Microsoft’s leaving behind older Skype install as it transitions off P2P and some folks are mad. When is a company allowed to ditch an old platform? Chris Ashley and Tom Merritt discuss.
Farmers in Nebraska fight for the right to repair their own tractors. Dealers use copyright law to stop them from using the software on their vehicles. Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt discuss.
(This is a weekly column that offers news, insights, analysis, and user tips for rideshare platforms like Uber and Lyft. Look for it every Monday after the live show, right here ondailytechnewsshow.com.)
Most people are aware by now that a rating system exists for both drivers and passengers when using the Uber and Lyft platforms. However, the details of how those ratings work appear to be a mystery to many of those same people. I frequently see questions on Reddit and Facebook from riders asking why their rating dropped or how they can get it higher. As a driver, a.k.a. one who doles out those passenger ratings and talks to other drivers about the same topic, there’s no fail-safe answer–but there are certain consistencies that can be cobbled together into some general rating-boosting advice.
Before we get to that though, I want to tell you that passenger ratings don’t really matter. The only difference between a 3.5 and a 4.9 is bragging rights. Some drivers in busy markets may pass on a passenger that doesn’t have a rating above some arbitrary threshold, but there will always be three more who won’t care and will pick you up anyway. Uber and Lyft don’t even deactivate riders for low ratings; I’ve seen riders with ratings as low as 1.7 before. That being said, if you just want a nice, high number anyway, read on.
Tip your driver. I’m putting this first because if you leave a tip, you can pretty much ignore everything else I type today. Seriously, most drivers will automatically five-star a tipper regardless of anything else. On the flip side, an increasing minority of drivers will only hand out five-star ratings to people who tip, meaning that you could be a model passenger otherwise and still end up with a four. If you’re really serious about keeping a high or perfect rating, tipping your driver is as close to a guaranteed method as you can get.
Be where you say you’re gonna be. Thanks to some questionable UI choices by the app developers, it’s annoyingly easy to send your driver to a place that’s three blocks, three miles, or even three continents away from where you actually are. The best way to avoid fat-fingering the pin to the wrong location is by typing it in manually. You don’t have to know the exact address, typing the name of the business, bar, or club you’re in will work as well. Oh, and I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t request to be picked up in a place that automobiles can’t actually get to.
Be on time. You have an almost exact ETA of when your driver will arrive, there’s no reason they should be kept waiting for more than a minute or so. Keep a driver waiting more than five minutes and they may leave without you, and you’ll be charged a cancellation fee.
No eating, drinking, and especially no smoking. At least ask the driver first, but don’t be surprised if they say no. Strong scents are difficult to get out of a car and they can spoil the experience for the next rider.
Those are the important tips, along with generally not being a horrible human being. If you want to see how you’re doing with your rating progress… that can be a little bit of a pain. Lyft won’t directly tell you your passenger rating, but they’ll give you a happy notification or text message every time a driver gives you five stars. Uber hides this info deep in the app menus; Selecting Help from the main menu, then Account and Payment > Account Settings and Ratings > I’d like to know my rating > SUBMIT.
Presenting my qualifications to be writing this stuff.
Well, that’s all I have to say about passenger ratings, what about driver ratings? Sure you all know that you can (and probably should) rate your driver after every trip. However, where passenger ratings have no real consequence, drivers can actually deactivated if their rating falls below a certain threshold, usually around 4.6 (this number can vary depending on the market). This means that any rating that’s not five-stars is basically a vote of no confidence.
Still, if a driver is unsafe behind the wheel, has a smelly or unusually dirty car, or just talks too much, a four-star rating is not inappropriate. It’s a way of letting him or her know that they need to improve (and you should definitely leave feedback to that extent). Ratings of three stars and lower should be reserved for drivers who really have no business behind the wheel. Try not to use ratings as revenge; a driver opting to not take you through the McDonalds drive thru or break traffic laws because you’re late for work is not a valid reason for a low rating.
Sekani Wright is an experienced Uber 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!
Republican, Democrat or neither, there are more ways to watch the political conventions than ever before. Lamarr Wilson and Tom Merritt talk about the tech land grab for cord-cutting eyeballs.
Eddy Cue on Apple’s TV Plans and Why Netflix Isn’t a Competitor – The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Apple senior VP of software and services Eddy Cue about Apple’s TV strategy. Cue sidestepped the question of offering a TV service saying, “Whether we’re providing it or somebody else is, it really doesn’t matter to us.” He also said Apple is “not in the business of trying to create TV shows” and that Apple is not “actively trying to buy any studio.” Cue says Apple is focused on the hardware and making it easy to get your shows with a simple voice command or no command at all.
Apple is launching a reality TV show called Planet of the Apps – Apple’s first foray into original television content received a name and an open casting call. Planet of the Apps, is looking to cast 100 app creators for a reality competition. The show requires developers to send in information on their app, along with a 1-minute video profile. There’s no air date yet but contenstants must have a functioning beta ready by October 21, 2016.
Twitter Signs Another Live-Streaming Deal, This Time With Bloomberg – Twitter has signed another live streaming video partner, Bloomberg Television. Twitter will stream Bloomberg’s market coverage throughout the day as well as several programs like With All Due Respect and Bloomberg West. Twitter will sell preroll ads to run before non-live clips through its Amplify platform and share revenue with Bloomberg. There may also be in-stream ads as well.
Dish’s new Voice Remote for Hopper 3 and 4K Joey is out now for $30 – People who have the Hopper 3 or 4K Joey set-top boxes from Dish can now spend $30 to get a Voice Remote. – Allows you to navigate, search and select programming using spoken commands. – You can also change channels and record shows using your voice.
Front Lines
Netflix will stream CBS’ new Star Trek series all around the world – Netflix has obtained the rights to stream the new Star Trek Series in 188 countries outside the US and Canada less than 24 hours after it premieres on CBS All Access. Netflix also extends its rights to stream all previous Star Trek series outside the markets where it already has the rights . The new Star Trek premieres in January.
Netflix launches Flixtape because music is so passe – Netflix has a new thing called Flixtape at flixtape.netflix.com that lets you search Netflix’s available shows and movies and create a mix of titles that you can name and share with whomever you want. Anyone who gets your flixtape and has a Netflix subscription, can click on the titles and watch them.
BitTorrent will launch an online TV news channel next week – BitTorrent is launching BitTorrent News this week with coverage of the US political conventions with our own Justin Robert Young among the hosts led by former Vice/CNN reporter Harrison Bohrman. BTN will live inside BitTorrent Live an AppleTV app coming soon to OSX and eventually iOS and Android. AND SEPARATELY BitTorrent launched its BitTorrent Now streaming app on iOS and Apple TV Friday. The app launched on Android in June.
Game of Thrones and Mr. Robot are heading up this year’s Emmy nominations – Emmy announcements are out and Mr. Robot, Game of Thrones, The Americans, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and Fargo all received nominations. Netflix’s House of Cards, Master of None, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt received nominations as did Amazon’s Transparent.
NBC Olympics surrounds RIO 2016 with record setting digital coverage – NBC announced their streaming plans for the Olympics. NBC will stream all nine NBCUniversal Olympic networks plus any unbroadcast events on desktops, mobile devices, and tablets, plus connected TVs. The NBC Sports app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. PlayStation Vue customers can authenticate for the NBC Sports app. SlingTV’s Blue subscribers can get some NBC channels through the Sling app. Unauthenticated users can stream 30 minutes on their first visit and 5 minutes each subsequent day.
Fox is making an X-Men TV series with movie director Bryan Singer – Variety says 20th Century Fox and Marvel will partner on an X-Men TV show about the parents of mutant offspring. Bryan Singer is on board as executive producer and it will be written by Matt Nix.
Please tell me you guys are going to watch “”Stranger Things”” and spoil the hell out of it. I’m very interested in seeing Brian’s thoughts on all of the Easter Eggs. I just binged the whole show in one day.
Cheers, – Jeff
Hi guys! Love the show and as a loyal Patreon supporter I will keep you on the payroll as you continue your crusade TW2YW2YWOWDYWT – I was unsure if anybody contacted you about HDR10 vs Dolby Vision but I wanted to recommend two other great podcasts – AVEXCEL Ep 18 (Another great Patreon investment opportunity) and AVRANT Ep 492 (at 23:12) for a technical “deep dive” on this and other AV topics sorting hype from facts. There is an article at http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/dolby-hdr-201606214303.htm Keep up the good work and looking forward to Cordkiller total victory in the future.
– Chuck
So I’m trying to find the cheapest legal way to watch a few summer TV series, Mr. Robot, Killjoys, Dark Matter, and the new Top Gear. I see that Sling blue has all of those channels so I sign up for the free (thankfully) 7 day trial. The first two episodes of Mr Robot are available on demand and I get excited, the rest of the shows are appointment viewing only with no way to even set a reminder. So I try the Syfy app to register my “cable provider” and Sling isn’t an option. Basically this thing is appointment viewing only with no DVR. I guess I’ll be cancelling and buying my shows one at a time from Amazon or Vudu since Amazon prime has none of the shows I watch either.
Love the show.
PS have you noticed it is one cent per episode cheaper to buy shows one at a time rather than the whole season?
– Matt
Hi Tom and Brian Just wanted to let you know that Joseph Gilgun who plays Cassidy in Preacher is in the new film The Infiltrator and is very good in a small part. He is a completely different character and I almost didn’t recognize him. I know you enjoy him in Preacher as do I and thought you might want to check him out in a good film with Brian Cranston.
– Cliff
Hey Brushwood! (Also Dear Mr. Tom Merritt)
What’s up with not mentioning The 100 whenever talking about The CW line up? If you’ve not seen it, please correct this grave mistake immediately. An apt description of The 100 would be taking Game of Thrones, adding Battlestar Galactica, tossing in a dash of Lord of the Flies and finally a pinch of Lost.
Give it until the end of episode 3; I promise you’ll be just as hooked as I was.
Thanks!
– Jordan
– Matt in Willimasport subscribes to a Comcast bundle because it’s the cheapest way for him as an engineering student and having Netflix on the cable box will bring it easily to the living room TV.
– Tim says “In our AARP home, the addition of Netflix to our X-1 box eases the ‘spousal factor’ a bit. My wife won’t have to fire up the Apple TV, switch the hdmi input to the tv.”
– Faiz’s Dad has basement home theater room but insists on watching TV in the kitchen, meaning he never uses Netflix. Faiz writes, “Our IPTV provider (Bell in Canada) added Netflix support a few months back, and since then he’s used it on occasion. Still not regularly, but often enough that it’s not just a fluke.”
Microsoft’s leaving behind older Skype install as it transitions off P2P and some folks are mad. When is a company allowed to ditch an old platform? Chris Ashley and Tom Merritt discuss.
Firefox says no to Flash, Tinder just wants to be friends, and VCRs go the way of Betamax.
Netflix meets earnings but not subscribers, iTunes fixes Apple Music, and Mercedes drives to Haarlem.