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Uber Re-Enters Barcelona With Professional Driver Service

Uber is seeking a second chance in Barcelona three years after it was forced to shut down in the face of taxi driver protests – by introducing a fully licenced ride-hailing service that meets local transportation laws.

Its new UberX service will operate with hundreds of professional, licenced drivers in contrast to the UberPopservice it ran until late 2014 using non-professional drivers to pick up and drop off passengers, Uber said on Tuesday.

Uber is looking to make a clean break with business practices that resulted in a litany of regulatory battles, driver and consumer scandals and court cases.

“We made mistakes along the way,” Uber General Manager for Southwest Europe Carles Lloret said in a company blog post.

“We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of the cities in which we operate. Barcelona is no exception.”

Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in January he was focused on “responsible growth” as he seeks to put an end to the take-no-prisoners culture he inherited upon joining the pioneer of ride-hailing services last year.

Two years ago, Uber re-introduced UberX using professional drivers in Madrid. In December 2014, a judge had ordered all Uber services to be shut down in Spain’s capital city.

Decrying Uber’s return as unfair competition to their livelihoods, taxi drivers have mounted a series of 24-hour strikes in Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities over the past year.

“We are fully committed to working with the entire sector – including taxis – to improve mobility in Barcelona together,” said Lloret.

San Francisco-based Uber pre-emptively closed its services in Barcelona in December 2014 as local officials geared up to pass legislation against the UberPop service, which city authorities legally barred the following year.

Protests by taxi associations over the past year against Uber have also targeted Madrid-based Cabify, a rival founded in 2012 that operates in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

Uber operates a range of ride-hailing services in more than 600 cities around the world.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

Apple Music Hits 38 Million Paid Subscribers

Apple’s streaming music service now has 38 million paid subscribers, up from 36 million in February, the company said on Monday.

Apple is locked in race for subscribers with Amazon.com, Alphabet’s Google and others as streaming music becomes the dominant form of paid music consumption. Apple’s number compares to 71 million premium subscribers at the end of 2017 at industry leader Spotify, which plans to list shares in the coming weeks on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SPOT.

Apple said Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet software and services, disclosed the most recent subscriber number for Apple Music at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

Amazon Music Unlimited has 16 million paying subscribers, and Pandora Media has 5.48 million total subscribers. Google does not release paid subscriber numbers for its service, Google Play Music.

Apple, Spotify, Google and other services charge $9.99 (roughly Rs. 650) a month for music. Amazon offers its service to members who already pay for its Prime membership, which includes shipping, video content and other benefits, for $7.99 per month.

In addition to its paid service, Spotify also offers an free ad-supported version to help draw users into the service. Apple Music does not offer an ad-based version and instead uses a three-month free trial to lure customers. Cue said Apple has 8 million subscribers currently in the free trial period, the first time Apple has disclosed the number of trial users.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

WhatsApp Message Delete Feature Reportedly Fixed to Prevent Exploits

WhatsApp has plugged some of the gaps in Delete for Everyone feature with a new update

HIGHLIGHTS

WhatsApp has silently improved ‘Delete for Everyone’ feature
There is an upgraded algorithm to block revoke requests for some users
WhatsApp for iOS has extended the delete message feature

WhatsApp has silently improved the ‘Delete for Everyone’ feature with an ability to block revoke requests for some users. The new improvement emerges days after the WhatsApp beta for Android received an update to give users 4,096 seconds to delete a message – a substantial increase over the original seven-minute window. That 4,096-second limit had reportedly been exploited using a modded version of WhatsApp following its launch to delete messages that were even three years old. It had also been exploited to let anyone, not just the sender, delete messages.

The instant messaging app has now, therefore, added a ‘Block revoke request’ feature. WhatsApp for iPhone has also separately been updated with an extended Delete for Everyone limit to one hour, eight minutes, and 16 seconds.

As spotted by folks at WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has upgraded the algorithm it uses to pass the revoke request. Now, if the upgraded algorithm receives a revoke request, it checks its database for a message with the same ID, and then checks if the current date is less than 24 hours when when the message was sent, and only then proceeds to delete the message – using the same ID that had been generated previously. This makes the feature to delete message restricted to the official limit and doesn’t allow any modded versions to extend the limit through an unofficial means.

That being said, WhatsApp for iPhone has officially been updated to version 2.18.31 with the same extension for the Delete for Everyone feature to one hour, eight minutes, and 16 seconds that we last saw in the beta. This notably gives a room for making temporary conversations on WhatsApp, similar to what has been offered by other compelling messaging apps.

You can visit Apple App Store to download the latest WhatsApp for iPhone. The new version additionally brings some bug fixes, as reported by WABetaInfo.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

Samsung Max App With Data Saving and Privacy Protection Features Released

HIGHLIGHTS

Samsung Max app has been released
The app is available for select Galaxy devices
Replaces the Opera Max app on Galaxy A and Galaxy J handsets

Samsung on Friday released an Android app that is designed to offer mobile data savings and privacy management. Called Samsung Max, the new app is designed by Samsung R&D Institute India and is available for free download on Google Play and Galaxy App store for select Galaxy devices. The proprietary app will also come preloaded on all Galaxy A and Galaxy J series handsets in a few emerging markets, including India, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam – replacing the recently discontinued Opera Max app.

Similar to Google’s Datally that was launched in last November, the Samsung Max offers foreground data compression service that allows you to reduce data consumption from your installed apps. The app also has the functionality to block background data and data access for any app. It compresses webpages, photos, videos, and media within apps and browser to drop data consumption. Similarly, it lets you manage data permissions for specific apps and customise data consumption for existing apps to save your data for other useful tasks.

Alongside offering data savings and data compression features, Samsung Max provides regular reports to let you see which of your favourite apps are consuming the most of your data limit. The app also has a boost Wi-Fi feature that is touted to uplift connectivity even in a crowded Wi-Fi hotspot or at a weak signal area.

Samsung has provided a bunch of features that are specific to security as well. Primarily, the Samsung Max app not just compress but also encrypt all the network traffic that flows from your apps using Samsung’s in-house servers. The South Korean company also claims that has been using a “bank-grade”, secure network experience. In the same vein, there is Samsung Max’ data-savings cloud access make data usage efficient and secure from third-party services.

The Samsung Max app encrypts data when it is sent through a public Wi-Fi network. Likewise, there are features such as tracker blocking and DNS masking to offer a secured Web browsing experience. You can view privacy reports to see how the app adds security to other apps and network connections.

While the Samsung Max by default serves ads, you can choose whether to view ads inside the app or on the lock screen only while your device is plugged in and charging. The latter can be enabled by switching to the premium mode.

“At Samsung, we’ve been committed to creating inclusive data saving and privacy protection services for all our devices. Because of this, we are now introducing Samsung Max to our mid-range devices as an exclusive and unique service that sets Samsung devices apart from the rest of the smartphone market,” said Seounghoon Oh, Vice President Samsung R&D Institute India.

It is worth noting here that the Samsung Max app is presently incompatible with devices other than the eligible Samsung devices. You can check whether it is compatible with your Galaxy handset by visiting Google Play or Galaxy App store.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]