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Tech NewsStop Drinking Bottled Water
There are few things on this planet I hate more than bottled water. Just the crinkling sound of someone wrapping their mouth around one of those squeaky garbage accordions fills me with rage. I stopped drinking it a long time ago—and you should stop drinking it, too. In 2015, in the midst of a major … Continued
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Tech NewsWhat’s Happening With Hyperloop, Explained
Hyperloop is maybe almost possibly here! But which hyperloop company did that thing this week? And what kind of technology is it using? Does it work? Most importantly, when are we getting one? We have all the answers for you, right here. It’s hard to sift through all the news about the totally tubular high-speed … Continued
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Tech NewsWatch the First Full-Scale Demo of Hyperloop Technology
A hyperloop startup has built the first full-scale test track for the transportation system in the desert outside Las Vegas. Today, Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies) accelerated a test vehicle down a rail track at speeds of up to 300 mph using the hyperloop’s propulsion technology. It looked like a really fast roller coaster. What … Continued
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Tech NewsHere’s What the First Full-Scale Test of the Hyperloop Will Look Like
Wednesday morning, in the Nevada desert, one of the companies working to develop a hyperloop will deliver a proof of concept—the first full-scale demonstration of the transportation technology that will be able to travel at speeds over 300 mph in an open-air environment, potentially changing the future of transit along the way. What engineers are … Continued
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Tech NewsUber Is Doing Something Halfway Decent For Its Drivers
After angry protests and several lawsuits, Uber is finally letting its drivers have representation from a union. Uber’s 35,000 New York City-based drivers will be represented by a special arm of the International Association of Machinists (IAM). But it doesn’t mean they’re unionized, exactly. Through IAM, Uber drivers will be able to join something called … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
California’s Drought Restrictions Will Be Permanent Because the Drought Probably Will Be, Too
It feels like just yesterday that California Governor Jerry Brown issued mandatory water conservation measures for a state suffering through its fourth year of exceptional drought. How young, how naive we were back then in April 2015, to think this would be a temporary thing. Today, Brown made the water restrictions permanent. An executive order … Continued
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Tech NewsWatch the First Passenger Train to Travel from Downtown LA to Santa Monica in 60 Years
Today, for the first time since 1953, a train filled with passengers traveled from downtown Los Angeles to downtown Santa Monica. A preview ride for the city’s brand-new Expo Line extension allowed a few dozen transit employees, journalists, and politicians including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, to experience the ride which opens to the public … Continued
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Tech News
Riders of the DC and NYC Subway Systems Are Totally Screwed
This week, the passengers of the two most popular public transit systems in the country got some really bad news. Parts of both the Washington, DC and New York City subways will be closed for repairs to their aging infrastructure over the next few years, stranding many without any viable transportation options. For DC, the … Continued
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Tech News
Germany Will Add Self-Driving Vehicles to Its Railroad Network
Deutsche Bahn, the German government-owned rail system that manages travel throughout the country, is planning to add autonomous vehicles to its system with the goal of offering seamless door-to-door transit. As Deutsche Bahn’s CEO Reedier Grube explained to the German publication WirtschaftsWoche, the system already markets trains as a good alternative to driving because they … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
Hell No, the UAE Should Not Build a Rain-Making Mountain to Fix Its Water Problems
It sounds like the plot of a summer blockbuster, but the United Arab Emirates is apparently quite serious about building a mountain to increase rainfall in the region. Would it work? Probably. But instead of launching an infrastructure project where a very rich country attempts to dig its way out of a drought, the UAE … Continued
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Tech NewsBio-Engineering Is a Lot Less Dystopian When It Looks Like an Acid Trip
The burgeoning industry of biological design is in the headlines every day. Yet even science journalists have had trouble explaining concepts like CRISPR in terms that everyone can understand. A new exhibition at a Silicon Valley museum skillfully explains the technically and ethically complicated field of bio-engineering to adults—as well as the next generation of … Continued
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Tech News
FDA Officially Regulates E-Cigarettes Like Tobacco, Banning Sales to People Under 18
Sorry, teens. The Food and Drug Administration is banning sales and use of electronic cigarettes to people under 18, the same way it already regulates traditional nicotine products. The rule is intended to subvert a troubling statistic when it comes to smoking: While overall tobacco use is way down, the number of high schoolers vaping … Continued
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Tech News
Elon Musk Worries That Babies Are Built More Efficiently Than Teslas
Tesla had an earnings call today which was fairly typical for a Tesla earnings call. Except for the part where Elon Musk tried to relate the human gestational period to Tesla’s production cycle. There was reason for Musk to talk about timing today. There are roughly a bazillion orders in for Tesla’s new Model 3, … Continued
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Tech News
Minivans Are the Future
The news that Google’s next self-driving car will be a modified Chrysler Pacifica hybrid has quickly elevated “minivan” from the punchlines of dad jokes to a totally serious solution for our transportation troubles. It’s not surprising at all. Zipping a bunch of people and their stuff around a city safely is exactly what minivans were … Continued
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Tech News
Look How Much Nicer Our Streets Will Be When They’re Used By Self-Driving Cars
Autonomous cars are coming, and with them comes the promise of a future that’s safer and healthier for all. These are the most compelling visual arguments for that future that I’ve seen yet. A new study, “Making Better Places: Autonomous vehicles and future opportunities,” explores how self-driving vehicles will help transform where we live, from … Continued
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Tech News
Google’s Next Futuristic Self-Driving Car Is a Chrysler Minivan
After months (and months and months) of rumors, including one rumor that it was partnering with Ford, Google’s self-driving car is going into manufacturing mode, with a new prototype based on the Chrysler Pacifica minivan. But hold the grocery-getter jokes, please. An autonomous minivan is exactly what Google should be making. Google announced the partnership … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle Is Helping Flint Prioritize Which Lead Pipes Need to Be Replaced
In March, Flint, Michigan began the seemingly impossible task of replacing the pipes that delivered lead-poisoned water to its citizens. I say “impossible” because there’s no real way for the city to know with absolute certainty which pipes need to go. A team of data scientists from Google and the University of Michigan’s Michigan Data … Continued
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Tech News
Would You Pay $500 a Week to Live in This Glorified Hostel?
The housing crisis is edging an entire generation out of the most expensive cities on the planet. But what if you could still live in those cities, moving between them like a digital-age vagabond, sharing well-appointed apartments for short stints with likeminded globetrotters? That’s the promise of a new co-living startup called Roam. Founded last … Continued
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Tech NewsIs This Radiohead’s New Song? [Updated: Yes It Is]
The band Radiohead erased itself from the internet earlier this week Or did it? Now, from the echoing empty chambers of the band’s blank slate of engagement, there is a new auditory experience. About 24 hours after Radiohead scrubbed its online presence, a short Instagram video was cross-posted to the band’s Twitter and Facebook accounts: … Continued
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Tech News
The Festival For Tech CEOs Who Are Too Rich for Burning Man
Much like the city in which it was originally founded, the annual Burning Man festival has gentrified, and its wealthier attendees have been criticized for building walled-off compounds and bringing private chefs in the name of comfort. That’s why a group of longtime Burners who also happen to be tech company millionaires decided to break … Continued
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker's posts