Year: 2018

A new California law that went into effect on July 1 will make it much easier for people to cancel subscriptions online. Since the bill, sponsored by State Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), includes all services that have paying customers in the state, it will also benefit dissatisfied customers in many places outside California.

The legislation, California Senate Bill No. 313, covers “any business that makes an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a consumer in this state,” so that includes a very wide range of services, including newspapers and magazines, subscription boxes, streaming services and more. Not only that, but if you made the subscription online, the law stipulates that you are also allowed to cancel it online. In other words, you can no longer be forced to call a customer service phone number to stop the service, a task that is usually much more frustrating and time-consuming than signing up in the first place.

The bill also requires more transparency in how companies present promotional offers. For example, if they lure in users with a free trial or gift, then they also need to include a “clear and conspicuous explanation” in the offer of how much customers will be charged after the trial ends or if the pricing will change. It also needs to tell you how to cancel (and actually allow you to do so) before you are charged.

If you sign up for a subscription at a promotional or discounted price that is only valid for a certain amount of time, the company must get your consent again before charging your debit or credit card when the price returns to its normal rate.

According to Nieman Lab, many news organizations in California are already making changes to their systems to comply with the new law.

Mobike made a roster of announcements about its bikesharing program today, including the end of customer deposits and full integration into Meituan Diaping’s app. The developments, its first since its acquisition by Meituan for $2.7 billion in April, are meant to help Mobike become a stronger competitor against Ofo, its biggest rival, and a slew of smaller startups in China’s heated bikesharing wars.

Mobike, which claims 200 million users, will have the chance to reach more customers thanks to its integration into Meituan’s platform. Meituan has ambitious growth plans (filed for an IPO in Hong Kong last month) and describes itself as a “one-stop super app” because of the large range of services, including dining, salon, entertainment and travel bookings, it offers. Meituan’s 310 million users were already able to pay for Mobike on the platform and will now also be able to rent a bike through the app.

Mobike also upped the ante for competitors by announcing that it will stop requiring users in China to pay deposits and will refund all deposits already paid. Mobike says it is getting rid of deposits to “establish a no-threshold, zero-burden and zero-condition deposit-free standard for the entire bikesharing industry.”

Deposits are a contentious issue among bikesharing users. Though Mobike and Ofo claim they do not use customer deposits to fund operations, some bikesharing startups have been accused of spending deposits on operational expenses, with users complaining that it is very difficult to get their money back, even if they stop using a service or it goes out of business. The issue has resulted in Chinese lawmakers drafting regulations that require bikesharing companies to store deposits in a separate bank account so the funds are still available to return to customers even if a company goes out of business.

Another controversial issue is the large number of trashed or abandoned bikes created by bikesharing companies, with photos of “bikesharing graveyards” becoming symbolic of the sector’s excesses and unsustainable growth. To address environmental concerns, Mobike says it is launching a bike components recycling program in partnership with several companies, including Dow, China Recycling Resources and Tianjin Xinneng Recycling Resources. Called Mobike Life Cycle, the program will recycle bike components into new parts or raw materials. Mobike says it has already recycled and reused over 300,000 Mobike tires.

Mobike will also add a new e-bike that can reach a top speed of 20 km/hour and travel up to 70 km on a single charge. The company hopes that the e-bike, which will be available in China and Mobike’s international markets, will increase trip lengths. In its press statement, Mobike says most of its bikes are used for trips up to 3 km, but the e-bikes will hopefully increase that to 5 km.

Most camera bags prioritize function over form, which makes sense for protecting some of your most expensive gear, but it’s still a bummer. If you’re both practical and interested in cultivating cool, aloof photographer vibes instead of dorky ones, Chrome’s Niko lineup of camera bags is definitely worth a look.

Chrome’s Niko Hold ($60, Chrome Industries) is the company’s smallest camera bag, but if you’re looking for something larger the Niko Messenger and the Niko F-Stop backpack share its sensibilities with a larger form factor. The Niko Hold fits a pretty specific niche, but given the soaring popularity of small-bodied mirrorless full frame cameras and increasingly powerful compact cameras, it’s a pretty wide one.

With a volume of seven liters, the Niko Hold won’t carry a full-size DSLR or big zoom lenses well but it’s a great fit for a smaller setup. I used to carry the old version of the Niko backpack, but these days it’s just too much case for my cameras and I’ve been looking for something tough that’s a more suitable size but doesn’t look like it came from the clearance section at Best Buy.

To test the Niko Hold, I carried this for a week of off-and-on event photography near Los Angeles, both fixed shooting on stages and more candid outdoor shooting. The bag is sleek and solid, with a very structured rectangular vibe that looks and feels professional without being boring. I felt confident that my equipment would be safe if the weather suddenly turned, but this pack is more water resistant than fully waterproof, but you’d probably have a special housing for extreme weather needs anyway. There are plenty of circumstances I shoot in that would be a bad fit for this camera bag but for event and street photography it proved ideal. Obviously, you shouldn’t take the Niko Hold on a backpacking or climbing trip, it’s much more of an urban bag than one designed for the outdoors.

To be clear, the Niko Hold isn’t great for fast access, but it worked well for my shooting needs which were mostly carrying my camera, lenses and accessories to and from a location securely. The Niko Hold’s seam-sealed zipper isn’t fast for getting things in and out, but if I’m ready to shoot my camera would be on my hip anyway. Of course, that won’t always be the case, but there are plenty of other designs with faster access in mind, including the Niko Messenger.

Within the Niko Hold, two dividers offer a little customizable organization, while there are just enough zippered pockets for stashing SD cards and other small accessories, like a phone and wallet if it’s the only bag you’re carrying.

The Niko Hold is small, but it can accommodate plenty of compact gear. In my time testing it, the Niko Hold carried my Sony A7S II body, an 18-200mm lens, all of the necessary chargers, SD cards and extra batteries and sometimes even a backup Sony RX 100 II. Its all-black 1050d ballistic nylon construction meant that the bag looked and felt like a small set of armor for my gear, which was ideal. More than anything, this camera bag feels snug and secure.

Small camera cases are usually intended for casual photographers, but this felt like pro level protection and thoughtfulness, which was refreshing for a professional photographer who has downsized my gear over the years. If you’ve converted to camera equipment on the smaller side, carrying your stuff in Chrome’s Niko Hold will give both your gear and your shooting style the respect it deserves. Finally.

Technology is the proverbial double-edged sword. And an experimental European research project is ensuring this axiom cuts very close to the industry’s bone indeed by applying machine learning technology to critically sift big tech’s privacy policies — to see whether AI can automatically identify violations of data protection law.

The still-in-training privacy policy and contract parsing tool — which is called ‘Claudette‘: Aka (automated) clause detector — is being developed by researchers at the European University Institute in Florence.

They’ve also now got support from European consumer organization BEUC — for a ‘Claudette meets GDPR‘ project — which specifically applies the tool to evaluate compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

Early results from this project have been released today, with BEUC saying the AI was able to automatically flag a range of problems with the language being used in tech T&Cs.

The researchers set Claudette to work analyzing the privacy policies of 14 companies in all — namely: Google, Facebook (and Instagram), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, WhatsApp, Twitter, Uber, AirBnB, Booking, Skyscanner, Netflix, Steam and Epic Games — saying this group was selected to cover a range of online services and sectors.

And also because they are among the biggest online players and — I quote — “should be setting a good example for the market to follow”. Ehem, should.

The AI analysis of the policies was carried out in June, after the update to the EU’s data protection rules had come into force. The regulation tightens requirements on obtaining consent for processing citizens’ personal data by, for example, increasing transparency requirements — basically requiring that privacy policies be written in clear and intelligible language, explaining exactly how the data will be used, in order that people can make a genuine, informed choice to consent (or not consent).

In theory, all 15 parsed privacy policies should have been compliant with GDPR by June, as it came into force on May 25. However some tech giants are already facing legal challenges to their interpretation of ‘consent’. And it’s fair to say the law has not vanquished the tech industry’s fuzzy language and logic overnight. Where user privacy is concerned, old, ugly habits die hard, clearly.

But that’s where BEUC is hoping AI technology can help.

It says that out of a combined 3,659 sentences (80,398 words) Claudette marked 401 sentences (11.0%) as containing unclear language, and 1,240 (33.9%) containing “potentially problematic” clauses or clauses providing “insufficient” information.

BEUC says identified problems include:

• Not providing all the information which is required under the GDPR’s transparency obligations. “For example companies do not always inform users properly regarding the third parties with whom they share or get data from”
• Processing of personal data not happening according to GDPR requirements. “For instance, a clause stating that the user agrees to the company’s privacy policy by simply using its website”
• Policies are formulated using vague and unclear language (i.e. using language qualifiers that really bring the fuzz — such as “may”, “might”, “some”, “often”, and “possible”) — “which makes it very hard for consumers to understand the actual content of the policy and how their data is used in practice”

The bolstering of the EU’s privacy rules, with GDPR tightening the consent screw and supersizing penalties for violations, was exactly intended to prevent this kind of stuff. So it’s pretty depressing — though hardly surprising — to see the same, ugly T&C tricks continuing to be used to try to sneak consent by keeping users in the dark.

We reached out to two of the largest tech giants whose policies Claudette parsed — Google and Facebook — to ask if they want to comment on the project or its findings.

A Google spokesperson said: “We have updated our Privacy Policy in line with the requirements of the GDPR, providing more detail on our practices and describing the information that we collect and use, and the controls that users have, in clear and plain language. We’ve also added new graphics and video explanations, structured the Policy so that users can explore it more easily, and embedded controls to allow users to access relevant privacy settings directly.”

At the time of writing Facebook had not responded to our request for comment.

Commenting in a statement, Monique Goyens, BEUC’s director general, said: “A little over a month after the GDPR became applicable, many privacy policies may not meet the standard of the law. This is very concerning. It is key that enforcement authorities take a close look at this.”

The group says it will be sharing the research with EU data protection authorities, including the European Data Protection Board. And is not itself ruling out bringing legal actions against law benders.

But it’s also hopeful that automation will — over the longer term — help civil society keep big tech in legal check.

Although, where this project is concerned, it also notes that the training data-set was small — conceding that Claudette’s results were not 100% accurate — and says more privacy policies would need to be manually analyzed before policy analysis can be fully conducted by machines alone.

So file this one under ‘promising research’.

“This innovative research demonstrates that just as Artificial Intelligence and automated decision-making will be the future for companies from all kinds of sectors, AI can also be used to keep companies in check and ensure people’s rights are respected,” adds Goyens. “We are confident AI will be an asset for consumer groups to monitor the market and ensure infringements do not go unnoticed.

“We expect companies to respect consumers’ privacy and the new data protection rights. In the future, Artificial Intelligence will help identify infringements quickly and on a massive scale, making it easier to start legal actions as a result.”

For more on the AI-fueled future of legal tech, check out our recent interview with Mireille Hildebrandt.

Editor’s note: This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and TechCrunch earn affiliate commissions.     

Exercising outdoors comes with space, terrain and, if you’re lucky, a nice breeze that you don’t get in a gym. While fitness fanatics care most about completing a good workout, having the right gear to help with keeping track of progress — and getting on with your day when you’re done — makes a big difference.

We’ve gathered some of our favorite fitness wearables, headphones and accessories that improve and make outdoor workout routines more enjoyable.

Running headphones: Plantronics BackBeat Fit

We’ve tested 31 pairs of running headphones and for two years the Plantronics BackBeat Fit has remained our top recommendation. The ergonomics and comfort that the BackBeat Fit offer is impressive and they’re built to combat sweat, dust and rain. The cable that connects the earbuds is accommodating for heads of all sizes and it won’t bounce around or be an annoyance while you work out. Jogging at night or in a busy neighborhood will be a bit safer and easier to navigate as the BackBeat Fit has unsealed earbuds that are designed to allow you to hear your surroundings.

Backpack pannier: Arkel Bug Pannier Backpack

Bike riding is a form of exercise that’s enjoyable for many. A bike is also a convenient mode of transportation, and equipping it with gear like a bike lock, rear rack and pannier can make heading out on the trail even more worthwhile. If in-between or after your ride you’d prefer to run errands, hang out or work, we recommend carrying your belongings in the Arkel Bug Pannier Backpack.

It’s spacious and has mesh material that repels water. We like that it’s durable enough to hold heavier items and it has a deep back pocket that’s big enough for a road or urban style helmet.                                                                                                                 

GPS Running Watch: Garmin Forerunner 235

The ease of operating the Garmin Forerunner 235 makes it a great GPS running watch for beginners. Its optional apps and ability to track advanced metrics makes it great for experienced runners. You’ll be able to use data to create and follow customized workouts, as well as review details about intensity and volume.

The FR 235 delivers heart-rate tracking without the use of a chest strap and it isn’t as bulky as previous generations. Its Auto Pause feature helps with accurately tracking pace and running data when you make stops (i.e. at an intersection) during runs.

Fitness tracker: Garmin Vivosport

For a simple rundown of your heart rate, the number of steps you’ve taken and the distance you’ve traveled, a fitness tracker will do the trick. Our top pick, the Garmin Vivosport, has optional GPS tracking capabilities, accurate stats and overall solid performance that places it above a standard fitness tracker.

If keeping your phone on you for listening to music is a must, you can use the Vivosport to control playback and receive notifications. It measures stress levels, tracks sleep and automatically detects activity. When you’re lifting weights without a buddy, its strength-training mode can be enabled to do rep counting for you.

Water bottle: Klean Kanteen Classic 27-ounce stainless-steel bottle with 3.0 Sport Cap

Whether your workout consists of high-intensity cardio or a casual walk in the park, it’s important to stay hydrated. Bringing along a light, durable water bottle means you won’t have to find a place to grab a drink and you’ll have a handy go-to when you need a refresher.

The Klean Kanteen Classic 27-Ounce Stainless Steel Bottle with 3.0 Sport Cap is our top pick for a steel water bottle because it’s easy to clean, has swappable caps and, more importantly, less than favorable tastes and smells don’t linger around. Its 1¾-inch mouth is big enough to fit ice cubes but not so big that water will spill on your new shoes if you take a sip while running.

This guide may have been updated by Wirecutter. Note from Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

Volkswagen Group is launching a car-sharing service called WE that only uses electric vehicles, following the lead of rivals such as Daimler and BMW that have operated their own on-demand car rental services for years.

VW’s car-sharing service will launch in Germany next year and then expand to major cities in Europe, North America and Asia beginning in 2020. The entire fleet will be electric vehicles, VW Group said Wednesday.

“We are convinced that the car sharing market still has potential,” Jürgen Stackmann, Volkswagen’s board member for sales said in a statement. “That is why we are entering this market with a holistic single-source concept covering all mobility needs from the short journey that takes just a few minutes to the long vacation trip.”

The German automaker’s WE business is designed to do more than car-sharing. The WE vehicle-on-demand platform will initially focus on car sharing. But eventually it will include other modes of transportation such as scooters.

Volkswagen showed off two electric concepts in March, an e-scooter it calls the Streetmate and Cityskater, which the company describes as a “last-mile electric street surfer.” Volkswagen sees the WE platform helping connect customers to car-sharing service, rent one of these micro-mobility vehicles, or even pay for parking.

The automaker also sees the WE platform connecting to MOIA, the automaker’s mobility company that has launched a ride-sharing service with an all-electric shuttle vehicle. The all-electric car, which made its debut at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin in December, is designed to provide space for up to six passengers.

The vehicle-on-demand services available on the Volkswagen WE platform will be managed by UMI Urban Mobility International, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG that began operating in 2018.

Food delivery startup Deliveroo opened its first shared kitchen in Paris earlier today. Deliveroo first launched this concept of shared kitchens called Deliveroo Editions in London last year.

As the AFP reports, the company is starting with 12 kitchens in a warehouse in Saint-Ouen, right next to the north-western part of Paris. So far, 8 restaurants have agreed to make a deal with Deliveroo.

You’ll find top restaurants on Deliveroo, such as Blend, Petit Cambodge, Tripletta and Santosha. Restaurants can choose to pay a rent or get started for free and pay higher fees.

Deliveroo customers currently pay €2.50 per order for the delivery in Paris. But the company also gets a cut of the total order amount — customers don’t realize that Deliveroo gets a cut from both sides. It can be as much as 25 or 30 percent of what you order. It’s unclear how much Deliveroo is asking for those new kitchens.

But it makes sense for restaurants that can’t expand indefinitely. Deliveroo lets you accept orders without any additional table.

While there are multiple Blend or Petit Cambodge restaurants in Paris, they can’t deliver everywhere around the city. But opening a new restaurant also represents a huge investment.

That’s why those Deliveroo kitchens can be a good compromise. You can hire a handful of people and see if there’s enough demand in the area. It’s also a good way to differentiate Deliveroo from UberEats and other compatitors.

This is the first site in France. Let’s see if it gets out of control like in the U.K. The Guardian reported that Deliveroo Editions are now tiny containers with no window on car parks. It gets hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and you can hear a ton of mopeds getting orders from those metal boxes.

Deliveroo first started with the idea of helping regular restaurants accept online orders — not just pizza places with existing delivery persons. But containers on a car park don’t sound as attractive.

Draper Esprit, the publicly-listed VC firm based in London, is putting down further roots across Europe in cooperation with German VC Earlybird.

The “strategic partnership” sees Draper invest an initial €18 million in the latest Earlybird Fund VI (which closed this week at €175 million, above its initial target, apparently), with a commitment to invest a further €17 million or so per annum over the next four years.

The tie up will also mean the two VCs will work together beyond Draper simply being an LP in Earlybird, such as sharing deal-flow and investment resources. In addition, Draper is taking a minority stake in the management company of Earlybird Fund VI via the issuing of new Draper Esprit shares to Earlybird partners.

By putting money into Earlybird Fund VI, Draper has also indirectly acquired a minority stake in a number of startups that have already received investment from the fund. They include Shapeshift, Everoad, Movinga, Fraugster, Medidate, Xain, and Crossengage.

However, explained Draper Esprit CEO and co-founder Simon Cook in a call this morning, the partnership is really about the two firm’s leveraging the brand recognition of their broader and respective portfolios.

In aggregate, both firms say they count 100 “high growth” companies across Europe in their respective portfolios. They include the likes of Revolut, Graze, UI Path, N26, Transferwise, Ledger, Graphcore and Peak Games.

Meanwhile, in a European VC market where almost every local early-stage VC is becoming “pan-European,” the two firms met to discuss how they might work together. As the conversation progressed, it became clear that a more formal partnership fitted the ambitions of both VCs as they both attempt to have a larger presence across the continent.

In a corresponding blog post, Draper Esprit reiterates that it invests in series A, B and beyond, whereas Earlybird is focused on seed stage to series A. So, whilst there is some overlap, it won’t be hard for the two firms to divvy up deals and Cook told me Draper Esprit will share all relevant deal-flow with Earlybird and where it makes sense a partner at either firm will take the lead.

Draper Esprit is already an investor/LP in a number of other European early-stage funds, including pre-seed and seed investor Seedcamp, and Episode 1.

“We invest from offices in the U.K., Ireland, and Paris. They, from Berlin, Munich, Istanbul. We raise money via the public markets and through our EIS and VCT funds, they from traditional private LPs,” adds the VC firm.

French venture capital firm ISAI just raised a new $175 million fund (€150 million) called ISAI Expansion II. This fund is designed for later stage investments.

The firm says that it managed to raise this fund in less than three months. This is a growth fund and the team plans to invest between $6 million and $35 million per deal (between €5 million and €30 million).

ISAI first started with a seed fund back in 2010. The company raised a $41 million fund (€35 million) and invested in BlaBlaCar shortly after that. The firm has raised a growth fund and another seed fund since then.

If you include today’s new fund, ISAI has raised over $350 million in total (€300 million). So ISAI Expansion II is by far the biggest fund to date.

Limited partners include dozens of successful tech entrepreneurs as well as institutional partners. Many existing investors invested once again in ISAI’s new fund. Some entrepreneurs joined the list for the first time.

With the previous ISAI Expansion fund, the firm invested in nine companies over five years. And ISAI already sold its shares in two companies, Hospimedia and Labelium.

ISAI also says that it can help entrepreneurs using owner buy-out transactions. By creating a holding company, this type of operations lets entrepreneurs cash out, buy shares from existing minor investors and work with a new investor.

More interestingly, ISAI doesn’t necessarily want to focus on Paris-based tech startups. The firm is also looking for investments in more traditional companies that aren’t yet taking advantage of digital opportunities.

Ride-hailing giant Uber is in talks over a possible merger with Middle East rival Careem, according to Bloomberg — citing three people familiar with the matter.

The report suggests various deal structures have been discussed, although it also says that no deal has been reached — nor may ever be reached, as discussions are ongoing and may not come to anything.

Bloomberg’s sources told it that Uber has said it would need to own more than half of the combined company, if not buy Careem outright.

Among the possible arrangements that have been discussed are for Careem’s current leaders to manage a new combined business, day to day, with potentially both brands being retained in local markets.

Another proposal would have Uber outright acquire Careem.

Bloomberg also reports that Dubai-based Careem is in talks with investors to raise $500 million, which it says could value the ride-hailing company at about $1.5BN. Careem is said to have held early talks with banks about a potential IPO in January.

Neither company has publicly confirmed any talks.

An Uber spokesman declined to comment when asked to confirm or deny talks with Careem.

While a Careem spokeswoman, Maha Abouelenein, told us: “We do not comment on rumors. Our focus remains to build the leading internet platform for the region, from the region. That means expanding to new markets and doubling down on our existing markets by adding new products and services to the platform. We are only getting started.”

Uber has been reconfiguring its global business for several years now, pulling out of South East Asia earlier this year after agreeing to sell its business to local rival Grab — while also taking a minority stake in the competitor.

And Uber did a similar exit deal with another rival — Didi — in China back in 2016.

Last year it also threw its lot in with Yandex.Taxi in Russia, with the pair combining efforts via a joint venture — albeit one which gave Yandex the majority share.

But Uber has been talking up its position and potential in the Middle East — with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi telling a conference in May that he believes it can be the “winning player” in the market, as well as in India and Africa, and vowing it would “control our own destiny” in those markets.

That does not necessary take a Careem-Uber deal off the table, of course, though the (public) claim from Uber is that it’s not willing to settle for a minority stake in the region, as it has elsewhere.

Responding in April to a question from CNBC about whether it might acquire Careem, Uber’s COO Barney Harford ruled out doing any more transactions for minority stakes, saying: “It would be crazy for us as a hypergrowth company to not engage in conversations about potential partnerships. But we’ve been very clear, the markets that we remain in today are core markets for us.”

Harford also claimed Uber was positioned to be able to invest in its chosen growth markets on “an indefinite basis”, thanks to having reached profitability in other markets. It’s also targeting 2019 for an IPO.

In March the Financial Times reported that Uber was in talks with Indian rival Ola over another possible merger — and the newspaper’s sources poured cold water on the notion of Uber taking a minority stake there too.

Of course Uber may not want to have to shrink its already retrenched global ambitions. But it may have to if it gets out-competed in its chosen plum markets.

Hence Careem’s chest-puffing talk about just getting started — provided it can convince its investors to screw their courage to the sticking place and stay on board for the ride.

Investors in Careem, which closed a $500M Series E round a year ago at a $1BN+ valuation, include Saudi-based VC Kingdom Holding, German automaker Daimler, and Japanese tech giant Rakuten — which reportedly led the Series E.

Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, a managing partner at Rakuten Capital who leads on its mobility investments and is also a Careem board member, declined to comment on the rumors of Uber-Careem merger talks when we asked to chat.

But he was happy to talk up the broader opportunity that investors seen coming down the road for ridesharing, telling us: “If you look at the industry everyone is talking to everyone, and while consolidation is an obvious trend, it won’t be limited to the ridesharing players but draw other tech companies, OEMs and payment companies, to name a few.”

According to Careem’s website, the ride-hailing firm operates in 15 countries, mostly (but not only) across the Middle East, offering its services in around 80 cities in all.

While Uber’s website lists it being active in 15 cities in the Middle East and 15 in Africa.