Month: October 2018

Enlarge / Headquarters of ride-sharing technology company Uber in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of San Francisco on October 13, 2017. (credit: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Lawyers representing a Southern California limousine company that sued Uber last month over state unfair competition allegations have now filed a motion for partial summary judgement.

If the filing is granted by the judge, the motion would substantially streamline the case and answer the vexing question: are Uber drivers employees or not?

The proposed class-action lawsuit, known as Diva Limousine v. Uber, relies on a recently decided California Supreme Court decision that makes it more difficult for companies to unilaterally declare their workers as contractors, which effectively deprives them of benefits that they would otherwise receive as employees.

Enlarge / The center of Hurricane Michael passed near the western tip of Cuba on Monday afternoon. (credit: NOAA)

On Sunday, a tropical storm formed in the northern Caribbean Sea. Although few forecast models were predicting it would reach major hurricane status at the time, it seemed possible given that the storm was now moving away from the Yucatan Peninsula landmass and toward warmer waters in the southern Gulf of Mexico, where it will encounter lower overall wind shear.

By late Monday morning, Michael had become a hurricane, and forecasters at the National Hurricane Center now officially expect it to be a major Category 3 by Wednesday. That's when Michael will make landfall along the northern Gulf coast, likely over the Florida Panhandle. The biggest concerns for the Florida coastline, particularly an area between Destin and Apalachicola, are strong winds and a damaging storm surge. Inland areas such as Tallahassee will also see significant effects. Rainfall is a lesser threat due to the storm's progressive movement to the north.

It is rare but certainly not unheard of for major hurricanes to strike the United States in October—after all, the season does not end until November 30. However, by the middle of October, we are nearing the end of the season in terms of the greatest threat of hurricanes to land.

Enlarge (credit: Ade Oshineye / Flickr)

Google exposed the private details of almost 500,000 Google+ users and then opted not to report the lapse, in part out of concern disclosure would trigger regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing people briefed on the matter and documents that discussed it. Shortly after the article was published, Google said it would close the Google+ social networking service to consumers.

The exposure was the result of a flaw in programming interfaces Google made available to developers of applications that interacted with users’ Google+ profiles, Google officials said in a post published after the WSJ report. From 2015 to March 2018, the APIs made it possible for developers to view profile information not marked as public, including full names, email addresses, birth dates, gender, profile photos, places lived, occupation, and relationship status. Data exposed didn’t include Google+ posts, messages, Google account data, phone numbers, or G Suite content. Some of the users affected included paying G Suite users.

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai knew of the glitch and the decision not to publicly disclose it, the WSJ reported. Based on a two-week test designed to measure the impact of the API bugs before they were fixed, Google analysts believe that data for 496,951 users was improperly exposed. According to the report:

Enlarge (credit: TechBargains)

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share.

It's Columbus Day here in the US, and while that's not the biggest day for tech deals, there are at least a handful worth picking out. The rundown below includes discounts on various Lenovo and Dell laptops, Amazon's latest Echo speaker, Nokia's 6.1 smartphone, the Nvidia Shield media streamer, and more. Have a look for yourself.

Featured Deals

• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th-gen) Laptop - Intel Core i5-8250U, 14" 1080p, 256GB PCIe SSD for $1,139.25 at Lenovo (use code: THINKX25 - list price $1,519).
• Amazon Echo (2nd Gen) for $79.99 at Amazon (list price $99.99).
• Polk Command Bar Smart Soundbar with Subwoofer for $249 at Amazon (list price $299).
• Dell Inspiron 15 5000 Laptop - Intel Core i7-7500U, 15.6" 1080p, 12GB RAM, 2TB HDD for $549.99 at Dell (use code: SAVE50 - list price $829.99).
• SanDisk Ultra (128GB) MicroSD Card for $25.73 (200GB for $43, 256GB for $63) at Amazon (list price $33.79).
• Netgear Arlo Pro 720p Wireless Security System with 2 Cameras + Mount for $239 at Walmart (list price $319.99).
• Nokia 6.1 (32GB) Unlocked Smartphone for $229.99 at Amazon (list price $269).
• TP-Link HS110 WiFi Smart Plug for $15.99 at Walmart (list price $39.99).
• Aukey Scepter Series 35.4" x 15.7" Large Gaming Mouse Pad for $11.99 at Amazon (use code: FU8HBSCL - list price $23.99).

Laptop & Desktop Computers

• Dell Inspiron 15 5000 Laptop - Intel Core i7-7500U, 15.6" 1080p, 12GB RAM, 2TB HDD for $549.99 at Dell (use code: SAVE50 - list price $829.99).
• Dell XPS 13 Laptop - Intel Core i5-8250U, 13.3" 1080p for $794.99 at Dell (use code: 50OFF699 - list price $994.99).
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th-gen) Laptop - Intel Core i5-8250U, 14" 1080p, 256GB PCIe SSD for $1,139.25 at Lenovo (use code: THINKX25 - list price $1,519).
• Lenovo ThinkPad V330 Laptop - Intel Core i5-8250U, 15.6" 1080p for $539.09 at Lenovo (use code: SAVE10MORE - list price $639).
• Lenovo Yoga 720 2-in-1 Laptop - Intel Core i7-7500U, 12.5" 1080p, 512GB SSD for $764.99 at Lenovo (use code: SAVE10MORE - list price $1,199.99).
• 27" Dell S2716DG Gaming Monitor - 2560x1440, 144Hz, G-Sync + $50 Dell Gift Card for $449.99 at Dell (list price $799.99).
• 24" Dell U2417H 1080p Monitor + $100 Dell Gift Card for $259.99 at Dell (list price $349.99).

More Laptops & Desktop PC Deals here.