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The importance of smart data collection There was another important discovery we made: While collision data for intersections in Boston and San Francisco was straightforward, New York City proved difficult. The reason being that, where the other two cities specified intersection versus street in their collision reporting, New York only gave longitude and latitude of each crash. Fortunately, Bernbaum found a clever workaround using an algorithm method called “R trees” to draw a sort of bubble around each route. Any collision that happened within that bubble could now be assigned to a corresponding bike route. We were able to see a more comprehensive picture this way, but it was a reminder that solid, reliable data depends on cities collecting as many pertinent details as possible in its reporting. … [Read more...] about Do bike lanes actually make cyclists safer?

Best yet, the new blur tool’s operations are carried out entirely on your smartphone—so no images are transmitted to a server somewhere to have faces blurred. But Signal does note that its new blur faces tool isn’t perfect—it may not blur every face in a photo. That’s why users can also quickly add blurs to any part of the photo they want just by using their fingers. Portions of a photo protesters might want to blur (besides faces) are any protester’s distinguishing marks, such as tattoos or logos on their clothes. … [Read more...] about Signal should be protesters’ messaging app of choice thanks to new blur face tool

Multitasking on mute Going video-free during a work meeting also gives the person a chance to do other things during the call, whether it’s play around on a smartphone or productively respond to urgent emails. Women do more multitasking, according to University of Michigan psychology professor Priti Shah, a multitasking and complex cognition expert, who admitted to participating in a Zoom meeting in audio-only mode, while making lunch for her child. … [Read more...] about Do you show your face in Zoom meetings? Your gender may play a role

It’s something the brand has become known for nearly as much as they’re known for Chunky Monkey. The proof is in the way Twitterers responded to the message. Aside from the usual brand of detractors condemning their stance, or trying to out-woke them, Ben & Jerry’s seemed to have the corporate statement most difficult to dunk on. … [Read more...] about People applaud Ben & Jerry’s for condemning white supremacy in strongest corporate statement yet

“We understand that many of our critics are angry about the inflammatory rhetoric President Trump has posted on our platform and others, and want us to be more aggressive in removing his speech,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs, wrote in a letter to advertisers on Wednesday. “As a former politician myself, I know that the only way to hold the powerful to account is ultimately through the ballot box. That is why we want to use our platform to empower voters to make the ultimate decision themselves, on election day.” … [Read more...] about The problem with Facebook’s plan to sign up 4 million voters