Google testing Shopping Express, a live same-day delivery service

Published March 28, 2013

AllThingsD

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  A screenshot of the website for Google Shopping Express, a new program by the web giant that offers free, same-day deliver of products.FoxNews.com / Google

Google today called for San Francisco Bay Area residents to sign up for six months of free, unlimited same-day delivery of purchases from national and local retailers.

The company is calling the program “a new experiment” — more specifically, it’s named Google Shopping Express.

Users can browse in an online storefront and then select a delivery window for a “Google courier partner” to arrive at their home later that day.

Get more tech news and reviews at AllThingsD.com.

Google has not yet had a home run from its many shopping, wallet, commerce and payment efforts. But same-day delivery is looked at as a sort of holy grail for online retail, since it can bring near-instant gratification to shoppers. As such, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and startups like Postmates are already trying it. Users who sign up for Shopping Express are told they may be selected through a gradual rollout “over the coming months.”

Participating retailers include national brands like Target and Walgreens and local brands like Blue Bottle Coffee and Palo Alto Sport Shop and Toy World.

News of the service was first reported earlier this month by TechCrunch.

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Court rejects Florida law requiring drug testing for welfare recipients

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –  A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a temporary ban on a law requiring drug testing of Florida's welfare recipients.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that a lower court was right to temporarily halt enforcement of the state's drug-testing program. The opinion said the state of Florida hadn't shown a "substantial special need" for such mandatory drug testing.

The ruling, authored by Circuit Judge Rosemary Barkett, added that "there is nothing inherent to the condition of being impoverished that supports the conclusion that there is a `concrete danger' that impoverished individuals are prone to drug use."

Tuesday's decision means that the law will continue to not be enforced as the courts continue to resolve the underlying legal issues.

Florida officials previously argued that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, benefits are intended to ensure family stability and child welfare, and that drug use subverts both of those aims.

But opponents said drug testing as a condition of getting welfare benefits is an unconstitutional search and seizure.

Florida's law requires welfare applicants to pay for and pass a drug test to get benefits. The drug testing was in effect in the latter half of 2011 before being halted by a federal judge. The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law's constitutionality.

The state then appealed the preliminary injunction to the 11th Circuit.

The circuit court's opinion also dismissed the state's argument that the testing for drugs without suspicion is OK because potential recipients sign a consent form.

The court said the state cannot condition welfare benefits "on the applicant's forced waiver" of his constitutional right.

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