California OKs insurance plans made specifically for Lyft
According to California law, the rules governing legal liability for ride-sharing services can get pretty tricky, depending on whether the passenger is waiting to be picked up, is getting into the cab or is currently en route to their destination. What’s more, the law doesn’t currently really specify which insurance — either the company’s or the driver’s — is to be used, only that a driver must be “fully insured” at all times. But thanks to a recent ruling by California’s insurance commissioner, Lyft drivers themselves (and their Ubering counterparts) will now be covered from the time their patrons request a pickup through dropoff.
Lyft already carries a million dollar policy covering from when the driver accepts a fare until he drops them off. The company also carries a supplemental $100,000 policy covering the whenever the driver has the app on but hasn’t accepted a fare (and really only takes effect when the driver’s personal insurance doesn’t cover the liability). This new insurance policy, underwritten by MetLife Auto & Home, will kick in during the time that the passenger is physically in the vehicle.
“As demand for ridesharing services increases, making sure ridesharing drivers are able to obtain insurance to protect themselves, their passengers and pedestrians has been a top priority,” California’s Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said in a statement. This is the first time that an insurer has offered drivers coverage while passengers are in the car, a policy that had previously only been available to the companies themselves.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Via: SFist
Source: KRON 4
Even Windows 10 is vulnerable to a big Internet Explorer security flaw
Just because Internet Explorer sits on the sidelines in Windows 10 doesn’t mean you’re safe from IE-specific exploits. Microsoft has released a patch for a “critical” flaw in the browser that lets attackers remotely control just about any semi-recent version of Windows, ranging from Vista to 10, just by serving you a maliciously-coded web page. The likelihood of running into an exploit is slim if you prefer to use Edge or a third-party browser, but you’ll probably want to get the fix regardless… just in case you feel nostalgic enough to click on that blue E.
Via: ZDNet
Source: Microsoft Security TechCenter
Playdate: Putting your custom ‘Super Mario Maker’ levels to the test
When we asked for your Super Mario Maker levels you guys and gals responded in a big way. Don’t believe us? We have a Gmail folder with over 300 responses to prove you otherwise, and more keep coming in every day. Sean and myself were absolutely floored by the creativity the Playdate community showed and honestly it was hard to narrow the field down to just 30 or so entires. Sadly we had to do just that because we only have two hours to broadcast. Did your masterpiece make the cut? Tune in starting at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific and find out as we run through nothing but community-built death traps either on this post, the Engadget Gaming homepage or Twitch.tv/joystiq if you want to join in our chat.
http://www.twitch.tv/joystiq/embedWatch live video from Joystiq on www.twitch.tv
[We’re streaming Super Mario Maker at 720p through OBS, so rest assured it’ll look much better on your Wii U at home.]
LINE messaging app announces End-to-End Encryption feature
If you are looking for a messaging platform that can provide end-to-end encryption from a variety of platforms, you may want to check out LINE. The messaging client is receiving a new security feature called Letter Sealing that enables users to apply encryption on messages sent from the desktop as well as on the mobile client on both Android and iOS. LINE claims they are the first provider to offer this level of security combined with flexiblity to end users.
The Letter Sealing feature uses a key that is only available on user devices, not on a central server. This makes messages “technically impossible” to be cracked according to LINE. Initially Letter Sealing will be available for all chat sessions and for Location Sharing. However, LINE plans to expand the encryption to other features provided by their platform in the future.
LINE says Letter Sealing joins other security features of their app like Hidden Chat, time limited messaging, and a Passcode Lock to offer users a high level of security. You can get LINE from the Google Play Store using the link below. To take advantage of the new Letter Sealing feature, the app needs to be updated to at least version 5.3.0.
source: LINE
Come comment on this article: LINE messaging app announces End-to-End Encryption feature
Microsoft Updates Office 2016 Apps With Security Fixes, Feature Improvements
Microsoft today released updates for each of its Office 2016 apps, introducing feature improvements, security enhancements, and bug fixes to Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. All apps have been updated with a security fix for vulnerabilities that could allow remote code execution should a user open a specially crafted Office file.
All of the apps have also gained new Chinese and Japanese default fonts and improvements to the Visual Basic Editor that allows users to add modules and references and use debug shortcuts. Other fixes and improvements are listed below:
Outlook
– Improved VoiceOver support for weather in the Calendar feature.
– Email address is now included in the default message attribution when you reply and -forward.
– Message list is now displayed correctly when you switch folders by having the Reading Pane turned off.
– Improved Reminders functionality to reduce CPU consumption.
– Improved use of advanced search operators for non-English languages.
Word
– Ribbon extensibility. Use ribbon customization XML to customize the ribbon the way that you want it.
– Custom paper sizes in Page Setup are now supported.
– Find/Replace is corrected to move to the next matched word when Track Changes is turned on.
– Fixed crashes that occur when you use Mail Merge together with Outlook.
– Headers/Footers: Page numbering: Number of Pages option is corrected to display numbers greater than two digits.
Excel
– Ribbon extensibility. Use ribbon customization XML to customize the ribbon the way that you want it.
– Improved support for pasting from external applications.
– Scroll bars now correctly respect OS X scroll bar settings
PowerPoint
– Ribbon extensibility. Use ribbon customization XML to customize the ribbon the way that you want it.
It is not clear if today’s Office 2016 update fixes problems that Office users have been having with Office 2016 and OS X El Capitan, as Microsoft does not outline specific fixes for those issues in the software release notes. Problems with Office 2016 and OS X El Capitan include frequent crashing, inaccessible email, and an inability to open some apps.
Microsoft has also released an update for Office 2011 that preserves ribbon customization in documents and allows calendar events with online meeting details to be edited in Outlook for Mac and opened in Outlook for Windows. Microsoft previously released an Office 2011 update that fixed issues users were having with OS X El Capitan.
The updates can be downloaded through Microsoft’s AutoUpdate tool which is available within each app. The updates are available for OS X Yosemite and later.
Pinterest’s location pins offer easy access to directions and tips
Pinterest is quite handy for stowing away project ideas, recipes and more for future reference. Today, the internet repository is making those stored pins even more informative. Location info is now automatically added to pinned links, so you’ll have easy access to tips from other users, contact details, directions and more. You’ll notice that pins have a thumbnail preview showing the location on a map, and if you tap the image, you’ll get recommendations from other users. Pinterest will also show you other pins that reference that spot, too. From there, calling for reservations or getting directions via Google Maps or Apple Maps are just a click away as well. You can browse nearby spots on the map too, in case you’re wondering what other folks have found in the area. The new location pins are rolling out today, so you should be seeing them in your feed and on your boards soon enough.
Source: Pinterest
New York Times offers newsstand customers ‘Digital Day Passes’
The New York Times is launching a new “digital day pass” program today to help convince folks that still buy the paper at newsstands to instead get their news from its website. The day pass will will grant access to the publication’s website and apps for the day to anyone that buys a physical paper. Each paper will include a keyword that the customer will text to the number provided and receive a link that activates their digital access. Of course, if the customer doesn’t yet have a NYTimes.com account, they’ll need to create one. The day’s access will be revoked at midnight every night.
“The goal is to drive incremental loyalty among our newsstand customers and to also give them a similar benefit to that of our home delivery customers, who receive All Digital Access complimentary with their subscription,” a spokesperson for the paper told TechCrunch. “We also want to give newsstand customers a taste of all of the additional content available on NYTimes.com and our mobile apps, that they can’t get with print.”
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
Via: TechCrunch
Source: New York Times
Facebook’s ‘On This Day’ feature has controls to filter out sad times
Facebook’s On This Day tool is a nice feature when it recalls good times that may have slipped your mind. It has a tendency to bring up events and people that you might prefer to forget, though, and the social network added preferences to curtail the sadness. On This Day now has controls that’ll let you filter out specific people and dates so the feature doesn’t remind you of those bits of nostalgia you’d rather not revisit. Facebook has come under fire for toying with our emotions and digging up the past before, and there’s already been some criticism of On This Day since it launched in March. By adding preferences, Zuckerberg & Co. are offering a way to keep those bad memories at bay. It’s a nice touch, since you never know exactly when the memory machine will pop up in your News Feed. If you’ve noticed On This Day posts there, the new controls should be available for you to tweak.
Via: The Verge
Experiments may prevent autonomous cars from killing people
Rather than working out the problem purely theoretically, Stanford professor Chris Gerdes (pictured above) is actually putting the rubber to the road to conduct real-world experiments in ethics in autonomous vehicles. In a fascinating read posted by Automotive News, Gerdes discusses the fascinating issues that his research will explore.
In one of the new experiments, Gerdes points an autonomous vehicle at a simulated road crew. The software then must decide to barrel into the mass of cones or break the law by crossing a double-yellow line. While the decision would be obvious for a human, the machine has a much more difficult time deciding. Gerdes has also been doing workshops about the issues for engineers from top companies, including Tesla and Google.
Gerdes has been at the forefront in the autonomous field for years. He and his team built Shelley, the Audi TTS that sprinted up Pikes Peak without a driver. More recently the coupe has been lapping Thunderhill Raceway Park faster than an amateur racing driver.
After years of autonomous vehicle ethics being largely a thought experiment, they are quickly becoming a real-world issue with legal implications – Volvo accepting liability for autonomous vehicle accidents being the latest example of this trend. That means Gerdes important work will have practical implications in the not-so-distant future.
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[Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images ]
Source: Automotive News
Comet Core’s totally realistic buoyant smartphone has made its way to Indiegogo
Back in June we told you about Comet, the world’s first “super smartphone” that floats in water. What makes it so super, you ask? Lots of things. For starters, it’s buoyant and water resistant, and can actually “resist water like no other smartphone”. It also features some of the best specifications available on a mobile handset to date, including a Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, 16MP dual cameras, and even some mood-recognizing LED lights on the phone’s edge that can change colors depending on what you’re feeling. The best part? Comet Core, the company behind this wonderful product, will sell it to you for only $249 if you back their crowdfunding project.
Comet Core originally launched the Comet crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter back in June. But in a wild turn of events, Comet Core was forced to cancel their project due to “the many restrictions and regulations” they endured on Kickstarter. Now they’ve moved the project to Indiegogo, giving interested backers a second chance on throwing away $250.
I don’t think I need to tell you that this is pretty much 100% fake. The design, features and price point are all completely unrealistic, especially coming from a company that’s never actually built a smartphone. Take a look at Comet Core’s hilarious promotional video to see what I’m talking about.
Surprisingly, the new Indiegogo campaign is listed as a fixed funding project, which means Comet Core doesn’t get any money at all if they don’t reach their goal by the deadline. At the time of writing this, Comet Core has raised about $29K of its $100K goal, with 31 days left.
If you’re interested in learning more about the revolutionary Comet smartphone, check out the new Indiegogo campaign for more information.
AIVAnet 