Image: Cristina Balan A Tesla whistleblower who has battled Elon Musk and his company through the courts for a decade tells BBC News she is still seeking a public apology. No other interview about a tech giant has made me cry. But towards the end of our Zoom call, when former Tesla engineer Cristina Balan dramatically removes her wig and tearfully tells me she has just finished breast-cancer treatment – and is now fighting, as a single mother, for both her life and her reputation,  it’s impossible not to feel her emotion….Ms Balan has been waiting a long time. Until 2014, she was a rising ..read more

A new study from Currys reveals that 39% of women believe their hobby makes them better workers, with almost three in five (58%) saying that they incorporate gaming skills into their working day. These same skills were listed in the top 10 most in-demand skills for employers in the latest LinkedIn job listing analysis.   LinkedIn’s 2024 analysis of job listings, recruiter messages, and the skills possessed by recent hires found that soft skills reign supreme for UK employers in 2024, comprising most of the top 10 in-demand skills.  Skills that topped the list were communic ..read more

Children as young as nine have been added to malicious WhatsApp groups promoting self-harm, sexual violence and racism, a BBC investigation has found. Thousands of parents with children at schools across Tyneside have been sent a warning issued by Northumbria Police. One parent said her 12-year-old daughter had viewed sexual images, racism and swearing that “no child should be seeing”. WhatsApp owner Meta said all users had “options to control who can add them to groups” and the ability to block and report unknown numbers. It comes after the minimum age for WhatsApp users in the UK and Europ ..read more

X has caused confusion by reinstating free blue ticks for some users – a year after it began charging for the service. For years, Twitter blue ticks effectively served as verification badges and were given to celebrities, politicians, journalists, and other influential accounts for free. However, months after Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44bn (£38bn) in October 2022, the platform stripped verification badges from accounts and instead began offering them as part of an $8-a-month premium service. Sky News  Apple has cut more than 600 jobs after reportedly dropping its self-d ..read more

Google, the search engine used by more than a billion people around the world, is reported to be considering charging for premium content generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The company, owned by Alphabet Inc, is said to be revamping its business model and looking at putting some of its core product behind a paywall. It would be the first time Google had charged for any of its content. Google said it did not have anything to announce “right now”. BBC ChatGPT no longer requires creating an account, although there are a few stipulations. On Monday, OpenAI announced users can hop on ..read more

  90% of female neurodivergent employees are experiencing burnout in the tech sector, according to the latest research by social enterprise Code First Girls.  In the UK alone, there are 5 million people who consider themselves to be neurodivergent – but only 120,000 have been formally diagnosed. This is a particular issue for women – where many are misdiagnosed with anxiety or borderline personality disorder (BPD) – as 8 in 10 autistic women remain undiagnosed at age 18. On average, autistic boys will receive a diagnosis by age 7.  In Code First Girls’ community, 27% identify a ..read more

  As the popularity of online marketplaces continues to soar, Facebook Marketplace has emerged as a go-to destination for buying and selling a wide range of goods. However, amidst the plethora of legitimate sellers lie deceptive scammers waiting to prey on unsuspecting buyers. To help you steer clear of potential scams and protect your hard-earned money, Trevor Cooke, the online privacy expert at EarthWeb, shares valuable insights and practical tips for staying safe on Facebook Marketplace. Don’t Send Any Deposits Without Verification Before sending any deposits, it’s essential to confir ..read more

Tesla has reported a sharp fall in worldwide sales amid increased competition and slowing demand for electric vehicles. The carmaker said it delivered 386,810 vehicles during the first quarter of the year – down nearly 9% on the 423,000 it shipped from January to March last year. It marks the first year-on-year quarterly sales decline for the company in nearly four years. Tesla said the fall was “partly” due to disruption to shipping in the Red Sea region and an arson attack at its gigafactory in Berlin. Sky News  Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj are among 200 artists calling for ..read more

Exercising at least twice a week significantly cuts the risk of insomnia, according to a study. It found people who worked out regularly were 42% less likely to have trouble getting to sleep and 22% less likely to report any insomnia symptoms. Those who keep up exercise long term were found to be 55% more likely to be normal sleepers – getting six to eight hours – than people who weren’t active. The study, published in the BMJ Open journal, also found consistent exercisers were about a third (29%) less likely to be short sleepers (under six hours per night). Sky News  Almost 8 million UK ..read more

Claims by fashionable bamboo toilet roll brands about the composition of their products have been called into question by Which?, after it found some only contain tiny amounts of the eco-friendly material. The consumer watchdog carried out fibre-composition testing on five popular brands claiming to be made from “bamboo only” or “100% bamboo”, a fibre often touted as a green alternative to virgin paper. Samples from Bumboo, Naked Sprout and Bazoo contained very low or low levels of bamboo-like grass fibres – just 2.7%, 4% and 26.1% respectively. Instead, the toilet papers were mainly composed ..read more