To prepare for a post-oil future, Saudi Arabia is building a linear city to diversify its economy, and to attract investments and visitors.
Named The Line, it located at the climatically moderate north of the country and it is envisaged as a straight linear city of 170 km (105 mi) in length, which will be car-less and zero carbon.
This is a re-imagination of the standard urban sprawl which expands amoeba-like from a centre.
Literature that we have come across thus far does not explain why the geometry of a line is picked versus, say, a circle.
We hazard to guess a line can be extended, does not sprawl, does not enclose a large space like a circle, every part is close to nature (the sides of the line) and it needs only one straight transportation and infra system (versus circle and radial lines of a standard city).
It can also be visioned as a spine or computer bus to which modules (like suburbs or commercial districts) can be plugged in.
Construction starts this year, to complete 2030 and beyond. Video.
In the midst of the Northern Winter, from the frozen far North, here is a song to warm your listening pleasure: Госуда́рственный гимн Росси́йской Федера́ции ('national anthem of Russia') by the Bolshoi Junior Choir.
MYHackathon is grassroots online GovTech hackathon organised by MOSTI. Running for the past 3 months, the hackathon culminates in a finale and showcase next Tue, Jan 26th, 2021. Sample winners (kudos for the fast-paced vids and succinct pitches):
BukuPINK - Digital immunisation and vaccination card
Anak2u - Adapt online edu to rural students (no device, bandwidth)
Pandai - Continuous edu via short courses (vs big conferences)
Avicenna - Digital disability card issued fast (vs months)
Vircle - Digital aid that uses the national ID card (eg for groceries)
eLancar - Move HRDF model from agency to marketplace
BossBoleh - Cloud-based company secretary and incorporation
Sifted asked top fintech founders from Checkut, N26, Fintonic, Lunar, Penta, Bux, Bnext and Plaid what promising fintech startups to watch out for. The founders picked 21 startups, a sample:
Bunq - Ewallet with the works (applepay, googlepay, subaccounts...)
ParentPay - Ewallet for kids, parents and schools (UK market leader)
Luko - Home insurance with certified repairman and artisan panel
Flux - Give customers digital receipts (and discounts, rewards)
Whether locked down or exercising an abundance of caution, big reunion dinners should best be scaled down this year. To keep with the occasion, perhaps eateries could accept delivery orders for the big dinner, to be delivered to homes and to gramps back at the hometown. Ditto gift baskets.
E-Red Packets
CN has had this for a few years now. send a red packet to a messaging contact. More possibilities: red packets for kids (eg young relatives), staff and other parties (eg charities), who are not in one's contact list or platform. How would you design an inclusive, easy-to-use red packet system that is more fun than a straight P2P payment?
E-Thaipusam
Thaipusam, a major Tamil festival, is on Thu, Jan 28th. With lockdowns likely still in place, what will become of chariot processions & temple pilgrimages? Might the 272 steps stair climb be substituted with home based 272 squats? No electronics needed.
CNY Video
Our video pick for this year goes to RHB Bank. Happy Spring Festival and a safe and prosperous New Year!
We had two candidate posts to usher in 2021. The one that got posted was Beatles and Brexit. The above was the other candidate, a spectacular, inadvertent fireworks display at Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Dec 2020.
Bullish Year
Speaking of the New Year, the Gregorian one was on Jan 1st, the Tamilian one, Pongal, was a couple of days ago on Jan 14th, and the Lunar New Year is about a month away on Feb 12th. According to Eastern traditions, it will be the year of the Bovine. Will it be a bullish, bullpoo, bull-in-a- china-shop or cows-come-home year? We shall hope it will be a year of (at least some) milk and honey.
YC recently posted about its top alumni (valued at $150M and above). The top 3 are DoorDash, Dropbox and Airbnb. Most are aged 5 years+. Here's a pick of freshies from recent years (2017-2020) that made it to the list:
Back to lockdowns and home cooked, delivered or take-out food? Here are some culinary concepts to explore while under lockdown, or if starting a food kiosk, or to do some R&D to prepare for a new start after the lockdown ends.
Lemon Lime Fizzy
Among MY's top 10 YTers, at least 3 (Bella Khann, Che Nom, Sugu Pavithra) offer foodie vids. Here's Bella's recipe (narrated in MY and EN) for a fruity fizzy.
Italian Sandwich
NYC delicatessen Casa Della Mozzarella makes mozzarella cheese in-house and applies them to sumptuous Italian Sandwiches.
Garlic Egg Toast
KR's street food vendors have moved on from a gritty vibe to being techie-like and decidedly delicious looking. As in garlic egg toasts at the Olleh Market in Jeju.
Are Gen Z (early twenties and below) lazy and short on grit? Perhaps not:
They may want to see purpose in their work. If they are asked to make more plastic, they may not want to make more plastic.
Grit is relative; many of us would have noticed our gramps are/were in a different grit league compared to us.
Families are smaller now, so Gen Zs may have less chances of big family dynamics, giving rise to a different work dynamic.
It could also be perspective. The YouTube vids that we have come across by Gen Zs are spirited, substantial and diligent.
Try to adapt to Gen Z and bring them up, they have a very heavy responsibility to carry on in a challenging world. As reflected by Gen Z vocalist Lucy Thomas in a cover of Desperado.
CES 2021 is happening online January 11-14. Consisting of a conference, partner programs and an exhibition, tickets are priced at $149 till Sunday. Sample content:
New mobility, a highlight of recent editions, won't be out in full force. Ditto experiential products like delicious veggie burgers. Exhibitor count is around 2,000 about half of the pre-bugzilla 2019 show. Still, a good effort by CES not to be laid low by the bug, and bonus marks for a revamped, simplified event site.
The 60s was a heady decade for Brit culture, arts and tech. Out of UK, came Beatles, Rolling Stones, Twiggy, Bond movies, The Saint, The Avengers, Harrier jets and the iconic Jaguar E and XJ6. This was attributed, among a host of factors, to the post-war baby boom coming of age in the 60s. Music wise, Beatles, which Rolling Stones (the rock music mag) ranks #1 in the 100 greatest music artists, burst upon the scene sweeping away melodic doowops in favour of experimental, metal, rock and psychedelic tunes. After Brexit this Friday, could Old Blighty pull off a new Brit revolution?
Videos
The Beatles played together as a band from 1960 to 1970. I Want To Hold Your Hand, one of their early hits, is covered here by Caitlin Hart, while Let It Be, their last song together as a band, is covered by Miloš Fiala. Happy New Year!
Coord - Curbs (sidewalks) are a valuable public space. Coord helps inventorise, manage and beneficially utilize curbs, including reapplying them as dynamically priced spaces. Consumers favour using curbs for public dining. <newline>
Adelaide - A renewable power supplier paid A$ 200M for a Tesla battery farm (to smoothen the power supply), and last year, savings totaled A$ 116M. Essentially, the facility paid for itself in 2+ years, and will save some A$ 100M per year thereafter <newline>
Qualcomm - Turns its San Diego campus into a mini smart city and test bed for its tech and that of its partners (IoT, security cameras, sensors, analytics, energy optimization, bus despatch etc).. FB is also building a village in San Francisco. Private sector driven mini smart cities could be the way to go (vs monolithic city hall ones). <newline>
Boston - While cities are increasingly being paved over, Boston does the opposite by re-introducing forests back into the city. <newline>
Paris - Reduces parking spaces by 50% and asks residents what they want to do with the space. Paris is also aiming to be a 15 min city where everything is just 15 mins away. [Reduction in parking works best in conjunction with new mobility.]
