Sunday, January 17, 2016

Probably not the intent of the law...
From the how-dare-you-record-me-assaulting-you dept., CBS reports:
The former Taco Bell executive who created an internet firestorm when he appeared on dash-cam video beating an Uber driver last October, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the driver.
Passenger Benjamin Golden is suing the driver, Edward Caban, for illegally recording the attack, according to CNBC.
Read more on CBS LA.




About time!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a draft guidance outlining important steps medical device manufacturers should take to continually address cybersecurity risks to keep patients safe and better protect the public health. The draft guidance details the agency’s recommendations for monitoring, identifying and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices once they have entered the market.




Might make an interesting Case Study – if I can confirm everything (and grab a copy of the video)
Internal emails: How a Seattle startup’s ‘drama’ became a Kentucky university’s problem
“It all sounds a little strange to me!”
That was a member of the University of Kentucky’s public relations and marketing staff, in a Dec. 2 email message to her colleagues — explaining why a TEDx talk on campus, by a woman named Kristie Colón, had suddenly blown up into a national story, with reporters from across the country demanding answers about an unreleased video of the talk.
… The TEDx talk by Price’s former wife included a passage recounting alleged incidents of abuse during their marriage nearly a decade ago, which Price has categorically denied.
In the following days, the university would decide not to release the video, going so far as to delete its own copy of the video, seeking to wash its hands of the situation.




How many industries are still doing business as they always have? All of them are ripe for disruption too.
Cab Company Claims Uber Helping Drive It Toward Bankruptcy
Yellow Cab Co-Op, San Francisco’s largest taxi company with about 530 medallion-holding drivers, is filing for bankruptcy, the San Francisco Examiner reported earlier this week.
News of the bankruptcy is perhaps the clearest indication of the growing dominance of ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft in the city.
Thanks to the apps from Silicon Valley that allow freelance drivers to compete directly with established cab services, while offering passengers more convenience and lower prices for similar services, the entire taxi industry has struggled to compete in the past few years.


(Related) I think this is related to Paul David's paper, The Dynamo and the Computer: An Historical Perspective. Technologies take a long time to change the fundamentals of thought in any industry.
Nobody Asked for Uber
For business leaders looking to grow and scale a company, it can be difficult to identify opportunities for innovation. According to Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing at the Kellogg School, customers often are unable to articulate the improvements or features they truly want in a product or service.




I don't think they have any idea how to change things.
World Bank Report on Digital Technologies – Four Billion Lack Internet Access
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jan 16, 2016
“A new World Bank report says that while the internet, mobile phones and other digital technologies are spreading rapidly throughout the developing world, the anticipated digital dividends of higher growth, more jobs, and better public services have fallen short of expectations, and 60 percent of the world’s population remains excluded from the ever-expanding digital economy. According to the new ‘World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends,’ authored by Co-Directors, Deepak Mishra and Uwe Deichmann and team, the benefits of rapid digital expansion have been skewed towards the wealthy, skilled, and influential around the world, who are better positioned to take advantage of the new technologies. In addition, though the number of internet users worldwide has more than tripled since 2005, four billion people still lack access to the internet.”




How many humans would it take to power a home?
Colorado town is first in the US to switch to renewable natural gas
The city of Grand Junction, Colorado, is turning its raw human waste into a type of renewable natural gas called biomethane, according to The Guardian.
… The thing about human waste is it's always going to be available, which makes converting it into a usable form a pretty smart move. And the gas produced is better for the environment.




1) Don't tell my wife. 2) Is this a viable business model outside the world of those “too rich to care?”
Hermes Handbags Are A Better Investment Than The Stock Market, Study Says
… Over the last 35 years, the high-end bags – commonly flaunted as a status symbol among the rich and famous – have increased in value by more than 500 percent, according to a study by online retail platform BagHunter.com.
Annually, the bags saw an average increase in value of 14.2 percent.
… Even if one has the money, “Hermes won't sell these bags to just anybody,” he said. “You'd have to have a long-standing relationship with one of their sales associates."
That relationship may include the client making a lot of prior purchases. Even then, each customer is restricted to buying no more than two bags per year, he said.
Adding to that limit, once someone gets a chance to buy, “They're not asking you what color, what size you want. It’s, ‘This is the one bag we're offering to you,’” he said.
Because of that restriction, there’s no guarantee that prospective clients receive the exact bag they want. And because of that, fans and collectors alike turn to each other, or outside buyers, to swap or purchase the ones they want, he said.


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