News around the world
Dancing traffic light
To reinforce road safety and encourage more pedestrians to respect
the red 'don't walk' man, Smart Automobile have come up with a way to
make waiting fun! Introducing... the dancing traffic light. The
inventors of Germany's Smart Automobile experimented with their new
creation in Lisbon, Portugal, testing whether their new dancing traffic
light would stop impatient pedestrians from ignoring the red don't walk
symbol. People passing by were invited to take part, going into a booth
nearby and selecting their favourite music. When the 'red man' come onto
nearby traffic lights, the music began to play and the person inside the
booth begins to dance.
A video feed transmits the booth dancer's moves to the pedestrian
light, which results in the 'red man' copying the dancer's moves. The
entertaining dancing light keeps audiences in the street occupied until
it is safe to cross, and the experiment showed that 81percent more
pedestrians waited until the green light came on before crossing than
before the dancing man. What do you think? Should we try this in Sri
Lanka? Check out the video below to see how it works.
- Internet
Thousands flee from Syria to Turkey
More than 66,000 refugees from northern Syria have fled across the
border to Turkey since it was opened by Turkish authorities 24 hours
ago.
The huge movement of mostly Kurdish refugees has been brought on by
fierce fighting between Kurdish forces and Islamic State militants
around the town of Kobane.
According to Syrian activists, at least 300 Kurdish emergency
soldiers have crossed the border in the opposite direction, travelling
from Turkey to Syria to aid the fight against the Islamic State.
The Islamic State has control over large areas of Syria and Iraq and
has also gained control of dozens of villages around Kobane. Turkey
shares a border with Iraq and Syria and has taken in over 847,000
refugees in the last three years since the uprising began against the
Syrian President. Syria is desperate for international assistance as the
fighting is not looking like it will come to an end in the near future.
- Internet
Facebook uses NZ as testing ground
Being a small country with a large demographic of people, it is not
surprising that Facebook is using New Zealand as a testing ground for
their new features. The BBC has reported that Facebook has granted
access to some New Zealand Facebook users a service that allows
individuals to set their posts, photos and comments to delete after a
scheduled period of time.
As the feature was only being tested on the New Zealand market, it is
unsure if it will come into full effect in the near future for the rest
of the world to use. It is common for New Zealand to act as a guinea pig
for social networks to try out new ideas on, as New Zealand has a highly
advanced western technology and individuals have great access and
interest in Internet programs including Facebook.
While the trial may now be over, an expert in Internet based programs
David, said the new self-deleting feature of Facebook could be
misleading. As hackers can still find a way to access posts even after
they are gone.
- Internet
World's deepest swimming pool
There's nothing better than diving into a swimming pool on a hot
summer day -but nothing can beat the pool in an Italian hotel that is
130ft deep - that's the same height as nine double-decker buses piled on
top of one another! Architect, Emanuele Boaretto, designed the amazing
swimming centre which is in the four star Hotel Terme Millepini in
Montegrotto Terme, Italy. Think you'd get bored in the endless pool of
water? Think again, because this pool isn't just cement and water! There
are underwater caves to explore and even a transparent underwater tunnel
for those who don't want to get wet.
There are different platforms at different depths for all kinds of
swimmers. To explore the pool visitors must wear oxygen tanks, but
wetsuits aren't necessary as the water is always at a lovely 32-34°C.
You wouldn't want to drop anything in there, that's for sure!
- Internet |
