Lifestyle posts

As populations grow and continue to migrate into cities, transportation has become an issue within congested cities. Less than half of the inhabitants of New York City, for example, even own a car. It just doesn’t make sense to own one when the distances traveled is short while traffic and parking are impossible. The folks at MIT Media Lab demonstrated this half-scale vehicle to TheNextWeb at the Media Evolution’s The Conference. As you’ll see, this solves two of the three major problems with intra-city travel – ownership (they can be shared) and parking (they fold). Traffic is still a challenge,…

Seven states are currently taxing out-of-state online retailers. The practice, called the “Affiliate Taxes” or “Amazon Taxes”, are spreading rapidly as the catalog loophole that has protected them for years is being re-evaluated. What does this mean from one state to the next? Which states are doing it, which states are considering it, and which states are safe. Perhaps most importantly, what does all of this mean for the future of online retailers? These and other questions are discussed in this infographic by our tax-talented friends at Intuit. Click to enlarge. …

For many in western society, being connected has become a constant state of being. We carry our smartphones everywhere. We have our tablets or laptops available at all times. We spend much of our free time connected to the internet in one way or another. Gadgets have become an integral part of our daily lives. It’s difficult for many to disconnect. That seems to be the premise behind the “Zen and the Art of Detox” package at the Marriott’s Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel. The package comes with a Deluxe King Riverview Room and the amenities of a fancy hotel in beautiful Pennsylvania, but there’s a catch….

It’s a trap. Yes, here comes a conspiracy theory. Get your tinfoil hats on, quickly. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are designed to encourage us to share information. They want us to share our lives through their networks. They want us to share what we find to be interesting whether we find it on the internet or in real life. They want us to share who our friends and family are. They want to know everything about us. There are two primary reasons that we are sharing way too much as a society. This could be a long, comprehensive article, but I’m going to keep it short. They say the…

It wasn’t the airlines or the government that come up with a scientific, algorithmically-based method for speeding up the boarding of a plane. It was an astrophysicist named Jason Steffen who came up with the “Steffen Method” with uses the Monte Carlo optimization method  of calculating to bring us the technique. A few years ago, Steffen was boarding a plane and witnessed the slow methods airlines were using to get people on board. He came up with the Steffen Method which alternates rows, starts with window seats first, and keeps progress moving in the right direction when everyone boards in…

There is much truth in Ben Parr’s Mashable story about the end of the “Daily Deals Era”. The end of Facebook Deals last week was viewed as a benefit for sites that specialize in the arena such as Groupon and Living Social, but now it might have sparked another question: what did Facebook learn that made them pull out so quickly? The concept is a brilliant one. Connect businesses and individuals in a way that is beneficial to both by applying the rise of social media into a bulk-buying arena. The concept was strong but there was one major flaw – the hype machine can only cover up the truth for so long. Many…

Social media is often a paradox. For many, it’s the convergence of our private lives with public access and scrutiny. As a result, many companies are starting to use social media as a litmus test when hiring the same way they use criminal background checks or credit checks. Companies can now legally compile information about you and your public activities on Facebook, Twitter, and everywhere else. If it’s public, it’s usable. If it’s usable, chances are slim that anything you have on your social profiles can help you get a job. They can only hurt. This graphic by our friends at MindFlash breaks it…

Every day, new uses are thought up surrounding current technologies. The gadgets and gizmos that populate western culture have begun to make expand upon themselves and grow in functionality without improvements in software or hardware. It’s humanity that can take these devices and make more out of them than what we originally expected. It’s innovation and creation that drives these non-technical technology advances. Magic, for instance, is something inherent to the devices themselves. Once you add a creative mind to the equation, such as in the case of TEDTalk’s Marco Tempest, something…

It was a scumbag move, but in the end the sheep will still buy it. And so will I. When PC game peripheral maker Razer put the word out earlier in the week that something big was coming, speculation rose. It wasn’t necessarily about the potential product, it was about the message itself. “PC gaming is not dead.” Gamers and bloggers rallied around the message excitedly. People started wondering what it meant. Was there a battle coming? Was a revolution starting? With the ominous messaging style used by Anonymous when they declare things such as taking down Facebook on November 5th, Razer sparked interest…

They are the keys we use to get to some of the most important parts of our online lives. Email, bank accounts, social networks, work applications – there are so many things that are password protected an a lot of people simply do not pay proper attention to making them secure. This infographic by ZoneAlarm breaks down some tips on how to make a secure password for daily use. Click to enlarge. …