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Only 49% of South Africans will take the COVID-19 Vaccine, Research Shows
Although COVID-19 infection rates seem to be declining and vaccines are slowly being rolled out in the country, most South Africans are wary of a third wave, further lockdowns and job losses. A survey by gig technology company, M4Jam asked South Africans about their main concerns as the country marked exactly one year since the first COVID-19 case in the country was diagnosed. Despite South Africa’s rejection of its first shipment of vaccines and widespread misinformation about the effectiveness of vaccinations, 49% of respondents (up from 32% in the January survey) said they would take the vaccine when it became available to them. 44% of respondents (down from 58% in the January survey) said they would adopt the approach of “wait and see” if the vaccine works for people they knew before m...
Portraits of Women and Their Porsches
Flip through the pages of the last 10 to 15 issues of any popular car magazine (or scroll their websites) and you’ll be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of stories featuring a woman. This despite the fact there are countless women who are huge enthusiasts and work equally as hard—and are just as passionate about cars—as their male counterparts. See all 75 photos It’s been painfully obvious to me for some time now that the stories of these women have been dramatically underrepresented by the automotive media. (If I can be proven wrong, I’m glad; that means we’re moving in the right direction.) This alarming deficit in coverage led me to seek out females expressing their enthusiasm, to give them the opportunity to share their stories, and to amplify voices tha...
Is Top Gear America Binge-Worthy?
Now that the first six episodes of Top Gear America are live and streamable—commercial free, exclusively on the MotorTrend App—a question has arisen: Is Top Gear America binge-worthy? Obviously, we think so, but we asked the overlords of the interwebs all about binge-worthy shows, just in case. What makes a show binge-worthy? First, we need to define binge-watching. It’s generally agreed that you need to watch two or three episodes of one show in one sitting to be considered binging. Whether it’s mysterious, thrilling or hilarious, binge-worthy shows always have a hook you just can’t pull out. You know that lie we all tell ourselves? “Just one more episode”—yeah, that never happens. Can a Nissan 350Z go overlanding? Was Rob Corddry OK after inhaling all those ...
The Lamborghini Diablo Is the 1990s Supercar Legend Your Dreams Deserve
Talk about big shoes to fill. As the Lamborghini Countach entered its twilight years in the late 1980s, the company had the onerous task of designing a car that exceeded the visual, aural, and dynamic sucker-punch provided by its iconic neck-snapping V-12 super-wedge. The new Lambo had to vaporize eyebrows and buckle knees at a thousand feet if it was to be labeled as anything other than a letdown. Yeah, well, you can see where this is going. Despite a top speed of over 200 mph—only the second production car to do so—and being far easier to drive than its pappy, the Diablo is a bit of a middle-child. As far as the big Lambos go—of which there have been only five to date—the Diablo is relatively unloved. See all 19 photos We must stress that all of this slight negativity is best read throug...
An Introductory Guide to NFTs in the Music Industry
Last week, rock band Kings of Leon became the first band to release an album as an NFT, expanding the possibilities for crypto and blockchain technology in the music industry. If that first sentence already lost you, you’ve come to the right place. NFTs are undoubtedly the buzziest new topic in music and for good reason. In February 2021 alone, NFTs earned nearly 22 million dollars in the music industry, according to data collected by Water & Music, but it’s much like explaining the Internet to someone in the ’90s who has never seen it before. NFTs are highly conceptual and unprecedented, but it makes sense once you get used to the idea. Consider this article your true introductory guide to NFTs in the music business, wherein, we will break down the most important characteristics of th...
Women’s History Month Tribute: Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin
I lived in London in the ‘80s, studying fashion while working with a clothing designer. On the weekends we’d hit the different markets, selling the original pieces we’d made. Portobello Market and Kensington were the main markets. Kensington was the famous underground market that featured independent fashion designers, and everything that came out of there was original, and helped shape the pop culture of fashion during the decade. The streets and clubs of London were filled with people wearing the clothes being hawked at Kensington, amongst others. I would spot Boy George, Siouxsie and the Banshees and other luminaries of the emerging post-punk new wave scene on most days and nights while clubbing. Kensington was very mysterious and spooky, like walking into a creepy Disney ride. The...
Growing Female Talent in the Tech Workforce
Sourced from TechCabal International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021, is a celebration of progress and recognition of work that still needs to be done to advance women in business and society. In an annual study produced by the World Bank titled “Women, Business and the Law 2021” the gender inequality amidst the global COVID-19 Pandemic is explored looking at eight key pillars. The pillars are mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets and pension. The report analyses laws and regulations affecting women’s economic opportunities in 190 countries and shows promising results. Results show that despite the difficulties of the global pandemic, many economies have made gender equality a priority. The results are encouraging with every region surveyed improving its a...
Jasmine Harrison, Youngest Woman to Row Solo Across Any Ocean, on How Music Powered Her Boat
Jasmine Harrison is not a musician. She has never picked up a microphone or downloaded music production software. She’s only danced to one song in her entire life, albeit an embarrassing one. But after making history as the youngest woman to row solo across any ocean, she is living proof that music can propel anyone to do extraordinary things. Accompanied by nothing but a playlist and the mesmeric, repetitive splosh of her oar slicing the ocean’s surface, Harrison, 21, traversed the Atlantic Ocean in 70 days, 3 hours and 48 minutes. However, with a bubbly naiveté rarely found in a barnstorming, record-breaking heroine, you wouldn’t know it when speaking to her. And after the enormity of her accomplishment finally sunk in, even she can’t believe it was her....
Why International Women’s Day Is Important to Me: Aluna, TOKiMONSTA, More Speak Out
Since 1975, International Women’s Day has been designated as a global day of recognition for women, taking place annually on March 8th. It also coincides with the American Women’s History Month. But historically, the event dates back to the early 1900s, linked to early feminist and workers’ rights movements. From protest movements to a celebration of women’s suffrage, the date has become a focal point and rallying cry for gender equity worldwide. It’s no secret that we’ve still got a long way to go in ensuring equal opportunities, pay and platforms for women, along with non-binary individuals. This is especially true in the electronic music industry—a 2020 study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found only 21.7% of artists in th...
Song of the Week: Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak Play It Smooth as Silk Sonic on “Leave the Door Open”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak dropped their first single as Silk Sonic. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have teamed up under the name Silk Sonic, which seems to have been a good name choice. Their first single, “Leave the Door Open”, is nothing if not luxurious, velvety goodness. The full-length project, An Evening with Silk Sonic, reunites the two artists who previously toured together with .Paak as an opening act on Bruno Mars’ 2017 “24K Magic World Tour”. Sonically, “Leave the Door Open” is a return to form for Bruno Mars, who ha...
2005-2008 Dodge Magnum History: Mopar’s Wonderful Muscle Wagon
Applied to neither a gun nor private investigator, Dodge’s most recent use of the Magnum name was slapped instead on a station wagon. Not just any wagon, the Magnum was based on the then-new Charger sedan and sold for the 2005 through 2008 model years. So, where did this Charger station wagon go? Dodge dropped the Magnum after 2008 for reasons that should become clear if you think about what happened to the economy that year. Before that, the Magnum sold decently—for a station wagon—in America, with sales topping the 50,000 mark at least one year. Weirder still, Dodge refreshed the Magnum for 2008, meaning the updated model lived for a single year before it was culled. See all 85 photos If you were to ask us, the Dodge Magnum wagon suffered a premature death—can you imagine...
Why Cyber Attacks are Technology’s ‘Natural’ Disasters
Sourced from Forbes The SolarWinds attack was stunning in its scope and scale. If it were an earthquake, it would be 9.9 on the Richter scale. As digital transformation accelerates in 2021 and beyond—and applications accelerate as central enablers of business and all manner of digital life—cyberattacks have become technology’s natural disasters. Both have the power for profound devastation, threaten our sense of safety, and are (sadly) the reality of our world today. There is, however, one notable difference between a natural disaster and cybercrime. It is within our control to reduce the devastating impact of cybercrime. We can learn from the weaknesses the SolarWinds attack exposed and use this event as a catalyst for behaviour changes that will materially reduce the impact of future att...
