Uber is planning to add travel booking via flights, trains and more in the UK this year to expand its ride-hailing business, The Financial Times has reported. The new service is designed to provide a “seamless door-to-door experience,” so that you can book your flight, train and Uber all on the same app. To do so, the company will integrate its software with airlines, inter-city bus and rail operators (include Eurostar Channel Tunnel tips) and car rental companies, according to CNBC.
The UK is one of the company’s largest markets outside the US, so the expansion is a big step. “You have been able to book rides, bikes, boat services and scooters on the Uber app for a number of years, so adding trains and coaches is a natural progression,” said Uber UK general manager Jamie Heywood. “Later this year we plan to incorporate flights, and in the future hotels, by integrating leading partners into the Uber app to create a seamless door-to-door travel experience.”
This “super app” strategy isn’t new, as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he wanted Uber to be the “Amazon of transportation,” when he first joined the company. Prior to the pandemic, around 15 percent of Uber trips were higher-margin rides to or from airports. “With COVID behind us, with this big push into new modes of transport, we want to signal that this is a very important growth lever for us over the coming years,” Heywood said.
It’s not yet clear to what extent Uber will compete directly with other travel booking services, but Khosrowshahi was CEO at Expedia before coming to Uber. The company might have a leg up on rivals in that it could also offer a ride from airport to hotel, essentially owning the whole process.
Uber recently announced that it would let New York City users book Yellow Cab taxis directly through its app, with passengers paying around the same as they would for an Uber X ride. The company also plans to offer a similar service in San Francisco. It’s not clear yet, though, when or if Uber will offer its expanded travel booking service in the US.
Google will be violating South Korean law if it pushes through with its plan to remove apps linking out to external payment methods, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said in a new legal guidance. Last year, the country passed a law that requires major app stores to accept alternative payment methods, and Google readily agreed to comply: It allowed developers to offer an alternative in-app billing system to live alongside its own. The tech giant still collects a cut for payments made through that alternative billing system, though, and it’s only 4 percent lower than the commission the company collects for payments made through its own system.
If the typical service fee for a purchase is 15 percent, then Google collects 11 percent instead. For ebooks, it collects a 6 percent commission instead of 10. Korean developers weren’t happy, and as The Register and The Wall Street Journal report, they responded by linking out to third-party payment systems in order to avoid paying Google’s fees. The tech giant had already blocked them from being able to update their apps, and it warned them that their apps will be removed from the Play Store if they continue to offer external links by June 1st.
An association of developers in Korea brought the situation to KCC, asking the commission to clarify whether Google’s actions comply with the law. See, the new law is rather vaguely worded and doesn’t explicitly state if outlinking is legal or not. Based on the commission’s legal guidance, the KCC sees external links to outside payment systems as perfectly OK and that Google is violating the law by restricting updates and deleting apps that offer them.
The KCC can conduct preliminary status inspections to identify specific violations if Google removes apps linking out to external payment methods as planned. If it finds that the company truly has violated the law, then it can slap Google with a fine equivalent to up to 2 percent of its app store revenue in the country. A company spokesperson told The Journal that Google is reviewing the guidance and that it will work with local app developers to expand users’ choice.
Google recently launched a pilot program that allows participating developers like Spotify to offer their own payment method. They have to offer their own payment systems in-app, however, alongside Google Play’s. As for Apple, it recently started allowing “reader” apps such as Netflix and Spotify to link to their own websites for payment as part of a settlement with the Japan Fair Trade Commission.
If I ever take the plunge on an electric bike, I hope it’s a slick VanMoof. The company has unveiled two new models that are, unfortunately, slightly more expensive than their predecessors, but pack in a bunch of upgrades alongside impressive anti-theft technology. The S5 and A5 will each cost $2,998, but VanMoof hasn’t shared a release date just yet.
The new S5 is for longer rides. VanMoof reworked the straight frame to increase the height of the riding position and changed to larger 27.5-inch wheels for a smoother experience. Meanwhile, the A5 is more for shorter trips. It has an angled frame with a lower step-in and 24-inch wheels. There’s support for both rear and front carriers as well. Both bikes weigh over 44 pounds.
The new models have an updated 250W motor, slightly different battery layouts (the S5 will cover up to 150 km (93 miles)), while the A5 has a range of up to 140 km (87 miles) and, gasp, a built-in phone charger.
Now, living in a big city, the biggest impasse for me is the fear of getting my new expensive e-bike stolen. Both the S5 and A5 include a Gen 5 kick lock you can arm with a tap of your foot. It’ll unlock automatically when you return. VanMoof is working on certification for Apple’s Find My network and will continue to employ its Bike Hunters. If that team can’t find and recover your premium e-bike within two weeks of it being lost or stolen, it’ll send you a replacement. The service still requires the company’s Peace of Mind insurance, however.
Expect more realistic visuals and streamlined tools.
After nearly a year of early access, Epic Games has officially released UE5 to developers. The new Unreal Engine’s most obvious upgrades affect the basics of 3D rendering. The Nanite geometry system lets producers use objects with millions of polygons while scaling easily and maintaining playable frame rates. Lumen, meanwhile, provides dynamic global lighting that adapts to, pretty much, everything. You’ve seen early results in Epic’s The Matrix Awakens tech demo — UE5 can render extremely detailed scenes with more natural lighting than you’ve seen in the past.
Crystal Dynamics is returning to the series that put it on the map.
And on that note, we’re getting a new Tomb Raider title. While the latest trilogy was generally well received, it didn’t quite set the world alight. Maybe more polygons will improve things. Developer Crystal Dynamics said the move to UE5 would help the studio take its “storytelling to the next level.” The next Tomb Raider joins a handful of games already announced for UE5, including the next Witcher game and Black Myth: Wukong.
LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden and Michael Dorn join the cast.
The main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation will appear on the third and final season of Picard. LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden and Michael Dorn will join Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner, who have already featured in the series. Executive Producer Terry Matalas teased on Twitter that the series will go out on a “final, high-stakes, starship-bound adventure.”
They’ll build vehicles in the compact crossover and other segments.
GM and Honda will co-develop a series of affordable EVs using a global architecture and GM’s Ultium battery technology, the companies announced. They promised to build vehicles in multiple product segments, including the compact crossover category, calling it a “new chapter” in their partnership. The companies plan to discuss EV battery collaboration in an effort to drive down costs and improve performance and sustainability.
The word “affordable” comes up a lot in the press release, as both companies emphasized the idea of building cheaper EVs than are currently available. “Honda and GM will build on our successful technology collaboration to help achieve a dramatic expansion in the sales of electric vehicles,” said Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe.
Nikon’s Z9 offers a rare combination of speed, resolution and video capability. It’s the first mirrorless camera without a mechanical shutter, but the sensor is fast enough to minimize any rolling shutter issues. It has Nikon’s best autofocus system by far and delivers outstanding image quality. Video is top-notch as well, with 8K 30p on tap and 8K 60p RAW coming later this year via firmware update.
The main drawbacks are the lack of an articulating display and the $5,500 price — for the body alone. It’s still an impressive Nikon camera – the company has finally nailed video. I’d suggest checking out our detailed YouTube review and sample shots on the main site.
Collaboration is a huge part of Google Docs, letting multiple users chip in edits, comments and more. Now, you can include not just text in your comments but emoji reactions, much as you can in messages or on social media. “The new emoji reactions feature provides a less formal alternative to comments to express your opinions about document content,” Google said in a blog post announcing the feature.
The new option appears when you highlight text in a document while in “editing” mode. From there, you’ll see a new “add reaction” icon smiley face icon that lets you place emojis in the editing comments section. Google notes that emojis used will be shared with Google chat, “so any preferences set in one app will be reflected in the other.” Both apps can also be used to update emoji preferences via the picker.
Google recently feted the 15th anniversary of Docs (along with Sheets). It has gradually boosted the feature set over that time, with the last update allowing you to draft emails in Docs and then send them using Gmail.
Emoji reactions on a Google Doc could be an easy way to add feedback, but then again they may not fly in some business environments. Either way, the feature can’t be disabled by the user and “there is no Admin control for the feature,” according to Google. The feature started officially rolling out yesterday, but it may take some time to appear depending on your domain type and region.
Anker, a company most known for its charging products, is getting into the 3D-printing business. The company has just announced AnkerMake, its new 3D printing brand, and its first model called AnkerMake M5. Anker claims that the M5 solves the most critical issues that have prevented 3D printers from going mainstream, including their typically slow print speeds.
The AnkerMake M5 has a basic print speed of 250 mm/s that’s meant to be used if you’re working on more detailed projects that need a smooth finish. However, the printer also has a much speedier mode that gives it the power to print up to 2,500 mm/s². The end result is rougher and less detailed, and the mode is mostly suitable for prototypes and perhaps random toys, but Anker says it enables the M5 to reduce average print times by up to 70 percent compared to other printers.
In addition to being speedy, the M5 was designed to be easy to set up: It will apparently only take 15 minutes to get it ready to start printing. To address another pain point — the need for constant supervision — Anker gave the M5 the capability to monitor print jobs with a built-in AI-powered camera. If it detects issues like nozzle plugging, it can send an alert to your phone. You can also view live feeds of your print jobs through the Anker mobile app wherever you are.
Whether the M5 can deliver on all those promises remains to be seen. At the moment, it’s a Kickstarter project, which means it could take a while for Anker to start shipping the product, and that’s if the campaign reaches its goal. If you want to back the project and don’t mind waiting, you can get the the AnkerMake M5 for its super early bird price of $429. After that, you’ll have to pledge at least $499 to secure a unit.
If you were trying to watch Drake, Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, The Weeknd, Eminem, Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Kanye West, Michael Jackson and other artists on YouTube this morning, you may not have seen what you expected. Music video network Vevo was reportedly attacked by someone with the Twitter handle @lospelaosbro, who uploaded some extremely strange clips, The Verge reported. Those included video of a rapper called Lil Tjay and a man called Paco Sanz who was sent to jail for scamming donations after lying about having cancer.
Vevo acknowledged the incident, telling Engadget that “some videos were directly uploaded to a small number of Vevo artist channels earlier today by an unauthorized source.” It added that no pre-existing content was accessible to the attacker and said that it would be “conducting a review of our security systems.”
Vevo is owned primarily by music labels Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. The company says it controls “the largest network of music channels on YouTube,” and essentially acts like a contractor, allowing distributors to merge Vevo channels with existing channels as “Official Artist Channels.” Google also owns a small stake in the service.
According to a Vevo FAQ, artists don’t post their videos directly, but send them to “content providers” for uploading. Content providers include major labels like Universal Music Group and Sony Music, along with independent distributors. The hacked artist channels belong to multiple labels and Vevo said that they have now been secured and the incident is resolved.
Update 4/6/2022 1:34 PM ET: The article has been updated with a statement from Vevo.
The price for an Amazon Music Unlimited plan is going up from $8 to $9 for Prime members, Amazon has confirmed. It’s also raising the price for a “Single Device” subscription from $4 to $5, as spotted byConsumer Reports reporter Nicholas De Leon. Non-Prime members will continue to pay $10 per month and the Family Plan will still cost $15 per month for Prime members only.
The news means that Prime subscribers are barely getting any kind of deal on Amazon Music Unlimited, whereas Prime Video is still included for free in the plan. The price is still a bit cheaper for Prime members than you’d pay for Apple Music ($10 per month) or Spotify ($10 per month). Amazon also offers Music Prime for free to Prime members, but you’re limited to 2 million songs and can only play on one device at a time.
Amazon Music Unlimited is obviously best if you’re a Prime subscriber and have an Echo or other Alexa device, though it works on tablets, smartphones, TVs, Amazon Fire devices, PCs and so on. However, the user interface is generally considered subpar compared to Apple Music or Spotify, lacking things like biographies in artist profiles. Some of the benefits include downloads for offline listening and HD, Dolby Atmos and Sony 360RA streaming at no extra cost.
Uber customers in San Francisco might soon find a traditional taxi waiting for them when they use the app to summon a ride. According to San Francisco Chronicle, the ride-hailing giant has inked a deal with Yellow Cab SF and Flywheel, the company that operates an Uber-like app used by taxi drivers across companies in the city. The agreement will give 1,075 taxi drivers in the area access to Uber customers in the coming months. Uber recently struck a similar deal in NYC, allowing people in the city to hail any of its 14,000 taxi drivers through the app.
The companies were able to finalize the deal, because the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board has just voted in favor of allowing taxis to accept flat upfront rates for rides hailed through a third-party app. Customers can expect to pay UberX rates, which are calculated based on trip time and distance on top of a base fare, for taxi rides. The year-long pilot for the deal will begin on August 5th.
Uber’s rates are typically lower than metered fares, though they could be higher during surge times. Kate Toran, SFMTA’s director of taxis, said during the board meeting that Uber and Lyft fares are about 80 to 85 percent of metered rates. While drivers could earn less than usual for Uber rides, their participation is completely optional. They can accept Uber rides whenever they want, and there are no consequences for rejecting them.
Flywheel and Yellow believe the deal would benefit drivers, who could accept Uber rides to fill in gaps for dead hours. “[H]aving some revenue come in versus no revenue is a much better situation in the end, even if it is lower than the taxi rate,” Yellow Cab CEO Chris Sweis said. Still, not all SF cab drivers are thrilled about the development. Mark Gruberg, a board member of the San Francisco Taxi Alliance, expressed concerns about regular taxi customers being ignored during Uber surge times. Another driver told ABC7News that earning less money from Uber rides would mean he’ll have a harder time paying off the debts he took to pay for his medallion, which cost $250,000.
If Uber gets its way, though, there’ll be no taxi left that isn’t part of its network. Uber exec Andrew Macdonald recently said during an investor presentation (PDF) that that the company aims to put every taxi on Uber by 2025. Doing so wouldn’t only increase its driver supply, it could also unlock new markets where people don’t have their own cars to use for the service.
Facebook is taking another step to encourage users to create original content for its TikTok clone. The company introduced a new “sharing to Reels” feature to allow users of third-party apps to post directly to Facebook Reels.The update allows outside …
Block disclosed today that a security breach involving a former employee impacts 8.2 million Cash App users. In an SEC filing, the company reported that an ex-employee on December 10th downloaded a number of reports with information on customer informa…