DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Uber is adding new features to make group rides and activities cheaper and easier to split
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Uber is adding features to its app to make group activities cheaper and easier to split. Group rides allow people with separate pick up locations to share one car and split the bill. The first feature, called group rides, allows up to four people with separate pick-up locations to share one car headed to the same place. The second feature is group ordering for grocery, which allows households to share their grocery orders on UberEats. Group orders on Uber Eats are available starting on May 17, while group rides on Uber will roll out in the upcoming weeks, though Uber did not provide a specific date.

☆ You can now hail an Uber without the Uber app. Here's how it works.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Uber riders don't have to have the app on their phone to request a driver. The new service is available in English and Spanish starting May 17. Here's how it will work:Customers can request a ride by dialing 1-833-USE-UBER. The information is connected to an existing account, or a new account is created associated with the rider's phone number. A few minutes later, the rider receives a text message confirming their trip information and the driver's information.

☆ Here are all the new features coming to Uber, including teen accounts, group rides, and fancy car seats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

These updates included accounts for teens, group rides, group grocery orders, and Nuna car seats. These updates included accounts for teens, group rides and grocery orders, and a partnership with car seat brand Nuna. Teen accounts on Uber will be available in some US and Canadian cities beginning on May 22. Group rides will roll out in the upcoming weeks, though Uber did not provide a specific date. Group grocery ordersUberBeginning on May 17, a new group order feature on UberEats will allow you to split your weekly grocery delivery with your family or roommates.

☆ Charging Daniel Penny, the Subway Samaritan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Images: Margaret Small/Reuter/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyEvery subway rider in New York City knows the experience. You get on a train, and a passenger nearby is shouting to himself or at others. Daniel Penny , a Marine veteran, took that risk on May 1 and intervened to subdue Jordan Neely , a homeless man who was acting erratically, shouting and claiming he had little to live for. Mr. Penny subdued Neely, put him in a chokehold, and Neely died. On Friday the Manhattan district attorney charged Mr. Penny with second-degree manslaughter for which he could serve up to 15 years in prison.

☆ Birthday cakes, Ulta runs, and hundreds of rose petals: Inside the job of a service stylist at a luxury NYC hotel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sarah Chelli is a service stylist at The Langham hotel in New York City and works with VIP guests. She talked to Insider about what her job is like, and took us on the job to set up a guest's room. Britney Nguyen/InsiderAs a "service stylist," Chelli is responsible for communicating with guests to handle special requests. Her background in musical theater helps her as a service stylist, she said. Chelli taping balloons around a guest's hotel room before they arrive to celebrate a birthday.

☆ How Lyft’s new CEO is ‘copying’ his former boss Jeff Bezos to turn around the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Days after taking over as the new CEO of Lyft (LYFT) last month, Risher announced plans to “significantly reduce” the company’s workforce and stressed that the decision was his. The next week, Lyft (LYFT) revealed the extent of the layoffs: 26% of the staff, or more than 1,000 employees, would lose their jobs. It has lagged behind its chief rival, Uber (UBER), in recovering from the pandemic shock to business. And that really is Jeff Bezos,” Risher told CNN. “It’s not our focus to be part of somebody else’s company,” Risher said.

☆ Honda say Marquez fit for French Grand Prix
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 10 (Reuters) - Honda rider Marc Marquez will return at the French Grand Prix this weekend after recovering from a hand injury, the MotoGP team said on Wednesday. Marquez underwent surgery after breaking the first metacarpal on his right hand following a collision in the season-opening race in Portugal. "Now I am here and fully focused on riding, I have no worries about the injury since it's fully healed. Let's see what the French GP brings and most importantly, work to our maximum." The Spaniard has scored only seven points this season after finishing third in the sprint race in Portugal.

☆ Duke Energy misses profit estimates as warm weather weighs on power usage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 9 (Reuters) - Duke Energy Corp (DUK.N) on Tuesday missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit, as the gas and electric utilities firm was hit by unfavorable weather, higher interest expenses, and lower volumes. Warmer-than-normal weather in the states serviced by the company weighed on customers' electricity needs for heating in colder months. Duke's electric utilities, which serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, saw income fall about 12% to $791 million from last year. Meanwhile for its gas utilities, which serve 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky, income rose about 13% to $287 million for the quarter, aided by better retail margins. Duke said it earned $1.20 per share, on an adjusted basis, in the January-March quarter.

☆ A cruise ship passenger found a hidden camera that had filmed over 150 people changing or using the bathroom. A man was arrested after the FBI said video showed him setting it up.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise spotted a hidden camera in a public bathroom. The FBI said the video showed adults and minors as young as 4 years old changing. A man was arrested Wednesday after officials say he set up a hidden camera in a public cruise ship bathroom and recorded more than 150 people, including minors, before another passenger spotted it, court records showed. The camera was placed in a public bathroom on the top deck of the Harmony of the Seas. In 2018, a couple from Florida said they found a hidden camera pointing at the bed of their cabin on a Carnival cruise ship.

☆ In a Case Resembling Jordan Neely’s Killing, an Arrest Came Quickly
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Maria Cramer | Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last year, on a spring evening, a 28-year-old man confronted a woman on a San Diego bus who was filming him with her cellphone, according to court documents. He grabbed the man, Anthony J. McGaff, 28, put him in a chokehold and held him for eight minutes, Mr. McGaff’s family said, until Mr. McGaff lost consciousness and died. Like the New York case, the victim in San Diego was Black and the man who killed him was white. A video captured by a subway rider shows Daniel Penny holding Mr. Neely in a chokehold for at least three minutes, including nearly a minute after he went limp. In San Diego, law enforcement officials arrested Mr. Hilbert within hours.

☆ Marquez will not serve penalty for Portugal crash, says FIM
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 9 (Reuters) - Honda rider Marc Marquez will not serve a double long lap penalty imposed for his crash with Miguel Oliveira in Portugal, the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) said on Tuesday. Marquez was granted a stay of execution last month on the penalty imposed after the six-times premier class champion locked up and barged straight into Oliveira, with both crashing out in the season-opener. "Marc Marquez is hence allowed to compete in the next race in which he will be able to participate, without any further sanction," FIM said in a statement. Marquez, who won his last title in 2019, has scored only seven points this season after finishing third in the sprint race in Portugal. The 30-year-old is targeting a return at the next round at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans, which will host the 1,000th Grand Prix in history.

Koume, a 5-year-old mongrel, was handed an official letter of appreciation by local fire officials at a special ceremony last month for her valiant work at a horse riding club in Wakaba-ku, Chiba City. According to the horse riding club, a man in his fifties collapsed at the riding park on February 25. Koume, a usually placid pup, raised the alarm with her barks which then allowed people to rush to the man’s aid. “Koume is usually quiet and barks only under rare circumstances,” Yuna Maruo, a 23-year-old riding instructor who took part in saving the man that day, said. “But when an emergency arises, Koume does bark.”The Wakaba Fire Department said life saving treatment can be given to heart attack victims if people are alert to “the slightest change.”The appreciation letter given to Koume by Wakaba Fire Department to recognize her life-saving effort.

☆ New York City choking death revives debate over subway crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Julia Harte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The overall subway crime rate spiked in April 2020, as COVID-19 gripped New York, but city statistics show the daily rate fell back to pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021. Robbery and grand larceny, the other most common types of major subway crime, dropped during the same period. But the data does not show how often the assailants or victims are homeless, according to Herrmann. "The problem is people are conflating homelessness with crime," said Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director at Riders Alliance, a grassroots organization that advocates for city subway reform. Republican Lee Zeldin highlighted grisly city subway crimes in last year's gubernatorial election, prompting Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul to also focus on anti-crime policies in her campaign.

☆ Uber rival Bolt seeks to turn profitable next year, IPO in 2025
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

STOCKHOLM, May 8 (Reuters) - Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt expects to turn profitable in the next 12 months and be ready for an initial public offering in 2025, its Chief Executive Officer Markus Villig said in an interview. The company, a rival of Uber (UBER.N), was valued at over $8 billion when it raised 628 million euros from investors in January last year. "We expect to be the first European mobility platform that will be fully profitable over the next 12 months," said Villig, who doesn't have a driving license. Bolt, run by 29-year-old Villig, does not plan to raise external capital through another funding round but will get ready for an IPO instead. It also expects its grocery business to break even or turn profitable in two or three years.

☆ Kentucky Derby Live Updates: Scratch of Favorite Forte Shakes Up Already Chaotic Derby
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Melissa Hoppert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Secretariat, with jockey Ron Turcotte up, passed his rival, Sham, in the homestrech and ran away with the 99th Kentucky Derby in record time on May 5, 1973. Rumors swirled: he was injured, he lost a step during his 3-year-old season, he just wasn’t the superhorse everyone thought he was, his Wood rival Sham would be the true king of 1973. His rival Sham sat near the lead and made his move to catch the leader, Shecky Greene, at the top of the homestretch. Then, and only then, did Turcotte ask his horse for more, and Secretariat, like the finest of racecars, found another gear. Nearly half of the horses in Saturday’s Derby have Secretariat in their bloodlines.

☆ Jordan Neely: The man who held New York subway passenger in a fatal chokehold 'never intended to harm' him, his attorneys say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Aya Elamroussi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” the statement said. As soon as Neely got on the train, he started yelling about being “fed up and hungry” and “tired of having nothing,” Vazquez told CNN. Neely did not appear to be armed or looking to attack anyone, Vazquez told CNN. In the video recorded by Vazquez, Neely and Penny are seen on the floor of a subway car with Penny’s arm wrapped around Neely’s neck. One appeared to be mediating the situation while the other seemed to help Penny restrain Neely, according to Vazquez.

☆ Here’s something most racing fans agree on: 50 years later, Secretariat is still the GOAT.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Melissa Hoppert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Coming off a stunning loss in the Wood Memorial, Secretariat, who was named the 2-year-old champion, was suddenly the beneficiary of doubt among the horse racing faithful, despite having won 10 of 11 races going into the derby. Rumors swirled: he was injured, he lost a step during his 3-year-old season, he just wasn’t the superhorse everyone thought he was, his Wood rival Sham would be the true king of 1973. He broke a step slow, a Secretariat trademark, and settled in behind his 12 challengers. His rival Sham sat near the lead and made his move to catch the leader, Shecky Greene, at the top of the homestretch. Then, and only then, did Turcotte ask his horse for more, and Secretariat, like the finest of racecars, found another gear.

☆ Horse racing-Skinner becomes fourth horse scratched from Kentucky Derby
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Skinner, the bay colt trained by John Shirreffs, has become the fourth horse scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby, bringing the field for the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown down to 19, Churchill Downs said on Friday. Skinner was a fast-closing third in his most-recent outing, the Santa Anita Derby in early April, and was seen as a serious contender for the Kentucky Derby. The announcement comes a day after Lord Miles, Practical Move and Continuar were also scratched from the field, each for varying reasons. The last time four horses were scratched from the Kentucky Derby was 2015 when 22 horses entered the race. Lord Miles was scratched after Churchill Downs suspended the bay colt's trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. following the death of two of his horses at the property ahead of the Kentucky Derby.

☆ A Subway Killing Stuns, and Divides, New Yorkers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma G. Fitzsimmons | Maria Cramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Almost as soon as the video of one subway rider choking another to death began to ricochet across the internet, the killing came to signify more than the tragic death of one man. For many New Yorkers, the choking of the 30-year-old homeless man, Jordan Neely, was a heinous act of public violence to be swiftly prosecuted, and represented a failure by the city to care for people with serious mental illness. Many others who lamented the killing nonetheless saw it as a reaction to fears about public safety in New York and the subway system in particular. And some New Yorkers wrestled with conflicting feelings: their own worries about crime and aggression in the city and their conviction that the rider had gone too far and should be charged with a crime. Now, as prosecutors continue to investigate the circumstances of Mr. Neely’s death, the case has become a political Rorschach test, dividing the city along long-simmering fault lines.

☆ Savadori to replace injured Oliveira at French GP
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori will stand in for the injured Miguel Oliveira at next week's French Grand Prix, his RNF Racing team said on Thursday. Oliveira crashed on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez on Sunday, the Portuguese taken out by Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo and dislocating his left shoulder. Malaysia-based RNF Racing said doctors had repositioned the shoulder at the time but further assessments revealed a more severe injury. It will be the second time this season that Oliveira has missed a race after being downed by another rider. Savadori took part in the official MotoGP test with RNF at Jerez last Monday.

☆ Doctors Have Long Warned That Chokeholds Are Deadly
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Chokeholds or strangleholds are known also as neck compressions, which involve applying pressure to both sides of the neck. They are allowed in some martial arts competitions, and certain U.S. military personnel in ground-combat units may learn to apply chokeholds, and associated safe releases, in training. But in the past few years, police departments have increasingly banned the use of chokeholds, following events such as the deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd. There are few data on how often police have used the holds, or what the consequences were. Among the few studies is one reporting that officers in Spokane, Wash., used neck restraints 230 times in the eight years before May 2021, when Washington State banned them.

The rider who choked Mr. Neely was interviewed by the police and released, and a person familiar with the matter said the rider is not viewed by the authorities as a flight risk. If he is charged by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, the man who applied the chokehold would most likely argue that the force he used against Mr. Neely was justified. Prosecutors would have to prove that he used deadly force without having believed that Mr. Neely was also using deadly force or was about to. And in order to show those things in court, prosecutors would need to have interviewed every one of the many witnesses to the encounter, to make sure that none of them would say something that would hurt the prosecutors’ case. Prosecutors do not typically bring cases unless they believe they can win them.

☆ UCI to reopen talks on transgender policy after Killips' win in New Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 4 (Reuters) - The governing body of cycling (UCI) has agreed to "re-open consultation" around transgender women competing in elite female events. The decision was prompted by American Austin Killips becoming the first transgender rider to win a UCI women's stage race. "The UCI's objective remains the same: to take into consideration... the desire of transgender athletes to practice cycling. "The UCI also hears the voices of female athletes and their concerns about an equal playing field for competitors, and will take into account all elements, including the evolution of scientific knowledge." The UCI toughened its rules for transgender women to compete in its events last year, halving the maximum permitted plasma testosterone level to 2.5 nanomoles per litre and doubling the transition period to 24 months.

☆ Jordan Neely: Man dies after being put in a chokehold by another rider on New York City subway, officials say. The DA is investigating
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Brynn Gingras Laura Ly Maria Santana | Brynn Gingras | Laura Ly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Manhattan prosecutors are conducting a “rigorous ongoing investigation” into the death of a man seen in video being put in a chokehold by another rider on the New York subway. Jordan Neely, 30, died Monday due to “compression of neck (chokehold),” a spokesperson for the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said. Another rider then approached Neely from behind and put him in a chokehold, Vazquez said. New York police officers respond after a man riding the subway was placed in a chokehold by another passenger. The man who put Neely in the chokehold has been identified as a 24-year-old from Queens, a law enforcement source said.

☆ In Deadly Subway Encounter, Questions of Mental Illness and Use of Force
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Maria Cramer | Chelsia Rose Marcius | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Most frequent riders of the New York City subway have seen people acting erratically on trains. Usually, they ignore them, move away from them or switch to another car. On Monday, one rider went up to Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Michael Jackson impersonator who had been homeless for several years and was screaming that he was hungry and ready to die. Kathy Hochul said she needed to review the incident more closely but called the man’s death troubling. The incident comes as the city grapples with how to reduce both crime and the number of people with mental illness living on the streets, while also respecting the rights of its most vulnerable residents.

Search resuls for: "Rider"

25 mentions found