2019年7月6日

Uber has a new competitor in one of its most competitive overseas markets

Ola, a ride-hailing firm based in India, said Thursday that’s its received a licence to operate in London, one of the world’s largest markets for app-based taxi companies. The company is targeting a launch this September in the British capital city.

Ola’s been targeting London, where traditional taxi cab drivers are still angry as ever at the ride-hailing industry’s effect on their business, since at least 2018. News of its licence comes as Uber attempts to shore up its lead in many international markets where it has struggled.

In 2017, London officials revoked Uber’s licence to operate in the city because of instances where the company acted like it was ‘above the law,’ as a judge put it at the time. The company won back its right to operate in June 2018.

Ola, meanwhile, is already operating in many cities throughout the UK, with a total of 110 cities total across four countries. The company has racked up a valuation of more than $US5 billion. “We view barriers to entry as fairly low for major technology providers and auto manufacturers, posing the biggest threat for existing ridesharing providers,” CFRA analyst Angelo Zino said in a recent note to clients. “Ridesharing companies will need to increasingly compete with certain non-ridesharing transportation-asa-service network companies and taxi companies as well as traditional automotive manufacturers, such as BMW and Tesla, which have entered or plan to enter market.”

After reportedly laying off 20% of its staff amid dwindling downloads, HQ Trivia is about to try something new

HQ Trivia has had a rough 2019. The live-game-show startup has struggled to recover from the loss of cofounder and CEO Colin Kroll, who died unexpectedly in December. In April, about half of HQ Trivia’s 35 employees signed a letter asking the company’s board to remove cofounder Rus Yusupov as CEO, the second time the request was made. The longtime host Scott “Quiz Daddy” Rogowsky also left HQ Trivia in April.

Tech Crunch has reported that HQ Trivia laid off about 20% of its staff, leaving the company with less than 30 employees. Meanwhile, monthly downloads of the HQ Trivia app dropped by nearly 92% in June compared with 2018.

HQ Trivia is now gearing up to test a new subscription-based business model. A tweet from the HQ Words spinoff app said the company would introduce a new monthly subscription for HQ Words in July, which will let subscribers compete for cash prizes each day. All of HQ Trivia’s games have been available for free since the app launched in August 2017. The app offers three different games, HQ Trivia, HQ Sports, and HQ Words. HQ Trivia has a minimum prize of $US2,500, but prize pools have reached up to $US300,000 for a single game. Winnings are typically shared between multiple users, which significantly decreases the amount of money each winner receives. Season four of HQ Trivia launched in May, promising users more prize money and more ways to win. The new season also introduced a new lineup of hosts.

A former NASA intern could earn millions after auctioning off the original video of the moon landing

A former NASA intern could earn millions next month by auctioning off what’s believed to be the original video recording of the 1969 moon landing. The auction house Sotheby’s has promised that the recordings are the “earliest, sharpest, and most accurate surviving video images of man’s first steps on the moon.”

Sotheby’s said in a press release that the three reels of tape expected to sell for between $US1 million and $US2 million at a space exploration-themed auction on July 20. The former intern, Gary George, worked at the NASA Johnson Space Center in 1973 and bought 1,150 reels at a government surplus auction several years later, Sotheby’s said.

George paid just $US217.77 for 65 boxes of the two-inch Quadruplex videotapes, which he had anticipated selling to a local TV station, as the tapes could be re-recorded. George didn’t view the tapes until 2008, when he found a studio capable of playing them. Sotheby’s said it’s possible that was the first time they’d been played since they were recorded.

The recording spans more than , hours and includes the moment Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, and his phone call with President Richard Nixon. “Miraculously, the tapes were in faultless condition, displaying a picture quality superior to any other existing contemporary videotapes,” Sotheby’s said. “The next viewer will be the highest bidder,” the auction house said.