A 20-year-old student named Chad Seegars was visiting someone at Riker’s Island when he was grabbed from behind by a stranger and slashed in the face. The gash, which his mother said split his face “open like a pear,” required 90 stitches. But to add insult to injury, a corrections office on duty at Read More
A billboard in the Union Square station is kind of like the Inception of Internet references, collecting every advertiser’s notion of what is cool/hip on the web and slapping it onto one delightful subway ad. Read More
Holding the new iPhone in your hand on launch day feels really special. It’s dumb to say that, but it’s true. Eyes dart in your direction, you get smiled at by strangers. It’s kind of awesome. An Italian tourist approached us and asked, with a sparkle and a hint of desperation in his light blue foreign eyes, “How is it?!” Unfortunately, honesty compelled us to shrug and say, “eh, it’s okay.” He looked back at us like we stole all of his luggage and killed his first born.
The truth about the new iPhone is just that, it’s okay. It’s fine. But as a poor miserable college student who doesn’t make that much money, we wondered if it’s worth the upgrade? Let’s say you’re not a stat-obsessed freak and you’re not that addicted to upgrading–you’re just a regular iPhone owner. Is it worth it for you to make the switch? Read More
Cornell NYC Tech, the Ivy League school’s Technion assisted expansion onto Roosevelt Island, just got a huge PR boost from three big names. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Qualcomm Founder Irwin Jacobs, and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt have all been tapped to be advisors to the new tech campus.
Now they’re like the super-important ultra-rich white guy Avengers of Cornell. Read More
“I have butterflies,” confessed Cara Hodge, Uber’s New York office manager, as we stepped into the yellow Van Leeuwen ice cream truck. With Britney Spears playing in the background, the truck pulled away from the curb and headed down Seventh Avenue, beginning Uber’s one-day ice cream delivery event–complete with a bouncy pop soundtrack, neon tank tops for the customers Read More
Car service app Uber is rolling out a one-day feature in seven cities (including New York!) that allows users to request an ice cream truck. God, some people will do anything for attention. [New York Times]
Here’s Steve Ballmer being all Steve Ballmer again. [Forbes]
100 Curls that Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity. We assume Buzzfeed’s Matt Stopera got a free haircut out of this deal? [Ouidad]
Your punishment for still using Yahoo! Voice is that your account was probably hacked. Sorry. [Ars Technica]
That best place for NYC to announce a new initiative turning payphones into wifi hotspots? Tumblr, natch. [NYC Gov Tumblr]
Is Apple discriminating against Iranian-Americans? [New York Times]
Betabeat has recently gotten into the habit of pulling up Google Maps’ traffic layer to see just how backed up the West Side Highway is when we stay long enough at the office to rationalize grabbing a cab back to Brooklyn. It usually works like a charm, and by using it we manage to avoid the all-red avenues, ratcheting down our fare.
But for those who prefer their traffic information state-sponsored, yesterday Governor Cuomo introduced a New York state mobile traffic app that can keep you up to date on jams in real time. Read More
The dog days of summer are upon us, but there’s a bright spot gleaming like Gatsby’s green light from the West side of Manhattan. Google Offers, which apparently still exists, has teamed up with Boingo to provide free Wifi in six subway stations this summer. Can you imagine the awesomeness of being able to check your email while waiting on a sticky, rat-ridden platform for the ever-elusive M train? Read More
The application period for new domains—Internet suffixes such as .com, .org—closed at the end of May, and there’s good news for New York City. It looks like the .nyc domain will soon belong to the municipal IT department. While some domains sparked fierce competition, with 13 applications for .app, 10 for .art and 11 for .home, only New York City applied for .nyc. No one applied for .brooklyn. Read More
Mayor Bloomberg announced today at Google’s New York headquarters in Chelsea that the company has agreed to provide CornellNYC Tech with 22,000 square feet of free office space while the Roosevelt Island campus is built. The mayor joined Google CEO Larry Page, Cornell President David Skorton and Technion’s director Craig Gotsman at a press conference this morning to make the announcement. The value of the space is over $10 million, said Mr. Page. Read More
