newyorkcity
Latest
Company plans to turn NYC's trash cans into WiFi hotspots
NYC agreed to convert old payphones into hotspots back in 2014, and now a Massachusetts company called BigBelly wants to add connectivity to its smart trash cans, as well. BigBelly has applied for a grant from the Mayor's Office to be able to turn hundreds of its products into hotspots specifically for undeserved neighborhoods. It's been making high-tech solar-powered trash cans and recycling containers, which can detect if the garbage is too smelly, notify trash collectors and even compress their contents if they're near capacity, for a long time. The company tested its first two hotspot containers last winter in New York, measuring their activity and signal quality for a few hours per day.
New York is getting a crowdfunded, sunlit underground park
New York City has its share of famous parks, but they don't pepper the landscape like they do in other big cities. The non-profit group Lowline may have a technical solution to that lack of greenery, however. It just crowdfunded preliminary work on an underground Manhattan park whose solar technology will fill an abandoned trolley station with natural, plant-sustaining light. The key is a collector that concentrates light above the sidewalk, funnels it through irrigation-like tubes and distributes it through domes. Provided the test run (Lowline Lab) works out, New Yorkers will have a 1-acre safe haven from urban chaos just underneath the Lower East Side -- it might even stay green all year round.
Verizon gets slapped by New York City mayor
Way back when, Verizon pledged to build fiber optic services to every home in NYC, but for some reason, it never got around to finishing it. Unfortunately, New Yorkers are used to getting what they want, and so Mayor Bill de Blasio has slammed the company saying that it needs to sort out the problem, or else. The city has delivered Big Red a very public ultimatum: Either it brings its FiOS network to "every household" in the five boroughs, or it'll face some heavy penalties.
Google's plan to fix big cities starts with Sidewalk Labs
Google wants to do more than just simplify privacy for its users and put autonomous cars on the road, it wants to "improve city life for everyone." Cofounder Larry Page writes on G+ that with Mountain View's Sidewalk Labs, the company intends to do just that. The plan is to tackle cost of living, transportation efficiency and energy usage by creating and fostering what he calls urban technologies -- stuff Sidewalk says is a bit harder than just relaying traffic conditions or apartment prices. He likens the size of Sidewalk to that of the X lab responsible for Project Loon in terms of investment.
We're having reader meetups tonight in NYC and San Francisco!
You know us, we like to hang out with you, the readers, every chance we get. So let's make that happen tonight in New York City, at the Barcade in Manhattan's East Village, and in San Francisco at the Public House. All you need to do is bring cash for drinks, food and any arcade games you'd like to play. Oh, and we'll have plenty of time for ugly-selfie contests, because why not. You'll find the necessary the details below -- or you could RSVP via Facebook pages for each event (San Francisco and New York).
New York's getting 500 solar-powered food carts this summer
Street food is an celebrated (and inescapable) facet of New York City culture but many of those gas-fired mobile food stalls aren't exactly environmentally friendly. "I breathe it in, I get the fumes, I get the smell of the food," Don Ward, a Manhattan shoe shiner who works next to a cart, told the Wall Street Journal. "I get home and my clothing smells like gas." So to help combat air and noise pollution this summer, Queens-based MOVE Systems plans to distribute 500 "green" vendor carts. They'll be outfitted with solar panels and rechargeable batteries in addition to sinks, refrigerators and grills. The carts, dubbed MRV100 Hybrids, measure roughly 5 feet wide by 10 feet long and reportedly can be adapted to serve a wide variety of cuisine.
McDonald's will deliver your Big Mac, if you're in New York City
What's that? You want a Big Mac combo for lunch but don't have time to venture out? Well, if you happen to be in New York City, McDonald's will soon bring that double-decker burger to you. The company announced today that it will test a 24-hour delivery service in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan as part of a partnership with Postmates. If you'll recall, that startup powers similar delivery options for Starbucks and Chipotle. This news comes as part of CEO Steve Easterbrook's plan to turnaround the fast food chain's business by focusing on better food and acting on customer feedback -- all-day breakfast, sirloin burgers and "artisan" chicken were mentioned. It's going to be an uphill climb for the Golden Arches too, as the franchise will close 700 total stores this year. Looking to try the new service? You'll be able to do just that starting today from NYC's 88 participating locations. Don't expect ice cream, though, and you'll want to order $10 worth of food to avoid a delivery fee. [Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
NYC commits $70 million toward universal broadband
In an ambitious effort to close New York City's digital divide, the De Blasio administration has announced that it's going to spend $70 million bringing high-speed internet access to the city's residents. An estimated 22 percent of New Yorkers overall lack a home internet connection (with that number jumping to 36 percent for the poorest residents), which significantly impacts their social mobility, according to the mayor's office.
Uber's food delivery service launches in four cities
Uber's experiments with food delivery in California and Spain must've been a resounding success, as the ridesharing outfit is making that on-demand dining a permanent option. UberEats has officially launched in four cities, including the Barcelona and Los Angeles trial areas as well as two new burgs, Chicago and New York City. As before, the service really just substitutes pickups for meals -- you choose from curated restaurant menus, and an Uber driver will show up with your selections in a matter of minutes. This will seem very familiar if you've tried a restaurant delivery service before, but it'll undoubtedly be handy if you already use Uber and find yourself craving sandwiches or salads.
Uber cars now outnumber yellow cabs in New York City
You may see yellow taxis as virtually synonymous with New York City transportation, but you might have to reconsider that image before too long. New Taxi and Limousine Commission data shows that Uber cars now outnumber cabs on NYC streets, with 14,088 black and luxury vehicles versus 13,587 taxis. It's not hard to see why the ridesharing service has grown so quickly since its arrival in 2011, mind you. Uber drivers can earn much more in the right circumstances, and they don't have to worry about fixed schedules, complicated licensing or cheapskates who don't pay. This milestone probably won't thrill city officials, who are worried that Uber is both depriving them of tax revenue (since drivers don't need medallion licenses) and playing fast and loose with regulations. However, it's doubtful that there's any going back now -- Uber is huge enough in New York that commuters would notice if it went away. [Image credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images]
New York City schools are getting free access to Office 365
Now's a pretty good time to be a New York City schoolkid. Microsoft has announced that all of the city's public school students (and their teachers) are getting free Office 365 ProPlus subscriptions -- if you qualify, you'll have five desktop and five mobile licenses as long as you're part of the local educational system. Ostensibly, the goal is to make sure that kids won't be "confined to the classroom" and can finish that big book report on any computer.
New York City's first commercial wind turbine proves its worth
Sunset Park in Brooklyn is home to New York City's first commercial-scale wind turbine, and it's already flexing its green muscle. In under a month, the 160-foot-tall power source produced enough juice to power two homes for more than 12 months. It's not being used to supplement regular energy use, though, as it feeds a recycling plant at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal -- a facility that already gets 16 percent of its power from solar panels. NYC seems like the last place a massive wind turbine would make a difference, but the height of this installation, coupled with the open landscape on the shore of Sunset Park, makes for an effective combo that's capable of generating up to 100 kilowatts. Attempts to harvest the wind in New York City are nothing new, but they're typically used to power much smaller buildings, so their size and output are a fraction of this one at Sims Metal Management. Construction costs tallied $750,000, and the project is expected to pay for itself in five years. [Photo credit: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews]
New York City lifts its blanket ban on cellphones in schools
New York City kids may be reluctantly heading back to school this week, but they just got some (mostly) good news. As promised during Mayor Bill de Blasio's election campaign, the city's Department of Education is lifting its outright ban on cellphones in schools. The New York Times understands that principals (with help from parents and teachers) will decide just when and where students can break out their phones. By default, kids will be allowed to keep their phones around so long as they're hidden. If schools want, though, they can require that young learners drop cellphones off in a designated place. They can also give permission to use phones at certain places and times, such as outside during lunch breaks.
New York City suspends five Uber hubs until they divulge trip info (update: reprieve)
Uber's longstanding battle to offer ridesharing in New York City on its own terms isn't over... if anything, the conflict just got a bit ugly. The city's Taxi & Limousine Tribunal has suspended five of Uber's six NYC hubs until they hand over trip records to the Taxi & Limousine Commission, which recently established a rule requiring that ridesharing companies regularly share their travel data. Uber has been holding out on the grounds that the TLC is asking for sensitive information that could hurt its competitiveness and violate drivers' privacy.
New York City ponders bitcoin and Apple Pay for parking tickets
New York City wants to make it easier for the recipients of its some 8-to-10 million annual parking tickets to pay their fines. To do so, it's accepting pitches for payment systems that'd take advantage of mobile tech and things like Apple Pay and bitcoin. New York has an online payment system in place already, but as The Wall Street Journal notes, it doesn't work via mobile devices. There are a handful of guidelines (PDF), however, so don't go thinking you can get too crazy with your submission. Perhaps most notably, the system would need to support payment of tickets that have been placed but not yet processed ("windshield tickets"), the interface should be aesthetically pleasing and should also come at "no or minimal" cost to the city and its users. What's more, Gotham officials say that being able to schedule a hearing to dispute an infraction via the app is paramount as well.
Watch Kanye West and U2 play a surprise charity concert live on YouTube
World AIDS Day has already done a lot to both raise awareness of AIDS and fund research for a cure, but it's about to end with a bang. Bank of America and the (RED) charity are hosting a surprise concert at 7:30PM Eastern tonight in Times Square -- and they're streaming the whole thing live on YouTube. The gig will see most of U2 play alongside Bruce Springsteen and Chris Martin (Bono is recovering from an accident), with Kanye West and Carrie Underwood adding to the star power. It's short notice, we know, but it's definitely worth tuning in if you want to see some of the biggest names in music play for a good cause... and no, this won't show up in your iTunes library afterwards.
New York City green-lights the use of Chromebooks in public schools
It's no secret that Chromebooks have been on the rise, especially in classrooms, and now Google has scored another big win: New York City officials just formally approved the use of Chromebooks in public schools. In a statement, Hal Friedlander, Chief Information Office at the New York City Department of Education, said that he gave Chromebooks the OK in part because some schools were already using Google Drive and other Apps for Education. In addition, Friedlander cited all the reasons Google has been pushing Chromebooks to schools in the first place: They're easy to integrate into existing systems, they don't require any additional training for staff and they're easy for IT departments to manage. So no surprises there. Additionally, Friedlander said the Department of Education worked with various Chromebook manufacturers to make sure they met the city's technical requirements. No word on which models made the cut, exactly, but we think you all know by now who the major players are.
NYC's domain on record pace with over 56,000 accounts so far
The history of New York City's top-level domain is still quite young, having only launched in full last month. But, since then, .nyc has already managed to serve up more than 56,000 registrations, making it one of the fastest growing city domains ever -- above Berlin, London, Melbourne, Paris and Tokyo, to mention a few. A representative of .nyc told us there are over 5,000 accounts being registered every week; that's even higher than what the the likes of .london gets, which isn't limited to residents only, unlike The Big Apple's domain.
Pop-up store lets you pay for clothes using your social network clout
As nice as Klout's perks can be, they're infrequent and sometimes have arcane rules. Wouldn't it be better if you could simply translate your social networking status into cash? OnePiece's pop-up store in New York City is letting you do just that. Swing by 577 Broadway no later than November 17th and the clothing shop will give you a $1 discount for every 500 followers you have across common social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. While you're capped at $500 (Hollywood A-listers need not apply), that's more than enough to score some fresh threads for free. Yes, it's a publicity grab -- but it's also a genuinely good deal if you've spent years cultivating an online following.
NYPD is getting equipped with over 40,000 mobile devices
Thanks to a massive $160 million investment, the New York City Police Department is on its way to receive a combination of up to 41,000 smartphones and tablets. Known as the NYPD Mobility Initiative, which will be mostly financed by criminal asset funds provided by the Manhattan DA's Office, the goal is to provide the the city's law enforcement with tools that can improve and streamline their overall workflow. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said there are a few key elements to this plan, such as offering better case support for detectives, providing features including real-time 911 data, enhanced database access for patrol staff, quick entry points to info like Amber Alerts and email accounts for every officer.
