Sunday, 17 September 2017 11:45
Uber vows to stop using diesel cars in London by 2019
Global ride-hailing incumbent Uber has announced that it will cease using diesel cars in London by the end of 2019. City officials in the English capital are aggressively pursuing initiatives and programs aimed at reducing the number of diesel vehicles being driven in and around the city, with London recording alarming levels of pollution. Uber have shown their support for this movement by vowing that they will be using no diesel cars for their services by 2019, with a spokesman…
Sunday, 17 September 2017 11:23
WhatsApp announces plans to monetize its platform in effort to address ‘sustainability issues’
WhatsApp, which is one of the world’s most popular messaging applications - has finally announced a strategy for the monetization of its service in an effort to address issues regarding its ‘sustainability’. Concerns have long been raised over its sustainability, but now the application which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $22 billion has revealed its plans. WhatsApp published a blog post in which it outlined its plans to launch a new innovative service that specifically targets large businesses,…
Monday, 11 September 2017 12:43
Estonian startup set to go head-to-head with Uber in London and Paris
An Estonian taxi startup company has announced its bold ambition to take on global ride-hailing colossus Uber in both London and Paris. Taxify announced that it will initially launch its services in London after it signed up 3,000 private hire taxi drivers following an intensive recruitment process which was needed to meet UK licensing and regulatory requirements. Its expansion into the UK serves to indicate that Taxify is confident it can replicate the success it has enjoyed in other markets.…
Sunday, 10 September 2017 11:07
Newly-appointed CEO says Uber has to change, and vows to take the company public
Uber’s newly-appointed CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has vowed to take the global ride-hailing firm public within the next three years. His appointment as CEO comes after months of unsettlement within the organization following the high-profile resignation of outgoing CEO Travis Kalanick. Uber has been embroiled in a number of controversies and scandals that range from sexual harassment claims to engaging in illegal taxi operations. However, the new CEO who is the former head of travel website giants Expedia has declared the…
Sunday, 10 September 2017 07:49
US cities set to get ‘smarter’ with launch of free app for on-demand rides
US cities Seattle and Portland are set to get ‘smarter’ following the launch of a free app which allows users to search for on-demand rides. It will be formally introduced after the completion of a successful three-month test period. The application which is entitled Migo, is basically a search engine that allows users to search, compare and hail multiple type of ride-hailing transportation like Uber, Lyft, Car2Go and Seattle Yellow Cab, without engaging in the time consuming process of jumping…
Monday, 04 September 2017 09:53
Facebook to block ads from pages that repeatedly share false news
Facebook announced that it’s taking an additional step to reduce false news and hoaxes on its platform, by disallowing companies to advertize if they repeatedly share stories marked as false. This ads to Facebook’s current policy of disallowing advertisers to run ads that link to stories that have been marked as false by third-party fact-checking organizations. The update, according to a blog post by the social media giant, will help to reduce the distribution of false news which will keep…
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Sunday, 03 September 2017 06:00
Uber reports bookings increase and revenue jump
Uber reported an increase in bookings and revenue jump on August 23. The California-based ride-sharing company reduced its losses by 14 percent in Q2 compared to the same period the previous year. The company posted a net loss of $645 million on revenue of $1.75 billion, compared to revenue of $800 million the same period last year. Global trips increased 150 percent from the previous year, the company said, while gross bookings reached $8.7 billion, up 17 percent which is…
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Monday, 21 August 2017 08:38
Amazon launches ‘Instant Pickup’ furthering its brick-and-mortar approach
E-commerce giant Amazon has launched ‘Instant Pickup’ in the US – a free service where goods purchased online can be picked up by consumers from select locations within two minutes or less, instead of waiting hours for an item to be delivered, in the company’s latest move into brick-and-mortar retail. “As shopping behaviors continue to evolve, customers consistently tell us that they want items even faster,” said Ripley MacDonald, Director, Student Programs, Amazon. “Whether it’s a snack on-the-go, replacing a…
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Sunday, 20 August 2017 11:43
Facebook’s ‘Marketplace’ expands to 17 European countries
Facebook launched its ‘Marketplace’ feature in October last year – a place where users can trade and sell goods to one another without leaving the social media platform. The feature is now expanding to 17 countries across Europe, having already launched in the US, Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand and the UK. Marketplace will be introduced to Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Facebook said…
Monday, 14 August 2017 11:17
Snap Inc. disappoints again with dismal quarterly results
The parent company of the app Snapchat posted Q2 results on August 10 that disappointed investors. The company went public with an IPO in March last year, and reported sluggish user growth two months later in May. One year on, Snap reported net losses of $443 million, compared to $115.9 million in 2016. Snap generated revenue of $181.7 million during its second quarter for 2017, which ended on June 30, compared to $71.8 million during the same period last year.…
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Monday, 14 August 2017 10:49
Facebook introduces video platform ‘Watch’ to rival streaming services
Facebook introduced a new platform for TV shows on August 9 called ‘Watch’. The platform will be available initially to a limited group in the United States on Facebook’s app, website, and television apps, the company said. Programming for the platform will range from professional women’s basketball to a safari show and parenting program. “Watch is personalized to help you discover new shows, organized around what your friends and communities are watching,” Facebook said in a release. For example, users…
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Wednesday, 26 July 2017 10:42
Uber under fire for offering cheap rides from Madrid airport
Uber has come under fire in Spain by Madrid authorities that have asked the anti-trust watchdog to investigate whether the ride-hailing app’s new cheap airport transfer service has broken competition rules, Reuters reported. The competition regulator, CNMC, last year called for the government to lift a ban on Uber. But the app’s new Uber Airport service has brought Uber back under scrutiny, since it offers a tariff of 15-19 euros for a ride between Madrid’s Barajas international airport and the…
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