Apple Inc is planning to expand its investment in Taiwan by building a new plant in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Hsinchu Science Park Bureau said yesterday.

The administration on Feb. 18 approved a plan by Apple’s Taiwan branch to set up a new plant in Longtan, Taoyuan, where the US firm has its existing operations, according to company registration data obtained by the Central News Agency.

The city of Tallinn and the Tehnopol Science and Business Park have announced a Tallinnovation innovation competition to find smart city solutions; the size of the innovation fund in 2020 is €50,000.

Tehnopol, the largest research and business park in Estonia, said in a statement that the organisers hope to support new smart city solutions that “will make the city of Tallinn more modern, more people-friendly, more cost-efficient and more open”.

In this No Place But Home: The New Abnormal panel discussion, ICF Co-Founders Lou Zacharilla and John Jung speak with Shyam Khandekar and Hassan Radoine.

In this video, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks about COVID-19 and other challenges with Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson.

What will our cities look like post-COVID? Will we ever trust our cities again? Is "density" the new enemy of urban planning? In this new segment of No Place BUT Home, we look at issues of vital importance that relate to the health, design & economic future of the places we live.

We are living in this pandemic era of COVID19. We are all wary of the public realm. Spatial distancing is the new normal. Urban designers, planners and architects are all scratching their heads about what to do both in this rescue and recovery phase and what the reimaging phase might look like with limited resources available after this protracted period of economic decline. 

It seems appropriate that the USS Comfort shoved off and left New York Harbor a hero and forever a part of the New York legend. It was also right that she left us in the damp, misty fog that engulfed the harbor and the city that day. She did leave behind a black swan, which she could not do anything more about. That is left up to us. Rain or shine, the Pandemic is still very much walking my streets and riding my beloved Q train like a hungry ghost and mass murderer who seems ready to appear at any moment in any household, apartment or CVS checkout line to devour.

Today, Sunday, is a spectacular day. But another strange one. There was no church and even God seems to be at home trying to figure it out. But I believe the governor of New York and the mayor of New York City when they say that the steady decline in new COVID cases and deaths has not happened because this virus is tiring. On the 64th day after the City of New York hung a “Closed for Business” sign, 789 new cases entered our hospitals and 280 New Yorkers died. And as the USS Comfort cuts through smoother waters on her way back to home port, the long trailer serving as a morgue in nearby Lennox Hospital is still double-parked right there. Alternate side of the street rules are not in effect.

MONTREAL, April 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - AMD Medicom Inc. ("Medicom"), one of the world's leading manufacturers of surgical and respiratory masks, confirms their new Canadian mask production facility will be situated in Montreal, Quebec. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of securing local production of personal protective equipment (PPE) and both the Canadian and Quebec governments are the latest in a growing number around the world seeking to partner with Medicom.

With new long-term supply agreements being finalized with both the Canadian and Quebec governments, Medicom has confirmed that their first Canadian mask manufacturing facility will open near their Montreal head office by July 2020 and will create at least 33 permanent jobs.

OAKVILLE, ON, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Additive Manufacturing company, Burloak Technologies, a division of Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, today announced it will support the fight against COVID-19 by producing face shields that will be used by frontline medical and healthcare workers. This personal protective equipment was designed and tested in collaboration with Hamilton Health Sciences and Mohawk College. Production has begun and will ramp up to volumes of approximately 10,000 units per week.

"Additive manufacturing is an ideal process to scale any design to commercial production in the shortest time possible, and applying our capabilities in this battle is the right thing to do," stated Colin Osborne, President & CEO, Samuel, Son & Co., Limited. "NGen played a valuable role in the rapid response to get this project underway. Without this funding, it would not have been possible to achieve the same scale in this accelerated timeframe."

Educational systems around the world are struggling to provide online learning to students who can no longer gather in schools.  The challenges range from equipping and training teachers to teach online and adapting course materials to the availability of technology and connectivity, especially for low-income families. 

We spoke with Rhonda Kadish, Community Relations Manager for the City of Hudson, about that two-time Top7 Intelligent Community’s learn-at-home strategy.