Hasta La Gadget!

The great city of London has been around for a few hundred years already, where it has played host to plenty of interesting events in the past. There are also plenty of iconic sights to check out, including the Tower Bridge, the Westminster Abbey as well as Buckingham Palace. Apart from that, there are those red double decker buses that ferry people around, in addition to a private and far more expensive option – the public taxi. If your private bank account is feeling a little heavy at the moment and your garage is rather empty, then the $40,000 Authentic London Taxi Cab would be the perfect addition to your home.

In fact, the Authentic London Taxi Cab is a real Hackney carriage which actually plied the streets of London for more than 25 years ago. If you were to drop by London today, it would remain an iconic fixture along the Strand, where the country’s first nation’s first taxi cab stand was established all the way back in 1636. This particular version happens to be a fully restored and overhauled Fairway that dates back from the 1980s. It was specially designed with a high degree of English sensibility, where you would end up with with plenty of room to carry out a decent business meeting right in the back of the ride. A 2.7-liter Nissan diesel engine is underneath the hood, where it is mated to a three-speed automatic transmission, power steering, and power brakes.
[ Fancy an Authentic London Taxi Cab in your garage? copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Japan is one advanced country, and needless to say, taking a cab ride there is more or less a safe form of public transport compared to some of the other developing countries whom cabbies there literally take you and your wallet for a ride. I am quite sure that some of us have taken a cab before only to realize after disembarking that we have left a personal belonging inside, making it difficult to trace. Well, Japan’s Kokusai Motors might have something on hand to help you out – they have announced a couple of days ago that they are working on a lost property detector system at this point in time which will see action within taxis, to be part of a joint venture with IDEA CROSS INC.

This item detection system is tipped to enter trial stages later this month, and there are also high hopes of it entering widespread use sometime later in 2013. A quartet of cameras mounted in the taxi itself will get the job done (fingers crossed), where shots are taken before the passenger has entered as well as after the passenger has alighted, and any item that was not present before entry is recognized as the passenger’s belongings. Pretty neat, don’t you think so? Good thing this system does not have facial recognition capability, so you know that your footage will not be abused in any way afterwards.

Japan Taxis To Get Lost Property Detector System original content from Ubergizmo.

VeriFone this week launched a new service for NYC taxi passengers, letting customers pay for a cab by tapping any compatible smartphone. Way2ride utilizes Zoosh ultrasound technology, enabling secure payments using the speaker and mic in your device and the payment terminal on the other end. The app, available for Android and iOS devices, lets you pre-select payment info and even a tip amount. To initiate a transaction, you’ll simply tap your phone anytime during the ride, then hop out right when you reach your destination — a receipt will appear within the app. You can even use the app to hail a cab, estimate your fare and report a lost item. Download it now at the source links below.

Filed under: Cellphones

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Source: VeriFone, Way2ride (Android), Way2ride (iOS)

The on-again–off-again status of NYC’s e-hail pilot program is now, well, back on. A New York state court has just lifted a temporary restraining order brought on by the city’s livery cab companies that halted the year-long trial of taxi-hailing apps like Uber, Hailo and TaxiMagic. They argued that using the apps to book cabs counts as pre-arranging a service, which is strictly their territory. After weeks of deliberation, judges sided with the city, which contended the software is just another way to hail a cab.

Filed under: Software, Mobile

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Source: The Epoch Times

Just a few days after receiving the nod from New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), UberTAXI has officially returned to the Big Apple — with some limitations. For starters, automatic fare billing is not yet available, so passengers will have to pay drivers directly via cash or credit card. Uber warns that ride availability will be limited as the company is working on adding more cabbies to its system. Also, while New Yorkers can use a mobile app to call for a ride, drivers cannot be requested by SMS. Finally, the TLC’s e-hail pilot program prohibits UberTAXIs from making trips to both JFK and LaGuardia airports along with accepting fares going outside of New York’s five boroughs. Restrictive? Yes, but at least it’s a start.

Filed under: Software, Mobile

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Uber