Uber will pay up to $100 million to settle labor suits

Uber has survived a major threat to its business model, settling two legal suits brought by drivers who sought to be classified as employe

es instead of independent contractors.

The ride-hailing firm will pay up to $100 million to the 385,000 drivers, but their employment status will not change.

The class actions were brought in California and Massachusetts. Uber, which is valued at up to $70 billion, is on the hook for a $84 million initial payment, and another $16 million if it goes public.

Under the terms of the settlement, Uber must give drivers more warning before they are removed from the service. The company is also required to establish an appeals process for divers who believe they have been unfairly terminated.

The settlement, which must be approved by a judge, allows for the creation of "driver associations" that will represent workers in talks with management.

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Apple movies and iBooks shut down in China

Less than seven months after Apple launched iBooks and iTunes Movies, the services have been shut down in the world's most populous nation."We hope to make books and movies available again to our customers in China as soon as possible," Apple (AAPL, Tech30) said in a statement. It did not say why they were offline.

Citing unidentified sources, the New York Times reported that the move was ordered by a Chinese regulator -- the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. The agency wasn't immediately available for comment Friday.The regulator announced new rules in February restricting what content can be published online and who can produce it. The rules took effect in March, but it wasn't initially clear how much foreign companies would be affected.

China is Apple's second biggest market after the Americas, and its biggest market for app downloads. In the final quarter of 2015, the company generated revenue of $18.4 billion in the Greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan.Apple accelerated its move into China in 2013 by signing a deal to allow China Mobile to sell iPhones. China Mobile is the world's largest carrier with more than 800 million subscribers.China will one day be Apple's top market, has made frequent trips to the country.
The move opened a lucrative new revenue stream for Apple, but it also underlined the need for good relations with Beijing. CEO Tim Cook, who says that 

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Samsung's smart home push hits disconnect

Shelley Powers was asleep one night in January when suddenly every light in her suburban St. Louis, Missouri, house came on. Then the sirens began to wail. It wasn't an intruder, though. It was a false alarm, one of many she'd experience over the following weeks.

After that, her smart home security system shifted between not arming or disarming itself at all and setting off false alarms. Pretty soon, Powers couldn't even count on her smart lights turning on at the times she designated, something that's pretty simple in the world of home automation.

The culprit turned out to be SmartThings, the technology that was supposed to let her effortlessly control all of her smart appliances. Instead of making her life easier, SmartThings couldn't handle the more than 60 smart devices Powers connected in her house. She ended up disabling the SmartThings Smart Home Monitor so she wouldn't lose her sanity.

"It's just not something you can rely on," said Powers, a writer and former software engineer who  blogs about her smart home.

SmartThings, the darling of Samsung's smart home push, isn't looking so cute right now. Users complain it's been glitchy, causing their security systems to sound alerts when nothing's happening or turning on lights when they're not supposed to. Devices disconnect themselves from the system or show they're working when they're not.

It's unclear how many users have been impacted by the issues, but one comunity blog post about the "SmartThings user experience and platform performance" had nearly 27,000 views and 1,700 comments in one month. That makes it one of the most active threads on SmartThings' message board.

The glitches are mostly affecting the system's power users who have dozens of connected devices, according to SmartThings. But it's also causing would-be SmartThings users to consider waiting  for conditions to improve or opting for other system. Most worriedly, the troubles raise concrens about whether the smart home is really ready for the mass market.

"SmartThings, when everything works, is really friendly for the average user," Powers said. "But for the average person coming into this [now]...they will run from [the Internet of Things] and smart home devices, all of them."

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Adobe rolls out emergency update to counter ransomware threat

Got Adobe Flash Player? Update it now.

Adobe (ADBE) has released an emergency update to its Flash Player after security researchers discovered a bug that allows attackers to take over and then crash users' machines.In a statement, Adobe called the flaw a "critical vulnerability" and urged users to update as soon as possible.

Proofpoint, a computer security firm, was one of three researchers to identify the flaw, which allows ransomware to be installed on computers that visit an infected website.

Ramsomware typically encrypts users' files and demands payment in return for unlocking them.

Adobe said it appeared that the flaw was being actively exploited on systems running Windows with Flash Player version 20.0.0.306 or earlier.Adobe didn't say how many users had been affected by the attacks, but Flash Player runs on more than 1 billion connected desktops worldwide.Flash Player is widely used for watching videos, animations and other multimedia. Flash plug-ins for every major web browser and operating system are available for free.This is not the first time Adobe software has been targeted. The worst attack came in 2013, when hackers managed to access personal data for nearly 3 million customers.

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Netflix up to 81.5 million subscribers, but stock sinks on bad forecast

Netflix had a solid start to 2016, reporting that it now has 81.5 million subscribers worldwide. But that wasn't good enough for Wall Street.

The streaming giant, in reporting its first quarter earnings on Monday, also forecast that subscriber growth in the second quarter would be below industry expectations. That news sentNetflix (NFLX, Tech30) shares down 11%.Netflix added 2.23 million subscribers in the U.S. last quarter, and revenue was up 18% over last year. The company said that 42% of its subscribers are outside the United States.The disappointing forecast for the next quarter looks to be due to a weaker than expected international subscriber projection in the second quarter.

The first quarter was helped by several series including "House of Cards," "Fuller House," and Marvel's "Daredevil."Netflix also said that its implementation of a $2 price hike for its long-time subscribers will be rolled out "slowly over the year, rather than mostly in May" so that the company can "learn as we go.""We particularly don't need the revenue in the short term, so it's fine to just spread it out," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during the company's interview with analysts following the earnings report.

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Visa moves to speed up chip card transactions

Visa is moving to fix one of the bigger complaints about its new chip-embedded credit cards: It takes too long to pay with them.The credit card company said it is upgrading software which will allow consumers to insert and remove the card in two seconds or less, rather than to keep the card inserted in the card reader until the transaction is complete. Current chip card transactions can take 7 to 10 seconds on average, according to a study by merchant services provider Harbortouch.

Consumers used to simply swiping the magnetic strip on the back of the card have complained about the time it took to use the new chip. And nearly four times as many consumers are more worried about speedy processing times rather than chip card security, according to the survey by Harbortouch.

Having to leave the card in the reader while the entire transaction was processed also increases the risk that the card would be left behind by a consumer who is used to being able to put the card away immediately.

Visa (V) said the new process, which it dubs Quick Chip,should "make the checkout experience comparable to the ease and speed of magnetic stripe transactions."But while other card issuers such as MasterCard (MA) and American Express (AXP) also have cards that use the chip, the new high speed checkout is so far only available for Visa credit and debit card holders.

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White House Takes a Pass on Encryption Debate

It appears that the Obama administration will refrain from giving its outspoken support to any legislation that aims to compel high-tech companies to help law enforcement agencies crack mobile phone encryption.

On the other hand, it won't level any outspoken opposition either.

Introduction of such a bill -- sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- is expected soon. Although the White House has reviewed a draft of the measure and offered feedback, it is expected to provide minimal public input, Reuters reported Thursday.

The bill gives federal judges broad authority to compel tech companies to assist government agencies, but it doesn't prescribe what the businesses have to do or the circumstances under which they could be ordered to help. Penalties for not complying with the law also appear absent from the draft measure.

The White House did not respond to our request for comment for this story, but earlier this month at a press gaggle on Air Force One, Press Secretary Josh Earnest shed doubt on the ability of Congress to tackle the encryption issue.

"I continue to be a little skeptical of Congress' ability to handle such a complicated policy area, given Congress' recent inability to handle even simple things," he told reporters.

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