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Seattle law will force Uber and Lyft to pay drivers a minimum hourly wage
Seattle’s city council has unanimously approved a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers, becoming the second major US city to do so along with New York.
Oakland bans city use of facial recognition software
Oakland, Calif. is now the third US city to ban the use of facial recognition technology. The city passed an ordinance yesterday that prohibits the use of the technology on the grounds that it is often inaccurate, potentially invasive and lacks standards. "Face recognition technology runs the risk of making Oakland residents less safe as the misidentification of individuals could lead to the misuse of force, false incarceration, and minority-based persecution," Council President Rebecca Kaplan wrote in a letter recommending the ban.
Apple's 'spaceship' campus might be delayed until 2016
Apple was moving right along on its plans to build a "spaceship"-like campus on the ground in Cupertino by 2015, but according to a new report to the city council, the project has been delayed by at least a year. Apple was hoping to break ground on the new site this year, but the company is still working on an environmental impact report that's not expected to be finished until June 2013, and that report is required for Cupertino's council to approve the building. There aren't any big changes to the plan itself though a few revisions have been made, including a new scheme to develop the area without trucking dirt around, as well as a tweak that will move a big auditorium further away from campus center. The biggest issue is city council approval. And the council says that even if it approves the plans as they are, local residents might have other legal challenges that could delay the process even further. At any rate, Apple may not get to start building the spaceship campus until 2014, which means employees likely couldn't sit down at their new desks until a few years later. That's probably still fine with the company, though given how quickly things are moving in this industry, it's hard to tell just what Apple will be like when that date rolls around.
Vancouver City Council adopts iPads, saves 50K pages a year
The US city of Vancouver, Washington has seen its City Council adopt iPads this January in an experiment to test out the effectiveness of a paperless workflow. After two months, the touchscreen tablet is an early success as the Council has seen a 40 percent reduction in the number of printed pages it uses for meetings. It does more than just save paper, too. In a statement, the City Council describes how the iPad lets council members easily view documents stored on a local server. They can also visit websites mentioned during a meeting. Despite the high up-front cost of the iPad, it's saving the city money. Council leadership had been using BlackBerry devices for email and mobile document review, but the smartphone screens were too small for effective use. Vancouver was paying US$71 per month for each BlackBerry and is now paying $43 monthly for the iPad. Between printing and data costs, the city could save up to $500 per year by switching to the iPad.
Steve Jobs reveals Apple's new spaceship campus, calls it the 'best office building in the world' (video)
Shortly after taking the stage at WWDC, Steve Jobs made an appearance before the Cupertino City Council to pitch the local governing body on Apple's ambition to build a new campus. The site for the curvaceous, four-story, "human-scale" building to house 13,000 employees is the original home of HP's computer systems division, land that was recently sold to Apple. The property is currently covered by a series of big asphalt parking lots. Apple's plan would increase the landscape coverage from 20 to 80 percent with the help of a senior arborist from Stanford who will help restore some of the indigenous plant life to the property, including the apricot orchards. Apple plans to make the campus' energy center the facility's primary power generator using natural gas and other "clean energy" sources -- the city would simply provide backup power when needed. Of course, what would a Jobs presentation be without a few choice superlatives? In this case, Jobs claims that the new curved-glass facility will be the "best office building in the world," luring in students of architecture anxious for a peek. Apple plans to break ground in 2012 with a 2015 move-in date. As an aside, it's fascinating (and yes, troubling) to observe Gilbert Wong, Mayor of Cupertino, guffaw at Steve's "jokes" like a smitten schoolgirl, going so far as to fawn over his own iPad 2 in front of the assembly. For his part, Jobs seems to bite his tongue during several exchanges particularly when one city council member tries to extort free WiFi from Apple in an apparent quid pro quo. Click through to see what we mean. [Thanks, GB]
Mayor Bloomberg defends NYC in wake of GTA trailer
Mamma Mia! Here we go again, GTA, does it show how much politicians can't resist ya? GamePolitics points to a New York Daily News piece this morning where politicians are incensed by Liberty City's striking resemblence to New York City. The Daily News had city councilmen, Police Commisssioner Ray Kelly and even Mayor Bloomberg's office commenting that the game has nothing to do with reality. Bloomberg's office even whipped out statistics showing auto thefts have dropped 58 percent since Bloomberg took office, and so far this year New York City's murder rate is down 28 percent. Apparently that will all change once GTA IV hits the streets. Following yesterday's takeover at Take-Two, it doesn't look like protocol on GTA issues is changing, Take-Two refused comment on the story.Real life mayors getting upset about games taking place in their cities is a pretty recent phenomenon. Las Vegas was upset with Ubisoft over Rainbow Six taking place in the city of sin and Mexican government officials confiscated GRAW 2. For the record, this wouldn't be the first time Liberty City was the setting for GTA. In the latest incarnations Grand Theft Auto III and GTA: Liberty City Stories were also set in pseudo-New York. We don't fault politicians though, sometimes the activists who get these balls rolling are bit late. The groups that helped get GTA ads banned in Boston with GTA: Vice City Stories weren't on the ball or enraged enough when GTA: Liberty City Stories' ads ran a year earlier.
City Council unanimously approves Philly WiFi
Following unanimous approval by city council, the only remaining impediment between the City of Brotherly Love and ubiquitous wireless Internet access is a signature from Mayor John Street that, given his stance on the project, seems to be just a formality. Once Street gives the go-ahead, Earthlink will begin deploying its 15-square-mile test network in parts of North and South Philly, after which point the company will have the option of backing out should they be unhappy with the results of the trial. Assuming that all goes well, the city's entire 135-square-miles should be covered by glorious, data-rich signal sometime in the third quarter of 2007, which is when Earthlink and other ISPs will begin offering $20-a-month access with 50% discounts for low-income households. Besides creating a more attractive destination for businesses and tourists, the citywide network may also help convince U.S. Olympic Committee officials to choose Philadelphia as the country's representative to battle it out with other international cities seeking to host the 2016 Games.[Via The Wireless Report]
