Business

Uber Drivers Must Apply For New Background Checks

Uber has been operating in the UK for five years now, but the company’s growing attachment to controversy is only deepening. However, things are changing at Uber following revelations coming to light in August 2017. The police held the US business accountable for not reporting crimes against passengers. They also expressed concern that Uber was allowing circumstances to evolve that would put the general public at risk of harm. This claim was supported by figures that showed a 50% surge in registered sexual assaults involving Uber drivers in London within a year. Recently, it was also made known that a former Uber driver had been arrested in relation to the terror incident that happened at Buckingham Palace earlier this year.

Regulations woes and changes

Uber uses an app for bookings permitting customers to book a taxi from any location. Consequently, local councils are paralyzed from imposing regulations on the company. Furthermore, it was revealed that drivers who were denied, or who had their license negated by an authority, could go on to receive one from another authority.

Despite the fact that Uber drivers use the same roads as black cab drivers, they abide by different rules and laws. However, due to several red flags that have been raised, this is set to change.

Uber drivers have been informed by transport chiefs that they must undergtransportationo new criminal record checks after regulators deemed the current vetting process inadequate. A total of 13,000 minicab drivers were contacted to let them know their current background checks were not valid. Uber was told to message all of its drivers to apply for a new CRB check, via central government, within 28 days or be removed from the register.

The process of applying is simple, and anyone can apply for a DBS check. There are many companies who will conduct the check for you, such as Care Check.

CRB checks

It’s compulsory that all potential taxi drivers in London complete a CRB check, in order for employers to verify whether they are a suitable employee or not.

Transport for London (TfL) announced they would no longer be accepting DBS forms from third-party providers, including Onfido. Instead, all DBS checks would be conducted by its sole provider GBG.

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Lifestyle

How To Use Gelatine To Firm Up Your Project Fabric

There are so many beautiful fabrics and so many amazing creative projects to undertake, but sometimes you just need a little extra help in stabilizing particularly soft fabric to make it more manageable to work with. A temporary stiffener on a drapey fabric makes all the difference.

Options

The good news is that you have options. It might be stitching the fabric onto tissue paper or using a dissolvable product. Sometimes people use sugar water, although gelatine is another option. Think of the gelatine people would drink dissolved in water with the promise that it would strengthen their fingernails! There is little evidence to suggest that it ever worked on nails, but it does help firm up fabrics while they’re worked on, and then it washes out perfectly to leave the material in its original state.

It’s a technique sometimes used by companies that produce silk flowers, who soak the fabric in gelatine and water and stretch it out to dry, leaving it like large pieces of paper. A gelatine solution can also work for chiffon and charmeuse in addition to silks.

Solution

Mix the solution using a teaspoon of powdered gelatine and 500 ml of regular tap water, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. Heat 1.1l of water to boiling and then add the rested gelatine mix to the hot water. Remove the solution from the heat, and then soak the fabric for an hour before pouring away the water. Because of the gentle nature of the fabric, you should not wring it out; place it on a towel and roll it up before squeezing out any excess water instead. Air dry it if you can.

Once your project is finished, rinse the gelatine out in warm, soapy water. For more information on how to use gelatine to stiffen fabric, see Sew News.

There are so many beautiful fabrics available today in every imaginable color and pattern. For the best range of cotton fabric online, visit the websites of experts like Higgs and Higgs.

Now that you have an understanding of how you can make your fabric easier to work with, the hardest part might be deciding which project to tackle next! Knowing how easy it is to stiffen soft material temporarily, will you ever work with stiffer fabric again?

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Home Maintenance

European Home Automation Market Expected To Grow Fast

A newly released report published by Frost and Sullivan, a leading analyst company, indicates that the European home automation market is set to secure double-digit growth of 15.8%, soaring to over $800 million by 2022.

The consumer perception of increasingly connected smart homes is changing, with a focus on presenting home automation systems as central to the creation of a comfortable, interactive, and intuitive home, securing high levels of success across the industry.

The research, which can be viewed in its entirety here, also suggests that the Internet of Things has greatly influenced a variety of technologies, including the success of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which are key components of many home automation systems.

Merging of Connected Homes and Home Automation

New entrants to the market, including Nest and Amazon Echo, are ensuring that a seamless merger between the connected homes and home automation markets continues, with both innovation and growth dependent on securing faultless connectivity and integration. Agreements and partnerships forged between service providers, such as Apple Homekit and Lutron, and equipment manufacturers, will see the efficient delivery of home automation products directly to consumers.

Mergers and Acquisitions

A substantial rise in merger and acquisition activities is also expected, with several leading companies striving to strengthen their current positions within the market. Bosch and AMX Harman have recently acquired ProSyst, and Samsung’s procurement of SmartThings suggests that the connected home market will also see solid growth and expansion.

Collaboration, partnering, acquisitions, and innovation scouting allow companies to mitigate large initial investment costs and will continue to be seen as good practice within the industry.

Expanding Product Ranges and Deep Learning Algorithms

Leading home automation companies, including Hive, Philips Hue, Samsung, Quivicon, and Net, will begin to expand their product ranges, offering increasingly sophisticated home hub technology to consumers.

Research analyst Harini Shankar predicts that facial recognition, voice technology, and gesture control will be central to the transformation of a variety of home automation technologies, including some that can be seen at. Machine and deep learning algorithms are crucial components of the sophisticated technology we can expect to see emerging over the next five years.

Developing business models that are customer-centric and easy to understand is vital to convincing consumers that home automation systems are beneficial investments. Companies will increase their market penetration potential by striving for continual innovation.

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