A recent article in the Toronto Star by Betsy Powell discusses controversies surrounding new colour schemes for Canadian police cars. A number of Canadian police forces have been changing from older schemes based on red, white, and blue to darker schemes based on grey, navy blue or black.
John Brownlee at FastCompany describes the "ultimate tuque", a version of the hat most associated with Canada. Designed by Toronto design firm Frontier, the tuque aims to get this iconic piece of headgear right.
In terms of function, the Frontier tuque is designed to address many common complaints about tuques, such as scratchy material, lack of warmth, retention of sweat, and being too tight. It may be the most technotonic tuque of all time!
The Internet sometimes provides interesting pairs of news items. Today's pair concerns an intersection between mobility, safety, and technology.
Rima Sabina Aouf describes a "minimalist" door bell in Dezeen. Just launched on Kickstarter, the "Ding" door bell provides a wireless door bell ringing and answering system.
The system consists of a button, which is hung on or near the door in question, and a speaker, which emits the chime. Both components have been simply styled, appearing as almost featureless rectangles with circular ends:
Quentin Hardy at the New York Times has written an interesting article introducing conversational computing, that is, the use of speaking software interfaces.
It probably has not escaped your notice that people interact with software through conversational means more and more often. Tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon have made speaking agents, such as Siri, Cortana, and Echo, central to interactions with their consumer goods.
The Globe and Mail reports that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently banned the sale of antibacterial ingredients from soaps. Manufacturers have one year to reformulate their products to exclude compounds such as triclosan and triclocarbon.
The Globe and Mail reports on a recent survey of Canadians concerning their views on self-driving cars, apparently meaning cars with advanced driving assistance technologies such as the Autopilot mode in a Tesla.
There have been many reports of drones being shot at by people who believe they are being spied on. An article in Slate by Faine Greenwood explains why shooting at drones is both misguided and dangerous.
The first reason is that shooting at drones endangers everyone in the vicinity. There is a chance that the drone, if damaged, may collide with someone on the ground. There is also a chance that stray or falling ammunition may hit somebody.
A short item in New Atlas describes a new bus prototype from Swedish automotive giant Volvo. The new bus is equipped with a system called the Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection System (PCDS).
The PCDS combines cameras attached to the bus with a program that anticipates danger to cyclists, pedestrians, and other mobile "obstacles" to bus travel. When a collision appears possible, the bus makes a noise to warn the pedestrian, etc. The horn is used if the risk is deemed to be very high.
Yesterday, Apple revealed that its newest iPhone (model 7) will not include a headphone jack. Executives gave a number of reasons for the move. Phil Schiller, senior vice president for marketing at Apple, said that the jack took up a lot of space in a device that Apple is determined to shrink.