Uber Has Your Ratings - Are You a 5-Star Customer?

Hi all!

Everyone should be very familiar with Uber now as a top car service industry. Some people hate them while others swear they are the best company to use when you want to get somewhere and not drive.  They have made a pretty big impact on our society and for taxi services - who actually wish they didn't exist and taxis were still the only car service around. 

But,  Uber is here to stay - for a while I would think. When we ask for an Uber driver to pick us up we have the ability to rate them as well as seeing what others have rated certain drivers. But guess what? Those Uber drivers are rating us too and it's not public for us to see. Uber has also mentioned that if customers get ratings that are one or two stars numerous times they could potentially be banned from using the app again!!

Does this make people think twice about calling Uber? What if you call them one night when you have had a little to much to drink and you want to start a conversation with your driver, but they are not really in the talking mood? Is that a bad rating for you? What if your driver is an a bad mood and just hands out bad rating to customers? Is the customer not allowed to know how this driver is actually rating them? 

Even if Uber doesn't suspend a customer from using their app, drivers can pick and choose who they want to pick up according to their rating score. A co-worker and friend of mine actually went through the wrath of Uber. When trying to get a driver to pick him up at his apartment, he could see there were a few around, but none accepting to pick him up. Finally, after nailing down a drive he was informed that his rating score was low because he is to slow to come out when the uber driver get to his apartment. To Slow????? My friend was actually pretty insulted with that comment and the fact that he got a low rating because he took an extra minute to come outside as the driver was arriving. Safe to say he is probably going to be using their competitor, Lyft.

Apparently, you can find out your rating score but you need to provide your phone number and email associated with your account. NPR wrote about this back in July so more customers are aware of what they are in store for if they have a low rating score from their Uber driver.

Choose wisely!

Until next time,
Nicole

Do You Have Speculations About the NSA Hacking your Facebook Account? Don't Worry, Facebook Will Notify You

Hi All!

I read an article published in Tech Times that has offered some new insight on what Facebook is doing for us other than connecting us with people from around the world.

Facebook offers so many different features that we might not even be aware of. When most think of Facebook, we think social networking, catching up with family and friends, and sharing stories is what what mostly comes to mind when we log-in. Now, they will be offering us a new notification - one that will alert them if the company believes that attackers who are working with the state have gained unauthorized access to a person's account!

Although, this is a great feature that Facebook is incorporating, this is one notification that I will be very happy without getting. Facebook will be sending out a default notification to users whose accounts have been affected. The notification will read, "Please secure your accounts now. We believe your Facebook account and other online accounts may be the target of attacks from state sponsored actors." If you anyone receives this notification, Facebook wants to warn them that it does not mean that Facebook has been compromised, but that the users' smartphone or computer has some type of malware that enables cyber criminals to access their information! Scary!

It's not something that I typically think of when I am scrolling through my newsfeed that the government is watching my every click. Facebook has made it easy for us to update our privacy settings from users who were are not friends with, but that definitely won't be enough to keep the NSA from spying on us. This notification just helps feel a little more protected online and ensure that our privacy is important to Facebook.

People might think that Facebook is doing a great job by alerting us if someone from the government is  hacking our account, but to play the devils advocate for a bit - what if someone is actually planning something terrible thing and now they will actually know if the NSA is spying on them. Is it  right to warn them? Could the NSA potentially stop a tragedy from occurring if they are able to see what people write and do on their social media accounts? I guess if you have nothing to hide then the government won't be wasting their time spying on you.

This is not really a black and white issue. Though I'm happy to know Facebook will tell me if I am being spyed on by some top secret agency - insert B613 for all my Scandal lovers - but what if this notification causes more problems? It's definitely something to consider!!

Let me know what you guys think!

Until next time,
Nicole