Uber founders

How did the founders of Uber come up with the idea for the company? Was it … A.) From the memorable taxi ride in the 1954 classic film “On the Waterfront,” B.) Because one of the founder’s fathers drove a shuttle service van, C.) Based on a pair of Ivy League grads who moved to Silicon Valley, or D.) Sparked by waiting for a taxi in Paris on a snowy night?

D.) The idea for Uber was born in Paris on a snowy evening in 2008, when cofounders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp struggled to find a taxi.

Tags: classic, company, film, find, service, Silicon Valley, Uber


AI see what you’re sellin’: Sweet timesaver if you’re an eBay person: In the iOS app, AI can now add snazzy backgrounds to your product photos. Expect the change in the Android app soon.

Your social media profiles should be private: Unless you’re a public figure, there’s no reason to let anyone and everyone see your posts. On Facebook, click your profile pic in the top right > Settings & privacy > Settings. Choose an option under Audience and visibility. Steps for IG here.

Buzz off: WhatsApp is full of scammers, and they can add you to a group with others without your consent unless you change a setting. Open the app, then head to Settings > Privacy > Groups. Choose My Contacts or Nobody.

Quick iPhone cleanup: Duplicate contacts are annoying and Apple knows it. Now there’s an easy way to merge them. Open Contacts, then scroll all the way up. At the top, look for Duplicate Found. Tap View Duplicates > Merge All. Done! Sorry, Android pals — it’s not so easy for you.

Copy that: Google Lens can transcribe words in the real world (think a billboard or sign, menu, handwritten note, book page) to digital. Super useful. To try it, open the Google Lens app, point it at the text in question, then select it with your finger. Bam, now you can copy and paste anywhere.

Is it spam? Reader Ron S. in Gilbert, Arizona, dropped me a note with a reminder about a super-helpful site if you’re worried a link is suspicious. Google analyzes billions of URLs every day and adds spammy ones to a list. Paste a link in here to see if it’s been flagged. Thanks, Ron!

Memorize this: On a PC, hit Alt + Tab. On Mac, it’s Cmd + Tab. Keep hitting Tab while holding down Alt or Cmd to switch between your open applications. It’ll make you feel like a total pro.

It just works better: If you live in a home larger than 2,000 square feet or have a lot of devices, mesh networks are your Wi-Fi’s secret sauce. Instead of a single router struggling to send a signal to every nook and cranny, you’ve got multiple “nodes” working like a tag team. 

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Goodnight, moon: Have an Echo? Alexa can help you drift off to sleep. Say something like, “Alexa, play rain sounds” (or whatever your favorite soothing sounds are, whether it’s waves or ambient noise), then say, “Alexa, set a sleep timer for one hour.” That way, the audio will shut off once you’re asleep.

✋ Get with the program: Starting next week, Google will disable access to Chrome browser extensions built using outdated code. If your installed extensions don’t use the latest standard, Manifest V3, you’ll see a pop-up notification in your browser. You can choose to delete or upgrade to the latest version in the Chrome Web Store.