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Recommended Reading: Don't try to shop on Facebook or Twitter
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.I Tried Holiday Shopping on Facebook and Twitter and Got NowhereKurt Wagner, RecodeFacebook and Twitter may be testing options for buying products from ads and sponsored posts, but don't try to take care of your holiday list that way. As Recode's Kurt Wagner discovered, those buy buttons are pretty much non-existent unless you're in the test group. In fact, he didn't even stumble across a misplaced option to purchase in the News Feed.
Is this climate change real estate agent for real?
Climate change threatens the lives of millions as it causes the seas to boil and the skies to burn, but hey, everything's a business opportunity if you look hard enough. Higher Tides Realty is a dedicated climate change real estate agency that helps buyers ensure that their new homes won't be underwater in the future. By analyzing the terrain of areas behind coasts, it's possible to work out where the "new" coastline will emerge once the seas stop rising. Before you ask hey, wasn't that Lex Luthor's plan in Superman: The Movie? The answer is yes, yes it was. Despite this, when we asked Higher Tides' Jake Collins if this was a joke, he insisted that it wasn't.
France wants to make its own cheap electric car
The world's politicians are currently huddled in Paris arguing over how much effort they're prepared to make to stop the seas from boiling. As such, France has decided to throw down a well-tailored gauntlet to its partners by announcing a competition to build an electric car that costs under $7,000. The country's ecology minister, Ségoléne Royal (pictured), revealed that she'll launch a project that'll encourage private companies to build an environmentally-friendly ride for the population. How will they be able to keep the costs that low, you ask? By ditching the built-in battery in favor of a country-wide network of stations that'll let people swap cells during their journeys.
