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Bird's purchase of Scoot lets it back into San Francisco
You knew it was just a matter of time before there was further consolidation in the e-scooter world. Bird is acquiring Scoot in a move that both describe as a matter of "scale" -- that is, it'll help them take on heavyweight rivals like Lime. Scoot will continue to operate under its own name as a subsidiary of Bird. It's not certain how much Bird paid for the deal, but TechCrunch noted that Scoot was valued at $71 million.
Lyft sues San Francisco to block rival bike-sharing services
It looks like San Francisco's call for applications to expand its dockless bicycle program didn't sit well with Lyft. The company has just filed a lawsuit against the California city, seeking an injunction that would prohibit SF from giving its rivals permission to operate. Lyft claims that giving other companies a permit will violate the 10-year exclusivity agreement Ford GoBike -- previously operated by Motivate, which Lyft eventually purchased -- signed with San Francisco. The ride-hailing firm says the deal gives it exclusive rights to run bike-share services in the city, but local authorities are saying otherwise.
Lyft's low-cost Shared Saver rides come to six more US cities
Lyft's frugal Shared Saver option is now available to many more people. The ridesharing service ahs trotted out its most affordable option to six more large US cities, including Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle. The principle remains the same: if you're comfortable with both sharing a ride and walking short distances, you can save a bit of cash versus demanding exact pick-ups and drop-offs.
San Francisco bans city use of facial recognition
San Francisco is following through on talk of banning facial recognition tech. The city's Board of Supervisors has voted 8-1 in favor of a bill, the Stop Secret Surveillance Ordinance, that bans city government (including police) from using facial recognition technology. It also demands a public oversight body for surveillance technology purchases such as license plate readers and Stingray cell tower spoofers. The move makes San Francisco the first city in the US to outright ban government adoption of facial recognition tech.
San Francisco could be the first US city to ban facial recognition tech (updated)
The Chinese government has drawn widespread condemnation in recent months over its extensive use of public surveillance and facial recognition technology to monitor the movements of some 12 million Muslim citizens. "It's a 'Muslim tracker' funded by Chinese authorities in the province of Xinjiang to keep track of Uyghur Muslims," Victor Gevers, co-founder of GDI Foundation, a non-profit open-internet advocacy group, wrote on Twitter in February. Facial recognition tracking has received its fair share of criticism here in the US as well -- even as companies like Amazon field test their half-baked AIs with police departments across the country -- and may soon spawn the nation's first outright ban on the technology.
San Francisco lawmakers will consider a ban on e-cigarette sales
Authorities in San Francisco are considering banning the sale of e-cigarettes until the FDA carries out an investigation on their effects on health. Officials from the city -- which has already banned the sale of flavored tobacco and flavored vaping liquid -- said such a review should have been completed before e-cigarettes entered the market.
Philadelphia is the first US city to ban cashless stores
Philadephia has passed a law requiring almost all businesses to accept cash payments, effectively banning cashless stores. It comes into force July 1st, and businesses which violate it face a fine of up to $2,000.
San Francisco used an algorithm to help it reverse pot convictions
San Francisco has used an algorithm to to help identify more than 8,000 pot conviction cases for expungement. The District Attorney's office began working with non-profit Code For America on an automated system after California's marijuana reforms in 2016 kicked open the door for dismissals.
After Math: On the road again
Tesla had quite the week. Not only did the upstart carmaker get to show off its new semi and roadster, it also unveiled its multi-station Supercharger rest stop and managed to get itself onto the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit alleging pervasive racism throughout its ranks. Numbers, because how else will you know how many times this week your supervisors have greeted you with an n-bomb?
After Math: Xs and Os
It's been a wild week for schemes and strategies. A band of thieves made off with a load of new iPhones, the CIA released more of bin Laden's hard drive contents, and Netflix nixed House of Cards because Kevin Spacey turned out to be a sexual predator. Numbers, because how else will you know if your fence is underpaying for those looted wares?
Facebook brings VR to your office with the 'Oculus for Business' pack
While the new standalone Oculus Go stole the spotlight at Facebook's Oculus 4 event in San Francisco, the company did also announced its plans to bring virtual reality into the office space with the "Oculus for Business bundle. It includes a Rift VR headset, a pair of Oculus Touch controllers, three spacial sensors, and three "facial interfaces" (the foam bits that rest against your face) as well as dedicated customer support and expanded licenses and warranties.
Google's Pixel Buds translation will change the world
Google's Pixel 2 event in San Francisco on Wednesday had a lot of stuff to show off and most of it was more of the same: the next iteration of the flagship smartphone, new Home speakers and various ways of entwining them more deeply into your smart home, a new laptop that's basically a Yoga running ChromeOS and a body camera that I'm sure we've seen somewhere before. Yawn. We saw stuff like this last time and are sure to see more of it again at next year's event.
Google's Pixel 2: By the numbers
Google really turned on the new product firehose during its Pixel 2 event in San Francisco on Wednesday. We saw two new phones in two new sizes and five new colors, an updated Google Home, a pincushion-shaped "Home Mini", a Home home stereo (suck on that, Sonos), a 4-in-1 laptoblet called the Pixelbook, smart wireless headphones, an updated Daydream, and an automated clip-on camera accessory that decides what memories will matter most to you. Numbers, because how else will you know how badly you're about to blow your budget?
'Timberscrapers' could soon dominate urban skylines
They just don't make 'em like the Sakyamuni Pagoda anymore. Built from wood in 1056 in the Shanxi province of China, the building has remained standing to this day, despite seven earthquakes rattling the region within its first 50 years of existence. Since then, it's held up against a slew of seismic events, even when more-modern structures have failed. Now, thanks to recent advancements in timber technology, modern architects are rediscovering the benefits of working with wood.
3D printing will revolutionize how the Marine Corps fights
"The people closest to the problem are also the people closest to the solution," Capt. Chris Wood, co-lead for Additive Manufacturing with the US Marine Corps, told Engadget. In 2016, the USMC put that adage to the test as it launched the Logistics Innovation Challenge, a program "to solicit ideas from Marines, sailors and civilians from across the Marine Corps" that would address challenges that they face in their daily duties. And this is only the start to the US Military's additive-manufacturing aspirations. Pretty soon, everything from ammunition to autonomous vehicles could come from the Corps' cadre of 3D printers.
How Apple reinvigorated its AI aspirations in under a year
At its WWDC 2017 keynote on Monday, Apple showed off the fruits of its AI research labors. We saw a Siri assistant that's smart enough to interpret your intentions, an updated Metal 2 graphics suite designed for machine learning and a Photos app that can do everything its Google rival does without an internet connection. Being at the front of the AI pack is a new position for Apple to find itself in. Despite setting off the AI arms race when it introduced Siri in 2010, Apple has long lagged behind its competitors in this field. It's amazing what a year of intense R&D can do.
The PowerRay drone is an aquatic spyglass for playboy fishermen
Who needs fishing prowess when you have a remote-controlled, sonar-equipped, bait-dropping, mini-submersible at your disposal? Because with the new PowerRay underwater drone, that's exactly what you get.
Airbnb reportedly working on a flight-booking feature
Bloomberg reports that short-term rental listing service, Airbnb is looking to get into airline reservation game as well. According to unnamed sources within the company, Airbnb's plans are still in the formational stages. The company could either acquire an online travel agency outright or simply license the booking data.
After Math: Come undone
It's been a hell of a week, folks. American intelligence confirmed that Russia conspired to hack of our election, Uber unleashed a pack of poorly trained autonomous automobiles upon the streets of San Francisco, Snapchat's Spectacles went all medicinal and Super Mario Run debuted on iOS. Numbers, because how else are you going to know how many fingers are feeding you magic?
Google to 'pause' its Fiber rollout
Google announced on Tuesday that it plans to "pause" the planned expansion of its Fiber high-speed internet service in the 10 cities it had been looking into and will eliminate a number of positions in those cities -- 9 percent of the division's total number of employees, according to Ars Technica.
