EXPLORE Most Read Articles on ZINIO

Apple Takes Its First Serious Step Into Outdoor Cycling Fitness

Up until now, tracking features on the Apple watches for cycling have been pretty limited - functions like auto-pause and ride detection that most of us cyclists take for granted on our Garmin or Wahoo computers are absent. But watchOS 8 will change all of these and then some. “And this year just felt like the right time to pull together features that not just people who might consider themselves as pro cyclists, but also everyone who rides a bike could enjoy.” That Apple showed and focused on a mountain biker during the presentation is a watershed moment for cyclists using an Apple Watch. It’s possibly the only major fitness segment that the company hasn’t quite dominate like it did with other mainstream fitness areas like jogging and yoga. With cycling facing…

Apple Takes Its First Serious Step Into Outdoor Cycling Fitness
Horizon

Horizon

1 SAMSUNG GALAXY BOOK PRO • From £1,099, samsung.com Every so often a company looks at an established market sector and asks why it is the way it is. With the Galaxy Book Pro, Samsung has narrowed its eyes at laptops, and determined that these things just aren’t mobile enough by half. And that doesn’t just mean portable; with the Galaxy Book Pro (and the Pro 360, its flip-top cousin) Samsung is tapping into its considerable experience with smartphones and transferring some likely technology across. This is not a hybrid as such – the ARM CPU of the thin and light Galaxy Book S is gone, replaced by a slightly more Windows-friendly PC processor – but the DNA of phones is there in the super-thin AMOLED display, in the incredibly skinny case design,…

ALMOST A PRO

ALMOST A PRO

The new third-generation AirPods comes in a new lightweight and contoured design that features a stem 33-percent shorter than previous AirPods. It’s really easy to mistake them for AirPods Pro at a glance, but third-gen AirPods still do not have the in-ear silicone bud design. Other similarities extend to the distinctive black acoustic mesh which covers an inset microphone in each earbud. They are not to be mistaken for vents like those on the AirPods Pro to help equalise pressure, but to minimize wind noise for voice calls. The AirPods feature AAC-ELD, a speech codec that Apple says will offer FullHD Voice quality. Both features are appropriate upgrades at a time when virtual meetings are more common. Apple has also changed how you control the new AirPods with force sensors that are,…

通膨衝擊全解讀

通膨衝擊全解讀

昨晚,我跟供應商談價錢,談到半夜兩點!」一位國際筆電大廠台灣分公司的採購人員一臉苦惱:「談到半夜,對方開的價錢還是很硬。」 他負責筆電各類線材的採購,近來銅價大漲,上游供應商給他的線材報價已經跟著調高,「以前,拗一下,上游會願意砍價,這一次,對方毫不鬆口。」他坦言,隨著各種零配件價格攀高,公司內部也開始有調漲產品售價的討論 早自今年一月,美國十年期公債殖利率就開始反映通膨預期一路向上,現在看來,這片烏雲的黑影不但沒有散去,反倒像是從金融市場一路擴散,慢慢地,迫近一般民生消費。 這一片黑壓壓的通膨烏雲有多沉重?場景回到美國,五月十二日,美國勞工部公布了四月分的消費者物價指數(CPI),年增率達四.二%,遠高於三月分的二.六%與市場預估的三.六%,寫下二○○八年九月以來新高。 若考慮去年同期因為封城導致的「低基期」效應,改以月增幅來看,四月CPI月增○.八%,不僅高於三月的○.六%,亦遠超出市場預估的○.二%,創下近十三年最大增幅;若扣除波動較大的「食品」與「能源」品項,月增率更是創一九八一年以來紀錄。一連串的「意料之外」,讓隔日美股開盤各類指數同步重挫。…

MASTER OF CONNECTIVITY

MASTER OF CONNECTIVITY

ASUS’ penchant for wacky-looking routers continues with its latest RT-AX89X router. Similarities with the earlier ROG GT-AX11000 router are obvious. To say that the RT-AX89X is a conspicuous router would be an understatement. The eight external antennas dominate, yes, but the router itself is also very large and heavy. The measuring tape reads 35cm at the widest point and weighing a hefty 1.28kg. Putting its prodigious size and massive antennas aside, the other components of the router are actually quite restrained. The router itself comes in a flat shade of black, the ASUS logo on the top doesn’t flash, and there are no RGB lights to distract and annoy. Instead, the only lights are the LED status indicators on the side, which aren’t really prominent at all. The fact of the matter, however,…

台灣公司治理為何讓外資傻眼?

台灣公司治理為何讓外資傻眼?

「我只是想弄清楚,今天誰是公司的主席,但是,我搞不清楚,我不僅無法辨識誰在代表公司,更不知道他的『適任性』……。」吳麗莎急切地說。 來自美國明尼蘇達州(Minnesota)的她,從一九九五年起就長住台灣,還讀了台大GMBA,碩士論文以「台灣企業的環保行動」為題,說明她對台灣上市櫃公司早有觀察。於是,當她七年前加入亞洲公司治理協會(Asian CorporateGovernance Association,ACGA)後,負責的「管區」自然也就在這裡;去年底,該協會發表最新報告,台灣部分的作者欄,也印著她的英文本名Neesha Wolf。 報告裡,台灣的「公司治理」評分,在亞洲十二國位居第四,史上最佳成績;然而,今年八月底,協會報告的台灣區內容被翻譯成中文,並正式在國內公布,這才發現,吳麗莎對台灣的公司治理現況評論,不像她給台灣的分數「那般美好」。 「(台灣公司治理)規則制定了,報告提交了,問題是:有沒有發揮期望效用……?沒有,還不算有!」報告裡開宗明義地寫到,台灣公司治理架構「看起來像個成年人,但實際上,只能算是『青少年』。」…

ELON’S NIGHTMARE?

ELON’S NIGHTMARE?

The 2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition R is a 966-hp electric luxury sedan that can drive 481–520 EPA-certified miles on a single charge. I witnessed and experienced the latter firsthand. The former? Not so much, but you’ll need to keep reading. There’s also an Air Dream Edition P (P stands for Performance; R means Range) that makes 1,111 hp and offers a range of 451–471 miles. Now get this—they cost the same price. So, you choose: Do you want a sleek-looking EV with nearly 100 hp more than the Tesla Model S Plaid? Or do you want the car that makes more horsepower than any Lamborghini ever made, beats the Tesla Model S Long Range at its own game by more than 100 miles, and puts the very notion of range…

MEGHAN & HARRY EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW

MEGHAN & HARRY EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW

From the moment news broke of Meghan Markle’s plan to sit down with Oprah Winfrey for a bombshell, tell-all interview about her two-year stint as a working royal, those within royal circles and the public alike have been on tenterhooks to find out what went on behind the scenes. The talk-show queen promised viewers nothing would be off limits, as she chatted with the Duchess of Sussex and her husband, Prince Harry, for their first TV interview since they stepped down as senior members of the firm at the beginning of 2020. Now, New Idea can reveal that, like any TV interview, the Sussexes’ “wide-ranging” and “intimate” tell-all with Oprah – who reportedly described her conversation with the couple as her “best yet” – was heavily edited. In fact, according to a…

T3 AWARDS 2022

Gadget of the year NINTENDO SWITCH OLED The Switch was a marvel; the Switch OLED is entirely more marvellous. Nintendo’s revised model is an upgrade that acknowledges and embraces the fact that the does-it-all Switch has attracted the same kind of broad audience that flocked to the Wii – and this time, Nintendo has everyone’s back, hardcore or not. The OLED screen is a joy to behold, bigger and (naturally) brighter than before, and the battery is more than big enough to keep up with the increased demands of self-emissive pixels. The redesigned dock, now with an Ethernet port, gives serious gamers the chance to compete online at full speed; the much-improved kickstand makes casual out-and-about gaming a far less tenuous experience. There’s more storage, stronger speakers, and even secretly upgraded joycons that…

T3 AWARDS 2022

2022全球經濟關鍵報告忐忑的成長

「這是QE歷程上的重大事件,對美國經濟和全球資金環境,都可能產生重大影響。」說話的,是瑞士信貸私人銀行亞太區副主席陶冬,時間,是十二月十五日聯準會利率決策會議後。 而在這一場會議中, 聯準會主席鮑爾(Jerome Powell)做出了幾項「關鍵決定」,看在陶冬眼中,這幾項決定所代表的,是聯準會「全方位」的政策轉向。 「放棄了『通膨是暫時的』這一慣常的表述…;放棄了『等待完全就業後再升息』的思惟,預計明年加息三次…;調高了GDP、CPI在二○二二年的預測,下修了失業率的預測…;三月中結束購債計畫。」針對句句聲明措辭,陶冬一一盤點,並細細品味。 隨後,在這篇題為《聯儲(聯準會)全面轉鷹》的專文中,陶冬寫到:「所有的轉身都是過去幾周發生的,表明美國貨幣當局在退出二○年版QE、推進貨幣環境正常化的路上,已經不那麼淡定了。」 大摩:兩座大山將退場 財政、貨幣政策「完成階段性任務」 「正常化」,這是展望二二年全球經濟的首要「關鍵字」。 時間再往前推,十一月十四日,投資銀行摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley,以下簡稱大摩)發布了年度經濟展望報告,標題下的是:The Training…

2022全球經濟關鍵報告忐忑的成長
In Good Company

In Good Company

Ed Ong, founder of Dwell Interior Design, firmly believes that aesthetics aside, one’s abode must be welcoming. “Ultimately, we are designing a home, so apart from looking great, it must be great to live in,” he says. This approach informed his take on a project that involved transforming a four-bedroom residence in central Singapore into a sleek space for entertaining. The home of a power couple with a preference for a luxurious and contemporary interior, the requirements were simple; the owners wanted a modern but elegant aesthetic that would complement the Minotti furniture in their 2,885sqft apartment. FIT LIKE A GLOVE As the couple frequently entertain, they wanted a large living space with adequate seating for large gatherings. The homeowners also favoured silver travertine, which they wanted to feature in the living room. While…

Slim Chance

Slim Chance

It was the sort of lot most people would walk by without even noticing. Set on a quiet block in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the vacant parcel measured just 13 feet 4 inches wide—barely more than a few strides. But for Adam Frampton and Karolina Czeczek, the husband-and-wife founders of the architecture firm Only If, that was plenty of room to dream. After a search for a future home that had led them to apartments and industrial structures in need of renovations, the duo thrilled to the prospect of a clean slate and a ground-up project. The only question was, would the city allow one? On this particular block, as throughout much of New York, zoning codes prohibit development on unused pieces of land measuring less than 18 feet wide. “The lot…

ALWAYS HUMBLE, ALWAYS CURIOUS

I first met Stella in 1996, back when I lived in New York; then, when I moved to London, we became friends. An absolute individual and highly intelligent, she was the sort of person you felt you wanted to know – and sometimes when you want to know someone, if you’re lucky, you get to. The thing about Stella was that she was so much more than a model. She is an indelible part of fashion’s vocabulary – she inspired the best designers, the best photographers – but beyond her role on set or on the runways, she was a liberated working mother who had figured out a way to succeed in this business while living in Scotland and holding on to her own identity. She may have been born into…

ALWAYS HUMBLE, ALWAYS CURIOUS
Windows 365 launches Microsoft’s Cloud PC era

Windows 365 launches Microsoft’s Cloud PC era

Windows 365 is Microsoft’s name for the Cloud PC, a new Microsoft service that will stream Windows in the cloud to Android phones, tablets, Macs, and more. Windows 365, available to businesses starting August 2, was announced at Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft’s partner conference. The concept is simple enough: Just like you can now stream Xbox games from Microsoft’s Azure cloud to either your phone or your browser, now you can do the same for Windows 10 and eventually Windows 11. The Cloud PC won’t depend on local hardware to run Windows; instead, you’ll need a dependable, persistent Internet connection to reach Windows 365. For now, Windows 365 will be a business offering, though you’ll be able to run it on personal devices—just like you can access your company’s SharePoint files via your…

WHEN SHAME GOES VIRAL

WHEN SHAME GOES VIRAL

WHEN MONICA LEWINSKY EMERGED IN 2014 AFTER A DECADE OF QUIET EXISTENCE, SHE HAD A MESSAGE TO SHARE. SHE ALSO HAD A MASTER’S DEGREE IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, EARNED IN LONDON WHERE SHE HUNKERED DOWN FOR GRAD SCHOOL. VANITY FAIR PRINTED HER EXCLUSIVE FIRST-PERSON COMEBACK STORY IN 2014. THEN SHE TOOK the stage to tell of life after becoming “that woman” in one of history’s most widely broadcast sex scandals: “I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one, worldwide,” Lewinsky says in her 2015 TED Talk, which now has more than 18 million views. “I was patient zero of losing a personal reputation on the global scale, almost instantaneously.” The infamous 1998 incident with President Bill Clinton occurred at the dawn of the internet age — a…

SMALL SPEAKERS FOR EVERY ROOM

AMAZON ECHO DOT (4TH GEN) The diminutive Dot sounds better than the third generation, its front-firing speaker more effective than the previous model’s unidirectional one, and its voice recognition is better too. The bigger Echo sounds better but the Echo Dot is happy in smaller spaces, works well in a multi-room setup and can add voice control to your existing smart home devices. £34.99, amazon.co.uk APPLE HOMEPOD MINI Apple’s smaller, much more affordable HomePod delivers surprisingly big sound for its size: it sounds like a much larger speaker. It’s a great device but it’s very Apple-centric: if you’re not an Apple Music subscriber, it lacks support for rival services. The HomePod mini is a HomeKit smart home hub and supports the new Thread smart home protocol. £99, apple.com AMAZON ECHO SHOW 5 If you’d like your smart…

SMALL SPEAKERS FOR EVERY ROOM
集團市值破1.5兆,今年來強增7成亞馬遜、石墨烯、元宇宙⋯ 都在它的投資地圖浪尖上的

集團市值破1.5兆,今年來強增7成亞馬遜、石墨烯、元宇宙⋯ 都在它的投資地圖浪尖上的

所謂「跨界」,必須先在既有範疇踩下沉著有力的腳印,再穩健跨步到全新領域,並且又領風騷。不容易,但是富邦集團做到了! 今年以來,集團核心事業富邦金控市值成長8成,背後動能是改寫金控業歷史紀錄的獲利表現。 另一事業富邦媒體科技同樣精采,市值狂升逾2倍,穩坐電商龍頭寶座,甚至撼動國內零售版圖。 然而他們的腳步沒有停下,還在持續不斷嘗試新的事物。對於這個站在浪尖上的老集團,你必須重新認識。 Profile 富邦集團 成立:60年 創辦人:蔡萬才 董事長:蔡明忠 上市公司: 富邦金控、台灣大哥大、富邦媒體科技 集團總市值: 1.54兆元(至10月底止) 主要非上市公司: 凱擘股份有限公司、富邦建設 跨足領域: 金融、電信、電商、有線電視、營建、體育 Profile 蔡明忠(左) 出生:1956年 現職:台灣大哥大董事長 經歷: 富邦金控董事長 學歷: 台大法律系美國喬治城大學法學碩士 家庭: 育有2子2女,蔡承穎、蔡承道、蔡承融、蔡承翰 Profile 蔡明興(右) 出生:1957年 現職:富邦金控董事長 經歷: 富邦綜合證券董事長 學歷: 台大商學系美國紐約大學史登商學碩士 家庭:…

Horizon

Horizon

1 C SEED M1 • Around £290,000, cseed.tv MicroLED is here, and it’s completely out-of-its-gourd crazy. The C Seed M1 takes advantage of every one of the new screen tech’s core features to create a TV the likes of which we’ve never seen before and will (unless something very strange happens) never see in our own homes: this folding, expanding hideaway TV is a feat of engineering as much as it is a leap in innovation. It’s the sort of TV you build a room around – quite literally, given that it’s supposed to emerge from a mechanised hole in your floor and unfurl its 165-inch panel automatically, then tuck itself back into the floor when it’s done. The M1 pulls off that feat by using MicroLED’s unique ability to form completely edge-to-edge…

AN ICY WORLD IN MELTDOWN

AN ICY WORLD IN MELTDOWN

AN INFLATABLE BOAT PULLS UP next to the snowy shore, and the gentoo penguins of Neko Harbor see people for the first time in almost a year. Rather than a gaggle of tourists (absent because of the coronavirus pandemic), out climb Tom Hart, a penguin biologist from Oxford University, and several other scientists returning to the Antarctic Peninsula in January 2021. Honks and calls ripple through the colony of about 2,000 gentoos as one of the 2.5-foot-tall birds waddles through to find its nest. The penguins pay no attention to Hart as he makes straight for the time-lapse trail camera perched on a tripod and wedged in place with rocks. He retrieves the memory card from inside the camera’s waterproof housing. The camera has been taking pictures of the penguins every hour,…

Why Is Everyone So Starstruck by Starlink?

Starlink is catnip for PCMag readers. Just say the word, and they come a’clicking in the tens of thousands. The satellite ISP’s mystique is a combination of Elon Musk (an unappealingly named men’s cologne) and Americans’ hopeless desperation for better home internet choices. And at this point, it’s getting way out of hand. “SpaceX is aiming to one day deliver 10Gbps internet speeds over its satellite internet system,” our story reads, couching SpaceX’s ambitions in similar terms to my ambition to have ripped abs. Americans are desperate for better connectivity. They’ve given up on regulators, incumbent ISPs, and their own communities to provide them. They’re holding out for a hero (‘til the end of the night). They want Musk to be their streetwise Hercules, but he’s Loki. But not hot. Kind of…

Why Is Everyone So Starstruck by Starlink?

IL DOPO CHE È ORA

«MIART NON È SOLO BUSINESS, MA L’OCCASIONE PER VEDERE UN’INCREDIBILE QUANTITÀ DI OPERE, CHE VA DAI PRIMI DEL ’900 AI GIORNI NOSTRI» NICOLA RICCIARDI La venticinquesima edizione di miart parla il linguaggio della poesia. Dal 17 al 19 settembre, parallelamente all’Art Week, la fiera internazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Milano torna a fieramilanocity con un programma ibrido, insieme fisico e digitale. E con un mantra, tratto dalla raccolta di versi omonima del poeta Charles Simić: Dismantling the Silence, ovvero “smantellare il silenzio” – quello che ha caratterizzato il mondo dell’arte e della cultura nell’ultimo anno e mezzo –, in cerca di nuovi modi di comunicare. A dirlo è il neodirettore Nicola Ricciardi, curatore e critico d’arte (è stato fino al 2020 direttore artistico del polo culturale OGR Torino) che cita anche…

IL DOPO CHE È ORA

THE SQUAD

• = caps, goals, clubs and ages (as of 14.05.21) GOALKEEPERS Dean HENDERSON Manchester United Age 24 (12.03.97) A strong finish to the season between the sticks at Manchester United could make him a candidate for the No.1 jersey. Jordan PICKFORD Everton Age 27 (07.03.94) In spite of some sketchy form, Southgate has remained loyal to the Everton goalkeeper since the World Cup, largely due to his distribution skills. Nick POPE Burnley Age 29 (19.04.92) Arguably the best shot-stopper at Southgate’s disposal, Pope’s weakness with the ball at his feet were exposed during March’s World Cup qualifiers. DEFENDERS Ben CHILWELL Chelsea Age 24 (21.12.96) Started five of England’s eight qualifiers before joining Chelsea for £45m, yet the left-back’s place in the side is still not guaranteed. Conor COADY Wolverhampton Wanderers Age 28 (25.02.93) Coady’s experience at the heart of Wolves’ back three over the last few seasons has made him a valuable…

THE SQUAD
THE DOOMSDAY VARIANT

THE DOOMSDAY VARIANT

SCIENTISTS KEEP UNDERESTIMATING the coronavirus. In the beginning of the pandemic, they said mutated versions of the virus wouldn’t be much of a problem—until the more-infectious Alpha caused a spike in cases last fall. Then Beta made young people sicker and Gamma reinfected those who’d already recovered from COVID-19. Still, by March, as the winter surge in the U.S. receded, some epidemiologists were cautiously optimistic that the rapid vaccine rollout would soon tame the variants and cause the pandemic to wind down. Delta has now shattered that optimism. This variant, first identified in India in December, spreads faster than any previous strain of SARS-CoV-2, as the COVID-19 virus is officially named. It is driving up infection rates in every state of the U.S., prompting the CDC to once again recommend universal…

拜登規則

拜登規則

我們是美國,沒有什麼事情是我們無法一起做到的!」美國時間七月四日晚間,美國總統拜登在白宮南草坪舉辦的國慶日園遊會上,用這段話,為將近十五分鐘的致詞作結。 這場約千人出席的「派對」,相較於七月一日在北京天安門廣場舉行的中共建黨百年慶祝大典,規格顯得迷你;拜登著重美國如何逐漸擺脫疫情陰霾的談話,也明顯少了中共總書記習近平一番警告外來勢力恐將「頭破血流」的霸氣。 兩大強權,一周內的兩場慶典,東方巨龍的聲勢更為浩大,但華裔美籍的中國研究專家裴敏欣在中共建黨百年大典隔天撰文評論,對中國而言,「拜登,可能是更可怕的敵人。」理由是:「不同於川普以侮辱、威脅和關稅疏遠盟友,拜登修復了美國的聯盟,成功形塑一條相對團結的抗中戰線。」 六月,當台灣社會聚焦於新冠疫情,太平洋另一端的拜登政府則是連續出手,從最外顯的地緣政治,到5G戰、科技戰、金融戰,都像是在這一個月內完成了關鍵布陣,上任至今許多曖昧或決斷的背後意義,也似乎在此一個月間豁然開朗,攸關全球政經格局的「拜登規則」瞬間清晰──如同裴敏欣的解讀,這是一套「比川普更兇狠」的對中戰略。…

THE FULL STORY OF THE STUNNING RSA HACK CAN (FINALLY) BE TOLD

THE FULL STORY OF THE STUNNING RSA HACK CAN (FINALLY) BE TOLD

Amid all the sleepless hours that Todd Leetham spent hunting ghosts inside his company’s network in early 2011, the experience that sticks with him most vividly a decade later is the moment he caught up with them. Or almost did. It was a spring evening, he says, three days—maybe four, time had become a blur—after he had first begun tracking the hackers who were rummaging through the computer systems of RSA, the corporate security giant where he worked. Leetham—a bald, bearded, and curmudgeonly analyst one coworker described to me as a “carbonbased hacker-finding machine”—had been glued to his laptop along with the rest of the company’s incident response team. They were assembled around RSA’s glass-encased operations center in a nonstop, 24-hours-a-day hunt, all of them feeling a growing sense of dread.…

A JOURNEY’S LESSONS

A JOURNEY’S LESSONS

TREAD LIGHTLY upon the Earth. SHARE what you can. But most of all, REMEMBER. NO ONE KNOWS PRECISELY WHY, AFTER KNOCKING ABOUT AFRICA FOR ROUGHLY 240,000 YEARS, ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMANS BEGAN WALKING IN EARNEST OUT OF THE MATERNAL CONTINENT AND CONQUERED THE WORLD. Our dominion was hardly fated. After all, as everyone knows, life is mostly accidental. This question preoccupies me because for nearly nine years as part of a storytelling project, I’ve been trekking along our ancestors’ Stone Age trails of dispersal out of Africa. I’ve reached Southeast Asia. Eventually, the plan is to slog to the tip of South America, where Homo sapiens ran out of continental horizon. My aim has been simple: to foot-brake my life, to slow down my thinking, my work, my hours. Unfortunately, the world has had other ideas.…

THE LAST COMPUTER TYCOON SITTING

The previous week, fellow ten-figure mogul Richard Branson had kicked off the billionaire space race. Some people saw innovation and ambition. Others saw ego and hubris. Dell saw … opportunity. “We’re selling to a lot of the emerging space companies,” he says matter-of-factly. “You can’t do all those engineering feats without an incredible amount of computing power, data and artificial intelligence.” Dell has been publicly quiet for most of the past decade, muzzled by fierce takeover negotiations or simply uninterested in the spotlight, or both. His business has done the talking instead. Nine years ago, Silicon Valley and Wall Street alike had written off Dell, the person and the company, both tethered to the then-cratering personal computer market, as en route to the same technological irrelevance as Palm or BlackBerry. Yet even…

THE LAST COMPUTER TYCOON SITTING

Horizon

1 SAMSUNG GALAXY S22 £TBC, samsung.com It’ll come as no surprise that the Samsung Galaxy S22 series looks like a winner – Samsung pulls it out of the bag every year, offering the latest in smartphone tech packed into a range of sleek, sturdy devices. One thing that all the new models have in common is an eco-conscious spin on things: Samsung has repurposed ocean-bound plastic, like fishing nets, to build the phones. At the top-end of the new series, you’ll find the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the all-singing all-dancing handset that offers the most advanced tech and the most sophisticated design made for enthusiasts and professionals. Ultra by name, Ultra by nature. It even comes with the S Pen slotted into the body of the phone. Getting a feeling of deja vu? You’re…

Horizon

Beware a Culture of Busyness

ABOUT THE ART The photographer Pelle Cass uses hundreds of photographs to create playful composite images. In MY 2019 BOOK, The Power of Human, I recount an anecdote about a man who immigrated to the United States and soon came to believe that the word “busy” meant “good” because when he asked people, “How are you doing?” they often responded, “Busy.” Nora Rosendahl, the chief operating officer of the performance coaching firm Hintsa, discovered the same thing when she conducted a small social experiment by documenting answers to the question “How are you?” over the course of a week. By her count, nearly eight out of 10 people said, “Busy.” Academic research suggests that our days are becoming increasingly jam-packed. One analysis of holiday letters indicates that references to “crazy schedules” have risen…

Beware a Culture of Busyness
THOSE WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST

THOSE WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST

Boho Camper Conversion Boho Camper Vans is chill. Like, super chill. So chill, in fact, it doesn’t even specify “models” or “trim levels” for its creations. Bring the company money and a van—or let it pick one for you—and the outfit will use the former to turn the latter into a wood-lined cabin on wheels. Pricing starts at $29,000 for the conversions (van not included), but early in 2021 Boho is only churning out its Ram ProMaster–based “tall” models. Crushing demand during the pandemic caused the company to streamline its offerings. ProMaster conversions start at $36,500, and the donor van runs another $36,000 or so for a 136.0-inch-wheelbase Ram ProMaster 1500 with a high roof. Contact: boho.life Caravan Outfitter Backroad Similar to Mercedes-Benz’s semi-homegrown Getaway, the Caravan Outfitter Backroad uses the small Mercedes…

HARRY & MEGHAN  HOW IT ALL WENT WRONG!

HARRY & MEGHAN  HOW IT ALL WENT WRONG!

When a loved-up Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced their engagement in 2017, the blushing bride-to-be beamed as she declared she couldn’t wait to “get boots on the ground” and become a working senior member of the royal family. It was this breathless vow of dedication to Queen Elizabeth and her new country that lead to one of the biggest royal weddings of all time. Only, Her Majesty and the rest of the family weren’t to know back then that the former Suits star’s words were nothing short of hollow promises! The Queen and Prince Charles spared no expense as millions around the world watched Harry and Meghan say “I do” at St George’s Chapel on May 19, 2018. Many had high hopes the marriage would usher the royal family into a new…

STRIKE A POSE

When Dua Lipa guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! last August, one standout skit set the net ablaze. Who-a Lipa? saw one of Britain’s most famous musicians quizzing a group of pensioners, none of whom had any idea what a Dua Lipa was, let alone that they were talking to one. “That’s terrible,” one woman grimaces, as a giggling, disguise-free Dua holds up an image of herself in a yellow tartan crop top. “If I had a daughter, I wouldn’t want her to go out in that.” The stunt worked, of course, because of how major the two-time Grammy, two-time MTV Europe Music Award and three-time Brit winner has become – a singer who emerged from one of her industry’s toughest years as a pop behemoth. How did she do it? “With my…

STRIKE A POSE

贏得10倍存活率的癌症真相

病理科醫師、元鼎診所院長曾嶔元,來自一個癌症病史豐富的家族,包括父母在內的多位親人,都因不同癌症過世。儘管他平時已透過飲食控制與規律作息降低罹病風險,卻還是很害怕「家族遺傳」的癌症悄悄找上門,「每個人得的癌症都不一樣,我連特別要擔心什麼癌都不知道。」 為找出自己是否帶有罹癌基因、以便精準防癌,曾嶔元二○一八年自費接受了全基因檢測,報告顯示他身上雖不存在可能導致大腸癌、肺癌等常見癌症的基因缺陷,卻有極少數人才會出現的SDHA基因突變;查詢醫學文獻後,他發現這項突變,「可能」與腦下垂體、腎上腺、腎臟的惡性腫瘤,或是位置不固定的神經內分泌瘤與胃腸基質瘤相關。 「這些癌症和基因突變的案例都非常少,我只要維持健康的生活型態和定期健檢就夠了。」曾嶔元為自己下了診斷。 但一九年例行健檢時,曾嶔元在胰臟附近發現一顆直徑七公分的腫瘤,醫師判讀影像後認為,腫瘤可能是惡性較強的胰臟癌,也可能是神經內分泌瘤,建議他立刻接受手術。做過基因檢測的曾嶔元心情卻很篤定,預期低度惡性的神經內分泌瘤機率較高,先從容地和太太到歐洲玩了一趟,隔了兩個月才住院開刀。…

贏得10倍存活率的癌症真相
@jack Is Everywhere and Nowhere

@jack Is Everywhere and Nowhere

THE DAY OF January 6, when he hurled down the lightning bolt that cast Donald Trump out of Twitter and into outer darkness, should have been @jack’s debut as an imperial overlord. But @jack never seems to flex. This can be maddening. Just when you want him to act Churchillian, @jack is more reticent than ever, a cipher, more Sphinx than Zeus. Last summer, The New York Times asked Jack Dorsey whether he’s “one of the most powerful people on earth,” and his voice was like a dial tone: “No.” On January 13, @jack threaded ambivalently about the Trump ban, ruminating on the question of how to address “offline harm as a result of online speech” while holding sacred “the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet.” He left his…

Horizon

Horizon

1 iPHONE 13 • From £679, apple.com Apple’s four new iPhones don’t look too new – we’re in the ‘hardware refresh’ point of the iPhone cycle rather than the ‘radical redesign’ bit, after all – but they’re absolutely some of the most exciting the company has ever released. From the dinky 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini all the way up to the big-boy 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, with the 6.1-inch iPhones 13 and 13 Pro between them, the entire line has been given a bunch of salient upgrades. They each get new batteries with smarter power management, offering between 90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours extra life on a charge. Apple’s newest 5nm smartphone chip, the A15 Bionic, brings six CPU cores, between four and five GPU cores, and a vastly upgraded neural processor…

Drako GTE

Drako GTE

Successful software entrepreneurs, lifelong automotive enthusiasts, and Drako Motors co-founders Dean Drako and Shiv Sikand aren’t interested in being Tesla. “Tesla only sells one kind of car, a commuter car,” Sikand says. “It can be driven cross-country with Superchargers, but at the end of the day it’s a commuter car. [We’re building] a better-driving car.” That car is the 1,200-hp, four-motor Drako GTE. Ex-Pininfarina design director Lowie Vermeersch reworked its body, based on Fisker Karma architecture, so only the door skins are the same. More important, all the bits you can’t see have been overhauled thoroughly. A multipart battery pack feeds an electric motor at each wheel, and proprietary Drako DriveOS software aims to deliver a driving experience unlike any other. The package yields, the company says, “unprecedented yaw control, handling precision,…

HUMANITY, INNOVATION, AND RADICAL PROGRESS IN THE POST-COVID WORLD

When mobs erupt, like the one that descended on the U.S. Capitol in early January, I’m reminded of the Hemingway character who said he went bankrupt “gradually, then suddenly.” It’s not easy to predict breaking points, the moment when a crowd becomes lethal, when a pandemic overwhelms a healthcare system, or when historical norms need significant change. The shock of a tipping point can help us reevaluate systemic challenges that have been steadily accumulating — in today’s case, for more than a decade. Economic disparities, social imbalances, digital divides, information asymmetries, and market failures all have been undermining long-held paradigms about progress. The COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated and accentuated these forces. I’ve written recently about information-, incentive-, and reporting-based solutions to our systemic challenges. Reappraising the underpinnings of our market systems, while…

HUMANITY, INNOVATION, AND RADICAL PROGRESS IN THE POST-COVID WORLD

On the Trail of Julius Caesar

IN THIS SECTION Scat Scan Discovery Water Lily Harvest Mentoring Fossil Hunters Chimp-Human Conflict IN SEPTEMBER 2007 one French archaeologist got lucky. He was diving in the murky waters of the Rhône River at Arles, in the south of France, in search of ancient remains on the riverbed. He emerged holding a finely carved, life-size marble head. As he lifted it up out of the water, in one of those classic discovery moments, the director of the team shouted, “Putain, mais c’est César—Damn, it’s Caesar.” It was, in other words, a portrait of arguably the most famous Roman who ever lived: Julius Caesar, conqueror of Gaul, charismatic dictator, populist autocrat, and, finally, victim of assassination on the ides of March, 44 B.C. (an event immortalized by William Shakespeare, among many other writers and…

On the Trail of Julius Caesar

Common Misconceptions About 5G

MYTH: 5G is just for phones. REALITY: 5G will power a wide spectrum of devices and technologies. 5G is a technology that can benefit our phone and enable new business models. 5G, or 5th Generation, represents a milestone where a mobile network standard was created with more than phones in mind. It was created to power the era of distributed intelligence where the convergence of superpowers such as AI, pervasive connectivity, cloud-to-edge infrastructure, and increasingly ubiquitous compute come together to power incredible innovation. “5G, OR 5TH GENERATION, REPRESENTS A MILESTONE WHERE A MOBILE NETWORK STANDARD WAS CREATED WITH MORE THAN PHONES IN MIND.” With 5G, the processing power doesn’t all reside on a device either. By merging high-speed wireless networking with cloud, edge and AI, even the tiniest of devices are capable of massive…

Common Misconceptions About 5G
別人不敢我敢

別人不敢我敢

Profile 莊榮德 出生:1946年 現職:海霸王集團總裁 經歷:海霸王證券董事長、熱炒攤老闆、肉雞批發商 學歷: 美國加州大學榮譽博士、初中畢業 家庭:已婚,育3子1女 午後一陣大雨刷洗過後,還是掩不住空氣裡的溼熱,高雄前鎮漁港旁的工人,一輛輛工程車進出沒有停過,忙碌地進行工程。 「這裡好久沒有這麼熱鬧了!」路旁的臨時檳榔攤小姐說;前鎮漁港位在高雄港的港區內,每天靠港的漁船在這裡下貨,隨著季節有不同的海產魚貨,高雄港是全台灣漁獲量最多、也是船舶噸位最大的漁港。 正在港區內加緊趕工的,是海霸王投資、未來將是全台最大的「複合型冷凍物流園區」,整個園區占地二千七百多坪,目前正在興建一棟十層樓高的大樓,工程進度已經躍上地面四層樓,預計二○二三年就要完工正式營運。 海霸王不只要在這裡開海產餐廳、成立冷凍食品加工廠、冷鏈倉儲,還會有許多共享、新創辦公室的空間,提供給對拍賣魚貨有興趣的年輕人。未來海霸王希望創造最新魚貨拍賣方式,每天漁港的漁船靠港卸貨,樓上新創公司就可以直接在樓下進貨,然後透過在樓上直播、直接銷售。 回台投資 高雄打造全新冷凍物流園區…

Horizon

Horizon

1 AMAZON ASTRO $999 (around £735), amazon.com One look at Astro, Amazon’s wheeled smart bot, should be enough to convince you that this is, in equal parts, a tremendously stupid and utterly brilliant idea. Stupid because, well, beyond very specific use cases this absolutely isn’t something you need or couldn’t replace with static hardware that costs a lot less – and that hardware may even be able to cover multiple floors. We suspect Astro’s cutesy personality may test the limits of your tolerance over time, and while it can be deactivated at a touch (and Amazon has been careful about encrypting the majority of the robot’s data) Astro’s wandering brings the uncomfortable reality of the cloud’s ever-listening ears into sharp focus. But still, brilliant. Astro uses Amazon’s Intelligent Motion tech to help it…

Work-life Balance Isn’t All It’s Made Out To Be

Work-life Balance Isn’t All It’s Made Out To Be

We’ve all wished at some point that we could divorce our personal lives from the gruelling responsibilities of our jobs. A healthy work-life balance is often held up as some vaunted ideal – the dream is to check out from work entirely when 6PM rolls around and not receive a single message on Slack until the next morning. Severance, a new sci-fi series from Apple TV+, takes that to its logical extreme. Workers divide their minds into two halves, and neither half retains any memories from the other. Their personal selves take the elevator up to the office every morning, and their work selves take over when they step out. From the perspective of your personal self, this means driving to work each morning at 9AM, and then leaving immediately at 5PM.…

入群CPTPP的試煉

入群CPTPP的試煉

Profile CPTPP 正式名稱: 跨太平洋夥伴全面進步協定(Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) 生效時間:2018年12月30日 會員國: 紐西蘭、新加坡、澳洲、越南、加拿大、墨西哥、日本、祕魯、馬來西亞、智利、汶萊11國完成簽署協定。前8國已完成國內批准程序,協議生效。 申請中:英國、中國、台灣 規模: 人口5.02億,占全球7%;總GDP為10.8兆美元,占全球13.1%,是亞太區僅次於中國主導RCEP的第二大區域經濟組織。 經過10年耐心等待,台灣政府終於正式遞件,申請加入《跨太平洋夥伴全面進步協定》(CPTPP)。 這是台灣拒絕在區域經貿整合浪潮中遭邊緣化的關鍵一搏,也是讓經濟動能不再過度依賴電子資通訊產品的絕佳契機。 但貿易談判從來不是容易的任務,中國搶先一步申請加入,又讓情勢更為錯綜複雜。 加入CPTPP的種種考驗,也是台灣再一次啟動經濟轉型的試煉。 「十年磨一劍」,是最能精準詮釋台灣與《跨太平洋夥伴全面進步協定》(CPTPP)之間關係的一句話…

Bye-Bye, Brain

Bye-Bye, Brain

Anne was in the prime of her career — a trial lawyer working as a partner for a major law firm in Cincinnati — when she began to lose her mind. A fitness enthusiast, Anne was only 50 when she realized something was amiss. “The first thing I noticed was that my hands would begin to shake while I was sitting at my desk,” she recalls. Perplexed, she went to see a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic, who referred her for CT and MRI scans; both came back normal. She was given a diagnosis of essential tremor disorder, a progressive but not life-threatening condition. But within months, new symptoms began to appear: brain fog, memory loss, problems with reading and understanding even the simplest sentences. The work she had excelled at throughout…

CARLOS GHOSN

CARLOS GHOSN

Carlos Ghosn is in a far nicer prison today. The former head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and now-wanted fugitive fled the Japanese judicial system for the safety of Lebanon in a dramatic made-for-movies escape. He left a prison system condemned internationally for violating human rights and will not return to Japan; Lebanon does not extradite its citizens. While Ghosn is reunited with his wife at their Lebanon home, he cannot travel: A Red Notice issued by Interpol for his extradition at Japan’s request makes him a prisoner within the country. Still, the situation is markedly better than the alternative for the man who led one of the world’s largest automotive conglomerates until his surprise arrest on November 19, 2018, for under-reporting income. In a video interview with MotorTrend from his home in…

Nomad Land

Nomad Land

The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said you can’t step in the same river twice. If he were alive today and had an eye for design, he would probably say the same about Vicente Wolf’s Manhattan loft. Ever since the 1980s, when the interior designer acquired and combined two units in a 1928 brick factory building in Hell’s Kitchen, the gestalt has been the same: white walls and a white-painted floor; explosions of greenery cheered on by a dozen huge windows (“Here, no plant dies,” he says); and furniture and decorative objects that he designed or retrieved from the four corners of the earth. (Wolf is a notoriously adventurous traveler. While other people were skiing or enjoying beach vacations this winter, he was in Sudan.) Certainly anyone who dipped a toe into…

BEACH TECH YOU CAN’T BEAT

BEACH TECH YOU CAN’T BEAT

Is Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming worth it?

Is Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming worth it?

Nvidia’s GeForce Now is a cloud streaming service that targets the current weak spot in the market: hardware availability and pricing. Essentially, you pay a subscription fee for the ability to use Nvidia’s Superpod computers to stream games from your library in lieu of having a physical GPU in your PC at home. The company recently announced an RTX 3080 tier, which claims lower latency and ray tracing–enabled performance. We will discuss how it works, potential drawbacks, and price. The technology is very exciting, but can it replace a real GPU during the great shortage? Let’s find out! HOW DOES IT WORK? By utilizing Superpod computers with 1,000 GPUs in each (if you opt for the top RTX 3080 tier), Nvidia leverages cloud streaming to allow you to access your game libraries…

HARRY & WILLS’ 2-HOUR CRISIS TALKS!

When it was revealed Prince Harry met with his estranged father and brother for two hours following Prince Philip’s solemn funeral on April 17, royal insiders were all ears for the result. New Idea’s sources say that while talks were “at first cordial”, once they got to the core of each other’s perceived wrongs, things turned tense. “William had some very choice words to say about Harry’s Oprah interview, which he will never not see as a huge betrayal,” explains a royal source. “Harry has such a chip on his shoulder, there was no backing down from either one of them – and certainly no real apology was made. Charles was already in an emotional state after burying his father and couldn’t bring himself to confront Harry about any of the bad blood.…

HARRY & WILLS’ 2-HOUR CRISIS TALKS!

FOUNDER’S NOTE

Tim Raue, the legendary Berlin-based, Michelin-starred restaurateur, is one of those people you’d like from the first moment you meet him. Although, to be fair, several days before meeting each other in person, I already had the opportunity to taste his cooking at his eponymous two-Michelin-starred, Chinese-themed restaurant, where I was also the recipient of his extraordinary kindness and generosity. At the time I visited, Raue was overseas, but he would be back in a few days, and he had arranged to meet up. The location for this encounter is something of a legend in Berlin. It is the Axel Springer headquarters, and we were permitted to use the private club situated on the top floor, thanks to Bild’s editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt. There, Raue told me the story of Axel Springer.…

台積電再飆3年

台積電再飆3年

很多人忘了,台積第一張大單,其實來自英特爾。 一九八八年,時任英特爾執行長的葛洛夫(Andrew Grove)來到台灣,決定順道過來剛成立一年的台積電看看。 當時台積只有一條移轉自工研院的六吋晶圓產線,三微米製程,「落後英特爾跟德州儀器二.五個世代,但我們良率不錯,讓他印象深刻說,『也許英特爾可以用你們,』」台積電創辦人張忠謀曾在二○一一年美國《聖荷西水星報》的專訪說。 根據清大教授洪世章《打造創新路徑》一書的訪談,當時英特爾提了兩百個刁鑽的問題,台積一一解決,才在一年後通過了英特爾的認證,得以代工部份的處理器與晶片組。 張忠謀曾告訴部屬,為英特爾代工的過程,「顯著提升台積的工程能力。」 更重要的是,有當時全世界最先進的科技公司背書,取得其他廠家的訂單,就容易多了。這是台積成立初期業績起飛的一大關鍵。 台積攻:率先量產七奈米 張忠謀:只是要他們把製造生意讓給我 然而,三十多年後,情況扭轉。二○一八年,台積成功量產七奈米製程之後,終結了英特爾蟬聯多年的半導體技術龍頭地位。 這家巨無霸的產業地位,因此岌岌可危。在個人電腦、伺服器的市佔,也快速流失。…

全聯林敏雄-零售登頂之戰

全聯林敏雄-零售登頂之戰

Profile 全聯 成 立:1998年 董事長:林敏雄 資本額:30億元 營 收:2020年1450億元 主要業務:超市、量販、零售 Profile 林敏雄 出生:1950年 主要事業: 元利建設(董事長)、全聯實業(董事長)、華泰商銀(常務董事) 經歷:台北企銀辦事員 學歷: 台北商專(現為台北商業大學)夜間部 十月二十二日晚上八點多,超市之王全聯宣布收購法國歐尚集團(Auchan)及潤泰集團所持有的大潤發股權;簡單一紙新聞稿,竟牽動台灣零售市場四兆元產值的霸主爭奪戰。 超市之王把量販二哥納入麾下後,未來,全聯加總大潤發的年營收,有望突破一七○○億元,比超商霸主統一超的一六八一億元還要高。 這樁併購案,是全聯董事長林敏雄在台灣零售業的登頂之戰! 「全聯與大潤發,將成為台灣零售業的全通路無敵玩家(unbeatable omnichannel player)!」大潤發賣家歐尚集團董事長Edgard Bonte這樣說。…

What the West Gets Wrong About China

What the West Gets Wrong About China

AUTHORS WHEN WE FIRST traveled to China, in the early 1990s, it was very different from what we see today. Even in Beijing many people wore Mao suits and cycled everywhere; only senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials used cars. In the countryside life retained many of its traditional elements. But over the next 30 years, thanks to policies aimed at developing the economy and increasing capital investment, China emerged as a global power, with the second-largest economy in the world and a burgeoning middle class eager to spend. One thing hasn’t changed, though: Many Western politicians and business executives still don’t get China. Believing, for example, that political freedom would follow the new economic freedoms, they wrongly assumed that China’s internet would be similar to the freewheeling and often politically disruptive…

BACK TO THE FUTURE

BACK TO THE FUTURE

STEP 1 BUILD A NEW NEUE KLASSE Reaching for a comforting squeeze of the past while contemplating the seismic changes of the near future is nothing new in contemporary car making. But BMW is reaching and squeezing on a different scale to most. Where the likes of Honda and Renault looked back and drew inspiration for a couple of individual cars to create the cute E and the R5 (see page 86), BMW is looking to an entire generation of machines, the Neue Klasse of the ’60s and ’70s. Why? Because so much that made, and continues to make, BMW great (including the combustion engine) is going out of the window. After a bumpy start, Munich’s electrification starts here, in earnest. With the i3 and i8, BMW went electric early, got burned,…

MAGELLAN’S MISSION AROUND THE WORLD

MAGELLAN’S MISSION AROUND THE WORLD

As it moored under Seville’s imposing skyline on September 8, 1522, the Victoria may not have stood out as anything exceptional among the bustle of Spanish ships arriving from the Americas. When 18 men stepped off board, “leaner than old, worn-out nags,” as one of them later recalled, they stepped into the history books as the first people to have sailed entirely around the world. It had been a brutal voyage, led by the brilliant, if ruthless, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan. When they set out from Seville, three years before in summer 1519, they were a crew of 240 manning five ships. A series of blows—including starvation, illness, mutiny, executions, and the death of their leader—decimated their numbers and their fleet before returning to Spain. These men had, however, completed their global…

CANNONBALL!

CANNONBALL!

Forget the serious stuff. If you search online for the best ten movies ever, you can be sure it won’t show up. It’s not even top 100. But, if you are reading this, it’s most likely that you love cars. And you’ll know that when The Cannonball Run appeared in June 1981 it set a new standard for a Hollywood movie about cars. The plot is funny, sometimes almost surreal, and the cast is stellar: Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Dean Martin… But what really makes the difference between this and every other car movie is the number of cars involved, and the desirability of those cars. As in The Italian Job, the opening scene is iconic – and it depicts a Lamborghini. But being 12 years younger,…

137億度電的取捨

137億度電的取捨

決戰十二月十八日,「四大公投」投票日剩下不到一個月,正、反方展開大辯論,互不相讓。 四大提案中,包括是否同意重啟核四(位於新北貢寮的龍門核能發電廠)、中油第三天然氣接收站(桃園觀塘液化天然氣接收站,以下簡稱三接)遷離桃園大潭藻礁海岸這兩案,牽動台灣「減煤增氣」、「非核家園」的能源轉型路線是否還能持續走下去。 涉及供電、減空汙、生態保護等層面的三接,從連署、成案,不同主張持續交鋒、爭吵不斷,公投若過,目前已施工近三年的三接要停工遷更是一場影響台灣能源轉型成敗的關鍵戰役。 想像一下,當台灣不要核電、不要燃煤造成空汙、要持續減碳,要綠電、天然氣等能源轉型,也要台積電、台商回流等經濟發展,又期待供電穩定、不缺電,同時還能顧及環境生態……,怎麼可能做到?這是正反雙方交鋒的火線時刻,也是全民價值選擇的關鍵時刻,這時,沒有人是局外人,取捨絕對是必要的。 三接爭議,到底吵什麼?釐清四大關鍵提問,答案或許跟你想的不一樣。 關鍵提問1》遷三接影響供電? 全台調度更吃緊 關鍵提問一:三接遷離現址,不會影響電力供應?答案是,不只電力調度更吃緊,減煤成果也可能倒退。 打開經濟部能源局二○ 一九、二○…

ALIVE AND SLACKING

FOR A COHORT famous for feeling stupid and contagious, as Kurt Cobain put it, Generation X has turned downright self-congratulatory. The regular slighting of our generation in pop demographics is officially a source of performative delight. Sure, we’re perpetually overlooked. The bigger, louder, more heavily branded generations—the boomers, who preceded us, and the millennials, our successors—tend to Hoover and vape up all the oxygen. But our stealth also means we’re rarely blamed. We skulk around doing our own ordinary, all too human things (and for every Zadie Smith or Monica Lewinsky there’s a Ted Cruz or Alex Jones), and boomers, as usual, consume all the resources—including the nation’s deep reserves of contempt, which are largely aimed at them. The two big gens get the pollster love too: Polls fixate on those over…

ALIVE AND SLACKING
Intel changes its manufacturing language as it moves to angstroms

Intel changes its manufacturing language as it moves to angstroms

Intel recently stated that it is completely changing the way in which generations of its microprocessors have been defined, discussed, and evaluated, paving the way for chips to be measured in angstroms, not nanometers. Specifically, Intel is rewriting the terminology associated with its process technology, it said at an “Intel Accelerated” presentation. Going forward, Intel’s 10nm “enhanced SuperFIN” technology will now be called “Intel 7,” mentally placing it on the same tier as the same 7nm process technology AMD uses for its Ryzen chips. Intel began signaling this shift in March, but now it’s official. It’s a branding exercise, but with technical reasons behind it. For years, one way in which chip giants like Intel and AMD have defined the evolution of their products has been through process nodes or process generations:…

JUST RIGHT

JUST RIGHT

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when we walked in,” Sophie Ashby recalls. “I just thought, We’ve got to make this work.” Just a few strides from the bustle of Brick Lane in London’s East End—where the sweet, spicy scent of the street’s famous Bangladeshi curry houses fills the air—hides a gorgeous Georgian-era gem of a house that British interior designer Sophie Ashby and her husband, fashion designer Charlie Casely-Hayford, currently share with their daughter, Gaia, born last May, and Casely-Hayford’s seven-year-old daughter Rainbow when she comes to stay on weekends. Having outgrown their one-bedroom apartment in West London, the family rented this place in February 2020, just weeks before the world went into lockdown. “We could have bought a house, but I knew it wouldn’t have been one I was happy to…

The End Of WFH: How Zoom-ed Out AreYou After Two Years?

The End Of WFH: How Zoom-ed Out AreYou After Two Years?

The Big Change To Our Workspaces “BUT A FEW MONTHS IN, WE SOON REALISED THAT WE NEEDED SOME BIG CHANGES. WE EACH NEEDED OUR OWN WORKSPACES, DESKS, WEBCAMS, HEADPHONES, AND MICS FOR VIDEO CONFERENCING, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – SPACE.”FRANCIS TAN, Business development manager at an international logistics company For Francis Tan, Business development manager at an international logistics company, Covid-19, Working from Home (WFH), and video conferencing calls a vast array of different emotions to mind. “When we first started WFH, my wife and I thought it was the greatest thing ever! We could roll out of bed and be at work in five minutes. But a few months in, we soon realised that we needed some big changes. We each needed our own workspaces, desks, webcams, headphones, and mics for video conferencing,…

NEW MARKET

THE MARKET CARES LESS ABOUT COVID-19 than you think. Recent volatility in global financial markets may seem like the latest pandemic-induced shocks, but there are signs that investors are growing accustomed to the idea that some form of the virus is part of our new normal. At the beginning of the pandemic, investors fixated on the virus’s every move. They pored over data on company lockdowns and vaccine advancements to assess how well individual companies were positioned to profit. The resulting calculations sorted the business world into neat categories of winners, like Peloton, and losers, like cruise-ship operators. But over the past 22 months, the market’s herd mentality has evolved into a herd immunity of sorts. As a result, Wall Street’s worldview is now what finance strategists call an “endemic,” rather…

NEW MARKET

MT GARAGE

Arrival: 2021 Toyota Venza Hybrid XLE EPA City/Hwy/Comb Fuel Econ 40/37/39 mpg “Over the next year, we’ll find out if this hybrid Toyota SUV brings Lexus-like luxury to the masses.”Miguel Cortina Base Price $37,175 As Tested $39,735 Mainstream luxury is an elusive concept, yet the 2021 Toyota Venza encompasses that and more. The midsize SUV makes a statement with its elegant design and clean cabin, which those taking a quick glance could mistake for a Lexus interior. But as a Toyota, the Venza brings the value and accessibility the automaker is known for. For the next year, we will be driving Toyota’s hybrid-only SUV, which was a finalist in our most recent SUV of the Year competition. The Venza competes against a growing group of crossovers, such as the Chevrolet Blazer and Honda Passport, but instead of…

MT GARAGE

Deep WATERS

“Dark denim worn with bold gold jewellery is such a striking statement – and ideal for dressing across the seasons”DONNA WALLACE, FASHION & ACCESSORIES EDITOR“Crisp and clean, Ami’s skirt suit presents a modern rendition of ’90s minimalism”OLIVIA SINGER, FASHION NEWS DIRECTOR Short & SHARP Thanks to chic tailoring, thigh-skimming minis are no longer reserved for after dark Knit ONE When it comes to comfort, there’s nothing better – or cooler – than knitwear “How to wear fulllook knitwear? Proenza Schouler’s crochet halter dress”LAURA INGHAM, FASHION MARKET DIRECTOR“Whether you’re going grunge or elegant, the elongated sleeve adds a modern touch to your look”LAURA INGHAM, FASHION MARKET DIRECTOR All day LONG Take your comfort clothing from the sofa to the streets with the snuggly super-sleeve Fom Acne’s dreamlike duvet dressing to Raf Simons’s grunge-tinted enveloping knits, an array of designers…

Deep WATERS

GENERATING BUZZ

IT’S STARTLING at first glance to see an iconic beauty swarmed by bees. A closer look tells a deeper story of the delicate balance between humans and the insects that pollinate much of our food. Angelina Jolie wanted to draw attention to the need to protect bees and to Women for Bees, a UNESCO-Guerlain program training women as beekeepers in 25 biospheres from Ethiopia to China. Photographer Dan Winters, an amateur beekeeper, drew inspiration from a 1981 Richard Avedon portrait of a beekeeper whose naked torso was covered in bees. Jolie was inspired by different visions: bees as indispensable pillars of our food supply, under threat from parasites, pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change—and the global network of women who will protect them. Three out of four leading food crops depend…

GENERATING BUZZ
Want Windows 11? Your PC had better have these specs

Want Windows 11? Your PC had better have these specs

Microsoft has published its hardware requirements for Windows 11, adding strict new security requirements for its next operating system. Here’s what you’ll need to run Windows 11 when Microsoft releases it in the fall. Microsoft will release Windows 11 by holiday 2021, so you’ll have ample time to prepare. Microsoft is working with PC makers to develop Windows 11–ready PCs, and you may be able to upgrade to Windows 11 for free with your existing PC—provided it meets the minimum hardware requirements. Fortunately, if your PC doesn’t meet those requirements, you’ll have several years to replace it, as Windows 10 will be supported until 2025. New Windows 11 PCs will also ship this fall. We’ve updated this story to note that Microsoft has published a multipage document listing the detailed hardware requirements…

最神祕航海王

最神祕航海王

海運價格持續飛漲,全球貨櫃業進入國力競賽的關鍵時刻,台灣航運三雄的真正實力,在股票市場過度炒作的投機風下,卻被模糊了焦點。 長榮海運由張國華家族主導,睥睨台灣航空、海運界多年;陽明海運則有最大股東官股護體,唯有近洋海運龍頭萬海航運,資歷最久,外界最為陌生。 今年五十五歲的陳柏廷,超過一半人生都投入海運,面對航運業大爆發,這位低調神祕的海王子首度發出感言,砥礪員工,更在這波航運業史上最瘋狂的景氣中,安不忘危地擘畫萬海轉骨變身的下一步。 萬海航運去年整年賺了一一三億元,是前年的三倍多,是大前年的整整十倍。今年光是第一季就大賺了一四六億元,剛剛好等於過去二年的獲利加總。今年,法人預估一口氣要賺超過過去十年的獲利加總。 面對這突如其來的獲利大爆發,讓航運股一躍成為今年上半年台股最吸睛的男主角,外界當然更好奇,身處旋風核心的航運業老闆,是不是更喜不自勝、甚至得意忘形?…

GADGET WISHLIST

LG 2021 ULTRAWIDE MONITOR The new LG UltraWide monitor for 2021 is going to dominate pretty much any room you put it in, thanks to its curved, 39.7-inch Nano IPS LCD display panel, running at a 5K resolution. Creatives will appreciate that 98 percent of the DCI-P3 colour space is covered, while there’s a decent maximum refresh rate of 72Hz too. The appeal of the monitor stretches to its connectivity too – there are DisplayPort, HDMI, USB and Thunderbolt 4 options, but we’re still waiting for LG to tell us how much it costs. £TBC, lg.com SONY SRS-RA5000 AND SRS-RA3000 The SRS-RA5000 and SRS-RA3000 are spatial audio speakers, making use of Sony’s emerging 360 Reality Audio format to give the impression of full 3D sound from a single speaker. These stylish and vaguely futuristic-looking…

GADGET WISHLIST
澳洲抗中啟示錄

澳洲抗中啟示錄

今年四月,他們找上了我,希望我幫助他們拓展台灣市場。」澳洲墨爾本台商會長葉芳如口中的「他們」,是澳洲知名保健品大廠斯維詩(Swisse)。 「這是以前沒有發生過的⋯⋯。」長年經營澳台之間物流與電商業務的葉芳如回憶,過去斯維詩只有一個專責部門負責出口,該部門對外接洽業務的國家,基本上也只有一個,「就是中國。」 但今年初,原本只與中國代理商談的斯維詩,特別從出口部門拉出十幾個人,另外成立東南亞市場部門,其中,葉芳如強調,又以台灣為重心。 為何斯維詩突然開始重視台灣與東南亞市場?表層原因,是這個澳洲品牌在中國市場的銷量快速惡化,今年首季,斯維詩的中國業績竟比去年同期疫情猛爆期間更慘,營收驟降逾一○%。 交惡開端 澳洲追問病毒源頭 遭中國出招重擊 至於造成中國市場銷量崩落的深層原因,葉芳如坦言,是過去一年中國與澳洲關係的快速惡化。…

HOME CINEMA HEAVEN

THE SHARPSHOOTER SAMSUNG QN900A The QN900A is 2021’s most cutting-edge LCD TV. Its ‘Infinity’ design, for instance, delivers the QN900A’s huge pictures (our personal favourite is the glorious 75-inch) from a frame so narrow you can barely see it. Connections include four HDMIs capable of handling the latest videogaming features of 4K at 120Hz and variable refresh rates. In fact, it even supports the Freesync Premium Pro VRR system. It boasts an 8K resolution with AI-backed upscaling and, most impressive of all, it uses mini-LED backlighting. This shrinks the usual LEDs down so that lots more of them can be used to illuminate the picture. Couple this with thousands of separately controlled light zones and premium Quantum Dot colour technology and you’ve got a picture able to do unique justice to the…

HOME CINEMA HEAVEN

聯電被看扁的贏家

在六月二十二日瑞銀舉辦的投資論壇上,聯電宣告今年第二季產能利用率百分之百,而市場最夯的二八奈米產能,今年與明年都將可達到二○%成長。 漂亮的數字,吸引各路法人紛紛投注熱烈的目光。這是聯電闊別十多年來,重新享受到資本市場的關愛。 聯電曾與台積電並列「晶圓雙雄」,但一個早已是鋒芒萬丈的護國神山,而另一個卻默默在角落獨守成熟製程,忍受市場伴隨來的酸言與奚落聲。 從角落重返舞台中央,這個距離有多遠? 董座洪嘉聰點滴在心頭,但他說:「無論好壞,笑罵由人吧⋯⋯。」熬了十多年的苦日子,終究,是到了盡頭! 多年前, 同為台灣「 晶圓代工雙雄」, 一家破釜沉舟「 根留台灣」,一家大膽偷跑「西進中國」,從此走向不同的命運。前者台積電一路以來桂冠加身承載無限光環,而後者聯電製程、技術皆不如人,無論是在股市、社會上,接收的酸言酸語,恐怕遠高過稀落的掌聲。 多年下來,台積電全力衝刺先進製程,不只遙遙領先聯電,還一步步甩開英特爾、三星的苦苦糾纏,穩坐全球晶圓代工龍頭寶座,以及護國神山難以動搖的地位,成為全國人民心中的榮耀之星、台灣之光。…

聯電被看扁的贏家

Horizon

1 GOOGLE PIXEL WATCH • From £339, store.google.com It’s finally arrived. After literally years of speculation, and a fair few leaky months where we were pretty sure of exactly what the Pixel Watch would be but couldn’t actually tell you, it’s here. But does Google’s first official foray onto the wrist make the most of the company’s acquisition of Fitbit and its experience in producing WearOS for others – and has it kept enough tricks up its sleeve for this to be special? All signs point to yes. While the processing package in here isn’t the burliest, comprising primarily of the Exynos 9110 chip found in some older Samsung Galaxy Watches, early wearers suggest that helps its battery make it through 24 hours without the need to drop to a low-power mode or…

Horizon
Goodbye Digital Age, Hello Fusion Era

Goodbye Digital Age, Hello Fusion Era

It has often been said that Covid-19 did not change the course of history but accelerated it. This pandemic hastened climate action, geopolitical disorder, consumer behaviour shifts and digital transformation by, arguably, four years. As companies grapple with the “here and now” urgency to serve their customers with digital-first fulfilment models during this period, what should they look at in their next phase of transformation? And how should they make sense of and incorporate emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, immersive reality and 5G? Before addressing these questions, consider the paradigm shift of 2020s - which affects not only business and technology, but the entire world. Thinking digital is necessary - but insufficient - to anticipate the substance, scale and scope of what is to come. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the…

Living in Harmony

Living in Harmony

Housing three generations under one roof, this 9,730sqft house is a symbol of familial unity and love. Located in a sleepy residential neighbourhood, its distinctive, fluid shell encloses three interconnected volumes. The owner of this home, who works in the marine industry, lived abroad for 18 years before returning to Singapore; he has three sons, the eldest of whom is married with two children. Meta Studio designed the house, which features a striking facade that traces the trapezoidal corner plot. When the sun’s rays hit the surface, the blend of quartz, minerals and mica gives the exterior a subtle shimmer. It was crafted with Dryvit ETICS (External Thermal Insulation Composite System); the firm’s founder and lead architect Adrian Lai chose the durable and lightweight composite material for its ability to mimic…

REENGINEERING THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has upended many traditional business practices. When it comes to recruiting, the crisis has not so much disrupted as accelerated shifts in the talent landscape that were already under way, leaving many companies poorly served by their current hiring practices. In a period of steep unemployment, it might seem that companies looking to add workers would be in the driver’s seat. But job openings have also been rising in recent months, meaning that competition for top talent remains keen—and in uncertain times, bringing on the right people is more important than ever. A recent study from research and advisory firm Gartner examines those shifts in the workforce landscape and lays out a road map for navigating the new one. The researchers identified three trends that are rendering traditional…

REENGINEERING THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E

2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E

My first Ford Mustang had a 4.6-liter V-8, five-speed manual, and rear-wheel drive. My next might have two electric motors, single-speed automatic gearboxes, and all-wheel drive. The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E is an all-electric, four-door, battery-powered SUV that’ll eventually have up to 480 hp and 634 lb-ft of torque. More than that, the new Mustang Mach-E is going to force the world to rethink just what it considers a Mustang. I’d argue it doesn’t really matter—what does is that the Mustang Mach-E is quite good. The Mach-E shares many of the traditional Mustang styling cues—like its signature tri-bar taillights, roofline, and a dash-to-axle ratio reminiscent of rear-wheel drive—but that’s about it. It’s quite easy to get into the weeds here, but the important things to remember are that the Mustang Mach-E rides…

SEVEN DAYS OF UNWRAPPING THE KING

“How greatly the dangers were feared for the dead is shown by the profusion of amulets and sacred symbols placed on the mummy, which were intended to protect it against injury on that journey in the underworld.”—Howard Carter The historic examination of Tutankhamun’s mummy inside the innermost coffin was performed over seven days in October and November of 1925, and meticulously recorded in Carter’s journals. The extraordinary effort, led by medical experts Douglas Derry and Saleh Hamdi Bey, with assistance from Carter, revealed hidden wonders of ancient craftsmanship. The king’s mummy was stacked, mostly over the neck and chest, with protective amulets and jewels, many in avian, scarab, and serpent forms. Ancient embalmers also had concealed more than 140 precious objects (nearly all illustrated here) between 17 layers of thin linen…

SEVEN DAYS OF UNWRAPPING THE KING

聽經濟起飛

台灣人因疫情宅在家,Podcast 成為父母的救星!這個推出近20 年的聲音媒體,去年在台掀起遲來熱潮,素人到企業紛紛投入,以往搶眼球注意力,現在則要攻佔耳朵。 蘋果用AirPods 和軟體服務,搭建出軟硬並濟的聲音宇宙;台灣多元的創作能量+無線耳機供應鏈,也撐起潛力無窮的產業新商機。獨家「2021 聽經濟大調查」,為你全方位解碼耳朵新戰場! 五月十五日,雙北防疫正式升級至三級。四天後,全台籠罩三級警戒。 街道空了,辦公室人少了。但Podcaster「維多叔叔」鄭哲偉,卻忙碌起來。 他主持的Podcast節目《維多叔叔的故事歡樂車》,在疫情急轉直下隔日十六號,上檔「冠狀將軍與疫苗軍師」。應景的兒童原創故事節目,在Apple Podcast排行瞬間從五十名外,直線暴衝入前十名;日訂閱數從一天二十人以下,狂增到八十人。 「父母焦慮感上升,小朋友在家,需要把時間塞滿的產品,Podcast最容易取得,」鄭哲偉頓時成了許多父母的救星。反映在排行榜前十名,這類兒童學習類節目,就佔據五名。 禁不住家長們敦促,鄭哲偉原本週末才更新節目,現在考慮一週更新兩到三次。…

聽經濟起飛
8 Things To Know

8 Things To Know

01 IT LOOKS AND FEELS JUST LIKE THE IPHONE 13 PRO This shouldn’t be surprising. Both have the same design, are made of the same materials (glass and stainless steel), and have the same number of cameras. If you pore over the spec sheets, you’ll find that the iPhone 14 Pro is slightly taller, thicker, and heavier, but you don’t really notice that in your hands. Though some might be disappointed that Apple didn’t do anything to make it look different and special, it, crucially, still feels and looks like a piece of quality gadgetry. Oh, and if you are thinking of getting Deep Purple, you should know that it’s less bright than what the videos and press photos depict. Most times, it looks to me like grey but with a very…

中國鎖藥危機

這是一場沒有硝煙味的寧靜戰爭,爭奪的,是被美國總統拜登視為四大戰略物資之一、與半導體晶片同等地位的「藥品」。 在這場無聲的戰役中,發動攻勢的,是以「大中華區」為名、在全球攻城掠地的中國藥廠;而守方,則是近年與國際新藥大廠談判代理與銷售權時,屢屢碰壁的台灣業者。 在「BNT疫苗破局」事件沸沸揚揚之後,面對中國下一波可能的「鎖藥危機」,台灣政府與產業又將如何應對? 「們,大概從四、五年前開始,就都是用『大中華區』的名義在談(授權)。」談及中國近年在亞太新藥市場暴增的「存在感」,某大藥商資深副總語氣中透露一絲苦澀。 以前,台灣藥品市場不是原藥廠直接在台設分公司銷售,就是台灣代理商拿授權;近年來,新興崛起的中國藥廠卻以制霸姿態和原藥廠談,一談就是「大中華區」代理權,台灣也包含在內。 春江水暖鴨先知,台灣第一線和原廠談授權的業務,最先感受市場風向的轉變。 第一線業務的無奈 銷售權不是被搶走 就是接觸沒下文…

中國鎖藥危機
GADGET WISHLIST

GADGET WISHLIST

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO ALVA TT V2 Making other record players look rather drab and basic by comparison, the Cambridge Audio Alva TT V2 exudes quality even before you’ve put needle to vinyl. As well as everything you’d expect, the turntable gives you aptX HD Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in phono stage (plus the option to use your own), and an improved tonearm. £1,700, cambridgeaudio.com NOVETO N1 INVISIBLE HEADPHONES How do a pair of invisible headphones work, you might ask? The Noveto N1 sits in front of you like a miniature soundbar, using what’s known as beamforming technology to create a binaural audio experience not unlike wearing a pair of headphones, but without the physical earbuds. We’re very much looking forward to giving them a try. $800 (about £590), noveto.com ASUS ROG FLOW Z13 The 13.4-inch ROG Flow Z13 from…

Notre Dame After the Fire

Notre Dame After the Fire

The fire in 1831 spared the Cathedral of Notre Dame itself. The rioters scrambled up the roof and toppled a giant iron cross; they shattered stained glass, took axes to a statue of Jesus, smashed one of the Virgin Mary. But they were really after the archbishop of Paris, who wasn’t there—and so they sacked his palace, which stood south of the church, facing the Seine River. Then they set fire to it. The palace is gone now. A 250-foot-tall construction crane stands on that spot. There’s a drawing of the scene that night, February 14, 1831, viewed from the Quai de Montebello, across the Seine. It was made by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc—the man who, 13 years later, would undertake a 20-year restoration of the cathedral. Viollet-le-Duc was only 17 when he…

美國大基建效應全解讀

美國大基建效應全解讀

自從我們建立了洲際公路系統、打贏了太空爭霸賽,美國就再也沒有足堪比擬的計畫,直到現在……。這是二戰以來美國最大的一筆投資!」美國總統拜登(Joe Biden)四月七日發表這段演說時,語氣其實頗為平淡。畢竟,他在一周前的三月底已對外公布這項計畫,今天頂多算是補充說明。 他的後方站著美國副總統賀錦麗(Kamala Harris),再後方則是一片背板。在拜登所屬民主黨代表色藍色襯底的背板上,畫著幾位在高塔上賣命施工的工人剪影,簡單卻精準,傳達了這項計畫的基本意涵。 它的名稱是「美國就業計畫」(American Jobs Plan,簡稱AJP),短期目標是創造就業機會,達標的手段是翻修、興建美國基礎建設;而拜登四月七日的「補充說明」,則成功強化了這項計畫的想像空間,一種史詩級般的想像空間。 他說這是「二戰以來最大投資」,這句話憑藉的,是二.六五兆美元的計畫總額。即使扣掉其中關於「綠能產業租稅抵免」的四千億美元,政府支出的手筆仍達二.二五兆美元,相當於六十三兆元台幣。…

Intel 12th-gen ‘Alder Lake’ vs. Ryzen 5000: 5 key things to know

If you’re looking to build a powerhouse PC, one of the first things you need to do is pick your poison: AMD or Intel? Both companies are making some absolutely fantastic CPUs and adjacent platforms, so there’s really no wrong decision here. But to hell with that fence-sitting BS: It’s still a decision you have to make. So you might as well make the right one, right? Intel’s spanking-new 12th-gen Alder Lake CPU series is busting benchmarks, but there are still plenty of reasons to stick with AMD’s Ryzen 5000 architecture from last year — or to wait it out and see what comes next. Let’s break it down, shall we? THE CONTENDERS Assuming that you’re basing your decision on a budget for a PC build, and that you’re phenomenally lucky and manage…

Intel 12th-gen ‘Alder Lake’ vs. Ryzen 5000: 5 key things to know
Best Bikes

Best Bikes

ROAD BIKE MERIDA SCULTURA TEAM As a brand, Merida is highly underrated in the cycling world – this despite having a significant presence on the WorldTour where its bikes are used exclusively by Bahrain Victorious. The Merida Scultura Team not only represents the best value-for-money offering in the brand’s line-up but the entire road bike segment, too. The bike is built around the all-new Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 Di2 hydraulic groupset so it’s polished when it comes to braking modulation and gear shifting. The carbon-fibre frame is stiff and responsive and supplies a good amount of communication through its underpinnings, allowing the rider to lean on the huge reserves of grip when descending at speed. £7,750, merida-bikes.com CYCLING ACCESSORIES VELOSOCK The Velosock is a novel solution for those who prefer storing their bike(s) in the house. This…

The world beyond Delta

EXPERTS PREDICTED, FROM THE START, THAT THE pandemic would end with a whimper, not a bang. That is, COVID-19 won’t so much disappear as fade into the background, becoming like the many other common infectious diseases that sicken people, but also can be controlled with vaccines and drugs. “This can become a livable pathogen where it’s there, it circulates, you’re going to hear on the evening news about outbreaks in a dorm or a movie theater, but people go about their normal lives,” former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb predicted in an April 2020 interview with TIME. For a while, it felt like the U.S. was closing in on that point. Highly effective vaccines made their way into millions of arms. The U.S. Centers for Disease…

The world beyond Delta
FOR GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS

FOR GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS

Gordon Murray has said that he regrets not driving home in the McLaren F1 GTR that won the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours. Having initially been against the conversion of his roadgoing design into a racer, he’d watched as it took victory on the marque’s debut at La Sarthe. Three of the other GTRs crossed the line third, fourth and fifth, and helped to usher in a competitive new period of GT racing that would eventually include Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. But while driving back to the UK in a front-running Le Mans car would have been a great publicity coup in 1995, it wouldn’t have raised so much as an eyebrow in the early 1960s. At that time, it was commonplace for cars to be driven to and from events, Ecurie…

The HEIRESS

RANTS AND RAVES

RANTS AND RAVES

In our December/January special issue, wired used the release of The Matrix Resurrections as a launch point to explore the future of reality. Andy Greenberg argued that the original Matrix is the best hacker movie ever. Cecilia D’Anastasio wrote that we’re already living in a metaverse of Big Tech’s making. And Laura Hudson profiled the philosopher Timothy Morton, creator of the reality-blowing concept of hyperobjects. Also, in a report from Reveal and wired, Will Evans investigated how, for years, Amazon has failed to protect millions of customers’ data. Readers shared their bill proposals, film theories, and visions RE: “BEST HACKER MOVIE” “The Matrix isn’t the best hacker movie. It’s the best documentary.”—Micah Lerner (@micahlerner), via Twitter RE: “AMAZON’S DARK SECRET” As Amazon has captured a larger and larger slice of the ecommerce market, consumers have…

Letter from the Founder

When I started The Rake, almost a decade and a half ago, Lorenzo Cifonelli was already a mythological figure to me. So it is with immense gratitude that today I consider him one of my closest friends. Sometimes, often while in my cups, I imagine a Valhalla of the sartorial arts’ greatest masters: Frederick Scholte and Gennaro Rubinacci seated besides an Odin-like Domenico Caraceni, with the superstars of each successive generation — such as Colin Hammick, of Huntsman, Douglas Hayward, the creator of Thomas Crown’s suits, and of course the inimitable Tommy Nutter — taking their rightful place at the banquet table. But when it comes to this generation, not only is Lorenzo’s seat at the table assured, it is clear that he will be regarded as the most influential…

Letter from the Founder

THE 2022 HOME GYM AWARDS

WHEN TRAINER Rashaad Slowley (above) moved from New York City to Miami near the end of 2020, he planned to build a garage gym. He just didn’t plan on that task being so hard. “I quickly learned that this is not an overnight job,” he says. “A lot of sweat equity and money was put in to build something great.” That’s because the ideal home training space is more than a yoga mat and a Shake Weight. The perfect home gym holds your attention long-term because it offers a variety of training options, letting you crush a cardio session one day, build strength the next. And now is the best time to create that space. Covid lockdowns sparked home-fitness innovation in a host of forms, as companies upgraded everything from the…

THE 2022 HOME GYM AWARDS

台股之狼

四月一日愚人節,對上萬名康友投資人來說,這是痛苦的一天。因為曾貴為台股股后、生技股王、總市值逾五百億元的康友-KY下市了。 證券投資人及期貨交易人保護中心(簡稱投保中心)正式為登記的四千多名投資人提出求償四十七.五億元的民事訴訟,連外資挪威中央銀行也成受害者;康友自救會裡的兩千多人,也將提出不低於投保中心的求償,總求償金額或逾百億元。 災情不斷延燒到其他同屬KY(見左頁小辭典)的上市公司。康友事件去年八月爆發至今,地雷仍一個個引爆中,淘帝-KY、英瑞-KY、VHQKY、凱羿-KY相繼爆出財報難產、財務困難、財務表現差異巨大等事件,股價也紛紛暴跌,讓投資人慘賠。 為避免演變成系統性風暴,三月二十二日,證交所一口氣將二十家KY公司列入警示,宣誓要加強KY公司的監理。 但一位所長級的資深會計師說,這已是系統性問題,出問題的絕對不只四家。 康友坑殺投資人、黑吃黑、股權移轉不明、財報不實,揭開這個黑幕,看它為何最終釀成五百億市值蒸發的大悲劇。而面對一連串股市陷阱,台灣投資人該如何自保? 角色1:被騙上鉤的小散戶 出事後只能偷哭,不敢讓家人知道…

台股之狼
2021 Lamborghini Sián

2021 Lamborghini Sián

The 2021 Lamborghini Sián will catapult to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and hit 220 mph, leaving in its wake a shock-and-awe wall of sound from its 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V-12. The Sián is long and low and extreme, with a menacing, almost alien road presence that signals its status as a tarmac predator ready to pounce and devour random Ferraris. The Sián packs an 807-hp punch, making it the most powerful Lamborghini road car ever built. It’s also Lamborghini’s first hybrid. Lamborghini will build just 19 roadsters and 63 coupes, to celebrate the company’s founding in 1963. The coupe costs $2.64 million, and 15 are coming to the U.S. No word yet on price for the roadster, U.S. versions of which will arrive between May and December. Finally, its name…

The key to the Mac’s survival isn’t a new Air–it’s the next iPad Pro

The key to the Mac’s survival isn’t a new Air–it’s the next iPad Pro

I’ve never felt the need to choose between the iPad and the Mac. I use and value them both. But over the last few years, it’s started to feel like both the Mac and the iPad are increasingly limited by an artificial barrier that Apple has placed between them. The iPad has slowly become more Mac-like without ever really reaching the promised land. The Mac, meanwhile, has failed to pick up many desirable features from the iPad. I admire the discipline Apple has had in keeping its product lines separate, but it feels like that decision is starting to harm the futures of both products. The Mac and the iPad are on a collision course, and I’m concerned that they’re both about to run into the brick wall Apple has erected between…

‘I WAS BORN A CONJOINED TWIN!’

‘I WAS BORN A CONJOINED TWIN!’

Gabrielle Garcia shared everything with her twin sister, Kayla. For the first 14 years of their lives, the identical siblings did literally everything together. They once even shared the same body! This was because, in 1998, Gabby and Kayla were born as conjoined twins. Fused at the hip, the sisters shared two legs, a bladder, intestinal tract, liver and kidney. They lived as one body for eight months until the girls were medically separated during a successful, pioneering, 12-hour surgery. “We were conjoined at the pelvic bone and so we kind of took being connected at the hip literally,” Gabby exclusively tells New Idea, with a smile. “Kayla and I weren’t just twins, we had shared each other’s skin, we had shared each other’s organs. And we were literally each other at one point.” Conjoined twins…

SURFING MOUNTAINS

MYSTICAL. UNRULY. The feeling of endless water. Big-wave surfer Maya Gabeira has no small words for the giant waves off Nazaré, Portugal. It’s hard to find a single wave’s peak, where it will break. “It just comes from everywhere,” she says. One bone-snapping, breath-stealing wave nearly killed her. Another wave landed the Brazilian the women’s world record for the largest ever surfed—and she then set a new record by conquering a 73.5-foot beast “It was just so much water,” she recalls, “and would shift so much, even when you were in it, that it just felt like you were going down forever, like a mountain.” The waves roiling atop Europe’s largest underwater canyon—some three miles deep and over 120 miles long—have mesmerized and terrorized the small coastal community of Nazaré for centuries.…

SURFING MOUNTAINS
直擊〉中國冷復甦

直擊〉中國冷復甦

落地窗內,多位身著綠色制服的華為門市人員,正忙著回應顧客對購置手機的需求;落地窗外,餐廳與手搖飲料店滿溢著排隊的人流。離開落地窗,沿著這條中國知名的步行街往東走,一路上,熙來攘往的當地行人與觀光客摩肩接踵,搭配歡鬧喧譁的交談聲,一切乍看明朗而美好……。過去三年,因為疫情導致的經濟陰影似乎已快速淡去,眼前,是一片欣欣向榮的消費復甦景象。 時間,四月中,地點,是上海的指標商圈南京路。 據上海復旦大學消費市場大數據實驗室統計顯示,今年二月,上海全市線下消費總額年增率○.八%,全市餐飲業和住宿業消費達到二○一九年一月統計以來的最高水準。 另一方面,衡量服務業表現的中國非製造業採購經理人指數(PMI),在三月分來到五十八.二,創下一一年五月以來新高;至於服務業PMI分項指標,則達到五十六.九,亦寫下一二年三月以來紀錄。 「大家,都被關太久了。」談及這股由「報復性消費」帶起的中國復甦動能,在上海擔任汽車業務銷售的雲芳(化名)向《今周刊》表示。…

The Social Kitchen

COASTAL BLISS Designed to invite the outdoors in—and accommodate lots of sandy feet—this open-plan space forms the heart of a family’s peaceful seaside retreat. The owners briefed the architect to make the weekend home “shed-like”; the high windows between the exposed beams and roof make the sun and sky ever-present elements. Texture is key to making the space seem lived in, with the liberal use of whitewashed raw wood. A lighting piece made up of sea shells adds another marine element to the space. The sheepskin and cowhide rugs bring a further layer of comfort and warmth to the large room. LIGHTEN UP This recently updated timber-framed beach bungalow boasts a light-filled kitchen, in which the entire family loves to linger. The extensive glazing at the rear of the house helps bathe the entire…

The Social Kitchen

FÜRSTEN FOREMOST

A couple of years ago, Her Serene Highness Princess Virginia Carolina Theresa Pancrazia Galdina von und Zu Fürstenberg, or Ira, as she is (mercifully) known, asked me to write her life story. Ira is just fabulous. I first met her in Marbella; she is unlike anyone I have ever met. If anything, the singular ‘life’ is somewhat misleading, as even by the most conservative of estimates she has led half a dozen different lives. Indeed, given the many personal dramas over 80 years, and the fact she is one of the most engaging, unaffected and clear-eyed witnesses to that halcyon period of the jet set, I am still surprised that Netflix has not been in touch to commission a T.V. series based on her life — what it may lack…

FÜRSTEN FOREMOST

REAR ADMIRABLE

In an assisted living facility in Beverly Hills, there lives a spry 92-year-old named Edith Tooker. Secreted away until the time is right is her memoir, Backless in Hollywood and Other Tales. It’s a document so incendiary that it could reframe Hollywood history — and to such a degree that it has been likened to “a mid-century Me Too”. Spanning the bridge between then and now is the night of February 28, 1957, the 14th Golden Globes. Waiting in the wings to present the best supporting actor award to Earl Holliman was a head-turning ingenue in a town already full of them. The name she had adopted was Vikki Dougan, and she had a problem. The mink stole she was wearing over a pink satin backless dress had to be held…

REAR ADMIRABLE