Slashdot reader damitr shared IEEE Spectrum’s look at Japan’s push for flying taxi services: Last year, Spectrum reported on Japan’s public-private initiative to create a new industry around electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles and flying cars. Last Friday [August 28th], start-up company SkyDrive Inc. demonstrated the progress made since then when it held a press conference to spotlight its prototype…
Tag: bay area
Andrew Yang Takes Lead Role In California Data Privacy Campaign
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is throwing his weight behind California’s November data privacy ballot measure — not just endorsing the initiative but chairing its advisory board, the Proposition 24 campaign announced Monday. Politico reports: Yang’s involvement could bring more visibility and cachet to the effort, given the tech entrepreneur’s national profile and popularity among younger voters. It could also help…
‘We’re Running Out of Homes For Sale,’ Lake Tahoe Brokers Say As Tech Workers Flee Bay Area
schwit1 shares a report from CNBC: A new wave of urban flight is reshaping real estate markets from New York to Chicago and Los Angeles to San Francisco. As part of this shift, Lake Tahoe is seeing unprecedented bidding wars, buying activity and price increases. Brokers say the inventory of homes for sale has shrunk to about one-fifth to one-tenth of…
Bay Area Tech Workers Consider Moving Amid Layoff Fears
More than half of tech workers in the Bay Area are concerned about being laid off or furloughed in the next six months, or their salaries hitting a plateau or dropping, according to a new report from Hired. From a news article: The tech industry has generally fared better than other sectors in the pandemic downturn, offering more chances to work…
Lyft Sparks Uproar After Opening Online Store to Sell Masks to Its Drivers
“The ride-hailing platform Lyft has opened an online store to sell masks and other protective gear as the Covid-19 pandemic intensifies, enraging drivers and labor organizers who say the company should be providing these free,” reports the Guardian: The tech company’s move to sell drivers protective gear rather than provide it resurfaces the debate of whether drivers are employees or independent…
Apple Puts $400 Million Toward Affordable Housing
Apple announced Monday that it is allocating $400 million toward affordable housing and homeowner assistance programs in California this year, as part of the $2.5 billion commitment announced in November. From a report: The housing crisis has worsened in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, forcing states and cities to pause spending on affordable housing projects. Big Tech’s wealth has been…
‘Guilty’ Verdict for Russian Who Stole 117M Dropbox and LinkedIn Login Codes in 2012
In 2012 “Russian hacker” Yevgeniy Nikulin breached the internal networks of LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring, and then sold their user databases on the black market, reports ZDNet. (He stole 117 million login codes, according to Bloomberg.) Nikulin was arrested in 2016 (while on vacation in the Czech Republic), and after an extradition battle spent years in U.S. prisons while awaiting his…
Former Yahoo Engineer Who Infiltrated 6,000 Accounts Avoids Jail
This week finally saw the federal sentencing of a former Yahoo software engineer who “admitted to using his access through his work at the company to hack into about 6,000 Yahoo accounts” back in 2018, according to America’s Department of Justice:
Ruiz admitted to targeting accounts belonging to younger women, including his personal friends and work colleagues. He made copies of images…
California To Allow Movie Theaters To Reopen In Most Counties
California counties, including Los Angeles County, could decide to reopen movie theaters as early as Friday. The Los Angeles Times reports: Each local health officer has the authority to decide whether to move forward with relaxing restrictions on reopening theaters. While the state provides guidance on how businesses can reopen, counties decide when they occur. The new rules would limit the…
Solving Online Events
Benedict Evans: I suspect part of the answer to this is actually that a lot of physical events will come back in some form as we emerge from lockdown. But this also makes me think that there will be new tools with much more radically new approaches, and some new behaviours and habits. Hence, it’s often struck me that networking events…