Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 161
April 25, 2017
Startup ChargePoint Will Provide the Juice for Uber’s Electric Flying Cars
Before Uber can get its network of flying electric taxis off the ground, it will need the right infrastructure, including special chargers to keep the batteries full of energy.
So the ride-hailing service is partnering with startup ChargePoint to develop chargers that will fit any vertical take-off and landing aircraft, a.k.a. “flying cars,” the companies announced Tuesday at the Elevate Summit, a three-day conference in Dallas focused on this futuristic form of transportation.
Uber first announced its flying car plans in October when it released a white paper describing its vision of the future. The Uber Elevate program aims to build a network of small, electric aircraft that take off and land vertically. These vehicles, called VTOL (pronounced vee-tol), would theoretically help passengers leapfrog snarling traffic and speed up transportation between suburbs and cities. Ultimately, the program would target transportation within cities as well.
ChargePoint, which has built out an extensive network of public charging stations as well as a mobile app, will design, develop, and manufacture flying-car chargers at designated Uber Elevate Vertiports, which will serve as hubs for taking off, landing, and charging.
The ability to rapidly charge a battery on a VTOL is essential to Uber’s vision, according to Nikhil Goel, the company’s head of product for advanced programs.
The first stations are expected to be in place by 2020, but ChargePoint doesn’t have an estimate on how many will be installed by then. The company will base the vertiport chargers off its existing Express Plus system—ultra-fast DC chargers designed for electric cars, buses, and trucks—and they will incorporate modular design and liquid cooling technology that was developed to allow for thin, flexible charging cables.
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The VTOLs will require about 300 kilowatts more energy than electric cars, so ChargePoint says it will need to develop new cooling technology to keep the battery and cords at an optimal temperature during ultra-fast charging. ChargePoint hasn’t determined what this infrastructure will cost. A spokesman said it will vary based on vertiport details and design.
“At ChargePoint, we are committed to getting everyone behind the wheel of an EV and keeping all types of EVs charged, no matter whether they roll, fly or float,” ChargePoint President and CEO Pasquale Romano said in a statement. “Partnering with Uber Elevate will take both transportation and charging to a new level.”
Under Uber’s vision first revealed last year, passengers would board a VTOL at fixed, designated spots like repurposed tops of parking garages, existing helipads, or unused land surrounding highway interchanges. The VTOL would lift vertically like a helicopter to a cruising altitude of a few thousand feet and then fly forward like a plane. Upon reaching its destination, the VTOL would descend vertically to a designated drop-off/pick-up point.
Uber has hired engineer Mark Moore, a 30-year veteran of NASA and the former chief technologist for on-demand mobility at Langley Research Center, to develop the technology.
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Source:
https://fortune.com/2017/04/25/uber-flying-cars-chargepoint/
Cape Verde Islands, overflowing with activities
The Cape Verde Islands, the exotic volcanic archipelago on the northwest coast of Africa, has seen a significant tourism boost. According to the National Statistics Institute in Cape Verde, foreign visits to the archipelago have increased by 13.6% during last year, with the islands of Sal and Boa Vista being especially popular tourist spots.
This stunning island chain offers an intriguing combination of mountains, beaches and peaceful seaside villages. The destination is warm, with sunny skies year-round and temperatures varying between the mid-70s in January and mid-80s in September.
The island of Sal is primarily a beach resort with long stretches of white sand and azure waters. It is the most developed of all the Cape Verde Islands in terms of tourism, and the island offers spectacular marine life with countless species, including flamboyant tropical fish, dolphins and turtles. Besides snorkeling and scuba diving, Sal is considered to be among the world’s top windsurfing locations.
The Resort Group recently opened the luxurious Llana Beach Resort in Sal. However, one of the quainter places to stay is the small, locally owned hotel Odjo D’agua. The hotel features a spectacular open-air restaurant-bar jutting out into the sea. Be sure to try the freshly caught fish in the restaurant.
Boa Vista, the second most popular island in Cape Verde, offers vast stretches of untouched golden sand; rich, turquoise seas; and a unique atmosphere. The entire island is completely covered in sand. On Praia de Chaves, for example, an old ceramic factory covered in sand yet still perfectly intact.
Depending on the time of year, travelers can spot turtles on Boa Vista’s southern beaches, which are recognized as one of the most signficant loggerhead nesting sites in the world. For the greatest chance to see turtles, visit Boa Vista between June and and September.
Although Boa Vista has a few affordable hotel options, the island also features palaces of pure luxury. The Hotel Riu Touareg looks like a sandcastle, whereas ClubHotel Riu Karamboa has a desert oasis feel reminiscent of a sultan’s palace.
Cape Verde has more to offer than its beaches; the islands have fascinating cultural and natural offerings, as well.
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Avid hikers will love the mountainous peaks of Santiago. The island offers many unique and diverse landscapes ranging from volcanic rocks to green valleys and barren regions.
On Fogo Island, travelers can climb an active volcano, which is one of the highlights of a Cape Verde holiday. The restaurant at the top of the volcano offers a beautiful view of the impressive scenery of Fogo with its dark rocks and black sands, giving an impression of a lunar landscape. Coffee is grown on the outside slopes while the vines used to produce the famous Fogo wine are grown inside the crater. Both are definitely worth a try.
You can drive up a hairpin, cobbled road into the crater, where hundreds of locals make their home. For a memorable stay in Fogo’s crater, try the basic but tasteful, lava-brick guesthouse of Pedra Brabo or spend a night with a local family.
Ornithologists will be able to spot a great number species endemic to Cape Verde. The Raso lark, which is entirely confined to a single island with a total population of 45 pairs, is one of the world’s rarest birds. The Cape Verde swift, Cape Verde warbler and Iago sparrow are the other endemic species.
History buffs will love a daytrip to the old capital of Cidade Velha, a Unesco world heritage site, and Forte Real de Sao Filipe, the main slave-trading point between Europe, Africa and America, provides an interesting insight into the island’s troubled past. This is where the history of Cape Verde began, and the town has had many famous visitors over the years, including Sir Francis Drake and Charles Darwin.
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For culture lovers, Sao Vicente is the place to be. Mindelo, the island’s capital, is proud of its rich tradition of music and art and has a vibrant nightlife with a lively buzz of music throughout the pubs, restaurants and nightclubs.
Music-making is everywhere, and a visit to the Cape Verde Islands would not be complete without experiencing the Cape Verdean morna music in Mindelo, a combination of guitar and violin music often put to lyrics about love.
Cape Verde fast facts:
Getting there
TACV is the national carrier of Cap Verde. TACV has three weekly flights to Lisbon from Praia and one weekly from Sal and So Vicente. TACV flies once a week to Providence, R.I. TAP has daily flights from Lisbon to Praia in peak season. Royal Air Maroc offers regular flights to Cape Verde.
Getting around
Travelers can get around the islands on minibus, which pick up people at unmarked points around town and drop passengers off anywhere on the way, on request. Taxis are also plentiful on the islands. For island hopping, there are several ferries available connecting the islands as well as local flights.
Visas
All visitors to Cape Verde (except holders of some African passports) require a visa. A tourist visa can be obtained without any problems on arrival.
How to pay?
The currency of Cape Verde is the escudo de cabo verde (ECV). Coins come in denominations from 1 to 200 escudos and bills from 200 to 5,000; $1 U.S. is worth approximately 102 ECV.
Exchange counters are located at international airports but not at domestic airports. Credit cards issued by MasterCard or Visa are accepted at major hotels and banks.
Language
The official language of the islands is Portuguese, which is used in most written communication, including newspapers; however Creole tends to be used in conversation.
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Source:
http://www.travelweekly.com/Middle-East-Africa-Travel/Cape-Verde-Islands-overflowing-with-activities
Aruba Tourism Officials Have a Radical Idea to Reduce All-Inclusive Resorts
Tired of tourists who rarely venture outside their resorts, and who leave their wallets locked in the hotel-room safe, Aruba is moving to limit all-inclusive holiday packages.
The Dutch Caribbean island, located 20 miles the north of Venezuela, has become one of the first places in the world to limit all-inclusive deals, which bundle accommodation, food, drinks and entertainment into one price. Regulations that came into effect in August cap all-inclusives at 40 percent of hotel rooms on the island. They currently make up about a third of the country’s 5,500 rooms.
Popularized by chains such as Sandals and Club Med, all-inclusives are one of the fastest-growing segments of the $550 billion hotel industry, and revolutionized tourism in developing countries from Jamaica to Thailand. Tourists gravitate toward such vacations because they’re budget friendly and easy for families reluctant to stray far from beach-side snack bars. Now, Aruba wants tourists to look beyond their resorts, said Otmar Oduber, the nation’s minister of Tourism.
We are moving away from the trend,” Obuder said in a telephone interview. “It’s very important for us for tourism not to become a negative concept in the life of the people of Aruba.”
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SPREADING THE WEALTH
“The all-inclusive, particularly in the Caribbean, is a model that prevents other forms of tourism from flourishing because nobody is leaving the resort,” said Mark Watson, executive director of Tourism Concern, a U.K.-based charity that promotes ethical tourism. “People are flying in, going to the resort, not leaving, and then flying back out.”
The all-inclusives on Aruba include Divi Resorts and Spanish chains RIU Hotels SA and Occidental Hotels. Yvonne Swiezawski, a spokeswoman for RIU, which purchased an resort and reopened it as the all-inclusive Hotel RIU Palace Antillas, said the regulations will affect its plans to grow on the island and negatively impact investors’ perception.
“If the regulation of all-inclusive hotels does not allow us to grow on the island, we will be forced to reinvest somewhere else,” Swiezawski said in an e-mail.
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The all-inclusive business is a significant part of a tourism industry that supports 85 percent of $2.6 billion economy, according to the International Monetary Fund, which said Aruba is the third-most tourism-dependent country in the world. The sector provides a third of all jobs on the island of 100,000 people, according to the U.K.-based World Travel & Tourism Council. Visitors to all-inclusive resorts spent 21 percent less on average than other tourists last year, the Tourism Ministry calculates.
Aruba isn’t the only place to be concerned by the trend. Last year, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras criticized the all-inclusive concept, which he said, “largely alienates tourism from the local economy.” In 2000 Gambia banned the sale of the vacations, although it later rowed back on the decision. In 2011, business owners in Majorca held a day of protests against the resorts.
TAKING RISKS
Aruba’s new regulations may help local businesses, but they also pose risks, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Margaret Huang in an e-mail.
“With a growing competitive market in parts of Mexico and with the threats of the cruise industry, which is essentially an all-inclusive experience, Aruba may lose its appeal as a competitive tourist destination,” Huang said.
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, a Florida-based organization that represents hotel owners, said it recommended Aruba take other approaches to enticing tourists to spend their money outside the resorts.
“Several all-inclusive developers, which were considering investments in Aruba, indicated to us that restrictions on the amount of all-inclusive offerings they would be permitted to provide would force them to reconsider their investments,” spokeswoman Adriana Serna said in an e-mail. “Today’s consumers want choices.”
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E-Books Decline 16.4% and Audiobooks increase by 29.2%
The Association of American Publishers has reported that from January to November 2016 e-books declined by 16.4% and digital audiobooks increased by 29.2%. This is good news for the audio industry that has been consistently been seeing massive gains over the past three years.
Trade Books
From Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015 trade books were flat at 0.5% growth year-to-date.
By Category:
Adult Books were down 2.1% to $4.4 billion
Childrens & YA Books were up 5.8% to $1.6 billion
Religious Presses were up 8.6% to $455.4 million
By Format
Paperback books grew 6.5% to $2.0 billion
Hardback books grew 2.1% $2.5 billion
Downloaded audio grew 29.2% to $244.1 million
eBooks were down 16.4% to $1.1 billion
Educational Materials and Professional Books
Educational Materials had a revenue loss of 9.0% for PreK-12 Instructional Materials and 11.5% for Higher Education Course Materials from Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015
Professional Publishing was down 21.1% From Jan. – Nov. 2016 vs. the same time in 2015. These categories include business, medical, law, scientific and technical books. University presses were down 2.5% for the 11 months.
Source:
http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/e-books-decline-16-4-and-audiobooks-increase-by-29-2
Audible Suspends The Ability To Gift Credits
Audible has just disabled the ability for people to send credits to each other. This is a system in which authors would commonly send credits to users to get a free copy of their audiobooks, but it was abused by people on EBAY selling the credits at a steep discount. Audible has stated that the reason why the killed this system was so they could focus on popular gift memberships and send this book feature.
I believe one of the reasons why Audible disabled the ability to gift credits was because of what a small minority of users were doing. A user by the name of Sixbucks explained what he used to do with the credits “Back when there were a bunch of promos running I would have 4 accounts all taking advantage of the deal and gifting the credits to my primary account.” This resulted in one user with many accounts accumulating a massive amount of credits. They would use the credits to rack up a huge library of audio titles or simply sell the credits on EBAY.
I am very sure that authors and narrators that used to give out credits so people can be exposed to their work will be overjoyed that the credit system has been suspended.
Source:
http://goodereader.com/blog/audiobooks/audible-suspends-the-ability-to-gift-credits
Tom Hardy Chases Down Moped Thief, Profanely Confirms All Your Stereotypes About Tom Hardy
In a heartwarming story of good citizenship that appears to have been concocted in a laboratory to make the GQ Entertainment staff happy, British actor and noted children’s story enthusiast Tom Hardy chased down a runaway moped thief, hauled him out by the scruff of his neck until London police arrived, and described the incident in exactly the manner you expected that Tom Hardy would employ. From The Sun:
A witness in Richmond, London, told yesterday how Hardy chased the thief through gardens and across a building site—before proudly announcing: “I caught the c–t.”
…
Hardy, 39, told one onlooker: “This little s–t nicked something and now he’s got himself a broken leg.”
Apparently, two teenagers fleeing on a stolen moped abandoned their prize after crashing into a car, and Hardy sprang into action. Using language so perfectly and quintessentially British that I can’t help but wonder if I’m being trolled, witnesses described to The Sun the “mental” scene of Hardy, looking “as mad as he does on the telly,” taking off in pursuit of one of the fugitives, vaulting over a series of garden walls—”it was like an assault course,” gushed one new Tom Hardy fan for life—to catch the presumably-terrified thief and make a citizen’s arrest. One gentleman, while gesticulating wildly and pumping his fist, I imagine, raved that it was as if Hardy had “switched to superhero mode in an action movie,” and added that if the fugitive “had been dumb enough to resist,” he reckoned that “Tom would have given him a good hiding.” Even in print, you can almost hear the quavering disappointment in his voice.
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If this turns out to be a viral marketing stunt for, say, the next season of Peaky Blinders, I’ll be sorely disappointed. But unless and until that detail comes out, Tom Hardy is the reigning king of movie star vigilantes, and aspiring grand larcenists would do well to stay clear of his general vicinity in the future.
Source:
http://www.gq.com/story/tom-hardy-real-life-superhero
Black Panther Wraps, Chadwick Boseman Shares Final Set Photo
Chadwick Boseman revealed the final photo from the set of Black Panther, with production wrapping today. The image features the actor standing alongside Lupita Nyong’o and writer-director Ryan Coogler, along with a previously-unannounced cast member, Sydelle Noel (G.L.O.W.). While the actress had not been revealed as part of the cast before, she also responded to Chadwick Boseman’s tweet, stating that they are “making history,” along with the hashtag #ThatsAWrap. While it remains to be seen who she will play, the production wrap now starts the countdown towards the first trailer, which may be coming in a few months.
While Sydelle Noel’s character has still yet to be confirmed, it’s worth noting that she participated in the Get Out Challenge video from the Black Panther set, with Daniel Kaluuya. It’s possible that she’s playing one of the Dora Miljae warriors, the elite team of all-female bodyguards who protect the king of Wakanda, and are also candidates to become the new Queen as well. It’s possible we may find out who Syndelle Noel is playing during Marvel’s Comic-Con 2017 presentation, since studio president Kevin Feige recently confirmed that the studio will have a presence at SDCC. While he wouldn’t confirm what films will be showcased there, it’s completely possible that the filmmakers can cut together a sneak peek of Black Panther in the next three months, to showcase in Hall H. Especially since they already showed off footage earlier this week at a Marvel open house in Burbank. Chadwick Boseman sent the photo out to his Twitter followers earlier this morning.
Last month, we saw a few action-packed car chase set videos from the South Korea set near Gwangan Beach, which showed Black Panther in full costume hanging onto the roof of a Lexus LC as it speeds down the street. There was no indication if that was a stunt double hanging onto the car, or if it was actually Chadwick Boseman, and no details about who was driving the car was released. It’s possible that Erik Killmonger was driving the car, but that has yet to be confirmed, but it’s possible that it could be the villain.
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Black Panther started production in late January, with the full cast list confirming that John Kani, who played T’challa’s father T’chaka in Captain America: Civil War, will return, despite his character being killed in last summer’s blockbuster. No details about his return have been given, but it seems likely that there may be some flashback scenes with T’chaka that illustrate his son’s upbringing in the fictional African country of Wakanda. The cast also includes Michael B. Jordan as the villainous Erik Killmonger, Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira as Dora Miljae warriors Nakia and Okoye, Martin Freeman reprising his Captain America: Civil War role as Everet Ross, Angela Bassett as T’challa’s mother Ramonda, Forest Whitaker as the statesman Zuri, Andy Serkis returning as Ulysses Klaue, Letitia Wright as Serita, who doesn’t appear in the comics, Winston Duke as M’baku, a.k.a. Man-Ape Florence Kasumba as Ayo, another member of the Dora Miljae and Sterling K. Brown as N’Jobu, another character who doesn’t have roots in the comics.
Ryan Coogler, who is coming off the blockbuster Creed, is directing Marvel Studios’ Black Panther from a screenplay he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole who recently was nominated for an Emmy for his work on The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Marvel has set a February 16, 2018 release date for Black Panther, which puts it up against Warner Bros. comedy Game Night. Take a look at the final set photo from Black Panther.
Source:
http://movieweb.com/black-panther-movie-wraps-shooting-final-set-photo/
Plus-Size Model Poses in Swimwear to Send a Powerful Message
Posing in swimwear and showing off skin can be an uncomfortable — and even scary — task for some. But Alex LaRosa, a plus-size model in New York City, doesn’t fall into that category.
The curvy model and community organizer shared an image from a test shoot with photographer Lucas Jones in which she wore a GabiFresh for SwimSuitsForAll bikini top with jeans. Alongside the April 18 photo on her Instagram channel, she included an important message about body image.
“‘She can have a tummy and still look yummy’ is literally the only appropriate caption for this photo!” she captioned the shot. “I am so in love with all my pics from my recent shoot, but I just had to share this completely unedited photo of all this fat black girl magic!”
LaRosa is an advocate for body positivity and aims to spread acceptance and awareness of women of all shapes and sizes via her social media platform.
“It is always my intention to make the Internet a slightly safer space for plus-size women,” she tells Yahoo Style. “I hope my post inspires those who struggle loving their bodies, and I hope it helps to normalize bodies like mine. People of every shape, size, and color deserve to be represented in the media. I’m hoping that we see more #VisuallyPlusSize models in campaigns, on runways, and in magazines.”
Despite loving her figure and fully embracing it, LaRosa wasn’t always confident in her body. “It took me years to get to this place,” she shared with Yahoo Style. “My 15-year-old self wouldn’t even feel comfortable in tank tops, let alone crop tops.”
LaRosa wants to teach young women to be comfortable in their own skin. “Beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes!” she says. “It is not reserved for thin, white, able-bodied people or for anyone else that fits conventional — and unrealistic — beauty standards! I took this picture and immediately thought how important it is for young girls — especially young, fat, and black girls — to see someone who looks like them loving themselves on their Instagram feed.”
To those who don’t agree with her message and leave hateful comments on her content? LaRosa doesn’t have any time for it. “I seriously give them as little attention as possible,” she says. “I delete the comment, block them, smile, and move on.”
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Source:
https://www.yahoo.com/style/plus-size-model-poses-swimwear-send-powerful-message-205521154.html
April 24, 2017
Travel News: Dubai is Booming
Dubai’s tourism sector sustained momentum in its strong start to 2017 with the emirate’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, known as Dubai Tourism, reporting a stellar 11 percent increase in overnight visitation in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2016. January to March 2017 saw 4.57 million travellers visit the city, reflecting over double the growth achieved in the first quarter of last year.
Among Dubai’s top 20 source markets for inbound tourism, China and Russia continued to top the growth trajectory charts with unparalleled 64 percent and 106 percent increases over Q1 2016, delivering 230,000 and 126,000 tourists respectively. Attributable in a large part to the positive regulatory changes enabling citizens from both countries to obtain free visas-on-arrival in the UAE, this performance spike has resulted in both countries moving up in their rankings as key feeder markets for Dubai, with China at number four and Russia at number 11.
Retaining their stronghold on the top three positions were India, KSA and the UK, accounting collectively for 30 percent of total Q1 visits to Dubai, with India becoming the first ever market to record nearly 580,000 visitors in any one quarter, with a massive 23 percent growth in arrivals between January and March.
Despite its 8 percent drop over 2016, driven due to a backward shift in annual school holidays, KSA continued to drive volumes with 440,000 visitors, while the UK rallied growth with its 5 percent increase to mitigate the declines from KSA and Oman, which rounded off the top 5 with 214,000 overnight guests.
The remainder of the top 10 all saw positive contributions, with Iran up a strong 39 percent, Pakistan up 17 percent, the United States up 6 percent, posting a strong recovery over 2016 performance, Germany maintaining stability, and Kuwait bringing up the GCC contribution with 10 percent growth.
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Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of Dubai Tourism, said, “Q1 2017 has set us off on a very strong trajectory for the year and we are pleased to see our strategic investments and policy reforms yielding such definitive impact. As Dubai continues to evolve and expand the breadth and depth of its tourism proposition, we expect to amplify the appeal of our city as the top consideration not only for first-time visitors, but also repeat business and leisure travellers. Thanks to the support from our visionary leadership, backed by the strength of our stakeholder collaboration, we have made tremendous strides in ongoing efforts to increase the city’s accessibility, minimise barriers to travel, and make it as seamless as possible for prospective tourists to visit and revisit Dubai. China and Russia’s strong acceleration in response to our initiatives are a clear reflection of the importance of such measures as facilitators of tourism sector growth.”
Almarri went on to say that the positive start to 2017 is an encouraging endorsement of Dubai’s overall strategy, saying, “We are prudently aware that travel is among the leading industries undergoing a global transformation. In order for Dubai to fulfil its commitment to the ’10X Agenda’ set by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, we must be true innovation leaders. Beyond marketing and promoting the city with the endorsement of all our industry partners, our agenda is focused on amplifying advocacy and putting the ‘voice of our travellers’ at the very heart of defining our future growth priorities. We look forward to the continued support of our government, public and private sector partners as we move a step closer towards delivering 20 million visitors per year by 2020, as well as to collectively creating today, for global travel, what the world may aspire to in 10 years’ time.”
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Source:
http://www.livetradingnews.com/travel-news-dubai-booming-38916.html#.WP5vw9Lyvcs
