A California senator plans to introduce a new bill that would require smartphones to enable a “kill switch,” a security feature that would make a phone inoperable if it’s stolen. Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) announced Thursday that he will introduce the bill at the start of the 2014 legislative session in January, with the …
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San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón released survey results Wednesday that he says makes an argument for Apple to enable its Activation Lock security feature on every phone. George Gascón When enabled, Activation Lock — which is available for iOS 7 users and requires them to activate the “Find my Phone” tracking feature — prevents the unauthorized resetting of an …
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Uber began testing a financial program Monday that aims to reduce the car payments of its drivers through a partnership with auto manufacturers and banks. The on-demand car company said it now has 100,000 drivers and “millions” of customers, with full-time drivers giving $100,000 worth of rides each year. But, it needs more cars. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said the …
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Before San Francisco resident Kenny Liao heads to work in the morning, he makes sure to check his smartphone to see if he can pick up any strangers along the way. “I open up the app before I need to leave, I leave it open and see if someone needs a ride, for the next 10 minutes or so. If …
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Uber users can now pay for on-demand car service with PayPal, kicking off a partnership that lends PayPal some mobile cred while potentially driving new users to Uber’s services. Uber is releasing new versions of its Android and iOS app Monday night in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the US. Both apps will have PayPal built in as a …
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BlackBerry’s BBM messaging app needs a little help from its friends. Since launching on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android last month, the popularity of BBM has been a rare bright spot in an otherwise messy situation at the company. But while BBM has done well in select foreign countries where its phones are still popular, it has had less luck …
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Uber’s done it again. It finds a buzzworthy product and makes it available for on-demand delivery. This time it’s hit the meme motherload — cute and cuddly kittens. Tuesday is National Cat Day, so Uber is promoting its service by partnering with popular meme site Cheezburger to deliver kitten-snuggling time. The service is available in New York, San Francisco, and …
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Clinkle, the mobile payments startup that’s backed by many of Silicon Valley’s biggest names, has now lured Netflix’s former chief financial officer to its new management team. Clinkle announced Tuesday that Barry McCarthy will join the stealthy company as its chief operating officer. McCarthy, who played a key role in Netflix’s previous success, left the video streaming company in December …
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Smartphone maker HTC’s head of public relations has resigned after four months on the job, according to a report from Bloomberg Businessweek. Related stories Best VR Headsets of 2022 Your Phone Screen Is Gross. Here’s How to Clean It Without Causing Damage The Metaverse Is on the Way: Here’s What You Need to Know Vice President and Head of Global …
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No surprise here. The nation’s most popular smartphones are favored by the customers of the top wireless carriers in the US, according to a J.D. Power customer service study released Thursday. The study found that consumers from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint were most satisfied with the performance of Apple and Samsung smartphones, but a further breakdown of the figures …
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