AirBnB reportedly working on a flight-booking feature
Bloomberg reports that short-term rental listing service, AirBnB is looking to get into airline reservation game as well. According to unnamed sources within the company, AirBnB’s plans are still in the formational stages. The company could either acquire an online travel agency outright or simply license the booking data.
Bloomberg’s sources also state that the company hopes to launch the service before filing for IPO, which is widely speculated to be taking place within the next 18 months or so. The forthcoming service would operate separately from AirBnB Trips, which debuted last month and offers tours, restaurant reservations and various other travel services. AirBnB representatives declined to comment on matter.
The news comes after months of legal wrangling between AirBnB and cities around the world over how the site operates. The company has recently settled or dropped its lawsuits with New Orleans, San Francisco, New York and Amsterdam.
Source: Bloomberg
Twitter will livestream the Golden Globes’ red carpet
Twitter will livestream the fluffiest part of the fluffiest awards show, namely the red carpet ceremony of the Golden Globes awards. The pre-show will provide, if you can believe it, two full hours of people walking on a carpet that is red, complete with glamor and (hopefully) sass. “The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is always searching for innovative ways and original tools to reach our audience … and Twitter is the recognized partner to help us expand our audience,” HFPA President Lorenzo Soria said in a statement.
Twitter probably won’t put “the recognized partner” on an aspirational poster, but the tie-up does make sense. Folks like to tweet during the Globes, Oscars and other big TV events to to amuse themselves during the long periods of boredom. As Twitter notes, since it’s hosting the pre-show shenanigans, you’re just a swipe away from a fire tweet. “Twitter is where the conversation about the Golden Globes happens. Viewers Tweet along before, during and after the award show,” said Twitter COO Anthony Noto.
The social network will not carry the actual presentation, but the pre-show is a nice option for wire-cutters who only want to see well-dressed celebs vamp and answer inane interview questions. You’ll be able to catch it on a smartphone, the web and connected devices without needing a cable TV subscription.
Twitter is still trying to turn its rabid user base into advertising dollars and is pinning a lot of hope on livestreaming. So far, it has had some success with the NFL, MLB, NHLA, Wimbledon and other prime clients. Now that a rumored sale with Disney and other suits has fallen through (thanks in part to the social network’s nasty dark side) it’s going to have to find a way to bump its revenue, by whatever means necessary. You can catch “The HFPA Presents: Globes Red Carpet Live” here on January 8th from 6 to 8 PM ET.
Via: Techcrunch
Source: Twitter
House committee calls for clear cellphone surveillance rules
Stingrays — those cellphone surveillance devices preferred by law enforcement agencies — definitely broke into the mainstream public consciousness this year. And while the word is out that law enforcement agencies from California to New York have used the devices to monitor citizens for years, a new report (PDF) from the bipartisan House Oversight and Government Reform Committee shows that the rules governing their usage can vary greatly from state to state or even department to department. As a result, committee chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) are calling on Congress to establish “a clear, nationwide framework that ensures the privacy of all Americans are adequately protected.”
The committee has already pushed the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS to require a warrant before deploying a Stingray or other similar cell network-spoofing device, but the report’s findings showed that in many states law enforcement agencies don’t even need probable cause in order to justify their usage. To remedy that situation, the report recommends that Congress pass clear rules about “when and how geolocation information can be accessed and used.”
The DOJ and DHS will then be responsible for requiring local law enforcement agencies to adopt the framework before they can receive federal funding for Stingray devices like the ones that violated FCC regulations in Baltimore. Finally, the committee also recommends that the non-disclosure agreements that have obscured details of some Stingray deployments should be replaced with “agreements that require clarity and candor to the court.” While the new framework, if passed by Congress, sounds like a promising move in the right direction it won’t do much when the vigilantes inevitably set up their own cell-spoofing dragnets.
Via: House Oversight Committee
Source: Law Enforcement Use of Cell-Site Simulation Technologies: Privacy Concerns and Recommendations
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