Travis Kalanick has been accused of stealing the idea for Uber | ||
| | ||
In 2006, entrepreneur Kevin Halpern was secretly working on an idea for a mobile taxi-hailing service called Celluride. While he did so, he shared office space in San Francisco with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Halpern is now suing Kalanick, co-founder Garret Camp, and several early investors, accusing them of stealing his idea to form the basis of Uber, Buzzfeed reports. Uber denies the claims made in the lawsuit. Halpern claims that only a few people were aware of his plans for Celluride, and one of them was Kalanick. At the time, Halpern says that both he and Kalanick were renting office space from mutual friend and Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams. “Kalanick was brilliant at gaining my trust,” Halpern said in a video statement. “I thought I could form a business relationship with Kalanick as an advisor or team member and shared Celluride’s presentation, architecture, brochure, and cell phone demo." "Most importantly we discussed the massive business opportunity of the private transportation market, which he knew nothing about at the time,” he added. Halpern claims that Kalanick “created an exact replica of Celluride and called it Uber,” and is suing Kalanick, Camp, and two early investors Bill Trenchard and Bill Gurley for misappropriation of trade secrets, conversion – illegally using someone else's idea – and breach of contract. Halpern is asking for “compensatory damages," claiming in the lawsuit that his injuries are in excess of $1 billion. Uber denies that such a relationship existed. “These claims are completely baseless. We will vigorously defend against them,” Uber spokeswoman Kristin Carvell said in a statement. Business Insider reached out to Uber, but the company has not responded. Halpern also claims First Round Capital's Bill Trenchard played a big part in stealing his idea. Halpern apparently reached out to Trenchard for advice on how to launch Celluride. Shortly afterwards, Trenchard joined First Round, which was one of Uber's early investors, and Halpern claims that Trenchard took Halpern's plans to First Round and Uber's founders. Court documents do include several emails between the two men. The lawsuit doesn't contain much evidence that Halpern and Kalanick actually discussed Celluride. But Halpern's lawyer Chris Dolan told Buzzfeed that there were witnesses to the conversations, and that more documents and evidence will be revealed at a later date. Dolan announced the lawsuit at a taped press conference. When asked why he had waited so long to file the suit, Halpern said that he wasn't aware how large a role Kalanick played in Uber, and how big the company itself was going to be, until the company took off. Halpern's company Celluride does not appear to be in operation, Fortune reports. He previously lost a similar case against another startup, OfferPal Media – now called Tapjoy. He sued the company's founder Anu Shukla, claiming that Shukla had cut him out of the company shortly before it was founded. Halpern says he had a role in helping to create OfferPal. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
| |
We've just stumbled across what might be the most bizarre ad of the year | ||
| | ||
Today we were forwarded what might be the most bizarre ad that has been produced this year. Step forward Thunderhead, a company that makes customer service and customer experience software for businesses. Not the most likely candidate for a crazy ad, but its agency AMV BBDO has produced the goods. The weirdness creeps in from about 30-seconds. Be careful if you're thinking about watching this while at work. There's some ... nipple-sucking. Disturbing and outlandish as it may be, the ad actually does a brilliant job of communicating how, with the right data, companies can improve the customer service experience. It aired last month during the ad break of "Mad Men" on Sky Atlantic in the UK, according to The Drum, clearly aiming to target marketers who are fans of the show. SEE ALSO: The 22 most out-of-the-box outdoor ads this year Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years  | ||
| |
Johnny Depp flew his dogs back from Australia after a politician threatened to kill them | ||
| | ||
Film star Johnny Depp is flying his dogs home from Australia on Friday, a day after the Minister of Agriculture warned him to send the pair back to the United States to be quarantined or face having them put down. Depp, who is in Australia to film the fifth of his blockbuster pirate movies, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales", also faces a formal interview with government officers into how the Yorkshire terriers were allegedly smuggled in, a spokesman for Minister of Agriculture Barnaby Joyce told Reuters. The dogs would be flying out "sometime this evening", he said. The incident highlights tough animal security laws in Australia, which has had no reported cases of rabies among dogs. Last month, Depp flew in the dogs on his private jet, without declaring them to customs but government officials followed a tip-off after they were seen on the way to a grooming salon. "If we start letting movie stars, even if they've been 'Sexiest Man Alive' twice, to come into our nation then why don't we just break the laws for everybody. It's time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States. After that I don't expect to be invited to the opening of 'Pirates of the Caribbean," Australia's Minister of Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, said in a televised statement. An online petition calling on Joyce to spare the dogs now has 17,500 signatures and has sparked a debate on Twitter. (Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Nick Macfie) Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: George R.R. Martin reveals the historic sight that inspired the Wall in 'Game of Thrones'  | ||
| |
10 things you need to know before the opening bell (DIA, SPY, SPX, QQQ, NFLX, FB, LOCO, JWN, KING) | ||
| | ||
Before the market opens on Friday, here's what you need to know. The EU is probing Facebook. "Facebook tramples on European and Belgian privacy laws," warned Belgium's Privacy Protection Commission (CPVP/CBPL). The Commission is teaming up with German, Dutch, French and Spanish authorities to look into the social media giant's practices. In the meantime, the Commission suggested users install a privacy shield to protect themselves from Facebook's evasive tracking system. Netflix is trying to enter China. The streaming video giant is reportedly looking to partner up with a company that has licenses for content on all devices, including mobile phones, computers and set-top boxes, according to a Bloomberg report. "For every country we know what we want to do, but in China we are still exploring our options," CEO Reed Hastings noted earlier this year. Pimco is exiting stocks. Bloomberg reports Pimco "will close three active stock mutual funds and instead focus on enhanced indexing strategies." The closure of the funds means the end of Virginie Maisonneuve's tenure as chief investment officer for equities. She will not be replaced. King Digital gave a downbeat forecast. The Candy Crush-maker beat on both the top and bottom lines, but Wall Street is focusing on its disappointing forecast. The company announced earnings of $0.61 per share, which was better than the $0.53 Wall Street was anticipating. Revenues also impressed, coming in at $569.5 million, above the $553.8 million that was expected. However, what stood out was the company's forecast for bookings to decline sequentially to $490-$520 million in the second quarter. Nordstrom reported a mixed quarter. The retailer earned $0.66 per share, missing the $0.71 that Wall Street was expecting. Revenue climbed 9.7% to $3.22 billion, beating the $3.17 billion that was anticipated. Same store sales, including brick and mortar stores and on-line sales, rose 4.4% for the quarter, which was better than the 3.6% gain that analysts were looking for. El Pollo Loco announced disappointing same store sales. The fast-food chain announced earnings of $0.18 per share, slightly outpacing the $0.17 per share that was expected. Revenues rose 11.1% to $90.4 million, topping the $88.5 million that was anticipated. However, the big news was the 5.1% advance in same store sales, at restaurants open 15 months or longer, which was shy of the 5.7% that analysts were hoping for. The Bank of Korea kept policy on hold. South Korea's central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 1.75%, as expected, in a 6-to-1 vote. BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol was upbeat on the economy, noting, "According to sentiment surveys and the data we have at hand, there are positive signs for sure." South Korea's won is X at X. The US has voided its 2012 rate-rigging settlement with UBS. The announcement comes after more than a year of negotiations between the two sides. "Negotiations were expected next week to result in UBS paying a fine of about $200 million and pleading guilty to allegations that UBS traders manipulated the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, before 2012," according to Reuters. Stocks around the world are mostly higher. Italy's MIB (+0.5%) leads the advance in Europe after Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+2.0%) paved the way in Asia. China's Shanghai Composite (-1.8%) was a notable laggard. US economic data flows. Empire Manufacturing is due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, and will be followed by industrial production and capacity utilization at 9:15 a.m. ET. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment will be released at 10 a.m. ET before data concludes for the week at 4 p.m. ET with the release of Net Long-Term TIC Flows. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what happens when you get bitten by a black widow  | ||
| |
Travis Kalanick has been accused of stealing the idea for Uber | ||
| | ||
In 2006, entrepreneur Kevin Halpern was secretly working on an idea for a mobile taxi-hailing service called Celluride. While he did so, he shared office space in San Francisco with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Halpern is now suing Kalanick, co-founder Garret Camp, and several early investors, accusing them of stealing his idea to form the basis of Uber, Buzzfeed reports. Uber denies the claims made in the lawsuit. Halpern claims that only a few people were aware of his plans for Celluride, and one of them was Kalanick. At the time, Halpern says that both he and Kalanick were renting office space from mutual friend and Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams. “Kalanick was brilliant at gaining my trust,” Halpern said in a video statement. “I thought I could form a business relationship with Kalanick as an advisor or team member and shared Celluride’s presentation, architecture, brochure, and cell phone demo." "Most importantly we discussed the massive business opportunity of the private transportation market, which he knew nothing about at the time,” he added. Halpern claims that Kalanick “created an exact replica of Celluride and called it Uber,” and is suing Kalanick, Camp, and two early investors Bill Trenchard and Bill Gurley for misappropriation of trade secrets, conversion – illegally using someone else's idea – and breach of contract. Halpern is asking for “compensatory damages," claiming in the lawsuit that his injuries are in excess of $1 billion. Uber denies that such a relationship existed. “These claims are completely baseless. We will vigorously defend against them,” Uber spokeswoman Kristin Carvell said in a statement. Business Insider reached out to Uber, but the company has not responded. Halpern also claims First Round Capital's Bill Trenchard played a big part in stealing his idea. Halpern apparently reached out to Trenchard for advice on how to launch Celluride. Shortly afterwards, Trenchard joined First Round, which was one of Uber's early investors, and Halpern claims that Trenchard took Halpern's plans to First Round and Uber's founders. Court documents do include several emails between the two men. The lawsuit doesn't contain much evidence that Halpern and Kalanick actually discussed Celluride. But Halpern's lawyer Chris Dolan told Buzzfeed that there were witnesses to the conversations, and that more documents and evidence will be revealed at a later date. Dolan announced the lawsuit at a taped press conference. When asked why he had waited so long to file the suit, Halpern said that he wasn't aware how large a role Kalanick played in Uber, and how big the company itself was going to be, until the company took off. Halpern's company Celluride does not appear to be in operation, Fortune reports. He previously lost a similar case against another startup, OfferPal Media – now called Tapjoy. He sued the company's founder Anu Shukla, claiming that Shukla had cut him out of the company shortly before it was founded. Halpern says he had a role in helping to create OfferPal. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
| |
We've just stumbled across what might be the most bizarre ad of the year | ||
| | ||
Today we were forwarded what might be the most bizarre ad that has been produced this year. Step forward Thunderhead, a company that makes customer service and customer experience software for businesses. Not the most likely candidate for a crazy ad, but its agency AMV BBDO has produced the goods. The weirdness creeps in from about 30-seconds. Be careful if you're thinking about watching this while at work. There's some ... nipple-sucking. Disturbing and outlandish as it may be, the ad actually does a brilliant job of communicating how, with the right data, companies can improve the customer service experience. It aired last month during the ad break of "Mad Men" on Sky Atlantic in the UK, according to The Drum, clearly aiming to target marketers who are fans of the show. SEE ALSO: The 22 most out-of-the-box outdoor ads this year Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years  | ||
| |
United Airlines will let you fly free if you find bugs in its software (UAL) | ||
| | ||
Security researchers who locate bugs and vulnerabilities in United Airlines' software will be given free air miles, effectively allowing them to fly free, ZDNet reports. Like many tech companies, United offers a bug bounty program that provides researchers with rewards for finding issues in critical software. It's a way to ensure the integrity of its systems — as ever-greater cybersecurity threats emerge, it can become more and more difficult to maintain secure software. Encouraging bug-finding means independent security researchers can turn up flaws that might otherwise go unnoticed by the company's in-house software developers. Depending on the severity of the bug discovered, rewards can vary from less than 50,000 air miles up to 1 million. Example of eligible bugs include the ability to brute-force passwords, bypassing authentication, finding bugs on customer-facing sites, and remote code execution. But United also rules out rewards for testing for other potential flaws, warning that researchers who attempt to will be permanently disqualified from the program and possibly subject to a "criminal and/or legal investigation." These include denial-of-service attacks, compromising accounts that are not your own, "any testing on aircraft or aircraft systems," and threats, attempted coercion, or physical attacks on United employees. The news of the bounty program is most likely part of an effort by United Airlines to appear more security-friendly. The airline has recently faced a slew of negative publicity in the cybersecurity community after refusing to allow researcher Chris Roberts on one of its planes after he joked on social media he could get make the oxygen masks deploy mid-flight. Roberts had previously been outspoken about potential vulnerabilities in airlines' on-board software, according to The Guardian. "Given Mr. Roberts' claims regarding manipulating aircraft systems, we've decided it's in the best interest of our customers and crew members that he not be allowed to fly United," a company representative said. Other companies offer more prosaic prizes to researchers who find vulnerabilities — typically cash. In February 2015, Facebook paid Laxman Muthiyah $12,500 (£8,000) for uncovering a bug that allowed him to delete any person's public photos on the social network without permission. Google has even begun offering researchers grants to encourage them — paying them before they have actually found anything. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's The Latest Airline With An Insanely Fancy Business Class  | ||
| |
