| ||||
 Costa Rica ran almost entirely on renewable energy in 2016
Costa Rica ended 2016 on a particularly green note. The Central American nation ran entirely on renewable energy for more than 250 days last year, the country's power operator announced. Renewables supplied about 98.1 percent of Costa Rica's electricity for the year, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) said in mid-December. Fossil fuels provided the remaining 1.9 percent. The country of 4.9 million people gets most of its electricity from large hydropower facilities, which are fed by multiple rivers and heavy seasonal rains. Read more... More about Central America, Costa Rican Electricity Institute, Costa Rica, Electricity, and Power Plants Read More »It took 100 years and 1 inspirational video for new NYC subway line to launch
It's the train that many thought would never arrive. After almost 100 years of discussion, the 2nd Avenue Subway line in New York City opened on New Year's Day, complete with a corny video and inadequate restrooms. There were no rats in sight as trains started running at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. This is just Phase I of the project and is an extension of the Q-line that includes stops at 72nd, 86th and 96th Streets. More than 200,000 New Yorkers are expected to use this extension, which means you will only need to catapult yourself into a sweaty, overcrowded subway car every other morning. More about Mta, New York City, New York, Subway, and Tech Read More »Beijing welcomed 2017 from beneath a blanket of smog
Beijing residents rang in the New Year from deep inside a cloud of hazardous smog. Air pollution in northern China was so heavy over the weekend that authorities on Sunday canceled dozens of flights at Beijing's main airport and suspended buses from the capital to neighboring cities, the airport said in a statement. Just south of Beijing, in the metropolis of Tianjin, more than 200 flights were canceled at the local airport due to poor visibility and some bus routes and highways were closed due to the smog, according to the city government, Reuters reported. Read more... More about Greenpeace, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy, and Coal Fired Power Read More »France's new "right to disconnect" law rolls out
Sunday saw the activation of the new "right to disconnect" law in France, a law that means workers are not obligated to read or send work-related emails outside of office hours. Under the new law, companies of 50 or more people are now obliged to negotiate with workers' guidelines that set when employees are not required to read or answer work-related emails. If the two sides can't come to an agreement, the company must publish a charter that specifically outlines what is expected of workers outside of work hours. Read more... More about France Labor Laws, Right To Disconnect, Francois Hollande, Business, and Work Play Read More »Kobe, LeBron offer Ronda Rousey support after social media mocks UFC loss
UFC legend Ronda Rousey disappeared immediately following her stunning 48-second loss to Amanda Nunes on Friday, but that didn't stop fans on social media from crafting some of the meanest digs at the fallen champ ever. No, we're not going to recap most of them, just trust us, it got pretty nasty pretty quickly. Even Nunes — mostly gracious and professional following her win — weighed in on Twitter with a Photoshopped image of Rousey as a crying baby in a stroller with Nunes hovering over her. Some of the digs at Rousey weren't completely shocking given her apparent disrespect of past opponents (not shaking hands, etc.) and recent refusal to address the media. But despite that, several major sports stars rushed to Rousey's defense following her defeat by offering public shows of support. Read more... More about Twitter Reactions, Twitter, Social Media, Jon Jones, and Mma Read More »Emma Watson wows in first song as Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast'
It is now clear that Emma Watson is the Belle from Beauty and the Beast that we have been waiting for. On Friday, Disney released an exclusive first listen to Watson singing "Something There" from the upcoming 2017 live action remake of the classic fairytale. The chilling rendition puts to bed any doubts over Watson's ability to sing. The role will be Watson's first singing gig, with the Harry Potter star confessing to Total Film magazine in 2015 that she found the musical part "terrifying." “I sing, so that’s really unexpected,” she told the magazine, according to The Telegraph. "I’ve never had to do that for a film role before, and I think people will be interested to see me do something very different like that. It gives me a different challenge, really. That’s terrifying in and of itself!" Read more... More about Song, Disney Princesses, Disney, Movies, and Beauty And The Beast Read More »These 2017 'polar bear plunge' pics will give you chills
One way to spend New Year's Day: Sitting on your couch in cozy pajamas, devouring a novel or ceaselessly streaming Gilmore Girls. Another option? Plunging into frigid waters, only to step back out into the freezing January air. Hundreds of people in the United States and Canada chose the second route on Sunday as part of their local New Year's Day traditions. Revelers in Prince Edward Island, Canada, rolled around in chunks of ice amid fierce winds. Ontario residents stormed the chilly shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Swimmers from Washington state, Ohio, New Jersey and New York took the plunge in elaborate costumes and skimpy Speedos. Read more... More about Photography, Swimming, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and New Jersey Read More »NASA 'mixtape' highlights best of 2016 space research
NASA's new "mixtape" is light on music, but heavy on groundbreaking scientific research. The organization's Goddard Space Flight Center just dropped the tape — in the form of a YouTube video — that samples some of its most notable efforts in 2016. The Maryland-based center is the nation's largest organization of scientists and engineers who build spacecraft and technology to study the Earth, our solar system and the universe. In 2016, its Hubble operations helped scientists determine that the observable universe has 10 times more galaxies than we previously thought. Goddard's Operation IceBridge measured the volatile Antarctic ice for the eighth year in a row. The center also launched the nation's first asteroid sampling mission into space. Read more... More about Antarctica, Operation Icebridge, Mixtape, Galaxies, and Hubble Telescope Read More »Restaurant's response to unusual order from sick customer will warm your cold heart
A fish and chip shop has gone above and beyond in the customer service department. On Friday, Feeley's Fish and Chip Shop in Belfast, Northern Ireland received an interesting order from a sick customer begging for cold and flu tablets. The restaurant posted the order ticket to its Facebook page, noting that it was good to see customers making use of the additional comments section in the order form. The customer, who has asked not to be named when contacted by Mashable, was sick in bed when she placed an order for food so that she could ask the store to pick her up some medication on the way. Read more... More about Fish And Chips, 2016, Customer Service, Social Media, and Small Business Read More »'Sherlock' faces the hardest case of his career in twisty Season 4 premiere
This recap contains spoilers for Sherlock Season 4, episode 1, titled "The Six Thatchers."Any true fan of Sherlock Holmes — in any of his myriad incarnations — knows that there's no competing with the bromance between Holmes and Watson; it's right up there with Kirk and Spock in the pop culture pantheon of epic friendships. Which means that any character who comes along to distract one of our heroes from their noble mission of crime-fighting and witty-bantering is inevitably doomed to become a mere footnote in their sweeping saga (no matter how sharp and self-sufficient they may be). This was true of Mary Watson (née Morstan) in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, and after the devastating Season 4 premiere, it's also true of Sherlock — although creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss inarguably gave the character more depth and chutzpah than Doyle ever did before deciding to kill her off. Read more... More about Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Sherlock Read More »You can now sell your old products on Amazon India
Amazon is eyeing old goods and the space of reselling those products as it works on expanding its ecommerce business in India. Amazon has launched its "Sell as Individual" service in India, allowing users to sell their used goods. The pilot program is currently operational in Bangalore. Though still in the early phase, the move should worry Ebay, Quikr and Olx, some popular platforms in the space that allow individuals to sell their used products. On its website, Amazon explains that people in Bangalore can list the products they want to sell and the company would handle the packaging and delivery of the product. Read more... More about Flipkart, Ebay, Amazon India, India, and Amazon Read More »Bollywood filmmaker, fashion designer among 39 killed in Istanbul nightclub attack
Bollywood film producer and real estate tycoon, Abis Rizvi, was among the 39 killed in Istanbul's Reina nightclub, when two gunmen reportedly dressed as Santa Claus opened fire at New Year's Eve revelers. India's Minister of External Affairs shared the news on Sunday evening.
Samsung to reveal this month why the Galaxy Note7 kept exploding
One of the biggest mysteries of the tech world in 2016 might finally be unravelled later this month. Samsung plans to share the results of an investigation into what caused the Galaxy Note7 smartphone to catch fire, according to South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo. The much anticipated results will be made public sometime this month, the report adds. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note7 smartphone in August, a month ahead of its usual September launch cycle to get a lead on Apple's iPhone 7. However, right off the bat it was becoming clear that something was not right with the device. Read more... More about Safety, Galaxy Note7, Galaxy Note 7, Samsung, and Tech Read More »Google rolls out carrier billing option to Vodafone, Airtel subscribers
Google has rolled out carrier billing option to two of India’s largest telecom operators, making it easier for more Indians to purchase apps, music and other items from marque Google Play Store. Users on Airtel and Vodafone, two carriers with over 460 million subscribers between them, can now pay for their purchases on Google Play using credit on their mobile phone. The company had told developers about this upcoming change at an event in October. Carrier billing feature has long been requested by Android users in India. Unlike Western nations, the penetration of debit and credit card is very low in India, stranding many with little choice to make digital purchases. Read more... More about Operator Billing, Carrier Billing, India, Google Play Music, and Google Play Read More »Trump's brief Twitter follow reveals possible love for adorable kittens
LONDON — There's no hiding place on Twitter when you're president-elect of the United States. Your tweets, favourites and even the accounts you follow are under constant scrutiny. Especially when you start following an account dedicated to fluffy little kittens. That's right. Donald Trump — soon to become the 45th president of the United States — followed 'Emergency Kittens' on Twitter for a few hours. As you might have guessed, 'Emergency Kittens' is an account dedicated to photos and videos of tiny felines.
Crocodile casually strolls into backyard, gets thwarted by wheelie bins
LONDON — It's not everyday that an enormous crocodile strolls into someone's back garden. But, when a 3.5-metre crocodile strutted into the backyard of a house in Karumba in Queensland, Australia, on New Year's Eve, locals found themselves building a makeshift trap with a few unusual garden objects. Image: queensland police "The croc enjoyed basking in the backyard for a few hours from around 6am before he made the snappy decision to move out to the front gate where he remained for the rest of the day," reads Queensland Police's account of the dramatic events. Read more... More about Nature, Pics, Watercooler, Animals, and Australia Read More »This woman is building a better volcano robot
Volcanologist Carolyn Parcheta builds robots in her quest to uncover the secrets of volcanoes. 'How She Works' is a new series from Mashable highlighting women in diverse occupations. Watch more episodes on our YouTube channel. Netflix gears up to take on Amazon Prime Video in India in 2017
If 2016 was the year when Indians had their first brush with the Big Daddies of online video streaming, 2017 could well be the year when they get to choose a clear winner. Especially, when the world's second-largest internet user base is the stage and a compelling match is being played between two heavyweights — Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Netflix's latest additions to its content portfolio points towards only one thing: That Amazon is making it think. And act. Netflix entered the competitive Indian market almost a year before Amazon Prime did, but only now has it stepped on the accelerator. It has announced the addition of last year's big-ticket Bollywood film, Udta Punjab, and a slew of Indian regional language titles to its worldwide content library. Read more... More about India, Bollywood, Netflix, Netflix And Chill, and Films Read More »Ariana Grande is actually a video game character now
Pop star and bonafide Japanophile Ariana Grande has achieved a type of immortality: She's going to be a guest character in a Final Fantasy game. Grande gave fans on Instagram a peek at her adorable and very true-to-life character, called DW, and the process behind it. The character is wearing the black bunny ears she wears on the Dangerous Woman album cover. And of course, it wouldn't be an Ariana Grande character without the long ponytail.
The scary moment a car carrying backpackers' stuff falls off ferry and drifts out to sea
LONDON — A rental car containing backpackers' mobile phones, passports, bank cards, and other valuables fell off a ferry and drifted out to sea off the shore of Fraser Island, Australia, on New Year's Eve. The car — which had no passengers in it at the time — rolled off a car ferry between Inskip Point and Fraser Island at around 10:00 a.m. The backpackers were headed to the island to ring in the new year. Dramatic footage posted on Facebook by 9 News Brisbane shows the moment the car fell off the ferry before it drifted out to sea. Read more... More about Backpackers, Videos, Watercooler, Australia, and Pics Read More »Samsung's latest Galaxy A series smartphones are water resistant, made for clicking selfies
Samsung is kickstarting 2017 with a refresh to its Galaxy A series lineup of smartphones. The South Korean smartphone manufacturer today unveiled the new Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5, and Galaxy A7, stating that all of these mid-range and high-end smartphones now feature water and dust resistance. The three new handsets now also get the USB Type-C ports, hinting that the new connector port is finally becoming mainstream this year. They also get premium design with metal frame and 3D glass back, similar to what's found on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. Read more... More about Smartphones, Galaxy A7, Galaxy A5, Galaxy A3, and Samsung Read More »Village intervenes after couple refuses to stop at 17 children
While the world's most populous nation China has restrictions on the number of children a couple can have, India — which is fast catching up with China on people count — doesn't impose any such law on its citizens. As a result, many Indian families, still wrapped in the shackles of patriarchy, don't see it as a problem to keep producing children until a boy is born. And sometimes, an entire village has to intervene to halt the juggernaut. A couple in the western Indian state of Gujarat, which is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, had to be stopped by locals from having their eighteenth offspring, the Times of India reported. Read more... More about Population, Family And Parenting, Family Parenting, India, and Watercooler Read More »2017: The year you'll never have to talk to anyone again
The future of tech is a lonely one, and frankly, we're for it. For those who delight in methodically cutting human interactions from day-to-day tasks, 2017 promises more where that came from. Introverts, this is your time. 1. For your morning coffee: The Starbucks appThe Starbucks app in use. Image: starbucks Though the Starbucks app already lets users order and pay for drinks without waiting in line, the coffee chain will soon add a new AI voice-command feature called "My Starbucks Barista." Rather than swiping through a menu and selecting an order, users will be able to place orders via voice command or messaging. Read more... More about Tech, Watercooler, and Pics Read More »Dell's 13-inch XPS 2-in-1 is all screen and (almost) no chin
LAS VEGAS — Dell's XPS line of laptops and 2-in-1s has gotten a lot of praise — and rightfully so. These devices are powerful, sleek and solidly built, making them strong competitors to Apple's line of ultra-thin laptops. The company is adding to its line with the new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, a 13-inch laptop that can easily turn into a tablet. The computer boasts Dell's InfinityEdge tech, which basically means "very thin bezels." This makes it, according to Dell, the smallest 13-inch 2-in-1 on the planet. It joins the 13-inch and 15-inch XPS laptops, along with the 12-inch XPS 12 2-in-1. Read more... More about Mashces, Ces 2017, Ces2017, Ces, and 2 In 1 Read More »This innovative sweeper leaves old-school brooms in the dust
The innovative 'Wisp' broom and dustpan system features one-handed control, a bristle comb and more. Read more... More about Mashable Video, Design, Kickstarter, Inventions, and Cleaning Read More »PSA: You can lawfully refuse to pay service charge at restaurants, hotels in this country
Next time you’re not happy with your food in a restaurant or the drink at a pub in India, remember can wilfully refuse to pay the service charge. Addressing several complaints, the Indian government clarified today that restaurants cannot mandatorily add service charge — which ranges from five to 20 percent — to a customer’s bill. Most establishments add service charge directly to the bill in lieu of tips, providing customers with no recourse but to pay it irrespective of whether they enjoyed the service or not. On the other hand, many patrons often misinterpret the service charge for "service tax" that the government imposes and tip their server nevertheless. Read more... More about Consumer, India, Hotels, Hotel, and Restaurants Read More »10 tech trends that will rule CES 2017
The first tech event of 2017 is also the year's biggest: CES arrives the first week of January, and like a tardy Santa Claus, it bestows the world with the gift of new consumer tech of every kind — phones, cars, TVs, drones, VR — you name it. Looked at another way, CES tends to catapult new devices and technologies at the world like enormous gobs of spaghetti. The thing about spaghetti, though, is not much of it will stick. A large portion of the gadgets, gear and concepts shown at CES will never make it to store shelves, as cool as some of them may be. SEE ALSO: 11 technologies to watch in 2017 Read more... Exploring volcanoes with robots: a day in the life of Carolyn Parcheta
Volcanologist Carolyn Parcheta builds robots in her quest to uncover the secrets of volcanoes. 'How She Works' is a new series from Mashable highlighting women in diverse occupations Subscribe for weekly episodes: http://on.mash.to/subscribe Watch more episodes: http://bit.ly/2hP05rx Read more... More about Mashable Video, Volcano Bot, Engineer, Robot, and Kilauea Read More »'Harry Potter' casting director explains why Robin Williams couldn't play Hagrid
When the Harry Potter movies began casting exclusively for British talent, there were no exceptions — not even for comedic powerhouse and family film hero Robin Williams. In a new interview with the Huffington Post, casting director Janet Hirshenson revealed that Williams called director Chris Columbus about the part of Hagrid. "He really wanted to be in the movie, but it was a British-only edict," Hirshenson said. "And once [Columbus] said no to Robin, he wasn’t going to say yes to anybody else, that’s for sure. It couldn’t be.” Read more... More about Interview, Harry Potter, Robin Williams, Movies, and Entertainment Read More »5 easy tricks to make your iPhone storage last longer
With its non-expandable memory, one of the major bugbears for iPhone owners is the storage capacity. Whether you've got a 16 or 64GBer, you just know that dreaded "Storage Almost Full" message will pop up at exactly the wrong moment. While there are steps you can take should that happen, it's also good practice to try and tread lightly on your memory in the first place. There are a few neat, easy tricks to try and make your iPhone's storage capacity last as long as possible. 1. Don't shoot everyday video in high resWhile for some it may be essential to shoot video with their iPhones in the highest resolution possible, for most people's everyday cute kitty clips a lower resolution will suffice. Read more... More about Tech, Mobile, Iphone, Tech Utility, and Apps Software Read More »Scotland's wee ones are welcomed to the world with a cardboard box and a poem
LONDON — Scotland's most wee citizens are sleeping in cardboard boxes. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gave expectant mothers a starter kit full of essential items for newborns, kicking off the "baby box" programme that's modelled on Finland's. The boxes will be trialled for three months in Clackmannanshire and Orkney, and all Scottish newborns are scheduled to receive them by summer 2017. The boxes contain items like clothes, nappies and books. The idea is to give all newborns an equal playing field. “Scotland’s Baby Box is a strong signal of our determination that every child, regardless of their circumstances, should get the best start in life," Sturgeon said. Read more... More about Babies, Finland, Scotland, Uk, and Lifestyle Read More »Don't be afraid of Arthur rapping Eminem
An anthropomorphic aardvark. A Detroit rapper. A mashup of bizarre perfection. YouTuber Mylo the Cat aka Adam Schleichkorn put the lyrics of Eminem's 2010 hit "Not Afraid" into the mouth of Arthur. SpaceX reveals cause of September explosion
SpaceX has finally revealed what caused one of the company's Falcon 9 rockets to explode on the launch pad on Sept. 1, 2016, also destroying Israel's Amos 6 communications satellite that the rocket was taking into orbit. In a report released Monday morning, SpaceX says it was joined by multiple agencies — including the U.S. Air Force, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and NASA — in combing through "3,000 channels of video and telemetry data" focusing on a 93-millisecond interval from "the first sign of anomalous data to the loss of the second stage" that resulted in total loss of the rocket. Read more... More about Explosions, Amos 6 Satellite, Spacex, Business, and Space Read More »First messages to send on Tinder if you want to be forever alone
Dating apps can be terrible if you like to consider yourself a human with feelings. So when a match initiates a chat in an offensive or bizarre way, dating apps start to disgustingly descend beyond their intrinsic level of horribleness. Here is a collection of particularly awful first messages that sorely mistaken people thought would help them find true love (or at least love for one night). Image: tinder—ella-blog/tumblr/tinder Read more... Mathematical study shows exactly how ride-sharing could cut the number of cars on the road
We already know ride-sharing has the potential to drastically cut the number of the cars on the road. But it turns out that impact could be way more than anyone has previously estimated. A new study from researchers at Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that shared rides — whether through Uber and Lyft or a traditional taxi — could fulfill demand with just 15 percent of the current taxi fleet in New York City. "Ride-sharing services are transforming urban mobility by providing timely and convenient transportation to anybody, anywhere and anytime. These services present enormous potential for positive societal impacts with respect to pollution, energy consumption, congestion, etc. Current mathematical models, however, do not fully address the potential of ride-sharing," the study's authors wrote. Read more... More about Lyft, Uber, Ride Sharing, Ride Hailing Apps, and Business Read More »Surfing dogs totally blow Al Roker's mind at Rose Parade
Al Roker's 2017 is off to an amazing start. The jolliest weather forecaster on morning television cohosted NBC's coverage of the 2017 Rose Parade on Monday and didn't hold back when a surfing dog float rolled by. (Watch with sound to get fully Roker'd.) To be fair, those dogs ARE FREAKING SURFING. SEE ALSO: 100 Years of Pomeranian Beauty The internet matched Roker's enthusiasm, viewing the surfing dogs as a sign of hope for 2017.
President Obama's goodbye tour gets an official 'farewell address'
As President Obama prepares to leave office in a little over two weeks, he's been on something of a blitz to cement his legacy before Donald Trump moves in to the White House. And now his farewell tour has received an official farewell address. Next Tuesday night, January 10, Obama will give the farewell speech to a packed house at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, the same place he gave his victory speech on Election Night 2012. Tickets for the event will be handed out at the venue on a first-come, first-serve basis this Saturday, January 7. Read more... More about Donald Trump, Farewell Speech, Barack Obama, Us World, and Politics Read More »This simple bottle cutter may be the answer to recycling
The 'Plastic Bottle Cutter' will revolutionize the way consumers recycle by turning their trash into fine plastic strips. Read more... More about Mashable Video, Eco Friendly, Tools, Bottle, and Plastic Waste Read More »A 4-year-old adorably explains the problem with New Year's resolutions
Following through on a big New Year's resolution may feel overwhelming, but this young girl can help with a few words of advice. "Keep your resolutions, but go easy on yourself. Will you change? Maybe. But it probably won't happen in one big moment. It'll happen in thousands of little moments." Listen to this wise-beyond-her-years 4-year-old and give yourself the flexibility to make change with small steps instead of big leaps. Seeing the start of 2017 through Spectacles is so 2017
New year, new eyewear as they say. Right? 2017 has arrived, and with it came a slew of tech savvy social media-lovers wearing sunglasses at night — a slightly bizarre fashion statement that could soon become the norm. Why? Well, because what better way to document the start of the new year than through Snapchat's exclusive new wearable Spectacles? Spectacles, sunglasses that also capture video, are a revolutionary new way to give your Snapchat followers FOMO. Since you record through the glasses, people are given an opportunity to see your surroundings through your eyes — making them perfect for concerts, beach days, etc. Read more... More about Wearable Tech, 2017, New Years Eve, Tech, and Spectacles Read More » | ||||
| | ||||
| ||||
ponedjeljak, 2. siječnja 2017.
FeedaMail: Mashable
Pretplati se na:
Objavi komentare (Atom)
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar