The latest development aligns with Apple's rumored strategy to go all in on smart home technology.

See at Sling TV Carries ESPN for $40 or $45 per month Sling TV See at Sling TV See more details See at Fubo Carries ESPN for $80 per month Fubo See at Fubo See more details See at YouTube TV Carries ESPN for $83 per month YouTube TV See at YouTube TV See more details See at Hulu Carries ABC, ESPN and TNT for $83 per month Hulu Plus Live TV See at Hulu See more details See at DirecTV Stream Carries ESPN for $87 per month DirecTV Stream See at DirecTV Stream See more details Table of Contents The 12-team College Football Playoff is now an eight-team playoff. The first round concluded without any upsets, which set up some big quarterfinal matchups, starting with No. 3 Boise State and No. 6 Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Eve. The other three quarterfinal games will be played on New Year's Day, with No. 4 Arizona State facing No. 5 Texas in the Peach Bowl, a rematch between No. 1 Oregon and No. 8 Ohio in the Rose Bowl and No. 2 Georgia taking on No. 7 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.Every game for the rest of the CFP will be on ESPN. If you don't have a cable or satellite TV subscription, you can watch with a live TV streaming service. Keep reading to see the full playoff schedule and the cheapest way to watch the games over the next month. The Oregon Ducks are the top seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff. Justin Casterline/Getty ImagesCollege Football Playoff TV scheduleThe CFP will resume on New Year's Eve with the first quarterfinal game and end with the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 20. Every game will be shown on ESPN. Here's the remaining schedule (all times ET):Quarterfinals:Tuesday, Dec. 31Fiesta Bowl: No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 Penn State at 7:30 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 1Peach Bowl: No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas at 1 p.m.Rose Bowl: No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Ohio State at 5 p.m.Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame at 8:45 p.m.Semifinals:Thursday, Jan. 9Orange Bowl: 7:30 p.m.Friday, Jan. 10Cotton Bowl: 7:30 p.m.CFP National Championship:Monday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m.How to watch the CFP without cableAll five of the major live TV streaming services carry ESPN, with Sling TV being the cheapest option at $40 or $45 per month. Sling TV/CNET Sling TV's Sling Orange plan includes ESPN and costs $45 a month in the areas with local networks and $40 elsewhere. Read our Sling TV review. See at Sling TV Fubo Fubo's Essential plan costs $80 a month and includes ESPN. Fubo is currently offering the first month for $45. Read our Fubo review. See at Fubo Sarah Tew/CNET YouTube TV costs $83 a month after a recent price hike and includes ESPN. Right now, the first three months are discounted to $60 a month. Read our YouTube TV review. See at YouTube TV Hulu Plus Live TV costs $83 a month and includes ESPN. Read our Hulu with Live TV review. See at Hulu Directv stream DirecTV Stream's basic $87-a-month plan includes ESPN. Read our DirecTV Stream review. See at DirecTV Stream All of the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out ourlive TV streaming services guide.

December 23, 20243 min readWhy People Get More Colds in WinterA mixture of colder temperatures, lower humidity and more time spent indoors could explain the uptick in cold viruses during the winter holidaysBy Libby Richards & The Conversation US Respiratory viruses rise in the wintertime, but not because people are outside in the cold. Jaromr Chalabala/Alamy Stock PhotoThe following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.Youve probably heard Dont go outside in the winter with your hair wet or without a coat; youll catch a cold.Thats not exactly true. As with many things, the reality is more complicated. Heres the distinction: Being cold isnt why you get a cold. But it is true that cold weather makes it easier to catch respiratory viruses such as the cold and flu.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Research also shows that lower temperatures are associated with higher COVID-19 rates.As a professor of nursing with a background in public health, Im often asked about infectious disease spread, including the relationship between cold and catching a cold. So heres a look at what actually happens.Many viruses, including rhinovirus the usual culprit for the common cold influenza, and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, remain infectious longer and replicate faster in colder temperatures and at lower humidity levels. This, coupled with the fact that people spend more time indoors and in close contact with others during cold weather, are common reasons that germs are more likely to spread.The flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, tend to have a defined fall and winter seasonality. However, because of the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and immunity from previous infections and vaccinations decreasing over time, COVID-19 is not the typical cold-weather respiratory virus. As a case in point, COVID-19 infection rates have surged every summer since 2020.Virus transmission is easier when its coldMore specifically, cold weather can change the outer membrane of the influenza virus, making it more solid and rubbery. Scientists believe that the rubbery coating makes person-to-person transmission of the virus easier.Its not just cold winter air that causes a problem. Air that is dry in addition to cold has been linked to flu outbreaks. Thats because dry winter air further helps the influenza virus to remain infectious longer. Dry air, which is common in the winter, causes the water found in respiratory droplets to evaporate more quickly. This results in smaller particles, which are capable of lasting longer and traveling farther after you cough or sneeze.How your immune system responds during cold weather also matters a great deal. Inhaling cold air may adversely affect the immune response in your respiratory tract, which makes it easier for viruses to take hold. Thats why wearing a scarf over your nose and mouth may help prevent a cold because it warms the air that you inhale.Also, most people get less sunlight in the winter. That is a problem because the sun is a major source of vitamin D, which is essential for immune system health. Physical activity, another factor, also tends to drop during the winter. People are three times more likely to delay exercise in snowy or icy conditions.Instead, people spend more time indoors. That usually means more close contact with others, which leads to disease spread. Respiratory viruses generally spread within a 6-foot radius of an infected person.In addition, cold temperatures and low humidity dry out your eyes and the mucous membranes in your nose and throat. Because viruses that cause colds, flu and COVID-19 are typically inhaled, the virus can attach more easily to these impaired, dried-out passages.What you can doThe bottom line is that being wet and cold doesnt make you sick. That being said, there are strategies to help prevent illness all year long:Wash your hands often.Avoid touching your face, something people do between nine and 23 times an hour.Stay hydrated. Eight glasses a dayof water is a good goal, but that could be more or less depending on lifestyle and the size of the person.Eat a well-balanced diet. Dark green, leafy vegetables are rich in immune system-supporting vitamins, while eggs, fortified milk, salmon and tuna have vitamin D.Stay physically active, even during the winter.Get adequate sleep.Clean hard, high-touch surfacesin your home often.If your nose or throat gets dry in the winter, consider using a humidifier.Get your annual flu and COVID-19 vaccine.Following these tips can ensure you have a healthy winter season.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

OpinionDecember 23, 20245 min readA Little Math Can Streamline Holiday Cookie MakingMaking cookies is time- and labor-intensive. Heres how a little math can make it easier and less wasteful this holiday seasonBy Clara Eugenia Garza-Hume A cookie cutter that creates a tessellation can save time and use up more dough. Megha SatyanarayanaWhen our children were little, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen together. We used the occasions to surreptitiously teach them about science: heat and temperature, fluid flow, density, viscosity, physical changes, chemical reactions, acids and bases. We told them how these properties combined to magically make cakes rise with carbon dioxide; we told them about yeasts and other interesting microorganisms.We also talked about math: weights and measures, areas and volumes. Pizza is a great way to introduce fractions. We enjoyed baking cookies together and used many different cookie cutters. Our son loved dinosaurs so we had dinosaur cookie cutters, but also flowers, hearts, stars and animals. An interesting conundrum came up when we used the cookie cutters: they left gaps between each shape we cut out. To use up all the dough, it had to be rerolled. But then it warmed up and had to be chilled before we could cut it again. This took time.There had to be a more efficient way to divide the dough.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Making cookies using more traditional cookie cutters often leaves a lot of leftover dough.Megha SatyanarayanaBeing a mathematician, I had heard about tilings and tessellations, which refer to the covering of a surface, using one or more geometric shapes, with no overlaps and no gaps. That was the answer to the cookie cutter problem!So I looked for tessellating cookie cutters but found only squares and hexagons. They work but are not particularly interesting, as far as shapes go. And then, about 15 years ago, the first 3D printers arrived. It was possible to make custom cookie cutters, and then it became a matter of choosing the shape. Many figures can be used to tessellate, such as regular or irregular triangles, rectangles or some irregular pentagons. Some of the irregular pentagons were discovered by the late amateur mathematician Marjorie Rice and can be seen in Mathemalchemy, an artistic and mathematical exhibit with collaborators including Duke University mathematician Ingrid Daubechies and textile artist Dominique Ehrmann. The exhibit also shows a tessellating cookie cutter using the symbol for pi, suitably tweaked by Daubechies.There are other examples; Islamic art includes beautiful and creative designs using pentagonal symmetry.If we join two or more figures then there are many more options. For example, octagons and squares, or pentagons and rhombuses, or all the amazing work by M.C. Escher. But not all make for good cookies; we made a cookie cutter in the shape of one of Eschers lizards but the legs broke when we separated the figures.All these tessellations are periodic, which means they have a repeating pattern. In the 1970s Roger Penrose found two figures called kites and darts that tile a plane only aperiodically (meaning that all possible configurations are nonperiodic) if some local rules, specifying which sides of the dart can touch each other, are obeyed. But if the rules are not obeyed then they tile periodically. And this is perfect for a cookie cutter because the raw dough is tiled periodically, and then the cookies can be placed periodically or nonperiodically. There is more information about Penrose tiles in the video channel Veritasium and at a Web page titled A Penrose-type Islamic Interlacing Pattern.A tessellating cookie cutter, such as this one in the shape of a kite and dart, creates a nice pattern and uses up more dough than other shapes.Megha SatyanarayanaA couple of years ago, using a 3D printer, with a lot of help from my friends, I made a cookie cutter in the shape of a kite and dart together in a way that tiles periodically. After baking, the pieces can be placed periodically or nonperiodically. This worked beautifully.And then the Hat arrived.For about 50 years mathematicians wondered if there could be one single figure that tiled a plane aperiodically. And in 2023 David Smith, Craig Kaplan, Chaim Goodman-Strauss and Samuel Myers managed to find the elusive aperiodic monotile, which they called the Hat or einstein.My first impulse was to make a cookie cutter in the shape of the Hat. It turned out to be extremely difficult to place the pieces without gaps or overlaps. But the people who found the Hat actually also realized it could be transformed into an infinite number of aperiodic monotiles, as reported by Craig Kaplan. Three of the monotiles can tile both periodically and nonperiodically, and they are perfect as cookie cutters.A chevron that Smith and crew called Tile (0,1) is easy to make, easy to use on the dough, and the baked cookies are easy to place in beautiful patterns, especially if they are decorated with different colors. Another perfect candidate is what the authors called Tile (1,1). This figure tiles periodically when combined with its mirror image but only aperiodically if the mirror image is not allowed. Therefore, the perfect cookie cutter has two of these figures, one normal and one reflected.A cookie cutter based on the Hat, discovered by David Smith, makes a tessellating pattern that wastes little dough.Megha SatyanarayanaSmith and collaborators also invented a category of curved aperiodic monotiles, which they called Spectres, which could also be turned into cookie cutters, as could the recently discovered soft cells. In each of these instances, if you are careful, you can cut your cookie dough with minimal rerolling and waste.As you cook and bake over the holidays, if you can find a tessellating cookie cutter and if you involve your children, you can take the time you would have spent rerolling dough to tell them about science and math. In our case, our children are grown, but my collection of tessellating cookie cutters and I are excited to share the wonders of math and science when our grandchildren arrive.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Please note that all prices are for queen-size bed-in-a-box mattresses. Check retailers for additional price and size information.Best Overall Mattress: Dreamcloud Premier Hybrid MattressDreamCloud Premier Hybrid MattressUpsidesBreathable, minimal motion transfer, several body-contouring foam layersDownsidesNot made of as many earth-friendly materials as other options in our listWho It's Best ForCouplesAll types of sleepers looking for a balance between a plush, yet supportive mattressSpecsMattress type: HybridLayers: Six layers - Four various types of memory foam for contouring cushion, one of foam-encased pocketed micro coils for support, and a hand-tufted cashmere blend coverWarranty365-night sleep trial, lifetime warranty, free shipping and returnsMattress tester: Michael Shome, global visuals directorHow did the delivery go? The delivery was incredibly fast and efficient. Customer service was easy and pleasant. To get the mattress in place, one needs some support. If you live alone, youll definitely need to recruit a friend to help move the mattress in place.What was the setup like? The mattress arrived neatly compressed in a compact box but as expected, it is quite heavy. Two people are required to maneuver the mattress.How firm is the mattress? The mattress is moderately firm, but the plush Euro Top adds an extra layer of coziness and comfort. The DreamCloud Premier King has a super cozy cashmere top and seven decadent layers of adaptive support. There is also a one year trial period for mattress buyers looking for longer term flexibility and assessment. Too often mattresses lose their support after consecutive nights of sleep, which makes the trial period quite valuable.How comfortable was the mattress on a scale of 1 to 10? 8Would you recommend this mattress to a friend? I would certainly recommend this to a friend and have already suggested it to my parents. They often complain about the annoyance of disturbed sleep from transfer movement. The DreamCloud truly minimizes sleep disturbance from your neighbor.Best Cooling Mattress: Cocoon Chill Memory Foam MattressCocoon ChillUpsidesOn the affordable side and often on sale, cooling cover, memory foam layers adjust to sleep positionDownsidesLeans more firm than medium, according to our testerWho Its Best ForHot sleepersStomach sleepersSpecsMattress type: Hybrid or memory foamLayers: Four layers of body-hugging memory foam and a cooling coverFirmness: MediumHeight: 10 inchesWeight: Between 40 - 83 poundsWarrantyFree shipping and returns, 10-year warranty, and a 100-night sleep trialMattress tester: Cade Hiser, contributorHow did the delivery and setup go? The delivery was super simple and fast. The overall setup was even faster! From right out of the box, it rolled out nicely onto the box spring on top of my bed frame. There were no complicated instructions or anything like that. The mattress was ready for sleep that evening.How firm is the mattress? The mattress was honestly a bit firmer than I expected. The Sealy website rates it about a 6/10 on their firm scale, but Id put it closer to an 8. The two foam layers make a difference.How comfortable was the mattress on a scale of 1 to 10? I would give this mattress an 8 out of 10 in terms of overall comfort. It may take some getting used to at first if you are new to firmer mattresses like myself. The memory foam layers adjust to your sleep position, which makes falling asleep easy.How well did you sleep? Ive never slept better. While my previous mattress was on the firmer side, it was not a memory foam or very cool mattress. With the Cocoon Chill Memory Foam mattress, I do not wake up in the middle of the night like I used to, tossing and turning. I also stay sleeping at a comfortable temperature throughout the night.If you could change anything about the mattress what would it be? Im not sure that I would change anything about this mattress. It is exactly what I was looking for.How does this mattress compare to other mattresses youve slept on? I can really tell the difference in my sleep and I wake up feeling refreshed and energized. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and would have so much trouble falling back asleep. With this mattress I wake up significantly less in the middle of the night, and if I do I never have trouble falling back asleep. It really has made sleeping easy!Best Soft Mattress: The Nectar Memory Foam MattressNectar Memory Foam MattressUpsidesSoft to the touch, good motion control, cooling coverDownsidesNot made of organic materials like other mattresses in our listWho Its Best ForSide sleepersBack sleepersSpecsMattress type: Memory foamLayers: Four layers: CertiPUR-US certified quilted gel memory foam, gel memory foam, and adaptive hi core memory foam, with a foam base and a cooling Tencel cover to prevent overheatingFirmness: Medium-firmHeight: 12 inchesWeight: 83 poundsWarranty365-night sleeptrial, lifetime warranty, and free shipping and full refundsMattress tester: Nick Mafi, senior digital features editorHow did the delivery go? The delivery process was very easy. The Nectar mattress appeared in my apartment lobby in a box that seemed far too small to hold a queen-size mattress.What was the setup like? After bringing it up to my apartment and opening the package, I moved the deflated mattress to my bed frame. From there, the mattress (which was packaged in plastic wrapping) quickly expanded to fit my queen-size bed frame. I allowed the mattress 72 hours to fully inflate, per the directions, before sleeping on it.How firm is the mattress? My body sinks into the all-foam mattress a bit more than I had anticipated, but thats likely due to the fact that its been over a decade since Ive had any sort of memory foam mattress.How comfortable was the mattress on a scale of 1 to 10? I would say an 8. The mattress is comfortable, but I wasnt used to the give of a memory foam bed at first.How well did you sleep? To my surprise, I am actually sleeping better on this mattress than I was on my old one.Would you recommend this mattress to a friend? Yes, absolutely. My biggest concern was that I would take the time and energy to get a new mattress and regret my decision, which would mean I would have to go through the whole process again. Luckily, that didnt happen, and Ive been very happy with the mattress.Best Hybrid Mattress: The Burrow Lyric Hybrid MattressLyric Hybrid MattressUpsidesFirm support, soft cover, durable buildDownsidesLeans on the firmer side, according to our testerWho Its Best ForBack sleepersSleepers who like a balance between a soft and firm mattressSpecsMattress type: HybridLayers: 5 layers: Nylon cover and gel-infused, memory foam, pocketed coils, and base foam layersFirmness: Medium-firmHeight: 11.5 inchesWeight: N/AWarranty100-night sleep trial, one-year warranty, $49 shipping fee, return fee is equal to 10% of purchase valueMattress tester: Rachel Davies, contributorHow did the delivery go? The mattress arrived rolled in a box that was about five feet long. Delivery was very straightforward, but the box was heavy to move around so the process was not without strain. Overall, it was manageable to lift with two people and a lot easier than if it was a flat mattress.What was the setup like? I had a friend with me but I think it also would have been fine to set up alone. Getting it out of the box was super simpleonce I had the box in the right spot. It arrived vacuum sealed, so after taking it out of the box and wrapping, I let it rest for a few hours before putting it on the bed frame (I was able to sleep on it that night, and it definitely firmed up more overtime).How firm is the mattress? Its pretty firm, but has a softness to it. I prefer something super plush, so its not perfect for me but its still cozy.How comfortable was the mattress on a scale of 1 to 10? I would say it is an 8. Not the comfiest mattress Ive ever laid on but still quite comfortable! This is definitely a true hybridsoft and cozy on top, but still supportive through the night.How well did you sleep? This mattress has gotten more comfortable as Ive slept on it, but even at peak stiffness it was never really uncomfortable and I could always fall asleep (I think it took about a week or two to fully adjust). Id previously owned an IKEA hybrid mattress for years and the Burrow mattress feels well-made and more comfortable too.

Nvidia will no doubt have the biggest CES 2025. After all, the company has pretty much the biggest everything nowadays. The chip giant is sporting a $3.4+ trillion market cap, due largely to its foundational position in the ongoing AI boom. Companies like OpenAI and Meta have purchased Nvidia processors by the boatload, and thats unlikely to change in the new year.Founder and CEO Jensen Huang will help kick off CES 2025 on January 6 at 6:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. ET, with his trademark leather jacket and an unwavering vision, per Nvidia. The keynote will be livestreamed both on YouTube and via the chipmakers site.Nvidia is expected to make a slew of big announcements at the event, with its RTX 5000series GPU making the biggest waves of the keynote and, likely, the whole show. Huang will no doubt also be using the platform to discuss a wide range of topics touched by Nvidias silicon, from AI and robots to automative and more.

In BriefPosted:11:39 AM PST December 23, 2024Image Credits:Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunchAn investigation finds that Google Maps fails users in the West BankA Wired investigation found that Google Maps can be near impossible to use in the West Bank, especially since the start of the war. Users told the publication that the navigation app would direct them into walls, fail to account for time-consuming checkpoints, or steer them onto restricted roads leading to Israeli settlements, which can be dangerous for Palestinian users to drive on.Part of the issue is inevitable in war: In conflict, theres an increase of road checkpoints that can be difficult for any navigation service to keep up with. Additionally, a Google spokesperson told Wired that the company does not distinguish between Israeli and Palestinian roads since that would require knowing the citizenship status of residents. The spokesperson also said that the company is constantly working to improve its West Bank services.However, dozens of employees have reportedly told Google leaders to further improve the map services for Palestinians, and, as a current Google employee told Wired, many people in the West Bank have stopped using Google Maps entirely.Topics

Venture funding into Europe is heading for a flat year, but this may obfuscate the fact that European AI startups are thriving.According to VC firm Balderton Capital and Dealroom, 25% of VC funding into the region approximately $13.7 billion went to AI startups this year, compared to 15% four years ago, resulting in several new unicorns, such as Poolside and Wayve.For Balderton Capital general partner James Wise, the most important takeaway is that you can raise hundreds million euros, even billions euros, as a very early-stage AI company if youve got a breakthrough technology in Europe, just as you can in the U.S.This counters what he sees as a relatively negative narrative around Europe: Collectively, European AI companies have doubled in value in just four years, reaching $508 billion. Per these new figures, this category now represents nearly 15% of the entire tech sector in value, up from 12% three years ago.This means theres funding available to AI startups, whether at early or at later stages, although it may not always come from Europe itself. In addition, American AI companies also see Europe as a talent pool to tap into.Were still probably a derivative of the U.S. market, were still reliant on it, but its not like nothings happening here. Its actually a really buoyant ecosystem, Wise told TechCrunch.This may not be news to TechCrunch readers already familiar with European AI rising stars such as Mistral AI and Photoroom, but also newcomers like Dottxt. Whats less expected, however, is Dealrooms finding that 349,000 people were employed by AI companies in Europe this year, a 168% increase since 2020.This may sound surprising, as many AI teams are on the smaller side; but for Wise, this is in line with the thesis of his recent book, Start-up Century: Why were all becoming entrepreneurs and how to make it work for everyone. Says Wise: Youre going to see a rise in hundreds of small, very productive companies, rather than one large, medium productive company.Theres also a snowball effect, as AI companies make others more productive.In our CTO survey, 93% of the companies we work with have said that generative AI tools have significantly changed their workflow in the last year, Wise said. Among these, some said their engineering teams are now twice as productive, while others see an impact on other functions averaging out to 20% savings in operating costs.All of this leads Wise to think that the adoption of AI will continue to increase. Will this be good news for Europes AI sector? Perhaps, although Wise and his colleagues now think that theres no longer an AI sector. This would potentially make similar data pointless next year.TechCrunch has an AI-focused newsletter!Sign up hereto get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

John Portmans General Motors Renaissance Center has cast shadows over Downtown Detroit for decades. Since 1976, the five towers, replete with quintessential Portmanian atria, stacked atop a gargantuan base have enticed praise, debate, and criticism in Michigans largest city. The full spectrum of public opinion about the complex, and Renaissance Centers design merits more broadly, were well captured in Charles Rices Interior Urbanism: Architecture, John Portman, and Downtown America, but also Jordan Hicks in The Avery Review.A new plan by Genslers Detroit office and Field Operations would tear down two of Renaissance Centers original towers and replace them with three new smaller ones filled with a mix of hospitality and housing, the developers said in a statement. The tear downs would open up large amounts of space on the ground plane for pedestrian-centered uses.Field Operations is revamping 27 acres of waterfront space. (Courtesy Bedrock and Gensler)The two existing 39-story towers would be replaced with housing and an entertainment district designed by Gensler, leaving three existing Renaissance Center towers standing. Field Operations will redesign 27 acres of Downtown Detroits waterfront as part of the comprehensive master plan. The project backers, General Motors and Bedrock, said that removing Tower 500 and Tower 600 will help right size the Renaissance Centers footprint in our post-pandemic economy, where demand for office space has plummeted. Renaissance Centers low-rise base would also be removed, further reducing the amount of office space at the complex.Renderings show the base replaced with a glass curtain wall structure thats much smaller than the original. Meanwhile, the master plan by Field Operations would deliver a new pedestrian promenade that better connects Downtown Detroit to the waterfront, stocked with new signature public spaces.A new promenade designed by Field Operations would expand retail and recreational opportunities near the waterfront. (Courtesy Bedrock and Gensler)Access from downtown to the riverfront will be improved under the master plan. (Courtesy Bedrock and Gensler)The total price tag adds up to $1.6 billion. General Motors has pledged $250 million for the project, and Bedrock will cough up $1 billion. At least $350 million will come from public coffers, however, according to reporting in the Wall Street Journal. Usingpublic tax money for the project by Daniel Gilbert, billionaire developer, has been the source of contentious debate in Detroit. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said the public-private partnership model to deliver the project will be like how Michigan Central Station and American Motors Corporation Headquarters got refurbished. The cost burden for tax payers however has been cause for concern.GM has been headquartered at Renaissance Center since the 1990s. After this master plans completion, the automotive company will move its headquarters to a different, undisclosed location.

All images courtesy of Margot Samel, shared with permissionA Changing Community and Lived Experiences Converge in Leroy Johnsons Mixed-Media HousesDecember 23, 2024ArtKate MothesFrom collaged and painted found materials merged with elements of photography and ceramics, Leroy Johnson (1937-2022) created an eclectic vision of life in his hometown of Philadelphia. Through layered, multi-dimensional portraits of houses, the artist represents loci of family life and community in conceptual assemblages that also confront racism, poverty, and gentrification.In the first exhibition of his work in New York City, Margot Samel presents Leroy Johnson, a collection of the artists house sculptures made with a documentarians eye but a poets gaze, says a gallery statement. His pieces capture a city in transition, peering into its past to underscore the myriad experiences of its present.Spirit House (c. 20052010) mixed media, found object, and collage, 19 1/4 x 20 x 13 1/2 inchesThrough his occupations as a social worker, teacher of disabled youth, rehab counselor, and school administrator, Johnson surveyed the pleasures, hardships, and contradictions within the Philadelphia neighborhoods where he spent his life, Margot Samel says, and he pierced the fabric of collective human experience more deeply than most.Johnsons abstract, mixed-media houses often feature photographs of people and gatherings, graffiti and text, and swishes of paint or residual imagery from found objects. The gallery adds, As an African American artist who witnessed the civil rights movement and the impact of racist policies on communities he loved, Johnson took particular pleasure in depicting the richness of Black life.Leroy Johnson runs from January 10 to February 9 in New York. Learn more and plan your visit on the gallerys website.You Been Had (c. 20002005), mixed media, found object, and collage, 17 x 16 1/2 x 8 inchesHeart of Darkness (c. 19952000), mixed media, found object, and collage, 13 x 11 x 6 inchesNext article