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Posted: 28 Nov 2014 09:43 AM PST
In the past decade or so, bicycles have taken western cities by storm. London has introduced both bike-sharing and bike lanes, and Paris even has a bike-sharing programme for children. In Copenhagen, ever the bicycle champion, 41% of rides to work and education now take place on bicycle seats. But what if you’re not super fit, don’t want to arrive at work sweaty, or if you simply live far from your job? A new hybrid “e-bike” promises to fix that dilemma.
To be precise, the Copenhagen Wheel is not truly an e-bike at all. It’s a wheel that can be attached to a regular bike. That wheel, equipped with a motor, batteries, sensors and wireless connectivity, transforms the bike into a smart bike that multiplies pedal power and even measures the rider’s heart rate and monitors potholes. “The experience is very natural,” claims Assaf Biderman, associate director of MIT’s SENSEable City Lab, which developed the Copenhagen Wheel, and CEO of Superpedestrian, the startup that makes the wheel. “You can essentially ride as far as you like.” |
Save Dissent to Save Democracy THE rising instances of physical violence and threats against political opponents and the inability to accept dissent must raise huge concerns amongst all of us who see democracy as perhaps the really stellar achievement since Independence. AAP’s attack on BJP headquarters and acts of arson committed under the very noses of their elite leadership; the attacks on Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in Gujarat in the last two days; the recent manhandling of the caretaker of journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s house by some garden variety thugs; and the violence and threats meted out regularly to their political opponents by political parties is surely deplorable and condemnable. This is a fatally flawed trend which will destroy the very foundations of our democratic institutions if not pushed back with all the strength and condemnation that the civil society can mobilise. Replaying the past To begin with, it must be clarified that we should ...
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