Geeking Out
“Self-driving cars don’t necessarily want the same things that older cars want. They may not even be friends.” Alex Steffen, on why we may be thinking of the wrong thing, when we think about self-driving cars.
Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability
Y Combinator has announced some more details on their first basic income pilot experiment—to be run in Oakland, CA.
The EU just put out new rules suggesting that member nations not regulate the on-demand economy too heavily—and that they set standards to determine the difference between “occasional” and “professional capacity” services.
First, WeWork launched apartment living on a coworking-style basis. Now, they’ve opened hotel rooms in their buildings.
This is the first startup I’ve seen that specifically sets out to combine ride-sharing and package delivery, though Uber is now creeping into grocery delivery with a partnership with Walmart.
From Partners
The Sustainable Economies Law Center just put out a reference guide for cities and towns that want to regulate short-term rentals (like AirBnB).
What’s Going on in the Workforce
The Taxi Workers’ Alliance has filed an employment misclassification lawsuit on behalf of 5,000 Uber drivers in NYC.
Science confirms what you always suspected—bosses don’t add meaning to your work, but they can make it more frustrating.
The ILO just put out this survey of income security & working conditions among the crowdsourced workforce (think Mechanical Turk & others who provide online-only tasks). From one worker: “When you work at a real job, you are given time to learn and make mistakes and are given feedback, but in crowd work, the first time you make a mistake…you are rejected and maybe even blocked.”