If handing the keys to your car over to a valet parking service meant knowing that the company will forget to tell you when they damage your car, would anyone use valet parking at all? Probably not. Yet that’s exactly what happened when one restaurant customer, who discovered damage to his vehicle that the valet had sort of forgotten to tell him about. [More]
drivers
Uber Expands Food Delivery Service UberEATS To Chicago, New York City
By 4.28.15
Since opening for business, ride-sharing company Uber hasn’t been content with simply giving customers rides from point A to point B. After dabbling in all kinds of pilot programs including on-demand drop-offs of everyday essentials and courier services, the company seems to have found a second niche: food delivery. And so, Uber plans to expand UberEATS to Chicago and New York this week.
Dutch Prosecutors Open Criminal Investigation Into Uber Following Violations Of Banned Service
By 4.17.15
Uber’s latest hurdle to provide service in Europe, where many cities and countries have banned the ride-sharing service, comes in the form of a criminal investigation by Dutch prosecutors. [More]
Uber, Lyft Trying To Convince Courts That Drivers Are Not Employees
By 3.12.15
What’s the difference between a contractor working for you and an employee? Often, an employee will receive benefits like health insurance and workers compensation if something goes awry, among other things, while a contractor is hired to do one job and that is it. Uber and Lyft don’t want their drivers to fall into the employee category and be responsible for all that entails, but thus far they haven’t been able to sway the courts to see it their way. [More]
NYC Lawmakers Want To Pay People For Submitting Videos Of Illegally Idling Vehicles
By 3.10.15
Getting paid to spy for your government isn’t just something for the movies: In New York City, lawmakers are introducing a bill that would reward citizens who report drivers of idling vehicles and submit a video of the act as proof. [More]
Did Lyft Backtrack On $1,000 Bonus Promise For New Drivers Or Is It Simply Overwhelmed By Applicants?
By 3.6.15
In an effort to raise a fleet of drivers for its ride-sharing service, Lyft offered $1,000 bonuses both to new drivers and those referring them last week. But it appears the company might have bitten off more than it can chew after receiving more applications than anticipated, leaving some hopeful drivers without bonuses. [More]
Uber Adding “Panic Button” To Mobile App In Chicago
By 2.13.15
A few weeks after announcing that Uber would implement a panic button feature in its app for users in India after allegations of rape against a driver there, the company now says it’ll be launching the safety feature in Chicago soon as well. [More]
Package-Chucking FedEx Workers Caught On Viral Video Fired
By 7.29.13
Welcome to the modern surveillance state. Everywhere you go, there are countless hidden devices that could be spying on you, ready to splash your image and actions in front of millions for public ridicule. We mean smartphones, of course. One New York City-area FedEx driver learned this the hard way when a motorist filmed her hurling packages into a truck, and she lost her job. [More]
Creative Backs Down, Reinstates Spurned Developer
By 4.5.08
Creative Labs heard your chest-beating across the internet and decided to reinstate spurned developer Daniel_K less than a week after booting him from their forums. Unlike Creative, Daniel_K issued drivers that allowed Creative sound cards to work properly under Vista, and even enabled previously crippled features. The drivers were downloaded over 100,000 times. The company thanked the developer by accusing him of “enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, [in] effect, stealing our goods.” Even though he has been reinstated, Daniel_K is still pissed.
Creative Sparks Customer Revolt When It Tries To Silence Third-Party Programmer
By 3.31.08
Creative’s executive team will be coming in to quite a mess Monday morning, thanks to its VP of Screw Ups, Phil O’Shaughnessy. Friday morning, he posted a warning on the Creative customer forums that told programmer Daniel_K to stop writing his own drivers for their X-Fi sound cards. The cards still won’t work on Vista over a year after the OS was released, because Creative hasn’t released drivers for them—but by Mr. O’Shaughnessy’s account, Daniel_K is “stealing” from Creative by making the cards work. Then the weekend happened.
HP Won't Issue New Drivers For Leopard, Tells You To Buy A New Printer
By 3.15.08
Matt’s Officejet 6110 scans perfectly under Ubuntu, but won’t play nice with Leopard. When Matt called HP for support, he was told that the company has no plans to issue new drivers so he should just buy a new printer. To soften the blow, the tech mentioned HP’s trade-in program, which would give Matt a whopping $16 for his printer.
