A self-sustaining shower speaker Waterproof shower speakers are hardly new, but Ampere has gone a step further by using hydropower to keep its speaker charged. The Shower Power speaker installs between your shower’s water pipe and showerhead, working like a water wheel to charge its battery and playing audio over Bluetooth from your phone. Ampere says that if you use the speaker only while the water’s on, it should never run out of power. … [Read more...] about CES 2021: The smartest ideas from the scaled-down virtual show
Covid vaccine
These virtual stores are a joyful twist on e-commerce
These stores may be part of a new trend, but they also recall an earlier era. Even before the web, people were creating virtual walk-through environments. In the early 1990s, pan, zoom, and select interfaces were circulating in the technology community—some using video, and others based on rendered graphics. Dan O’Sullivan at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program put his apartment online via a telephone interface that controlled prerecorded video on CD-ROM. “Dan’s Apartment ” gained a cult late-night cable TV following, and O’Sullivan interned at Apple around the same time that it was developing QuickTime, its multimedia framework. … [Read more...] about These virtual stores are a joyful twist on e-commerce
The pandemic created a biking explosion. How can cities make it permanent?
The time to act is now. We have a clear public demand on our side and abundant appetite from people to incorporate active travel into their daily lives. Let’s make sure we seize the opportunity and make this a turning point for human-powered transport—our future depends on it. … [Read more...] about The pandemic created a biking explosion. How can cities make it permanent?
From King to Warnock: How the Ebenezer Baptist Church became a center of Black organizing
From the pulpit of Ebenezer, King preached some of his more memorable sermons. In one of his sermons published in a collection titled The Strength to Love, King describes racial prejudice as indicative of “softmindedness,” a person’s tendency to uncritically adhere to unsupportable beliefs. … [Read more...] about From King to Warnock: How the Ebenezer Baptist Church became a center of Black organizing
These are the 3 skills you need to succeed in 2021
Erik Larson’s recent book, The Splendid and the Vile, shows Churchill’s use of many of the same tools that Shackleton exhibited. During the Battle of Britain, the English prime minister also faced impossible odds in a time of crisis, but his leadership acumen helped guide the country through its “Darkest Hour.” The lessons in the book – ones of optimism, honesty, and grit – are relevant for present-day managers; you don’t have to be running a country to apply them. Whatever tools you consider using to sharpen your crisis management skills, rest assured that the ability to coolly and confidently make decisions and encourage others along a given path is a skill that is in short supply and is hugely valued. … [Read more...] about These are the 3 skills you need to succeed in 2021
