Uber is testing a new feature in California that allows some drivers to set their own rates. The move comes in response to a new state law that requires more companies to convert their contract workers to employees, which means offering them benefits and added protections. Companies including Uber, Lyft and delivery app Postmates argue that doing so would upend their business model and eliminate the flexibility inherent to the gig economy. Uber is currently testing a feature at airports in Sacramento, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara that allows drivers to increase fares in 10% increments, up to five times the base rate. Riders are then matched with the lowest fare. In the coming days, Uber says it will also allow drivers to decrease their prices below the base rate and opt out of surge pricing. It's part of an effort to give drivers more control — and bolster the argument that they're truly contractors rather than employees. The company acknowledges the experiment could have unexpected

Emily Ligawiec has to sign in visitors to the recovery program she attends in a grand Victorian house in Holyoke, Mass. She can't bring people to her room. She only recently earned phone and car privileges. "We get 24, 48, 72-hour passes every weekend," she said. But Ligawiec doesn't mind the restrictions. The 29-year-old is grateful she's alive to follow them, after a decade of addiction — first to prescription painkillers, then pills she bought in the street, then heroin. "I had gone down a pretty dark path," she said. What finally turned her around was a 911 call last winter. She had gotten high on heroin and stolen her mother's car. When she returned it a few hours later, Officer John Cacela of Ware, Mass., was waiting in the driveway. In the past, Cacela might have immediately read Ligawiec her rights, "because for the longest time, the whole idea was — arrest, arrest," he said. Instead, he tapped on the car window and assured her she wasn't in trouble. "I closed the window on him

The Trump administration has revived the debate over "end-to-end encryption" — systems so secure that the tech companies themselves aren't able to read the messages, even when police present them with a warrant. "It is hard to overstate how perilous this is," U.S. Attorney General William Barr said in a speech last fall. "By enabling dangerous criminals to cloak their communications and activities behind an essentially impenetrable digital shield, the deployment of warrant-proof encryption is already imposing huge costs on society." Barr has been concerned about this for years, but he has become more vocal recently as encryption goes mainstream. It's now built into popular services such as Skype and WhatsApp, and even Facebook may soon be encrypted . Republican senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham recently floated legislation that would strip tech companies of their liability protection under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act unless they comply with as-of-yet undefined

A powerful Senate Democrat is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Zoom for deceptive practices, adding to the growing chorus of concerns over the popular video chat software's privacy and security flaws . Several state attorneys general are also probing Zoom, after users, including government officials, reported harassment, known as "Zoombombing," on the platform. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the ranking member of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter Friday to the FTC. In the letter , obtained by NPR, Brown said Zoom had made "deceptive" claims to users that their communications would remain private. Brown said Zoom incorrectly suggested its service offered end-to-end data encryption, which means that communications couldn't be accessed by anyone other than the sender and the recipient at any point. Zoom walked back on Wednesday its claim of end-to-end encryption. In a statement, it said, "While we never intended to deceive any of our customers, we

Indian police have the unenviable task of enforcing the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown . But last weekend, they handed down a punishment more common in a middle-school classroom than a police station. Ten foreign tourists caught flouting India's coronavirus restrictions Saturday were made to write the phrase "I did not follow the rules of lockdown. I am very sorry" 500 times and submit the paper to police. The incident happened at a sandy beach along the Ganges River near Rishikesh, a tourist hub in northern India famous for yoga retreats and hippie hangouts. It's where the Beatles made a spiritual pilgrimage in 1968. An officer who answered the phone Monday at the Muni Ki Reti police station near Rishikesh confirmed details to NPR, but declined an interview. The tourists were reportedly from Israel, Mexico, Australia and Austria, and were walking along the river when Indian police intervened. Under India's lockdown, all nonessential outings are banned. Video shared online by

Die Lira fällt seit Wochen, die Devisenreserven des Landes sind fast schon aufgezehrt. Das könnte sogar zu einem Staatsbankrott führen. Zwei Länder könnten zwar als Retter einspringen – doch sie würden das Grundproblem der Türkei nicht beheben.

Christine Lagarde hat vor leeren Rängen neue Hilfen in der Corona-Krise vorgestellt. Und die sind umfangreich: Banken werden künftig fürstlich dafür bezahlt, dass sie Kredite ausgeben. An den Finanzmärkten reagieren die Investoren dennoch wenig begeistert.

Die EZB justiert bei den bisherigen Hilfen nach, verzichtet aber auf grundlegend neue Maßnahmen – trotz eines „beispiellosen Schrumpfens der Wirtschaft“, sagte EZB-Chefin Lagarde. Neu ist ab Mai ein Programm für Banken.

Gerade Anlegern bietet die epochale Pandemie einmalige Chancen: Sie können sich neu am Markt positionieren. Dafür müssen Sie nicht mal einzelne Aktien kaufen. ETFs spielen die Rendite von allein ein. Diese neun Indexfonds bieten die besten Chancen.

Sachwerte haben in Zeiten billionenschwerer Rettungsprogramme Konjunktur. Dazu zählen auch Münzen – und die müssen nicht mal aus Gold sein. Ein Experte verrät, worauf Sammler achten sollten und welchen Fehler sie unbedingt vermeiden müssen.

Zehntausende Eigentümerversammlungen fallen zurzeit aus. Denn Wohnungsbesitzer dürfen sich derzeit weder real noch online treffen. Viele Reparaturen bleiben deshalb liegen. Doch in der Krise werden die Regeln für Eigentümer neu definiert.

Wenn er und sie über Probleme im Bett nicht reden, ist das schlimm genug. Aber in deutschen Schlafzimmern gibt es ein noch größeres Tabuthema als Sex: Finanzen. Dabei kann Heimlichkeit beim Geld nicht nur die Liebe zerstören, sondern auch arm machen.

Zu Beginn des Shutdowns hielten Vermieter von Büroflächen das Homeoffice für ein vorübergehendes Phänomen. Doch jetzt mehren sich Hinweise, dass viele Mitarbeiter auch künftig von Hause arbeiten. Dabei spräche ein Grund ganz klar für ihre Rückkehr.

Geschäfte sind geschlossen, Mietzahlungen fallen aus. In Deutschland rufen Vermieter deswegen laut nach dem Staat. In anderen Ländern hilft die Branche selbst bei der Krisenbewältigung – und streicht Dividenden, Gehälter – und Mietforderungen.

Seit zwei Monaten sind die Mieten in Berlin eingefroren. Während sich Mieter über die staatlich festgelegten Preise freuen, sind Vermieter sauer und fahren Investitionen zurück. Ob das Gesetz überhaupt gelten darf, wird nun in Karlsruhe geprüft.

Die Krise hat viele Anleger in Panik versetzt. Jetzt suchen sie nach neuen Anlagemöglichkeiten. Das zeigt sich auch beim WELT-Finanzchat, wo viele Teilnehmer Rat für ihre Finanzen suchten. Viele der Fragen und Antworten betreffen auch Millionen andere Sparer.

Viele Anleger wähnen sich und ihre Börseninvestments bereits in einem neuen Aufschwung. Doch einige der bekanntesten Investoren mahnen zur Vorsicht. Ihre Szenarien sind deutlich negativer. Dabei haben sie die Historie der vergangenen Crashs auf ihrer Seite.

Werner Gatzer gehört zu den mächtigsten Regierungsbeamten. Seit 15 Jahren hütet er die Staatskasse, nie musste er mehr Geld gewähren als in dieser Krise. Gleichzeitig muss er die Deutschen nun das Sparen lehren. Zum Glück hat er einen Joker in der Hinterhand.

I've been working on a musical collaboration with a fellow musician friend of mine during these crazy coronavirus times, in hopes of generating something fun and creative while we have all this spare time not working or gigging. Here's the first song from that collaboration. It's timely that we've finally finished the song this past weekend, because yesterday I received some dreadful news: a dear friend of mine from college passed away due to complications related to COVID-19. She was a brilliant writer, and funny as hell, and the world is undoubtedly worse off without her in it. She and I met in a creative writing class, where she and I were were two the only four students of color in that class and had to endure micro-aggression upon micro-aggression (and sometimes outright aggression) from the white students whenever it came time for our writing to be workshopped. We always made sure to have each others' backs in that classroom, and even though we've all scattered across the country since college I've always felt like we formed a lifelong bond having gone through that experience with each other. I originally set out to record this cover because over the past five years I have struggled mightily when it comes to loving my own self, and as a result have also done a very poor job of loving those I do love the most in the world. The Indigo Girls meant this song to be a reflection on the idea of literal reincarnation from the lives of those long gone, but to me, especially after having gone through a lot of hard, intensive work over the past few months to better myself so I can be better to myself and my loved ones, this song is about the possibility of a personal reincarnation, of being reborn from a past version of myself that only knew hurt and how to hurt instead of how to love honestly and truthfully. As one of us four in that class put it last night on Facebook, we all loved each other hard in that class because we had to, and so I want to dedicate this song to Kimmy's memory, because I never want to forget the importance and the sustaining power of taking care of ourselves by taking care of each other. I'll miss you a lot, girl. Thank you for always holding me up (and always cracking me up).

in the northern part of the world, the sun takes a while to be given a bigger share of our sky - which also can stand for a metaphor for a lot of things these days circle round the river, make a place for sun hold your hand out to the field when day is done night chills still in spring, night looks back days still hint at weakness, the trees stay black this is our portion even through the equinox solskifte is slow to undo locks these are the days when we are unsure where to go solskifte gives up the sun so slow circle round the ashes that fall from the sky heartless and invisible to our careless eye circle round the hearts that drive the grasping hand say a prayer for those who are married to this land this is our portion even through the equinox solskifte is slow to undo locks these are the days when we are unsure where to go solskifte gives up the sun so slow

When I heard the news of John Prine's hospitalization on March 30, I was, of course, saddened. His music has meant so much to me over the decades. On that day, I recorded this cover of one of my favorites from Prine's early output, a political song cleverly disguised as a broken-hearted love ballad. There's a video I posted to YouTube of this very same performance, which also includes some spoken introduction, about how I was feeling upon getting the news of John's contracting the coronavirus, and so forth. So, if you'd like to hear that, and see the song performed, it's here. I did a little bit of work on the audio for this MeFiMu upload, though, so I think it might sound a little better here than on the video. Anyway, rest in peace, John Prine, rest in peace.

A very silly rendition of this well-known piece with the beat on the wrong note. It kinda works!? Also available on youtube if you want to see the score.

I've been working on a musical collaboration with a fellow musician friend of mine during these crazy coronavirus times, in hopes of generating something fun and creative while we have all this spare time not working or gigging. Here's the second song from that collaboration.

I never finished my entry for the Kate Bush music challenge a while back, but I liked the bit I did get done.

Recorded with a Roland Jupiter X as a live take

Auf Stewart Island leben die kleinsten Pinguine der Welt. Kaum scheu, brüten sie manchmal sogar unter Häusern. Beobachten lässt sich auf Neuseelands drittgrößter Insel aber noch ein weiteres ungewöhnliches Tier.

Wir können nicht reisen, dafür aber in Erinnerungen früherer Urlaube schwelgen. Digitale Fotos sind schnell präsent. Was tun jedoch mit all den analogen Bildern – erst recht, wenn sie einem gar nicht gehören?

Vor zehn Jahren galt Adelaide noch als langweilig. Doch längst herrscht Aufbruchsstimmung in Südaustraliens größter Stadt. Eine wachsende Kreativszene, coole Läden und günstige Mieten ziehen viele junge Menschen an.

Seit fast 40 Jahren liegt das Wrack der „Dimitrios“ in der griechischen Bucht Valtaki. Wer will, kann das Geisterschiff erkunden. Eine waghalsige Angelegenheit ist das aber, denn der Auflösungsprozess ist in vollem Gange.

Wir müssen uns vorerst von der Hoffnung verabschieden, weit weg zu fahren, um den Alltag und alles Negative hinter uns zu lassen. Was macht das mit uns? Wie können wir uns trotzdem erholen? Eine Psychologin gibt Tipps.

Ein Virus hat die Ozeanriesen von allen Weltmeeren in die Häfen gezwungen. Kann die Gute-Laune-Branche Vertrauen und Passagiere zurückgewinnen? Nur wenn sie sich neu erfindet. Wir schlagen zehn Maßnahmen vor.

Der Dokumentarfotograf Steve McCurry reist seit mehr als 40 Jahren durch die Welt. Jeder kennt sein „afghanisches Mädchen“. Nun gewährt eine visuelle Biografie den bislang persönlichsten Einblick in sein Schaffen.

Als Reiseziel wird Deutschland dieses Jahr so gefragt sein wie nie. Interessant sind gerade dann Orte, die noch nicht überlaufen sind. Im ersten Teil unserer neuen Serie stellen wir fünf Städte im Norden des Landes vor.

Fischbrötchen sind ein Stück nordische Lebensart. Erst mit dem Genuss eines solchen beginnt der Urlaub an Nord- oder Ostsee wirklich. Was ein gutes Fischbrötchen ausmacht, ist aber Geschmackssache.

Abenteurerinnen, Entdeckerinnen, Flaneusen: Die Geschichte ist voll von Frauen, die nichts zu Hause hielt und hält. Dabei mussten sie alle gegen Vorurteile kämpfen und gesellschaftliche Grenzen überwinden.

Five great websites that offer a variety of professional quality sample libraries and audio tools suited for any type of project or genre.

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Native Instruments releases Maschine 2.6 update packed with some impressive new functions and improvements loyal users will appreciate.

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The post NI Maschine 2.6 Software Update appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

This plugin spotlight features the Moog Multimode Filter Collection by Universal Audio, a set of truly authentic, analog-sounding Moog filter emulations.

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The post Plugin Spotlight: Moog Multimode Filter Collection by Universal Audio appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

'Amid struggles, trials, or even times of great happiness and prosperity, how can we learn to keep Christ at the center of our lives? Why is it so important that we do so?'

'As we face the challenges of the twenty-first century, we need to recapture the perception of God that is so vividly reflected in the book of Daniel.'

'Whenever we face a big problem, we also should recognize that our God is great enough to resolve even the most unsolvable challenges.'

'We show real faith when we pray to the Lord for what we want but trust Him to do what’s best for us, even if at the time we don’t understand what is happening or why.'

'God continues to change lives today. No matter how proud or sinful people may be, in God there is mercy and power to turn rebellious sinners into children of the God of Heaven.'

What are ways in which our society and culture profane the truth of God’s Word? How can we be careful not to take part in that profanation, even in subtle ways? At what point can we say that we are acquainted with all the truth that we need to know?

'What kind of witness do we present to others in regard to our faithfulness to God and to His law? Would people who know you think that you would stand for your faith, even if it cost you your job, or even your life?'

'With the coming of the Son of Man, God’s dominion is restored to those to whom it properly belongs. What Adam lost in the garden, the Son of Man recovers in the heavenly judgment.'

'What should this study tell us about how precious and important the knowledge of biblical truth really is in contrast to human traditions?'

'Christ’s sacrifice in our behalf is our only hope. How should this help keep us humble and, even more important, make us more loving and forgiving of others?'

'How often do you think about just how closely tied heaven and earth are? How might you live differently if you always kept this truth alive in your heart and mind?'

'How can we draw comfort from knowing that, in the end, God and His people will be victorious?'