Tag: JR View All Tags
Tags: Street Art / Artists / JR / Public Transportation / → All Tags
Art Not Just For Art's Sake in Kenya
Not all art is strictly about the aestetic, some pieces provide an important function in the community like the large black and white photographs installed this week on rooftops across Kibera, Kenya. The intimate photos, taken by photographer JR, act as a second roof, protecting the village’s delicate structures from water damage, a vital job in one of Africa’s worst slums.
Over 2,000 feet of rooftops were covered with pictures of the faces of the women of Kibera. As part of the installation JR also covered a train that passes through the village twice a day with images of the women’s eyes and then plastered the bottom half of their faces on a slope just below the tracks.
This way, when the train passes through it completes the women’s faces. A gallant effort considering the only things wrapped around buses in America are advertisements. The collection of rooftop faces is the artist’s most grandiose project to date, so large it can be seen on Google Earth.
Tags: Train Travel / Japan Travel / JR / WiFi / Train WiFi / → All Tags
WiFi Coming To Japanese Bullet Trains
Americans may have WiFi-equipped buses and planes, but the Japanese are still leading the way when it comes to futuristic train travel: Soon you'll be able to log on at broadband speed while screaming between Tokyo and Osaka at 168 mph.
Starting in March, telecom giant NTT Communications will provide its HotSpot service--already in effect at Japanese airports, restaurants and hotels--on certain Shinkansen by stringing wires alongside the tracks. Those coax cables will then beam the internet inside 700-series bullet trains. WiFi will also be added to 17 stations along the Tokaido line.
Day passes will cost $6 while a monthly subscription to HotSpot is $19 at current exchange rates.
Related Stories:
· Wi-Fi Coming to Japan's Bullet Trains Next Year [PC World]
· NTT HotSpot [Official Site]
· WiFi coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Wikimedia]
