uUber Testing App Enhancements That Help Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Driversr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Uber)

  We’ve covered in the past Uber’s problems with the ride-hailing service’s disabled passengers, which range from ride snubs to service dogs forced to ride in the trunk. It’s worth keeping that in mind when you learn about Uber’s latest change to their driver app to accommodate a different community of people with disabilities: the service is testing changes to its system that make driving for the service possible for people who are deaf.

  Many of the changes to the app could, in theory, be helpful to all drivers. One feature for deaf and hard of hearing drivers is that the passenger is prompted to type in their destination address, which is much easier for a driver who can’t hear, but would also make life easier for a hearing driver too. Another is flashing a light to alert the driver that there’s a nearby passenger hailing instead of using a sound cue, and blocking voice phone calls, limiting communication from passengers to text messages only.

  People with disabilities have difficulties finding jobs, and while employing people to do piecework in the on-demand economy isn’t ideal, the app changes make things easier for people who do choose to drive for a living. “The NAD applauds the efforts of Uber to promote increased work opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers,” the CEO of the National Organization for the Deaf said in a statement for Uber’s announcement post. “Moreover, we commend Uber for enhancing their mobile app to improve communications between drivers and passengers, regardless of whether they are hearing or deaf.” Better communication between people hurtling around in a small metal box at 70 miles per hour so is something that we should always work toward.

  For Uber, though, this update comes at an interesting time, as the company is being sued by the National Federation for the Blind, and defends itself by saying that as a company that provides a mobile app and platform, they don’t need to follow federal and local laws regulating transportation for disabled people. That’s up to their drivers, who aren’t even required to take any Uber-mandated training. While that lawsuit is pending, Uber added features to attract a new population of drivers from a community who have historically been under-employed.

  APP UPDATES FOR DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING PARTNERS [Uber]
  Uber Unveils App Updates to Help Its Deaf Drivers [Wired]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uHBO Now Reportedly Coming To A Google Or Android Device Near You… Soonr

4 4 4 9

• 

  Apple CEO Tim Cook presents HBO Now at today’s press conference to launch the Apple Watch. (Photo: Glenn Derene/Consumer Reports)

  When HBO (kind of) cut the cord and announced it would finally launch a long-awaited standalone streaming service earlier this year, many Android users were left on the sidelines as it was revealed that HBO Now would start as an Apple exclusive. Now those once disconnected consumers can rejoice (if they so choose) because the service will soon be available on Google devices and Chromecast. 

  CNET reports CNET reports that Google’s head of products, Sundar Pichai, told developers today at Google’s annual conference that HBO Now would soon be available on Google and Android platforms.

  Pichai didn’t provide details such as cost or a timeline for when the service would be available on Android devices.

  But, according to CNET, Apple’s exclusive deal with HBO Now prevents other digital media distributors from supporting the app until July.

  HBO Now, which officially launched in mid-April, currently allows iOS users to subscribe to the $14.99/month offering through iTunes.

  People served by Cablevision’s Optimum Online broadband service could also add HBO Now to their monthly bill for the same amount.

  Despite Apple’s exclusive deal, users of other platforms weren’t completely shut out from HBO Now.

  The service has been available by web to anyone with a desktop or laptop computer, and subscribers can output that video to their TVs via HDMI if they choose. However, the only way to stream directly to TVs is currently the Apple TV box, meaning owners of devices from Roku, Amazon, Google, and others remained on the outside.

  HBO Now coming to Chromecast, Android devices [CNET]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uFBI Opening Investigation Into IRS Breach That Affected 100,000 Taxpayersr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (arsheffield)

  After the news yesterday that the Internal Revenue Service reportedly suspects Russian identity thieves were behind a breach that allowed thieves to access information for approximately 100,000 taxpayers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says it’s now investigating the incident.

  The FBI is looking into the theft of tax return information swiped from the IRS, with a spokesman saying today that agents are working to determine the “nature and scope” of the theft, reports the Wall Street Journal, urging anyone who suspects they might be victims of identity theft to contact authorities.

  “The compromise of government systems and theft of taxpayer data are taken very seriously, and the FBI and IRS will aggressively pursue and hold accountable those responsible for this recent incident,” the FBI spokesman said.

  The IRS said yesterday that thieves used the agency’s online services to get their hands on prior-year tax return information, by taking advantage of those questions necessary to gain access to personal transcripts.

  For example, you might be familiar with answering things like, “Which of these streets have you not lived on?” That kind of information can be gathered pretty easily by thieves with a hankering for stolen data and access to Equifax credit reports, as security blogger Brian Krebs pointed out.

  FBI to Investigate Internal Revenue Data Breach [Wall Street Journal]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAtlantic City Files Lawsuit Over Loan Program That Promised Relief For Struggling Residents, Businessesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (shonuff444)

  Back in 2013, Atlantic City launched a loan program aimed at providing up to $40 million in financial relief to the city’s struggling homeowners and businesses. But after nearly two years and an investment of $3 million, the people of AC have received little help, leading the city to file a lawsuit against the company hired to administer the program.

  The Associated Press reports that Atlantic City is suing ZeMurray Street Capital to recoup the $3 million it gave the company to run the Community Loan Program.

  Atlantic City alleges in the lawsuit that the company and operator W. Wesley Drummon misrepresented themselves, failed to deliver the promised services and failed to return the invested money when requested.

  The loan program, which was launched by then mayor Lorenzo Langford, was meant to help get the residents and businesses back on their feet during the city’s ongoing economic downfall driven by its floundering casino industry.

  At the time the agreement was signed in 2013, ZeMurray claimed it had the “experience and expertise necessary to establish and administer” the program.

  Funds from the program were meant to be lent by ZeMurray through the Tennessee Business and Industrial Development Corp. But according to the city’s lawsuit, that never happened.

  Instead ZeMurray Street Capital allegedly used most of the funds provided by the city to purchase a finance firm in Tennessee, the AP reports.

  To make matters worse, according to the suit, the purchase of TN Bidco was assisted by two brothers of an aide to Atlantic City mayor Langford.

  The purchase was delayed by Tennessee regulators, and as of May 2014, has still not received a final approval, meaning the company was unable to make loans outside of Tennessee.

  Since then, the company has had management of more than $6.6 million in government-backed loans taken away by the Small Business Association, the AP reports.

  A lawyer for the company denies the allegations leveled in the lawsuit, saying the city’s lawyers reviewed the loan program agreement.

  Both parties are due in federal court on Friday, the AP reports.

  Atlantic City sues over failed community loan program [The Associated Press]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uThis Former Pizza Hut Is Now The Liquor Hutr

4 4 4 9

• Pizza Huts are distinctive buildings. They’re so distinctive that there’s really nothing else like a Pizza Hut in the chain restaurant landscape. They have steep mansard roofs, brick exterior walls, and trapezoidal windows, and it takes significant renovation for them to not look like Pizza Huts anymore. That’s why we appreciate when new occupants surrender to their destiny and just call their new venture a “Hut.”

  For example, there’s The Liquor Hut in Blackwood, New Jersey, which we learned about from the amazing site Used To Be a Pizza Hut. While that site uses the store’s existence as an opportunity to bash New Jersey, we’d like to point out that the real lesson here is about embracing the inevitable. Your store was, and will always be recognizable as, a Pizza Hut. Embrace that. Make the most obvious thing about the exterior of the store something that also makes it instantly recognizable from the road and serves as a marketing hook.

  This doesn’t work for all businesses, of course. While I would definitely choose to make my final arrangements at a Funeral Hut, if a funeral home in a former Pizza Hut decided to use that name, most people probably wouldn’t.

  It’s disappointing, though, that there is more than one Christian church in a former Pizza Hut, and neither of them is called Jesus Hut. This is a lost opportunity, and deeply disappointing.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uCustomer Grateful For D.C. Restaurant’s Gumbo Leaves $2,000 Tip On $93 Billr

4 4 4 9

• It’s always nice to be appreciated for your hard work in any form, but when someone goes out of their way with a hefty chunk of change, you better believe it makes people excited. Thus was the case with a regular customer at a D.C. restaurant who loved his gumbo so much, he tipped $2,000 on a $93 lunch bill.

  Not only did he leave the massive tip unexpectedly, he outlined who at the restaurant should get what — $1,000 for the chef and $500 each for the server and owner of the restaurant, reports the Washington Post.

  The man lives nearby and comes to the bar a few times a month, the owner told the paper, and has taken a liking to the restaurant’s gumbo. He has emailed with the chef and the owner in the past over food pairings and beer selection. The chef had recently emailed with the regular, asking him to tell him when he was coming in the next time so he could make the gumbo he liked.

  With a date set up for Monday for the gumbo, the customer and his friend dined on gumbo, fried chicken, sides and beer, and even got two quarts of the stuff on the house as a “thank you.”

  It wasn’t until after the bartnder was cleaning up that she noticed the receipt had a huge tip tacked on to the $93 total, with a note reading “Thank you for the Gumbo!”

  “I was in utter shock,” she said. “I was completely speechless. I had to do a double take.”

  She showed her boss the receipt, and he was surprised as well, sending a thank-you email to the patron the next day.

  “This is the kind of stuff you see in the restaurant business that happens to some guy in the Midwest or the West Coast,” he said. “You think, who are these people who give these extraordinarily generous tips that just made a server or bartender’s day? And then sure enough, it happened to us.”

  As for the anonymous customer, he told the owner he’s happy with what the restaurant has built and that he’s proud to be a customer. Two thousand dollars worth of happy, it seems.

  After gumbo and beer, customer leaves a $2,000 tip at a D.C. restaurant [Washington Post]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uSprint CEO: Unlimited Data Works For Now But “Is Not Forever”r

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Misfit Photographer)
  

  
  The era of unlimited mobile data has been in rapid decline over the past few years. It turns out that consumers really like using mobile broadband and that wireless companies really like making money, and when the two go hand in hand the whole “unlimited” thing doesn’t really work out in business’s favor as much as “charge for data” does. Sprint has been trying to attract new customers by fighting against that tide, but even the top exec of the company now says that’s ultimately likely to be a losing battle.

  That’s what Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure told audiences at the Code conference this week in California. Sprint, which is the country’s fourth-largest wireless provider behind T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, started pushing new unlimited data plans as recently as last August — but they’re not going to be able to last forever.

  The main reason Sprint has to work so hard to bring new customers on board these days is because, bluntly, their network is terrible. The data speeds are slow and unreliable, and so using a significant amount of data at will, as subscribers are generally accustomed to being able to do with AT&T or Verizon, is just not going to happen. And Claure acknowledged that reality.

  “That’s fair,” he told the Re/Code moderator who said, basically, that Sprint’s network sucks. “I’ve been in this job for eight months and when I came, you were right, our network was absolutely drop-dead last.” But, Claure continued, serious upgrades are coming: “You can expect in the next 18 to 24 months, hopefully inviting me here two years from now, that our network will be ranked number one or number two.”

  But upgrades take money, and change the equation.

  “Unlimited is not forever. Let’s be very clear,” Claure said. “The better content, the better services, they’re going to consume more data.”

  “For now,” he continued, “unlimited works very well. User consumption is below our cost of producing data. But in the future, we might increase the cost of unlimited or we might eliminate unlimited at one point in time. Today, our customers have a choice. … Obviously, if we’re going to build a great network, in which you’re going to have great video from all the different partners that we have, the unlimited equation doesn’t work. But for now, it works very well.”

  Sprint CEO: Unlimited Data Is Great but It May Not Be Here to Stay (Video) [Re/Code]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Kate Cox via Consumerist