How to give equal pay laws power

On Wednesday, we marked another Equal Pay Day, the point in the year when women have finally made what men made in 2020. And that's just the average across all women — Black women will make what white men made in 2020 on Aug. 3, Indigenous women on Sept. 8, and Latina women on Oct. 21.

In order to eradicate such incredible pay disparities, progressive legislation has to step in to keep employers accountable, enforce reporting, and provide safety mechanisms for both employees and employers. Currently, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 protects against sex-based wage discrimination, and 44 states have enacted their own laws to supplement the federal law. In 2019, Congress proposed the Paycheck Fairness Act to supplement the Equal Pay Act. It was reintroduced this January under President Joe Biden. 

But according to advocates, the effectiveness of these laws lies in enforcement (which is currently missing) as well as clear, standardized requirements for gathering data on pay inequities.

Syndio, an equity tech platform that helps companies analyze their own pay equity status, released its first State of Pay Equity Laws report this month, documenting where state legislation ranks on effective, enforceable Equal Pay law. The report also shared ten essential criteria to make sure Equal Pay laws empower both employees and employers.

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Nintendo Teams With Pokémon Go Studio Niantic on AR Apps

Nintendo Co. has struck a long-term deal to develop augmented reality smartphone apps with Niantic Inc., the Google spinoff whose smash hit Pokémon Go introduced AR to a mainstream gaming audience.

The pair announced a long-term agreement in Tokyo Tuesday to turn Nintendo content into AR apps, which work by superimposing digital images onto the physical world. They will start by releasing a Pikmin app in 2021, based on the puzzle-solving series created by Nintendo’s creative fellow Shigeru Miyamoto in 2001.

San Francisco-based Niantic becomes Nintendo’s fourth smartphone app development partner, potentially giving the Kyoto-based company’s mobile efforts a much-needed push. Since 2016, Nintendo has developed fewer than 10 smartphone games with outside partners DeNA Co., Cygames Inc. and Line Corp. Nintendo’s shares rose more than 2% in early trading in Tokyo.

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Keanu Reeves Comic 'BRZRKR' to Become Movie, Anime Series for Netflix

Keanu Reeves’ comic, BRZRKR, is getting the full Netflix treatment.

The streamer has picked up the screen rights to the Boom! Studios-published comic, whose first issue hit shelves only two weeks ago, and is developing it as a feature adaptation as well as an anime spinoff.

Reeves will star in both projects as well as produce. Also producing are Ross Richie and Stephen Christy for Boom! Studios along with Stephen Hamel of Company Films.

Per Netflix and Boom!, BRZRKR is a "brutally epic saga about an immortal warrior’s 80,000 year fight through the ages. The man known only as 'B' is half-mortal and half-god, cursed and compelled to violence, even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the earth for centuries, B may have finally found a refuge — working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B will be granted the one thing he desires — the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence … and how to end it."

The feature will adapt the comic, which is intended to run for 12 issues, while the anime will explore different elements of the BRZRKR universe.

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Digbi Health Secures $5.4M in Series A Funding

Digbi Health, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of a gut microbiome & genetic risk based precision care program, completed a $5.4m Series A funding. 

The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $8.5m, was led by Accel, with participation from Wisdom LLP and seed backers Ocean Azul Partners and Seraph Venture.  

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its business reach forging additional payer, employer and Third-party administrator (TPA) partnerships, along with its product offering, engineering, gut microbiome and data science teams in the US and India. In addition, Digbi Health will add to its existing clinical research partners – West Virginia University Medicine, UC Irvine Medical School, while investing in an FDA approval pathway for Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) targeting functional bowel disorder.

Founded in 2018 by CEO Ranjan Sinha, Digbi Health provides a clinically proven genetics and gut-microbiome based digital care program for managing obesity and associated inflammatory digestive, skin and cardiometabolic illnesses

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More U.S. Law Enforcement Organizations Choose WhiteFox for Drone Detection and Tracking

The use of drones in criminal activities is on the rise, and law enforcement organizations are using new equipment and tactics for prevention and prosecution. 

WhiteFox Defense Technologies, Inc. has delivered the DroneFoxTM Counter UAS (CUAS) system to a major US city’s police department. DroneFox is an omnidirectional drone detection, identification, and mitigation system. The system has demonstrated the ability to detect and track drones at ranges over 15 km during customer testing. The system enables the user to assess the threat level, including the drone and pilot’s location and movement in real-time – a massive advantage in a world quickly experiencing a rise in drone threats.  

Drones continue to be used in criminal activities, including monitoring police movements during protests, capturing harassing photos of private citizens, and interfering with law enforcement helicopters, such as a near-collision with an LAPD helicopter. Waco, TX, recently saw a string of robberies that began with burglars using drones to spy on vacant homes before stealing over $200,000 in cash and valuables. As consumer drones become more accessible, the need for counter-drone technology becomes imperative. DroneFox  locates and tracks reckless and malicious drones. Authorized users can also employ DroneFox to mitigate drone threats, safely landing them. This rich dataset and analysis capability enables law enforcement to better respond to drone incidents.  

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