How do you do, fellow kids? 

WTOL, a local news station in Toledo, Ohio,  wished the city’s public school students good luck during its standardized testing week by speaking the language of the Youths. Like a mediocre Soundcloud rapper dropping tracks nobody asked for, the anchors dropped more hip slang than any Gen Z mad lib could call for. 

The segment opened with a pained “YEEET.”

“Stay woke, beyond fleek, and get that Gucci breakfast,” the anchor continued before another hopped in with, “GOOOAAAALS! Say ‘bye Felicia’ to that testing stress!” 

Apparently Toledo will experience “a hundo p chance of success” during testing week. Highlights include two fully grown men dropping a Cardi B-inspired “OKURRRR” and exclaiming “FOMO won’t be an issue!” while reporting on traffic around schools. 

In the words of WTOL, be “extra extra” in your studies. 

Whew. Although this segment was a well-intentioned attempt at connecting with teenagers, trying to use any generation’s lingo without actually understanding it rarely goes well. 

Uber’s head of driver product is proud of his 96 rides (and no tickets … so far). 

Daniel Danker knows they’re nothing compared to the thousands of rides some drivers have under their belts. But every rider he drops off helps him understand the Uber service — and provides more insight than anything he’d get from a feedback survey or second-hand notes. 

SEE ALSO: Meet the inventive Uber driver that gives his passengers a menu of different ride types

So a few times a month, he opens the separate Uber driver app and cruises around San Francisco for a few hours, picking up passengers, earning tips, and making chitchat with riders in the backseat of his Mazda station wagon. (He lets them know he’s an Uber employee and not a regular driver.)

It seems straightforward, but there’s a lot to take in as a driver. Last week I rode along with Danker for over an hour. We picked up four different passengers on UberX trips and made $24 (not including tips and before expenses like gas, insurance, and maintenance). 

The take-home average hourly wage for UberX drivers is about $13, according to driver resource site Ridester, which considers data from lower-earning states like North Carolina and Texas. Another thing to keep in mind: Because Uber drivers are independent contractors, they don’t get benefits, like health insurance or sick pay.

Still, millions of people have chosen to drive for Uber. On our drive, Danker seemed amused when a rider walked into his Uber car wearing a Lyft sweatshirt. Another guy was drinking coffee outside at a parklet and didn’t seem to mind walking a few feet to a nearby loading zone. 

I saw for every ride that comes in, drivers are bombarded with information including the rider name, rating, pick-up location, and type of ride (it could be an UberX or Uber Pool), and are forced to make a quick decision on whether to accept or decline the ride. If you’re in a city with Uber’s driver reward program, you could also get more info like where the rider is headed.

Then you need to get the rider to the destination as efficiently as possible, choosing between Uber’s map, Google Maps, or Waze — all while following traffic laws and keeping your eyes on the road. Once the passenger buckles in, he said, you learn to pick up whether someone wants to chat, sit in silence, or listen to the radio. Danker says he’s noticed people are pretty modest when it comes to saying if they’re hot or cold.

The driver app also has a heat map showing where you can earn more or are more likely to get a ride request. It also has a profile that shows your driver and Uber Eats ratings, as well as your acceptance and cancellation rates.

SEE ALSO: Meet the inventive Uber driver that gives his passengers a menu of different ride types

Last year after Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi came onboard (and hilariously sucked at driving), Uber overhauled its driver app. So now it more clearly shows your earnings breakdown, including how much you earned, what the rider paid, and Uber’s cut. Despite all the information, some drivers want to know even more. In the UK, a group of drivers is demanding all the data Uber has on them and their rides. 

Here in the U.S., it gets pretty detailed. For one of the rides during my ridealong, Uber showed it lost 32 cents. Drivers here may be earning money, but Uber is still working out how to make a profit. Last year, it lost $1.8 billion. In its IPO filing earlier this month, Uber competitor Lyft listed nearly $1 billion in losses. 

Danker said drivers mostly care about earnings and flexibility, so he wants the app and driver experience to be focused on those things, whether it’s how to make more money efficiently through promotions and “quests” (which are basically reward incentives for activities like picking up three riders in a row), or through data reports and targeted experiments showing what times of day to drive and where. 

After examining the driver data, Danker said he found that the more people drive, the more their driving rating improves, presumably as they get more comfortable with the app and driving experience. Myths about more exposure worsening your rating only hurts drivers, he said. As for Danker, he stays above a 4.70.

“I care a lot about my rating,” he said. 

And it goes both ways — he won’t pick up riders with low ratings since he knows that’s a major red flag and could come back to hurt him.

The app isn’t perfect — and Danker knows that. Improvements like more voice control are coming to make using the app less distracting. 

Drivers are encouraged to give feedback, which goes to the driver team and is scrutinized for bugs and patterns. Danker says driver forums can also be useful to flag problems. Even if it just seems like one squeaky wheel, others probably have a similar gripe. 

When he talks to other drivers he says there’s “instant mutual respect that happens,” as they realized he’s walked in their shoes and isn’t just a suit looking at spreadsheets from on high. But drivers often remind him that the number of hours he’s put into driving are nothing compared to a driver who depends Uber for their livelihood.

Danker mostly uses his IRL insights to change the app, but it also influences experiments and trials for new or modified features. He’s experienced Uber Express Pool in rush hour. He’s had to deal with a forgotten cellphone in the backseat. He drove on Halloween. And after every ride, he emails the team about what he’s learned.

“I want to get out there and get a feel for it,” he said.

The typical Uber user isn’t very familiar with the separate driver app. So Danker had to get behind the wheel to realize the way Uber was notifying drivers about tips was confusing and buried. Now tip notifications come front and center on the app as soon as the rider pays. 

Danker says new VP hires at the company usually come along for a ride with him to see what it’s like from the front seat and not the passenger seat, which is how most people interact with the service. (Uber competitor Lyft has a similar program for executives.) You see things differently when you’ve had to experience getting a car inspected at an Uber hub, or finding a place to use the bathroom during an eight-hour shift, or how long 2 minutes can feel while waiting for a passenger. 

A big takeaway: the drivers really work for the riders, not for Uber. It’s the riders who tip and affect driver ratings. Uber the company feels like a distant presence. 

One thing Danker hasn’t experienced yet: vomit. There’s always more to learn.

This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter.

When I was in middle school I begged my mom to let me redecorate my room. I wanted light blue walls, realistic-looking clouds painted on the ceiling, and adhesive glow-in-the-dark star decals scattered around so that when I went to sleep at night it would feel like I was looking up at the sky.

My design plans were admittedly a bit ambitious —  I only ended up with the blue walls. But I did have a formative conversation with my mom about wallpaper along the way.

When deciding on a paint color, I asked my mom if anyone still used wallpaper. She explained that while some people still liked it, she personally thought it was a bit dated. After she reminded me of the hideous yellow-and-burnt-orange-patterned paper that used to be in our kitchen, I, too, decided I was anti-wallpaper.

Nearly every piece of wallpaper I’ve seen since then has been a real eyesore, so for most of my adult life I’ve remained confident in my opinion. Until the day I was scrolling through Instagram and a bold floral print atop a subtle blush background caught my eye. In an instant, everything changed.

SEE ALSO: Watching plants grow is the best part of the slow web

The photo of the Instagram-worthy wall above was shared by my friend Danielle Tullo, who had recently redecorated her apartment after enlisting the help of Jessica McCarthy, a Decorist interior designer.

“I wanted my rental to feel like mine, regardless of the fact that I don’t own it,” Tullo said. She now finds “nothing more tranquil than returning home to a space that’s as vibrant yet relaxing” as her new, wallpapered living room.

Tullo’s living room glow up was so undeniably gorgeous that it sent me down an Instagram rabbit hole. After scouring the site for other patterned accent walls, my negative opinions about wallpaper began to peel away — and I started to feel compelled to give my rooms some extra sprucing.

As I explored hashtags like #temporarywallpaper, #removablewallpaper, and #peelandstickwallpaper, I became increasingly soothed. Those colorful patterns, flecks of gold, and illusions of marble or wood can entirely transform a room and really leave it with a newfound sophistication or sense of warmth. 

The colorful patterns, flecks of gold, and illusions of marble or wood can entirely transform a room.

It wasn’t long until Temporary Wallpaper Instagram became one of my favorite social media havens. Now, I turn to the aesthetically pleasing home designs whenever my eyes need a break from consuming news (like, always).

Tullo suggests anyone who plans on living in a rental unit for more than a year try out temporary wallpaper. If you’re going to splurge on a redesign and aren’t the most handy person in the world, she also recommends hiring someone to apply the paper. She got some help from TaskRabbit and though it cost a bit more, she feels it was “absolutely worth it” to ensure her bubble-free peace of mind.

“It just really made the space feel like a home,” Tullo said of the temporary wallpaper. “It’s low-lift, affordable, and transforms a space. I genuinely feel happier and more relaxed since installing [it].”

Want your own Insta-worthy wall to gaze at? You can try Etsy, where Tullo purchased her paper. There are also options ranging from temporary wallpaper companies like Tempaper to larger retail stores like Target.

One day I plan on taking the plunge and investing in some temporary wallpaper myself. Until then I intend to live vicariously through the Instagram community like any other resourceful, social media-dependent human being would. Happy scrolling!

Grindr is about to come under new ownership, but not by choice.

The United States agency that reviews foreign investments in US companies, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), has told Grindr’s Chinese owners, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd, that it must divest its ownership of Grindr, according to Reuters. Kunlun has reportedly already begun the sale process by soliciting interested investors and competitors.

SEE ALSO: What will online dating be like in 2030?

The CFIUS did not state a reason for this order. But in recent years, CFIUS has been focused on privacy concerns and how foreign companies would treat personal data. U.S. senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal also sent a letter to Kunlun asking how it would protect users’ privacy after the firm acquired Grindr in 2016.

Ordinarily, when a foreign company wishes to invest in a US entity, the CFIUS should conduct a sale review process. The process is voluntary, and Kunlun bypassed it at the time of the sale. However, the order to sell is a consequence of Kunlun not getting the thumbs up from the US from the outset. Still, a mandate like this is “rare,” according to Reuters.

Chinese investment in United States firms rose dramatically between 2010 and 2015, reaching a peak of nearly $10 billion in 2015. According to a 2018 report from Politico, the strategy of acquiring American companies is part of China’s larger “Made in China 2025” initiative, which seeks to make China a hub of manufacturing — which includes IP — and not just assembly. 

The CFIUS was reportedly ill-equipped to proactively review and regulate these investments. Now, Chinese firms have stakes in recognizable companies like Uber and Airbnb, as well as scores of hardware and software companies responsible for handling Americans’ personal data.

China’s manufacturing ambitions have alarmed United States officials, particularly in the Trump administration. Concerns about China’s ability to obtain IP and compete with America have fueled Trump’s trade war, as well as growing enmity between the US government and Chinese tech firms such as Huawei and ZTE. IP theft and privacy concerns have been at the center of these battles, but a desire to prevent China from becoming a leader in big money frontiers, like 5G infrastructure, colors the background.

Since the CFIUS did not give a reason for its Grindr order, we can’t say whether this instance had anything to do with the climate of competition between the US and China in tech. But apparently, the CFIUS is coming around to fulfilling its duties around tech acquisitions that it had previously let slide.