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MORE ABOUT NYC? Scan the QR-code and hang out with Mia in the Big Apple.
RECONNAISSANCE
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NYC Instagram tunnel, cupcake cash machine and a climbing wall with augmented reality.
MIA BREITHOLTZ New York resident since 2014.
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T
he first thing that greets me when I open the front door of the apartment block where I live is the familiar sound of sirens. I step outside into the constant background hum of traffic on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Williamsburg is a neighbourhood famed for its cosy bars, trendy little shops and people who take both themselves and organic food very seriously. I take the underground to Manhattan to eat lunch with a friend who works in one of the city’s digital agencies. The yellow taxi cabs stand in line outside the restaurant we have chosen and I scour the menu in a desperate attempt to avoid dishes with the uber-trendy curly kale. We talk at some length about a study that reveals that people spend less time in their bathroom than in any other room in the home – just 20 to 60 minutes a day. Uninteresting information, you say? Maybe. But for all those Internet-of-Things-people working on ideas to make time spent in the bathroom a little more enjoyable, this highlights huge potential. One solution is a TV behind the mirror. Switched off, it looks just like an ordinary bathroom mirror, but half of the mirror’s surface is actually a television screen! "I CAN’T RESIST TESTING THE BREATHTAKING EXPERIENCE OF A VIRTUAL REALITY ROLLER-COASTER RIDE." After lunch I take a walk through the Meatpacking District. Samsung has just opened a new “digital playground” here. Curious as I am, I can’t resist the temptation to peep in and test the breathtaking experience of a virtual reality roller-coaster ride. My seat moves just like it would in real life. Together with my fellow “passengers” I laugh and scream before moving on, heart in mouth, to the next exhibit – an odyssey through my very own Instagram account. This is a tunnel pulsating with light and music, where the walls, ceiling and floor are plastered with my own words and pictures. Talk about #narcissism. All visitors have their smartphones at the ready to photo and film the experience.
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his evening I will be swapping my high heels, which are forever getting caught in the cobblestones of the Meatpacking District, for climbing shoes. I have been
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rock climbing for a couple of years now, but Brooklyn Boulders have taken the sport to a whole new level with the aid of Augmented Reality. The indoor climbing wall has been equipped with sensors so you can rack up points as you scale the vertical face. Each time you touch a handhold you hear a signal and your time is projected onto the wall. It’s like being a character in a video game. I continue down to Midtown. There on 61st Street is one of my favourite ATMs. It doesn’t dispense anything as boring as money; this ATM dispenses nothing but cupcakes. You use the touch-screen menu to customise your idea of a perfect cupcake. One minute later, it’s ready for you to enjoy.
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t’s easy to become terribly spoilt when you live in New York. It is by no means uncommon to have a reception in your apartment block that takes care of any packages that are delivered to you. I buy almost all my food online and get it delivered together with the week’s recipes and all the ingredients already measured out. If a recipe includes one tablespoon of flour, I get exactly one tablespoon’s worth in a separate little bag. Although using my kitchen for cooking food makes me something of a rarity in New York. My apartment has built-in speakers, but no extractor fan in the kitchen. What do you expect? I mean, who fries bacon in New York? Many New Yorkers boast proudly about always eating out or ordering food via their Seamless app. This has details of every restaurant that will deliver food to your door. But there are also some exciting innovations in US kitchens. How about a fridge linked to your mobile phone that films the food inside and keeps you informed about best-before dates? The fridge door also doubles as a screen, so you can check out your favourite food shows or search for new recipes. Before going to bed I curl up for a while on the sofa with my Apple TV device and use the voice control function to select the TV series I want to watch. Then, as my New York day slowly turns into a New York night, it’s comforting to know that, should I be unable to sleep, all it takes is a few quick taps on my mobile phone and a short while later I can be tucking into hot cookies and milk delivered to my door by Insomnia Cookies. Thank you, New York!