Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability
For once, a story about an Uber/Lyft driver, where Uber/Lyft don’t come off as the bad guy. Instead, it’s Major League baseball, which apparently pays players in the minor leagues so poorly that at least one was driving rideshare as a side hustle.
Chinese ride-share company Didi Chuxing says it will launch self-driving cars in Shanghai.
Reputation, reputation, reputation
Gig economy site offers spying on your spouse for just $5!
Geeking Out
h/t to Scott Mintzer for pointing this story out—about a MIT student who has programmed a computer to “read” his thoughts. No, really.
What’s Going on in the Workforce
Is it predictable that newspapers would try to protect the ability to pay journalists as freelancers? Yes. Is it predictable that they would do so by sneaking that into an opinion piece about how newspaper delivery persons should be independent contractors? Well, I didn’t see it coming…
“I can pay the rent and the energy bill and the cellphone. That’s it. There’s no way to make sure the kids have everything they need, or even to dress halfway decent. Sometimes I braid hair to make extra money.” In the wake of the Popeyes’ sandwich craze, Alexia Fernandez Campbell talks to one manager about her struggles to live on $10/hour.
Here’s an interesting look at how a programmer describes wiping out four people’s jobs in the interest of “efficiency.”
A surgeon has successfully performed heart surgery via robot, on a patient 20 miles away, for the first time.
An incredible look into the many crashes (some fatal) that Amazon delivery drivers get into—and the lengths that the company goes to, to escape culpability.
From Partners
This new paper looks at the impact of algorithmic management on Uber drivers & concludes that they hate it. (But it might be supporting their burgeoning baseball career, so hey.)
Events
In DC? Check out “The Color of Surveillance” on Nov. 7 at Georgetown.