In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • Cabbies in New York City are fighting back against Uber with a new app
  • Twitter sets modest diversity goals
  • Ashley Madison’s CEO resigns following hack
  • Apple loses key music exec
  • A federal court backs NSA in data ruling

The details:

  • Taxis vs. Uber with Arrow

A new app called “Arro” is the latest tool taxi companies in New York are using in an ongoing battle with ride-sharing-service Uber.

“The Arro app is nearly identical to Uber, letting a user set a specific location for pick-up and sending that user’s name and location to the driver,” TechCrunch reports. “Once a nearby cab is assigned the fare, the user will receive the name of the driver and the car ID so they can find the right taxi.”

A big difference? No surge pricing.

Read more at:

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20150827/BLOGS04/150829899/meet-the-taxi-industrys-last-best-hope-to-survive-uber-age

  • Twitter sets modest goals to diversity its workforce

Twitter is setting modest goals to diversify its workforce while it fights a proposed class-action lawsuit that says the online messaging service discriminates against its female employees.

The hiring targets were released Friday along with data showing that Twitter primarily employs white and Asian men in high-paying technology jobs, like most of its industry peers.

Twitter is aiming to fill 16 percent of its technology jobs with a woman next year, up from 13 percent currently. The San Francisco company also wants women to make up 25 percent of its leadership roles, from 22 percent now, and is promising to hire more blacks and Hispanics.

Former Twitter engineer Tina Huang filed a lawsuit in March attacking the company’s treatment of women. The complaint says Twitter has a history of bypassing qualified women for promotions. Twitter has denied the allegations.

Based on a total workforce of about 4,100 people, Twitter currently employs about 1,400 women, or 34 percent of its total payroll. The company wants 35 percent of its total workforce to be comprised of women next year.

  • Ashley Madison CEO steps down in wake of hacking

The CEO of the company that runs adultery website Ashley Madisonis stepping down in the wake of the massive breach of the company’s computer systems and outing of millions of its members.

The abrupt departure of Noel Biderman, which came without the appointment of an interim replacement, could be another sign that the website’s days may be numbered, experts say.

“Unless they can immediately assure the public that their information is protected, then their business is over,” says Lawrence Kellogg, a partner with the law firm Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider & Grossman LLP, who specializes in class action lawsuits.

“The only reason for an adulterer to join the service is to keep their information private. Absent that, they don’t have a business.”

Kellogg says that if the lawsuits from Ashley Madison members keep piling up, Avid Life Media Inc., Ashley Madison’s parent company, may ultimately end up filing for bankruptcy protection.

  • Apple loses key music exec

Apple’s online music subscription service is losing a key playeras millions of listeners near the end of a free three-month trial period that has drawn mixed reviews.

Ian Rogers, part of a team acquired last year, is leaving Apple to take a job at an unidentified company in Europe. Apple confirmed Rogers’ departure Friday without providing additional details.

Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats last year was driven in large part by the iPhone maker’s desire to draw upon the musical chops of Rogers, longtime recording executive Jimmy Iovine and hip hop artist Dr. Dre. Both Iovine and Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, remain with Apple.

Rogers got his start running a fan website for the Beastie Boys in the 1990s and later became involved in various musical endeavors that tried to blend tunes with the latest in technology. He had been CEO of Beats Music at the time of the Apple acquisition.

After working with the Beats team, Apple launched its music streaming service in late June to compete with more established rivals such as Spotify and Pandora. Rogers had been overseeing Apple’s online radio stations, including Beats 1, that will remain free even after people have to start paying to use most of the company’s music service.

Apple Inc. says 11 million people have tried its music service during its trial period. In contrast, Spotify boasts 75 million users, including 20 million subscribers to a more sophisticated, ad-free version of its service.

  • Appeals court reverses ruling that found NSA program illegal

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled in favor of the Obama administration in a dispute over the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone data on hundreds of millions of Americans.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed a lowercourt ruling that said the program likely violates the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches.

The ruling means the government can continue collecting the data for the next few months, although the program is set to expire at the end of November under legislation that Congress passed earlier this summer to replace it. The appeals court sent the case back for a judge to determine whether the government must divulge more details about the program that would enable the case to go forward.

The ruling is the latest in a succession of decisions in federal courts in Washington and New York that at various points threatened the constitutionality of the NSA’s surveillanceprogram, but have so far upheld the amassing of records from U.S. domestic phone customers.

The appeals court ruled that challengers to the program have not shown “a substantial likelihood” that they would win their case on the merits.