Since the Uber and Lyft ride-sharing apps stopped service in Austin, drunk driving has increased, riders are hunting for alternatives, and the police are conducting undercover sting operations against unauthorized ride-sharing drivers. With Chicago also considering new restrictions on ride-sharing apps, Slashdot reader MarkWhittington shares this report from Austin: With thousands of drivers and tens of thousands of riders who once depended on ride-sharing services in a lurch, a group called Arcade City has tried to fill the void with a person-to-person site to link up drivers and riders who then negotiate a fare. Of course, according to a story on KVUE, the Austin city government, and the police are on the case. The Austin Police Department has diverted detectives and resources to conduct sting operations on ride-sharing drivers who attempt to operate without official sanction. Undercover operatives will arrange for a ride with an Arcade City driver and then bust them, impounding their vehicle and imposing a fine. “The first Friday and Saturday after Uber was gone, we were joking that it was like the zombie apocalypse of drunk people, ” one former ride-sharing driver told Vocative.com. Earlier this month the site compared this year’s drunk driving arrests to last years — and discovered that in the three weeks since Uber and Lyft left Austin, 7.5% more people have been arrested for drunk driving. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read More:
Austin Is Conducting Sting Operations Against Ride-Sharing Drivers
An eReader lets travelers bring thousands of books with them on their journeys, but what if each of those stories was customized to wherever they happened to be at the moment? Read more… 
When Cards Against Humanity was first released to the world, it was made available under a Creative Commons license that meant that anyone could simply print our their own copy of the game. Or, as designer Dawson Whitfield did, turn it into an online browser-based web app so that anyone can play it against their friends using a computer, smartphone, or tablet. Read more… 
HughPickens.com writes David Streitfeld reports at the NYT that people routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers but now the tables are turned as companies like Uber are rating their customers, and shunning those who do not make the grade. “An Uber trip should be a good experience for drivers too, ” says an Uber blog post. “Drivers shouldn’t have to deal with aggressive, violent, or disrespectful riders. If a rider exhibits disrespectful, threatening, or unsafe behavior, they, too, may no longer be able to use the service.” It does not seem to take much to annoy some Uber drivers. On one online forum, an anonymous driver said he gave poor reviews to “people who are generally negative and would tend to bring down my mood (or anyone around them).” Another was cavalier about the process: “1 star for passengers does not do them any harm. Sensible drivers won’t pick them up, but so what?” In response, some consumers are becoming more polite and prompt. “The knowledge that they may be rated is also encouraging people to submit more upbeat reviews themselves, even if the experience was less than stellar, ” writes Streitfeld. “When services choose whom to serve, no one wants to be labeled difficult.” The result may be a Barney world says Michael Fertik referring to the purple dinosaur who sings, “With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you/ Won’t you say you love me too.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Even with perfect typography, a stunning design, or a novel shape, a business card is still an antiquated way to share your contact details. So the folks over at TechKeys—makers of custom keyboards—wanted to design a card that reflected their work and left a lasting impression—and what better way to do that than with a business card that doubles as a working keyboard . Read more… 
cartechboy writes “Autonomous driving is every car manufacturer’s immediate R&D project. In car-building terms, even if a new technology isn’t due for 10 years — since that’s just two full vehicle generations away– it has to be developed now. So now it is for autonomous car research and testing, and this week Ford revealed a brand new Fusion Hybrid research vehicle built for autonomous R&D with some interesting tech capabilities. Technologies inside the new Fusion Hybrid research vehicle include LIDAR (a light-based range detection), which scans at 2.5 million times per second to create a 3D map of the surrounding environment at a radius of 200 feet. Ford says the research vehicle’s sensors are sensitive enough to detect the difference between a small animal and a paper bag even at maximum range. More road-ready differentiations include observation and understanding of pedestrians, cyclists, and plain old stationary objects. Ford is working on this project in cooperation with the University of Michigan.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Virtucon writes “Ride Sharing Services such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar received a big boost today when the California Public Utilities Commission approved rules that would allow them to continue to operate as long as the followed a few rules. This makes California the first state to adopt such rules and is expected to preempt local governments who are trying to clamp down on these services and try to regulate them like local taxi companies.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 