People tell me when I go to the beach to look at the sunset to try to see a green flash. What is a green flash? Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/sunset-and-the-legendary-green-flash…
Tag: San Francisco
Hong Kong Protesters Using Mesh Messaging App China Can’t Block: Usage Up 3685%
An anonymous reader quotes Forbes: How do you communicate when the government censors the internet? With a peer-to-peer mesh broadcasting network that doesn’t use the internet. That’s exactly what Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters are doing now, thanks to San Francisco startup Bridgefy’s Bluetooth-based messaging app. The protesters can communicate with each other — and the public — using no persistent managed…
Lab-Testing Startup uBiome Files For Bankruptcy
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal: Embattled lab-testing startup uBiome Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday and put its assets up for sale after suspending testing of its clinical products. The San Francisco-based company filed for chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., and said it has lined up an $8 million bankruptcy…
Should We Be Allowed To Kick Robots?
“Seen in the wild, robots often appear cute and nonthreatening. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be hostile,” argues a new article in Wired, reporting on what appears to be a pre-meditated kicking of a Knightscope K5 patrol robot in a parking lot in California: K5’s siblings, it turns out, don’t fare much better. In 2017 a drunk man attacked a K5…
Uber, Lyft Propose $21/Hour Minimum Wage For Drivers After Wave Of Protests
Uber and Lyft, the two biggest rideshare companies, are telling their drivers they are willing to compromise with a proposal that includes a minimum wage of $21 per hour. From a report: The new proposal comes after days of protests that brought a caravan of rideshare drivers through San Francisco and ended in Sacramento Wednesday. The demonstrating drivers said they are…
Splunk To Buy Cloud-Monitoring Software Maker SignalFx For $1.05 Billion
Splunk Inc. reached a $1.05 billion deal to buy cloud-monitoring startup SignalFx Inc., a deal that would strengthen the cybersecurity and data-analytics firm’s offerings in the fast-growing cloud-computing sector. The Wall Street Journal reports: Founded in 2004, Splunk — a play on the word “spelunking” — collects and analyzes data to help companies identify patterns, like customers’ beverage preferences, and detect…
Waymo Releases a Self-Driving Open Data Set For Free Use By Research Community
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Waymo is opening up its significant stores of autonomous driving data with a new Open Data Set it’s making available for the purposes of research. The data set isn’t for commercial use, but its definition of “research” is fairly broad, and includes researchers at other companies as well as academics. The data set…
‘World’s Oldest Webcam’ To Be Switched Off
The world’s oldest continuously working webcam is being switched off after 25 years. The BBC reports: The Fogcam was set up in 1994 to watch how the weather changed on the San Francisco State University campus. has broadcast almost continuously since then barring regular maintenance and the occasional need for it to be re-sited to maintain its view. Its creators said…
Uber, Lyft Finally Admit They’re Making Traffic Congestion Worse In Cities
Uber and Lyft tapped transportation consultancy Fehr & Peers to examine their combined vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in six cities in September 2018, and compare that number to the total VMT in each area for the same month. “The results show that while they are vastly out-stripped by personal and commercial vehicles, Uber and Lyft are still responsible for significant shares…
Bedbugs Are Giving Airbnb Users Headaches
Waking up with bedbug bites can be a nightmare. It’s also a costly and traumatic problem for Airbnb guests and hosts. CNET: CNET spoke to eight people who dealt with bedbugs in Airbnb rentals within the last three years. All of them said Airbnb, which was founded in 2008, doesn’t seem to have a systematic procedure in place for handling outbreaks….