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Judge lets Lyft and Uber operate in California as fate of drivers left in the hands of voters
Will Proposition 22 help rideshare contractors from AB 5?
Californians are still able to order rides from Lyft and Uber this morning after an eleventh-hour decision by a state appellate court judge allowed the TNCs to continue operating with their drivers as contractors instead of employees. The two companies had announced they would suspend services as of 12:00 a.m. PDT as a result of Assembly Bill No. 5, which has implemented new tests as to how workers are classified.
Android phones will soon be able to detect earthquakes thanks to the power of crowdsourcing
Californian Android users are first in line for earthquake alerts
When it comes to earthquakes, early warnings are key and can potentially save lives. Google recognizes that, and has announced that it's working on earthquake alerts sent right to all Android phones in affected areas, starting in California. For other regions, the company is testing and launching a crowdsource-based approach, relying on the accelerometers found in almost any Android phone in the world.
Google's antitrust woes intensify as California opens new investigation
Mountain View now faces pressure from the DOJ and almost every state attorney
Google has been no stranger to antitrust cases in recent years with the European Commission going after it several times, but there's now mounting pressure in its own country, too. The United States Department of Justice could be about to open legal proceedings against Google, along with numerous state attorneys across the nation and the House Judiciary Committee. Google's home state of California had been reluctant to join but has reportedly opened its own investigation in recent days.
Taxes are one of life's indelible elements, that and death. But the internet brought with it a means by which most of us online consumers could skirt states sales tax and B&H has long been a favorite online retailer because, other than New York and New Jersey, it didn't charge sales tax.
A lot of our favorite things come from California. Artichokes, Android, almonds, even those newfangled talking pictures. But thanks to a law that recently went into effect in the state, an accidental export might update the cancellation process across the US for recurring payments when it comes to services like newspapers.
Going to the ball game is wickedly expensive, which is probably why aftermarket ticket services are flourishing. But they're not exactly intuitive: you have to deal with shipping or meeting the seller in person, which is often a huge barrier if you're strapped for time. Enter Gametime, an app previously limited to iOS, which tries to combine great deals on last-minute ticket sales with a friendly, mobile-focused interface.
Many states, California included, have passed strict laws in recent years meant to reduce distracted driving caused by cell phones. However, the laws lag behind the technology, and that has led to some conflicting opinions on what the statutes mean. After some legal wrangling, a California court of appeals has ruled that it is not illegal to use mapping software while driving.
Last night, Glass Explorer Cecilia Abadie shared a post asking fellow Google+ users for some advice. Abadie had been given a traffic ticket "for wearing Google Glass while driving" and wondered if the cop was wrong, or if driving with Glass is already illegal in California.
Texting and driving is a pretty heinous crime. Bad enough that it's spawned entire ad campaigns devoted to educating the public on the dangers of such acts. Of this, you are no doubt aware. What you may be less aware of is the fact that figuring out where you're going is exactly as dangerous as sending someone a message that says "Doesn't the Peachoid look like a giant..."
You know the drill by now. It's time for some new LTE market announcements! Woo! Party hard. The network rollouts today are coming to Pennsylvania, California, Indiana, Virginia and Puerto Rico. This comes on the heels of Sprint announcing its intention to purchase the remaining shares of Clearwire that it didn't already own.
Verizon Announces Expansions To A Ton Of California Markets, Including Fresno, Sacramento, And San Francisco Bay Area (Plus Reno)
Verizon Announces Expansions To A Ton Of California Markets
Say what you will about Verizon's data plan costs (and we all will), but at least the company works for that money. The LTE rollout continues as Verizon announces expansions to what professionals are calling "a whole lot" of California markets, as well as Reno, Nevada. Most have already had LTE, but if you've ever yelled in frustration when you lose that precious LTE signal while driving down Highway 99 in Fresno, your commute is about to get easier.
File this under "things that look good on paper." On Tuesday, a federal judge for the Northern District of California issued an order forcing Oracle and Google, in their fight over various Java patents allegedly infringed by Android, to reduce the number of patent claims and defenses thereto to a "triable" number. That number? Three. And Google will be allowed eight "prior art references" to defend against those claims. (Note: A "prior art reference" is a way of showing that a patent was trying to patent something someone else had already invented prior to the filing, a complete defense against patent infringement, invalidating the patent in question)
Earlier this year, on June 16th (which also happens to be my birthday), I stepped out of a train in Mountain View and, to my delight, caught my first ever 4G signal in the Bay Area. It seems I was not alone, and soon many of you were reporting seeing a weak signal, which slowly grew stronger and spread across the Bay.
Along with hundreds of thousands of people inhabiting the San Francisco Bay Area, I've been waiting for the Sprint 4G launch ever since Google graciously gifted us the EVO 4G powerhouses back at the I/O conference. In fact, it was June 16th, which happens to be my birthday, when I first noticed a strong 4G signal in Mountain View, not too far from Google's own headquarters. Little did I know back then that the wait was not over, and we wouldn't be getting 4G until the very end of the year.
As the Thanksgiving weekend is coming to an end, residents of Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus can say thank you to Sprint today as well. The nation's 3rd largest mobile carrier announced that 4G, otherwise known as WiMax, is officially live in the aforementioned cities. This puts the Los Angeles area full 2 days ahead of schedule, as the 4G launch there was expected on December 1st. SF Bay Area next, please (the launch there is expected sometime in December)!
If you remember, a few months ago, I found a nice, strong 4G signal around Mountain View/Santa Clara, right in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Sprint promised 4G in the Bay Area by the end of the year, so it was only logical to see them starting some testing. Today, it looks like Sprint kicked the testing up a notch and lit up San Francisco, according to reports by both IntoMobile and Engadget.