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Waze can get you a roadside tow in Europe
Car trouble on the motorway is frustrating enough by itself, let alone if you don't have a roadside assistance plan to ease your worries. Waze may soon help get you out of a jam, though. The Google-owned navigation app is teaming up with Allianz Partners on an in-app Roadside Help (SOS) button for European drivers. Tap it and a call center or digital platform will get in touch to help you with a breakdown or emergency, whether or not you have insurance or a roadside assistance policy. You shouldn't have to frantically search for a towing company when all you want to do is get home.
Drone Racing League lands a title sponsor for the 2017 season
It doesn't quite have the cachet of something like the Winston Cup (yet), but the Drone Racing League says its 2017 campaign will be called the Allianz World Championship Series. In another move cribbed from traditional motorsports, the drone pilots will have sponsors too. This season is airing on TV again with 12 hour long episodes that will come to ESPN/ESPN2. Those identical DRL Racer 2 drones will fly through 3D courses at more than 90mph, with the league promising bigger courses and faster drones this season. The action kicks off in June, but for now, there's a preview trailer to feast your eyes on.
The extremes of technology customer service: how common sense and empathy create unmatched loyalty
Allow me to explain how two discussions started off in very similar ways, and ended... shall we say, differently. This is me, attempting to muster any sort of pleasantness in my voice at some ungodly hour of the morning on a Google Voice connection from Dubai back to the US: "Hey! I'm having to cut a trip short due to an emergency back home. I actually purchased a trip protection plan when I checked out online -- would it be possible to provide a refund for this flight now that I need to cancel it?" From here, I was told that this was too vague. That I would need medical proof of an injury or illness, and that if it were a pre-existing condition -- something like reoccurring cancer -- that simply wouldn't do. Oh, and if it's a home emergency, you'll need proof from your home insurance company that your abode is "uninhabitable." "So... I'm basically hosed here? This trip protection plan doesn't really protect very much, does it?" "... Do you want to file the claim?" "No. That's okay. Thanks for your time." It doesn't have to be this way.
