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Tech NewsThe App You’ve Never Heard of That’s Making Your City Better
In the 80s and 90s, the 911 system in the US became overloaded with people calling to report things like wayward couches and double-parked cars—not emergencies, yet situations where city officials could help. In 1996, Baltimore successfully tested a system that diverted these requests to a separate number. In 1997, the FCC reserved “311” as … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeMeteorologists Need to Start Talking About Climate Change
Last week, after raging for two months over an area the size of Delaware, the Fort McMurray fire was finally declared “under control.” This was the costliest fire in Canadian history, forcing the relocation of 90,000 people—the largest evacuation in Alberta’s history—and over $2.9 billion in losses. Although the fire is finally manageable, parts of … Continued
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Tech News
Riders of SF’s Tech Buses Would Prefer To Keep Their Commutes as Cushy as Possible
San Francisco needs help. It also needs to decide where to put bus stops for the hundreds of shuttle buses that creep through its streets, gathering wizened, under-caffeinated developers for their journeys to jolly Mountain View. A survey that asked for such logistical input provided some additional—and perhaps unsolicited—insight into these private transit experiences. SFist … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
Greenland Is Building the Perfect Place to Watch the World End
A stunning structure built 150 miles inside the Arctic Circle will serve as a crucial research center for glaciologists. But perhaps more importantly, it will be a place where humans can travel to see the real-time impact of climate change. The Illulissat Icefjord is a UNESCO-protected site on Greenland’s west coast that’s known for both … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
NYC’s Elegant Storm-Proofing Proposal Will Probably End Up Being a ‘Big Dumb Wall’
In 2014, New York City funded a proposal called the “Big U,” a 10-mile barrier around Lower Manhattan to prevent the devastating effects of both storm surges and sea-level rise. The biggest strength of the $540 million project was that the infrastructure would do double-duty by adding parks and public space around the perimeter of … Continued
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Tech NewsBearCam Is Back, Bitches
Summer is here, and it’s time for some hot bear-on-fish action. The bears who munch on tasty salmon at Brooks Falls in Alaska’s Katmai National Park have become social media celebrities. Thanks to Explore.org, the circle of life has turned into an annual internet event, now with 24/7 coverage, several camera angles, and the ability … Continued
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Tech News
Hyperloop Connecting Helsinki and Stockholm Turns 300-Mile Trip Into 28 Minute Ride
Where will the first Hyperloop be? So far there are plans to use the tubular transportation system to move passengers in Slovakia and freight in Switzerland. But a proposed application for the Hyperloop announced today could solve a transportation conundrum that has been challenging planners for centuries: Connecting the neighboring nations of Sweden and Finland. … Continued
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Tech News
Where Are Fireworks Legal?
No doubt you’re wanting to plan a fireworks display this weekend to honor the most amazing country in North America and its awesome political leaders. Here’s where you can celebrate Happy Canada Day the way it was meant to be celebrated! Each year the American Pyrotechnics Association helps us navigate, state-by-state, where residents are allowed … Continued
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Tech News
Woman Arrested for Plot to Kill Stephen Hawking
An American woman was arrested this week for flooding Stephen Hawking’s email with death threats, then stalking him at an astronomy festival in the Canary Islands. The woman, a US citizen who lives in Norway, sent emails to Hawking telling him she would kill him at the Starmus Festival, a legendary astronomy conference that’s happening … Continued
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Tech News
Why I Don’t Use a Baby Monitor
Like any person scared shitless about the prospect of keeping a fragile new human alive, as soon as I found out I was pregnant I started googling the important questions. Among them: “What is the best baby monitor?” And now that my spawn has survived for 1.5 years, I am confident when I say the … Continued
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Tech NewsFatal Tesla Crash Proves Full Autonomy Is the Only Solution for Self-Driving Cars
The investigation into a death that occurred while a Tesla Model S driver was using Autopilot has filled the internet with dystopian-sounding headlines. Self-driving car driver died for the first time after crash in Florida. Self-driving Tesla was involved in fatal crash. But this was not a “self-driving car” that killed its “driver.” This was … Continued
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Tech News
A Smart Crib Is a Stupid Idea
Baby products have always been part of a predatory industry that feasts on the paranoia of new parents. But it’s gotten worse in the last few years with the wave of baby-tracking tech. Now Nest—which makes a camera which is one of the top-rated baby monitors—is proposing a smart crib, according to patent documents filed … Continued
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Tech News
The Best and Worst Ideas from San Francisco’s Big Homelessness Project
You might have noticed an uptick of stories about the Bay Area’s homeless crisis in your social media feeds recently. Dozens of news organizations worked together to coordinate the publication of stories on homelessness today—all of which are mean to specifically focus on solutions for housing the region’s homeless population. Back in May a coalition … Continued
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Tech News
Philly’s Beautiful Plan to Fight Crime with Neon Murals
Just the presence of streetlights can deter criminal behavior. A South Philadelphia neighborhood is trying something a little more innovative than that—using neon-lit murals to brighten the sidewalk and turn the area into a destination. Electric Street, by David Guinn and Drew Billiau, transforms a wall into a work of public art that not only … Continued
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Tech News
Eighteen Million Americans Are Drinking Water That Isn’t Properly Tested for Lead
About six months ago, just as Flint began to acknowledge its lead crisis, a water testing expert from an EPA task force predicted that “every major city east of the Mississippi” was underestimating lead levels in their water. A big report from the NRDC now confirms that about 18 million Americans are living with lead … Continued
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Tech News
Now Y Combinator Wants to Build a City Because Every Other Tech Company Is Doing It
Cities are so trendy right now that every big tech company wants to build its own. Zappos did it in Downtown Vegas. Amazon is kind of doing it in a Seattle. Alphabet is probably doing it somewhere soon. And now Y Combinator wants in on the fun, too, with a plan to build some kind … Continued
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Tech News
Everyone Is Lying About Not Watching TV
Saying “I don’t own a TV” is a good way to let people know that you’re a pretentious asshole. But even though more and more people are eager to tell you they don’t “have TV,” don’t be fooled! You better believe that they are still “watching TV.” According to a new Nielsen report out today, … Continued
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Tech News
Worried About Self-Driving Cars? Guess What—There’s Something You Can Do About That
For three years I’ve been writing at least once a week about self-driving cars and I’ve recently noticed a shift in popular opinion. The wide-eyed optimism of seeing Google’s cute-as-a-button robot bopping unassisted around a parking lot has been replaced by some ambiguous, malicious, unknowable entity, a shapeshifting Smoke Monster that ruins our lives and … Continued
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Tech News
George Lucas Is Taking His Museum Away from Chicago
After a prolonged battle with San Francisco’s NIMBY empire, George Lucas announced two years ago that he would take his giant filmmaking museum project to the friendlier shores of Chicago. Now, after yet another vicious battle with Chicago’s NIMBYs, he’s abandoning his plans there, too. You’d think he was trying to build the Death Star … Continued
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker's posts