Tech:NYC Digest: June 9

Tech:NYC Digest: June 9

June 09, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

Friday, June 9, 2023 

Hope you're breathing a little easier today! We’re back with another short “Friday Five” roundup of our top stories in New York tech.

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AI is shattering climate language barriers (Axios) 

  • Climate Cardinals, a youth-led nonprofit made up of 9,000+ volunteers across more than 40 countries, announced a new partnership with Google to use AI-enabled tools to scale its language translating services. The collective has already translated more than 500,000 words of climate change resources from English into dozens of languages, eliminating barriers preventing non-English speakers from participating in global climate movements.

Business leaders push for Link5G deployment (City & State) 

  • Tech:NYC joined a group of two dozen other business, labor, and community organizations this week urging city officials to support the expansion of Link5G, the 5G-enabled Wi-Fi kiosks serving communities without adequate broadband infrastructure. LinkNYC is already the largest public Wi-Fi network in the world, and the installation of more kiosks across the five boroughs will do even more to level the playing field to keep more New Yorkers connected.

Up to 1 million New Yorkers could soon receive free eye exams and glasses (Gothamist)

  • A new bill meant to open up supplemental eye care services for New Yorkers under the federal poverty level isn’t without precedent: Back in 2015, Warby Parker launched the Pupils Project by partnering with the city to donate glasses to 20,000 public school students for four years. This new effort is a solution meant to address a long-standing gap in many health insurance plans — Mayor Adams is expected to sign the bill into law, and one million New Yorkers stand to benefit.

How far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in New York City? (NYC Subwaysheds)

  • A new interactive mapping tool from Chris Whong, a developer evangelist at Mapbox, answers that question from any given starting point of any one of the 472 subway stations. To state the obvious, it’s our new favorite way to do commute planning.

The Most Mysterious Sandwich in Brooklyn (Bon Appétit)

  • The hottest new parm sandwich is all about the artichoke — and a surprising account of New York history.

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