Priceonomics analyzes the how much you’re really saving (if any) by staying in an Airbnb apartment, instead of a hotel.
Foursquare’s new Time Machine feature lets you visualize your check-in history in infographic form.
The London Underground commemorated its 150th anniversary with a quintet of maps made of Lego. But the creative display was built for more than fun and games. It shows how the network—the world’s first underground passenger railway—has evolved in a century and a half.
[Images: Instagram Users Krey47]
“I once landed on an uncharted island that nobody’s been to before except the turtles. It’s lovely to be alive.”
From Paris’s Vélib’ to New York’s CitiBike, this infographic compares the size of 29 of the world’s largest bike sharing systems.
“I’m totally against bike helmets. If you’re wearing a helmet, you’re in more danger.”
At 2 p.m. EST, we’re chatting live with MIT Media Lab scientist Sandra Richter, who wants to find new ways to encourage city citizens to ride bikes. Helmets aren’t one of them.
During the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, the country’s young people didn’t just vocalize their political dissent; they recorded it on their cities’ walls with murals, posters, and graffiti.
NeverLate is an iPhone app that allows your calendar to cross reference the traffic report. So rather than merely warning you that a meeting is in 10 minutes, it can dynamically ping you, right when you should leave for that meeting, given unforeseen road construction, accidents, or just one of those backups where everyone is simply hitting their brakes too much. Meanwhile, you can focus entirely on getting ready, rather than digging through traffic reports.
“After you’ve used the app for about a week, NeverLate will learn where your home and work are and when you’re normally there.”
Officials in New York have determined that Airbnb is illegal, despite efforts by the online firm to persuade the city otherwise. The law violated is the illegal hotel law, which prevents residents from renting out their property for less than 29 days. According to CNET, the law originally meant to prevent landlords from turning residential properties into hotels.
The ruling doesn’t necessarily mean all Airbnb hosts will be cracked down on, as the city only enforces the rule when a complaint is filed.
After Apple booted Google Maps from iOS last year, Daniel Graf led the development of a beautiful, refreshed mapping experience that shot to number one in the iTunes store and kicked Apple’s ass on its own turf. Here’s how Graf made it happen—in his own words:
“We have a very successful Android version of Google Maps, so the easiest thing to do was to say, this is super-successful, users love it, so why don’t we just port it over to iOS? But I wanted to challenge the team. While the Android version is a great product, you can also tell it’s been around for a while. You have to access everything via menus—it’s not really best-use-case driven anymore. I said, let’s take a step back—what if we could start from scratch and forget anything we’ve ever done? We have the foundation—the Google data, the mapping data, the local business data, the imagery, the navigation algorithms—it’s a dream to start with.”
The 20 best biking cities in the world
Where can you find them? Here’s a hint: Don’t look in the U.S.
Cities across the country are making plans to cater to bikers and pedestrians (along with cars) as they design and manage their transportation infrastructure. These are 10 that are doing it really well:
- 1. Indianapolis, IN
- 2. Hermosa Beach, CA (tie)
- 2. Huntington Park, CA (tie)
- 4. Ocean Shores, WA
- 5. Northfield, MN
Everplaces is a new app that essentially functions as a Pinterest for the real world. It lets you capture and store places in the physical world that you want to keep track of, whether that’s a swank bistro in your hometown or a boutique in Buenas Aires that always has the best cutting-edge fashions.
