Rexfeng

Say goodbye to New York's public pay phones and hello to one of the largest public Wi-Fi experiments ever. A new city plan dubbed LinkNYC will replace public pay telephones with a console that provides free public Wi-Fi ("up to gigabit speeds") 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The physical pillar will also provide free domestic phone calls (including 911 and 311), a charging station for your phones, and a "touchscreen tablet interface to access City services, directions, and more."

LinkNYC will reportedly be funded entirely through advertising revenues — if you noticed, there's a large screen on the sides for bright promotions — and "will be built at no cost to taxpayers." The project is estimated to generate more than $500 million in...

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He's feeling okay about it now, if you couldn't tell.

It seems the arch adversary's rivals have taken a page from the master: Gordon Ramsay told British TV host Jonathan Ross this weekend that he and his full staff, eagerly awaiting the crush of diners, found themselves cutting perfect brunoise to an empty house on Heddon Street Kitchen's opening night two weeks ago. "Saturday was our first big day," said Ramsay."We had 140 on the books and we had 100 [not] show." Ouch.

The chef, who has recently been in touch with what could be considered his softer side, said the sabotage was "bad spirit" and proved his competitors' "level of envy." Apparently, it was a pretty glum evening for the staff, and the move is forcing Ramsay to "reconfirm every table," since he guesses the individual booked the block online. Ramsay didn't conjecture about who the mastermind was, but maybe it's just that the task was too difficult — the chef has been known to have an enemy, or ten.

Related: The 20 Most Despicable Things Gordon Ramsay Has Said and Done, Ranked
[ITV, Telegraph]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: gordon ramsay, heddon street kitchen, news

Its capitalisation overtook the combined value of all Russian public companies, writes Srinivasan Sivabalan.

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New Yorkers passing through Times Square will see (whether they want to or not) the biggest, most expensive digital billboard (at least in the US) when it turns on this Tuesday night. The screen is big enough to run a whole block, from 45th to 46th...

Three years ago, Matt Haag was flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Today he makes his living playing video games and has 1.5 million YouTube subscribers.

Connie Loizos, reporting for Strictly VC:

Sources who spoke to StrictlyVC and asked to remain anonymous say Fadell has fashioned a hierarchical structure reminiscent of TV’s “Game of Thrones.”

According to one employee, “Almost every decision, no matter how small,” goes through either Fadell or Matt Rogers, who cofounded Nest with Fadell and was previously a senior manager at Apple. (Through a spokesperson, Fadell and Rogers declined to answer questions for this story.)

“It’s always, ‘Tony and Matt want us to do this. We have to hit this deadline because Tony and Matt want us to.’ You definitely see people taking the path of least resistance because they don’t want to upset Tony.”

Another employee calls it a “huge meeting culture, to the point where anyone at the director level or up spends their entire day in meetings, many of them duplicative meetings about the same subject, over and over to the point where a lot of people have complained.”

Sounds like Nest’s acquisition of Dropcam isn’t going smoothly.

Apparently, it's starting to work. [ more › ]

Next Friday, Super Smash Bros. will finally come out in glorious high-definition on the Wii U. This Friday, it's out in glorious low-definition on the TI-83 calculator.

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The Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee is about as vague of a name as you can imagine for a trade group. But the organization actually represents many of the biggest Fortune 500 companies in the US, and according to a report from Bloomberg, it has been petitioning the FCC on the topic of "Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet." In an ex-parte notice filed with the FCC, Ad Hoc joined President Obama in calling for the use of Title II, arguing that the current system for providing residential internet service is a "terminating access monopoly" without meaningful competition.

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The popular Hacienda Heights ramen-ya is much closer for most Angelenos

Taking over the former Malaysian restaurant Yazmin in Alhambra, Foo Foo Tei quietly opened a few days ago in the rather sizeable space. The ultra-popular Hacienda Heights ramen shop, which seems to always have lines before it opens every day, is now much more accessible for noodle hounds coming from central L.A.

Known for its nearly endless combinations of ramen bowls, Foo Foo Tei was one of the original cult shops that garnered both critical and mass praise for its variety of styles and solid execution. Types include tan tan men, menudo ramen, mabo ramen, shoyu, shio, seafood, and even even duck noodle ramen.

However, with the recent ramen boom, places like Tsujita and Jinya have mostly overshadowed Foo Foo Tei's notoriety. It also didn't help that their Hacienda Heights location feels like the most isolated place in Southern California. This new outlet in Alhambra should help revive that sentiment for long time Foo Foo Tei acolytes.

Fans can now gather from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., or from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Check out the 31-bowl menu here, plus all the extra sides that can come alongside the ramen.

AT&T has phased out a controversial tracking program it used that inserted identification tags without an opt-out into users' internet traffic.

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Every once in a while, we non-cooking New Yorkers have the urge to make a home-cooked meal. For those rare moments, the Trader Joe’s frozen-food department is our Eataly. Aficionados know their way around it, plucking out the gyoza from the Asian section; chicken burritos from the Mexican; chana masala from the Indian bins next to it; Pizza Parlano from the stand-alone pizza freezer; Brussels sprouts from veggie row; and anything from my favorite cluster, Italian. Yes, of all the things to buy premade at Trader Joe’s, pasta in some ways makes the least sense (it’s a lot easier to boil some penne than make Thai shrimp fried rice from scratch). But there are some treasures to be defrosted here, namely, the fettuccine with mushroom sauce. (It’s not terribly surprising that Trader Joe’s Italian goods are so yummy: In a 2009 New York blind taste test, its 99-cent spaghetti beat out every competitor from Barilla to Martelli.) This dish, made with porcini mushrooms and cream, is essentially umami in a bag. But what elevates it from Lean Cuisine territory is its subtle flavor profile—parsley, chile, black pepper, garlic—and the super-fresh-tasting noodles. I have a little routine where I say, after finishing a bowl, “I could serve this at a dinner party, I really could,” to whoever’s listening. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I won’t … but you can.

*This article appears in the November 10, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.

Related: The New Guard of Grocers: 44 Specialty Food Shops That You Need to Know

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Filed Under: shortcuts, freezer aisle, frozen food, grocery shopping, trader joe's

Sad news, web merchants: if you relied on Google Wallet to process the online payments for your feline subculture e-zine (or any other digital product you've got kicking around), you'd better start looking for something else to do the job. On March...

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Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Performance, Bugatti

Upon first inspection, this looks to be a strangely styled Bugatti Veyron. Such a thing shouldn't be a shock. We have, after all, already seen the hypercar with a penis on the hood and painted in nearly every single hue that exists on our planet. Take a closer look, though, and we see something altogether different. That's because this isn't a Veyron - it's new, rumored to be a replacement to the Veyron and is allegedly called the Chiron.

The first identifier that we're looking at something different are the huge carbon-ceramic brakes, which dwarf the already meaty pans found on the standard Veyron Super Sport. Beyond that, the distinctive snorkel intakes of the Veyron have been replaced with simple NACA ducts, while Bugatti engineers have ditched the car's enormous adjustable rear spoiler.

That amputation has allowed our spies to peek into the back of the car, and identify what we think are the components of an electric powertrain. Considering current performance trends, we shouldn't be surprised that Bugatti (and by extension, Volkswagen) are tinkering with hybrid tech.

What is surprising is that our spies report that the Veyron's iconic 16-cylinder, quad-turbocharged engine remains in place. The 1,200-horsepower engine will allegedly be complemented by an extra 300 ponies from the electric motor(s), for a LaFerrari-killing 1,500 hp. So yeah, those supersized brakes now make a bit more sense.

Perhaps the strangest thing, though, can be found in the cabin, where the steering wheel from a VW GTI can be found. Don't worry oil sheiks and oligarchs of the world, your next ultra-exclusive, multi-million-dollar hypercar won't share its steering wheel with a $25,000 hot hatchback. This was likely just plugged in because it plays nicely with other VAG components in the test mule.

Take a look at our gallery of images of the new Chiron as it undergoes testing in Europe and let us know what else you spy hiding in these shots.

Bugatti Chiron mule caught wearing stylish camo over hybrid drivetrain originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In some hot water.

Stadium beer is already grotesquely overpriced, so it's all the more troubling that Seattle Seahawks concessionaire Delaware North Sports Service has allegedly been selling some watered-down stuff. An investigation by Seattle's KOMO News found that the alcohol content for six of six draft beers on offer lab-tested at a lower ABV than what the breweries advertise. In some cases, alcohol content was off by more than half a percent, a violation of a federal law, which says plus-or-minus 0.3 percent is the acceptable limit.

KOMO says it obtained and transported samples according to strict lab instructions (small vials kept cool inside bags packed with ice) and still got the depressing results: Bud Light was the lowest, no surprise, basically a hops-flavored club soda containing 3.9 percent ABV instead of the 4.2 advertised. Budweiser clocked in at 4.4 instead of 5.0, Stella Artois was 4.8 percent instead of 5.0, Redhook's No Equal was 4.8 percent instead of 5.2, Shocktop was 4.7 percent rather than 5.2, and Bass Pale Ale was 4.5 percent and not 5.1.

A statement from Anheuser-Busch, which has been down this waterlogged road before and owns five of those six brands, says, "We sell only full-strength beer in the state of Washington," the same product consumers "purchase at bars, restaurants, convenience stores, and other retail locations," and then goes on to question "the lab and testing method."

While the lab grants the numbers could miss the mark by a little, "the results are off enough to absolutely merit more testing and investigation." Other stadiums have been known to get special so-called "stadium kegs" from Anheuser-Busch, meant to be, in the words of San Diego Padres officials, part of an "alcohol management plan" for stadium drunks.

Related: Judge Rules Budweiser’s Watery Beer Isn’t Diluted on Purpose
[KOMO]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: beer me, centurylink field, news, seattle seahawks, stadium concessions

 If there’s one constant in life, it’s change, and the fourth quarter of 2014 has brought quite a bit of change for Reddit, the massively popular aggregation site that could. So here’s some more news: Reddit CEO Yishan Wong has resigned, COO Ellen Pao has become interim CEO and co-founder Alexis Ohanian has returned to the company he founded in 2005 to fill the full-time… Read More

 Google Analytics is getting a powerful new feature, the company announced today: the ability to track iOS app installs. The new reporting function, which allows customers to better measure marketing campaigns related to acquiring mobile app users, now works with those who advertise via Google AdWords as well as third-party mobile ad networks including akri, AdMob, AppLovin, Millennial… Read More

According to a recent survey¹ of citizens in 14 countries, the United States ranks second in the amount of ignorance about things like teenage birth rates, unemployment rates, and immigration. Only Italians were more clueless. You can take a version of the test yourself and then view the results (results for the US only). Some of the more notable results:

- Americans guessed that the unemployment rate is 32%, instead of the actual rate of 6%.

- While 1% of the US population identifies as Muslim, Americans guessed 15%. 15!

- 70% of Americans guessed the US murder rate was rising. It has decreased by more than half since 1992.

- Americans guessed that almost 24% of girls aged 15-19 give birth each year. Actually, 3.1%.

Then again, what do Americans hear about constantly on the news? Unemployment, Muslims & immigration, murder, and teen pregnancy. It's little wonder the guesses on those are so high.

1. As you know, survey results are to be taken with a grain of salt. ↩

Tags: USA

Google Maps - Building shadows display accurately according to the time of day.

Back in June, you may remember Last Week Tonight With John Oliver had a great bit on net neutrality. Oliver poked fun at the FCC commissioners; he called Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former telecom lobbyist, a dingo. The internet had a laugh and, the day after, FCC employees went back to work.

As part of a Freedom of Information Act request sent by The Verge, the FCC sent email exchanges between employees that show how the FCC responded. The reviews: mostly positive, with some reservations.

Deborah Taylor Tate, a former commissioner who's now a "special envoy" at the International Telecommunication Union, saw the video and sent a free-verse email alert to her old colleagues.

Comm O was on a comic show

Last week tonight

HBo show

George...

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Filed under: Coupe, China, Supercars, Misc. Automakers

The Zonda may have put Pagani on the map, but it was only sold in certain markets. The US, for example, wasn't one of them, but with the introduction of the Huayra, the Modenese supercar manufacturer is going global. The Chinese market is a vital element of that strategy, prompting Pagani to set up a dedicated division specifically to cater to local customers - and at its launch revealed a trio of special Huayras crafted specifically for China.

Called the Dinastia, this limited-edition take on the Pagani Huayra was inspired by the Nine Dragons Wall in Beijing's Forbidden City. Out of the 100 total Huayras to be built, only three examples of this special series will be made: one in blue carbon (emblazoned with Baxia, the water dragon), one in gold carbon (embellished by the image of Yazi, the warrior dragon) and one in red carbon (decorated by Chiwen, the protective dragon of fire and rain).

In addition to the exterior trim treatment, each gets a matching interior and what looks like a unique aero package including a downsized version of the kind of fin you'd expect to see on a modern Le Mans prototype.

The three unique Huayras will be offered through the newly inaugurated Pagani China Automotive Limited (PCAL), which will serve the markets of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and provide after-sales services to the broader Asia Pacific region.

Continue reading Pagani launches in China with Huayra Dinastia edition

Pagani launches in China with Huayra Dinastia edition originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Nov 2014 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A friend left me with some Trung Nguyen Vietnamese coffee, so I bought this filter and went to town. I am buzzing and addicted.

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Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Aston Martin, Middle East, Luxury

Aston Martin officially took the wraps off its new Lagonda sedan in Dubai on Monday, revealing the luxury limousine in all its glory and revealing its nameplate as Taraf - derived from the Arabic word for "luxury" (not for some Kurdish starlet). A fitting name, since it will only be offered to select customers in the Middle East, where a large number of its '70s-era predecessors have found homes. But while the model was clearly and emphatically targeted at the Persian Gulf clientele, Aston Martin is reportedly considering offering the Lagonda Taraf in other markets as well.

Both Car and Top Gear are citing Aston's new chief executive Andy Palmer on the matter from the unveiling in Dubai: "I can confirm today that we are also evaluating the opportunity to offer this Lagonda in other markets." Whether it would carry the Arabic name along with it, we don't know.

Nor do we know, for that matter, if the US would be among those markets which Aston would consider selling the sedan. "We have enjoyed excellent levels of interest in the Lagonda and we are investigating possibilities for other markets besides the Middle East," said Matthew Clarke, the company's spokesman for the Americas, in correspondence with Autoblog. "However, we can't add any more or be any more specific at this very early stage." Understandable, of course, but we hope to hear good news in the near future.

Aston Martin considers offering new Lagonda Taraf outside of Middle East originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 12 Nov 2014 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"When your supplier hates your guts, it's kind of hard to do business."

Canada is a vast, wondrous country with many interesting and beautiful things. A Trader Joe's store is not one of those things. When Michael Hallatt moved from California to Vancouver, only to realize that there was a shop just close enough in Bellingham, Washington, where Canadians regularly stocked up on Speculoos cookie butter, Inner Peas, cocoa-almond spread, and Cat Cookies for People, Hallatt figured he could save people the hassle of crossing the border and dealing with customs agents — while adding a few dollars to the prices of products — and make a small profit.

So about two years ago, he opened a retail location that soon became known as "Pirate Joe's," an "unaffiliated, unauthorized re-seller of Trader Joe's products." If it sounds shady, know that Hallatt has played by the rules, legally speaking, and won two lawsuits against the corporation. Currently, Hallatt is in lawsuit round three (Trader Joe's has appealed to the 9th Circuit), and his store has now come to represent some much larger ideas about small business, market forces, and demand, even if Hallatt's main goal is simply to convince the chain to expand into Canada.

Do you remember your first Trader Joe's experience?
I was living in Emeryville, but I was a Whole Foods person. You go in there, and there's somebody elegantly serving you samples of organic blood oranges and you're like, "Oh yeah." You can't shake that easily. But I found myself pinching pennies while building a house, so I decided to give Trader Joe's another look. Once it gets in your DNA, you kind of go, "Oh yeah, TJ. That's the stuff."

And then you moved to Canada, where there are no Trader Joe's stores.
I opened the shop as a response to being in Bellingham, which is this portal to freedom that Canadians use. It's just close enough that you can grind your way over the border. I was in the Trader Joe's in Bellingham, and it was full of Canadians, just grabbing the stuff. The parking lot was pandemonium.

I was looking for a retail gig, and I wanted to be in Vancouver. So I looked into it, and just on the logistics side, it was pretty much impossible. The Canadian import system is tuned for the status quo, which is big trailers full of stuff from Costco. So even though these prices are tantalizingly low, the logistics of getting things over the border legally are a barrier to entry that dissuade a lot of people from bothering.

How did you get across the border with a truck full of shopping bags? Didn't that look shady?
You look in the van at any given time, and there are 150 bags of groceries jammed in a white panel van. I don't put them in boxes. The first time, there was a big guy in a bulletproof vest. He's looking at me, and he's got all my paperwork, and I'm nervous. I'm an adult and I'm sweating. He's looking at all the papers, and he looks up and he says, "You got those peanut butter cups? Those little ones?" And I'm just like, "Are you kidding me?" With a big smile, he goes, "Yeah, yeah, come on, come on." He shows me the computer and gets me dialed in, and I haven't looked back. Now the customs agents know who I am. They love the story. As long as I do the paperwork, they're good.

What's your markup on the food?
I thought, Well, I'll just mark everything up, you know, $1.00. We'll see what happens. And I lost a lot of money — I mean, $3000 or $4000 in the first month. So then I went up to $1.50. My prices are still cheaper than, or comparable to, Safeway or Whole Foods. Definitely cheaper than Whole Foods.

So let's talk about the legal nightmare. I can imagine it hasn't been easy.
It wasn't lost on me that I might get in a bit of trouble. A lawyer said, "Whatever you do, you've got to come up to the line" — he had just described where the line was, from a trademark-infringement point of view — "and step back from it." I said, "Well, what if it was disguised as a Romanian bakery?" The building we rented was a Romanian bakery that had gone out of business. And he goes, "That's perfect." So we opened up, and all we had was Trader Joe's stuff in the window and a sign I inherited that said "Transylvania Trading." I made a banner that said "I

How did you spread the word?
People would come in, and I would say, "Don't tell anybody." And, of course, they would tell — that's like rocket fuel for word of mouth. Obviously, I'm not going to advertise. Canadians are very rules-y, so they would come in and go, "Well, this can't be legal." And I'd say, "Well, tell me which law it is I'm breaking. They'd respond, "It says right on the back of the box, 'Exclusively Distributed.'" "Yeah, but that's not a law. You can't legislate on the back of a cereal box."

So there's a place in Brooklyn that only sells Nutella products. It was called Nutelleria, and then they opened with the name to Nuteria. Strange, but is it illegal?
So companies have trademark laws at their disposal. Basically, what you'e trying to do is not confuse customers. If you've got a trademark for Nutella, and you're in the marketplace, everyone wants to know what the authentic Nutella thing is — that's it. If some place called Nutelleria shows up, that's shorthand for a place that sells Nutella. Are customers confused? Nutella would argue, "Well, yeah, because they're using Nutella in the name. They are implying that this business is authorized or affiliated with us, when they're not." It's a gray area.

There's this place called Charbucks. It's a riff on how Starbucks is known as Charbucks because they burn the hell out of their coffee. It has nothing to do with Starbucks, and Starbucks freaks out and sues them, and these guys choose to fight. They won, because Starbucks went out and did a survey, and like 60 percent of the people thought maybe it might be affiliated with Starbucks, but maybe not — it was kind of gray. People are smarter, so they sided with Charbucks. Charbucks is open.

When did you first hear from Trader Joe's?
They sent me a cease-and-desist letter saying I had to close within seven days. The first thing I did was put the thing in the window. It was actually some pretty brisk business because everyone thought I was going to close, so they were getting their stuff while they could. And I was like, "That's designed to scare us. You ignore that." And then a whole year went by, after that letter arrived, where there was radio silence from Trader Joe's for about a year. Until the first lawsuit hit.

What happened?
We moved to a new location and put a sign in the window that said "Pirate Joe's." A journalist has given us the nickname, and my lawyers — well, when I say my lawyers, these are people I call up randomly and ask for free advice — were like, "Yeah, that's going to be trouble." So it wasn't long before that happened that Trader Joe's got pretty upset, and then they sued me. So we started out as this bizarre top-secret place disguised as a Romanian bakery. And I didn't really predict the rest of it, like winning the lawsuit.

For me, the problem is that Trader Joe's will not discuss anything. There was one opportunity early in the litigation where, after we won the first round, there was a request for mediation. Their lawyers said, "Can you come up with any ways to solve this?" and I said, "Sure, how about if I turn this into a Trader Joe's café, where everything in the café is concoctions made out of Trader Joe's stuff?" They said, "Great idea, but we won't supply you."

Were you surprised by your success?
I didn't ever want to be this guy sneaking around. But the shift in people's perceptions really cemented after Trader Joe's lost the first round of the lawsuit. People were taking my word for it that this was indeed legal, but when it was affirmed by the courts, everybody who was on the fence jumped on our side. One of our little slogans is we're unauthorized, unaffiliated, and unafraid. People love that. It's like one part Occupy Grocery and one part David versus Goliath.

And we'll admit everything: Yeah, we're buying it from you full retail. Here are all of our receipts. What is wrong with that exactly? And this idea that there's brand harm — I don't see how you get there. We're introducing new people to Trader Joe's every day. When Trader Joe's comes up here, everyone's all set.

How has it progressed? Are you still embattled in lawsuits?
We won the first two rounds. I knew legally that I was fine, and that it was always going to be about whether I could afford to fight. But it's all paid for by Wawanesa [an insurance company]. So $120,000 later, I haven't paid a bill. And Trader Joe's is probably well north of $300,000 at this point. I'd prefer if they took the money and put it into a new store, but hey, that's the way it goes. If it went to the Supreme Court, I'm covered all the way up there. It never will, but it's pretty amazing.

We're on round three at this point. They've appealed it to the 9th Circuit, which is based out of San Francisco. And we don't know what's going to happen there. If they uphold the dismissal of this lower court, then it's established law, and Trader Joe's has basically set themselves on fire with this one.

Can you actually show your face in Trader Joe's stores?
They got a picture of me from some press thing, so a year ago, I'd go into a Trader Joe&'s, and within ten minutes, someone would be tapping me on the shoulders saying, "We're not going to sell to you." Now I hire shoppers off Craigslist. It sounds sketchy: "So, you've got to sneak into Trader Joe's for me and buy groceries." I ended up with this little crew: I've got a couple of farmers with two kids, and they don't make enough money growing organic stuff. I've got a gal who is a divorcée from Boston, who looks kind of like Olivia Newton John, and she's always in Spandex, and she just loves doing it. I've got stoners and they smell like pot. I pay them either by the hour or on commission, depending.

How much do you buy at a time?
Well, just one-sies, two-sies. We don't want them to have any way of detecting that we're doing it, and we don't want to clear out the shelves. That wouldn't be fair. If I go shop in L.A. — I've done that once to see how that would work — I'll just tell people that I'm shopping for Tom Cruise. L.A. is so crazy that people go, "Of course you are." I can get anything I want out of L.A.

But I bought $15,000 worth of stuff in one trip, rented a van, and then I forgot about the heat wave. That was just a disaster. So I ended up having to check into a motel, hire a guy to help me with all the groceries, and put them in the air-conditioned hotel room, until it cooled down and I could drive through the night.

What are your best-selling items?
The dark-chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, and the dark-chocolate-covered almonds with sea salt and Turbinado sugar. If you come into the store and you're not sure what's going on, we give you one of those and then you start paying attention. We chase people around and give them those things. Believe it or not, the Inner Peas — the salted peas; they're like snap peas that are basically just a lot of salt — can't keep those in. I say we can tell when we've got the right product when people grab it and then immediately pull it to their chest.

How would you like to see this play out?
What Trader Joe's should do is open in Vancouver. It's just not fair that they set up this business in Bellingham. It would absolutely put me out of business, and rightly so. We're just a market response. And if Trader Joe's comes up here, those all go away, and my rationale completely goes out the window — which is fantastic, because this isn't a business that I intended to last this long. When your supplier hates your guts, it's kind of hard to do business.

I've never worked harder for less money in my life. But I've never had more fun, either. Part of my rationale for sticking with this, despite all the adversity, is this could establish a law for the next kid that goes, "Hey, I want to do something." You read about that kid in Cornell that was buying books in Thailand and then reselling them? That's the same thing, but I'm buying it retail from the official people — the full Monty — and then just taking it away and selling it to people that have no Trader Joe's. There's no legal argument for those guys to make. But they're pressing on. The problem is that I'm suddenly in the grocery business. Now, who the hell wants to be in the grocery business? I've got myself into a bit of a pickle.

Are you still a Whole Foods person?
I'm not a TJ's diehard. I'm more of a Whole Foods person. Like, there's a Whole Foods across the street, that's where I ... I don't eat that much of the stuff in my store. It's incongruous for me to be Trader Joe's best customer. This has really become more about saying, "Don't push me around."

Read more posts by Sierra Tishgart

Filed Under: interviews, pirate joe's, trader joe's

An Astro Boy crossing signal was just installed in Kanagawa Prefecture, outside Tokyo.

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Now that Apple has finally introduced widgets for iOS 8's Notification Center, we're starting to see some great ways to quickly access important info on our iPhones. But a few clever developers are pushing those widgets beyond just notifications. A new iOS game called Overglide can actually be played directly from your iPhone or iPad's Notification Screen, without even having to unlock your device.

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Great piece about The Knowledge, the collection of geographical information that all London taxi drivers must learn before becoming a cabbie.

The guidebook issued to prospective cabbies by London Taxi and Private Hire (LTPH), which oversees the test, summarizes the task like this:

To achieve the required standard to be licensed as an "All London" taxi driver you will need a thorough knowledge, primarily, of the area within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. You will need to know: all the streets; housing estates; parks and open spaces; government offices and departments; financial and commercial centres; diplomatic premises; town halls; registry offices; hospitals; places of worship; sports stadiums and leisure centres; airline offices; stations; hotels; clubs; theatres; cinemas; museums; art galleries; schools; colleges and universities; police stations and headquarters buildings; civil, criminal and coroner's courts; prisons; and places of interest to tourists. In fact, anywhere a taxi passenger might ask to be taken.

If anything, this description understates the case. The six-mile radius from Charing Cross, the putative center-point of London marked by an equestrian statue of King Charles I, takes in some 25,000 streets. London cabbies need to know all of those streets, and how to drive them -- the direction they run, which are one-way, which are dead ends, where to enter and exit traffic circles, and so on. But cabbies also need to know everything on the streets. Examiners may ask a would-be cabby to identify the location of any restaurant in London. Any pub, any shop, any landmark, no matter how small or obscure -- all are fair game. Test-takers have been asked to name the whereabouts of flower stands, of laundromats, of commemorative plaques. One taxi driver told me that he was asked the location of a statue, just a foot tall, depicting two mice sharing a piece of cheese. It's on the facade of a building in Philpot Lane, on the corner of Eastcheap, not far from London Bridge.

The goal is to install a complete map of London in the brain of every licensed taxi driver. And indeed, according to neuroscientist Eleanor Maguire, the part of the brain responsible for memory becomes physically bigger as The Knowledge is absorbed.

Seeing, for a Knowledge candidate, is everything -- at its heart, the Knowledge is an elaborate exercise in visualization. When McCabe called-over, he closed his eyes and toggled between views: picturing the city at street level, the roads rolling out in front of him as if in a movie, then pulling the camera back to take in the bird's eye perspective, scanning the London map. Knowledge boys speak of a Eureka moment when, after months or years of doggedly assembling the London puzzle, the fuzziness recedes and the city snaps into focus, the great morass of streets suddenly appearing as an intelligible whole. McCabe was startled not just by that macroview, but by the minute details he was able to retain. "I can pull a tiny little art studio just from the color of the door, and where it's got a lamppost outside. Your brain just remembers silly things, you know?"

I could go on and on...I loved this piece. Don't miss the video of a prospective cabbie calling out the route he would use to go from Rotherhithe Station to the Natural History Museum, entirely from memory without looking at a map. Compare with Google's driving directions.

Update: View From the Mirror is a blog written by a London cabbie, which includes his experience training for The Knowledge. (thx, bryan)

Tags: London   maps   taxi

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