JULIE WALMSLEY

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am wrapping up my project for the ICFJ-S&P Global Financial Data Journalism Program . I am honored to have won the first prize fellowship to expand my dig into the LA gig economy that started at LA Weekly . My piece on two LA millenials making the gig economy more navigable runs on Thrillist Los Angeles on Friday; the rest of the project will run here, as a series: Wed. Aug.  31    Mileage, mapping, and weather applications Wed. Sept.   7   Gig economy accounting Wed. Sept. 14   Out-amenitize the competition Wed. Sept. 21   Lawyer up Wed. Sept. 28  Side hustle your side hustle Wed. Oct. 5      Cash out early Wed. Oct. 12    Monetize your mistakes Wed. Oct. 19    Find your people --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

Santander Consumer USA, a lender that was issuing Uber-cosigned weekly leases to the rideshare company's contracted drivers until an unexplained split last year, had to answer SEC questions yesterday  about past financial reporting. Inquiry into the Spain-based firm's public disclosures were not related to the past Uber partnership (though that partnership does merit some questions). However it reminded me to finally share unwritten parts of an LA Weekly piece I wrote last fall about Angelenos who use their smartphones as their employers, finding daily gigs via application-based personal services like Uber , Lyft , Wag! , Washio , and TaskRabbit . I call them smartphone microlaborers. I was limited to about 1250 words and only one photo, so I couldn't include all the colorful bits I found in this subsector of the local gig economy, or all the new questions that arose from looking at these contracts and what the smartphone gig life really means in practical terms. With ...