Monday, September 29, 2014
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
TÁXIS VERSUS RIDE SHARING
S.F. taxi owners, cabbies join forces against Uber, Lyft, others
After seeing 65 percent of their business migrate to ride services like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, taxi drivers and company owners, at odds for decades, have joined forces — not only with one another but with their overseer, the Municipal Transportation Agency.
Their common goal is to save the taxi industry — highly regulated by the city as part of its transportation network — from extinction at the hands of the largely unregulated upstarts, which use smartphone apps that allow customers to summon and pay for rides from drivers using their personal cars.
“We’re at a real crossroads here, and we’re on a mission,” said Kate Toran, MTA’s director of taxis and accessible services.
The battle to save taxis is being waged on two fronts: in the halls and meeting rooms of the MTA, the California Public Utilities Commission and the Legislature, as well as inside the taxi industry, where companies are belatedly adopting their own taxi-hailing apps, modernizing cabs and training drivers to be kinder and gentler — in essence, emulating the new ride services.
Whether it will work remains to be seen. But MTA officials say it’s critical that a regulated taxi industry survive. Unlike app-based ride services, Toran said, taxis are required to serve all neighborhoods, provide accessible service to disabled people, participate in the subsidized paratransit service for seniors and the disabled, allow calls to be booked by phone and meet air-quality requirements.
Since Lyft, UberX and Sidecar rolled their app-based services onto the streets in 2012, taxi drivers and owners have cried foul. They argue that their new competitors are breaking the law, endangering the public and unfairly stealing business. But the new companies insist they’re filling a gap, modernizing an outdated business and providing much-needed rides to a badly neglected market.
Drivers want crackdown
Drivers called on the MTA to crack down on the newcomers, which they called “rogue cabs” ignoring city ordinances, but the state Public Utilities Commission, which regulates limousines and other types of passenger transportation carriers, claimed jurisdiction. The commission has imposed some regulations but left the ride services unencumbered by the sorts of rules, insurance requirements and licensing fees that cities impose on taxis.
For much of the past two years, the taxi industry has focused on complaining, to little avail, that the ride services are breaking the law and should face the same regulations they do. They’ve called on the MTA and San Francisco Police Department to crack down on the ride services, but city officials have said the state and the PUC have taken control of the industry.
In recent months, however, the taxi industry’s tactics have taken a turn. While still arguing for regulation, they’ve taken their case to Sacramento, where legislators passed, and Gov. Jerry Brown signed, a bill requiring minimum levels of insurance. They’ve also continued to lobby the PUC, which is considering adding rules for ride services, and has been looking into issues of disabled access, serving all neighborhoods and “surge pricing,” a practice in which the services — especially Uber — boost rates when demand increases.
Regulations possible
Toran said the MTA has proposed working with the PUC to establish regulations for the “for hire” ride industry, and said there are some signs the state agency is interested.
Taxi operators have also persuaded the MTA to reduce some of the operating fees it must pay, a variety of fees and charges — and the agency has agreed. The MTA is also considering further fee reductions — especially as incentives to keep more taxis with wheelchair ramps operating — and allowing cabs to be wrapped in advertising to help generate revenue.
Friday, September 19, 2014
SERÁ O 2º MAIOR PRÉDIO DOS EUA
Salesforce Tower | |
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Salesforce Tower at the Transbay Transit Center
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RACISMO, HOMOFOBIA E OUTRAS
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
THE NETROPOLITAN CLUB
Facebook for rich people (for just $9,000)
Lançada na terça-feira (16), a rede se descreve como “o clube online para pessoas com mais dinheiro do que tempo”. Segundo o seu criador, em entrevista à CNN, o seu produto está longe de ser uma brincadeira. Para James Touchi-Peters, há demanda o suficiente para que a página seja um sucesso.
O preço altíssimo, segundo ele, foi estabelecido para manter a rede social como um ambiente exclusivo e único. A ideia do site, como descrito na própria página, é que o usuário “se conecte a pessoas do mesmo status social, mas fora do círculo social”. Outras taxas também garantem benefícios diferentes.
Além disso, é possível contactar uma área de suporte sempre que necessário. Não há anúncios, e páginas do site não aparecem em ferramentas de buscas.
A privacidade é um foco extremamente valorizado pela rede, que promete não revelar nunca o número de usuários e nem quais possíveis celebridades utilizam o serviço. Para se registrar, é preciso ter 21 anos e inserir dados reais de identidade e localização, fundamental para encontrar contatos por perto.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
A PARÁBOLA DO RICO EGOÍSTA
14 Mas Jesus lhe disse: “Homem, quem por acaso me nomeou juiz ou mediador entre vocês?” 15 E então lhes falou: “Tomem cuidado com todo tipo de mesquinhez, porque a vida de uma pessoa não está na abundância de seus bens”. 16 E lhes falou então uma parábola: “A terra de um homem rico produziu uma excelente colheita. 17 E ele, diante disso, ficava conversando consigo mesmo, dizendo: ‘O que farei? Não tenho onde armazenar todo esse meu ganho’.
18 E, por fim, disse: ‘Farei o seguinte! Irei derrubar os meus celeiros e construirei outros maiores, e ali armazenarei todo o meu trigo e todos os meus bens. 19 E direi então para mim mesmo. Amigo, você tem muitos bens, que estão armazenados para muitos anos. Descanse, coma, beba e festeje!’
20 Contudo, Deus lhe disse: ‘Seu tolo! Nesta mesma noite estão pedindo a sua vida de volta. Então, com quem ficará o que você construiu?’
21 Assim acontece com quem fica juntando riquezas para si mesmo, porém não enriquece o para Deus”.
QUEM É O CAMPEÃO DE 1987?
Veja o vídeo:
http://youtu.be/yRJ2Zo7_akQ
O SPORT ganhou na justiça comum, e não na desportiva. a CBF espulsa time que recore a justiça comum, então porque o Sport não foi elpulso? O Flamengo é hexacampeão brasileiro de 2009. Pela sexta vez o rubro-negro carioca foi o melhor dentre os maiores times do país do futebol. Porém, muita gente insiste em não reconhecer este título baseado na afirmação de que o Sport teria sido o campeão nacional do ano de 1987. Não contesto o título do time de Recife, mas negar a conquista do Flamengo daquele mesmo ano é HIPOCRISIA.
*Vale lembrar que Juca Kfouri é torcedor do São Paulo.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
iPHONE 6
iPhone 6 vs iPhone 5S: Should you upgrade?
Is the iPhone 6 worth the upgrade?
The iPhone 6 is here. The world is excited. But should you be?We’re going to have a quick look at how the spec list of the iPhone 6 compares to that of the iPhone 5S.
For now we’re just going to look at the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 compared to the old model. For the non Apple obsessives out there, two new iPhones have been launched. One has a 4.7-inch screen, the other a 5.5-inch one – called the iPhone 6 Plus.
How big a deal is the new iPhone 6? Let’s find out.
Phone 6 vs iPhone 5S: Design
iPhone 6: curved aluminium, gold or light/dark silver, 6.8mm, NFCiPhone 5S: Aluminium, 7.6mm thick, gold or light/dark silver
The 2014 iPhone is here, and as we hoped it’s called the iPhone 6. Apple has made some pretty big departures this year, including changing the shape of the phone.
Angular is out, the sharp-ish edges of the iPhone 5S replaced by much curvier lines. The iPhone 6 is also a fair bit slimmer than the old model at 6.8mm to the iPhone 5S’s 7.6mm.
Of course, the iPhone 6 is also a fair bit bigger than the 5S thanks to its larger screen. To help out, the power button has moved to the side from the top, making it easier to reach.
Although there are optimisations, the basic construction of the phones hasn’t changed a huge deal. Both the iPhone 5S and 6 have aluminium backs and toughened glass fronts.
They also share the same TouchID sensor.
The one big hardware extra this year is NFC, which lets you make wireless payments with an iPhone 6. iPhone 5Ss do not have NFC.
SEE ALSO: iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus
Phone 6 vs iPhone 5S: Screen
iPhone 6: 4.7-inch 1334 x 750, “Retina HD” LCD with Ion strengthened glass, improved polariseriPhone 5S: 4-inch 1136 x 640 IPS LCD
The big display news for this year is that the iPhone 6 has a much larger screen than the iPhone 5S. You get bumped up from four inches to 4.7.
In Android terms that’s still a pretty small display, but if you want more you can now upgrade to the iPhone 6 Plus, which has a 5.5-inch display.
The display architecture has slimmed down a bit in this 2014 generation, but the core technology remains the same. Both phone have IPS LCD screens, as used in iPhones for years. We’re pretty glad this is the case – iPhone displays generally look fantastic.
To compensate for the added screen inches (well 0.7 inch), Apple has increased resolution in the iPhone 6 display. Where you get 1136 x 640 pixels in the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6 gets you 1,334 x 750.
It’s 38 per cent more pixels, but how much sharper is it? No sharper at all, in fact. Both phones have, rounding-up, 326ppi displays.
Of course, a larger display with the same sharpness is always going to be a bit more satisfying for browsing, gaming – most things in fact.
SEE ALSO: iPhone 6 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Phone 6 vs iPhone 5S: Camera
iPhone 6: 8MP camera, 1/3.06-inch (or similar) sensor, true-tone flash,f/2.2 aperture dual-LED flash, phase detectioniPhone 5S: 8-megapixel 1/3.06-inch sensor, f/2/2, dual-tone LED flash
Apple has not changed a great deal in the camera of the iPhone 6. It still has an 8-megapixel sensor, still has an f/2.2 lens and sensor pixels 1.5 microns a piece in size. This is what the iPhone 5S has.
While Apple claims the sensor is new, we don’t expect to see any radical changes in image quality beyond what is provided by processing.
However, there is a new feature – phase detection autofocus. This is used in the Galaxy S5 and many top-end dedicated cameras to provide faster focusing, and it should perform the same trick here.
Both phones have Apple’s TrueTone flash, which uses two different LED to colours to avoid washing-out people's faces.
The front FaceTime camera seems to have been given more of an overhaul in the iPhone 6, though. It apparently lets in 81 per cent more light for better shots, and has more selfie-centric features. These include one-shot HDR and a burst mode. Selfie. Tastic.
Phone 6 vs iPhone 5S: CPU and RAM
iPhone 6: Apple A8 20nm, 20 per cent faster CPU, 50 per cent faster GPUiPhone 5S: Apple A7 dual-core 1.3GHz, 64-bit, 1GB RAM
The iPhone 6 introduces a new generation of processor called the Apple A8, taking over from the Apple A7 of the iPhone 5S.
It’s not a world-changing upgrade, but it does seem to supply the goods. Apple has changed the system architecture from 28nm to 20nm – meaning it uses absolutely tiny transistors – to make the new CPU more efficient. That should also mean it’s able to run cooler.
Apple claims the Apple A8 provides 20 per cent more CPU power and 50 per cent more GPU power. Some of that improvement is gobbled-up by the increase in resolution in real-life terms, but we should see a few nicer visual effects in a handful of games in the iPhone 6.
We’re still waiting on some more in-depth figures on the Apple A8 CPU, but it’s a solid generational upgrade.
SEE ALSO: iPhone 6 vs Samsung Galaxy S5
Phone 6 vs iPhone 5S: Battery Life
iPhone 6: 11 hours browsing, 11 hours videoiPhone 5S: 10 hours browsing, 10 hours video
As we expected, Apple has chosen to make the iPhone 6 slimmer rather than significantly adding to the battery life.
Even the official figures show that stamina should be roughly the same as it is in the iPhone 5S. You’ll get 11 hours of video playback in the iPhone 6, to 10 in the iPhone 5S.
By Android standards, that’s good, but not great. The best phones from Sony and LG manage numbers will into the teens in our own testing.
Phone 6 vs iPhone 5S: Storage
iPhone 6: 16/64/128GBiPhone 5S:16/32/64GB
For the past few years iPhones have been stuck offering 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions. Only the iPad has offered a 128GB option. That all changes this year.
You can get a 128GB iPhone 6. It’ll cost a bit, naturally, but is perfect for those who want to dump a lot of music or video on their phones.
There’s no 32GB version this year, though. You have to pick between 16GB, 64GB and 128GB models.
Early Verdict
The iPhone 6 is quite a departure in some core ways, but it’s also pretty conservative in others. Apple has not significantly improved the camera hardware, and while the screen has gotten bigger, display quality is unlikely to improve all that much. There isn't an objective reason, at this stage, to upgrade from an iPhone 5S. Perhaps the trickier question is whether you should upgrade to the iPhone 6 Plus instead?Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/iphone-6-vs-iphone-5s#GCq4EkL0VAvzDD88.99