In the video, two flat black bags resembling large hot-water bottles expand slowly, gradually lifting a collapsed concrete-and-rebar wall and creating a space between the wall and a mound of rocks beneath. The film shows a test of a design by Eyad …Continue reading
Technology Repaints the Payment Landscape
In developed economies, money has been digitizing for decades. Few Westerners touch a paycheck anymore. Through direct deposit, digital money is transferred electronically from our employer to our bank account every pay period. A similar process moves contributions into our 401(k) accounts …Continue reading
Kathy Gong
Kathy Gong became a chess master at 13, and four years later she boarded a plane with a one-way ticket to New York City to attend Columbia University. She knew little English at the time but learned as she studied, and after …Continue reading
Tallis Gomes
Tallis Gomes had spent four years as the CEO of EasyTaxi, the “Uber of Brazil,” when he decided in 2015 to aim the same concept in a new direction—the beauty industry. His on-demand services platform, called Singu, allows customers to summon a …Continue reading
Learning to Prosper in a Factory Town
In the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in a corner of South Carolina sits a town that should be economically dead. For decades, Greenville was the heart of the state’s textile industry—and its economic engine. First attracted by the area’s fast-moving rivers …Continue reading
Slow Progress to Better Medicine
As soon as Carina was born on July 25, 2014, it was clear something was wrong. The midwife pointed it out: a lump on the right side of her jaw. At first doctors were unable to make a diagnosis, but in time …Continue reading
This Tiny Country Thinks Virtual Citizens Will Make It Rich
With 1.3 million citizens, Estonia is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but its ambition is to become one of the largest countries in the world. Not one of the largest geographically or even by number of citizens, however. Largest in …Continue reading
Tech Investors Face Peril in Search for the Next Big Thing
Be careful. We are likely nearing the end of the recent boom in innovation, and tech investors are overreaching, says Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur Elad Gil. Gil, who’s spent years in key posts at Twitter and Google, and who’s currently invested …Continue reading
Artificial Intolerance
For five months in 2011, a robot wheeled around an office building at Carnegie Mellon University delivering bananas, cookies, and other afternoon snacks to workers. With wide-set eyes and a pink mouth, Snackbot had a friendly look, but it was prone to …Continue reading
Lessons from the Digital Classroom
In four small schools scattered across San Francisco, a data experiment is under way. That is where AltSchool is testing how technology can help teachers maximize their students’ learning. Founded two years ago by Max Ventilla, a data expert and former head …Continue reading
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