Uber's New Service Will Let You Travel Like a Local
If TripAdvisor met Yelp, that would be Uber Local, a new product the taxi hailing company is working on.
“We use real-time data of our trips, obviously in an aggregate way, to show the hot spots to show where most Ubers are dropping people off,” Alex Otrezov, Uber’s head of search and examination, told Cheddar in a recent interview. “Whether points of interests, or restaurants, whatever it may be, we want to make sure that we share that data with our users.”
The executive unveiled the product at eTail West 2018 on Tuesday. Uber Local’s technology would allow it to predict social trends based on time and seasons and personalize the data for each user.
Otrezov said Uber is pushing its real-time technology business model further in developing this personalized operating system. He says that Uber Local aims both to make traveling easier and to enhance the local experience.
“The way we move more into personalization is kind of knowing whether there’s a specific event going on and creating auto-generating ads for that audience,” he said. “And really moving into that space where we can actually tell them, ‘Hey, are you looking to go to Coachella?... Take an Uber.’”
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
Visa is hoping to hand your credit card to an artificial intelligence “agent” that can find and buy clothes, groceries, airplane tickets and other items on your behalf.
Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, are hitting three-year highs on Monday after it received a $3.6 billion proposed takeover offer from DoorDash.
X, the social media platform owned by Trump adviser Elon Musk, is challenging the constitutionality of a Minnesota ban on using deepfakes to influence elections and harm candidates.
The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.
