Posts by ncp

Virgin spaceplane makes maiden rocket-powered flight

Re: Perhaps?

"The Virgin stuff is as silly and pointless now as it was five years ago."

"If rich idiots want an "Astronaut" Merit Badge for being fireworked up to an arbitrary altitude, more fool them."

I think you have just answered your own question there - SRB is a businessman, and he sees a business case for this venture and an opportunity to make a profit for Virgin Galactic, or perhaps as a loss-making halo product for the rest of the Virgin Group, as well as make his mark on history. Silly and pointless it is not.

Uber hopes to butter up Brit transport chiefs with lots of lovely data

Anonymised...?

How exactly is the data going to be completely anonymised when it is potentially identifiable data? For example, if you happen to get lots of Uber rides to a certain address / postcode late at night, could it conceivably be that you live at that location...? I'll admit, not a massive issue, but you have to carefully think things through where Uber are involved with your data...

Shock: Brit capital strips Uber of its taxi licence

Not renewing their licence after 30 September was the only thing that TfL could do to make Uber sit up and start thinking about complying. TfL's job is not to protect licensed taxi drivers, it is to regulate the transport infrastructure and network that us Londoners rely on. Uber were operating outside of this regulatory framework and would not comply - no matter what TfL tried to do to bring them to the table.

What is disappointing is that Uber's immediate response is throw rattles out of the pram and publicly state that they will go to the courts (presumably on a judicial review procedure) to overturn the decision, rather than appealing and presenting ways in which they are prepared to play by the same rules that other licensed operators play by. Ultimately, this is what TfL and most passengers actually want, so I'm hoping (and frankly expecting) this to be what actually happens.