Ride-Hailing Services Like Uber And Ola Are Finally Legal In India

Indian Minister of Law and Justice and Ministry of Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad (L) shares a light moment with co-founder and CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick ahead of a meeting in New Delhi on December 15, 2016.

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India’s federal government has released guidelines to regulate the country’s taxi industry, which means that ride-hailing apps like Uber and its homegrown Indian rival Ola, are finally legal in the country.

The new guidelines were framed by the country's Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, and are available online as a 37-page document. Although the guidelines are nationwide, it is up to each state to implement them, which means that the companies could still push back and lobby against certain guidelines in the document.

Among other things, the new guidelines say that ride-hailing services which use apps will need to have their algorithms which calculate distance and fare audited for accuracy by the country&039;s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

They also recommend capping surge pricing at three times the minimum fare during “peak hours”, and four times between midnight and 5 am — although they leave it to individual states to decide what the final multiplier to cap the maximum fare should be.

The guidelines also touch upon protecting consumers&039; personal data by mandating ride-hail services to include a “firewall” for data security, and explicitly giving riders the option of sharing their data with the app or not. Uber recently introduced a controversial update on iOS that tracks users&039; locations even when they aren&039;t using the app, something that privacy advocates have slammed as “a fairly aggressive use of a customer’s data.”

“This is an important milestone in the development of ride-sharing in India, and one that will help the industry better serve riders, drivers and cities in the years ahead,” said Uber India&039;s President Amit Jain in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “While there are concerns on price caps and price floors, the framework will allow the industry to continue to flourish. We look forward to working closely with our existing partners at the state level as these guidelines are put into practice.”

Uber declined to respond to BuzzFeed News&039; specific questions about getting its algorithm audited and the company&039;s concerns about price caps. Ola did not immediately return BuzzFeed News&039; requests for comment.

India&039;s lack of taxi industry regulations so far has led to ride-hailing services operating in a legal gray zone, battling it out with federal and state authorities, and facing stiff resistance from local taxi and auto-rickshaw unions. In August, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to Uber and Ola to stop surge pricing in Delhi.

“These guidelines are quite liberal and give ride-hailing companies a lot of freedom,” said Jaspal Singh, a partner at Valoriser Consultants, an urban transportation and market research agency that provides consulting services to taxi companies in India. “I think that the government is finally looking at ride-hailing services as an alternative to India&039;s dismal public transport systems, especially in bigger cities.”

The guidelines, however, do not address predatory pricing, something that Singh says could be a concern for companies that don&039;t have enough capital to subsidise rides like Uber and Ola do. They also don&039;t define what “peak hours” are, which means that companies are free to raise prices during any time of the day they see fit.

India is the largest battleground for Uber outside the US, after it merged its operations in China with rival Didi earlier this year. Both Uber and Ola have ramped up their policy presence in the country and lobby aggressively to influence public policy around transportation.

Last week, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick visited the country to meet key government officials, including President Pranab Mukherjee.

Quelle: <a href="Ride-Hailing Services Like Uber And Ola Are Finally Legal In India“>BuzzFeed

Big Pharma Is Coming For Your Facebook And Twitter Feeds

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Ads for clothes, concerts, and flights to exotic destinations litter Facebook and Twitter. Soon, though, you may see a lot more ads for something more serious — prescription pills.

That is, if drug makers can avoid antagonizing the FDA.

From now until early January, the drug-regulating agency is collecting public feedback on how tweets promoting therapies should disclose their side effects, one step in the agency’s long-running attempt to regulate advertising on social media. The move follows Facebook beginning discussions with the FDA about ramping up efforts to populate the News Feed with drug ads.

Social media could help Big Pharma pinpoint more customers than traditional advertising. At the same time, the highly regulated drug industry faces unique challenges in trying to get their messages out in tweets and Facebook posts.

Pharmaceutical firms, which spent $6 billion on ads in 2015, are drawn to platforms like Twitter and Facebook for the same reasons as everyone else with something to sell: their data allows businesses to reach highly specific audiences. Think, for example, of Viagra ads aimed only at men over 50.

“To be able to target to very precisely who’s going to see those ads means that the industry would waste a lot less money, I suppose, and be able to see a better return on investment,” John Mack, who publishes the newsletter Pharma Marketing News, told BuzzFeed News.

Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only online networks that pharmaceutical companies are eyeing. Ad agency AbelsonTaylor recently praised Pinterest’s potential to reach patients, noting that, for example, its users are mostly women, and women make most health care decisions in their households. At least eight major pharma firms have Pinterest accounts, by Mack’s tally.

Still, traditional ads remain appealing because they have time-honored — and regulator-approved — ways to disclose drugs’ risks. Voiceovers on TV commercials breathlessly read side effects, and magazine ads print them in small fonts. But Facebook posts and tweets have much less room, and can be hard to distinguish from personal endorsements.

Kim Kardashian&#039;s now-deleted Instagram to promote a morning sickness drug, without the required safety information.

Instagram

Their casual nature can breed bizarre situations like the FDA coming down on a Kim Kardashian selfie. In August, she Instagrammed a picture of herself with Duchesnay’s morning-sickness drug, which she was paid to promote, without mentioning its potential side effects, although she did link to a site with that information.

Kardashian deleted the photo after the FDA sent a warning letter to Duchesnay, and then reposted it with the side effects, from drowsiness to allergies.

“From a regulatory perspective, it’s a lot of pressure to think about fitting all that information into a four-inch mobile screen,” Danielle Salowski, industry manager for Facebook’s health team, told BuzzFeed News.

The social network has been beefing up that team, which has been around for about a year and a half, in an effort to bring in more pharmaceutical dollars. Salowski, who joined Facebook in May after working in ad sales at Twitter, said her team is a mix of pharma experts, digital industry veterans, and longtime employees.

They’ve been trying out creative ad formats. This fall, Bayer bought its first Facebook ad for a multiple sclerosis drug, which presented safety information in an auto-scrolling line of text, rather than a long paragraph. The scrolling feature had appeared in other Facebook ads, but not previously for pharmaceutical ads, according to Facebook. “Bayer chose Facebook because the multiple sclerosis community is actively involved in Facebook,” Bayer spokesperson Rose Talarico told BuzzFeed News by email. “We recognized an opportunity to reach them where they already were with information that was potentially relevant to them.”

Facebook keeps the FDA updated on the types of ads that pharmaceutical companies can buy, according to a Facebook spokesperson. But clients, not Facebook employees, are in charge of ensuring that their ads obey regulations, Salowski said.

Beyond Bayer, some companies promote their products on Facebook pages — some obviously branded, others less so. Allergan does this for dry-eye disease medication and birth control, and AstraZeneca has a page for cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Allergan&039;s sponsored Facebook page for its dry-eye disease drug.

Via Facebook: RESTASIS

One unique feature of Facebook — and social media at large — is the ability to leave comments. Commenting can help people feel more attached to a brand and bring their friends into the conversation. But, as Mack pointed out, horror stories about bad side effects or endorsements of drugs for unapproved conditions could be nightmares for pharmaceutical companies. Salowski said that Facebook lets brands turn off comments on posts and pages.

Liking a brand&039;s Facebook page also potentially increases the chances that your friends will see it or related ads in their feeds. That feature could lead to inadvertent privacy violations if, say, you don’t want people to know you’re “liking” antidepressants. At the same time, Facebook allows people to adjust their settings so that friends won’t see ads based on their page likes.

Tweets, which are even shorter than Facebook posts, pose their own challenges. Last month, the FDA said it intends to study if it’s appropriate for a promotional tweet for a prescription drug to include a link to side effect information. It’s the latest chapter in the agency’s slow adjustment to advertising in a 140-character world. In 2014, it put out draft guidance for how pharmaceutical companies could use social media, but didn’t explicitly address whether links to information about risks were allowed.

Viral, targeted ads aren’t inherently dangerous, said Ameet Sarpatwari, an instructor at Harvard Medical School who studies pharmaceutical marketing. But he’d like to see social media companies make clear the potential dangers of medical products.

For example, he suggested, Twitter could label drug advertisements as such, instead of just “Promoted Tweets.” He also endorses links to side effect information, accompanied by language that underlines their importance, like “read about the risks here” (rather than a neutral phrase like “click here to learn more”). And he wants the platforms to allow researchers to study whether these steps are effective.

Sarapatwari’s concerns about social media ads reflect broader concerns about direct-to-consumer drug ads, which are only allowed in the United States and New Zealand. They can be incorrect or one-sided, so “what you get is a continual influx of information about how these products are going to be better and you should take them,” he said.

And on social media, he said, hype can go viral.

“We want to facilitate the flow of information,” he said. “But we don’t want to also allow something that is true, but misleading, to be able to influence decision-making on something of such a magnitude that it can impact health.”

LINK: Big Pharma Is Sponsoring A Flu Map On The Weather Channel

LINK: What Our Tweets And Google Searches Say About Our Health

Quelle: <a href="Big Pharma Is Coming For Your Facebook And Twitter Feeds“>BuzzFeed

Uber Can Now Find Your Friends Without Needing An Address From You

Uber is announcing two new features today: Now, instead of entering an address, you can select a friend&#039;s name from your contact list, and your driver will take you wherever your friend is. And along the way, you can Snapchat your friend information about your ride.

How it works: First, you have to give Uber access to your contacts; then you&039;d enter a friend&039;s name as the destination. Uber will ping that friend, asking to access the GPS on their phone to confirm the destination, and once they accept, you&039;ll be on your way.

Important note: Uber won&039;t follow the friend as they move around. One they confirm their location, it&039;s a static destination. The friend you set as your destination also has to answer Uber within 30 minutes.

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The company told BuzzFeed News that it hopes to help passengers eliminate the back-and-forth texting about the exact address of a meeting place.

And the Snapchat collaboration is meant to make the journey more fun for riders, according to Uber.

While you&039;re riding, you&039;ll be able to send your friends snaps right from the Uber app. You can choose from one of three filters: your estimated time of arrival, ride type (Uber Pool, UberX, Uber Black, UberXL), or a “mystery filter,” which will surprise riders with either a trophy cup saying “Five Star Rider,” a daytime/nighttime filter, or a steering wheel. If you&039;re feeling ambitious, you can use these filters alongside other Snapchat filters like the dog face.

When asked about sharing sensitive information like location on Snapchat, Uber said it&039;s disclosing no personal data beyond what&039;s required for the filter — ETA, vehicle type, and destination.

The ride-hail company has collaborations with Yelp, the public transportation app Transit, and FourSquare in the works.

These additions will augment the Uber Feed, a feature introduced in Uber&039;s latest app update.

Quelle: <a href="Uber Can Now Find Your Friends Without Needing An Address From You“>BuzzFeed

Here's What The White House Thinks We Should Do About Automation

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The Obama administration today released a report on the role automation and artificial intelligence will play in the future of the US economy — namely, what will happen to workers as more and more jobs are automated out of existence. It&#039;s a follow-up to a previous report, &039;Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence&039;, that was released by the administration in October.

This new report advocates for two policies the administration has pushed for consistently throughout Obama&039;s presidency: More investment in STEM education, and a stronger social safety net. The former means making sure training for high-skill jobs starts in early childhood and continues throughout college and beyond; the latter means strengthening unemployment insurance, introducing wage insurance, and modernizing tax policy in order to protect the low-skilled workers who are most likely to lose their source of income as a result of automation.

But what&039;s new in this report, according to Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman, is the focus on the benefits artificial intelligence could bring to high-skilled workers. Per the report:

AI technology itself has opened up new markets and new opportunities for progress in critical areas such as health, education, energy, economic inclusion, social welfare, transportation, and the environment. Substantial innovation in AI, robotics, and related technology areas has taken place over the last decade, but the United States will need a much faster pace of innovation in these areas to significantly advance productivity growth going forward.

The report offers as examples of areas where investment in AI could be particularly useful is in building a defense system against cyberattacks, as well as in detecting fraud in the financial industry.

But, the report goes on to say, any investment in technology or growth in the AI industry will have to be accompanied by an increase in diversity of the workforce that&039;s building it. Currently, “the lack of gender and racial diversity in the AI-specific workforce mirrors the significant and problematic lack of diversity in the technology industry and the field of computer science more generally.” That&039;s a problem for a number of reasons, including that more diversity generally means better problem-solving and faster rates of innovation, the report says.

Another problem in AI that has to be solved is algorithmic bias, which, according to this report, is already a risk in the credit and insurance industries, as well as in recruiting. The report warns that the use of algorithms in the hiring process, for example, could “unfairly exclude new potential talent.”

Quelle: <a href="Here&039;s What The White House Thinks We Should Do About Automation“>BuzzFeed

The 50 Worst Things On The Internet In 2016

In a year like 2016, this list might almost restore your faith in the internet&#8230;almost&8230; WARNING: This post is obviously NSFW.

The severed toe one Tumblr user mailed her Tumblr friend to make a necklace.

cummy-eyelids.tumblr.com

This whole thing.

Tumblr

This British hero who expressed his opinion by sticking an EU referendum voting card into his foreskin.

stuffinmydick.tumblr.com

View Entire List ›

Quelle: <a href="The 50 Worst Things On The Internet In 2016“>BuzzFeed

Apple Is Talking To The Indian Government About Manufacturing Locally: Report

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Apple is in talks with the Indian government to manufacture products in the country. The company is asking the Indian government for financial incentives to make its products in India, two senior government officials told the The Wall Street Journal.

The report corroborates what the Press Trust of India, a leading news wire service, published last month: that Apple had written a letter to the federal government in India outlining its plans to seek financial incentives as it strives to gain marketshare in a country where 97 percent of all smartphones run Android.

Apple did not respond to BuzzFeed News&#039; request for comment.

Apple has been negotiating with the Indian government to open Apple Stores in the country for years but has been unable to do so because of the country&039;s stringent regulations on foreign direct investment.

In June, the government relaxed some of these restrictions and allowed single-brand retailers like Apple to open stores in the country — provided that they purchased at least 30 percent of their raw materials from Indian vendors after the first three years.

Making its devices in India would help Apple overcome the local-sourcing requirement, making it possible to set up a retail presence in the country. But analysts say that the move would also help reduce the retail price of iPhones in the country — India is currently the most expensive country to buy an iPhone in.

“We estimate iPhone prices in the country to drop 12% to 13% if Apple makes its devices in India,” Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at market research agency Counterpoint, told BuzzFeed News.

India&039;s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has been trying to ramp up technology manufacturing in the country through a high-profile initiative called “Make In India”. Other smartphone makers such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and OnePlus, already assemble their phones in India to keep prices down.

Quelle: <a href="Apple Is Talking To The Indian Government About Manufacturing Locally: Report“>BuzzFeed

Should Trump Protect Manufacturing Jobs From Automation? We Asked His Supporters

U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump speaks at an event at Carrier HVAC plant in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Chris Bergin / Reuters

At a rally last week in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, WI, President-Elect Donald Trump promised that his administration will focus on “three words: jobs, jobs jobs.” Two of the focal points of his post-election campaign have been keeping US factory jobs, like at the Carrier furnace factory in Indiana, from moving to Mexico, as well as prioritizing American workers over foreign ones.

In Milwaukee county, where factories employ almost 16% of the workforce, these kinds of promises are particularly popular with Trump’s supporters. But although Trump succeeded in convincing Carrier to keep its plant in the US with $7 million in tax breaks, the factory’s parent company has said it will invest $16 million into making the factory competitive through automation, which will ultimately cut human jobs.

For the most part, Trump supporters at the rally didn’t seem to mind. They’ve known the automation of factory jobs was coming whether they liked it or not, they told BuzzFeed News. For some, that means that the president-elect has no obligation keep factory jobs safe from the machines that would streamline them out of existence.

“I don&#039;t see any negative to innovation in automation. We&039;re ready to get moving with the times,” said Jodi Perkins, a supporter living in Milwaukee. “He doesn’t need to protect those frontline jobs. We’ve got to get the boot of government off the neck of business.”

Jodi Perkins, right, at Trump&039;s Wisconsin Thank You rally

Blake Montgomery

Mel Geschke, a forklift operator with Quad/Graphics who attended the Milwaukee rally, said automation threatens his job daily. Automated guided vehicles can do the work of forklift operators, though Geschke believes they do not work as well as humans in fast-paced situations.

Yet he feels ambivalent about whether Trump should protect his job. He said, “He&039;ll do what he can to protect my job from automation, but in some cases you&039;ve got to go with the flow.”

American manufacturing, by many measures, is succeeding even as the president-elect reiterates that America “is losing,” as he did at the Wisconsin rally. Mark Miro, a senior fellow at the Brookings research institute, writes in the MIT Technology Review that American manufacturing is now producing 254% of what it did in 1980 while employing just 66% of the workforce of that same year.

Reverting manufacturing processes from machines to people would likely be bad for the bottom line of many businesses. The Boston Consulting Group found in 2015 that it costs only $8 per hour for a robot to do the same job — spot welding to produce cars — that a human could do for $25 per hour. Trump’s own labor secretary pick Andy Puzder has spoken publicly about preferring robots to human workers.

Several supporters at the rally offered the consolation that workers who lost their jobs to automation could become repairmen or technicians in the same factories.

Tim Kempen summed up a common feeling at the rally: “If we don&039;t stay with new tech, we&039;ll be less productive and fall behind other countries. It&039;s sad that a machine may take jobs, but at least those people could go out and get jobs repairing the machines.”

But to Michael Gallant, head of communications at n-Join, a company that uses artificial intelligence to monitor manufacturing machines for deficiencies, the comparison of frontline factory jobs to more specialized occupations does not hold up. “That’s not an apples to apples analogy. Becoming a technician or an engineer requires a great deal training, whereas frontline manufacturing does not.”

And jobs for those without that training are fast disappearing. A recent Georgetown study found that of the 11.6 million jobs added after the economic crisis of 2008, workers with some degree of higher education took 11.5 million of them.

Workers with a high school education lost 5.6 million jobs in the recession, the study said, and regained less than 1% of them because many of the jobs for high school graduates like manufacturing and clerical work have been automated.

Tomas Jimenez, a sociologist of immigration at Stanford University, told BuzzFeed News Trump’s supporters’ ambivalence towards automation but enthusiastic support for the Carrier deal and his anti-illegal immigration agenda isn’t entirely surprising. “It’s easier to blame people than it is to blame things. It’s possible that among supporters there is a sentiment that machines have no agency, but people — Mexico and its emigrants — do.”

“Our responsibility is more to look for companies that manufacture their wares in the US,” said Jodi Perkins at the rally. “It’s more important to keep jobs in the US than to protect them from automation.”

Trump, for his part, hasn’t said much about the impact automation may have on his plans for the American economy. But in a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, the president-elect said the US would build more factories under his administration because “we don’t make anything.” He did, however, acknowledge that “robotics is becoming very big.” His solution? “We’ll build the robots, too.”

Quelle: <a href="Should Trump Protect Manufacturing Jobs From Automation? We Asked His Supporters“>BuzzFeed