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Schools ban watches from exams to keep cheating off wrists
If you think your school is overly cautious when it makes you ditch your phone before a big test, you haven't seen anything yet. BuzzFeed News has learned that multiple universities have issued blanket bans on all watches during exams in case students are wearing smartwatches they could use to cheat. According to London's City University, it "wouldn't be practical" to have proctors checking every watch to make sure it's analog -- it's easier to make you write with bare arms. The move is unfortunate if you're used to glancing at your watch to gauge your progress, but it does make sense given how easy it is to get memos, text messages and other unfair advantages on your wrist. Whether or not you think smartwatch cheating represents a major problem, it's probably a good idea to leave that Pebble or ZenWatch at home during your mid-terms.
Levytator claims to be the world's first bendy escalator, has the patents to prove it (video)
You've seen conveyor belts before, most probably at your local airport ferrying beaten-up luggage in circles, but for some reason the same tech doesn't seem to have been applied to people yet. Leave it to City University London prof Jack Levy to correct that oversight with his eponymous Levytator -- an escalator that follows freeform curves (but not convention!) and offers a better "cost per usable step" than your typical moving stairs. Patented in Europe, the USA, and even China, all this thing needs is the gentle push of a kindly investor -- see the video after the break to determine if it's worth your cash. [Thanks, Conrad]
