VW teases electric concept for CES

Volkswagen reportedly plans to revive the Microbus’s classic look for an EV concept at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, but the first teaser for the vehicle suggests a more futuristic design with an illuminated grille and squinting headlights. Rumors hint that the full shape includes some vintage cues from the van, including short overhangs, a wide D-pillar, and boxy overall aesthetic.

VW wants to use this concept as a way to point the way toward its future and probably encourage CES visitors to forget a little about the company’s present. The brand’s chairman will debut the EV during his CES keynote on January 5 where he will focus on “the latest developments in electromobility as well as the next generation of connectivity.”

VW has teased an electrified revival of its classic van before. The Bulli concept at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show mixed modern tech with the vintage look and made mouths water. Maybe the company can actually get the vehicle into production this time.

Source: Volkswagen

Racial discrimination skews Airbnb rentals, study claims

Renting a room at a hotel is a fairly blind process: if you can pay the rate and the hotel has vacancy, you’ve got a place to rest your head. Airbnb is a little different — allowing hosts to accept or deny guests at their leisure. The system is designed to create familiarity for hosts renting rooms out of their home. According to a new study, however, it also opens the door for racial discrimination.

The study, conducted by staff from the Harvard business school, sent housing requests to 6,400 randomized hosts across five US cities (Baltimore, Dallas, St. Louis, Washington and Los Angeles) from 20 different Airbnb accounts, all of them identical save for the names and genders of the proposed guest. Accounts with “African-American-sounding” names like Lakisha and Tyrone were 16 less likely to secure a room than their white-named counterparts.

It’s not a one way street, either — researchers found bias flowing towards African-American guests from both male, female, white and African-American hosts. With only one small study to go from, there isn’t significant data to absolute prove that racial discrimination is overwhelmingly common in the Airbnb network, but the study offers an interesting perspective on the effect bias, but concious and unconscious, might be having on the the online marketplace.

It also proposes an interesting problem: as a non-traditional hotel service, how does a company like Airbnb combat this kind of behaviour? The study itself offers a few simple solutions: hide guest names from hosts until a reservation is accepted, expand Airbnb’s “instant book” program and implement audit policies to ensure hosts are booking without discrimination. Check out the full paper for yourself at the source link below.

[Image credit: AP Photo]

Source: BenEdelman, New York Times

Uber’s updated driver agreement may limit class-action suit

Uber is embroiled in a class-action lawsuit in California, with some drivers fighting to be recognized as employees rather than contracted workers. This week, Judge Edward Chen ruled that the arbitration clause in the company’s driver agreement was illegal, potentially allowing most California Uber drivers to participate in the class-action lawsuit. But on Friday, Uber updated its driver agreement in a way that might bar these drivers from hopping aboard. Shannon Liss-Riordan, the plaintiffs’ attorney, fears that Uber is attempting to circumvent Judge Chen’s existing ruling, Los Angeles Times reports.

“We believe this is an illegal attempt by Uber to usurp the court’s role now in overseeing the process of who is included in the class,” Liss-Riordan told the site. She’s filed a motion asking the court to block Uber from enforcing the new agreement. Judge Chen should hear that on Thursday, Buzzfeed reports.

The updated driver agreement reads as follows:

IMPORTANT: This Arbitration Provision will require you to resolve any claim that you may have against the Company or Uber on an individual basis, except as provided below, pursuant to the terms of the Agreement unless you choose to opt out of the Arbitration Provision. Except as provided below, this provision will preclude you from bringing any class, collective, or representative action (other than actions under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”), California Labor Code § 2698 et seq. (“PAGA”)) against the Company or Uber, and also precludes you from participating in or recovering relief under any current or future class, collective, or representative (non-PAGA) action brought against the Company or Uber by someone else.

Judge Chen previously ruled the arbitration section was illegal because it didn’t include exemptions for PAGA. Now, it does. Uber says it won’t enforce the new agreement for drivers participating in an existing class-action lawsuit, though the updated language suggests the company could, in fact, do just that.

“We believe strongly that our agreements are valid, but we are making some changes and clarifications to remove uncertainty for drivers and for us as we work through our multiple appeals on this issue,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement.

LA Times reports that Uber informed Judge Chen about its plans to update the arbitration agreement and he approved, according to a spokesperson.

[Image credit: Flickr/noeltock]

Via: Buzzfeed

Source: LA Times

Wikipedia update now lets you ‘Search Wikipedia’ when selecting text in Marshmallow

Wikipedia has started rolling out a nifty update for its official Android client via the Play Store. In terms of added functionality, the upgrade integrates a ‘Search wikipedia’ button in the cut/copy/paste menu and delivers an improved link preview design.

Hit the break for the full changelog.

• Nearby with Maps! Tap the Nearby option in the navigation menu to see an interactive map with Wikipedia articles about locations near you, or anywhere else in the world.
• In Android 6.0, highlighting a word in any other app gives the option to search for it in Wikipedia.
• Deleting your browsing history will now also clear your open tabs.
• Updated link preview design
• Fixed a metric ton of bugs and crashes.

To install the update on your Android-powered smartphone simply open up the Play Store, toggle the hamburger menu by swiping in from the left-hand side of the screen, select ‘My Apps’ and click on Wikipedia, then tap the update button. Alternatively, you can hit the link below to initiate the download on your handset from the Web.

Play Store Download Link

Come comment on this article: Wikipedia update now lets you ‘Search Wikipedia’ when selecting text in Marshmallow

Elon Musk backs future AI initiative

As more and more companies like Facebook and Google race to develop their own flavor of AI (artificial intelligence), a new altruistic challenger has appeared. The OpenAI initiative is a new non-profit with financial support from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon Web Services, Sal Altman, Jessica Livingston and others. It’s goal is to work on AI without being beholden to the whims of a corporation or any single person. In fact, it encourages all research to be shared and will open all (if any) patents.

In addition to sharing its research with the world, OpenAI is also concerned with the ramifications of the emerging technology, “it’s hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society, and it’s equally hard to imagine how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly,” it states on its site.

The initiative’s team will include researcher and machine learning expert Ilya Sutskever and former Stripe CTO, Greg Brockman. It will be co-chaired by Elon Musk and Sam Altman with donations from Musk, Altman, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Livingston and others totaling $1 billion.

[Image credit: Getty/AFP]

Source: OpenAI

Google app for iOS gets 3D Touch and multitasking

Google has updated its iOS app to include three new features, two of which are not available to Android users. First, the company has integrated 3D Touch functionality. Hard-press the screen to pull up shortcuts for standard, voice or image searches. Second, the new iPad edition offers multitasking so that users can pull the Google app up next to whatever else they’re working on in a split screen. Finally, the app now also includes holiday hours and data on the busiest times of local businesses you search for so you can get your shopping done with minimal crowds.

Source: iTunes