You can no longer book Uber rides through Google Maps

One of those neat little tricks hidden within Google Maps is being able to book your Uber ride right from the navigation app. Unfortunately, that no longer exists. Eighteen months after the feature was introduced, Google posted a new support page that states plainly that “You can no longer book Uber rides directly in Google Maps.” The feature was previously accessible when you searched for a location and a tab for ride-sharing existed where you could book the ride from there. This tab still exists but now it’ll only show you an estimate of your ride and then it’ll send you out to the Uber app if you want to book a ride.

Even with 17 different services supported within the ride-sharing tab, Uber used to be the only app that will let you pay for a ride and complete the trip right from within Google Maps. It’s not known why Google and Uber decided to end this program.

Source: Ars Technica

Motorola’s been granted a patent for a foldable smartphone with a heating hinge

Back in 2016, Motorola filed for a patent that would let them add a heating hinge to its foldable smartphone concept. What good would a heated hinge do? Well, it’ll solve the issue of a permanent crease affecting screens that are folded or straightened constantly. The company’s patent just got granted. While we can’t say this will ever be used for an actual product, it does show us the possibility of this existing.

With this design, it allows for Motorola to use a flexible OLED screen that flexes both inward and outward and can even have more than one hinge. The temperature sensor works even when the phone is off and when it’s folded so when the screen starts to deform because the temperature is low, the hinge heats up to correct this. At the moment, Samsung seems to be the closest one to release a flexible OLED phone, which is slated for a release next year.

Source: GSMArena

Samsung develops hotel management solution for the Gear S3 to help hotel staff communication

Samsung partners with hotel operations platform ALICE to develop a new hotel management solution centered on the Gear S3. This new solution aims to help hotel staff answer customer requests more efficiently and quickly. For example, when a guest has a request, employees from the relevant department will get silent vibration alerts on their smartwatches. The hotel employee can simply tap on the screen to acknowledge that they are taking care of the task, which also allows managers to track the request in real-time. It will benefit hotel workers (like those involved in room service, repairs, cleaning, etc.) that are always on the move and need both hands to complete their tasks.

The Viceroy Hotel Group was the one who brought the partnership about and they will first employ the solution at the Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel before it comes to their other properties around the world.

Beyoncé takes digs at Spotify in new song off her Tidal-exclusive album with husband Jay-Z

Beyoncé has just released a new joint album with her husband Jay-Z on his own streaming service Tidal (where the pop superstar is also a shareholder) and one of the songs find her taking a dig at competitor Spotify. Beyoncé doesn’t hold back in “Nice” as she sings "Patiently waiting for my demise / 'cause my success can't be quantified / If I gave two fucks about streaming numbers / would have put Lemonade up on Spotify." Bey’s 2016 album Lemonade was released exclusively on Tidal.

Called Everything Is Love, the album features nine tracks with each credited to the couple a.k.a. The Carters and comes in at under 40 minutes. Using their clout as one of the biggest power couples in the music industry, the album is definitely seen as a way to help turn Tidal’s fortunes. The streaming service has had its fair share of controversies recently—including allegations of late royalties and inflated streaming numbers. Whether this would help retain users is a different question. It could spike trial sign-ups and one-month subscriptions, but will people keep coming back to the service? We can’t say. We don’t have access to Tidal’s exact subscriber base but it’s believed to be far smaller than Spotify’s 75 million paid users (as of March) or Apple Music’s 50 million (as of May, with this number including trials).

Source: Engadget