3/26/2017
An electronics ban affecting certain flights to U.S.
Does the ban cover flights departing from the U.S. to the 10
airports?
No. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says fliers can
take laptops and other larger electronic items as part of their carry-on
allowance on flights leaving from U.S. airports.
What exactly is banned?
Laptops and larger electronics will be banned from being
taken on board as carry-on luggage. Smartphones will be allowed, and Homeland
Security says “approved medical devices may be brought into the cabin after
additional screening.”
What is "larger than a smartphone" as it relates
to the ban?
Homeland Security answers that question by saying: "The
size and shape of smartphones varies by brand. Smartphones are commonly
available around the world and their size is well understood by most passengers
who fly internationally. Please check with your airline if you are not sure
whether your smartphone is impacted. "
Can those banned electronic items be checked instead?
Customers will be able to check laptops and larger items,
though experts frequently advise fliers against doing so. That’s because these
typically expensive and fragile items could be a target for theft or damaged in
the handling of checked bags.
When does the ban begin?
It went into effect at 3 a.m. ET on Tuesday March 21
morning, though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said airlines would be
given a 96-hour window to come into compliance.
How long will this last?
“Indefinitely,”
according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. However, one airline
said in a communication to its customers that the electronics ban will remain
in effect through Oct. 14.
On Thursday, Royal Jordanian Airlines tweeted "12 things to do on a 12-hour flight with no laptop of tablet" — suggesting passengers read a book, meet the person next to them, or meditate. But some of the suggestions were a bit more satirical.
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A penthouse owned by Trump's trust (captions)
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A day in the life of a middle manager
 |
| Scott snacks constantly at the buffet of technological distraction |
Many human
jobs are likely to be replaced in whole, or in part. The workplace of
the future will place greater demands on our ability to focus, solve complex problems, think critically and generate creative insights.
But does the average day
of a knowledge worker facilitate this?
Scott works
as a middle manager for a large firm. His weekdays follow a similar routine.
06:30am He
gets out of bed at 6:30am. Like 79% of smartphone owners, Scott looked at his device
within 15 minutes of waking. He then spends 30 minutes on "household
activities" and is among the 42% of people who admit to using e-mail in the bathroom.
Scott
makes himself breakfast and spends a further 30 minutes scanning his phone and
checking e-mail while sipping coffee. On average Scott, like most people,
spreads six hours of e-mail user over each day,
08:00am At 8am, Scott
gets in his car and commutes to work, but he is not among the 18% of workers who admit to checking their e-mail while driving.
09:00am-12:00pm The first
three hours of Scott’s working day are spent in meetings – the average time for
someone in middle management. He switches between checking his smartphone and
replying to e-mails, while pretending to write notes on his laptop (92% of workers admit to multi-tasking during meetings). Scott
goes for a short walk at lunch. He is disciplined and doesn’t check his
smartphone during this time.´
12:30pm-05:30pm Scott’s
afternoon is spent interweaving tasks, mainly phone calls, e-mails, instant
messages and social media (Scott is among the 40% of workers who admit to using the internet and social media during the workday).
Mixed into this digital concoction are the other
distractions of the open office: gossip, snack breaks and noisy co-workers.
05:30pm-10:00pm Scott leaves
the office at 5:30pm and drives home. He does a few jobs around the house, has
an evening meal then enjoys three hours of leisure time. As 70% of people do, he checks his e-mail while watching TV, spending most of his
"down-time" switching constantly between screens: the TV, smartphone and tablet computer.
After
checking his phone for the final time (he has already checked it 149 times today), he tries to fall asleep, but the blue light
from his late-night screen time has suppressed his melatonin production by 22%), so it takes him longer than it should. He finally
falls asleep, exhausted.
Can you relate to this?
What are the consequences of this way of working?
Measuring
cognitive work - Consider
Scott’s day and answer the questions below.
1) Time
pressure: How
much of the available time was he focused on an activity?
2)
Switches: How
often did he switch from one process to the other?
3)
Complexity: How
complex, or routine, were the tasks that Scott was engaged in?
Cognitive
gears - We can use
these three questions to give us a sense of the overall cognitive load for a
given time-period. You can think about this cumulative load in the context of
three ranges, which represent three ‘cognitive gears.’
We can use
these three gears as a quick and simple way to plan and reflect on the
allocation of cognitive resources, and distributing cognitive work through the
day.
Scott spent the majority of his day stuck in
cognitive middle-gear, in a state of constant partial attention. Very little
time was spent in low gear, and a fraction was invested in focused and intense
high gear.
Polarised
work - In contrast,
if our attention is applied optimally, it helps us focus on what’s most
important and ignore what’s not. Many of us could benefit from creating more
distinct periods of focused attention, followed by effective rest and time for
reflection. This "polarised" approach "rescues" time,
thanks to reduced task-switching, reduces stress and facilitates better
progress on tasks with strategic and long-term significance. In addition, we
can enjoy more creative down-time, and better recovery.Edited from World Economic Forum
New 'Basic Economy' Airfares (audio)
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3/25/2017
Wearable technology: First ‘Smart Jacket’
A jacket that communicates with electronic devices is the
latest invention in wearable technology.
The “smart jacket” was developed by Google in partnership
with the American clothing manufacturer Levi’s.
The two companies recently demonstrated the jacket at the
South by Southwest technology conference in Austin, Texas.
The jacket is made from the same denim material that Levi’s
is known for worldwide.
The fabric is made with materials that can
carry electronic signals. This lets people touch an area of the jacket near the
wrist to control their smartphones without taking it our of the pocket.
The interactive jacket includes a small “smart tag” that
attaches to the end of the sleeve. This connects with Bluetooth technology to
communicate with other devices.
If this tag is removed, the jacket can be washed just like
other pieces of clothing.
The jacket is expected to begin selling this autumn for
$350.
The new product demonstrates Google and Levi’s desire to
create a modern version of denim, which was first introduced in 1873.
Developers expect the jacket to be especially popular among
bicycle riders. They may find the technology easier to use than a smartwatch.
The project website says its team expects to see many other
kinds of wearable technology in the future.
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3/19/2017
Hidden messages in world-famous company logos (video)
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Don't do it if you want a free flight upgrade
When you're trying to get the most out of a flight, you might consider
selecting a special meal for the journey, even if your diet doesn't require it.
Whether you go for seafood, vegetarian, or kosher, requesting something
other than the standard meal may seem like a good way to mix things up — or get
something to eat that isn't mass-produced.
According to Nik Loukas, who has worked in the flight industry for over a
decade and runs a successful travel website, these special meals normally have
"a little more love and care" paid to them, as they're made
individually.
Still, he would never order one.
Speaking to Business Insider UK, Loukas said that people looking to get a
free upgrade on their flight should never even think about requesting a special
meal.
"If there’s a special meal request in your booking, the airline
won’t even look at you (for an upgrade)," he said.
Why?
"Because you’ve got a dietary requirement, and they might not be
able to cater for you if they upgrade you," he explained.
Formerly a cabin crew at Australia's flag carrier airline, Qantas, Loukas
now operates InflightFeed, a blog dedicated to reviewing plane food, so he's
well placed to know the ins and outs of how food works in the air.
He's even crowdfunded over €10,000 to film a documentary that 'will lift
the lid on airline meals.'
Loukas will never request a special meal because he knows how much effort
goes into creating them.
Edited from Business Insider
The European Union at 60
Click HERE if you are interested in reading The McKinsey Global Institute Report: New priorities for the European Union at 60.
3/15/2017
Trump's new immigration policy (audio)
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3/12/2017
A disrupted BBC interview
By Helier Cheung
International Relations professor Robert Kelly's interview about South Korea, the country where he lives, was briefly interrupted when his two small children walked in. He managed to keep his composure, and his wife ushered the two young intruders out.
The video has been viewed hundreds of million times - and delighted hundreds of thousands of people on social media. But it didn't go unnoticed that many people - including some media outlets, assumed that Prof Kelly's wife, Jung-a Kim, was the nanny.
It sparked a wider discussion about assumptions about race, gender, and mixed-race couples.
Was it reasonable to assume Ms Kim was a nanny?
Many people feel the assumption that Ms Kim was a helper, rather than the children's mother, was grounded in racial stereotypes about the roles played by Asian women.
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TWITTER/TOODLETINKBABY
Not everyone thinks this is fair. Some have argued that the look of panic on Ms Kim's face, and the way she speedily ushered out the children, suggested that she was the nanny - and concerned for her job.
But others say she behaved as only a mother does - and that she was obviously worried about her husband's interview disruption.
What sort of assumptions do people make about Asian women?
When I was at university in London, most people I met assumed that I (as a British Chinese student) was studying either medicine or economics - when I was actually studying English literature.
It was a little annoying, but not a huge deal. But sometimes assumptions can be more hurtful.
One journalist of Indian descent says when she went to work at a regional newspaper, the receptionist mistook her for a cleaner, and asked her: "Are you here to clean the kitchen?"
And Kumiko Toda, an academic of Japanese descent, says a majority of people who meet her for the first time ask her where she's from - despite her growing up in the UK and having a British accent.
It also seems to have affected how some strangers interact with her.
"I was surprised when chatting about street harassment with my friends who are white - they had quite different experiences. They said they did not experience nearly as much as I did and the comments tended to be less patronising, although just as bothersome in other ways. I wonder whether my ethnicity and the perception of East Asian women as being submissive has something to do with the frequency and the nature of the harassment I experience."
Another factor that may have led to the assumptions that Ms Kim was a nanny, is the fact that many still assume, consciously or unconsciously, that people tend to date others from the same ethnic group.
Once, I was at a concert with three male friends - two white English, and one British Chinese - and everyone I spoke to assumed that I was dating the Chinese guy.
Some have argued that assuming that Ms Kim was the nanny is a sign of white-centric bias. But others have argued it's a chance for people to revisit their assumptions.
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TWITTER/@MARIACHONG
And assumptions about race can be a two-way street.
Helen (not her real name), a Filipina nanny working in South Korea, says she has noticed that some "Koreans are very particular about skin colour" and appear to discriminate against some people with darker skin.
Meanwhile, Andrew Wood, a BBC journalist who worked in South Korea for two years, says he was often mistaken for a US soldier while he was there.
"Taxi drivers rarely stop for white men on Friday or Saturday night as they allegedly assume white men are drunk soldiers who will vomit in the back of their cabs."
3/08/2017
3/07/2017
This House Was 3D Printed in 24 Hours (video)
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3/06/2017
Pedestrians and robots to share the pavements
A new breed of ’droids is about to take to the world’s pavements.
Gita was unveiled earlier this month by Piaggio Fast Forward, a subsidiary of Piaggio, an Italian firm that is best known for making Vespa motor scooters. Gita’s luggage compartment is a drumlike cylinder that has been turned on its side. As the picture above shows, two wheels of slightly larger diameter than the drum let the whole thing roll smoothly along, keeping the luggage compartment upright, at up to 35kph. Normally, though, Gita does not travel anything like that fast. Instead, it follows at walking pace a metre or two behind its human owner—or, more accurately, an electronic belt that the owner wears. A wireless connection to a stereoscopic camera on this belt lets it map its surroundings, better enabling it to trail its owner around street corners or through doors.
Gita can carry up to 18kg of cargo for about eight hours between charges. That makes it ideal for ferrying the shopping of those who still prefer to visit stores in person, rather than ordering goods online. Eventually, though, it will serve the online market too, using its own cameras, maps and ultrasonic sensors to carry out deliveries by itself.
Piaggio is now putting a dozen or so Gitas to work in pilot projects around America, doing things like carrying tools for workers, guiding people through airports and assisting with deliveries. And it is not alone. Starship Technologies, an Estonian company started by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, two of the founders of Skype, has similar ambitions. Starship’s as-yet unnamed suitcase-sized robot has six small wheels, travels at 6kph and holds 10kg of cargo. Rather than following a human being, it navigates itself around using cameras and ultrasonic sensors—though a remote operator can take control of it to supervise tricky manoeuvres such as crossing roads.
Starship already has dozens of these robots trundling around delivering packages, groceries and takeaway food to customers in several European cities, and also in Washington, DC, and parts of Silicon Valley. It hopes to offer such deliveries commercially for about $1 a pop. The firm says that its robots have covered tens of thousands of kilometres and met millions of people so far, with no accidents. And although each robot currently requires its own human overseer, the plan is that, ultimately, a single person will be able to control up to 100 of them online.
One problem faced by the designers of ’bots such as these is that unlike roads, which have well-established rules, lane markings and traffic signals to guide autonomous vehicles using them, the pavements running alongside those roads are what roboticists refer to as “unstructured environments”. People can walk, jog or roller-skate wherever they please on them, and there are dogs, strollers, signs and rubbish to avoid, as well.
Matt Delaney, an engineer who has worked on autonomous cars and lunar rovers, and is now starting his own robotic-delivery firm, Marble, in San Francisco. “The pedestrian environment is very cultural,” he says. “If you monitor people over many long repetitions in testing, a robot can learn the best routes.”
Irritating though they may eventually become to some, however, lightweight, slow-moving robots like Piaggio’s and Starship’s do not generate the safety concerns that accompany autonomous cars (which are heavy and fast-moving) and flying drones (which can fall out of the sky onto your head, and also cause a significant noise nuisance). As a result, they do not attract the same level of official regulation. Starship has found that most cities welcome the robots with open arms. They have the potential to reduce pollution and congestion by taking vans off the roads, to increase convenience and to reduce costs. And they have one other advantage. When they bring something
to your doorstep, they do not expect a tip.
edited from The Economist
Report explores robo-journalism
Ten reporters from a range of news organizations, including Thomson Reuters, the BBC and CNN, offered their views on automated journalism in a study led by Professor Neil Thurman of LMU Munich and City, University of London.
The journalists, who cover fields such as crime, sports and finance and have various levels of seniority, shared their opinions with researchers after trying out automated journalism software from a leading (but unnamed) technology provider. The participants independently created template stories into which data were then inserted automatically.
"Repetitive… limiting… boring"
Unsurprisingly, they weren’t exactly blown away by the resulting articles. Left unimpressed with the quality of the content, the journalists also criticized the idea of creating a template story in advance.
“Writing everything in advance is very limiting. You can’t get a reaction to those numbers, you can’t explain or interrogate them, because you wrote it all before the numbers came out,” a BBC journalist said.
Some found producing a news story this way irritating and unintuitive, and criticized the lack of creativity in the process. “I can’t tell you how bored I was. It is essentially computer programming and I hate computer programming,” was the verdict of a BBC reporter.
Potential for reducing costs and increasing speed
Yet, despite these negative reactions, many journalists saw the potential positives in implementing automated journalism in newsrooms, such as reducing costs, increasing speed, and serving readers with personalized content.
“You could automatically generate a story about, for example, Leicester vs Liverpool [a soccer match] and send a different version of the story to Liverpool and Leicester, and have a third one for neutrals,” a Reuters sports journalist said.
It was also seen as complementary to a reporter’s work, with two senior sports writers from the same organization suggesting that “the first stage of the news cycle, the straightforward facts, could be automated,” with the human journalist coming in “further up the value chain.”
Not limited to sports
At Reuters in particular, automated journalism appears to be on the rise. Indeed, as one senior sports journalist put it, “we’re looking at it in all parts of the company.”
He said Reuters was developing a product “mainly for mobile devices,” in partnership with a US-based technology company, to cover US sports. Slideshow-style videos would be created automatically from photos, with narration “extracted” from an “automated three-paragraph story.”
And the use of robo-journalism isn’t limited to sports reporting. A financial journalist said the company is “looking extensively” at automation in the finance sector, with another adding that quite a lot of “snaps” – news alerts that are sent out before a full story is published – are already automated.
“Robo-journalism is limited in its ability to provide the contemporaneous context that is essential to much reporting, to understand the nuances of human expression that help determine how events are reported, and to consistently recognize the most important news angle,” Thurman writes in the report's conclusion.
”However, we believe it will be used more often to produce simple factual reports, increase the speed with which such reports are published, and cover topics currently below the threshold of reportability,” he writes.
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