Archaeological discoveries are happening faster than ever before, helping refine the human story. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/archaeological-discoveries-changing-story-of-human-evolution…
Tag: Living
NYC Internet Plan Aims To Provide All New Yorkers With Broadband Access
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: New York City unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to bring universal internet access to its 8.5 million residents by partnering with private internet service providers, a move Mayor Bill de Blasio says will help close the digital divide. The Internet Master Plan would create partnerships between the city and ISPs to facilitate permitting…
EarthSky’s 2020 meteor shower guide
All you need to know about major meteor showers in 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide…
How to Make a Plan for Your Life and Set Personal Goals
Have you ever stopped to think about what you really want your life to be like? Dr. Richard Shell, an award-winning scholar, teacher, and author at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has found that most people don’t. Luckily, he can help you get started. Below, listen to the conversation or read the […]
The post How to Make a…
China Overwhelming the West in Cities Over a Million People
This decade began just after a historic inflection point, with 51% of the world’s population living in urban areas. From a report: By the numbers: That proportion has continued to rise steadily, reaching 55% as of 2018. It’s climbed faster in China, up from 48% to 59% — meaning an additional 180 million people are living in Chinese cities. China now…
How the On-Demand Economy Reshaped Cities
Since 2010, a slew of on-demand companies and technologies have managed to use consumer data to transform the commercial significance of urban living. From a report: Historically, one of the great economic benefits of urban life is having access to jobs, schooling, goods, and services without needing to travel very far. But digital platforms that aggregate consumer demand are making physical…
Unintended Perk of the Online Mattress Boom: Never-Ending Free Trials
Dozens of bedding venders such as Casper and Tuft & Needle offer generous return policies. Life hackers are taking advantage. From a report: Over the course of 15 months, Mr. Bir slept on five different mattresses, each one purchased and returned consecutively using the free-trial policies of dozens of bed-in-a-box startups. It all began in 2016, when Mr. Bir, a new…
‘I Asked My Students To Turn In Their Cellphones and Write About Living Without Them’
Rog Srigley, writer who teaches at Humber College and Laurentian University, offered his students extra credit if they would give him their phones for nine days and write about living without them. “What they wrote was remarkable, and remarkably consistent,” he writes. “These university students, given the chance to say what they felt, didn’t gracefully submit to the tech industry and…
Colleges Are Turning Students’ Phones Into Surveillance Machines, Tracking the Locations of Hundreds of Thousands
Colleges are tracking students’ location to enforce attendance, analyze their behavior and assess their mental health. One company calculates a student’s “risk score” based on factors such as whether she is going to the library enough. Washington Post reports: When Syracuse University freshmen walk into professor Jeff Rubin’s Introduction to Information Technologies class, seven small Bluetooth beacons hidden around the Grant…
Do You Protect Your iPhone? It’s a Case Study That Divides Americans.
As smartphones balloon in price, some pushing past $1,000, there is a debate between case haves and case have-nots. One side says it makes absolutely no sense to ferry such expensive gadgets unprotected — especially one vital to modern living. From a report: Phone-case holdouts say their nervous pals are delusional, clinging to their bulky silicon prophylactics like a security blanket….