Ridesharing company Uber has updated their app to make life easier – for their drivers. All 385,000 of them. Uber said that the company is ready to pay drivers a total of $100 million dollars – divided up 385,000 ways – and that New York City drivers can join a sorta-union called the Independent Driver’s Guild – but they’re still pretty much freelancers for the time being.
Also, the app will automatically point drivers towards cheaper gas stations and Uber drivers will get a discount when they use Uber themselves. And if you use Uber to get around, try to get in the car within two minutes of it arriving – because that’s when the meter is going to start running now.
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Apple’s WWDC is next week and there’s a chance we’ll see the new iPhone 7, and if we do, there’s also a chance it could arrive… as obsolete. Well, maybe not obsolete, but if rumors that Samsung will have not one but two flexible, bendable phones out next year are true, the new iPhone could end up looking like old tech just after it arrives.
According to Bloomberg, sources say Samsung is moving to introduce truly flexible screen tech in 2017. We’ve seen their concept screens and with both flexibility and display tech issues apparently solved, the era of flexible displays in our phones and on every conceivable surface could be upon us.
The sources say the new phones may have a base 5-inch “phone” form factor that then rolls out to tablet size, perhaps to 8 inches. If Samsung can make flexible screens usable and reliable, we’d gamble they’ll start showing up everywhere – such as a roll-up TV in your home.
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If you work for a tech company, there’s a good chance you use an online project organizer and communications app like Trello, Slack, Basecamp and so on. Now, Microsoft is looking to get in on that action with a new app called “Planner.” But the ace up Redmond’s sleeve is that Planner will work seamlessly with Office 365, which is already used by about a zillion people. And, it will also be free to Office 365 subscribers.
And like everything Microsoft these days, Planner will be tied in with the cloud, tons of apps and Windows 10. With all those other companies charging fees to use their apps, Planner could be a money-saver for a lot of companies – that is, if it works as well as those other apps. Planner is rolling out in a limited fashion starting today; we’re hoping to check it out – and see if it measures up. We’ll let you know what we find out.
