5 great Google Photos alternatives now that unlimited storage is gone

Well, friends, it’s finally happened. Google’s free, unlimited photo-storage train has pulled into the station and won’t be making any more stops. We had a good run. Whether you’re adamantly opposed to paying for photo storage or you’re simply looking to try something new, here are other photo-storage apps to check out—including both free options and reasonably-priced for-pay ones. Why not stay a while? OK, a bit on the whole Google thing. Yes, free unlimited photo storage is done. But the photos and videos you’ve already uploaded to the service are grandfathered in. So there’s no rush to just rip off the Band-Aid just yet. If you’re using Google’s free plan, you have 15 GB of storage spread across Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Photos. If you need to free up some of that space to make room for photos, take a look at clearing out your Gmail first. The less space it takes up, the more room you’ll have for photos. The path of least resistance here is to just pay for more Google storage Read More …

Ava DuVernay’s Array teams with Google for $500,000 filmmaker grant

Ava DuVernay’s arts and social impact collective Array has continually made good on its mission to amplify the careers of underserved creatives and crew members in film and TV, with a number of initiatives across its various production, distribution, and nonprofit arms. Now Array is extending its reach even further with the help of Google. Announced today, June 2, Array is partnering with Google Assistant to offer a $500,000 grant to an emerging filmmaker. The Array + Google Feature Film Grant, which is specifically geared toward creatives from historically underrepresented communities, is intended to cover the production costs of a filmmaker’s first feature and will be staffed through Array Crew , the collective’s database for hiring below-the-line workers. “Our nonprofit organization Array Alliance has had a strong relationship with Google for a couple of years through various initiatives,” DuVernay says. “This partnership came about pretty organically as both teams discussed the furthering and fostering of equitable moviemaking.” The recipient of the grant will be selected by an advisory committee within the independent filmmaking community, including Gabrielle Glore, festival director and head of programming at Urbanworld; Francis Cullado, executive director of Visual Communications Media; Crystal Echo Hawk, founder and executive director of IllumiNative; María Raquel Bozzi, senior director of education and international initiatives at Film Independent; and Smriti Kiran, artistic director of the Mumbai Film Festival. “It was important because we truly believe in collaboration and the community model at Array,” DuVernay says of opting for an outside committee instead of an internal selection process Read More …

Lyft just built a better e-bike for urban sharing

In pre-COVID-19 times, I worked in downtown San Francisco and was surrounded by people pedaling around on Lyft e-bikes—and never paid them much attention or gave serious thought to getting on one myself. Then a funny thing happened:  I bought my own e-bike  to help me shake off pandemic lethargy, and found that I loved it. And since I live too far into suburbia to consider commuting to my office on two wheels, I started looking forward to using Lyft’s bike-sharing service once I returned to the city. While I was getting intrigued by Lyft’s e-bikes, the company was busy creating its next-generation model—the first one it’s designed itself, after previously using e-bikes from a company called GenZe. I got to take a spin on one of the new bikes last week; more will hit the streets of San Francisco this week in a beta test, with the official rollout starting in Chicago this fall. Over time, this model will gradually replace Lyft’s current e-bikes, which comprise anywhere from 20% to 100% of its fleet depending on the market. (Between electric and conventional bikes, Lyft is the largest bike-share operator in North America.) For Lyft, designing its own e-bike started with assembling the necessary talent, which operates out of a workshop—warehouse in San Francisco and uses the environs as a proving ground. “We built this really amazing world-class design team that is passionate about micro-mobility and has a wide background from consumer electronics and everything with wheels,” says head of industrial design Oli Mueller, whose own résumé includes four years of experience working on smart-home products at Nest. The goals of this team did not include reinventing the experience of using one of its bikes in a way that might flummox current happy customers. So even though the new bike is new from the ground up, it doesn’t feel  that new. “When you take a step back, it looks kind of the same, kind of different,” says Gary Shambat, Lyft’s product lead for bikes and scooters. “And that’s purposeful.” Lyft’s new e-bike aims to be a lot better than its old e-bike, without being a radical departure. [Image: courtesy of Lyft] It also turns out that many of the touches that make an e-bike suitable for sharing aren’t glaringly obvious. They relate more to eliminating obstacles that might prevent people from using a bike—because it doesn’t fit them, can’t accommodate their stuff, or is just plain out of service. For example, the new bike’s seat can be lowered by an additional three inches—using a more accessible unlocking mechanism—which is a boon to shorter riders. The front-mounted basket’s backside is now closed rather than open—which should lessen the chances of your possessions taking a tumble—and its strap has been redesigned to facilitate securing bulky items such as groceries. There’s a new monochrome screen, but its primary purpose is to display helpful information before and after a ride rather than to do anything that might be distracting in transit. And Lyft learned from its experience with its current bikes to address problem areas that require e-bikes to be taken out of service for repair. Instead of a battery mounted externally on the downtube, the new bike sports one embedded inside the tube. Beyond the more elegant look, the battery has doubled in capacity from 500 watt-hours to 1,000 watt-hours—enough juice, Lyft says, for up to 60 miles of range, depending on factors such as the rider’s weight and how many hills the bike climbs. Not that any individual is likely to go anything like that distance; typical trips are more like a 1.5 to 2 miles. But the bigger the battery, the less often it needs to be charged, increasing a bike’s availability Read More …

What performing magic over Zoom taught me about the beauty of illusion

I’m sitting in front of a computer while holding nine playing cards and looking at a gallery of frozen faces. Moments ago, I was performing an interactive card trick for a hundred people  as part of my virtual magic show. But my internet cut out and now I’m waiting for Zoom to reconnect. I assume everyone watching is holding nine playing cards and waiting for further instructions. It’s a real-life version of a recurring nightmare in which I step offstage to retrieve a missing prop and can’t find my way back. This isn’t the worst thing to happen during the almost 250 virtual magic shows I’ve conducted since the pandemic shut down live performances. During a corporate show last April, because of an IT slip up, a participant was made the meeting’s host. Not a huge issue, except the person in question had left his eight-year-old son Max to watch the show alone. As my performance continued, Max muted and unmuted me, then paused my video to share his progress in a computer game. He would switch on my video and let me continue for thirty seconds only to switch it off again Read More …

Virtual class was a devastating blow to trade school students

Mark Chaney hates that the pandemic has forced the Buckeye Hills Career Center in Rio Grande, Ohio, where he teaches to still have a schedule with students in school only part time. That may work for English and math classes during the pandemic, he said, but his students are trying to learn physical skills, not just intellectual ones. They need to handle, build, and take apart pipes, ductwork, and breaker boxes every day, not spend half their week doing online work at home. “Nothing against academics at all,” he said. “For an academics high school, I can see (online lessons) could happen. But an actual trade? Where you’re doing hands-on work? They’re missing out.” The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted schools across the country, raising concerns about “learning loss.” For students trying to learn a trade like carpentry, masonry, or welding, that loss is compounded Read More …