Author: KnowledgeHippo

It’s the call of the traveler in India, the pull of the sunset in Mexico, and the digital nomad’s quest to reach Thailand: Go where the dollar buys more.The green travel budget strategy is getting a boost this summer: The dollar has risen against some foreign currencies, including the Japanese yen, thanks to high interest rates offered by the Federal Reserve — attracting foreign investment, which boosts the greenback.”A destination’s weaker currency is more valuable to U.S. tourists,” said Erina Pindar, managing director and chief executive officer at SmartFlyer, a global travel agency based in New York.”This economic advantage could…

Days before gadget reviewers reviewed the Humane Ai Pin, a futuristic wearable device powered by artificial intelligence, the company’s founders gathered their employees and encouraged them to prepare. Reviews can be disappointing, they warned.Humane founders Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri were right. In April, reviewers savaged the new $699 product, which Humane has been rolling out for a year with ads and at glitzy events like Paris Fashion Week. Ai Pin was “completely broken” and had “amazing flaws”, some critics said. Someone declared it “the worst product I’ve ever reviewed”.About a week after the reviews came out, Humane began talking…

Alex Lawrence, a dealer in Salt Lake City who specializes in used electric cars, has seen a change in the last year in the types of customers who come to his showroom. They used to be good professionals who could drop $70,000 on a luxury Rivian truck.Recently, Mr. Lawrence said, customers have bought used Teslas for just over $20,000 after putting in a $4,000 federal tax credit.”We’re seeing younger people,” Mr. Lawrence said. “We’re seeing more blue-collar and imported whites. The purchase price of the car suddenly became affordable.”Viewed by conservative politicians and other critics as playthings of the liberal…

An independent Food and Drug Administration advisory panel rejected the use of MDMA-assisted treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder on Tuesday, highlighting the unparalleled regulatory challenges of a new treatment using the drug commonly known as Ecstasy.Before the vote, panel members raised concerns about the two study designs submitted by the drug’s sponsor, Lykos Therapeutics. Many questions focused on the fact that study participants were generally able to correctly guess whether they had been given MDMA, also known as Ecstasy or Molly.The panel voted 9-2 on whether MDMA-assisted therapy was effective and voted 10-1 on whether the proposed treatment’s benefits outweighed…

Read Your Way Around the World is a series that explores the world through books.New Orleans is a tourist destination frequented both for its local dishes (gumbo, jambalaya, among others) and the spectacle that is Mardi Gras — where you might run into drunk college students on spring break, but you could also drop by Grammy Award-winning artist Jon Batiste. By some counts, it’s one of America’s most festive cities, with a party or two happening almost every week.Behind all the festivities, however, lies a rich and dark history. The city is an eclectic mix of Caribbean, French, Spanish and…

France’s president calls for new elections after EU voteFrench President Emmanuel Macron, who suffered a crushing defeat by the far-right in the European elections, dissolved the lower house of parliament yesterday. He called for parliamentary elections starting on June 30.Macron’s decision was a measure of the disastrous nature of the European Parliament election results. His centrist party was poised to finish with about half the support of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which is set to become France’s top party.”The rise of nationalists and demagogues is a danger to our nation and to Europe,” Macron said. “After this day…

Members of the graduating class of 1974 high school in Moore, Okla., had taken their seats on the football field under dark skies.The class president welcomed the crowd. The principal then, looking at the clouds, declared all the students graduates and told those present to take shelter immediately.”The sky turned green, horrible clouds rolled in and the sirens started going off,” said Nuala Murray South, one of the graduates.Sterling Crim, another graduate, grabbed his girlfriend, LeAnn Boyd, by the arm and dragged her under the bleachers against the brick wall of a concession stand.The tornado never materialized, but did touch…

Every June, Apple unveils the latest software features for the iPhone at its futuristic Silicon Valley campus. But at its annual developer conference on Monday, the company will shine a spotlight on a feature that isn’t new: Siri, its talking assistant that’s been around for more than a decade.What will be different this time is the technology that powers Siri: genetic artificial intelligence.In recent months, Adrian Perica, Apple’s vice president of corporate development, has helped spearhead an effort to bring genetic AI to the masses, said two people with knowledge of the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity because…

At an assisted living facility in New York State, a small crowd had gathered at the entrance to the dining hall at noon, waiting for the doors to open. As one researcher observed, a woman, tired and frustrated, asked the man in front of her to move. he didn’t seem to be listening.”Come on, lets go!” she yelled—and pushed her walker into him.In Salisbury, Md., a woman woke up in the dark to find another resident in her bedroom at an assisted living complex. Her daughter, Rebecca Addy-Twaits, suspected that her 87-year-old mother, who had dementia and could become confused,…

As it happens in mid-June, Father’s Day coincides with a surge in outdoor excursions. Whether your dad is into backpacking, fishing, or bathing in the woods, he could probably use a few upgrades to his campfire cooking. Replace its worn-out plastic cooler with one from Oyster, a Norwegian company that launched the shiny aluminum, vacuum-insulated version last year. Japanese gear maker Snow Peak has a titanium bowl and pot set with thoughtful details: The two items nest together to save space in a backpack, and the pot lid has a silicone tab that doesn’t heat up, eliminating the need for…