Heyride, an Austin startup that is revolutionizing the way you get around town, received a cease-and-desist from the City of Austin. This follows Uber's forced NYC shutdown last month, along with California sending cease-and-desists to Lyft, Sidecar, and Tickengo. Paul Carr links these disruptive technologies to Metafilter fave author Ayn Rand (previous thread); it's not the first time he's taken on the nerds. Wharton and Wired weigh in.
posted by jkolko on Nov 22, 2012 - 66 comments

Travis Shrugged: The creepy, dangerous ideology behind Silicon Valley’s "Cult of Disruption"
posted by AceRock on Oct 25, 2012 - 55 comments

Almost all the everyday complaints about cabs trace back to this regulatory cocktail. Drivers won’t take you to the outer reaches of your metropolitan area? The regulated fares won’t let them charge you more to recover the cost of dead-heading back without a return customer. Cabs are poorly maintained? Blame restricted competition, and the inability to charge for better quality. Cabbies drive like maniacs? With high fixed costs for cars and gas, and no way to increase their earnings except by finding another fare, is it any wonder that they try to get from place to place as fast as possible? Uber makes its money at least in part by alleviating these inefficiencies. In most places, “black car” or livery services are regulated differently, and more lightly, than taxis are. Though Uber has good reason not to say so, it’s basically turning livery services into cabs. The company is one step further removed from regulation, because it doesn’t run cars itself; it funnels passengers to existing services. “We’re sort of like an efficient lead-generation system for limo companies,” says Kalanick, “but with math involved.” - Megan McArdle analyses taxi regulation in the US and the taxi startup, Uber
posted by beisny on Apr 12, 2012 - 54 comments

Ubersuper is the place where Stefan Sicher shares inspiration and has fun. It has lead me to Soviet Propaganda Posters, Generating Art from Computer Games, Bruce Mozert's Underwater Photos, a cool stop motion video and much more.
posted by sciurus on Oct 29, 2008 - 3 comments

ePimps tell your tales! Uber and So New Media have a special request for all the "eLovas" of the world. Have you got an eLove story to share? And is this funny, or a commentary on the lengths to which people will reach for love?
posted by spslsausse on Dec 28, 2001 - 20 comments