Apple announced Monday that it is allocating $400 million toward affordable housing and homeowner assistance programs in California this year, as part of the $2.5 billion commitment announced in November. From a report: The housing crisis has worsened in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, forcing states and cities to pause spending on affordable housing projects. Big Tech’s wealth has been…
Tag: housing
Should We Plan For a Future With Fewer Cars?
The New York Times ran a detailed piece (with some neat interactive graphics) arguing “cities need to plan for a future of fewer cars, a future in which owning an automobile, even an electric one, is neither the only way nor the best way to get around town…” It asks us to imagine a world where there’s suddenly more room for…
Harvard Will Allow Some Students on Campus This Fall So Long as They Take Coronavirus Tests Every 3 Days
Harvard University is welcoming freshmen and some other students back to campus this fall semester, but students will have to take coronavirus tests every three days, classes will still be taught online and it won’t discount tuition, the school announced Monday. From a report: Upperclassmen will be able to petition to return if they don’t have sufficient technology at home or…
London’s ‘oldest theater,’ built just 3 years after Shakespeare’s birth, discovered
The remains of what may be the oldest theater in London — constructed three years after Shakespeare’s birth — have been unearthed ahead of a new housing development in the East End of the modern city. Source: https://www.livescience.com/oldest-elizabethan-theater-london.html
College Tests Called Unfair To Homebound, Tech-Poor Students
A group of high school students sued the College Entrance Examination Board claiming its advanced placement tests are unfair to teens trapped at home by the coronavirus pandemic without adequate computers or internet connections. From a report: The board, which offers college-level curriculum for courses and exams to high school students, and Educational Testing Services, which administers the advanced placement exams,…
Cool! A Hubble photo translated to music
There’s no sound in space. But – working with NASA – musicians and scientists turned a Hubble Space Telescope image of a galaxy cluster into music. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/hubble-photo-galaxy-cluster-rxc-j0142-94438-music…
What’s new on Coursera for Business – April 2020
By Adam Lewis, Skills Transformation Consultant As we continue to adapt to the new norm, here are 114 new courses and projects to pick out what’s important to you. You can try out Yale’s latest insights on why your Facebook friend is wrong about the stats they’re sharing. Or find your purpose with Michigan’s course […]
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4 amazing astronomical discoveries from ancient Greece
The ancients made some jaw-dropping discoveries without modern technology. For example, the size of the moon. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/4-amazing-astronomical-discoveries-ancient-greece…
Microsoft President Calls Washington State’s New Facial Recognition Law ‘a Significant Breakthrough’
Microsoft President Brad Smith took a break from responding to the COVID-19 outbreak this week to praise Washington state’s landmark facial recognition regulations. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Tuesday that establishes rules specifically governing facial recognition software. From a report: Smith called the law an “early and important model” and “a significant breakthrough” in a blog post published Tuesday….
Court Finds Algorithm Bias Studies Don’t Violate US Anti-Hacking Law
“A federal court in D.C. has ruled in a lawsuit against Attorney General William Barr that studies aimed at detecting discrimination in online algorithms don’t violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” reports Engadget:
The government argued that the Act made it illegal to violate a site’s terms of service through some investigative methods (such as submitting false info for research), but…