🚗 Uber's 20-Hour Childcare Offer: A Sweetener for Female Drivers or Just a Spoonful?👀

In a move that's turning heads and raising eyebrows, Uber has announced it will provide 20 hours of free childcare to its UK drivers throughout 2025🙌🏾. The initiative aims to attract more female drivers to the platform, acknowledging that childcare responsibilities often pose a significant barrier to entry. The service will be facilitated through a nannying and babysitting app, offering drivers flexibility in managing their work and family commitments👶🏾

Uber's focus is clear: increase female driver representation. By addressing one of the primary challenges—access to affordable childcare—the company hopes to make driving a more viable option for women balancing parental duties.🚗

🤔 Mixed Reactions

Well you cant please all the people all the time and. The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has labeled the initiative a "cynical PR stunt", citing its concerns around pay and working conditions that many drivers face. Nonetheless we welcome such a bold step from the org who are directly addressing a barrier much noted by our community 

📈 The Bigger Picture

This move comes as part of Uber's ongoing efforts to improve driver satisfaction and diversify its workforce. The company plans to evaluate the program's effectiveness at the end of the year before deciding on any extensions or expansions.

You can read more here 

💼 JPMorgan’s DEI Glow-Up: Now With 100% Less ‘Equity’😅

Big news from Wall Street: JPMorgan has rebranded its diversity efforts—DEI is out, and DOI (Diversity, Opportunity, Inclusion) is in. Same number of letters, slightly less political edge. A bold pivot or just a clever bit of corporate redecoration? We’ll let you decide. (Reuters, Fortune)🤔

According to the internal memo, this isn’t a walk-back—it’s just a little rewording to "better reflect" what they’ve always meant. Apparently, “equity” was too misunderstood, and “opportunity” just felt... easier on the palate🧐

🧼 Other subtle changes include:

• Moving some DEI programs into HR (Sounds like a good classic corporate hiding spot 🗂️)

• Trimming down the training (less time in seminars, more time pretending to read them)

• Emphasising “equal opportunity” without needing to say the E-word at all

Change just enough that people sort of notice, but not enough to get in trouble.

🛡️ IBM to DEI Panic: "Not Over Here, Thanks.

While US companies are busy scrubbing “DEI pages” off their Websites and nervously updating tiptoeing around consumer backlash, IBM has decided to double down on inclusion—at least in the UK.🇬🇧

 he tech giant has thrown its weight behind a UK government-backed initiative to diversify the cybersecurity industry, backing real action even as DEI becomes a political football across the Atlantic. (UKTN) Its interesting because certainly a government backed initiative can make it more palliative for companies to get behind things underscoring what we've said for years, the UK government needs to do its part to foster inclusion in our sector👀

More broadly, The scheme aims to tackle the lack of diversity in cybersecurity, helping underrepresented talent access roles in one of tech’s fastest-growing (and most gatekept) sectors. IBM is one of the first big players to sign on—proof that not everyone is backpedalling when it comes to DEI.

🧬Turns out your data is for sale🧬

In what feels like a plot twist straight out of a Black Mirror episode, genetics giant 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is now looking for a buyer. Yep—you read that right. The company that asked you to spit in a tube and then told you you're 7% Nigerian is now for sale. (BBC)

The twist? It’s not just the company being sold; It’s the data too. Yep your very personal, very sensitive, once-in-a-lifetime genetic information is now sitting in the corporate equivalent of the clearance isle🏷

🧬 Wait—Can They Do That? Kind of. While the U.S. has laws preventing genetic data from being used in health insurance or hiring decisions, the rest is a grey area. And for customers outside the U.S.? Even murkier. The idea that your ancestry report—or really dystopian things like, your predisposition to illness—could be sold, mined, or misused? That’s not sci-fi anymore, its just a matter of paying the right price💸

23andMe has struggled financially for years, and after a mass board resignation and millions in losses, the business is finally on the auction block. And while they say operations will continue, the sale raises one very awkward question: What happens to the data when the business model breaks?💰

So what:?

This isn’t just about 23andMe. It’s about the trust economy in tech—especially when it comes to companies built on deeply personal data. If a consumer genetics firm can collapse and sell off the one thing it was supposed to protect—your DNA—what does that say about data governance across the industry?

As we build products and platforms, especially in health tech and AI, this is the moment to ask: Are we building with privacy as a feature—or as a footnote?

💸 Why IPO When You Can Exit Like Royalty?😲

In case you missed it last week, Google just made the biggest acquisition in its history, dropping a casual $32 billion on Israeli cloud security startup Wiz in an all cash deal. And here’s the kicker: Google tried to buy it for half that price just last year. Rejected then, but clearly still obsessed— we guess persistence pays off. (CNBC)💸

Wiz, once tipped as the startup to lead a new wave of cybersecurity IPOs, said “nah” to the public markets and took the Big Tech money instead. And honestly? Who can blame them. With choppy IPO waters and regulators breathing down everyone's neck, being absorbed by a trillion-dollar search engine sounds pretty comfy🤑

🛍️ What This Means for Tech?

• Founders: Take note—acquisition offers might not come twice. Wiz said no at $16B, held out, and doubled it. Power move.

• Investors: The exit route has changed. IPOs are shaky. Big Tech is back on a shopping spree no doubt encouraged by a pro tech Government 

• Bundling: Google's biggest-ever deal? Well they wouldn't drop that sort of cash without expecting it to do something to their bottom line enhancing their cloud services propositions and bundles we have no doubt in time 

So what:?

What gets rewarded in tech right now: deep tech, defensible moats, and products Big Tech can't build fast enough. It’s also a reminder that when the public markets get cold, acquisition becomes the new IPO—if you’ve got the leverage.

📢 Meta Bows to One Woman's Stand Against Ad Tracking—Sort Of

In a move that feels both historic and slightly ironic, Meta has agreed to stop showing Tanya O'Carroll, a UK human rights campaigner, personalized ads👀

After a legal tussle that began in 2022, O'Carroll asserted her right under UK data protection laws to object to the processing of her personal data for targeted advertising. Facing the prospect of a courtroom showdown, Meta settled, agreeing to cease its ad targeting practices on her account. While Meta didn’t admit wrongdoing, the outcome means they agreed to stop tracking her. And now, instead of changing their model to comply more broadly, Meta’s solution appears to be: offer people a choice—pay to protect your data, or continue trading it for access as is offered across parts of the EU🧑🏾‍⚖️

🔍 The Implications

While this settlement applies solely to O'Carroll, it sets a compelling precedent. UK users may now feel emboldened to assert their rights against invasive data practices🧑🏾‍⚖️

Fresh off the news it has been widely reported Meta is now considering introducing a paid, ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram in the UK. That’s right—after years of monetising your personal data, Meta might finally give you the option not to be tracked... for a price. (PCMag, BBC)💰

Let’s be real: this isn’t exactly a win for data rights. On the surface, yes, an ad-free, tracking-free version of social media sounds appealing. But charging users for the fundamental right to not be profiled sets a questionable precedent. For lower-income users, especially those from underrepresented groups who already experience digital exclusion, this may just widen gaps.😲

Also, no one’s quite sure what this paid model would even cost. In the EU, it’s rumoured Meta’s ad-free tier could be between €5-9.99 per month as we seen in Europe📲

💡 So What?

This isn’t just a story about Meta trialling a new subscription model—it’s about the commodification of privacy itself. If the future of tech means paying to avoid surveillance, what does that mean for equity, inclusion, and digital access?

Is privacy is becoming a luxury good? It raises the uncomfortable prospect for regulators that unless they step in with real consequences, consent may operate as a checkbox and privacy as an upsell.

The next generation of builders, founders, and policy thinkers will have to ask: How do we design tech ecosystems where opting out doesn’t come with a price tag? Because if the only people who can afford privacy are the ones already in the room, how are qw building a more inclusive and better digital world—compared just paywalling the one we’ve got.

📷A frosty relationship📷

Things are getting frosty between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company Unilever. The iconic ice cream brand—long celebrated for mixing activism with Cherry Garcia—has filed a legal case in the US accusing Unilever of trying to muzzle its social mission. The spark? The sudden ousting of Ben & Jerry’s CEO, David Stever, allegedly for refusing to stop the brand from publicly criticising the US administration and advocating for causes like a Gaza ceasefire. (BBC)🍨

The lawsuit claims Unilever violated the 2000 merger agreement that guaranteed Ben & Jerry’s independence—especially when it comes to its values-driven activism. The ice cream maker says Unilever threatened leadership and tried to strong-arm its independent board into becoming a corporate rubber stamp.💥

Stever, who literally started at Ben & Jerry’s as a tour guide in 1988, was appointed CEO in 2023. Now, the company says he’s being pushed out without the required consultation, as Unilever seeks to “silence the social mission” that’s been core to the brand since 1978.🙅🏽‍♂️

💡 So What?

This isn’t just a corporate spat over flavours or P&Ls—it’s about what happens when activist brands meet corporate ownership. Ultimately Can mission-led companies maintain their values when acquired by profit-driven conglomerates?

It’s also a cautionary tale for startups: in the quest for scale, what parts of your founding vision are you willing to protect—and what might get melted down in a boardroom?

As more businesses claim to “stand for something,” (or nothing) this saga is a reminder that purpose can’t just live in marketing decks—it has to survive shareholder pressure too.

📈 The tools behind the tech📉

📦Product📦

• Ai Blindspots

📏Design📏 

• Past present and future of UI design

• Dithering in colour

👩🏿‍💻Code👩🏿‍💻

• Software engineering identity crisis
• Creating an universal ai query layer

🏢The business behind the tech🏢

• Google is searching for a new search answer 

🎓A free PHD🎓

Unlock a career in Data Visualization via a fully funded PhD with DIVERSE CDT

Gain in-demand skill & cross-sector experience with a diverse cohort

UK students: receive £23,158/year tax-free.

Apply here | info@diverse-cdt.ac.uk

🙌🏾Grants focused on those challenging racial inequity🙌🏾

his programme is for small local charities and CICs which are led by and working with people who are experiencing economic inequity because of their race or ethnicity. 

Under this programme we will support charities to strengthen their capacity and capabilities and become more resilient through a range of tailored development support offers alongside a three-year unrestricted grant of £75,000.

Apply here if you're interested

😃What we are consuming😃

🇯🇲What exactly constitutes Jamaican Rum🍹