I want to sell my house as is

For now, I’m enthusiastic about walk-through virtual store shopping. Even with its limited floor plan and inventory (World of Joy), or ads taunting me about a world of human behavior that’s currently on hold (Ralph Lauren), wandering anywhere outside of the house during this final lockdown push offers a bit of a desperately needed change of scenery. For the dark winter of 2020, being able to wander and connect with the marketplace outside the home in a somewhat familiar way is a holiday shopping winner. … [Read more...] about These virtual stores are a joyful twist on e-commerce

Always-listening earbuds While lots of high-end wireless earbuds now offer a “transparency” mode that lets in outside sound, Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds Pro can activate this feature automatically, relaying audio through their outward-facing microphones when they hear the sound of your voice. The feature isn’t perfect—it’d be even better if it could detect when someone else is talking to you—but it does free up the earbuds’ touchpads for other functions such as volume control. … [Read more...] about CES 2021: The smartest ideas from the scaled-down virtual show

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is hoping to help restore cell service and internet connectivity to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through its high-flying Project Loon balloons. In the wake of hurricanes Irma and Maria, residents of the islands lack access to basic supplies like food and running water, and 83% of people still lack cell reception. Alphabet aims to fix that with its so-crazy-it-just-might-work plan to use balloons that fly in the stratosphere thousands of feet in the air to relay high-speed internet from a telecommunications center through the balloon network, to users’ LTE-equipped phones on the ground. The plan worked in a flood-ravaged Peru earlier this year, and they hope to replicate that success in the Caribbean. Alphabet already has experience working in Puerto Rico, having sent one of their balloon autolaunchers to the island in 2016. … [Read more...] about Puerto Rico cell phone service is still out. Can Alphabet’s Project Loon fix it?

Ten months into the pandemic, this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a little different than in previous years: The average human in America is tired from the unrelenting news cycle, yet more aware than ever of racial injustice. Thus, MLK Day invites a much-needed 24 hours of calm between this week’s impeachment trial and inauguration, and a meaningful reflection on today’s Black Lives Matters movement and the Black life at the center of the 1960s civil rights movement. Here are a few things to know about Martin Luther King Jr. Day. … [Read more...] about MLK Day 2021: What’s open? What’s closed? Who gets off?

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