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Hidden Message In London Eye

The iconic London Eye has been turned into a social media "mood ring" for the Olympics games, portraying in a light show the mood of the British people during the games, as interpreted through data analysis of Tweets. WSJ's Andy Jordan reports from London.




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The 'Other' Games in London

For those without a ticket at the London games, there's another option. A game design group, Hide&Seek, has placed 99 "Tiny Games" in each of London's 33 boroughs. They're meant to be happened upon, and as WSJ's Andy Jordan finds out, they can lead to some random and funny situations.




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Apple iPhone 5 Circus

Outside the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, WSJ's Andy Jordan takes a look at the modern, yet "ancient" customs of the Apple iPhone circus of official iPhone announcments, and takes a look at the features of the new iPhone 5.




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Casual Fridays Go Formal

To be hip at Silicon Valley startups these days, one must leave the flip flops and hoodies at home and dress up on Fridays. WSJ's Andy Jordan reports from San Francisco on the "anti-Casual Friday" that's come to be known as "Formal Friday."




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Zipcars As People?

With Avis Budget's announcement that it is acquiring Zipcar, WSJ's Andy Jordan looks at Zipcar's "personalization" strategy, which encourages users to refer to the cars by name and see them as their own.




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"The Bay Lights" Transforms San Francisco Skyline

"The Bay Lights" light installation, inspired by the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, is officially unveiled March 5. Here's a preview of what it will look like, and a conversation the artist, Leo Villareal.




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Coronavirus Concerns Prompt Candidates to CFH: Campaign From Home

The coronavirus outbreak is forcing 2020 candidates to suspend rallies, town halls and other events they typically use to connect with voters. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images




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How to Turn an Old Tablet Into a Video Chat Box

Forget buying a fancy Facebook Portal or Amazon Echo Show. Dig out your old tablet or smartphone and make a homemade stand out of a box, wire hanger or even an egg carton. WSJ's Joanna Stern has all the DIY tips you need.




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How to Pick the Right Chat App for Your Next Event

Should you Zoom or FaceTime? How about a Houseparty? Amid social distancing, in-person events have been replaced by pixels on a screen. WSJ's Nicole Nguyen offers tips for navigating the new video-chat reality. Photo: FaceTime




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Motion Sick? This Tech Company Thinks It Might Have a Solution

If you’ve read a book in a car, you probably know what motion sickness feels like. WSJ’s Tim Higgins visits Massachusetts-based ClearMotion, which is betting its suspension technology could provide a solution as we move closer towards a future with driverless cars. Photo: Max Esposito/WSJ




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Laptop Webcam Showdown: MacBook Air? Dell XPS? They’re Pretty Bad

In our coronavirus-tainted world, we’re realizing that we depend a lot on our laptop webcams… and they’re not good. WSJ’s Joanna Stern compared the new MacBook Air to the Dell XPS 13, Google’s Pixelbook Go and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3.




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Can’t Unlock Your iPhone’s Face ID with a Mask On? There’s a Mask For That

The coronavirus pandemic means we must wear masks. It also means unlocking an iPhone with Face ID is a challenge. WSJ’s Joanna Stern tracked down a woman who created a mask to get around it.




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Dying Alone From Coronavirus: A Family's Last Goodbye

Keiko Neutz, 87, died of Covid-19 in March. Her family wasn't able to be by her side, so they said goodbye through a series of video chats. Photos: Neutz family




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Coronavirus Update: Small-Business Aid Deal, Americans Fear Early Restriction Lift

The Treasury and Democrats say they are close on a new rescue deal for small businesses, debate over lockdowns ramps up as the U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 40,000, and what to expect from earnings this week. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: David Poller/Zuma Press




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iPhone SE Review: The $399 iPhone Comes Back to Life

The new iPhone SE may seem like a sad, recycled phone but it's more than that. WSJ's Joanna Stern (with the help of an animator) brought the budget phone to life to explain how its performance and camera tricks make it a worthy option—even compared to its expensive, bigger iPhone 11 siblings.




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How Coronavirus-Tracking Apps Work

Public health authorities, developers and tech companies are working on apps to help us keep track of who we came in contact with and where we’ve been to aid in Covid-19 contact-tracing efforts. WSJ’s Joanna Stern explains the technologies using an 8-bit video game.




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Mineral sand coast under threat


A recent Kerala government proposal for sand mining in Kerala's Alappuzha district has come under scrutiny from several quarters. Sreedevi Jacob reports.




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Women warriors of the sea


Struggling to preserve their livelihood in the face of the rapid expansion of the Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone in Gujarat, the women and men of nearby fishing villages are trying hard to come to terms with a changing world. Geeta Seshu has more.




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Legalising coastal destruction


Fishermen oppose a new notification by the Environment Ministry that would open up the coast to industrial development. Their state governments agree, but the Centre and the World Bank are pushing ahead nonetheless. Kanchi Kohli reports.




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Lakshadweep's Muslim women conquer the Earth


By bringing the benefits and the knowledge of science to their people, Haseena and Tajunnisa have helped secure the future for the resources on which their families depend. Their home, Agatti, has, now become a model, writes Papri Sri Raman.




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AP coastal crisis leaves fishermen marooned


Moneylender troubles, a fast depleting catch due to reckless pollution, and displacement: it has been raining blow after blow on fisherfolk in Andhra Pradesh recently. Will a meeting with a cabinet minister fix things? Keya Acharya reports.




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RTI and EIA collide at NIO


The National Institute of Oceanography has repeatedly attested that the Adani group's projects in Kutch would not negatively impact the region's ecology, but admits this only reluctantly. Kanchi Kohli reports.




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The alleged sell-out that has left our fishermen fuming


An expert committee appointed to review the existing marine fishing policy and suggest a new one has come up with recommendations favouring the bigger, foreign players, drawing the ire of the smaller fishing community. P N Venugopal has more.




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'Congress candidate has promised us employment'

A voter discusses the chances in the Sawaimadhopur Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan where Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, who led the Gujjar agitation last year, is the BJP candidate.




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'We aren't begging, we just seek our rights'

'I run up to every neta who campaigns on the roads and tell him about our problem. It is not only me but the rest too have not been paid. It is not as though we don't work. I work from 8 am to 6 pm.'




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Waiting for 'Captain' to rule Tamil Nadu

'We have tried both DMK and the AIADMK. What have we gained? Nothing! Now, let us give him a chance. If he doesn't perform, we can change him then.'




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NREGA shines for Tripura women


More and more women in Tripura are participating in NREGA works, ensuring success of the scheme. The challenge lies in involving the menfolk too and implementing NREGA in insurgency-hit regions. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.




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Universal education, minimal learning


Tripura's proclaimed progress in ensuring high attendance and sufficient numbers of teachers doesn't stand up to scrutiny. There are many holes in the numbers as well as quality. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.




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What you can’t measure properly, you can’t manage properly


Shripad Dharmadhikary critiques the recently released NITI Aayog’s report on Composite Water Management Index.




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The way we measure hate crimes is simply bogus


Safety and criminality in society must be assessed directly from the people themselves. The government is deluding itself and citizens by conflating law enforcement statistics with crime data, writes Tara Krishnaswamy.




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Unheard and unknown they lead


Issues that affect underprivileged women have not got enough attention in the mainstream feminist movements in India. Yet the women from rural areas and from lower classes and castes have been leading struggles for their rights, says Navya P. K.




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Ahmedabad's TP schemes: Lessons for equity


Land pooling has helped steer development in Ahmedabad more equitably than in many other Indian cities, but with some limitations and challenges still to be overcome. A World Resources Institute report provides insight.




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From mandis to markets : Will this round be any better?


The second attempt of the NDA government to create a market for farmers' produce may not fare much better than the first one, for the same reason - it fails to address the asymmetry of power between the farmers and buyers, writes Kannan Kasturi.




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Regulations delayed are regulations denied


Efforts to rein in massive emissions of pollutants, and to reduce volumes of water consumed by coal-based thermal power plants have been thwarted by endless delays in implementing the regulations that were to take effect last year. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.




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Will the SS Code ensure universal social security?


The government proposes to replace a number of laws protecting the social security of workers with a single Code. But could its vast scope itself make it vulnerable to the details in fine print?




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Lights on!


Rajani Mani reports on how the power generating water mills of Uttranchal are lighting up lives.




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Himachal power project under scrutiny


Kanchi Kohli reports from the public meetings on a Hydro Electric Project that involves diverting a river tributary near Manali in Himachal Pradesh.




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Seeds of hope


With the energy import bill rising all the time, and enormous energy needs still to be met, the government as well as private players are looking at biofuels as an alternative to traditional petroleum. K V Prayukth reports.




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On, off, viable, scrapped, ...


Power fluctuations of a different sort have hit the Tipaimukh dam and the Loktat downstream project even before construction! Himanshu Upadhyaya observes the continuing tussle between various vested parties - the Centre, Manipur, Bangladesh, and the people living in the affected areas.




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Some concrete solutions


India generates 100 million tonnes of fly ash each year, and close to 90% of this ends up in waste mounds. But Georg Dirk believes that 40% of this by-product of thermal power stations can be turned into cement, reducing energy costs, environmental pollution, and waste. Darryl D'Monte reports.




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Hydro-power guidelines flawed


Recent guidelines from the Ministry of Power encourage private sector participation in the development of large hydro projects. But there is little attention paid to past failures, or the possibility that many of those will recur in new projects too, notes Himanshu Thakkar.




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Unreasoned push for large storage projects


The central government prefers that large multipurpose storage projects are not converted into run of the river hydro-electric schemes by the states. Not stopping there, at a meeting last year, top officials of the water and power ministries made it clear that they wanted their preference to be binding on all the states. Himanshu Thakkar has more.




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Green, yes, but risky too


The central government has just announced that it plans to "dope" petrol with 5% of ethanol, a biofuel made from sugar cane, from November 1. However, this also poses some problems; cars, not people, will be responsible for most of the increase in global grain consumption this year, writes Darryl D'Monte.




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Nuclear safety: A poor record


Although as yet in India, there has not been a severe accident leading to core meltdown or large radiation exposures to the public, on measures of occupational exposure to workers, and compliance with standards for accident prevention, Indian nuclear plants perform poorly, writes Ashwin Kumar.




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The ebb and flow of environmentalism


Twenty years after the Brundtland report, it is self-evident that economic growth which consumes resources without regenerating them is, by very definition, unsustainable. But despite taking the moral high ground early, India's record on this front has been at best a mixed one, writes Darryl D'Monte.




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Pricing carbon correctly


Under the Kyoto Protocol, it is possible for developed countries to simply buy off the cost of their pollution from less developed economies that do not put out their permitted quota of harmful substances into the atmosphere. This mechanism is fraught with both moral and practical difficulties, writes Darryl D'Monte.




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Massive dam plans for Arunachal


The laying of the foundation stone by the PM for a project that is not even legally cleared is an indication of the mood in which the current dam building spree is being pushed, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, which has most of the untapped hydel potential. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.




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Old conflict resurfaces at Athirappilly falls


Kerala's electricity board is preparing to build the seventh dam across the 144-kilometers-long Chalakudy river. The fate of the picturesque Athirappilly waterfalls hangs in the balance, with locals battling against the project. Sudhirendar Sharma has more.




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A club for change


US-based environmental group Sierra Club has decided to encourage organisations in India that promote green livelihoods. Can this civil society initiative help the country cut down on its carbon emissions? Darryl D'Monte reports.




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France eyes India through environment lens


Lagging its northern European neighbours in environmentalism, France is seeking to reposition its strengths in nuclear energy and hydroelectricity, and aid agency is using its grants to help other countries reduce their carbon footprints. Darryl D'Monte reports.