How electric cars are better than gas cars

If you have an electric car but can’t charge it at home—as is the case for apartment dwellers who park on the street—finding a place to plug in can be challenging. Your employer might have chargers in your office parking lot, but if they sit in only a handful of spaces and those spaces are occupied, you’re out of luck. A prototype from Volkswagen demonstrates an alternative: a mobile charging robot that can roll from car to car and plug itself in. … [Read more...] about This helpful little Volkswagen robot will roll up and charge your electric car

But for the employees at Tough Mudder’s Brooklyn headquarters, the company’s focus on physicality is more about encouraging staff to garner experience, rather than rewarding them for having the lowest body fat percentage. Many departments ask employees to have a personal objective for the year–whether it’s taking time out for surfing or to attend a cooking class–and they’re held to those personal objectives just as they would be held to a workplace objective like getting more sponsors. … [Read more...] about Where Getting a Mild Electrical Shock Is Part of Your Job: How Tough Mudder Rewards Achievement Outside The Office

Again, this is a challenge that requires many parts and levels of government to work toward the same goal. It will require expanding carbon-free transportation, including more electric vehicles, charging stations, better battery technology, and clean energy. That involves regulations and funding for research and development from multiple departments, as well as trade agreements, tax incentives for electric vehicles, and a shift in how government agencies buy vehicles. The EPA can facilitate these efforts or hamstring them, as happened when the Trump EPA revoked California’s ability to set higher emissions standards—something the Biden administration is likely to quickly restore. … [Read more...] about Biden plans to fight climate change in a way no U.S. president has before

Today, Systrom says, the company’s mission is “strengthening relationships through shared experiences.” The idea underpinning this goal is that Instagram should offer users a more overt and unvarnished way to connect through the universal language of images—to broadcast moments and not just just-so snapshots. “A lot of times you’re on the way to the airport, or you’re at a campground, and [a photo] doesn’t need to endure, because you’re not actually sharing a photo: You’re just communicating a status update of what you’re doing,” says product manager Stein, who has only been with Instagram since May 2016 but fell in love with the app as one of its original beta testers. “That [emphasis on experiences] wasn’t always clear to us,” Systrom says. “It wasn’t always clear to Facebook. And it wasn’t always clear to the world.” … [Read more...] about How Instagram Changed—Before It Had To

In Paris, the Champs-Élysées was originally designed as a place to stroll. But in 2021, around 64,000 cars travel down the eight-lane avenue each day. It’s polluted and noisy, and while the sidewalks are filled with tourists, it isn’t a place where people living nearby want to walk. … [Read more...] about Paris is turning its iconic street into pedestrian gardens