Technology

A number of people are complaining about Sinemia not delivering them their movie membership cards within the seven-day timeframe the company said it would. Although Sinemia has charged people for their memberships, the company has not been able to deliver the membership cards in a timely manner.

&We have seen strong demand for our new Sinemia membership plans and, while our processing operations have increased production, delivery times can be expected to be longer than usual,& Sinemia CEO Rifat Oguz told TechCrunch in a statement. &We greatly appreciate our subscribers& patience while we work on preparing their cards. Please note that subscribers first month of service will not begin until their card arrives.&

Sinemia, which launched its low-cost plans earlier this month, says to expect your card to be delivered within seven days. Herethe full text of the email Sinemia sends customers after their purchase:

We have received your payment.

We are now preparing your private card for yourSinemiaPremium membership. Your card will be delivered to the shipping units within generally in 7 days, although it can vary depending on the campaign periods. Please note that the estimated time of delivery may also vary depending on the destination and workload of the shipping company at the time. You may start enjoying movie experience withSinemiaPremium right after completing your Premium card activation. You can activate your new Premium card viaSinemiamobile application or from your membership page. If you don&t have a password yet, you can create one fromhere. Your membership will begin right after your card is delivered.

But this is unacceptable for some customers, with some requesting refunds and others disputing the charge to their credit card company. Sinemia, however, says it has not provided any refunds.

The highlight of Google I/O keynote earlier this month was the reveal of Duplex, a system that can make calls to set up a salon appointment or a restaurant reservation for you by calling those places, chatting with a human and getting the job done. That demo drew lots of laughs at the keynote, but after the dust settled, plenty of ethical questions popped up because of how Duplex tries to fake being human. Over the course of the last few days, those were joined by questions from people like writer John Gruber about whether the demo was staged or edited.Axios then asked Google a few simple questions about the demo that Google has refused to answer.

We have reached out to Google with a number of very specific questions about this and have not heard back. As far as I can tell, the same is true for other outlets that have contacted the company.

If you haven&t seen the demo, take a look at thisbefore you read on.

So did Google fudge this demo Here is why people are asking and what we know so far:

During his keynote, Google CEO Sundar Pichai noted multiple times that we were listening to real calls and real conversations (&What you will hear is the Google Assistant actually calling a real salon.&). The company made the same claims in a blog post(&While sounding natural, these and other examples are conversations between a fully automatic computer system and real businesses.&).

Google has so far declined to disclose the name of the businesses it worked with and whether it had permission to record those calls. California is a two-consent state, so our understanding is that permission to record these calls would have been necessary (unless those calls were made to businesses in a state with different laws). So on top of the ethics questions, there are also a few legal questions here.

We have some clues, though. In the blog post, Google Duplex lead Yaniv Leviathan and engineering manager Matan Kalman posted a picture of themselves eating a meal &booked through a call from Duplex.& Thanks to the wonder of crowdsourcing and a number of intrepid sleuths, we know that this restaurant was Hongs Gourmet in Saratoga, California. We called Hongs Gourmet last night, but the person who answered the phone referred us to her manager, who she told us had left for the day. (We&ll give it another try today.)

Sadly, the rest of Googleaudio samples don&t contain any other clues as to which restaurants were called.

What prompted much of the suspicion here is that nobody who answers the calls from the Assistant in Googlesamples identifies their name or the name of the business. My best guess is that Google cut those parts from the conversations, but ithard to tell. Some of the audio samples do however sound as if the beginning was edited out.

Google clearly didn&t expect this project to be controversial. The keynote demo was clearly meant to dazzle — and it did so in the moment because, if it really works, this technology represents the culmination of years of work on machine learning. But the company clearly didn&t think through the consequences.

My best guess is that Google didn&t fake these calls. But it surely only presented the best examples of its tests. Thatwhat you do in a big keynote demo, after all, even though in hindsight, showing the system fail or trying to place a live call would have been even better (remember Steve JobStarbucks call).

For now, we&ll see if we can get more answers, but so far all of our calls and emails have gone unanswered. Google could easily do away with all of those questions around Duplex by simply answering them, but so far, thatnot happening.

Every tech founder worth their title knows that investors, customers and media exposure form the life blood of every early-stage startup. And thereno better way to place your startup in front of these three essential groups than to exhibit inStartup AlleyatDisrupt San Francisco 2018. The conference takes place on September 5-7, but if you want to secure your spot you need to apply to purchase a Startup Alley Exhibitor Packagebefore the application window closes.

Startup Alley at Disrupt SF &18 will feature more than 1,200 highly vetted, early-stage startups showcasing the very latest in tech products, platforms and services spanning the tech spectrum. You can expect more than 10,000 attendees to pass through the Alley, including more than 400 media outlets.

Exhibit your company in the Alleyenergetic atmosphere of networking, collaboration and possibility. According to Crunchbase, Startup Alley exhibitors at Disrupt SF 2017 raised more than $37 million in seed and Series A funding within the four months following the conference.

The Startup Alley Exhibitor package includes a one-day 4&x6′ exhibit space, three Disrupt SF Founder passes (as long as you apply before July 25) and you get to useCrunchMatch — our curated investor-to-startup matching platform.

Plus, you can take advantage of the Startup Alley exhibitor lounge and receive access to the full Disrupt press list. Your company also will have the chance to be selected as a Wildcard entry to theStartup Battlefieldpitch competition. Did we mention that we doubled this yearprize to $100,000 Yeah, we did that.

The Startup Alley Exhibitor Package offers enormous value at $1,995. But herethe thing — you can apply to exhibit in Startup Alley for free as a TC Top Pick. Herewhat you need to know:

Companies vying for a free TC Top Pick spot must fit in one of these 12 categories: AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Biotech, Fintech, Gaming, Healthtech, Privacy/Security, Space, Mobility, Retail or Robotics.

TechCrunch editors will review every TC Top Pick application and select only five companies for each category. Each of the 60 companies receives one free Startup Alley Exhibitor Package and will also score sweet media coverage in the form of a recorded three-minute interview on the Startup Alley Showcase Stage — and TechCrunch will promote that video across its social media platforms.

Now pay close attention to these three deadlines. If you want to be considered for a TC Top Pick, you must apply by June 29. If you want your Startup Alley Exhibitor Package to include three Disrupt SF Founder passes, you must apply before July 25. And finally, the last-chance application deadline for a Startup Alley Exhibitor Package is August 8.

Disrupt San Francisco takes place on September 5-7, and you simply won&t find a better opportunity to showcase your early-stage startup to the most influential industry movers and shakers. One more thing. We believe in rewarding action, and early applicants will be eligible to score special offers, so apply today. We can&t wait to see you there!