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“Nightmare” Zipcar outage is a warning against complete app dependency

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An app outage that locked numerous rental car customers out of their vehicles is a reminder of the perils of completely relying on apps for basic functionality—especially when those apps have seemingly limited support resources.

Zipcar is a car-sharing service that lets customers pay a membership fee to rent vehicles. Users use the Zipcar app to locate cars, unlock and lock them, share images of the vehicle (for proof that you didn't damage it), and report concerns. One typically goes through the entire Zipcar rental process without interacting with a human. Avoiding car rental lines and customer service representatives seems efficient until the app utterly fails you.

As reported by 404 Media today, Zipcar experienced an outage on Friday that prevented the app from functioning properly for numerous users. Without the app support, people could not unlock cars to start rentals, open cars that didn't come with keys, lock cars, and/or return cars before their rental period expired.

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scm7sc
16 minutes ago
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MD, USA
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Splash pads really are fountains of fecal material; CDC reports 10K illnesses

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There's nothing quite like a deep dive into the shallow, vomitous puddles of children's splash pads. Even toeing the edge is enough to have one longing for the unsettling warmth of a kiddie pool. But the brave souls at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have done it, wading into 25 years' worth of records on gastrointestinal outbreaks linked to the wellsprings of fecal pathogens. And they unsurprisingly found enough retch-inducing results to make any modern-day John Snows want to start removing some water handles.

Between 1997 and 2022, splash pads across the country were linked to at least 60 outbreaks, with the largest sickening over 2,000 water frolickers in one go. In all, the outbreaks led to at least 10,611 illnesses, 152 hospitalizations, and 99 emergency department visits. People, mostly children, were sickened with pathogens including Cryptosporidium, Camplyobacter jejuni, Giardia duodenalis, Salmonella, Shigella, and norovirus, according to the analysis, published Tuesday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The tallies of outbreaks and illnesses are likely undercounts, given reporting delays and missed connections.

Though previous outbreak-based studies have provided bursts of data, the new analysis is the first to provide a comprehensive catalog of all the documented outbreaks since splash pads erupted in the 1990s. Together, they provide a clear, stomach-churning explanation of how the outbreaks keep happening. Basically, small children go into the watery playgrounds while they're sick and spread their germs.

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scm7sc
25 minutes ago
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MD, USA
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'An example for us all' - Del Potro's emotional goodbye to tennis

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Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro pays an emotional goodbye to tennis after a farewell exhibition against Novak Djokovic.
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scm7sc
1 day ago
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MD, USA
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Rupert Grint to pay £1.8m after losing tax battle

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The former Harry Potter star is ordered to pay the sum after losing a tax appeal.
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scm7sc
1 day ago
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MD, USA
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Running Away From Trump’s America Is Complicated. I Should Know.

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For Americans declaring they want to leave a Trump-led America, the best approach is to understand what you are running to, not from.
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scm7sc
2 days ago
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MD, USA
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Watch Ariana Grande Perform ‘Popular’ in ‘Wicked’

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The director Jon M. Chu narrates the musical scene, also featuring Cynthia Erivo, where Grande performs the song “Popular.”
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scm7sc
3 days ago
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MD, USA
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