Surprise! Uber and Lyft don’t like NYC’s new ride-hail rules

Regulations less than ideal for the companies as NYC is among their largest markets.

Uber app being used on a smartphone

Enlarge / The Uber ride-sharing app is seen on a mobile phone on February 12, 2018. (credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who took the helm of the controversial company back in 2017, is known for being pretty unflappable. He was even upbeat during the company’s second quarter earnings call, when he was charged with explaining why Uber posted more than $5 billion in losses in just a few months’ time.

But in response to one analyst’s question, about how the regulations in New York had affected the company’s bottom line, Khosrowshahi got a bit spicy, at least for Khosrowshahi. “I think anyone who tells you that the changes in New York City are good is…” he trailed off for a moment. “It’s malarkey, frankly.”

One person’s malarkey is another’s sensible policy decision. Nearly a decade after ride-hail companies began exploiting the gray areas of decades-old taxi regulations around the country, Uber and Lyft have found themselves subject to increasingly strict rules in the Big Apple.

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Segway-Ninebot: E-Scooter sollen autonom zur Ladestation fahren

Das Aufladen von E-Scootern ist für die Verleihdienste aufwendig und kostspielig. Daher könnten künftig Geister-Scooter durch die Städte rollen. Beim Kauf “normaler” E-Scooter gibt es derweil Verzögerungen. (E-Scooter, Segway)

Das Aufladen von E-Scootern ist für die Verleihdienste aufwendig und kostspielig. Daher könnten künftig Geister-Scooter durch die Städte rollen. Beim Kauf "normaler" E-Scooter gibt es derweil Verzögerungen. (E-Scooter, Segway)

Streit über Qualitätsmängel: Tesla stoppt Model-3-Lieferungen an Nextmove

Die Autovermietung Nextmove sieht sich als Vorreiter für die Elektromobilität. Doch ein Großauftrag für 100 Tesla Model 3 scheiterte an zu vielen Mängeln bei den Neuwagen. (Tesla Model 3, Technologie)

Die Autovermietung Nextmove sieht sich als Vorreiter für die Elektromobilität. Doch ein Großauftrag für 100 Tesla Model 3 scheiterte an zu vielen Mängeln bei den Neuwagen. (Tesla Model 3, Technologie)

Disney and Charter Team Up on Piracy Mitigation

The Walt Disney Company and Charter Communications have signed a new distribution agreement. Aside from providing more Disney content to Charter subscribers, the companies will also join forces to combat piracy. What this collaboration will entail remains unknown for now, but it’s an interesting step, especially since Charter is currently involved in a major piracy liability lawsuit.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

With roughly 22 million subscribers, Charter Communications is one of the largest Internet providers in the US.

The company operates under the Spectrum brand and offers a wide variety of services including TV and Internet access.

In an effort to provide more engaging content to its customers, this week Charter signed a major new distribution agreement with The Walt Disney Company.

The new partnership will provide the telco’s customers with access to popular titles in Disney’s services, including Hulu, ESPN+ and the yet-to-be-launched streaming service Disney+.

The fact that these giant companies have teamed-up is a big deal, business-wise and for consumers. Most Spectrum subscribers will likely be pleased to have more options, but there may also be a subgroup that has concerns.

Away from the major headline, both companies also state that they have agreed to partner up on piracy mitigation.

“This agreement will allow Spectrum to continue delivering to its customers popular Disney content […] and will begin an important collaborative effort to address the significant issue of piracy mitigation,” says Tom Montemagno, EVP, Programming Acquisition for Charter.

The public press releases give no concrete details of what this “piracy mitigation” will entail. It does mention that the two companies will work together to “implement business rules” and address issues such as “unauthorized access and password sharing.”

TorrentFreak reached out to Charter for further details, but the company said that it’s not elaborating beyond the press release at this time.

The term “mitigating” suggests that both companies will actively work together to reduce piracy. This is interesting because Charter is currently caught up in a major piracy liability lawsuit in a US federal court in Colorado.

Earlier this year the Internet provider was sued by several music companies which argued that the company turned a blind eye to piracy by failing to terminate accounts of repeat infringers. In addition, Charter stands accused of willingly profiting from these alleged copyright infringements.

Charter’s new agreement with Disney suggests that there could be a more proactive anti-piracy stance going forward. One possibility might be a more strict repeat infringer policy but, without further details, it remains unclear what the “piracy mitigation” entails precisely.

In any case, it will be interesting to see how the two companies plan to put a dent in current piracy levels, and what that means for Charter customers.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

Google Drive will introduce long-asked-for file shortcuts feature

It’s coming to G Suite in beta first, but may reach more users at a later date.

Google offers a suite of cloud collaboration services, but Drive is at the heart of it all.

Enlarge / Google offers a suite of cloud collaboration services, but Drive is at the heart of it all. (credit: Google)

Soon, Google will add one of the most commonly requested features to its Drive file hosting, sharing, and collaboration service: shortcuts. These will allow users to create pointers to files from either the same drive or another, separate shared drive.

The new feature will work just like shortcuts in Windows—they are pointers to a file stored in another location. The shortcut can be stored anywhere without impacting the location of the original file. Google gave this example in its blog post announcing the feature:

If Paul in marketing shares a document from his team’s shared drive with the entire sales team, Greta in sales can create a shortcut to that document in her own team’s shared drive. Previously, because documents can’t be owned by two shared drives, Greta would need to create a copy of the document for her team’s shared drive, which could then quickly become out of date.

Google writes that supported content types for shortcuts include Docs, Slides, Sheets, JPGs, PDFs, folders, and Microsoft Office files.

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NASA chief alienates Senators needed to fund the Moon program

“I really think this is a great day for the Johnson Space Center. And I mean that.”

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaks in front of a large hydrogen tank Friday at Marshall Space Flight Center.

Enlarge / NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaks in front of a large hydrogen tank Friday at Marshall Space Flight Center. (credit: NASA)

When Jim Bridenstine became administrator of NASA 16 months ago, critics questioned his willingness to defend NASA's climate science portfolio and his ability to move beyond the partisan politics that characterized his nearly three terms as a Republican from Oklahoma. Since that time, Bridenstine has largely answered those questions. He has stood up for science and sought to work across the aisle.

However, Bridenstine has stumbled where most thought he would succeed—selling and communicating NASA's programs to Congress. In particular, the administrator appears to have angered some key Republican legislators who will be needed to support increasing funding for the agency's Moon plans.

Angering Shelby

For example, in March 2019, Bridenstine revealed at a Congressional hearing that NASA was looking at using commercial rockets to launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon. This represented a bold move, as Congress has demanded that NASA build the large Space Launch System rocket, at great cost, to serve as Orion's launch vehicle.

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Liliputing Chuwi MiniBook 8 inch laptop giveaway

Chuwi is the latest company to jump on the mini-laptop train, and the Chinese PC maker’s first model offers a pretty good mix of price and performance. The Chuwi MiniBook features an 8 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel touchscreen display, a 360-degree hin…

Chuwi is the latest company to jump on the mini-laptop train, and the Chinese PC maker’s first model offers a pretty good mix of price and performance. The Chuwi MiniBook features an 8 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel touchscreen display, a 360-degree hinge that lets you use the computer in tablet mode, at least 8GB […]

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Undead hordes rise from the sea in delightfully campy Zombie Tidal Wave

Director Anthony C. Ferrante discusses his ongoing collaboration with star Ian Ziering.

SYFY hopes to do for zombies what all those Sharknado movies did for sharks with Zombie Tidal Wave.

Fans of SYFY's delightfully cheesy B-movies like Sharktopus and Sharknado, rejoice. This weekend, the network debuts its latest offering in the genre: Zombie Tidal Wave. The title pretty much says it all.

(Mild spoilers below.)

Director Anthony C. Ferrante is the mastermind behind the hugely popular Sharknado and its five (count 'em!) sequels—it's a franchise that now even has a theme park attraction in Malaysia called Sharknado Alive. So what's this latest movie about? The trailer (embedded above) reveals a few details. A mysterious substance oozes out from the ocean floor, and suddenly hordes of the undead are swimming to the surface, popping up in the shallows off a local beach to snack on some unsuspecting sunbathers just trying to enjoy the day.

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Motorola brings 5G support to a 2-year-old phone (when you buy a $349 add-on)

Motorola is the only smartphone maker that’s really made use of a modular system that lets you add new features to existing phones by swapping out modules. Moto Mods let you add a big battery, a better speaker, a new camera, or even a projector t…

Motorola is the only smartphone maker that’s really made use of a modular system that lets you add new features to existing phones by swapping out modules. Moto Mods let you add a big battery, a better speaker, a new camera, or even a projector to supported phones. This year Motorola and Verizon also began […]

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