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Yohana, a Concierge Service for Families, Launches in LA
Keerthi Vedantam
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
Who do you call when three simultaneous Zoom meetings have throttled your internet connection for the fifth time this week and your child has a last-minute project that needs to be completed?
Yohana—a company positioning itself as a household concierge service that helps families address the various issues and tasks that crop up in day-to-day life—wants to be that call. And after initially piloting in Seattle last year, the Palo Alto-based company is now making Los Angeles its second core market, officially launching in the city on Tuesday.
Deploying a membership model that costs $249 per month, Yohana promises to help its customers with everything from finding a plumber to planning a birthday party to buying baby food. The company partners with local piano teachers, handymen, flower shops and other service providers to provide such tasks. It also teams each family subscribed to its platform with a guide and researchers who help manage both short-term tasks like home repairs and long-term goals like travel itineraries.
Yohana is the brainchild of founder and CEO Yoky Matsouka, a former Google and Apple executive who served as chief technology officer of Google’s Nest smart home division from 2017 to 2019. After leaving Google, Matsouka started Yohana in 2020 with the goal of creating family-centric technology. She opted to eschew Silicon Valley’s traditional venture capital-backed startup model and instead partner with an old-school tech company: Panasonic, the Japanese consumer electronics conglomerate, which backs Yohana as a fully-funded independent subsidiary.
“[At Nest] it felt that it was very linear no matter how fast we moved; it was a startup with a brand that nobody knew about, and then it takes a long time to build that up,” Matsouka said of her time at Nest prior to its $3.2 billion acquisition by Google in 2014. With the Panasonic partnership, she told dot.LA, “I have the ability with a larger company to utilize their brands to springboard much faster.”
Yohana first launched in Seattle in 2021 via a pilot program involving more than 1,000 households, who it claims were able to save some 8 to 10 hours per week in household tasks by using the service. Through the pilot, Matsouka said the company was able to further refine its product in advance of forays into new markets like L.A. For instance, it built new security and encryption applications to help families manage their credit cards and other sensitive files.
“Initially before we launched in Seattle, we thought that people would not give us really personal tasks like passport renewal,” Matsouka said. “It turns out people felt the need to have a lot of personal data passed on to us so that we can do more tasks.”
In the future, according to Matsouka, the company will be able to leverage its hordes of data through the power of AI and machine learning to make life easier for customers and vendors alike—so that if multiple families are requesting the same service or experience, for example, Yohana’s technology can help streamline the planning.
Yohana’s tech-enabled platform nestles alongside more established ventures like TaskRabbit and Instacart in what’s called the family-tech space, an emerging subsector that collected $1.4 billion in venture capital money in 2021, according to Pitchbook
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Keerthi Vedantam
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
https://twitter.com/KeerthiVedantam
keerthi@dot.la
Here's How To Get a Digital License Plate In California
03:49 PM | October 14, 2022
Photo by Clayton Cardinalli on Unsplash
Thanks to a new bill passed on October 5, California drivers now have the choice to chuck their traditional metal license plates and replace them with digital ones.
The plates are referred to as “Rplate” and were developed by Sacramento-based Reviver. A news release on Reviver’s website that accompanied the bill’s passage states that there are “two device options enabling vehicle owners to connect their vehicle with a suite of services including in-app registration renewal, visual personalization, vehicle location services and security features such as easily reporting a vehicle as stolen.”
Reviver Auto Current and Future CapabilitiesFrom Youtube
There are wired (connected to and powered by a vehicle’s electrical system) and battery-powered options, and drivers can choose to pay for their plates monthly or annually. Four-year agreements for battery-powered plates begin at $19.95 a month or $215.40 yearly. Commercial vehicles will pay $275.40 each year for wired plates. A two-year agreement for wired plates costs $24.95 per month. Drivers can choose to install their plates, but on its website, Reviver offers professional installation for $150.
A pilot digital plate program was launched in 2018, and according to the Los Angeles Times, there were 175,000 participants. The new bill ensures all 27 million California drivers can elect to get a digital plate of their own.
California is the third state after Arizona and Michigan to offer digital plates to all drivers, while Texas currently only provides the digital option for commercial vehicles. In July 2022, Deseret News reported that Colorado might also offer the option. They have several advantages over the classic metal plates as well—as the L.A. Times notes, digital plates will streamline registration renewals and reduce time spent at the DMV. They also have light and dark modes, according to Reviver’s website. Thanks to an accompanying app, they act as additional vehicle security, alerting drivers to unexpected vehicle movements and providing a method to report stolen vehicles.
As part of the new digital plate program, Reviver touts its products’ connectivity, stating that in addition to Bluetooth capabilities, digital plates have “national 5G network connectivity and stability.” But don’t worry—the same plates purportedly protect owner privacy with cloud support and encrypted software updates.
5 Reasons to avoid the digital license plate | Ride TechFrom Youtube
After the Rplate pilot program was announced four years ago, some raised questions about just how good an idea digital plates might be. Reviver and others who support switching to digital emphasize personalization, efficient DMV operations and connectivity. However, a 2018 post published by Sophos’s Naked Security blog pointed out that “the plates could be as susceptible to hacking as other wireless and IoT technologies,” noting that everyday “objects – things like kettles, TVs, and baby monitors – are getting connected to the internet with elementary security flaws still in place.”
To that end, a May 2018 syndicated New York Times news service article about digital plates quoted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which warned that such a device could be a “‘honeypot of data,’ recording the drivers’ trips to the grocery store, or to a protest, or to an abortion clinic.”
For now, Rplates are another option in addition to old-fashioned metal, and many are likely to opt out due to cost alone. If you decide to go the digital route, however, it helps if you know what you could be getting yourself into.
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Steve Huff
Steve Huff is an Editor and Reporter at dot.LA. Steve was previously managing editor for The Metaverse Post and before that deputy digital editor for Maxim magazine. He has written for Inside Hook, Observer and New York Mag. Steve is the author of two official tie-ins books for AMC’s hit “Breaking Bad” prequel, “Better Call Saul.” He’s also a classically-trained tenor and has performed with opera companies and orchestras all over the Eastern U.S. He lives in the greater Boston metro area with his wife, educator Dr. Dana Huff.
steve@dot.la
⚖️FTC’s "Click to Cancel" Rule and Its Ripple Effect on Tech
09:58 AM | October 18, 2024
🔦 Spotlight
Happy Friday Los Angeles,
The FTC’s new “Click to Cancel” rule is shaking up subscription-based tech. Now, instead of navigating a maze of cancellation hurdles, users can cancel subscriptions as easily as they signed up—with a single click. This shift is a wake-up call for SaaS, streaming, and app-based companies, where once-hidden exit options often kept users around simply because canceling was a hassle.
The rule also requires businesses to send regular renewal reminders, ensuring customers stay informed about upcoming charges. It's more than a cancellation button—it’s about transparency and giving users control over their decisions.
For startups, the impact goes deeper than UX adjustments. Many have relied on "dark patterns," which subtly discourage cancellations by hiding the exit. Now, companies must shift toward building genuine loyalty by delivering real value, not by complicating exits.
While this might affect retention rates initially, it could lead to more sustainable business models that rely on satisfaction-driven loyalty. Investors may start prioritizing companies that emphasize transparent, long-term engagement over those that depend on dark patterns to maintain retention metrics.
The rule opens the door to more ethical UX design and a truly user-centered approach across the tech industry. It may even set a precedent against manipulative design in other areas, such as privacy settings or payment methods.
Ultimately, the “Click to Cancel” rule presents an opportunity for the tech industry to foster trust and build stronger customer relationships. Startups and established companies that embrace transparency will likely stand out as leaders in a new era of customer-centric tech, where trust—not tricky design—is what retains users.
As the tech landscape continues to evolve, LA Tech Week 2024 offers a chance to explore these shifts in real-time. Check out the upcoming event lineups to stay informed and make the most of your time:
For updates or more event information, visit the official Tech Week calendar.
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