Never be bikeless again, jort-wearers of the world. In conjunction with the city’s (er, Citi’s) upcoming bike share program, Belgian company WebComrades has released a new app creatively called NYC Bike Share that shows available bikes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. It’s free on both iPhones and Android devices. Read More
Today, Uber CEO bestowed unto the world a white paper on ridesharing. And in classic Uber fashion, the policy finds a workaround to traditional law-abiding. The company says it will launch the service if it sees its competitors (Lyft, Sidecar, etc.) operating for 30 days with “tacit approval” from law officials, i.e. if no one gets in trouble.
The San Francisco-based company said its decision was formed after seeing its ridesharing competitors circumvent laws by providing “non-licensed transportation for compensation.” Uber’s core business of being “everyone’s private driver” has caught flak from several cities for operating a livery company without official approval. Read More
If you’ve recently moved to New York City solely to live out your Girls-themed fantasies (hi!), your apartment hunt is now over. There’s a distressing post on Craigslist looking for one lucky person to pay $1,500 a month for a room in Williamsburg. It already comes furnished with a Hannah (who probably becomes more aggravating as your lease progresses), and a gay roommate “with a penchant for backhanded compliments.” Shut up. Read More
On its blog today, Twitter announced a new partnership aimed at changing that ratio. The company will be investing “time, energy and money,” to partner with Girls Who Code, a intensive program designed to get New York City high schoolers comfortable with software development.
Girls Who Code was launched by Reshma Saujani, a former deputy public advocate under Bill de Blasio. Ms. Saujani, who is running for Public Advocate in 2013, has strong ties to the tech community both here and in the Valley. Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey and Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes both came out to support her (ultimately unsuccessful) bid for a Congressional seat from New York in 2010. She also recently married LocalResponse founder Nihal Mehta. (Mazel!) Read More
The Center for an Urban Future, a think tank headed by Jonathan Bowles, has released a lengthy report about New York City’s tech sector, titled “New Tech City.” The Center’s findings indicate amazing growth over the last decade. While “New Tech City” contains mostly good news for the local tech set, there is a dash of cold water–just a bit–to leaven any prospective startup’s bright-eyed optimism.
First, the good news! Read More
All Your Tweets Are Belong to Us
Today Jeff Rae (@jeffrae), a self-described rabble rouser, agitator, organizer and labor activist, posted a letter to Scribd that he received from Twitter informing him that the micro-blogging platform had received a legal process for information related to his account. The letter said that the legal process “requires Twitter to produce documents related to your account” in seven days unless he’s filed a motion to “quash the legal process.” Read More
Crowd-sourcing and community organizing always goes down easier with a little cash incentive, as New York City has recently discovered. In a new twist to its annual BigApps challenge, which opens up data from city agencies to app developers, the city is now putting idea generation in the public’s hands. On the BigAppsIdeas page, which launched today, residents 18-and-older can suggest an NYC app they would like to see. Users can then vote on the suggestion. The ten most popular ideas are eligible for a $250 prize and the top 25 are eligible for $100. Read More
Some of the nation’s biggest banks and venture investors have partnered with New York City Investment Fund to create the FinTech Innovation Lab.
The program is a annual twelve-week incubator to find and foster promising startups working on financial technologies.
Participating banks include all the big boys — Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley Read More
