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The car of the future is so green, it has a garden beneath the hood

via Frank Schwichtenberg / Wikimedia Commons

Swiss auto manufacturer Rinspeed has a released a new concept car called the Oasis that's jam-packed with every feature you could possibly want — plus some you didn't even know you needed — including a garden beneath the hood.

Most importantly, it provides the industry with a glimpse into the future of transportation. The car is great for the environment, has incredible safety features, and can senselessly integrate into its passenger's lifestyle via artificial intelligence.

The Oasis is an electric car designed for personal ownership or as a self-driving, ride-sharing vehicle. Its hatchback design is almost completely see-through and it has a 5K display screen.

In the future, when everything is self-driving, the Oasis' steering wheel can be turned into a table, so you can start work early on your morning commute. It has a top speed of 80 miles per hour and solar panels are integrated into the roof design.

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You've Probably Seen An Emergency Alert On Your Phone. But Did You Notice How It Was Worded?

Here’s what happens when alerts like Hawaii's false alarm reach communities already in crisis.

[new_image position="standard large" id="null"]Warnings about Joaquin were not written in the plainest language. Image via Lisa Eastcoast/Twitter.[/new_image]

Back in October 2015, New Yorkers with smartphones were jolted by a collective ping, accompanied by a text message from the National Weather Service warning that the high winds of Hurricane Joaquin were imminent. Though Joaquin eventually veered off to Bermuda as a tropical storm, high surf and historic levels of tidal flooding devastated the Carolinas. And many of the alerts were written in complicated sentences using advanced vocabulary.

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systems technology
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These Robots Opening Doors May Appear (Very) Creepy, But The Development Is A Big Step Forward

At the very least, they exhibit teamwork and manners, right?

THE GOOD NEWS:

Seeing headless quadruped robots teaming up to open a door may not give anyone the warm and fuzzies, but this admittedly disconcerting is a great step forward in robotics.

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technology
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Google Warns Users Of Widespread Email Phishing Scam

Google is warning everyone about a widespread phishing scam

via Flickr user cc Help Desk National

A sophisticated email virus that spread like wildfire caused Google to tweet out a warning on Wednesday.

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technology
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Flying Cars Are Coming Sooner Than You Think

Here’s one way to shake up your Monday commute

Your Monday morning commute is about to look a lot more like the Jetsons’, thanks to flying-car start-up Kitty Hawk. With self-driving-car magnate Sebastian Thrun at the helm and financial backing from Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Kitty Hawk was finally able to get off the ground. (Get it?) Page said in a statement, “We’ve all had dreams of flying effortlessly. I’m excited that one day very soon I’ll be able to climb onto my Kitty Hawk Flyer for a quick and easy personal flight.”

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design technology
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The Upcoming iPhone 8 Will Cost More Than $1,000, Which Might Say As Much About Us As It Does The Phone

Is your smartphone more important to you than your computer? Apple’s pricing, for the first time, says ‘yes’

For many iPhone power users, news that the iPhone 8 (arriving as a sort-of tenth-anniversary edition) will sell for north of a grand isn’t jaw-dropping. As it stands now, the iPhone 7 Plus maxed out with 256 gigabytes of storage gets you within spitting distance at $969. But for those of us who have been content with earlier iterations, other brands, or cushy upgrade packages, seeing a fourth figure in the price tag may set off alarm bells. (This piece from BGR calls a $1,000 price tag from Apple “courageous,” which suggests our definitions of courage differ wildly.) Another estimate by iPhone8look puts the price at $1,200.

A lot of changes and fanfare are expected around the device, which may break naming tradition with the moniker iPhone X, a nod to the tenth-anniversary rather than the 8th iteration of the phone. Further, at least some models are expected to feature an OLED display rather than an LCD screen, which will stretch across the entire face of the phone, creating a borderless appearance and larger viewable surface. It’s estimated in this Fast Company article that the display upgrade alone will cost Apple twice what the old ones did.

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product design technology
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