Tech
More Than 800 Google Workers Urge Company to Cancel Any Contracts With ICE and CBP
More Than 800 employees and contractors working for Google signed a petition this week calling on the company to disclose and cancel any contracts it may have with US immigration authorities. In a statement, the workers said they are “vehemently opposed” to Google’s dealings with the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“We consider it our leadership’s ethical and policy-bound responsibility to disclose all contracts and collaboration with CBP and ICE, and to divest from these partnerships,” the petition published on Friday states. Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
US immigration authorities have been under intense public scrutiny this year as the Trump administration ramped up its mass deportation campaign, sparking nationwide protests. In Minneapolis, confrontations between protesters and federal agents culminated in the fatal shooting of two US citizens by immigration officers. Both incidents were captured in widely disseminated videos and became a focal point of the backlash. In the wake of the uproar, the Trump administration and Congress say they are negotiating changes to ICE’s tactics.
Some of the Department of Homeland Security’s most lucrative contracts are for software and tech gear from a variety of different vendors. A small share of workers at some of those suppliers, including Google, Amazon, and Palantir, have raised concerns for years about whether the technology they are developing is being used for surveillance or to carry out violence.
In 2019, nearly 1,500 workers at Google signed a petition demanding that the tech giant suspend its work with Customs and Border Protection until the agency stopped engaging in what they said were human rights abuses. More recently, staff at Google’s AI unit asked executives to explain how they would prevent ICE from raiding their offices. (No answers were immediately provided to the workers.)
Employees at Palantir have also recently raised questions internally about the company’s work with ICE, WIRED reported. And over 1,000 people across the tech industry signed a letter last month urging businesses to dump the agency.
The tech companies have largely either defended their work for the federal government or pushed back on the idea that they are assisting it in concerning ways. Some government contracts run through intermediaries, making it challenging for workers to identify which tools an agency is using and for what purposes.
The new petition inside Google aims to renew pressure on the company to, at the very least, acknowledge recent events and any work it may be doing with immigration authorities. It was organized by No Tech for Apartheid, a group of Google and Amazon workers who oppose what they describe as tech militarism, or the integration of corporate tech platforms, cloud services, and AI into military and surveillance systems.
The petition specifically asks Google’s leadership to publicly call for the US government to make urgent changes to its immigration enforcement tactics and to hold an internal discussion with workers about the principles they consider when deciding to sell technology to state authorities. It also demands Google take additional steps to keep its own workforce safe, noting that immigration agents recently targeted an area near a Meta data center under construction.
Carbon removal startup Terradot is acquiring competitor Eion, the two companies announced today. The sale was driven largely by big investors like sovereign wealth funds, which want to work with companies that can handle large contracts. Eion was simply too small, Eion CEO Anastasia Pavlovic Hans told The Wall Street Journal.
Both companies spread pulverized rocks on farm fields to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Known as enhanced rock weathering (EWR), it speeds up a natural process and has the potential to be a low-cost way to remove carbon, but it requires large and distributed operations. The spread between what EWR companies would like to charge and what buyers would like to pay remains wide, according to a survey by CDR.fyi.
California-based Terradot’s operations are centered on Brazil, where the company works with basalt as its mineral of choice, while Eion works in the U.S. and uses olivine. Terradot’s investor list includes Gigascale Capital, Google, Kleiner Perkins, and Microsoft, while Eion’s investors include AgFunder, Mercator Partners, and Overture.
Wicked: For Good is the second half of Universal Pictures’s epic tale about the witches of Oz and how their relationship has soured since the events of the first movie. The sequel, which debuted at the top of the global box office, is the biggest opening ever for a Broadway musical adaptation.
Get ready to relive the magic as Wicked: For Good is coming to streaming.
The movie picks up with Glinda (Ariana Grande) as the leader of Emerald City. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), now known as The Wicked Witch of the West, has been ostracized and forced into exile. Thanks to the arrival of a mysterious girl from Kansas, the two must face their past in order to save their present.
The movie was directed by Jon M. Chu and also stars Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum. Wicked: For Good bonus features include director commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes and a full-length sing-along version of the movie.
Read on to find out when Wicked: For Good will hit streaming, along with more information on how a VPN can improve your viewing experience.
Read more: Here Are the Ways You Can Get Peacock Premium for Free
When to watch Wicked: For Good on Peacock
Viewers in the US can start watching the celebrated musical on Peacock starting Friday, March 20.
There are two Peacock plans to choose from. The cheaper Peacock Premium costs $11 a month or $110 a year and includes ads. Peacock Premium Plus and costs $17 a month or $170 a year. This tier includes downloads, your live local NBC station and is mostly ad-free.
How to watch Wicked: For Good with a VPN
If you’re traveling abroad and want to keep up with your favorite shows, a VPN can enhance your privacy and security when streaming. It encrypts your traffic and prevents your internet service provider from throttling your speeds. It can be helpful when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks while traveling, adding an extra layer of protection for your devices and logins.
VPNs are legal in many countries, including the US and Canada, and can be used for legitimate purposes such as improving online privacy and security. However, some streaming services may have policies restricting VPN use to access region-specific content. If you’re considering a VPN for streaming, check the platform’s terms of service to ensure compliance.
ExpressVPN is our best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN. The service is compatible with a variety of devices. It typically costs $13 a month but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100, you will get four months free and save 70%. Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you choose to use a VPN, follow the provider’s installation instructions to ensure you’re connected securely and in compliance with applicable laws and service agreements. Some streaming platforms may block access when a VPN is detected, so verifying if your streaming subscription allows VPN usage is crucial.
A candidate vaccine that fights a suite of coronaviruses including COVID-19 and related, deadly respiratory diseases is starting human clinical testing in Australia. The vaccine was developed using technology from the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design.
South Korean pharmaceutical company SK bioscience is leading the trial for the new coronavirus vaccine, called GBP511. SK bioscience previously partnered with UW researchers on a COVID-19 vaccine that received regulatory approval.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has provided the GBP511 program with approximately $65 million in funding.
Unlike most vaccines that target a single virus or strain, GBP511 aims to protect against multiple coronaviruses at once.
“GBP511 is the first vaccine to reach human testing that is intended to protect against multiple strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 as well as related coronaviruses with the potential to spark dangerous outbreaks,” Neil King, associate professor of biochemistry at UW Medicine, said in a statement.
King, who is deputy director of the Institute for Protein Design, co-invented the self-assembling nanoparticle technology that was used to generate the vaccine. The institute is on the cutting edge of AI-assisted protein innovation and perhaps best known as the home of David Baker, a 2024 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.
The new vaccine recognizes sarbecoviruses, a subgroup of coronaviruses that include the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as those responsible for other major disease outbreaks: the original SARS-CoV-1 virus that caused widespread illness in the early 2000s and MERS-CoV, which caused outbreaks primarily in the Middle East. The family also includes viruses found in animals such as camels and bats, some of which have already infected humans and others that potentially could.
The vaccine features pieces of four different coronaviruses attached to a computer-designed nanoparticle, triggering an immune response to a variety of invaders.
“The beauty of this approach is that by presenting the immune system with multiple related antigens at once, we can train it to recognize features that are conserved across the entire sarbecovirus family,” said David Veesler, a professor of biochemistry at UW Medicine who led the preclinical studies.
The international Phase 1/2 trial launched its enrollments last month and aims to include approximately 368 healthy adults in Perth, Western Australia. Results from the study examining the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness are expected by 2028.
Elon Musk has merged SpaceX and xAI, creating what might be the blueprint for a new Silicon Valley power structure. With his $800 billion net worth already rivaling historic conglomerate GE’s peak market cap, and Musk being vocal about his view that “tech victory is decided by velocity of innovation,” the question isn’t whether a personal conglomerate can be built, but rather how far Musk himself is going to take it.
Watch as Equity dives into this new era of the “everything” business, whether we’ll see others like Sam Altman follow suit, and more of the week’s headlines.
Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
Harbor Freight has hit the ground running in 2026, debuting a selection of products that aren’t power tools, including smartphone-compatible OBD II code readers and foldable welding tables. It’s not just introducing new offerings for 2026, though; it’s also expanding color options for several of its U.S. General tool boxes and cabinets, with purple the latest addition to the lineup.
U.S. General is one of Harbor Freight’s in-house brands and focuses primarily on tool storage solutions. In late 2025, Harbor Freight announced it was adding three colors to the list of exterior color options for U.S. General products: purple, slate gray, and green. Green and gray arrived first, with purple now the newest shade customers can choose from at the time of writing. Many of U.S. General’s third-generation of tool chests, such as its triple-bank roll cab, work center hutch, and 22-inch end locker, are all now available in purple.
Certain attachments and accessories, such as folding side trays for U.S. General carts, also come in purple. This helps those opting for the new color to keep their tool setup looking uniform. However, many U.S. General accessories, like its Magnetic Power Strip and Magnetic Glove/Tissue Dispenser, are not currently sold in purple as of early February 2026.
Harbor Freight likely has another new color on the horizon
Another U.S. General product that is now available in purple is the Snap-On-esque Mini Steel Toolbox. Originally perceived by many as a gimmick, the store’s compact, 10-pound toolbox eventually became a very popular item, due in part to its simple functionality and sub-$20 price tag.
Like other U.S. General products, the Mini Steel Toolbox comes in black, red, and blue, as well as the newer green, slate gray, and purple colors. However, Harbor Freight is capitalizing on the Mini Toolbox’s virality by asking followers to vote on the next color option for the product. In August 2025, the retailer announced a seventh color would be added in 2026, with voters able to choose from light pink, hot pink, yellow, or orange.
Harbor Freight provided mock-ups for the vote, but it wouldn’t be hard to imagine what the Mini Toolbox would look like in either orange or yellow anyway. That’s because a lot of other equipment from the brand, like the U.S. General Series 3 72 x 22-inch Triple-Bank Roll Cab, already comes in yellow and orange, as well as white, and that’s in addition to the six colors currently available for the Mini Toolbox. Thankfully, cost needn’t be a factor when deciding which color is right for you, as the price remains the same for these U.S. General products regardless of color.
Disney+ subscribers in some European countries have lost access to advanced HDR features like Dolby Vision and HDR10+, TechRadar and FlatpanelsHD report. The issue was first spotted by German Disney+ subscribers on Reddit, but currently also impacts subscribers in Portugal, Poland, France and the Netherlands, according to FlatpanelsHD.
“Dolby Vision support for content on Disney+ is currently unavailable in several European countries due to technical challenges,” Disney said in a statement. “We are actively working to restore access to Dolby Vision and will provide an update as soon as possible. 4K UHD and HDR support remain available on supported devices.”
If the issue is in fact a technical one, it seems like it could be around for the long-term. Disney has removed any reference to Dolby Vision from its Disney+ video quality support page in Germany. As of now, the company lists HDR10 as its default HDR format, despite Dolby Vision support being a feature of Disney+ for several years now.
FlatpanelsHD writes that the real issue might be legal, rather than technological. A company called InterDigital won an injunction in a German court against Disney in November 2025 because it violated at least one of the company’s patents on streaming video technology. The injunction specifically requires Disney to stop violating InterDigital’s patent on “a method for dynamically overlaying a first video stream with a second video stream comprising, for example, subtitles.” It’s not entirely clear how that plays into the company offering Dolby Vision and HDR10+ in Europe, but it would explain why subscribers in Germany were some of the first people to notice Dolby Vision’s absence.
Engadget has contacted Disney for more information about Disney+’s missing HDR support and whether InterDigital’s injunction played a role. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
Mentions of Dolby Vision and HDR10+ were also stripped out of the US version of Disney+’s video quality support page. InterDigital hasn’t won an injunction in the US, but the company is pursuing a patent case against Disney in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. That doesn’t necessarily mean Dolby Vision support will be taken from US subscribers next, but it does suggest there’s more happening here than just technical challenges.
Drone technology has prompted military forces around the world to innovate defensive techniques as remote-controlled war machines get more capable, and affordable. Ukraine says its new mini-drone can go as fast as some hypercars and is using WWII-era prop planes to take out Russian attack drones. A joint U.S. military task force published new guidelines to defend the country from drones in January, and the nation’s Marine Corps has a new 3D-printed drone that was designed by and built entirely by Marines. It’s the Marines’ first 3D-printed drone to be greenlit under the National Defense Authorizing Act, or NDAA. It’s also cleared anti-spyware checks to get flight clearance from NAVAIR, the US Navy command responsible for managing naval equipment. The Marines are a separate branch from the Navy with its own wing in the Pentagon, but the two forces were joined as sister services in 1834 by Congress and President Andrew Jackson.
The Hanx is intended to be a “one-way attack” drone that deploys its weapons payload in a way that destroys the craft. This precludes the need for a return flight that an enemy could track, which has U.S. military commanders more than curious. In December 2025 the The Marines tested their first ship-launched one-way drone. The HANX is also modular, and when not tasked with delivering explosive payloads it could be outfitted for surveillance or logistics support. The Marines will also be able to produce spare parts for and repair damaged or malfunctioning HANX drones quickly. Instead of waiting for purchase orders to go through and a contractor to make and deliver parts, all the Marines need to fix a Hanx are digital blueprints and a 3D printer. It’s the very same reason aircraft carriers are now using 3D-printed parts.
Who designed the Hanx drone?
The Marine Corps has a Lego club and the COVID-19 pandemic partially to thank for its new drone. Sgt. Henry David Volpe joined a Lego robotics club in middle school, and in an interview on the Marine Corps website he credited his family with inspiring his love for technology. “Both my parents are engineers, so I feel like I’ve always had that encouragement to tinker and experiment with things,” he said. Volpe started working as an auto mechanic while studying to be one in college, but the COVID pandemic made it hard for him do both simultaneously. He joined the Marines with the 2nd Maintenance Battalion, where he learned about the Expeditionary Force Innovation Campus at Camp Lejeune that worked with 3D printing and robotics. As he recalls, “I immediately went over to the innovation campus, shook hands with the master sergeant, and said, ‘I want to work over here, I’ve got experience with this.’”
Volpe’s problem solving skills (he was quickly able to repair a broken 3D printer at the facility) impressed Matthew Pine, the officer in charge of the campus. Pine and Volpe observed an Army drone project at Fort Campbell during a visit there. Volpe recalls being impressed, “but what I saw was a big price tag. I knew I could make something far cheaper without sacrificing too many features.” Pine assembled a team of Marines to bring Volpe’s vision to the workshop, and they were able to produce a prototype in just 90 days. The name “Hanx” comes from Volpe’s nickname Hank, but he deflects credit for creating it. “This was only possible because of the collaboration with the team around me,”he explained. “I designed it, but I didn’t work on it alone.”
Kris Marszalek, the co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, has paid $70 million for the domain AI.com — the highest price ever publicly disclosed for a website name, according to the deal’s broker Larry Fischer of GetYourDomain.com.
The entire sum was paid in cryptocurrency to an undisclosed seller. Marszalek plans to debut the site during a Super Bowl ad this weekend, offering a personal “AI agent” that lets consumers send messages, use apps and trade stocks. The previous domain sale record was nearly $50 million for Carinsurance.com, per GoDaddy.
Tech
JLab Blue XL Speaker Headphones: For People Who Hate Earbuds, Over-Ears, and Being Told How to Listen
Some products look ridiculous at first glance; and then you realize they’re only ridiculous if you’re not the exact person they were built for. The JLab Blue XL speaker headphones are one of those rare cases where “that’s dumb” quietly turns into “okay, that actually makes sense.” At $99.99, these aren’t headphones pretending to be serious audio gear. They’re wearable Bluetooth speakers with dual 2.5-inch drivers, passive radiators, and a claimed 30 watts of output that can hang around your neck or sit on a table when the party migrates.
Twenty hours of battery life seals the deal for tailgates, backyard wins, hotel rooms, and let’s be honest, places like Mardi Gras, where wearing them a certain way may result in beads, questionable life choices, and stories you don’t repeat at work.
Are there physical implications? Absolutely. Are they practical for commuting or critical listening? Not even remotely. But for a very specific American use case—celebrating loudly, publicly, and without shame the Blue XL makes an oddly convincing argument. Only in America.
JLab Blue XL Speaker Headphones: 30-Watt Wearable Bluetooth Speakers
The JLab Blue XL speaker headphones are about brute force and convenience, not subtlety. Audio is handled by dual 2.5-inch drivers with a rated frequency response of 100 Hz to 20 kHz and a 4-ohm load, which tells you right away these are tuned for output and impact rather than finesse.
There’s onboard EQ switching via a physical control knob. No app, no firmware rabbit hole, no “just update it” nonsense. They fold, support Wireless Share Mode, and use faux-leather ear cushions that are less about luxury and more about keeping this thing from feeling like gym equipment hanging off your neck.
Connectivity is straightforward and current: Bluetooth 5.4 with SBC and AAC codec support, a claimed range of 30+ feet, and the usual protocol alphabet soup (A2DP, AVCTP, AVDTP, AVRCP, SPP) to keep everything talking without drama. Power comes from 2 x 3,000 mAh batteries, good for up to 20 hours of playtime, charged over USB-C in about 3 hours. No charger is included; welcome to 2026. So you’ll need a 5 V / 2 A source delivering between 2.5 and 5 W to hit maximum charging speed.
Wear them around your neck like oversized headphones or drop them on a table and let them do their thing. Are they elegant? Not even close. Are they honest about what they are and who they’re for? Absolutely—and that’s why they work.
The Bottom Line
The JLab Blue XL speaker headphones do one thing well—they play loud, hands-free, and without pretending they’re something refined. Dual 2.5-inch drivers and real output make them genuinely useful for backyard hangs, tailgates, garage nights, or parked next to the BBQ while you grill in -19° weather like a person who has fully given up on comfort.
What they do poorly or rather, what’s absurd—is the idea of wearing them on public transit, at the beach, or anywhere involving water, dust, or other humans with patience. There’s no water resistance, no dust protection, and absolutely no reason to wear these on the subway unless you’re looking for something solid to swing at a mugger.
At $99.99, they’re reasonably priced if they sound decent, but this is not a Super Bowl party savior if you’re ordering late, and it’s definitely not a lifestyle product. These are for a very specific user: someone who wants loud, social sound without earbuds, without fragility, and without shame. Leave them on a table, keep them out of the sand, don’t take them on public transit and suddenly, they make a weird amount of sense. Sounds about right for the times.
Where to buy: $99.99 at JLab
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ExpressVPN is back on sale again, and its two-year plans are up to 81 percent off right now. You can get the Advanced tier for $88 for 28 months. This is marked down from the $392 that this time frame normally costs. On a per-month basis, it works out to roughly $3.14 for the promo period.
We’ve consistently liked ExpressVPN because it’s fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it’s our current pick for best premium VPN. One of the biggest drawbacks has always been its high cost, and this deal temporarily solves that issue.
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The virtual private network service now has three tiers. Basic is cheaper with fewer features, while Pro costs more and adds extra perks like support for 14 simultaneous devices and a password manager. Advanced sits in the middle and includes the password manager but only supports 12 devices.
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