Uber Rolls Out Self-Driving Cabs; Facebook To Muscle in on Steam

Posted: August 18, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We may be seeing quite a few car makers and tech companies rolling out self-driving cars by 2020 or 2021, but meanwhile, Uber is rolling out a small fleet of self driving Volvo SUVs later this month in Pittsburgh. Thenextweb.com says they’ll still have a driver supervising from behind the wheel. The cars will be assigned at random, and here’s the cool part….rides in them will be free for the time being! Uber will be staffing them with a co-pilot of sorts, to take note of how everything is working. Uber has had a $300 million dollar deal with Volvo to build fully autonomous cars, and apparently has been working on its own global mapping system, so they won’t have to rely on Google for navigation.

Facebook is looking to go after Steam, or at least claw back some of the revenue it’s lost since casual gaming moved to mobile. According to techcrunch.com, the social media giant announced it was working with game engine Unity to build a dedicated, downloadable desktop gaming platform, in addition to broadening the Facebook.com experience for gamers. It’s thought the desktop app will support both casual games and more hardcore games. Of course, Oculus was a big…and pricey…step back to gaming for Facebook, but the bulk of us still stare at screens, as opposed to strapping on headsets for hours at a time at this point.

Lobbying for Self-driving Cars Takes Quantum Leap; Amazon Prime Now SF Launch With New Guarantee

Posted: April 26, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A gigantic lobbying group has just been formed to press regulators to allow for self-driving cars. Google, Ford, Uber, Lyft, and Volvo are all involved. It’s called the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, according to theverge.com, and is headed by David Strickland, a former NHTSA administrator. They will press the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to come up with a clear set of federal standards by this summer.

Amazon has added San Francisco as the 8th city for its Prime Now one hour restaurant delivery service. With over 4000 restaurants packed into 49 square miles, San Francisco may be the restaurant capital of the world, and Amazon has thrown in a new feature…for all markets with Prime Now…a price guarantee. Geekwire.com says if you find a lower price on the restaurant’s in-person menu within 24 hours, you’ll get a refund. 33 zip codes in the City by the Bay will get the service, and there are 117 restaurants to choose from. If you want to try it out, it’s FREE during launch. Regular price for One Hour Prime Now is usually $7.99.

Uber Settlement Keeps Drivers as Contractors; Google I/O Highlights Virtual Reality

Posted: April 22, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uber has settled a couple class action suits in California and Massachusetts that will eventually play out 100 million to drivers, but keeps them classified as independent contractors, and not employees. Cnet.com says it will also set up a ‘driver association’ to address driver concerns, and a key point is that Uber won’t be able to terminate drivers at will, and they will have to establish appeals panels for those who feel they have been terminated unfairly. Drivers will also be able to post signs to ask for tips. Lyft has already allowed for driver tipping. They also won’t be allowed to terminate drivers for turning down rides when logged in, which was considered a key issue in considering drivers as employees.

Google I/O is a month away, and much of the schedule has been posted. According to arstechnica.com, a large swath of time will be dedicated to virtual reality talks. VR is an entire content track at I/O this year, with 7 sessions dedicated to virtual or augmented reality…including one called ‘Google’s Vision for VR.’ The keynote for this year’s Google I/O is May 18th at 10am Pacific.

Uber Launches Separate UberEats App; Drone Catcher Nets and Neutralizes Rogue Drones

Posted: March 4, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This week, Uber launched its free standing UberEats app, starting with service in Los Angeles. Availability will start to show up in other cities around the country through the month. Businessinsider.com says what had been just a lunch service will now be for lunch and dinner, and will allow for deliveries of select dishes or full-menu items from restaurants. After you order, a specially trained Uber driver equipped with lunch bags to keep food warm or cold will deliver the food while you track it with the app. Uber has designed to app to open with professionally shot pictures of food to entice you…they expect people to keep the app open even after the food is ordered…hence, the tracking feature.

A British company called OpenWorks Engineering has showed off the SkyWall100, a shoulder mounted cannon that can fire a projectile that catches potentially hazardous drones with a net instead of destroying them. According to gizmodo.com, the programmable projectile shot from the 22 pound compressed gas powered launcher can net the drone, then parachute it to the ground in one piece. The device is equipped with ECM jamming, too. It should be a big help in keeping places like airports clear, and allows for forensic analysis of the captured drone, to find out who was operating it.

UberEATS Going Live in 10 Cities; More On iOS Nightshift and New Music Memos App; GM Launches Ridesharing Business

Posted: January 21, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If you’re really wanting carry out, but don’t want to get out, and don’t want a pizza, there have been limited options. Uber has been testing UberEATS, where they’ve partnered with restaurants to deliver food to your door. According to thenextweb.com, UberEATS will go live in March in LA, Dallas, Seattle, Chicago, NY, Austin, Washington, D.C., Houston, San Francisco, and Atlanta. The test service has been lunch only, but in March, you’ll be able to order breakfast, lunch, or dinner delivered.

Nightshift, the new feature coming to iOS that dims the blue portion of screens evenings so users don’t disrupt their sleep so much, may be available on the Control Center pull up. Macrumors.com says it has showed up on Apple Canada’s iOS 9.3 preview page there. It may not fit on the smaller iPhone screens, but there’s room on the Plus models and iPads. Apple also rolled out a nice companion app to GarageBand. Music Memos lets musicians and songwriters record, analyze, and manipulate uncompressed audio on iPhones and iPads. You can also overlay the tracks with added bass and drums…it calculates the correct tempo and chords. GarageBand has added Live Loops, a visual feature to help in loop creation, and gesture controlled DJ type effects.

Just days ago, we reported that General Motors quietly bought defunct ride sharing business Sidecar, and previously had put $500 million into Lyft. Now, detroitnews.com reports that GM has launched Maven, a car sharing brand, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The citywide service-something like Zipcar- features GM vehicles in 21 spots around the city a person can rent for as low as $6 and hour. Although the auto maker sees private car ownership continuing for some time, they note that 5 to 6 million people right now already use transportation sharing services. The cars are equipped with 4G wireless internet, and sync smartphones with Apple Pay and Android Auto while the owner uses the GM shared vehicle. Price includes insurance and fuel.

Apple Investigates Li-Fi for Mobile Devices; GM Quietly Buys Sidecar

Posted: January 19, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Not long ago, we reported on Li-Fi, and how it could use light to replace Wi-Fi, only with much more speed and bandwidth. Now, thenextweb.com has found a reference to Li-Fi compatability in Apple’s iOS 9 code and iOS 9.1 firmware. This, along with an Apple patent dug up from 2013 that appears to be a Li-Fi transmitter point to Cupertino baking it in to iOS devices. Don’t look for it by the iPhone 7, though…the infrastructure doesn’t even exist yet…no one’s built a Li-Fi router, for example.

Recently, General Motors dropped $500 million into Uber rival Lyft. The plot thickens, and now it’s been revealed that they have quietly purchased failed rival Sidecar for $30 million. Most of the employees are moving over to GM. It looks like their plans to build autonomous vehicles specifically for ride sharing are heating up. Ford and Mercedes are also working on similar projects. Uber has lots of valuation and a head start, but it looks like the car makers are getting serious about not going the way of the buggy whip.

Shop ‘Till Your Fingers Drop; Uber Moves into Mobile Health Care

Posted: November 23, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are rapidly turning into a week to 10 day long orgy of deals from both online and brick and mortar retailers. Bgr.com notes that Amazon.com’s ‘Black Friday’ sale went live a full week before Black Friday. Target’s Black Friday ’10 days of deals’ is already live, with Target Redcard members getting an automatic 5% additional off on deals, and 25% off on toys through the day before Thanksgiving. Walmart will light off Cyber Monday deals the Sunday evening before…the 29th, starting at 8 P.M., with online only bargain prices on over 2000 products. Wanna buy a car? Chevrolet is saying it’s Black Friday ALL MONTH LONG! When it comes to retail, times and days have a very elastic meaning. Happy shopping!

Uber is experimenting with something bordering on mobile health care. For 4 hours last week, they offered customers a flu shot for 10 bucks across 36 cities. You summoned a nurse to show up and administer the shot, according to buzzfeed.com. This week, the company announced they’ve hired their first health advisor, who is director of the Computational Epidemiology Group at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is John Brownstein, and he says Uber’s drivers may someday shuttle patients to clinical trials or doctor’s offices…or, as with the flu shots, bring a medical professional by for a ‘house call!’

Twitter Testing Emotion Emojis as Plus to Hearts; Uber’s Carpooling Feature for Drivers

Posted: November 16, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As some users are still pining for the star that Twitter killed in favor of the new heart, a user has uncovered the fact that Twitter is testing out a variety of emoji you will be able to use to express your reaction to Tweets. According to thenextweb.com, the user found the emoji through a hack that opens up developer test features. Right now, clicking on one makes the floating emoji go ‘poof,’ and revert to the heart. No word from Twitter as to when the feature might be rolled out.

Uber drivers wanting a few extra bucks on their commutes to and from home — especially those who drive part-time — will be able to with the ride-hailing app’s new “destinations” feature. Theverge.com says drivers rolling in a particular direction can plug their destination into the app, and Uber’s algorithm will send them ride requests that appear along the way. Requests that would force them to deviate from their route would be filtered out. Uber says it will heighten driver flexibility, but it could have much more far-reaching consequences. 61 percent of drivers in the US have full- or part-time jobs outside Uber. If you never have to deviate from your route, suddenly anyone has the potential to be an Uber driver, regardless of employment status. It will launch in San Francisco first.

Citi Tests Iris Scanning ATM Tech; Startup Rolls Out Uber for Trucks

Posted: October 27, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A lot of people first saw them back in the 60’s in James Bond’s “Thunderball,” and now Citigroup is testing iris scanners for their ATMs. Engadget.com reports that the financial giant will scan customers’ eyeballs with the bank patrons’ smartphones instead of using PIN numbers. They estimate that this could cut dragging out your cash down to a 10 second transaction. No timeline was given on when or if Citi will roll the iris scanning system to the public. The tech is from Diebold, which has something of a spotty record when it comes to voting machines, so Citi may be waiting to gauge if the public will be comfortable with an eye scan to draw out their hard earned cash.

We already have Uber and Lift for on demand rides and some small package delivery, so how about on-demand trucking? A startup called Convoy has raised $2.5 million from Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, and some other heavy hitters, according to geekwire.com. It will concentrate on local and regional trucks on demand. Like with Uber and Lyft, it will be smartphone based. If someone needs some freight moved, they can key it in and a truck and driver will show up. For the indy truckers, it will get rid of the broker middleman and his cut, plus get them a job in minutes, saving lots of time. For the customer, pricing information is calculated instantly based on distance, weight, and other variables — and available trucks, all of which are pre-approved by Convoy, licensed by the government, and carry cargo insurance. The company also provides customer service to ensure that shipments are completed.

UberRush is Now Live in New York and San Francisco

Posted: October 14, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uber has launched UberRush in New York and added San Francisco and Chicago. The same day delivery system had been piloting in New York, with the price of delivery ranging between $5 and $7. According to recode.net, businesses can either sign up for the program directly, or access it through e-commerce software like Shopify and Bigcommerce. Other partners include delivery.com, ChowNow for food, BloomNet for floral services, and the Clover digital cash register service. Uber is going after smaller local retailers and restaurants, as big name retailers have been tough for them to pull into the program. Diliv, Postmates, and Sidecar are already in this rapid delivery space, so Uber doesn’t have totally clear sailing…or in this case, driving.

Gadgets and software to repurpose old devices into monitors for your home are already out there, but not for free…until now. Perch is a startup from the Samsung Accelerator program, and right now, you can download their software for free to turn an old USB-based webcam, smartphone, or tablet into a security monitor. Thenextweb.com reports that it allows for two way communication, too, so you can turn on the audio and tell your pooch to stop barking. It’s movement based, and they claim it’s smart enough not to send you an alert if a dog or cat moves, just a person. You can also use it to turn on internet of things gadgets like smart light bulbs and appliances. It’s out for Android 4.1 or later, and Wi-Fi only for now. iOS and Smart TV support is on the way.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →