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Tech NewsCalifornia’s Drought Is Making Its Dying Inland Sea Even More Toxic
Most of the narratives about California’s drought focus on the state’s Central Valley, where the nonexistent snowpack from the Sierras is threatening the economic vitality of the region. But the other, lesser told story is playing out in the southeast corner of the state, where the lack of water is actually poisoning local residents. In … Continued
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Tech NewsThese High-Tech Archaeological Tools Will Help Rebuild Nepal’s History
As rescue efforts in Nepal begin to shift to recovery mode, relief workers in the earthquake-ravaged country are focusing on infrastructure—including the catastrophic loss of so many historic structures. And increasingly, they’re using emerging technology to do it. How bad is the damage? Earlier this week UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre released a reporton its Kathmandu … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
How to Use Instagram to Track Climate Change
In Los Angeles, the transition from spring to summer is heralded by the blooming of jacarandas, a photogenic tree that explodes in bright lavender fireworks and sprinkles flowers across the city like purple rain. But as I Instagrammed my sneakers against the rubbery petals the other week, I had a nagging feeling—this was way too … Continued
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Tech News
Watch Tesla Announce Its Incredible Batteries Tonight At 11:30 PM EDT
Elon Musk will take the stage at Tesla’s design studio tonight at 11:30 pm EDT to announce the company’s newest products: a highly anticipated battery for home use as well as a more mysterious “utility-scale” battery. And you can watch it all live here. We’ll post updates from the event, but until then, here’s the … Continued
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Tech News
These Maps Plot the Most Interesting Places and the Paths Between Them
For the past five years data artist Eric Fischer’s been working on something called the Geotaggers’ World Atlas, a project which hopes to discover the world’s most interesting places by examining beautiful Flickr photos. As it turns out, the maps showing the routes between them are just as beautiful. Using Flickr’s API, Fischer has been … Continued
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Tech News
A Bass Pro Shop in a Pyramid Is Surely a Sign That The World Is Ending
How does a city reuse a former basketball arena when the team moves to new digs across town? And what if, hypothetically, that arena is shaped like a pyramid? If you’re Memphis, you fill it with a 535,000 square-foot Bass Pro Shop, then sit back and wait for the apocalypse to arrive. Built in 1991, … Continued
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Tech News
Ask Your Questions About Finding and Mapping Lost Urban History
Los Angeles is no stranger to failed infrastructural schemes and vanished landscapes. But did you know that a nine-mile bike highway once traveled part of the way from LA to the nearby city of Pasadena? It’s one of 19 map-annotated essays about the city featured in the new book LAtitudes: An Angeleno’s Atlas. On Monday … Continued
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Tech News
Starbucks Sells California’s Scarce Water to “Help” People Without Water
When you buy a bottle of water at Starbucks, five cents goes towards “improving the lives of people who lack vital resources,” according to the in-house brand named Ethos Water. That may be true, but there’s a catch: The water’s bottled in a part of California where people’s wells are running dry. The bottled water … Continued
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Tech NewsHold Up You Guys, Obama Has a Fitbit Surge
Maybe Tim Cook lost his address? Of all the public figures sporting shiny new Apple Watches this week, the leader of the free world is not one of them. Our president is a Fitbit guy. Fitbit Surge, to be exact. Wall Street Journal tech reporter Joanna Stern identified the black band on Obama’s wrist during … Continued
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Tech News
A Smart Modular Roadway Could Ping Workers When It Needs To Be Replaced
Autonomous vehicles get all the glory in our ideal transportation future, but they’re gonna need somewhere to drive. Our streets are seriously lagging, technology-wise. Enter smart roadways that can alert crews when they need to be repaired—and then can be swapped out as easily as Lego bricks. It’s not just cars that will be getting … Continued
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Tech News
Lake Mead Is Now Lower Than Ever, But Vegas Has a Crazy Survival Plan
Yesterday, the surface of Lake Mead reached its lowest level since it was filled in 1937—1,080 feet above sea level. But engineers were prepared for this: A huge infrastructural project under the lake has been underway since 2008 to ensure that Vegas residents will still be able to get water, even as the drought continues. … Continued
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Tech News
Airplane Cabins Could Be 100X Quieter With These Rubber Mufflers
The dull throbbing hum that accompanies you on your jet-setting adventures might be quieted in the near future. Scientists from MIT and North Carolina State University collaborated on a thin rubber membrane that can be installed throughout the body of a plane like acoustical tiles, essentially sound-proofing the interior. To keep the plane’s weight low, … Continued
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Tech News
What Gear Are You Buying for Your Summer Adventures?
It’s finally warming up just about everywhere, so I think we can safely declare that spring has sprung. With the days growing longer, I’m planning some camping and hiking trips, including taking inventory of my gear. What’s on your must-purchase list to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors? I desperately need a new headlamp. … Continued
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Tech NewsCalifornia Farmers Without Water Are Installing Solar Panels Instead
Due to the unprecedented drought, many of California’s farmers won’t be allocated any water this year, thanks to the way that the state’s water rights work. But what actually happens to the farms that don’t get water? Some of the farmers are ditching produce altogether for a more profitable alternative to crops—they’re installing solar farms. … Continued
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Tech NewsWatch All the Ways Apple’s Tried to Teach Us How to Use Its Products
The Apple Watch starts hitting wrists today with one of the most incredibly enormous user guides ever produced for an Apple product: 23 topics, almost 100 pages, not even including the 10 videos to teach people how to use this thing. Apple started creating “guided tours” for its new products back in 1984—here are some … Continued
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Tech NewsWilliam Shatner Is Crowdsourcing Ideas for His Bonkers Drought Plan
Hey, we’ve all got ideas to save California from its cataclysmic drought. Stop fracking! Stop showering! Stop eating! But none of us is William Shatner: Enterprise captain, Priceline spokesperson, Twitter watchdog, and probably, definitely, most certainly not a water expert. This is not preventing him from proposing a $30 billion solution, including a crowdsourcing website … Continued
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Tech News
Why an Artist Totally Whitewashed This LA Motel—Palm Trees and All
With a sweep of a paint sprayer, an artist has managed to take a decrepit motel in my Los Angeles neighborhood and turn it into a destination—not by fixing it up, but by temporarily erasing it from the street. Last week, French artist Vincent Lamouroux used a water-soluble whitewash—no, it’s not actually paint, but more … Continued
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Tech News
How NYT Magazine Made a 150-Foot Pedestrian for Its Walking Issue
It’s like Christmas morning for pedestrian advocates! This week’s New York Times Magazine is all about walking, from the very act of perambulation to all the ways that the city—any city really—is best appreciated on foot. And the cover is a street-scale work of art. This is not Photoshop! The art was shot practically, from … Continued
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Tech News
Tesla’s New Battery Could Solve One of Solar Power’s Biggest Problems
So far, specific details are thin on the new battery designed for home use that Tesla’s announcing next week. But just based on what we do know, it’s a pretty big deal. The quest for a good battery that can store home-generated power is kind of like the holy grail for a renewable energy future. … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Secret History of the Most Famous Neon Sign in the World
Much like the I Heart NY logo or the Hollywood Sign, the sign welcoming visitors to Las Vegas was not meant as a grand gesture when it was conceived. What was a simple act of civic self promotion—an ad, really—became a piece of public art and eventually an icon in the public domain, plastered on … Continued
Alissa Walker
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