm though previously placed pre-orders have been shipping since October 8th. The display is 20% bigger and 40% thinner than the last version of the watch. Apple first showcased the new iPhone 13 along with the Series 7 Watch last month.
Most of Europe has a four day work week.