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Tech NewsStartup Names Conference Rooms After Famous Sites of Human Suffering
Unbearably cute, self-congratulatory conference room names are a startup office cliché, but money collection app Tilt takes home the prize for most simultaneously lofty and bizarre choices: Famous sites of human suffering. Bloomberg talked to Tilt about its unusual conference room names: Want to get together with colleagues to discuss app upgrades, mobile marketing strategies, … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
Airbnb Really Screwed Up With Ads About Paying Taxes
This week, Airbnb rolled out a series of ads around San Francisco to raise awareness of the $12m or so it raises for the city through hotel taxes. Sadly, the effect was passive-aggressive — and it’s now at the receiving end of biting criticism. The ads in question have been posted on bus shelters and … Continued
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Tech News
Alleged Mansion Squatter Plunders $300,000 in Fine Art [Updated]
The San Francisco housing market is notoriously insane right now. However, maybe don’t try to get around it by squatting in a conveniently vacant $12.5 million mansion abandoned by a bankrupt tech bro, and helping yourself to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of artwork left hanging on its walls. That strategy didn’t work for … Continued
By Cheryl Eddy -
Tech News
Could You Save Money By Commuting to San Francisco From Las Vegas?
Many of San Francisco workers are being priced far out of the city due to the housing shortage. But how far? According to one person’s calculations, rents are so high, it would be worth it to move to Las Vegas and fly back to San Francisco for work. Supercommuters—people who live in one city and … Continued
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Tech NewsWatch A Great White Shark Jump A Seal In San Francisco
This happened just off the dock for the Alcatraz Island ferry in downtown San Francisco. Waters surrounding the city are some of the most great white infested in the world. And below is another video of the aftermath, possibly containing the greatest narration ever delivered by a child, “This is the best thing I’ve ever … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
More Cities Are Blocking the App That Helps You Fight Parking Tickets
Parking tickets suck. Sometimes, you break the law and you deserve it. But other times, signs are missing or incorrect, so you end up with a fine for nothing. That’s why Fixed released an app last year that helped your fight the tickets in court. Some city governments aren’t having it. Fixed is now blocked … Continued
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Tech News5 Ideas That Could Change the Future of Trains
The Subway, the El, the Tube, the Métro: Trains have been transporting humans around cities since 1863. But too many public transit systems still run like they’re stuck in the 19th century. That needs to change. With more people are living in urban areas than ever before, metro systems around the world will need to … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
Lead Designer of SF Bay Bridge’s New Span Is Worried It’s Already Corroding
The single cable supporting the barely two-year-old eastern span of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge could be facing very real corrosion dangers, the lead designer of the $6.4 billion project warns. In September 2013, San Francisco opened a beautiful, futuristic-looking new eastern span of its Bay Bridge, the city’s other major bridge besides the Golden Gate. … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech NewsApple
A Strike May Park San Francisco’s Tech Buses
San Francisco’s tech workers may be looking for a new ride to work if their shuttle bus drivers go on strike over contract negotiations. At a meeting yesterday in San Leandro, leaders of the Teamsters Local 853 advised members to be prepared for a strike if there’s no progress on the contract proposal that the … Continued
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Tech News
The Noisiest Neighborhoods in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco
Car alarms, jackhammers, barking dogs, drunken brawls outside your window—ah, the sounds of the city. Urban living comes with challenges, and annoying, loud noise is one of ‘em. But these maps show us which neighborhoods you’ll want to steer clear of in three major U.S. cities if you want a sound night’s sleep. Real estate … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech NewsApple
The Drivers of SF’s Tech Buses Are Paid So Little They’re Forced to Live in Cars
The buses that shuttle San Francisco tech workers to and from their Silicon Valley jobs each day have been blamed for displacing longtime residents. In a heartbreaking twist, the drivers of those buses are paid so little that they, too, have been priced out of San Francisco–and some of them must live in their cars. … Continued
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Tech News
SF’s Infrastructure Is Falling Apart Because People Keep Peeing On It
How many times do we have to say it? San Francisco, stop pissing on your city. A streetlight fell down Monday night in the city’s Nob Hill neighborhood, narrowly missing a driver. The streetlight was old, officials said, but its metal base was also heavily corroded. Corroded by pee. Public urination is such a problem … Continued
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Tech News
This DIY Fog Catcher Harvests Water from the Air
Fog-catching technologies have been used for centuries to gather moisture in deserts; we’ve even explored how they might mitigate the effects of drought. But the issue with introducing them into our cities is a matter of scale: Fog catchers need to be particularly large to catch a significant amount of water, and it’s not like … Continued
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Tech NewsSF Crime Is So Bad Police Need Quad Bikes That Transform Into Jet Skis
Cops on Segways are so 1993 and no one takes them seriously. That’s why San Francisco now has cops on quadskis, the ATV that turns into a jet ski that turns whoever’s riding it into a kind of poor man’s James Bond. And at least one of them is being used to patrol the San … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Robot Is Hitchhiking Across the US (Please Don’t Steal His Boots)
If you happen to see a robot on the side of the road this summer, don’t be afraid to pick him up. That’s just hitchBOT, a friendly hitch-hiking robot trying to make his (her? its?) way from Boston to San Francisco. Designed by Canadian researchers, hitchBOT is part art project, part social experiment. Can robots … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
I’d Live In These Apartments Built In the Middle of an Extra-Wide Street
Most American streets are far too wide, which uses up valuable urban space, is dangerous for pedestrians, and actually makes traffic worse. That’s why many cities are trying to hand over more street space to transit, biking and walking. But what if we took the lanes devoted to cars and turned it into housing? It … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
The Bay Area From 400 Miles Above the Earth’s Surface
Before you head off into the weekend, take a second to behold San Francisco as seen from Landsat 8, moving high above the Earth in its 99-minute-long orbital pattern. This shot was taken by Landsat this spring, and beyond being unbelievably beautiful, it’s also a great example of what Landsat does best: Give scientists a … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidClever video bends reality by flattening San Francisco’s hilly streets
Walking around in San Francisco can get tough because the city is just so damn hilly. Up and down and up and more up and you start to wish you could just flatten the streets. Karen Cheng and Ross Ching tweaked reality a bit by positioning the camera so it looks like those hilly streets … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsApple
Apple May Roll Out Its New Watch Typeface Across All Devices
In welcome news for those of us who couldn’t take another year squinting at that spindly, bad-for-screens typeface, 9 to 5 Mac is reporting that Apple will replace Helvetica Neue with its new San Francisco typeface for all operating systems. This is the font Apple designed in-house for the Watch—and if this is true, it’s … Continued
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Tech News
How the Crazy Cost of NYC and Bay Area Housing Hurts the US Economy
The cost of housing in New York and San Francisco has long since transcended into the realm of absurdity. But all those quaint, astronomically pricey brownstones and single family homes are part of a healthy national economy, right? Not exactly. An interesting study titled Why Do Cities Matter?, published today on the National Bureau of … Continued