New Uber app to pair gig workers with employers. The Uber Works app, launching in Chicago on Friday, will match workers such as chefs and cleaners with companies looking to fill a temporary opening, the company said late Wednesday. The app enables users to sift through jobs by location, pay and skills, Uber said, adding that it spent the past year testing it. (WSJ)
Libra’s backers back off. A backlash from U.S. and European government officials is leading Visa, Mastercard and other financial partners to reconsider their involvement with Facebook's payment system. Without the support of financial firms to help transfer currencies into Libra its reach may be limited. (WSJ)
Too good to be true. Parking lots are reporting crashes linked to a Tesla feature where owners can summon their vehicles. The Smart Summon self-driving feature, part of a recent software update, allows owners to use a phone app to summon their car if it is within 200 feet. (Reuters)
Old code puts IoT devices at risk. Bug-riddled code almost two decades-old is powering operating systems running internet-of-things devices, from patient monitors to security cameras.
A fix is not so easy. “As software components that are open source or can be licensed get adapted for various software products over time they undergo a sort of divergent evolution. This lack of standardization then makes it almost impossible to develop a one-size-fits-all security patch if those modules turn out to contain vulnerabilities.” (Wired)
Trolls as a service. Security intelligence firm Recorded Future created a fake company and then paid one Russian group to build up its reputation and another to tear it down. The propaganda effort cost just $6,050 in total. “If our experience is any indication, we predict that disinformation as a service will spread from a nation-state tool to one increasingly used by private individuals and entities, given how easy it is to implement,” their report concludes. (Recorded Future)
Can the board be automated? Not yet, but with blockchain and artificial intelligence handling board tasks to do with ensuring regulatory conformance, nonexecutive directors will be able to engage more in setting strategy and other “more human” tasks. (Harvard Business Review)
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