Weekly News Roundup Feb. 5-11

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Uber settles for $28.5 million lawsuit

Ride-sharing app Uber has been under fire with two separate lawsuits concerning the language of its safety practices.

According to the lawsuits, despite the company’s claims to provide the “safest ride on the road,” Uber drivers are not fingerprinted or checked against the national sex-offender registry. The “safe ride fee” Uber has in place is supposed to cover these, as well as car inspections and other safety expenses. The lawsuits claim Uber has not been charging this fee to customers.

In the proposed settlement, Uber will change its descriptions of Uber safety features, implement the “safe ride fee,” as well as refunding a small amount to any customers who took an Uber ride between Jan. 1, 2013 and Jan. 31, 2016.

Harry Potter book to release this summer

Scholastic announced on Wednesday that the anticipated “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” play will be printed in book form, to be released July 31, 2016.

Author J.K. Rowling clarified on Twitter that this is not a prequel and not a novel, as many on social media assumed.

The play opens in London the day before the book release. The play is created by Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany and written by Thorne.

Rowling’s original seven-volume “Harry Potter” series has sold over 450 million copies to date.

Pandora looking to sell

Music streaming service Pandora is reported to be working with Morgan Stanley, looking for buyers. Competitors Spotify and Apple Music have been growing quickly, and seem to be putting on heavy competition. The service’s shares have dropped approximately 60 percent in value in the past three months.

Scientists detect gravitational waves, fulfills Einstein’s theory of relativity

Scientists working on the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory have detected gravitational waves, or ripples in the fabric of space and time, a phenomenon that Albert Einstein predicted a century ago.

Gravitational waves are caused by the marriage of two black holes, which create such a force that these waves spiral outward. Scientists say the waves they detected were from black holes colliding 1.3 billion light years away. The discovery happened in Sept. 2015, and since that time, scientists have been checking and re-checking the data, which has since been peer-reviewed by a team of 1,004 scientists.

Scientists are saying this discovery may lead to more answers about gravity, astronomy and even the creation of the universe.

Google’s next virtual reality goggles are phone-free

Google is moving beyond its current cardboard virtual reality goggle. Instead, it is creating a stand-alone device that isn’t supported by a phone, game console or other device.

The goggles are expected to have their own screen, two outward-facing cameras, better lenses, plastic headset and a powerful processor.

Just last month, Google created its VR division.

The first VR goggles are made of cardboard. The user slips their phone into the viewer, which it uses as a screen. These were created in 2014 and approximately 5 million have been sold.

 

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