An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: In the months since a coalition of app-based gig companies successfully passed Prop 22 in California, exempting themselves from reclassifying their workers as employees, DoorDash has been silently passing costs onto consumers. The company-funded Yes on Prop 22 campaign claimed that not passing the ballot initiative would result in higher prices for consumers,…
Tag: fees
Google Maps’ Moat is Evaporating
An anonymous reader shares an analysis: See, Google Maps is not just an app on your phone. It’s also a suite of developer tools that power countless other applications that are used by millions of people every day. And that part of the business is known as the Google Maps Platform (but most of the time I hear it referred to…
US Approves NYSE Listing Plan To Cut Out Wall Street Middlemen
Companies may go public on the New York Stock Exchange without forking out fat fees to Wall Street banks which typically underwrite such capital raisings, the U.S. securities regulator said on Tuesday. Reuters reports: The Securities and Exchange Commission approval of the NYSE’s “direct” listing plan threatens to overhaul the U.S. initial public offering market, by allowing aspiring public companies to…
‘We Need a Broadband Internet Pricing Equivalent of Nutrition Labels’
An anonymous reader shares an article that’s part of the Future Agenda, a series from Slate in which experts suggest specific, forward-looking actions the new Biden administration should implement. Here’s an excerpt: Consumers in the U.S. face an infuriating lack of transparency when it comes to purchasing broadband services. Bills are convoluted, featuring complex pricing schemes. Roughly 7 in 10 U.S….
How Prestige Journals Remain Elite, Exclusive And Exclusionary
An anonymous reader shares a report: Last week, Nature journals unveiled their “landmark” open-access option. Nature journals will charge authors, starting in January 2021, up to $11,400 to make research papers free to read, as an alternative to subscription-only publishing. Scientists from around the world received this news with outrage and disappointment on social media. Nature’s announcement comes on the heels…
What Happened After Silicon Valley Tried to Make Telecommuting Permanent
California’s state air quality mandates require each region to have a feasible plan for a 19% reduction in emissions by 2035. But “after a barrage of criticism from Silicon Valley businesses and Bay Area mayors, Metropolitan Transportation Commission planners have backed off a requirement to have employees from big companies work from home three days a week,” reports the Bay Area…
The US Could Soon Ban the Selling of Carrier-Locked Phones
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: In the U.S., a complicated combination of corporate interests and pre-smartphone era legislation has resulted in more than two decades of back and forth about the legality of phone locking. It’s looking like that battle could ramp up again next year. The transition to a Biden administration could shake up the regulatory body…
‘Profitboss’ Is Saving Restaurants From Heavy Delivery App Fees
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Bay-area based startup Profitboss is pitching itself as the “easiest, fastest, and most convenient system to get back your customers from third party [services].” Free to restaurants, the service (which launched in 2018) lets restaurants open their own digital storefront. Profitboss CEO Adam Guild likes to compare his service to Shopify and the…
Hulu Hikes Prices of Live TV Packages by $10 per Month
Hulu’s live TV bundle is getting more expensive. From a report: The new prices are $10 per month higher than Hulu’s current fees and will go into effect Dec. 18, 2020. The higher rates apply to both current and new subscribers. Hulu began notifying subscribers of the price hikes Monday. Under the new pricing, the baseline Hulu + Live TV with…
Building the University of the Future
By Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera CEO Even before COVID-19 changed the ways we live, work, and learn, universities were facing major challenges. Almost half of the higher education institutions in the U.S. had no formal online programs in 2018, and last year, fewer than 50 percent of faculty had ever taught an online course. Meanwhile, universities […]
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