Maglev elevators will change cities forever

November 28, 2014

multiTall buildings and compact cities are better for the environment and will become increasingly important as the planet’s urban population swells. But elevators have evolved so slowly that they have become a major impediment to building taller and more compact structures.  Maglev elevators  footprint will be as little as half the size of a traditional elevator shafts.They will also enable aritects to design “futuristic buildings that previously could only be dreamed of,” as the company’s R&D head Patrick Basstold the Financial Times (paywall).

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The real reason Uber are behaving like assholes and four more must-see, must read stories

November 28, 2014

Five-must-reads11

  • Black Friday quite literally kicks off in Britain. Sales began at midnight with mobs of bargain-hunters descending on stores to snap up products which have been discounted by as much as 70%. Retailers have high hopes for the day – Tesco says it expects Black Friday to beat Boxing Day sales in 2014.
  • An interest rates rise will come next summer, economists have forecast. In a survey of economists by Reuters, the majority predicted that the first rise will come no earlier than July next year but probably by the end of September.
  • Vinyl sales in Britain have reached their highest level for nearly two decades, reports The Times. An Arctic Monkeys album has helped power sales of vinyl above one million for the first time since the mid-1990s. UK record sales are expected to reach 1.2m units by next month, up by more than half year-on-year, figures from industry body BPI indicated.
  • The number of homes sold for more than £1m outside London reached record highs this year, up 44pc in the first six months on 2013. A major driver of the hike in sales over £1m was the exodus of the capital as families who had made dramatic price appreciation on their London home sold, cashed in and upsized further out, getting better value for money, reports The Daily Telegrah.
  • This is why Uber are behaving like assholes. The taxi market is uber-competitive.

 

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Angelina Jolie wait! Don’t buy a London house now, UK house prices have peaked

November 28, 2014

2384566D00000578-2849863-image-7_1416993464754Angelina Jolie and her husband, actor Brad Pitt,  have been looking at properties in central London to buy and have recently viewed a £25million Marylebone penthouse.

Mistake!
.
According to the latest data from one of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders today, UK house prices have peaked.

Nationwide said the rate of annual growth slowed again – for the third consecutive month – to 8.5 per cent in November, down from 9 per cent the previous month.

The month-on-month change saw prices up 0.3 per cent as opposed to 0.5 per cent in Ocotober.

Angelina should wait and see if she can pick up a bargain next

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Rouble falls even further as oil price slides

November 28, 2014

Capture

The Russian currency hit a new low on Friday after oil producing cartel Opec decided on Thursday to leave the amount of oil it produces unchanged, sending prices sliding, says the FT.

The Russian rouble has now lost more than a third of its value versus the dollar this year, the worst performance of any major currency in the world by some distance.

Of all the 174 currencies tracked by Bloomberg only the Ukrainian hryvnia has done worse this year. On this chart, the light pink line is oil price, the dark pink is theROuble this morning

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