【推荐1】Portland, Oregon, just got another reason to call itself “Bike City USA”.

UPS has started a trial program to deliver packages there using an electric-powered bicycle. The environmentally friendly Cargo Cruiser is a tricycle with a large brown box on the back. Like any electronic bike, the Cargo Cruiser can be powered by foot, motor, or a combination of both.

UPS began testing e-Bikes in Hamburg, Germany, in 2012, but this is the first time the technology has been used for package deliveries in the United States.

The e-Bikes support UPS’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions, ease urban noise levels, and improve air quality. The amount of energy to be saved by using e-Bikes hasn’t been quantified, but the test vehicle in Portland “will probably displace about two gallons of fuel every day”, said Scott Phillippi, UPS’s engineering manager.

Phillippi says that one e-Bike alone won't create a huge difference in UPS’s carbon emissions, but he describes it as “a piece of our overall strategy” as far as environmental impacts and efficiencies.

It also ties into the company’s broader strategy to settle a problem that troubles Portland and other cities around the world: traffic jam. According to UPS, traffic jam costs it hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional operating costs. The time when the average UPS delivery truck is stuck in traffic is about 16 minutes a day, slowing its deliveries and increasing the company's carbon emissions.

The pilot program is in its early stages and already has hit its first stage: ice storms pulled trees and branches down all over the city, blocking bike lanes and making travel dangerous. How do e-Bikes deal with it?

If the trial proves successful, you may be able to see UPS delivery people wearing bike shorts in other places around the country, “Other cities have expressed some interest,” Phillippi said.

【推荐2】Have you ever lost your car on a parking lot? It happens. You park and go shopping. When you get back, you have no idea where your car is. It can be discouraging.

You don’t need to install (安装) an expensive GPS system to keep track of your car. That’s too expensive. You would need to pay a monthly subscription fee just to use it. But is there a way to track your vehicle without spending a fortune? Yes, now there is! A California-based start-up company was able to make this a reality. They created a tiny device (装置）that works with your smartphone, and it could be exactly what you’re looking for! It’s called TrackR Bravo. It’s changing the way we keep track of the important things in our lives.

Install the free TrackR app on your smartphone, connect the app to your device and you’re ready to go! Simply attach TrackR to whatever you want to keep an eye on. The entire process of setting it up only takes 5 minutes or less. You can attach it to your keys, wallet and anything else you don’t want to lose. Then use the TrackR app to find where your missing item are in seconds.

Forget expensive GPS systems or tracking services. Nobody wants to pay expensive monthly subscription fees. We understand how stressful these things can be, and this is the reason why the company created TrackR. This device is your VIP when you need to take care of important things.

If you forget where you park your car, take out your smartphone and open the TrackR app. Tap on the “lost item” sign on the screen and the app will tell you the exact location. This device is by no means expensive. TrackR only costs $29, a small price to pay for peace of mind. The device is small enough that you can attach it to your pets. Put it on their collar, and you will never lose track of them! Attach it to your key or wallet, and never waste a minute rummaging the whole house for it.

Since you’ve been informed about this brilliant invention, now attach it to everything that’s important to you.

【推荐3】How fit are your teeth? Are you lazy about brushing them? Never fear: An inventor is on the case. An electric toothbrush senses how long and how well you brush, and it lets you track your performance on your phone.

The toothbrush will be able to teach you to brush right (don’t forget the insides of the teeth!) and make sure you’re brushing long enough. “It’s kind of like having a doctor actually watch your brushing on a day-to-day basis,” says Thomas Serval, the French inventor.

The toothbrush will also be able to talk to other applications(应用) on your phone, so developers could, for example, create a game controlled by your toothbrush. You could score points for beating monsters(怪物) among your teeth. “We try to make it smart but also fun,” Serval says.

Serval says he was inspired by his experience as a father. He would come home from work and ask his kids if they had brushed their teeth. They said “yes,” but Serval would find their toothbrush heads dry. He decided he needed a brush that really told him how well his children brushed.

The company says the Kolibree will go on sale this summer, for $99 to $199, depending on features. The U.S. is the first target market.

Serval says that one day, it’ll be possible to replace the brush on the handle with a brushing unit that also has a camera. The camera can even examine holes in your teeth while you brush.

【推荐1】If you live in southwest Virginia, don’t be surprised at the sight of a drone(无人机) winging its way, doing airborne delivery over your neighborhood.

On October 20,2019,wing,an American multinational company, began the most advanced trials of commercial drone delivery in Virginia. Residents can now use a smartphone app to order items from Wing partners such as Sugar Magnolia. A Wing drone never sets down at destinations, instead gently lowering the package with a rope outside the customer's door.

Though Wing is the first American company to receive Federal Aviation Administration(FAA)approval to use commercial drones as a widespread service. it is not the only one. On October 22,2019,multinational delivery company UPS, which had also received FAA approval for its drone fleet, announced it would soon begin trial deliveries of goods from health care company CVS. Meanwhile, ridesharing company, Uber, which had partnered with McDonald's, hoped to use its drones to deliver food to hungry customers in San Diego, CA, before the end of 2019. Amazon also plans on testing its trial deliveries of goods in a yet-to-be-determined location in the upcoming months.

Every company's drones can carry packages weighing up to five pounds, and the series of trial are hortative, but widespread drone delivery still has many challenges. These include basic issues like finding places for drones to land, reducing noise pollution, and even ensuring the drones don't run into each other while airborne.

To help sped up the process, NASA announced the Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge. The competition challenges airspace service providers to find creative solutions to the issues, so that drone deliveries can become a reality soon. “We are moving fast,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “We want to see by 2028 at least one city--maybe more than one--have the ability to control hundreds of drone delivery systems. They could be carrying goods, doing thousands of missions every day.”

【推荐2】It is reported that in the near future robots and humans will probably work together to create jazz. A singing robot is being taught to create jazz with human being in a project.

Antonio Chella from Italy is working with a Telenoid robot. To start with, the Telenoid will be trained to imitate (模仿) the movements and simple sounds made by a human singer, and then connect music with different human emotions.

Previous robots had the ability to find common connections between things. But Chella suggests that a conscious robot should be able to go a step further and find new connections. The Telenoid is of this kind. “This work raises interesting questions about the connection between consciousness and music creating,” says Philippe Pasquier．A musician needs a physical body.

Pasquier argues that the robot musician is faced with a big challenge. “Its software has already been developed and it can imitate The Beatles, a famous band. However, what made The Beatles famous were not only their songs but their wonderful performance of the songs, ” he says.

It is not clear how a robot would perform music in a new way. But by imitating humans, the Telenoid robot could provide some useful information. What is important is that human musicians often listen to and compare music made by others for a long time before creating music of their own. So the Telenoid robot had better listen to more jazz music first.

【推荐3】Technology sometimes goes wrong. And the more you use technology, the more you know it can go wrong. A connection drops. A printer will not print or an app crashes. Tech troubles can let users down quickly. First reactions may be to scream，throw the device（设备）against the wall, or cry.     1       By following these steps, you could solve some of the most common tech problems on your own.

Search the Web. Learn about your tech problem on a search website, such as Google. See what others have experienced. Find expert articles about solving the problem. If your issue is with recent technology, such as a software update, be sure to look for the most recent articles.     37    2    

Check connection speed. Maybe you find that streaming, downloading orupdating is moving slowly.     3     You may think something is wrong with your device when, really, your network is just noe. A website such as Speedtest. net can check your connection speed.

    4     Make sure you have the most recenl version of apps and software. You might ba expperiencing a problem from a bug（漏洞）that has been fixed in an update. But if you have not yet had the latest version you may miss the solution.

Ask the developer.     5       You can communicate with developers over email, Twitter or a contact form on their website. Explain the issue giving as much detail as possible, including the device you are using and the problem you are having.

【推荐2】When Jennifer Williams, now 54, became an elementary school teacher and tutor in Danville, Virginia, she wanted her students to fall in love with reading just as she had. But early on, she realized that some kids had limited access to books. “It’s very obvious to teachers of young children which kids are read to versus kids who are not,” she said. “It’s obvious at the end of the first day of school.” To Williams, the solution was simple: Give kids books. In 2017, as part of an event called Engage Danville, she gave away 900 used children’s books over three days. Most people would be satisfied with that.

“Anybody could do that,” she said. “I wanted to do something that’s going to stretch my faith, my work ethic, my everything.” So she decided to set a new goal for herself: Give away one million books. It sounds like an unreachable number, but as Williams posted on Facebook: “Don’t complain in the bleachers if you aren’t willing to work hard out on the field.’’ So she got to work, first by roping in friends to donate books or money to buy books. Before long, as news of Williams’s project spread, strangers started leaving bundles of books on her front porch. As quickly as the books come in, Williams gives them to local schools— free of charge— and also supplies books to little free libraries around the city of 41,000 just over the North Carolina border. She also hosts a book club for inmates in the local jail. In the four years she’s been doing all this, the Book Lady, as Williams has come to be known, has given away more than 78,000 books— only 922,000 more to reach her goal! And she’s not slowing down. It’s too important for kids with few options. Reading can take you anywhere,” she told CNN. You can travel in time and space. If you can read, you can learn almost anything.

【推荐3】Devote yourself to the work you do, not the prize you might get. Hao Jingfang, a Tsinghua University graduate, is pursuing her passion for writing and education.

In 2016, she won the admired Hugo Award with her novella, Folding Beijing, which made her the first female writer in China to bring home this prize. Later on, the author turned to education. She set up Tongxing Academy for public welfare education and WePlanets to promote children’s creativity after school.

In this interview with Easy Talk, Hao discusses her life experience-not only as a writer and educator, but also a parent.

“The major task for society is to help people get better education, to elevate their skill set in line with future technological advancements, and to broaden their horizons,” Hao said.

Since founding her company, Hao has been carrying out voluntary teaching programs in rural areas. “We really want these kids to have better education resources like kids from the cities,” she said. “We hope that the children from rural China, if one day they manage to live in the cities, can do more than car maintenance, for example. They will have the skills to take on other jobs.”

Different from the typical Chinese parents so ambitious for their children, Hao suggests giving kids more space for trial and error. “I do believe the best mentality for parents is to stand behind your children,” Hao said. “Let the child cope with the reality and decide for themselves. If they struggle with obstacles, you can offer them some guidance or encouragement.”

“I’ve had a wide variety of interests since childhood. I’ve got used to doing different things,” says the 35-year-old.

Being an economic researcher, a writer and businessperson herself, she encourages all women to discover their passions. “We live in a big, big world with boundless possibilities, various trades and different vocations. Don’t be too afraid to try something new. When you find the one thing that you want to commit to, you will become fearless to follow your dream.”