Posts

viavan

ViaVan: Uber Rival

/in /by

So, it seems as though there’s a rival to Uber in London. However, it’s limited to ride shares only, no single riders here! It’s called ViaVan and it may be your next ride. It’s only available in Zones 1  & 2 in London, has a start offer of £3 a ride.

Developed by Mercedes-Benz and US start up based on Ride-Sharing ‘Via’ has launched in London to jump on the bad press that Uber has got and take some of it’s market share.

However it’s not quite what you think. It’s like Uber, but for a bus. But not a literal BUS. Like a mini version. (But not a minibus)

Instead of you opening up the app and looking for your ride. You open the app, summon a ride, like usual. However, you then have to wait while ViaVan calculates the demand for your route. Then it matches you  (Tinder anyone?!) with passengers that are also making that route at a similar time. Then instead of picking you up where your standing your told to go to a destination to wait. Then go on your ride with your new best friends! (However, we’re Brits so we won’t talk to one another and just awkwardly stare at the floor) Then your dropped off somewhere near your destination. Sounds bad ‘near’ but ViaVan promise that it won’t be a lengthy detour.

ViaVan: Value

ViaVan’s CEO Chris Snyder, told Business Insider that their drivers get a higher commission (they’re also limited in numbers) and take safety of their drivers seriously. The idea behind ViaVan is to reduce congestion and offer alternatives to public transport. He also belives that his model of riding sharing is much more sustainable than that of individual cab rides.

Drivers are said to receive 24/7 phone support and if you drive for them your driving hours are limited to 10 hours per day. Whilst also being eligible for a higher cut of the money received. ViaVan will only take 15% of commissions whilst Uber takes 20-15%.

Drivers should earn more, but that’s because their is less of them around. As it’s a ride sharing app there is less of a need for a huge number of drivers as your drivers are taking more passengers each trip. Whilst this means larger fares, depending on the amount of riders, it will be cheaper for the users but better in value for the driver.

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Keep up to date with all things How To Kill An Hour by signing up to our newsletter by clicking here!

looping videos

Tinder 2 second videos

/in /by

This may be the best thing that Tinder have done, or the worst thing they’ve done. Tinder have announced that coming to their dating apps are a ‘looping image’ (basically looping videos)  feature that will allow users to share short 2 second videos of what they love doing.

However, as with all new technology, it may, well, will, be put to ‘uses’ – But maybe the big wigs at Tinder were aware that the ‘looping video’ feature will spawn a ton of helicopter d*ck videos?

The new ‘looping videos’ moving profile image, (much like those available on Facebook) help, as Tinder announced, show more personality. In an effort to get more right swipes. (or helicopter D*ck)

Looping Videos: Advice

But the dating app have offered advice to their users. Explaining ways in which they can show off their habits, roller skating, you could show off going up and down the rink. Football, kicking the perfect penalty. Or if you’re a dancer, maybe showing off your best robot skills?! Bungee jumper? Show off, jumping off a high cliff? Whatever people do, I’m sure people will find super creative ways to use this feature. As with Vine (ok it was 7 seconds and not 20 but the internet is creative and intelligent, so we may see some pretty cool stuff!

Even though there may be a chance that there’s going to be a ton of helicopters about, there are ways to report an account that does so. So, there may not be as many flying D*cks about as you once thought!

What do you think of the ‘looping videos’ feature coming to Tinder? Let us know via our socials @howtokillanhour across all socials!

Download Tinder by clicking here Apple / Android

Listen to the guys chatting about this on the latest How To Kill An Hour podcast (EP274) by clicking here!

Keep up to all things How To Kill An Hour by signing up to our newsletter, (There’s competitions there!) by simply click here!

 

 

project maven

Project Maven

/in /by

Google have announced that they have a part in ‘Project Maven’. A project in which as Gizmodo are reporting, ‘helping the Pentagon build AI for drones’ CRAZY NEWS!

The project began in 2017 as a pilot program to simply speed up the United States military’s implementation of the most up to date technology of artificial intelligence.

It’s a relatively cheap programme too! Project Maven is said to cost less than $70M in it’s first year. Focusing solely on integrating machine learning in it’s drones. Why would the Pentagon want to invest in improving AI in drones? To improve it’s intelligence when it comes to targeting drone strikes.

Project Maven: Peace

Google released a statement on Tuesday of last week, claiming it’s part in Project Maven. Stating that it’s involvement in the project was simply a peaceful one. Stating that Project Maven was “Specifically scoped to be for non-offensive purposes.”

Since then many sectors of Google itself have called upon it’s CEO to pull them out of the project. With the Verge reporting that 3,100 employees have signed a letter urging the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, to re-evaluate it’s involvement. Stating that Google should not be in ‘the business of war’ – With Diane Green head of Google’s cloud operations also emphasizing Google’s peaceful stance. Stating that their tech will not be used to fly drones, nor will it launch any weapons.

Details on what Google are actually doing working on Project Maven aren’t very clear. A Google spokesperson did confirm to the Verge that they have given the department of defence access to software (TensorFlow) that is used to help machine learning apps understand contents of photos.

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here! 

To keep up on all things How To Kill An Hour by signing up to our newsletter, simply click here and you’re on the list!

Auctioneer Beats

Auctioneer Beats: Music Creativity 100

/in /by

First of all. This is AMAZING! Auctioneer Beats are back on Instagram and we couldn’t be happier! Don’t know what Auctioneer Beats are? Well you’re about to find out something super super cool & if you love music, you’ll love this! Plus it combines two things you didn’t think could be merged together. But as they say, accidental inventions are the best inventions! (Cookies one of them!)

So, Auctioneer Beats, takes livestock auctioneers (you know those guys who talk really really fast and no-one can understand them) and puts a beat underneath it. The result? Your next favorite rap artists.

Auctioneer Beats first started on Vine and has since made the transition over to Instagram. Consequently, showcasing the best there is in the underground scene of Livestock country twang x hip hop cross over you never knew existed.

Auctioneer Beats: Instagram

The crazy Instagram account has grown to over 40 thousand followers with just over 40 posts. That’s 1K followers per Instagram post! We don’t know about you, but we’re super impressed that this account exists. We didn’t even know you could transform country patter into rough, urban sounding hip hop and it sound GOOD!

You know what this reminds us all of? The fact that the internet is a very cool place, full of intelligent people. Where their creative limits have no bounds, who knows we may have the next country x rap album on the horizon! All courtesy of a very popular Instagram account!

So, do we have any rapping country music fans as followers? If you do send us your very own Auctioneer Beats hip hop track! We’re @howtokillanhour on all social platforms!

You can follow Auctioneer Beats on Instagram by clicking here!

Keep up to date with everything How To Kill An Hour by joining up to our newsletter by clicking here!

Listen to the latest podcast (EP274) by clicking here!

 

cambridge analytica

Cambridge Analytica: How to tell if your data was shared

/in /by

You may have heard about the Facebook data breach by Cambridge Analytica the past couple of weeks. Now Facebook are about tell us Brits if your data has been compromised in the data breach.

This week, more than 1 million British people will receive a detailed message on their news feeds. Within this post it will tell users if they are one of the huge 87 million users that have had their data breached. Therefore, used improperly, Facebook will then go one step further to help their users.

So, what is this help? All of Facebook’s 2.2 Billion users, that’s billion with a B! Will receive a notice from them that’s called ‘Protecting your information’. Within this notice will be a link that sends them to a page which tells users which apps have access to their data. Furthermore this page will tell them what information they have shared with said apps. From here users are able to go through the apps and deny access to their data if they wish. You can even go one step further and block any third parties from accessing this data.

Mark Zuckerberg had admitted that he made a huge mistake in realising how much of an affect Facebook had on the outer world. Not fully acknowledging Facebooks wider responsibilities to it’s audience. Facebook’s responsibility is so huge, that, he’s set to testify in front of Congress next week.

Cambridge Analytica: How?

The number of those affected was originally reported as 50Million, however, that number has said to have risen to 87million people. So, how did they get so much data? A personality quiz app called ‘This Is Your Digital Life’ created by Aleksander Kogan is said to be the culprit behind the breach. Kogan allegedly paid 270,000 people to take the quiz. As a result, all of the data of those that took part was breached. But this isn’t the worse part. Due to Facebook’s loose restrictions, data from the friends of the 270,000 people was too breached. Including data which was set to ‘only me’

As a result of this lapse of judgement, Facebook cracked down and limited the data that apps can access. Yet it seems that the damage has already been done.

To download Facebook please click here Apple / Android

Listen to the guys chatting about this by clicking here! 

To keep up with all things How To Kill An Hour, sign up to our newsletter by clicking here!

 

GTA 5

GTA 5: Money Maker

/in /by

Despite being 5 years old, Grand Theft Auto 5 is still going strong. How strong? 90million units strong. Yes, that’s right. GTA 5 has gone 90 times platinum! The game has been released on previous generation consoles PS3, Xbox 360 as well as current generation consoles. Xbox One, Playstation 4. Not forgetting it’s PC release!

According to Market Watch GTA 5 is the most profitable entertainment product of ALL TIME! According to Market Watch the game generated $6billion in revenue since it’s release. So how big is $6billion dollars? Bigger than Star Wars and feature film Gone With The Wind. Both generation $4billion dollars.

To put this into perspective, the highest grossing movie of all time is Avatar, which earned $2.79 billion theatrically.

Again, this game is 5 years old. FIVE YEARS OLD! It allegedly makes $5M a day. It was the 6th biggest selling game of the year last year and it done even better in Europe. Finishing third biggest in terms of sales.

GTA V: Profits

GTA Online Multiplayer Mode. The single reason why it grosses so much money. In game purchases – may also be the reason why GTA 6 isn’t here yet. Who can blame them either!

While all this is impressive. GTA V is third behind Minecraft which has sold 144million units and good old Tetris coming in at 170million units.

Purchase GTA 5 by clicking here!

 

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Keep up to date with all things How To Kill An Hour by signing up to our newsletter, please click here!

Portfolio Items