As the credits rolled, we were left wondering…”What was THAT?” Anthony Carboni returns to the show, hoping to talk Dougie but thanks to David Lynch, the conversation takes another, very odd turn.
Support us on Patreon patreon.com/damnfinepodcast.
Today in Tech History – June 25, 2017
1967 – The very first Consumer Electronics Show opened in New York occupying the Americana and New York Hilton Hotels. It was devoted to home entertainment electronics and featured such advances as portable color TVs and video tape recorders.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/first-consumer-electronics-show/
1981 – After six years as a company, Microsoft incorporated in the state of Washington.
http://www.microsoft.com/investor/InvestorServices/FAQ/default.aspx
1998 – Microsoft released Windows 98 with less hype than Windows 95, but more consumer focus.
http://money.cnn.com/1998/06/25/technology/win98_pkg/
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.
Your Private Driver: Just the Tip
This is a weekly column that offers news, insights, analysis, and user tips for transportation network company (TNC) platforms like Uber and Lyft.
It’s been some week for Uber news, hasn’t it? The departure of CEO Travis Kalanick made headlines, particularly since he joins a dozen other executives that have left the company so far this year. The spat with Waymo isn’t over yet. And the debate over whether or not Uber can survive the next few years without going bankrupt will provide fodder for tech and financial blogs for the foreseeable future. For my part, however, this week I wanted to focus on some more positive news coming from Uber HQ: the “180 Days of Change” campaign designed to finally address long-standing driver complaints and grievances about the platform.
The first change, and probably the biggest one, is the addition of in-app tipping, available now in the Seattle, Minneapolis, and Houston markets, and scheduled to roll out in the rest of the U.S. by the end of July. Drivers have been begging for this feature for years, especially since every other TNC company, including Lyft, has had in-app tipping from their inceptions. As late as April of last year, Uber was staunchly against adding a tip button, making this change of tune even more shocking. Tips currently are rare on Uber, partially because the necessity to carry cash makes the process inconvenient, and partially because the company still advertises their service as tip-free.
Prior to this announcement it was common for me to get at least one rider a day who wondered if it was possible to tip via the Uber app, so I expect this change will please a lot of riders as well. Shockingly, a large number of reddit users and internet commenters have also voiced their opposition to the new policy. Among them, the majority opinion is that they’d rather pay higher base fares than have to worry about a tip. Others have said that this is the last straw that will cause them to never order another Uber again. (Quite frankly if this is the last straw and not any of the other exploitative or sexist practices that have come to light over the past year, I have to wonder about your moral priorities.) In their eyes, Uber was the company that finally took a stand against the social awkwardness of American tipping culture.
The debate over tipping in general is another can of worms entirely. Maybe it’s because I’m an old man and was born and raised in a time before the internet was a part of everyone’s minute-to-minute life, but I’ve never found tipping to be an awkward experience; you tip to reward good service, and you don’t give anything for subpar service. Admittedly the app-based payment culture that urban America inhabits has changed expectations somewhat. Under normal circumstances there’d be no reason to tip the Starbucks barista or the person who bagged your poké bowl to-go order, but thanks to the Starbucks app and Square readers, that’s become something of an unexpected requirement.
Thankfully TNC apps avoid the awkward moments by not requiring the rider to decide a tip amount while the driver is staring them down; they can do it from the comfort of their smartphones long after their driver has gone off on the next call. This also will eliminate the much-complained about practice of tip hustling by Uber drivers. The best part, if you decide to not leave a tip, your driver will not know until hours or even days later, and they can’t leave a retaliatory rating.
But here’s hoping that you, dear reader, will not be a member of the no-tip brigade. If your driver has provided you with excellent service, there’s now no reason not to kick him or her an extra dollar or two. It’s pocket change for you, but it makes a world of difference to your driver. Trust me.
Sekani Wright is an experienced Uber and Lyft driver working in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. If you have any questions you would like answered for this column, you can contact him at djsekani at gmail dot com, or on twitter and reddit at the username djsekani. Have a safe trip!
Today in Tech History – June 24, 2017
1963 – The first demonstration of a home video recorder was made at the BBC News Studios in London. A Telcan, short for television in a can, could record up to 20 minutes of black and white television using quarter-inch tape on a reel to reel system.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/aNhfBgCgSByEMns5XPxXqA
1993 – “Severe Tire Damage,” conducted the first known Internet concert. The band set their gear up on the patios of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and sent their show out on the Internet Multicast Backbone, or Mbone.
http://www.std.org/text/press/internetguiden.html
1994 – Geffen Records released the first major label song for digital download. Aerosmith’s “Head First” was available on CompuServe as a .WAV file. It took more than an hour to download.
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/go-aerosmith-how-head-first-became-the-first-song-available-for-digital-download-20-years-ago-today
2000 – President Clinton gave his weekly radio address live on the Internet for the first time.
http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/eightyears-09.html
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.
DTNS 3059 – Jenn is OK with VR 180. Tom Agrees
Google won’t scan Gmails anymore, Nintendo swears it isn’t artificially creating scarcity and YouTube saves VR by cutting it in half.
Using a Screen Reader? Click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, Jack_Shid, KAPT_Kipper, and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Daily Tech Headlines – June 23, 2017
YouTube launches 180-degree video, Tesla wants into the music business, and Uber employees lobby for Travis Kalanick’s return.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, Jack_Shid, KAPT_Kipper, and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Today in Tech History – June 23, 2017
1912 – Alan Turing was born in London, although his father worked for the Indian Civil Service and his parents lived in India. He helped break the code of the German enigma machine and developed the Turing test for artificial intelligence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/alan_turing
1943 – Vint Cerf was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He grew up to become known as one of the fathers of the Internet, most famously for his co-creation of the protocols underlying TCP/IP.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0148576/bio
1983 – Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel ran the first successful test of the automated, distributed Domain Name System at the University of Southern California School of Engineering’s Information Sciences.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/dns-marks-20th-birthday-128
1996 – The Nintendo 64 launched in Japan becoming the first home console to rely on the analog stick as its primary control.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/09/24/nintendo-64-launching-a-legacy
2005 – Reddit launched online with a submission about the Downing Street memo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33809408@N00/315068778/in/photostream/
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.
East Meets West 357 – Too Much TV
We check in on Doctor Who, is TV TOO good? Are we influencing TV too much? Touring the world through Netflix.
DTNS 3058 – Justin Asks Tom To Stop, Tom Won’t Apologize.
Facebook has a new mission statement and it makes us wonder how Mark Zuckerberg avoided Travis Kalanick’s fate. Plus Tesla wants to get into the music business and Google Glass is back!
Using a Screen Reader? Click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Follow us on Soundcloud.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, Jack_Shid, KAPT_Kipper, and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
#297 – Haint a Plot Hole if You Ask Me
New Game of Thrones Trailer! AHHHHH! Levar Burton reading stories on a new podcast! AHHHH! Haint plot hole in the Hum and the Shiver– ahhhhh— maybe not that big a deal?