Jul 17
It’s been more than a decade since Congress passed an increase to the federal wage floor.
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Jul 17
The Oakland City Council has passed an ordinance which bans city agencies from using facial recognition technology. This makes Oakland the third city in the country to pass such legislation. The ordinance was passed unanimously by members of the city council which goes to show that they’re of the same mind regarding this.
The ordinance bans city agencies such as the police from obtaining or using facial recognition technology. Similar legislation has already been passed by San Francisco and Somerville, Massachusetts. A second vote will be taken on this ordinance in September by the Oakland City Council but it will merely be a procedural thing as no changes are likely in the city’s position on this.
There has been widespread concern about the use of facial recognition technology by the government, both local and federal. Privacy advocates say that it may lead to an era where constant public surveillance is the norm.
Despite city governments banning the use of facial recognition, this is yet to be done on a federal level. House lawmakers did hold a hearing about facial recognition last week but there was no agreement if any potential regulation were to be applied to this technology. It’s going to be easier said than done at the federal level.
Oakland City Council Votes To Ban Facial Recognition Technology Use , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 17
Uber has a partnership with a startup called Cargo which allows its riders to purchase minor items like snacks or charging cables from consoles inside the vehicle. The two companies are now kicking things up a notch with a more substantial shopping experience that offers items like Apple AirPods and Oculus Go virtual reality headsets. Uber drivers obviously won’t be carrying around all of this gear with them at all times so this is an app-based shopping experience.
The Cargo app is now rolling out. It’s curated with Uber’s help to offer items like the Amazon Echo, Apple AirPods, Away luggage, make-up from Glossier, and Oculus Go headsets. Riders in cars with Cargo consoles will be able to get the app and make purchases. The collection of products will be expanded over time. More than 30,000 Uber drivers in 10 cities across the country have Cargo consoles in their vehicles.
When they make a purchase, customers get 10 percent back in Uber Cash which can be redeemed for future rides or purchases. The app will only work during an Uber trip and once a purchase is made, the item will be shipped to the customer’s home free of charge within two to five business days.
There’s also going to be an in-ride entertainment partnership with Universal Studios which offers movies for $5 and $10 a pop or in bundles for up to $20. This has been done because many people are now taking Uber trips that are longer distances to and from airports and they just might want to watch a movie to kill the time.
Uber Wants To Help You Buy AirPods And Amazon Echos , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 17
It was revealed a few months ago that Google was working on a secretive project for the Chinese market which would essentially have been a censored version of a search engine for the Chinese market. There was a lot of backlash, understandably, with even employees calling on the company to shelve the project. Google has now shut down its controversial “Dragonfly” Chinese search project.
Google’s vice president of public policy Karan Bhatia said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week that work on the company’s censored search engine for China has been “terminated.” A spokesperson for the company later added that there are no plans at Google to launch Search in the People’s Republic and that there’s no work that’s currently being done on such a project.
The company wasn’t really forthcoming with all of the details about Dragonfly. The leaked documents had revealed that this search app would only be for China and it would remove websites that were blocked by China from search results. Google eventually confirmed it was working on a project called Dragonfly but didn’t provide specifics.
It’s still unclear why Google has decided to stop work on this project. Whether it was due to the criticism from employees or because of some other issues, the company isn’t saying much about why it has chosen to no longer proceed with Project Dragonfly.
Google’s Controversial Chinese Search Project Shut Down , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 17
Apple serves a vast majority of podcast listeners through its Podcasts app so it wouldn’t be surprising if the company wanted to leverage that to not only retain that chunk of the market but also bring in more people. To that end, it’s likely that Apple might start throwing money around to pick up exclusive rights to original podcasts.
Bloomberg reports that Apple has contacted media companies to talk about securing exclusive rights of orginal podcasts. This isn’t surprising as Spotify and Stitcher, two of Apple’s biggest competitors in the podcasting market, already have their own exclusive programming.
Spotify, for example, recently signed an exclusive deal for podcasts with Higher Ground which is the production company of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. So it absolutely makes sense for Apple to do have exclusive programming as well.
The report mentions that Apple hasn’t outlined a clear strategy for this yet but it plans to go for the kind of deals that it didn’t make before. The company didn’t fund podcasts previously so as to avoid the perception that it was playing favorites. However, with the company now focusing on creating a lot of original content, it would understandably revisit its position on exclusive podcasts too.
Apple Could Buy Exclusive Rights To Original Podcasts , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 17
Volkswagen is calling time on its US wagons, with the Golf Alltrack and Golf SportWagen both facing the axe by the end of the 2019 model year. As you might expect it’s SUVs that are to blame for the decision, with VW conceding that drivers are voting with their wallets and it’s not in favor of the humble station wagon. … Continue reading
Jul 17
Wyze, the company that skyrocketed to popularity by launching a $20 home security camera, is back with yet another product: connected light bulbs. These bulbs are integrated with the Wyze app but do not require a separate hub; even better, they come with an $8 price tag, making them one of (if not the) cheapest connected bulbs on the market. … Continue reading
Jul 17
Back at E3 2019, Nintendo made a pretty big deal about Luigi’s Mansion 3. Given its 2019 release window, we expected Luigi’s Mansion 3 to be a big focus of the show, and it was exactly that. There was only one problem: E3 came and went without Nintendo confirming an actual release date for the game, something we thought we’d … Continue reading
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