Also in the new is Indian logistics firm GoJava’s filing of criminal breach of trust case against e-commerce company Snapdeal

Grab to guarantee rides without surge fares for a flat membership fee

Southeast Asian rude-hailing company Grab is piloting a new scheme which will guarantee rides to the customers  without surge pricing for a monthly fee of S$50 (US$37).

As per a TODAY Online report, the idea is being tested on a very small and select group of frequent riders to assess market demand.

Riders who buy the pass, which is called FareLock, will still see fares with surge pricing at the time of booking. But it will be refunded to the account of the customer subsequently.

ShieldSquare raises Series A led by Endiya Partners and RPG Ventures

ShieldSquare, a real-time bot prevention startup, has raised an undisclosed amount in Series A round of funding led by Endiya Partners and RPG Ventures. Anthill Ventures and existing investors Startupxseed, Venture Highway and a few other angel investors also participated in this round.

The funding will be used to strengthen the bot mitigation technology platform and expand the market presence in the US and Europe.

Founded in 2013, ShieldSquare is a cloud-based, real-time bot prevention solution that helps online businesses differentiate between human and non-human traffic (bots) on their websites and mobile applications. ShieldSquare uses cutting-edge technologies to detect, categorise and take the right action on malicious bots and ensures zero false positives. It protects businesses against the threats of web scraping, form spam, and content theft.

Indonesia’s Toko Bitcoin and Bitbayar wind up operations under regulatory pressure

Under pressure from the central bank, Indonesian bitcoin platforms Toko Bitcoin and Bitbayar have winded up operations, says a DealStreetAsia report. 

The central bank, Bank Indonesia, recently announced that it will not recognise bitcoin as a means of payments in the country. While it is not clear if this directive is applicable to other cryptocurrencies, experts feel this announcement also covers other virtual digital similar currencies.  

GoJavas files court case against Snapdeal for breach of trust

Gurgaon-based logistics venture GoJavas has filed a fresh complaint against Snapdeal‘s parent Jasper Infotech, founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and its logistics arm Vulcan Express for a breach of trust, says an Economic Times report

The complaint was filed with the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Wednesday. GoJavas also accused Snapdeal and its promoters of cheating, intellectual property theft, theft of trade secrets and data and misappropriation of funds.

GoJavas had earlier filed a complains against the e-commerce firm in June this year.

Baidu appoints computer vision expert to lead institute of Deep Learning

Baidu Research, a division of Baidu, today announced it has appointed Yuanqing Lin as director of the Institute of Deep Learning (IDL).

Lin, whose appointment takes effect today, reports to Andrew Ng, Baidu’s chief scientist and leader of Baidu Research.

Lin most recently served as head of the Media Analytics Department at NEC Labs America, where he led teams focused on computer vision research related to mobile search and self-driving cars.

Lin is an active member of the computer vision and machine learning communities. He holds an MS Degree in Optical Engineering from Tsinghua University and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

The post Captain’s Log, Oct. 26: Indonesia’s Toko Bitcoin and Bitbayar close down; Grab to allow rides without surge pricing for a flat membership fee appeared first on e27.