Lifeboat Foundation

The metaverse is set to disrupt our lives — its development should not be taken lightly.

Building it must not be hastened by a few companies; it must be careful, calculated, thoughtful and most of all, collaborative.

This was the key takeaway of a panel discussion (moderated by GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi) on the technical standards and building blocks of the metaverse at this week’s MetaBeat event.

BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. — Like many others in Southwest Florida, Mark Wilkerson seemingly gambled his life by choosing to shelter at home rather than evacuate when Hurricane Ian crashed ashore last week as a Category 4 storm.

But it wasn’t just luck that saved Wilkerson and his wife, Rhonda, or prevented damage to their well-appointed one-story house. You might say that it was all by design.

…and yes it’s 30 miles inland, as that’s part of the design, with many more innovations.

Continue reading “One Florida community built to weather hurricanes endured Ian with barely a scratch” »

Amazon’s home robot Astro will be getting a slew of major updates aimed at further embedding it within homes—and in our everyday lives.

Amazon.com Inc. is shutting down tests of its home delivery robot, the latest sign that the e-commerce giant is starting to wind down experimental projects amid slowing sales growth.

Fiction will become reality at the 2022 Monaco Yacht Show.

Dutch yacht builder U-Boat Worx has unveiled the design of its $25 million superyacht, Nautilus.

More than 150 years ago, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea first brought to our attention the possibility of a luxury yacht that could take an underwater dip at will. Over the years, the concept has been admired and looked up to by many engineers but building a real-world prototype has so far still been a dream.

The streets in this meticulously planned neighborhood were designed to flood so houses don’t. Native landscaping along roads helps control storm water. Power and internet lines are buried to avoid wind damage. This is all in addition to being built to Florida’s robust building codes.

Some residents, like Grande, installed more solar panels on their roofs and added battery systems as an extra layer of protection from power outages. Many drive electric vehicles, taking full advantage of solar energy in the Sunshine State.

Climate resiliency was built into the fabric of the town with stronger storms in mind.

Is the future of humanity in space or on multiple planets?

You can’t build massive space habitats without harvesting resources from nearby asteroids. The resources of the Moon and asteroids are needed to create their proposed habitats.

The prospects for colonization of other planetary surfaces are unappealing.

Continue reading “Humanity’s future beyond Earth: Multiplanetary or Islands in Space?” »

Germany’s most strategically important building site is at the end of a windswept pier on the North Sea coast, where workers are assembling the country’s first terminal for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Starting this winter, the rig, close to the port of Wilhelmshaven, will be able to supply the equivalent of 20 percent of the gas that was until recently imported from Russia.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has throttled gas supplies to Germany, while the Nord Stream pipelines which carried huge volumes under the Baltic Sea to Europe were damaged last week in what a Danish-Swedish report called “a deliberate act.”

Overall, 86 percent of the survey respondents said they’re likely or extremely likely to want to stick with a four-day work week after the trial ends in three months.

Trials of this sort are becoming more popular; Spain, Scotland, Japan, and New Zealand have all looked into or trialed a reduced work week. Before the UK trial, the largest to date took place in Iceland in 2021, and it was broadly considered a success. The 2,500 participants reported decreased stress, increased energy levels, improved focus, more independence and control over their pace of work, and less conflict between their work and home lives. Managers reported boosts in employee morale, with productivity levels maintained if not improved.

Eighty-six percent of Iceland’s working population has subsequently either moved to a shorter work week or been given the option to do so. That’s a high percentage, but a small number compared to most European countries; Iceland’s total population is around 343,000, and it’s a highly equitable society in terms of income.