Cities of Tomorrow: Syracuse and Others Opt for Citywide Smart Tech | Digital Trends

July 5, 2019July 4, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Smart home technology is no longer limited solely to residential use. Syracuse has begun to upgrade the city’s streetlights to LEDs equipped with a “smart node” on top. According to Andrew Donovan of WSYR, bucket trucks will begin installing 3,000 lights per month until they complete the project with a total of 18,000 new streetlights across the city. The brightness of the lights can be controlled remotely, and sensors will automatically inform officials of broken lights.

But Syracuse isn’t the only city switching to smart lights. Apolitical reports that Pittsburgh has reduced travel time by 25% through the use of smart traffic lights. The Baltimore Sun reports that Baltimore is fast-tracking a program to introduce smart lights throughout the city. According to the Rivard Report, San Antonio is testing smart streetlights that not only improve lighting conditions throughout the city, but also track and measure flood patterns, temperature, air quality, and even available parking spots.

5 Reasons Why You Should Respond to All Your Reviews | Bussiness.com

July 5, 2019July 4, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Would you do business with your own company? If you searched for your company by its brand name and added the word “reviews” at the end, would you be happy with what people are saying?

Competition is fierce in today’s digital age, with nearly every business claiming the best products and services and touting fantastic customer service. How then do people decide which company they’re going to do business with?

Why Online Reviews are Crucial to Business Success | The Startup Magazine

July 4, 2019July 2, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Yes, it’s true that word-of-mouth marketing has always been important to business success, but today, online reviews serve as potent extensions of this phenomenon. In the mobile, digital era, we’re more connected than ever.

When people are looking for something – whether it’s a product, a service, a company or a place to visit – they turn to online reviews to help them decide where to spend their money. And studies show that people trust online reviews as much as they do recommendations from personal friends. What’s perhaps more shocking is that only 54% trust the information they find on company websites.

Census 2020: Trump drops plan for controversial citizenship question | BBC News

July 4, 2019July 2, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Trump administration has dropped a controversial plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, marking a major victory for civil rights groups.

It comes just days after the Supreme Court blocked efforts to include the question, ruling that the government’s justification seemed “contrived”.

The White House argued it would bolster protections for minority voters.

Instagram Security Flaw Affected Millions Says Facebook, Showing a Shocking Lack of Basic Protection | Inc.com

July 3, 2019July 2, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you were so inclined, you could spend the hours equivalent to a full-time job tracking how many ways Facebook has flubbed user privacy. The company’s chutzpah rating has been relentlessly strong. For example, it asked banks for user financial information while it was getting virtually pelted for playing so fast and loose with consumer data.

Now there’s yet another issue. Facebook announced that the passwords of “millions of Instagram users” had been kept in plain text–readable by anyone who could and wanted to–the way last month tens of millions of Facebook users learned their passwords had been so mishandled.

Uber Eats invades restaurants with Dine-In option | TechCrunch

July 3, 2019July 2, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Tired of cleaning up after take-out or getting hangry waiting at your table in restaurants? Well Uber Eats is barging into the dine-in business. A new option in some cities lets you order your food ahead of time, go to the restaurant, then sit down inside to eat, a tipster from competing dine-in app Allset tells us. We tested it, and Uber Eats Dine-In even waives the standard Uber delivery and service fees.

Why You Still Can’t Buy Fireworks on Amazon | WIRED

July 2, 2019July 1, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

IT MAY BE known as the “everything store,” but there are some things, in fact, that Amazon does not sell. The ecommerce giant maintains a list of restricted product categories that ranges from weapons such as firearms, to booze and tobacco products, to pets, to kite strings for the niche sport of kite fighting. And as you get ready to celebrate the Fourth of July, you should also know that list includes fireworks.

Your Company Might Offer High Salaries, But Does It Have Soul? | Entrepreneur

July 2, 2019July 1, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s a well-established stereotype that large-scale companies are about as approachable as a concrete wall. The clichés say it all: Those who “sell out” to work for the “man” become corporate cogs, dedicating their working lives to the daily grind.

The language we’ve assigned to corporate work brings to mind gray cubicles, professional drudgery and drab cultures. Larger enterprises have a reputation for offering excellent salaries and poor experiences — and for some, the tradeoff might not be worth it. For all their perks and benefits, corporations’ lack of approachability may prevent company recruiters from accessing the top-tier talent that should, by all rights, be within their reach.

Why Estonia is the Best Destination for Digital Entrepreneurs | Getentrepreneurial.com

July 1, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When thinking of Estonia, it might come to your mind that it’s close to Russia, has a medieval capital city that is also a UNESCO world heritage or that it is one of the least densely populated countries in Europe. But the small Baltic country has much more to offer than that. In fact, it is often referred to as the world’s first digital nation and has become dependent on the internet. Estonians have evolved into a digital community that does their taxes without leaving the house, votes for an election through an app and looks at their health record online. The government has made 90 percent of all its services available on the internet and they can be accessed simply with an ID-card and a personal password.

Sustainable egg carton is made out of seeds that sprout when replanted | Inhabitat

July 1, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As the world teeters on the brink of suffocating from single-use products, some designers are quickly coming up with ingenious ways to reduce our waste. For example, Greek designer George Bosnas has just unveiled the Biopack, a compact egg carton made out of cleared paper pulp, flour, starch and biological legume seeds. Instead of throwing out the eco-friendly container at the end of its use, it can be planted directly into the ground to sprout green plants.