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How Tech Companies Are Responding To Hurricane Matthew (vice.com)
South Carolina was hit by Hurricane Matthew at 11 a.m. EST, after the hurricane killed at least 300 people in Haiti (with Reuters estimating Haiti's death toll over 800). But as the U.S. declares a state of emergency for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, and with the power out for more than a million people, an anonymous Slashdot reader looks at the role tech companies are playing in responding to the storm system:
AirBNB "has been advertising free rooms in parts of Florida and South Carolina" reports Motherboard. AirBNB's Disaster Reponse Tool connects people needing shelter with volunteers who are offering their residences for free. Meanwhile, Uber promised to cap its "surge pricing" for the area, while Lyft promised its fares would rise no more than two times their normal rate.
But many escaped the path of the hurricane thanks to Shofur, a startup that books chartered buses and matches riders to low-cost tickets, according to the Daily Dot. "Through Thursday night and into the early morning hours of Friday, Shofur evacuated an estimated 10,000 Floridians and Georgians to areas such as Atlanta, Florida's west coast, and the panhandle."
NASA is also flying a huge 15,000-pound drone over the area to collect real-time weather data, while Verizon is testing a 17-foot drone which may one day provide LTE mobile connectivity to first responders. In addition, a Verizon spokesperson says drone-enabled connectivity has "set the stage" for connecting drones to their IoT platform next year.
But many escaped the path of the hurricane thanks to Shofur, a startup that books chartered buses and matches riders to low-cost tickets, according to the Daily Dot. "Through Thursday night and into the early morning hours of Friday, Shofur evacuated an estimated 10,000 Floridians and Georgians to areas such as Atlanta, Florida's west coast, and the panhandle."
NASA is also flying a huge 15,000-pound drone over the area to collect real-time weather data, while Verizon is testing a 17-foot drone which may one day provide LTE mobile connectivity to first responders. In addition, a Verizon spokesperson says drone-enabled connectivity has "set the stage" for connecting drones to their IoT platform next year.
Airbnb good guys, lyft and uber are taking advantage of the situation?
Did Airbnb write this?
A Verizon spokesperson says drone-enabled connectivity has "set the stage" for connecting drones to their IoT platform next year.
Sounds cool. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
South Carolina's governor is also warning people about an email scam targeting hurricane victims. It tells them to click on a link for an update on their electrical power service...but it's actually just malware.
For every company doing something good (purely for the free publicity) there'll be 5 who are actively trying to screw people; the insurance companies spring instantly to mind.
Don't you dare for a single second think any of these companies are trying to be good out of the goodness of their hearts - it's all about profit; whether free advertising and publicity or actual cold hard cash. The very second you forget that they have you by the short and curlies.
They are trying to privatize it and profit from it, just as they have done with everything else in America. They are not the ones I would call if I were in trouble.
If you RTFA AirBNB isn't providing free rooms for people displaced by the hurricance, the hosts that rent out through them are providing the free rooms. AirBNB is not paying them and then letting the displaced stay there, the hosts are offing the usage of their properties for free.
/sarcasm) and seemingly taking all the credit for places for these people to stay when it's actually the goodwill of those hosts helping out...
AirBNB is "waiving the service fee for those free hosts" (how nice of them
They're doing a completely unrelated *test* of a drone in New Jersey, which has absolutely zero to do with the hurricane and isn't going to be helping anyone in the actual disaster area.
I remember .... nevermind. Just get off my lawn.
15000 isn't a lot after the pound dropped due to Brexit. Is NASA really that strapped for equipment? Did they borrow the drone from the Brits?
...suggested to bomb the hurricane with a C130 loaded with fully charged Samsung Notes 7.
Is that 15,000 British Pound Stirling, or a mass of about 6.3 tonne?
It is about time the the USA started using standard units, and gave up on the old Imperial System!!!
It might be good for others to know that I was in the storm. Comcast cable has content delivered by satellite and also has controls for program delivery that use phone lines. During almost every storm cable TV becomes unavailable or the power lines are intolerant to storm conditions and your TV is useless even if the power stays on. But my Roku box avoids that telephone component completely and I was able to watch Netflix on Roku all night without interruption. Those who live in areas that do have hurricanes frequently might really want a Roku unit of their own.
South Carolina observes Daylight Saving Time, so 11am ET = 11am EDT = 10am EST.
I wont stay in another if this was a 1 or tropical storm it sounds like a freight train out side.
Broken tree in front of house light keep almost going out