Just in case you missed our recent coverage on the intersections of the Climate Crisis, Tech and Entertainment, we’ve compiled a list of articles for you to check out:
Graphic Collage / Lynxotic
Greta Thunberg: Climate Activist focused on Change now, not hopes for an Uncertain Future
Greta Thunberg is a sixteen-year-old Swedish girl who is rapidly becoming a flash point for those in the movement to raise awareness of the global emergency of global warming and climate change.
Photo / Adobe Stock
The Potential of Self-Driving Cars in Entertainment Media: First Foray
While it might be easy to imagine people in self-driving cars perpetually staring at their smart phones or laptops, there is the possibility that entertainment companies could collaborate with vehicle manufacturers to change the very design of vehicles and make car-riding a transmedia experience.
Photo / Apple
iOS 13 Tips: How to Use and Manage the new Share Menu for iPhone and iPadOS
The share menu can vary from app to app, many use it most often from within Safari or the Mail app, however, for this video, we chose the Apple News app as the operations are essentially the same.
Photo / Global Citizen / Ethan Judelson
Leonardo DiCaprio headlines Global Citizens Festival, continues fight to raise awareness of Climate Crisis
Leonardo DiCaprio had made several stances against climate change over the years. The actor spearheaded the issue in his 2016 documentary “Before The Flood” and even used the stage during his long-awaited Oscar acceptance speech to talk about the importance of preserving our natural world. Evidently, the man is a passionate environmentalist.
Graphic Collage / Lynxotic
Tesla and Elon Musk are Smiling: Gas Pumps Out, Charging Stations In
The news here, however is that these are stations that have decided to abandon gas, oil and, presumably, gasoline-based auto maintenance for EV charging and convenience. This is a trend that, hopefully, will accelerate.
Photo / Magnolia Pictures
‘Scandalous’: National Inquirer sets the Standard for Questionable News Coverage
If one even notices the title of the film printed in smaller letters in enormous tagline’s shadows, one might expect that “Scandalous” isa movie about conspiracy theories or some great national collusion that ties all of these pop-culture headlines in some absurd way. However, beneath the title on the poster, seemingly hidden, is the film’s subtitle. It reads “The Untold Story Of The National Enquirer.“
Photo / Disney
5 New Trailers just Released: Check out the future fare from Sony, Disney and more
This week had a gaggle of new trailers hitting the street so we decided to choose five to showcase and feature in this post.
Photo / Warner Bros.
Eight Movies Out Now you might have missed
Just in case you missed our coverage of recent films, out now in theaters, we’ve compiled a graphic tour of a few noteworthy (or at least to be considered) titles among them.
We are at points of transition in the worlds of vehicles and entertainment. On both fronts, the past few years have given us unprecedented change. For vehicles, the now practical concept of self-driving cars opens up the possibility of getting around without a human operator behind the wheel. Meanwhile, for entertainment, the rise of streaming services and cord cutting has changed the way we consume media on a mobile basis.
These two evolutions may seem unconnected right now. However, both concepts are still in their infancy. Given recent history, entertainment companies are currently dead set on finding the latest platform to create and distribute their content on, and self-driving vehicles have seemingly limitless potential. It is clear that these two innovative concepts will intersect, potentially in the near future.
With no one operating a car, traveling becomes an experience of little beyond being a passenger. Whether it is doing a daily commute or taking a cross-country road trip, “driving” no longer requires attention and awareness. Being in a car becomes a slot of time where people are essentially trapped in the confines of a small space with no responsibilities. It is the perfect time for catching up on news, entertainment, or communication.
While it might be easy to imagine people in self-driving cars perpetually staring at their smart phones or laptops, there is the possibility that entertainment companies could collaborate with vehicle manufacturers to change the very design of vehicles and make car-riding a transmedia experience.
A Completely new Lifestyle built around Time in Transit
What this would look like is unclear, but one can imagine a car surrounded in screens—on the backs of seats, propped on dashboards, and even over some of the windows, making entertainment accessibly (maybe even unavoidably) built into a vehicle’s architecture. Many companies are gearing up for the potential. Finnish company FlexSound is pioneering “augmented audio” devices that can produce movie theater quality audio by imbedding transducers into car seats and headrests, allowing the occupant to feel the sound directly, for example.
The potential does not stop there, though. Consuming media exclusively in a car offers a very particular experience, one that companies could capitalize on with originality. Virtual reality simulations are one of the latest breakthroughs in entertainment tech. Currently, virtual reality occupies a vague area somewhere between film and video games. Despite its growing popularity, VR is yet to find an exact home in the day-to-day lives of consumers.
Perhaps self-driving cars can provide that stable home for VR. With the help of technology, media equipped vehicles could change the very landscape that one is driving through everyday. With screens disguised as windshields, a boring commute could become an adventure through some of the world’s most interesting places. Perhaps the commute could even be through different worlds. Hypothetically, by hooking your Tesla up with a Disney or Warner Brothers package, you could find yourself driving across a Star Wars planet, Gotham City, or some other fictional place every single day.
Who will lead in the Contest to provide Entertainment Solutions for a Newly Liberated Population?
Of course, VR could offer more than just moving through these places. There could be narratives involved. During your drive across Gotham City, the Joker could pop out of an alley, or you could find yourself in a car chase with the Batmobile. On the other hand, your car could become a Disney World ride, and driving your kids to school could become a Millennium Falcon or Buzz Lightyear adventure that involves shooting down enemy ships in a distant galaxy.
The possibilities are endless. Of course, it will all be a façade, but so is every form of visual entertainment. Ever since Thomas Edison created the Kinetoscope in 1897 to produce the first motion pictures, we have been happily living in a world filled with enthralling illusions.
The future of entertainment is unclear, but self-driving cars merging with media outlets is one distant idea that has already crossed the minds of industry executives. If self-driving cars become more popular over the next decade, it is possible that we will see this conglomeration / convergence take effect. Perhaps Uber and Lyft will do away with their drivers and start producing movies instead. Or maybe they will team up with Netflix, Amazon, or Apple+ to have a constant stream of content. Or maybe instead of Ubers and Lyfts altogether, we will get around in Disney Taxis or join in on Universal Studios Carpools. Again, the possibilities are endless. What’s your take?
Isn’t it odd that everyone on the internet either seems to hate or love Elon Musk and Tesla? One theory behind why this may be the case, was put forth in a recent article by John Mayo-Smith published on Medium.com called Elon vs. The Alligators. In a nutshell, the article is a list, with a nice graphic in part II, of vested interests that would stand to lose from Tesla’s success and, conversely, benefit from its demise.
This Is Not A New Development and Elon is Not Alone
Fans of the 2006 documentary, “Who Killed The Electric Car” would be well aware of the “conspiracy” against the proliferation of electric cars. The rise of Tesla, by definition, signals the failure of those entrenched interests that previously banded together to try and stop the emergence of this essential technology in the transition away from deadly fossil fuels.
Musk and Tesla represent an initial sign that these kinds of cabals to suppress technological development may be losing their strangle-hold on our world. Meanwhile, overwhelmingly obvious facts, once seen as “conspiracy theories”, are beginning to be recognized for what they are: simple facts of history.
Take, for example, the video below “Why The US Has No High Speed Rail”, released on May 7th, 2019, by none other than that “underground, subversive organization” CNBC. This short documentary clip has already garnered more than 4.5 million views.
The video shows the highly evolved, generally safe, and amazingly comfortable high speed rail systems across the globe: China, Japan, France, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and so on. And while more countries develop low emission, luxurious, high speed transport, the US still has no high speed rail.
Meanwhile, overwhelmingly obvious facts, once seen as “conspiracy theories”, are beginning to be recognized for what they are: simple facts of history.
The clip goes on to trace the history of the transportation infrastructure and show how it was dominated and controlled in the US by Big Oil, government road building subsidies and the Auto Industry. It follows the clear path of these forces, and how they systematically prevented any rise of non-automotive transportation.
As the Media Slowly Comes Around, the Dollars Still Twist the Story
Perhaps, even ten years ago, this video would have likely been systematically attacked, in the same way as previous stories, for daring to sing the virtues of highly efficient, low pollution transportation, and for the very same reasons.
Today, after a Sea change, it appears that it is not so easy to squelch access to information that lays out plain truths about the past. Information is no longer so easy to suppress. While we, as a species, face possible extinction from climate change / global warming, brought about at least partially by the precise “conspiracy” of corruption that is the reason the US still has no rail infrastructure, the need to face these kinds of facts is undeniable.
Could the large viewership, unchallenged, indicate that it is no longer possible to bully the citizenry into silence, simply by disparaging the source of information, be it journalistic or otherwise?
It doesn’t take an eagle eye to notice, that when it comes to auto fatalities, Tesla and Musk are held to a very different standard than any other car company. Doing any search of a general grouping of news reports pertaining to fatal auto collisions, instantly, a stark pattern emerges. Ford is not mentioned. Chevy? Nope. Neither is Toyota, or Nissan nor Chrysler or Subaru. Mercedes Benz? Never. This list could go on and on, but any casual observer can see the pattern.
Although there are almost 40,000 auto accident fatalities per year in the US, and a very tiny fraction of those involve any electric car, nevertheless, the name Tesla comes up again and again, as the headline of stories about car crashes, with or without fatalities.
Titles like: “5 killed on way to Funeral” or “His 6th DUI Proved Fatal” are common. But it appears that any crash, of any kind, that involves a Tesla is “news”. This is but one of endless examples that could be cited, and corroborated, showing a pattern of negative stories aimed at one car company above all others. Coincidence?
The Story of Suppression of Design Innovation, Particularly when that Innovation Threatens the Status Quo is, Unfortunately, a Long One
A little known episode in this long history is that of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car. Featured prominently at the 1933-34 World’s Fair in Chicago, it had an amazing fuel efficiency, with approximately 30 mpg, and at 20ft in length, could transport 8-11 passengers at up to 70 mph.
However, after a local Chicago politician (Chicago South Park Commissioner) ran his own vehicle into the first prototype, killing the driver of the Dymaxion, the whole episode was used, in bogus press reports, to bury not only public interest in the car itself, but any chance of the advances in gas milage and overall efficiency that it represented. Gas mileage in the 30 mpg range would then be delayed for decades.
Photo Credit / Medium.com
Headlines in New York and Chicago read: “Freak car rolls over – killing famous driver – injuring international passengers“. In a subsequent investigation the Dymaxion was cleared of any fault, and the politician and his car were found to have been illegally removed from the scene before any reporters arrived. To this day, the average fuel economy in the US is less than 30 MPG. Even after over 80 years, articles can still be found that smear the history of the car with lies and baseless inferences, the same ones propagated in 1933.
A Trillion Gallons of Gasoline Wasted by Intentionally Inefficient Cars
If suppression of inventions that could have reduced carbon emissions, the same polluting substances that, eventually, could destroy the earth, is not pure evil, it’s hard to say what is. And yet, those same forces and corrupt powers remain with us today. “Tump Loves Coal“.
It would be interesting to speculate why 4.5 million would want to know the answer to the question: “Why the US Has No High Speed Rail”. And what about the “Alligators” that are out to get Tesla and Elon Musk? Are they going to succeed? Or will 400 million decide that the alligator’s time, like the dinosaurs they resemble, is finally over.
First Concrete Step Towards Transport Tunnel Proliferation
Despite receiving some pushback from two board members of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, The Boring Company has nevertheless secured a contract to build a transport tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center campus.
The project, which was approved following a vote by the board on Wednesday, will be comprised of two tunnels that are designed to transport passengers from the Convention Center’s New Exhibit Hall to the existing North/Central Hall. A third, pedestrian tunnel, may also be included in the project.
The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is expected to be completed in time for the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show, which will be held in January, as usual. Elon Musk has expressed his optimism at the project’s potential completion date, stating on Twitter that the transport tunnel could be operational by the end of 2019.
Looking forward to building a Boring Company tunnel in Vegas. Assuming to be operational by end of year! https://t.co/cSSO4SJ140
This is a very aggressive timetable, though the relatively short length of the tunnel, at less than one mile, could improve the Boring Company’s chances at completing the project within Musk’s target timeframe.
The Las Vegas transport tunnel will utilize a Loop System, which is comprised of autonomous electric vehicles (AEV) that can carry passengers from one point to another. The Boring Company notes that standard AEVs are Tesla Model X and Model 3 vehicles, though high-occupancy AEVs are also under development.
Photo / The Boring Company
The latter utilizes a modified Model X chassis that is capable of transporting up to 16 passengers with both sitting and standing room. Provided that The Boring Company could complete the transport tunnel without delays, test runs in the system could begin as early as November 2020, according to the project’s public contract.
Photo / The Boring Company
In its vote on Wednesday, the LVCA granted a $48.6 million contract to the tunneling startup, though the total project is estimated to cost around $52.5 million. Two-thirds of the total funding for the project will not be released to the tunneling startup until the transport tunnel is complete. Previous reports also hinted that if the Boring Company is unable to receive a certificate of occupancy for the transport tunnel, the LVCA will get back its entire investment.
“Future expansions to augment LVCC Loop can include service extensions to McCarran International Airport, hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, downtown Las Vegas, Las Vegas Stadium, and, in the long term, Los Angeles”
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) May 24, 2019
While the Boring Company was able to secure the Las Vegas contract, the tunneling startup’s proposal still met some pushback from two board members of the LVCA. In recent weeks, board members Michele Fiore and Carolyn Goodman argued against the Boring Company’s proposal, citing the startup’s inexperience. The two board members suggested that the LVCA adopt the proposal of Austria-based Doppelmayr Garaventa Group instead, which would create an above-ground transit system that at a projected cost of around $215 million to complete.
Above: the link to the live streaming broadcast for Thursday May 23rd
On Tuesday, May 14th, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket fulfilled its static fire test, a wet dress rehearsal launch, where the engines fire at full thrust. The test was successful and included all cargo (satellites) on board, which appears to indicate a full launch is now ready to go forward. Musk was initially planning for late Wednesday, but is now aiming for Thursday, May 23rd.
Now targeting May 23 for launch of Starlink from Pad 40 in Florida
Standing down to update satellite software and triple-check everything again. Always want to do everything we can on the ground to maximize mission success, next launch opportunity in about a week.
Musk predicts that it will take at least 6 launches (360 more satellites) for “minor coverage” and then another 6 (total of 720 satellites) for “moderate coverage”. Musk is a realist and does predict that things will inevitably go wrong during the process. Tuesday’s static fire success and soon, a successful launch, can be huge steps towards bigger things to come.
