MyTaxi starts one-hour delivery in Germany, may reach US cities next year

DNP Mytaxi makes trials onehour package delivery, battles limited patience abroad

Don’t let the name fool you, Mytaxi wants to drop off more than just people. The app-based service that began as a German take on Uber has now started using its fleet of drivers to offer one-hour courier deliveries in its home country. The Next Web reports that, once this initial trial is over at the end of the year, the 60-minute service could be expanded to cover US cities including Washington, D.C. (where Mytaxi already operates cabs), Denver, Miami and Seattle, at prices similar to existing shipping options. There’s a touch of irony in waiting around for the ambiguous domestic start date but, in the meantime, Google and eBay have you covered.

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Source: The Next Web

DPD to let UK shoppers track home deliveries in real time (video)

DPD to let UK shoppers track home deliveries in real time video

If you’re like us, you want a better sense of where your packages are than “on truck for delivery.” So does the UK’s DPD, apparently, as it’s rolling out a Follow My Parcel service that will let online shoppers track their goods in real time. The feature gives customers a web link that lets them see both the delivery vehicle’s live position and a package’s place in the queue. The new system is accurate enough to narrow the delivery window to 15 minutes — in theory, recipients won’t be caught off-guard again. There’s also options for giving the shipment to a neighbor or rescheduling the shipment altogether. Follow My Parcel should be available through Interlink Express on August 5th, and British retailer ASOS already plans to offer the service to its customers.

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Via: The Verge

Source: DPD, Interlink Express (Twitter)

Microsoft resurrects Courier through Project Austin app for Windows 8, sparks nostalgia (video)

Microsoft resurrects Courier through Project Austin app for Windows 8, sparks nostalgia video

Many who’ve been following Microsoft’s tablet efforts for years will have a soft spot for the Courier, a creative-focused device axed because it didn’t fit the Windows puzzle. However, it looks like you just can’t keep a clever idea down. Developers at Microsoft have revived the dream through Project Austin, a Windows 8 app based around the visual concept of a notebook. Pen aficionados can choose different paper types and paste in photos, but they’re deliberately kept away from typing, searching and other elements that would complicate the idea. It should sound familiar: it’s a rough (if possibly unintentional) Windows doppelganger to FiftyThree’s Paper for iPad, which itself was designed by some of the former Courier team. A company spokesperson won’t say if or when Project Austin will be available in a complete form for the public, although there’s not much point until Windows 8 arrives on October 26th. Thankfully, programmers keen to see what Courier might have been — if just in bits and pieces — can already download the source code for themselves.

Continue reading Microsoft resurrects Courier through Project Austin app for Windows 8, sparks nostalgia (video)

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Microsoft resurrects Courier through Project Austin app for Windows 8, sparks nostalgia (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Visual C++ Team Blog, ZDNet  |  sourceProject Austin (CodePlex)  | Email this | Comments

TigerText adds secure messaging to Dropbox in bid to rid the world of bicycle couriers

TigerText adds secure messaging to Dropbox in bid to rid the world of bicycle couriers

Secure messaging outfit TigerText has mixed its sauce with Dropbox’s API to make a private communications goulash that could spell doom for the humble bicycle courier. The technological team-up enables users to share documents with a pre-set lifespan and recall an attachment if you really didn’t mean to send your boss so many cat pictures. Thanks to its HIPAA-compliant encryption, the documents you push around cannot be downloaded, copied or forwarded, making it ideal for law firms, medical agencies and movie studios that currently blow thousands of dollars on using messengers to take secret stuff ’round town.

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TigerText adds secure messaging to Dropbox in bid to rid the world of bicycle couriers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  sourceTigerText  | Email this | Comments