Uber will begin selling customer data to marketers, according to a report by Business Insider. The company’s ad division just launched a new insights platform called Uber Intelligence that’s tasked with hoovering up and selling trip and delivery data.

The data will technically be anonymous, via the use of a platform called LiveRamp. This will “let advertisers securely combine their customer data with Uber’s to help surface insights about their audiences, based on what they eat and where they travel.”

Basically, it’ll provide a broad view of local consumer trends based on collected data. Uber gives an example of a hotel brand using the technology to identify which restaurants or venues to partner with according to rideshare information.

The company also says it’s planning on using this tech to directly advertise to consumers, saying it could be used to identify customers who are “heavy business travelers” and then plague them with ads in the app or in vehicles during their next trip to the airport. Fun times.

“That seamlessness is why we’re so excited,” Edwin Wong, global head of measurement at Uber Advertising, told Business Insider. Uber has stated that its ad business is already on track to generate $1.5 billion in revenue this year, and that’s before implementing these changes.

As for Uber in totality, the company made $44 billion in 2024, which was a jump from $37 billion in 2023. It’s also notorious for raising fares. Uber has raised prices for consumers by around 18 percent each year since 2018, which has outpaced inflation by up to four times in some markets.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/uber-will-start-selling-trip-and-takeout-data-to-marketers-171011769.html?src=rss

The 2025 Formula 1 World Championship drew to a close this past weekend in Abu Dhabi, and with it came the end of the current generation of cars. After a grueling 24 races, the title was decided in a three-way fight by the finest of margins; just two points, less than half a percent, separated the winning driver from second place when the checkered flag waved on Sunday.

Coming into Abu Dhabi, McLaren’s Lando Norris was, if not a comfortable favorite, then at least the driver with the highest odds of prevailing. After a strong start to the season, the British driver’s form dipped at the Dutch Grand Prix. But he bounced back, retaking the championship lead from his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri in Mexico in October.

For much of the season, it seemed to be a two-car race. McLaren had a clear car advantage and two strong drivers, suggesting a repeat of the years we saw Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg duking it out to bring home titles for Mercedes. But that didn’t figure on Red Bull developing its car late in the season. New boss Laurent Mekies has revitalized the energy drinks squad, and four-time champion Max Verstappen was able to close inexorably toward the McLaren drivers in the points with a string of sublime performances.

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Netflix has already committed to reviving Star Search for its streaming service, and now the company is turning its attention to a different type of live show: HQ Trivia. Netflix’s Best Guess Live is an attempt to revive the late 2010s app-based show with what the company is calling its first “weekday mobile game show.”

Best Guess Live will be hosted by Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal, America’s Got Talent) and Hunter March (Sugar Rush) and will broadcast Monday through Friday at 8PM ET / 5PM PT. The game seems like it will lean on multiple choice questions much like HQ Trivia did, and will reward players who answer the fastest and play multiple times per week. Netflix’s announcement doesn’t have any specifics as to how much money will be up for grabs, but the company does promise to give away “thousands of dollars in prize money.”

HQ Trivia, started by Vine co-founders Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll, was a surprise hit when it debuted in 2017, thanks in part to its host Scott Rogowsky and the appointment-viewing nature of a daily game show you could watch on your phone. The later slow collapse of HQ was rocky enough to warrant a CNN documentary, but clearly the concept of the app fits nicely with Netflix’s growing interest in live shows and casual games.

Netflix has experimented with a growing number of live shows, including talk shows and sports programming. The company has also recently abandoned its aspirations to develop AAA games and ambitious indie titles to focus on casual experiences and games based on Netflix IP. Best Guess Live seems like a nice fusion of casual interactive experience and lightweight live content. Many people already open the Netflix app daily to find something to watch. It makes sense they’d be willing to do it for money, too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/best-guess-live-is-netflixs-take-on-hq-trivia-170000030.html?src=rss

A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake has shaken Japan, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. From a report: A tsunami as high as 3 metres (10ft) could hit the country’s north-eastern coast after the earthquake occurred offshore at 11.15pm local time (2.15pm GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and tsunamis from 20-50cm (7-18in) high were observed at several ports, JMA said.

The epicentre of the quake was 50 miles (80km) off the coast of Aomori prefecture, at a depth of 30 miles, the agency added. On Japan’s one-to-seven scale of seismic intensity, the tremor registered as an “upper six” in Aomori prefecture — a quake strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling. In such tremors, most heavy furniture can collapse and wall tiles and windowpanes are damaged in many buildings.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The makers of ICEBlock, the community-based reporting app for ICE sightings and activity, are suing the federal government, alleging “unlawful threats” made by Trump administration officials led to the app’s removal from app stores. The suit centers on free speech violations and accuses the administration of coercing Apple into taking down the app in October. Google began taking down similar apps around the same time.

Josh Aaron developed ICEBlock in response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The app allowed users to pin ICE agent locations on a map as well as add notes such as what agents were wearing or the kind of vehicle they were driving. The app would then alert users within a five-mile radius of the sighting. The White House called the app “an incitement of further violence against… ICE officers” and sought its removal.

“A lesson we should all take from this is when we see our government is doing something wrong, it is our duty to stand up,” Aaron told the New York Times.

This isn’t the first time Apple has faced controversy for an app takedown. In 2019, the company removed an app that protesters in Hong Kong were using to track police after facing pressure from the Chinese government.

Apple, for its part, said it took the app down in response to “information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock.” Federal officials said the gunman who attacked an ICE facility in Dallas had used tracking apps, including ICEBlock.

“Fundamentally, ICEBlock neither enables nor encourages confrontation — it simply delivers time-limited location information to help users stay aware of their surroundings in a responsible and nonviolent way,” Aaron’s suit reads.

Engadget has reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-developer-behind-iceblock-is-suing-the-federal-government-165111674.html?src=rss

An investigation has revealed how stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to the US dollar that exist largely beyond traditional financial oversight — have become a practical tool for criminals and sanctioned individuals to move funds across borders almost instantly and convert them back into spendable money, often without detection.

A Chainalysis report from February estimated that up to $25 billion in illicit transactions involved stablecoins last year. A New York Times reporter tested the system by converting $40 cash at a crypto ATM in Weehawken, New Jersey, into stablecoins and then using a Telegram bot to generate a Visa payment card without any identity verification. The card-issuing service, WantToPay, is incorporated in Hong Kong and led by a Russian entrepreneur in Thailand; it advertises to Russians blocked by US sanctions. Britain last month arrested members of a billion-dollar money laundering network that had purchased a bank in Kyrgyzstan to convert proceeds from drug trafficking and human trafficking into Tether, the most popular stablecoin.

Further reading: China’s Central Bank Flags Money Laundering and Fraud Concerns With Stablecoins.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If you’re getting bored with your Galaxy phone, there are changes on the horizon. Samsung announced One UI 8.5 on Monday, Dec. 8, the latest update for Galaxy devices. At present, this new update is only out in beta, but select Galaxy users can try it out right now. Here’s what’s new, according to Samsung.

Proactive Quick Share

With One UI 8.5, Quick Share can automatically identify people in photos. While that sounds a bit creepy, the idea is to proactively offer sharing recommendations to the people who are featured in any given photo. Say you hit Quick Share on a family photo you took over the weekend. Rather than manually enter all of the contacts you’d like to share that image with, the feature can identify each, and automatically suggest sending the image to those contacts. It should speed up sharing pictures with groups of people after you take them, but, again, a little unsettling.

Photo Assist updates

Credit: Samsung

The Gallery app’s Photo Assist feature is getting some upgrades in One UI 8.5. As of this version, Photo Assist now supports “uninterrupted editing.” That means you can make your AI-generated edits without needing to save in between each change. Previously, each edit would produce an entirely new image, so this makes the feature a bit more like a traditional photo editor. In addition, you’ll be able to view all of the AI images you made in your edit history, and choose the one you like the most.

Side note: Samsung says Photo Assist’s Generate Edit feature requires an internet connection as well as a Samsung Account login. The feature also places a watermark on the image, so other people will know it was manipulated or generated with AI.

Audio Broadcast

Credit: Samsung

One UI 8.5 now supports sharing audio to other devices via Auracast, following Google’s wider support for the standard back in September. If you have any LE Audio-supported devices, like headphones or speakers, you can use Audio Broadcast to share media from your Galaxy. This isn’t limited to music, podcasts, or audio from videos, either, as Samsung says you can also broadcast your Galaxy’s microphone to LE Audio devices, too.

This feature is limited to Galaxy S25 devices, even after One UI 8.5 rolls out to other Galaxy phones.

Storage Share

Credit: Samsung

If you have a number of Samsung Galaxy devices, you might find Storage Share useful. This One UI 8.5 feature lets you manage your files across other devices, including tablets, PCs and even TVs, in the My Files app on your smartphone.

Enhanced Security Controls

Samsung is also expanding One UI’s security features with this latest beta. The company is rolling out updates to Theft Protection with One UI 8.5, an existing feature that can lock your device if it’s lost or stolen. That way, whoever picks it up won’t have access to your data, or won’t be able to erase the device and set it up as their own. In that same vein, Samsung is also launching Failed Authentication Lock, which locks the display after too many failed verification attempts. If a thief tries too many PIN combinations, or the fingerprint scanner fails too many times, your screen will lock them out.

How to try the beta on your Galaxy

While you can apply for the beta program today, first, consider the risks. Like all beta software, this version of One UI is currently in testing, which means there may be bugs and glitches that could interrupt your experience using your smartphone. If you understand these risks (and back up all important information ahead of time), here’s what you need to know.

First, this beta is only open for Galaxy S25 users in the U.S., Germany, India, Korea, Poland, and the UK. If you have an S24 or older, you’ll need to wait for Samsung to roll out the One UI 8.5 beta more widely, or for the full release down the line.

Next, you’ll need to apply to join the beta from the Samsung Members app. If you don’t have the app yet, download it from the Play Store, then follow the instructions to enroll in the beta.

Almost every bit of bike testing I’ve done starts out the same way. After assembling the bike, I set the seatpost to its maximum possible height, take it on a short test ride, and try to figure out new and creative phrasing to describe the same old problem: The frame isn’t quite big enough to accommodate my legs. While I’m on the tall side at a bit over six feet (~190 cm), I’m definitely not abnormally large. Yet very few e-bike manufacturers seem to be interested in giving people my height a comfortable ride.

So imagine my surprise when, within two blocks of my first ride on the XPress 750, I had to pull off to the side of the street and lower the seat. This was especially notable given that the XPress is a budget bike (currently on sale for just under $1,000.00) that is only offered in a single frame size. So kudos to Lectric for giving me a comfortable and enjoyable ride, and doing so with a lot of features I wouldn’t expect at this price point.

That said, hitting that price necessitated some significant compromises. We’ll discuss those in detail so you can get a sense of whether any of them will get in the way of your riding enjoyment.

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