Ever wish your Uber ride came with free chocolate and a “Do Not Disturb” button?
That’s exactly what GeekWire reporter Nat Levy found when he tested BMW’s new ride-sharing service this week. The service, simply called Ride, opened in beta testing across Seattle on Thursday and is aiming to take on services like Uber and Lyft.
Nat rates his experience and explains the details of the new service on this episode of the Week In Geek.
Plus, we explain why Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, paid $200 million for a Seattle startup. The company, called Placed, uses location tracking to analyze how effectively mobile ads bring customers into stores — and that could be a big advantage for Snap.
We also take a look at some news that came out of our inaugural GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit on Wednesday: First, Google’s new campus will be dedicated largely to Google cloud, and second, cloud container company Docker is aiming to open a new engineering center in Seattle.
And finally, a controversy is embroiling one of Washington’s most beloved mountains: a new initiative might introduce cell phone service to the Paradise Visitors Center on Mount Rainier. It’s a debate between living a connected life and having the chance to go off-grid, and our team is split on what should happen.
On the Random Channel this week: Scathing reviews of Amazon Fresh Pickup, and Apple’s new Planet of the Apps show, and a more favorable summary of UberEats’ new McDonald’s delivery service.
Listen to the show above or download it as an MP3, and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts.