newyork
Latest
New York votes to ban ads for whole apartments on Airbnb
New York already makes it illegal to offer your whole apartment for short-term rentals through services like Airbnb, but it's giving that legislation some added bite. As part of a flurry of end-of-term approvals, the state's assembly and senate have voted for a bill that would make it illegal just to advertise your entire place for a short (under 30 days) rental. You'll face a $1,000 fine the first time you're caught, $5,000 the second time and $7,500 the third. Governor Cuomo still has to sign the bill into law, but that's likely to be a mere formality.
New York votes to legalize daily fantasy sports games
If you've wished that the daily fantasy offerings from DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo would come back to New York following their shutdown in March, you might just get your wish. State legislators have voted in favor of a bill that would greenlight and regulate daily fantasy games. If Governor Cuomo signs the measure into law, it would both tax companies with an entry fee (15 percent of gross revenue per year plus up to $50,000 more) and set some important baselines for conduct.
NY Attorney General tells TWC its broadband is 'abysmal'
Late last year, the New York Attorney General's office called on internet customers to submit broadband speeds as a part of its probe into service providers keeping their promises. After the stats were tallied, the AG found one company to be the worse than the others. In a letter from senior enforcement counsel Tim Wu, the office informed Time Warner Cable that speeds customers has submitted were "abysmal."
Open data reveals dodgy NYPD parking ticket practices
Open data policies in government don't just exist for the sake of convenience -- sometimes, they can reveal serious structural problems. I Quant NY's Ben Wellington took advantage of both New York City's open data and Google Maps to determine that the NYPD was issuing thousands of tickets on streets where parking is legal. While you're allowed to park next to a pedestrian ramp as long as there's no crosswalk, the police issued five or more tickets in 1,966 of these spots over the past 2.5 years. That's over $1.7 million per year in fines against people who were obeying the law.
Uber lets New York City drivers organize, with limits
Although Uber drivers have been organizing for a while, getting Uber to play along with those organizations has been difficult when it doesn't even want to treat workers as full-fledged employees. At last, though, there's some progress. Uber has partnered with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to create the Independent Drivers Guild, the first labor group the ridesharing company officially recognizes. The Guild gives New York City's Uber drivers a collective voice in some issues, particularly when Uber kicks them out. It'll also reduce rates on everything from insurance to legal services.
Google and AOL team up to stop tech talent leaving NYC
New York City may be the Big Apple, but it plays second fiddle to Silicon Valley when it comes to technology. That's why a number of companies located there including (Engadget's parent company) AOL, Bloomberg and, yes, California-based Google and Facebook have formed an advocate association called Tech:NYC. In a blog post, AOL's Tim Armstrong and New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson say "we feel that the NYC tech community deserves a more formal organization to represent itself before local and state governments and the business community and civic sector."
Uber drivers in New York State begin to organize
Over 1,000 Uber drivers in New York have formed a labor association, less than two weeks after Uber agreed to allow the practice as part of a $100 million settlement. Known as "Alles," for the Amalgamated Local of Livery Employees in Solidarity (Uber Alles?), the association is not the same as a trade union. However, it will be able to bring grievances against Uber management, help drivers negotiate with car and insurance companies and lobby government to change labor laws, according to Reuters.
Feds scrap Apple lawsuit in New York
The Department of Justice will no longer go after Apple in court in an effort to compel the company to unlock an iPhone related to a Brooklyn drug case. According to the court document US Attorney Robert Capers submitted (and obtained by Apple Insider), someone already handed the feds the passcode they needed. If you'll recall, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Cupertino in the state, using the All Writs Act to get the tech titan to comply.
Apple responds to government request in NY drug case
Remember when we said the fight between Apple and the government wasn't over? Well, its battle in New York just got a little more interesting. The Cupertino-based company responded to the Department of Justice's request to unlock an iPhone 5s involved in a Brooklyn drug case. It says that it isn't convinced that the government has exhausted all alternative methods to crack the phone, calling back to an earlier decision by a US magistrate judge that says it can't compel Apple to do so.
New York's NFC payments for public transit are five years away
The move toward a more futuristic modern New York City is going to be a slow one. The MTA recently opened up the bidding process (PDF) for replacing Gotham's existing MetroCard readers with NFC terminals for busses and trains, but the contracts are expected to last 69 months. So if you were hoping to tap your phone to hitch a ride sometime soon, that won't happen until deep into 2021 at the earliest.
New York bill would have police scan your phone after a crash
It may be relatively difficult for police to catch people texting while driving, but one proposed New York law would make it near-impossible to avoid detection if that distraction leads to a crash. A new state Senate bill would let police submit you to a "textalyzer" (basically, a device that scans for recent phone activity) after an accident -- you'd actually lose your license if you refused. Just as the Breathalyzer impacted drunk driving, the device would ideally help identify the cause of a crash and hold people accountable for dangerous behavior behind the wheel.
Yahoo stops daily fantasy sports contests in New York
Yahoo is following the lead of DraftKings and FanDuel and stopping its paid daily fantasy sports operations in New York. Reuters reports that this shutdown won't affect other states, however.
DraftKings and FanDuel stop operating in New York, for now
We hope you aren't an ardent DraftKings or FanDuel fan in New York -- that reprieve they got isn't going to last. The state's Attorney General has reached agreements with both daily fantasy sports sites that will have them shut down paid contests in New York from March 21st until at least September, when they get to appeal a ruling that put them on the wrong side of the law. You can still use them as a New Yorker if you're out of state, but you're otherwise out of luck.
Computers can tell when you've been drunk tweeting
In case the rambling string of misspelled words and incoherent thoughts weren't dead giveaways, scientists have developed a method of machine learning to sniff out drunk tweets. Researchers from the University of Rochester collected 11,000 geotagged tweets over a year from two areas: New York and Monroe County, filtering the 140-character notes containing "drunk," "beer," "party" and other libation-related words. From there the school employed Amazon Mechanical Turks to decide whether the person sending the tweets was simply talking about booze or were actually drinking it while tweeting.
Samsung has a new flagship store where you can't buy anything
Many people like to do their shopping online, but there's something to be said for going to a brick-and-mortar location and actually seeing something before you buy it. With that in mind, Samsung is joining companies like Apple, Microsoft and Nintendo in opening a physical shop to experience its product. But there's one key difference: Samsung won't actually be selling any devices at its new flagship location. Instead, you'll find art exhibits, cooking classes and musical performances in what the company is billing as a cultural center aimed at owners (and prospective owners) of Samsung devices.
Nintendo's flagship store reopens with a new name and new look
In the decade since Nintendo World opened, the store has become a tourist destination, a popular hangout for kids and a mecca for Nintendo fans across the globe. With that last audience in mind, it shut its doors last month so it could be remodeled into something more befitting its status as the world's only Nintendo retail location. And with that new design comes a new name: Nintendo NY.
NYPD used Stingrays over 1,000 times since 2008
Until now, New York City's police department hadn't disclosed any information about whether or not it used so-called Stingrays to monitor cell phone activity. In response to an NYCLU (NYCLU) request, the NYPD admitted that it used the devices over 1,000 times between 2008 and May 2015. What's more, NYPD doesn't have a written policy in place that guides how the tech should be used. As a refresher, Stingrays create a fake 2G cellular network that can be used to track the locations and monitor call or text activity in a certain area. Even when a specific mobile device is targeted, information from other phones in the area is still accessible.
Cops nab man for crashing a drone into the Empire State building
A New Jersey native's drone has recently crashed into the Empire State building, and unlike the person whose machine hit Seattle's Great Wheel, he didn't get away with it. Authorities have arrested the man an NBC affiliate identified as Sean Nivin Riddle after his drone struck the iconic building's 40th floor, ultimately landing on the 35th. While authorities didn't mention what the drone's purpose was in flying around NYC, a man with the same name tweeted that he was using the UAV to film until it hit the skyscraper.
NYC's parking meters are getting a big upgrade this year
Driving in New York City is stressful enough as it is and that's before you have to try finding a parking spot only to realize that you're out of quarters. Mayor Bill de Blasio has a plan in place for making the latter easier, however: upgrading Gotham's 85,000 parking meters so they all accept smartphone-based payment systems by year's end. Rather than printing out a slip and putting it on your dashboard, soon you'll be able to just flash your phone at the new Muni-Meters.
Uber's price cuts arrive for New York City passengers
Uber announced price cuts to encourage riders to use the service during the winter months a few weeks ago. Today, the price drop is hitting New York City. Passengers in the Big Apple can expect fares to drop by about 15 percent. For example, getting from Bay Ridge to Sunset park used to cost $10.54 with UberX, and now it'll set you back $8.96. The minimum fare is also reduced from $8 to $7 and other Uber options, like the SUVs on UberXL, are seeing a price drop as well.
