ÜberGreat Taxis Got to “Uber” Service

If you’re still ordering taxis by phone being a US citizen, then you’re either fond of classics or a truly conservative person. Otherwise, you’d perhaps be for long get accustomed to getting a cab via the fresh convenient “Uber” service.

On to the Semantics

For those, who aren’t keen on German, the word Uber is recognized to be either a prefix or a preposition meaning “over/above”. In this respect, it’s absolutely logical, that the company founders have selected such a name for their enterprise.  

Pros vs. Cons

Believe it or not, but in some ways Uber is truly exceptional, even though I wouldn’t be sure it’s the very first rival in the relative niche. The taxi-ordering service also enables you to pay for the ride online, and the car is mostly provided exactly on time, so you don’t need to worry of being late for an important meeting or a flight, for instance.

At the same time, as there’s virtually nothing utterly perfect in the world, Uber has also got a few flaws of its own, like the price aspect, for example, or the necessity to take care of your payment account on a regular basis. Yet, are those real drawbacks?

For what it takes, no matter how much some people can argue, what we all crave for as consumers is comfort, and consequently, the simplicity of usage. Much because of that, Uber is a catch in the taxi-ordering sector, likewise as 4shared is a catch as the file storage, or Gmail is a catch as an e-mail service. It’s just the objective perspective.

Yoke – One More On-the-Spot Matchmaker

It goes without saying that people are all about socializing, and the speeding up popularity of social networks only proves this point. Here, in addition to online communication with our friends, colleagues or family members in Gmail, Skype, 4shared (don’t forget about the service’s option to send PM’s to your friends) and Facebook or Twitter, of course, most SM users tend to search for new friends on the Web as well. In fact, some of us, who are either too shy in real life, or don’t have enough time for meeting new people in person somewhere at the excibition, in a gym or even in a pub, get frequently prone to signing up for versatile matchmaking services as well. These are specifically designed to bring the new couples, usually from all over the world, together, and often require nothing, but your provided bio, photos and, certainly, time.

At one point the the dating sites have evolved to the integration into social media, like the famous and yet terribly annoying Badoo on Facebook, which is, besides, really hard to unsubscribe from, even though you didn’t even subscribe to it at all.

As for now, it’s about time the online matchmaking market was introduced with another player, the more upgraded application Yoke, recently presented for FB users. Having moved beyond the limits of an average dating service, the application does all work for you by collecting and comparing the info about your hobbies and interests with the facts that other users mention about themselves and makes a suggestion, that your match and you should start communicating. Not bad, ha?

Well, for those, who are interested in finding a couple online, Yoke can be considered an exciting option to try, but in general, it is still very similar to other, formerly-known matchmaking sites, just for lazier users, who don’t even want to type in the requirements for a possible soulmate into a search bar. Its significant peculiarity, at the same time, is related to the match being based on one’s interests, rather than a person’s appearance, hair cut, or else.

What is disappointing is that Yoke founders haven’t found it necessary to organize at least the minimum separate site for it, except for the FB page, offering you to start using the actual app and find out about its features during the alpha-test. In this respect, the service gets fewer chances to become noticeable and recognizable for users, especially if to consider its name. The thing is that, I have already encountered separate services, called YokeApp, Yoke Messenger, etc. which aren’t aimed at matchmaking at all. Undoubtedly, all of the mentioned factors can’t but take a toll on the app popularity, from my point of view.

Generally speaking, Yoke is seemingly one more toy for people, who get bored, or may be, wish to try something new in terms of online communication. Apparently, it can also become promising for lonely Web surfers, who can’t (or can’t stand)))) getting acquainted with people in person. Well, everyone deserves to be happy.

Ridejoy – Expansion of LifeStyle Sharing Opportunities

Within the current realities, the most essential trend we’re witnessing is, undoubtedly, the global integration and communication. In fact, it often seems that the world has eliminated its borders, at least in terms of information, spread and shared among various countries, cities and states.

Essentially speaking, we have already become more than accustomed to socializing via Skype, sharing our thoughts via Twitter, our photos - via Flickr, Tumblr or Instagram (I wonder why I’ve never written about it), our data – via 4shared, or any other file-storage service.

For now, apparently, we’ve got one more unique tool to socialize, and not only on the Web, but on the road trip (consequently, of course) as well. I’m talking about the newly-presented service - RideJoy, specifically designed to help people find the passangers or the drivers to organize the common roadtrip. As the authors claim, you won’t need to ask all of your friends (and prehaps, your friends’ friends) on FB, whether they’d share a journey with you, and you won’t need to travel alone any longer.

Well, to say, I was taken aback a bit at first, when I encountered RideJoy for the first time – it was, actually, rather hard to believe, that there had been thousands of similarly cheap and easy-to-use services before. That’s so, as the specific niche on the market it’s aimed to occupy is potentially very-very profitable, that is a great number of people would love to share a roadtrip with others. Well, there you go, we’ve now got RideJoy.

To start with, what I liked about the service is its incredible simplicity. You only need to enter the site of departure, place of destination and a desirable date to get the matching results. Moreover, it’s also simple and fast to log in via your FB or Twitter account and avoid the boring registration procedure. Excellent? Well, almost.

The thing is that as the service is rather young, it now only covers the West Coast of the USA, so if you live somewhere in the UK, or elsewhere, you won’t be able to use it. In addition to that, it won’t be suitable for conservative or cautious people, who still remember having been taught not to talk to strangers and aren’t interested in company of barely-known drivers or passangers.

At the same time, it might be considered a funny adventure option for those, who crave for something new and unusual in their lives. The only essential aspect they should keep in mind is the money, as with RideJoy most users prefer getting the payment, at least when they drive.

Stay cool)
Andy

ACTA – A new SOPA…or Worse?

Whereas the world celebrates the withdrawal of SOPA and PIPA for an unlimited period of time, there has appeared a brand new hazzard on the way, which can possibly have much more negative consequences, than the former one – ACTA.

ACTA (full title:The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) may be easily considered a potentially dangerous document, which, in fact, presupposes attacks on human rights, even though it has been initially created in a seemingly democratic country (the US).

Naturally, as “the road to hell is always paved with good deeds”, the declared purpose of ACTA is more, than noble. Namely, the authors of the mentioned document plan to stop the spread of illegal and pirate content around the world.

Undoubtedly, the aim of ACTA is by all means positive, but the offered methods to achieve this aim are scarier, than one can imagine. In particular, the Customs officers have received the right to check one’s digital storing devices (including laptops, mobile phones, music players, or flash drives) for illegal or pirate content, with a further right to detain the device and forbid the person from visiting the country.

In this respect, it doesn’t matter, if you store password-protected info, you’ll be asked to unlock all your files, and otherwise your visit in the country will be forbidden either. Is it a bad dream? Unfortunately, it’s not.

The thing is that 22 countries, including EU members, the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Marocco, Mexico and Switzeland have already declared their desire to ratify ACTA, and if they do, the human right for confidentiality of personal data will vanish forever.

I have been truly taken aback, having read about the document for the first time, mainly because there’s yet no social reaction against the violations it makes legal. On the other hand, the answer, here, is obvious – there’s no media coverage of the news that the document is almost in action for now.

Of course, having started surfing the Web, I managed to find ACTA official site and the relative Wikipedia page, but I wonder if I would ever find out about its existence, if I hadn’t happened to encounter some brief facts about it a few days before.

In a whole, what is absolutely irritating with all these SOPA, and, now, ACTA documents, is that the authorities don’t see the line between a desire to fight Internet piracy and the brutal violation of all basic human rughts.

The thing is that, it has become pretty clear already, that any respectful site can’t but implement strict house rules to maintain its reputation. Much because of that, even the large file storage services, like 4shared or even MediaFire have already established the detailed and harsh Terms of Use, which all sites’ visitors are obliged to follow.

So why all the fuss, dear officers? I’m sure that such documents as ACTA won’t only help stop the distribution of piracy content, but will also make the whole society furious. Do you need it, after all?

Stay cool. And attentive

Andy