Technology

One way or another, the business of summoning a ride from your phone is likely to look different in California after Nov. 3.The future of gig work could hinge on the success or failure of Proposition 22, called the App-Based Drivers as Contractors and Labor Policies Initiative. Uber, Lyft and other companies bankrolling the initiative say it would improve workers’ quality of … [Read more...] about What Prop. 22’s defeat would mean for Uber and Lyft — and drivers

Surrounded, concerned and frustrated by our current pandemic, I certainly didn’t want COVID-19 to enter my game-playing time. The virus and its effects had consumed enough of my life. Confession: I was wrong. I 100% did not know I needed a COVID-19 game — let alone 51 of them — but I absolutely did. Of course, it helps that these games generally don’t present dark, complex … [Read more...] about Do we need a COVID-19 video game? How about 51 games? I think we might

For months, Bui Van Thuan, a chemistry teacher turned crusading blogger in Vietnam, published one scathing Facebook post after another on a land dispute between villagers and the communist government.In a country with no independent media, Facebook provides the only platform where Vietnamese can read about contentious topics such as Dong Tam, a village outside Hanoi where … [Read more...] about Facebook touts free speech. In Vietnam, it’s aiding in censorship

After months of being stuck at home, many Americans know full well that there are three things they can’t live without. Two of them are power and water.The third, I’m sure, will be obvious to all.Internet access.Imagine this prolonged ordeal without being able to work or attend school from home, without email, without being able to shop online, without streaming video and … [Read more...] about Column: The pandemic makes clear it’s time to treat the internet as a utility

In a sprawling lot by Los Angeles International Airport, drivers for ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft wait for new passengers. Ask them about Proposition 22 — the measure on the California ballot that will determine their worker classification as either independent contractors or employees — and you get a surge of fierce opinions.Many support the measure. “I’m for Prop. 22 … [Read more...] about Uber, Lyft, DoorDash workers on Prop. 22: ‘I don’t want to end up on the wrong side’

Coming on the tail end of President Trump’s administration, the lawsuits against Facebook announced Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission and 46 states and districts might seem like the last angry quack of a lame duck who’s harbored a long-running grievance against social media executives. But the breadth of the bipartisan coalition bringing forward the suits, which allege … [Read more...] about Regulatory pressure on Facebook is likely to continue under Biden

Here’s what today’s column isn’t about: renter’s insurance.I spent hours the other day assisting a Hancock Park reader who was having difficulty canceling her renter’s coverage after she moved back to her parents’ home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.It was a convoluted situation involving a mishmash of corporate players, dropped phone calls, ignored emails and a threat of … [Read more...] about Column: Canceling subscriptions shouldn’t be like running an obstacle course

SpaceX, having established a formidable reputation in rocket launches, is starting to roll out what it hopes will be an even more muscular arm of its business: broadband internet service.The Elon Musk-led company has released pricing for a public beta test of its Starlink broadband internet service, which is beamed to users via small satellites. A Texas school district and … [Read more...] about SpaceX starts rolling out Starlink internet, hoping it’ll fund Mars flights

To get a sense of how — and where — New York City’s financial executives are living these days, Rob Wiesenthal might be a better source than the Census Bureau.Sometime around August, Wiesenthal, co-founder of a private helicopter and seaplane business, noticed an unusual travel pattern among clients, many with second homes in New York’s Hamptons and Hudson Valley, where they’d … [Read more...] about NYC’s wealthy are commuting from their pandemic pads — by chopper

Khaled Zayyid worked long days, driving as much as 80 hours a week for Uber, to provide for his family. When he died in a Riverside County hospital in July of complications from COVID-19, his wife and children were left without a breadwinner. Reeling from grief, they were left to grapple with the nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.Then they applied to … [Read more...] about This Uber driver died of COVID-19. Proposition 22 will sway his family’s fate