Geek News

James Damore may claim Google was wrong to fire him over his memo criticizing the company's diversity culture , but a federal government overseer begs to differ. The National Labor Relations Board has published a January memo recommending a dismissal of Damore's then-active complaint. Board attorney Jayme Sophir found that Damore was protected under federal law when he criticized Google, but that he wasn't protected when he suggested that women were biologically inferior at programming. His remarks were likely to create "serious dissension and disruption" in the workplace, Sophir said, and that actuallly happened -- women pulled their candidacy for engineering positions after hearing of Damore's memo. Companies should have the freedom to stop the "kinds of employee conduct that could lead to a 'hostile workplace,'" Sophir said. The lawyer also rejected Damore's attempts to mask his views with pseudo-scientific claims and "not al...

Fitbit is very familiar with the health care world , and its latest acquisition drives that point home. The company has bought Twine Health, whose centerpiece is a health coaching platform that helps you manage chronic conditions (such as diabetes and hypertension) and complete "lifestyle interventions" like weight loss or quitting smoking. The move will help Fitbit offer its wares to health plans and self-insured companies -- and, to no one's surprise, gives it a chance to make more money from subscriptions . The deal should wrap before the end of March. While Fitbit isn't more specific about what it would like to do, it's not hard to see where the company is going. Its Ionic smartwatch can already talk to glucose monitors , and heart rate tracking has been a staple of its activity trackers for years. Health care and insurance providers could offer Fitbit devices to help you meet your goals without as many doctor's appointments or sky-high insurance pr...