low tech tours

Low Tech Tour

of Wheaton Labs

For a preview into Tour of Wheaton Labs: The Movie, play the turbo version below.

Follow Paul Wheaton as he gives you an in-depth low tech tour of Wheaton Labs.

What is Wheaton Labs?

Wheaton Labs is the permaculture equivalent to Bill Nye's Nye Labs. Wheaton Labs is all about experimentation and innovation. There are 2 properties, Basecamp and The Labs.

Basecampx 

Base Camp is where a lot of the action at events happen. It's where the shop, library, and auditorium are located. Base camp is on-grid, ROCKY, has Wi-Fi, and is where Paul lives in the "Fisher Price House."

The Lab is named thusly because it's where most of the permaculture experiments are done! The lab is down a paved, then gravel, then dirt (sometimes mud adventure!) road, is off-grid (with our solar trailers), has no Wi-Fi / spotty cell reception, and is home to all the WOFATIs.

Missoula, MT

Missoula is in Western Montana, about 45 miles from the Idaho border. The city sits about 3200 ft. above sea level and is relatively flat, but surrounded by large hills. Not so far from Missoula is the Bitteroot Range where you can find white-tailed deer, elk, moose and grizzlies as part of the wildlife. The Missoula area is located in the northern part of the Rocky Mountains and is a humid continental climate with moderately cold and snowy winters, dry hot summers and a short spring and fall. Although winters are generally milder due to being on the western slopes of the Rockies, Missoula does get more precipitation.

Missoula is considered the cultural capital of Montana and has a lot of recreational potential. The city is considered to be one of the most fitness-friendly cities in the country. Most of the residents bike and walk around town and there is skiing, hiking, and plenty other activities available, no matter the time of year.

The Mission of Wheaton Labs

To prove the value and economy of the wofati as a home. To prove the wofati freezer concept. To prove the wofati root cellar concepts.

To prove that 20 people can live under one roof without stabbing each other.

To set a record for most food produced per acre in montana. To set a record for most income derived per acre in montana.

To prove that we can grow a lemon tree, outdoors, in montana. To prove tefa.

To have people with illness come to the land and mysteriously become healthy.

To prove some ideas about better poop management.

To prove better food production and better food flavor using permaculture techniques without irrigation, fertilizer or pest control

To prove that we can change the world in our backyards. Cutting energy use while still living luxuriously reduces war, pollution (thus, illness) and other environmental degradation. Reducing toxins in the home while still living luxuriously reduces illness. Growing food without irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides, reduces pollution (thus, illness), feeds the world and helps to move farming from a poverty lifestyle to a profession. All of these together gives hope to young folks that they can live a rich life without having to enter into the wage slave world.

Successful Kickstarters

People Visited

Current Experiments/Projects

What Happens at Wheaton Labs?

Do you want to learn the skills to homestead in a sustainable, regenerative way?

Permaculture bootcamp.

• The permacultue bootcamp is an experiential learning environment in which you develop permaculture skills through a little hardwork
• You'll grow gardens and food forests to feed yourself and fellow boots; you'll learn natural building skills that will house your bootcamp community for years to come.
• Come try it out with no long-term commitments! Earn tickets to our PDC, PTJ, and SKIP events. If you love it, staty for awhile and earn lifetime rent for an acre of your own!

Permaculture Design Course

• This PDC is designed for scientists, engineers, educators or people with a lot of current knowledge of permaculture.
• This is the course to take to give you a firm, in-depth understanding of the science of permaculture.  
• this PDC will move you past simply thinking in terms of isolated systems and into designing integrated, whole landscapes.

designed for scientists, engineers, and educators 

PDC STARTS IN:

You missed out!

collaboration, experimentation and innovation 

This year's PTJ starts in:

Permaculture Technology Jamboree

• The Permaculture Technology Jamboree (PTJ) is an event full of collaboration, experimentation and innovation to move permaculture technology forward
• An event where people can have new permaculture experiences and learn new homesteading skills
• There are several projects happening simultaneously, and you can switch between tracks at any time.

SKIP-Skills to Inherit Property

• SKIP is a hands-on curriculum of experiences you can complete to prove you can do permaculture.  
• While a PDC teaches you how to do permaculture design and analysis, SKIP is about learning the practical skills.
• This program will connect qualified candidates with those landowners so you can skip the rat race and skip the debt.

SKIP is about learning the practical skills.

This year's SKIP event starts in:

Learn organic, veganic, no-till, and permaculture gardening.

The next Garden Master Course starts in:

The Certified Garden Master Course 

• A "beyond-organic master gardener program taught each Winter by Helen Atthowe
• This course will focus on soil and habitat-building for beneficial organisms and systems thinking for gardeners and farmers: how to manage relationships rather than just crops.
• You will learn how to identify and manage all the relationships that make up a healthy farm-garden-ecosystem--one that does not require pesticides or large off-farm fertilizer inputs.

Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree

• Rocket stoves and rocket mass heaters (RMHs) are a low-emission, efficient way to harness the power of sustainable wood for fuel.
• Whether you are an experienced builder, or new to wood-powered rocket technology, there is something for you at the Rocket Mass Heater Innovators Event!
• At the RMH Jamboree, the basics of rocket technology will be taught, while multiple innovations will be made, such as a tiny house rocket mass heaters, a rock kiln, rocket forge, solar food dehydrator with rocket booster, rocket oven, rocket sauna, and a whole lot more!

The next RMH Jamboree starts in:

Videographer

Josiah Kobernick

Josiah Kobernick was a boot at Wheaton Labs in 2019. During that time he shot video for Paul's projects.  .... need a bio....

Paul Wheaton

Paul Wheaton is a powerful advocate of permaculture. He was dubbed the "Duke of Permaculture" by Geoff Lawton and Sepp Holzer, and the "Bad Boy of Permaculture" by Occupy Monsanto. Paul is the owner of permies.com, coderanch.com, richsoil.com, and Wheaton Labs. He has produced over 600 podcasts, 200 youtube videos and a dozen feature-length films. He has presented at over 100 events around the US, and has written dozens of articles and 2 books on topics ranging from luxuriant environmentalism to homesteading skills. The events he hosts at his property, Wheaton Labs, have resulted in the development of rocket stove and rocket mass heater technology, massive earthworks featuring extensive hugelkultur, solar dehydrators, lots and lots of round wood timberframe structures like a truly passive earth-bermed solar greenhouse and a mega-cheap and luxurious home design called the Wofati, as well as many, many other permaculture innovations.

Hear from others about Wheaton Labs

duke of permaculture

Sepp holzer

The bad boy of permaculture

who dubbed him this?

View All Reviews

Tour of Wheaton Labs the Movie

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Virtual Field Trips to Explore Careers of the Future

Career tours are free, interactive virtual field trips that inspire students to pursue careers of the future by exploring amazon’s technologies. tour whenever, wherever on kahoot ..

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I was just amazed of all the computer science is used to get a package from order to ship...I know a lot of people say that computers are putting people out of jobs, but this tour shows young people that is not true. It helped them to understand the jobs might look different, because humans have to be behind all the technology.

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The coolest high and low tech at the Tour de France

Super-fast carbon-fiber aero road bikes and deep-section wheels..

For nearly a century, the world's best cyclists all rode steel frames. Later came along aluminum and titanium. But these days every rider in the Tour de France rides bikes made of carbon fiber, a technology borrowed from the aerospace industry. It's light, stiff, fast, and a lot more comfortable than it used to be. Eventually, aero road bikes — which take their tube designs from time-trial bikes — came onto the scene. These bikes give a definite wind-tunnel-proven advantage and are now a mainstay of the peloton. The fastest sprinters ride aero rode bikes, including Mark Cavendish, who raced a Cervélo S5 and Enve aero wheels to four stage wins.

Meanwhile, the search for motors continues.

The International Cycling Union conducted 3,773 tests for technological fraud — aka motor doping — at his year's Tour using magnetic-resistance technology via a tablet app. There were zero positives. It all goes back to February 2016 when a Dutch rider was caught at the cyclocross world championships with a bike that had a motor hidden in the frame . 

Indeed, officials were taking the threat of 'motor doping' seriously.

A thermal camera was used for the first time without warning at the Tour this year, in a bid to detect hidden motors in riders' bikes, AFP reported. The camera was developed by the French Atomic Energy Commission and used alongside magnetic-resonance testing. "No one saw it, no one knew," French secretary of state for sports Thierry Braillard told AFP. 

A thermal camera was used for the first time without warning at the Tour this year, in a bid to detect hidden motors in riders' bikes, AFP reported. The camera was developed by the French Atomic Energy Commission and used alongside magnetic-resonance testing. No one saw it, no one knew, French secretary of state for sports Thierry Braillard told AFP. 

Like fine wine.

The American Cannondale-Drapac team rode these Veloflex tubular tires , which were handmade in Italy. The tires were aged for two years in a cool, dark basement before being glued on. Aging hardens the manufacturer's threading meshes and makes the rubber suppler, and that helps increase puncture resistance.

This Tour saw a number of custom paint jobs, perhaps more than ever before.

Peter Sagan , the world road champion , used two bikes, one being this Specialized Tarmac. The tastefully done custom paint job celebrates Sagan's rainbow colors and Slovakian heritage.

But black bikes are still en vogue.

This was Sagan's other ride, a Specialized S-Works Venge , which he rode on sprint stages. As with Cavendish's Cervélo, Sagan's Venge is all black save for the white lettering. That's been the dominant color for bikes for the past several years — especially the matte variety. And like Cavendish's bike, Sagan's Venge is an aero road bike, so in addition to the wind-cheating frame design, the "hidden" brakes, behind the fork and seat tube, also help Sagan go faster. It is claimed to be one of the fastest aero road bikes ever tested in a wind tunnel . Sagan's mechanics added his world-champion colors to his deep-section aero wheels from Roval.

This was Sagan's other ride, a Specialized S-Works Venge , which he rode on sprint stages. As with Cavendish's Cervélo, Sagan's Venge is all black save for the white lettering. That's been the dominant color for bikes for the past several years — especially the matte variety. And like Cavendish's bike, Sagan's Venge is an aero road bike, so in addition to the wind-cheating frame design, the hidden brakes, behind the fork and seat tube, also help Sagan go faster. It is claimed to be one of the fastest aero road bikes ever tested in a wind tunnel . Sagan's mechanics added his world-champion colors to his deep-section aero wheels from Roval.

Cancellara's one-off Trek Madone popped with color.

Fabian Cancellara, the Swiss rider who says he will retire at the end of this season, rode a special-edition Trek Madone , its custom colors being a tribute to all the teams he has raced with. And where the down tube would normally say Trek, this bike honors the rider they call Spartacus, one of the top cyclists of the past decade.

At the Tour, special editions and custom touches are de rigueur.

We found one of the coolest personal touches on Cancellara's oversize stem: a fantastic design showing an image of Spartacus and a pair of dice with his lucky number seven set against cobblestones in honor of Cancellara's many victories in Europe's cobbled classics .

Tour teams seem to have reached new levels when it comes to details.

This might be the most minute too: Sagan's team had "Terminator," his nickname, printed on a rear-derailleur pulley wheel.

This might be the most minute too: Sagan's team had Terminator, his nickname, printed on a rear-derailleur pulley wheel.

There were many custom touches, like these shamrocks on Irishman Dan Martin's Specialized S-Works Tarmac.

Trek-Segafredo incorporated its "Go and Take It" ad campaign into its custom paint jobs.

Similarly, the Lotto-Soudal team worked in its "Live Your Dream" message.

Pierre Rolland's Cannondale SuperSix Evo HI-MOD had pretty paintwork honoring his daughter, Jade. The egg? That's Rolland's affectionate nickname.

Related:  The most swoonworthy bike at the Tour was this understated $12,000 custom job

Speaking of Rolland, he was riding a special low-friction chain made by CeramicSpeed. It was coated with Teflon powder and said to save energy.

Related: The fastest chain at the Tour de France

Elsewhere, the Tour saw a Sharknado roll through.

Vincenzo Nibali's Specialized S-Works Tarmac  had a cool paint job with little maps of France, Italy, and Spain indicating his grand-tour victories. There were images of sharks — Nibali's nickname is the Shark of Messina — but strangely no mention of his 2016 Giro d'Italia win .

French sprinter Bryan Coquard's BH had stickers of Le Coq, or the Rooster, his nickname.

And like fellow sprinters Cavendish and Sagan, Coquard opted for deep-section aero wheels. These are made by Vision.

Another Tour victory for Pinarello.

It's the rider who wins the race, but the bicycle manufacturer that sponsors him wins too. Chris Froome handily won this Tour, making it three wins in four years, and he did it on a Pinarello Dogma F8 . Bradley Wiggins, Froome's former teammate, also won the Tour on a Pinarello.

When you're the best stage racer they put your name on your hubs.

As we noted previously, Froome rides weird chainrings.

The inventor claims the special non-round rings help a rider generate more power and save watts. Read about Froome's Osymetric chainrings here .

Race numbers at the Tour come with timing transponders that track each rider in real time.

A telemetry sensor is installed under each rider's saddle.

A second transponder is attached to the fork with a zip tie.

This was Pierre Rolland's saddle with his transponder attached underneath.

Live images and telemetry are streamed into the press room, where up to 600 journalists pass through each stage of the Tour.

Dimension Data is the company behind all the live telemetry and tracking.

"Technology has the ability to unleash innovation and allow businesses to transform — including professional sports such as cycling," the company says.

"We’re applying our technology skills in areas such as data analytics, hybrid cloud, workspaces for tomorrow, and cybersecurity to bring a richer viewing experience to the greatest cycling race in the world: the Tour de France."

Watch how the technology works in the video below:

Technology has the ability to unleash innovation and allow businesses to transform — including professional sports such as cycling, the company says.

We’re applying our technology skills in areas such as data analytics, hybrid cloud, workspaces for tomorrow, and cybersecurity to bring a richer viewing experience to the greatest cycling race in the world: the Tour de France.

Two-way radios allow riders to communicate not only with each other but also with their race directors back in the team cars.

As is now customary, the race leader rode a custom-painted yellow bike into Paris.

And it had lots of tech you find on pro bikes these days.

Froome's Pinarello Dogma F8 is itself a marvel of engineering. It's light, fast, and handles beautifully, so we're told by Max Levchin , who revealed that the F8 is his new favorite ride.

The world's most consistent stage racer had the most extreme position.

I searched for the most extreme bike-fit position I could find at the Tour, and I kept coming back to Adam Hansen 's. That negatively sloped long stem, the super-low drops, and the maxed-forward high saddle. Hansen is the world's most consistent stage racer, having now ridden 15 grand tours in a row, a record that may never be broken . It's good he's into yoga.

Speaking of Adam Hansen, he brought his own homemade shoes to the Tour.

Hansen has an engineering background and designs his own carbon-fiber shoes. He wasn't thrilled with the ones on the market, so he made his own. He eventually started a company called Hanseeno , which makes cycling shoes and apparel.

"If you want to improve 1% on the climbs, it's extremely difficult," he told Peloton . "To improve your power-to-weight ratio by 3% means a lot of hard training. But if you have a lighter bike and lose a few kilos it's much easier. This is why I want a light bike and light shoes."

If you want to improve 1% on the climbs, it's extremely difficult, he told Peloton . To improve your power-to-weight ratio by 3% means a lot of hard training. But if you have a lighter bike and lose a few kilos it's much easier. This is why I want a light bike and light shoes.

Hansen has taken custom shoes to a whole new level.

If you look down at a pair of his Hanseenos , you might wonder how he adjusts them. But as Hansen himself showed Business Insider, all the action takes place underneath the shoe, where you turn a dial to tighten or loosen the wire system.

We saw Hansen wearing at least two different versions of his handmade shoe.

On his website , Hansen claims the shoe — which weighs under 95 grams — is the lightest in the pro peloton by a whopping 50%.

Weight is a constant consideration at the Tour.

Every bike raced in the Tour must weigh at least 6.8 kilos, or 14.99 pounds, according to the rules of the International Cycling Union . The UCI came up with the rule long ago in an effort to make bikes safer, but observers argue it is an outdated regulation that needs to go . Still, teams put their digital scales to work daily to ensure their bikes make the cut.

Speaking of weight, mechanics had clever ways of making bikes race-legal.

The minimum-weight rule of 6.8 kilos/14.99 pounds presents a challenge because many carbon-fiber bikes today go below that minimum. The Cannondale-Drapac mechanics had a few tricks up their sleeves to make bikes heavier and therefore legal, including mounting a heavy steel rod with a screw inside the bottom-bracket axle. "We have different weights to get it as close as possible," one mechanic told Business Insider. "We also use car-wheel balancing weights for small increases."

The minimum-weight rule of 6.8 kilos/14.99 pounds presents a challenge because many carbon-fiber bikes today go below that minimum. The Cannondale-Drapac mechanics had a few tricks up their sleeves to make bikes heavier and therefore legal, including mounting a heavy steel rod with a screw inside the bottom-bracket axle. We have different weights to get it as close as possible, one mechanic told Business Insider. We also use car-wheel balancing weights for small increases.

Tour teams use all kinds of tape, and lots of it.

Technology is still playing catch-up to the world's fastest bike racers. One of many examples is seen when cyclists slip up and down and around their saddles as they try to generate more power to the pedals. As such, Lotto-Soudal mechanics put grippy Lizard Skins tape onto one rider's saddle. This beats sandpaper, which can leave you with shredded shorts:

Bike computers show routes using GPS, but a simple print-out of the stage profile taped onto a stem does the trick best.

Froome had a printed stage profile on his stem. Little markings on the profile highlighted key points along the course; he could turn the loosely affixed profile as the stage went on. As for Froome's custom rhino graphic, it is a nod to his African heritage and "his commitment to the conservation of these animals."

Race leader Greg Van Avermaet had his day's work cut out for him and taped to his stem. From top to bottom, there was a neutral rollout, a series of three climbs of varying difficulties, a sprint, a feed zone, a final climb, and then the finish.

We spotted some mechanics putting Lizard Skins on pedals.

The tape gives riders' shoes more grip on the smooth pedal surfaces.

A Cannondale-Drapac mechanic wrapped his scissor handles with Fizik handlebar tape for more grip, which comes in handy when hands are wet or greasy.

How to quiet a rattling valve.

Sometimes presta valves make a distracting rattling noise in deep-section carbon rims. One team simply put a piece of electrical tape over the valve ...

... another inserted a piece of zip tie into the space between the valve and the rim ...

... another wrapped the valve with a piece of material that acted as a shim.

Sagan's bike had the nicest treatment — a Roval-branded sticker.

Cooling down while warming up.

On hot days, riders wore a cooling ice vest as they warmed up for their time trial. By keeping their core temperature down they avoid overheating, and that improves performance.

In addition to an ice vest, Tony Martin wore an ice wrap around his wrists to keep cool as he warmed up for his time trial.

To cool down out on the road, soigneurs prepared ice socks for the riders. They are easy to make: Stuff ice cubes into a stocking and tie them up.

Riders stuff the ice socks in the back of their jerseys to keep their core temperature down, which improves performance.

At least one rider was wearing sweatbands.

Cannondale-Drapac brought cooling mattress toppers called ChiliPads from the US.

Many riders will tell you it gets harder to sleep as the Tour rolls on, especially if the hotel you're staying in has no air-conditioning. 

A ChiliPad cooling mattress topper was set up for the riders down in the Pyrenees.

ChiliPads cool to as low as 55 degrees F and warm up to 110, the company claims.

Related: How teams at the Tour de France keep riders cool when hotels don't have AC

This might be the most important technology at the Tour.

If other teams take germs as seriously as the American Cannondale-Drapac team, then a simple bottle of hand sanitizer might be the single most important piece of equipment, second only to the bicycle perhaps. When I traveled with the team, there was always a bottle close at hand, whether at the dinner table, on the bus when you hopped on or off, and everywhere in between. At the Tour, riders' immune systems are so depressed that it becomes incredibly easy for them to catch a cold, and if that happens, it could be game over for their participation in the race. That's also why a lot of riders don't like to shake hands.

Sunny days called for sunscreen, which these days riders can spray on as they ride.

Little things that could make a big difference.

The Cannondale-Drapac team didn't just make the extra effort to get riders refreshing drinks on the hard climbs where there were no formal feed zones; it also attached energy and caffeine gels to the bottles in case the riders needed extra fuel for the finish — which was especially critical if they were bonking .

Alberto Contador prefers to have more grab and cushion on his handlebar, so he has his mechanics double-wrap his bars with two rolls of tape.

No matter who had the race lead and wore the iconic yellow jersey, that rider's team customized his bike with yellow. In the case Greg Van Avermaet, the BMC Racing Team added yellow tape and a yellow cover for his SRM power-meter box.

Wearable tape: Many riders, including Tejay van Garderen, spent some time during the Tour racing with kinesio tape, which helps with recovery from injury by providing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting range of motion.

Source: Kinesio Taping

Flat-top aero bars are now more widely used in the pro peloton.

We saw just one handlebar of this kind get a full tape job. Mechanics typically will wrap these flat-top aero bars only past the brake hoods.

Secret shifter: The inside of the handlebar drops on Peter Sagan's bike featured a mini shifter so that he could change gears with a flick of his thumb when he's sprinting.

Once always plain black, shoes are now blingy.

World champ Peter Sagan wore custom gold-colored Specialized shoes. He also had green pedals to go with his lead in the green-jersey competition for most consistent daily finisher.

Sagan had custom world-champion kicks for all the podium ceremonies he had to attend.

Custom yellow: Froome wore this custom pair of carbon Sidi SHOTs.

Yellow aero gloves and tape, all to complement Froome's yellow jersey.

Speaking of shoes, teams are always at the ready with exactly the right gear.

When Alberto Contador crashed heavily on the opening stage, his team sprang into action. His teammates waited for him and then rode for him, and his support staff in the cars provided him with a spare bike and a clutch spare shoe to replace the one he'd shredded.

Dutchman Tom Dumoulin won two stages, in part thanks to his incredibly aero position. In the first time trial he wore the tallest aero shoe covers we've ever seen.

Speaking of aerodynamics: When I saw Geoffrey Soupe, left, I wondered if his beard possibly made him slower. Turns out a clean-shaven face will save less than 1 second over 40 kilometers, Specialized found.

Source: Specialized

These days, rider numbers also show their number of Tour stage victories.

At the time we took this shot, Sagan had won five Tour stages during his career, but that number stood at seven before the race finished.

Many teams use electrical tape to mark a rider's exact saddle height. BMC used a marker.

Simple, time-tested things are hard to replace.

Pro cycling as we know it and safety pins were invented around the same time, over 100 years ago, and to this day riders pin their numbers. And while pinning your number does not make for the most aerodynamic design, the safety pin shows no sign of being replaced any time soon, even if there is one company, Nopinz , trying to do just that.

A spoke is a multitool.

Tour mechanics are incredibly resourceful, finding lots of different ways to fix and improve things. Here James Griffin of the Cannondale-Drapac team showed us how he used a discarded spoke to pick debris out of tires to prevent punctures. He did this after every stage. The team told Business Insider that at the Giro d'Italia in May, its riders had zero flats during the three-week stage race.

Water bottles are used for more than drinking: Cannondale-Drapac kept a bottle filled with vinegar on hand.

It's all about making the rubber suppler.

Cannondale-Drapac mechanic James Griffin rubbed vinegar on all the riders' tires before the start of rainy stages. He told Business Insider that the vinegar makes the rubber suppler, which means better traction on rain-slicked roads. The vinegar also helps prevent flats because a suppler tire absorbs bits of road debris better, debris that might otherwise puncture the tire.

Don't try this at home: While it might be tempting to wash your bike with a high-pressure sprayer, it is not advised. The Tour mechanics are pros and know how to use the right touch when spraying bikes. If you're not careful, you could end up getting water into places it shouldn't go and risk corrosion.

Traffic control.

Team cars have GPS navigation devices with each race route preloaded into the system. This way whoever is driving during the race just follows the directions on the screen. Team directors have a lot of valuable information — including which way the wind is blowing and when the racecourse will change direction — and related it to the riders by two-way radio.

Every team car was outfitted with TV screens showing the race live, one up front by the radio and one in the back behind the passenger's head rest.

Every Tour, we see faster and cooler helmets. The time trials bring out the high-tech lids, like this Lazer Wasp Air. Note the long tail.

Nairo Quintana time-trialed in a Catlike RAPID helmet. It's shorter and doesn't have that long tail that many TT helmets have, perfect for shorter TTs and in crosswinds.

Froome's Kask TT helmet was somewhere in the middle of the two.

Meanwhile, Peter Sagan kept his man bun under wraps in his S-Works Evade aero road helmet from Specialized.

Each rider leading a classification at the Tour wore a custom helmet to go with the that leader's jersey — as did Thomas Degent, who spent some time as the King of the Mountains leader and wore polka-dot shades.

Degent's team went all out: He had a matching bike, gloves, and SRM power-meter box. It was fun while it lasted, but Poland's Rafal Majka ended up winning the KOM competition.

Team Sky brought lots of horsepower to the Tour this year in form of the strongest team and a Ford Mustang, which served as a very fast support vehicle.

Like Froome and his bike, the Mustang got the yellow treatment for the final stage.

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Low-Tech Touraine

Nos actions en cours

Low-Tech Touraine_Cotisations 2024

Campagne Adhésion Low-Tech Touraine 2024

Du 01/01/2024 au 31/12/2024

À partir de €5

• Copier l'URL

Qui sommes-nous ?

Le Low-Tech Touraine est une association loi 1901 se donnant pour mission de rassembler sous la forme d’une communauté, les acteurs Low-Tech de Tours et ses environs. Son but est de développer et faire la promotion de la résilience locale et collective en Touraine, à travers la recherche et la diffusion des savoirs, des techniques et des technologies simples et accessibles aux citoyens, de tout âge et de tout milieu, dans le respect de la nature, des cultures et des ressources locales. Nos axes de développement:

•  Sensibiliser à la pensée low-tech lors d'événements sur le territoire
• Réfléchir et échanger sur les problématiques auxquelles les low-techs peuvent répondre
• S’appuyer sur un partage de savoirs pour concevoir et fabriquer des low-techs lors d'ateliers
• Réaliser des chantiers participatifs low-techs sur la région ! Le Low-Tech Touraine fait partie du réseau des communautés Low-Tech Lab.

• Wheaton Labs
• Permaculture Home
• Wood Burning Stoves
• Master Gardener Program
• Permaculture Design Course

Low Tech Laboratory

Movie + 3d plans + webinars + low tech tour, innovating permaculture technology for a  more efficient and luxuriant homesteading life..

Learn homesteading skills to empower YOU to become more resilient and self-sufficient whilst making your life more abundant - and help save the world in the process!

SO MANY REASONS TO WATCH!

• Learn about homesteading projects from experts and build them yourself (with help from the 3D plans also available).
• Support the  advancement of permaculture technology forward : collaboration, experimentation and innovation in the field of permaculture!
• Build homesteading skills and gain knowledge of innovative and eco-friendly tech for natural building, fiber arts, food preservation , and more!
• Explore traditional natural building techniques, and brand new innovations - from roundwood and earthen building techniques, to homemade mycelium insulation!
• Save time and energy with incredible new inventions. Learn about solar and passive solar designs to capture, store, and move heat, water, and even electricity.
• Event innovators have perfected super-efficient wood heat technology , achieving results that were previously regarded as "impossible." See new applications of "rocket heat technology" such as the Rocket Kiln, Forge, and Crucible ( all producing high temperatures using remarkably small amounts of wood fuel ).
• Join a community who are bonkers about permaculture!

What's in the Movie?

Mycelium insulation.

All-natural, biodegradable and non-toxic insulation panels that you can grow at home with free materials while harvesting culinary and medicinal mushrooms in the process.

Rocket kiln

The hyper-efficient, wood-fueled, and clean-burning rocket kiln that changed the ceramics world!

Woodworking

A log beehive, log picnic table, beautiful shaving horse for traditional woodworking, and more!

• Hugelkultur

Hugelkultur is a raised garden bed made by mounding soil over decomposing wood. This method enhances soil fertility and moisture retention. The Low Tech Laboratory movie educates viewers on how to create their own hugelkultur beds.

Spring terrace project

A land feature that can produce hundreds of gallons of water per day from dry land.

So much more!

A simple solar pump, spinning wheel made from bicycle parts, sheep shearing and wool preservation, apothecary, food preservation, the list goes on!!

Explore the Low Tech Laboratory 3D P lans

The Low Tech Lab 3D Plans Bundle provides a comprehensive collection of designs from the 2022 Permaculture Technology Jamboree at Wheaton Labs. This bundle allows do-it-yourself enthusiasts to recreate a variety of low-tech projects. The plans included are a rocket engine, a rocket hot tub, two versions of log picnic tables, a shaving horse, a spinning wheel made from bicycle parts, a mycelium insulated door with Proenneke hinge, horizontal and vertical log beehives, a rocket kiln, hugelkultur, and spring terrace/humus well plans . These plans are tailored to help individuals innovate and apply permaculture principles through practical and sustainable projects.

Meet Your Instructors

The roster includes Paul Wheaton , heralded by Geoff Lawton as the Duke of Permaculture in 2012, serves as the host and a general permaculture expert. He is the founder of permies.com and a staunch advocate of Sepp Holzer’s methods. Beau Davidson shares his expertise on mycelium insulation, while Opalyn Rose offers insights into hugelkultur, spinning wheels, and apothecaries. Alan Booker imparts his knowledge on spring terraces, Austin Durant on food preservation, and Jim Juczak on log picnic tables and intentional community living. Lisa Orr and Chris Alvashere discuss the rocket kiln, Uncle Mud (Chris Mclellan) covers rocket technology and natural building, Samantha Lewis delves into animal husbandry, and Jacob Wustner talks bees. Additionally, Mike Haasl , who played a pivotal role in the creation of a shaving horse during the Permaculture Technology Jamboree, contributed to the practical applications of the discussed techniques.

What people are saying about the movie

So excited to have this info available to the masses!

This is such an inspiring movie with practical information to help you on your homesteading, off-grid and/or permaculture journey.

Can't wait to start making my own mycelium insulation!

Low tech ideas are the way forward and the movie helps to make this a reality – along with the 3D plans. Recommend this for those who aspire to be free!

Rockety stuff is AMAZING - the movie and plans are such good value.

I found the rocket kiln stuff really fascinating and can't wait to start planning a rocket hot tub!!

Learn More with the Combo

Expand your low tech knowledge beyond the laboratory movie and 3d build plans.

The "Low Tech Tour" at Wheaton Labs is a 2-hour movie experience where viewers are taken on a journey through various sustainability and permaculture initiatives. Paul Wheaton, described as the lead Mad Scientist, showcases his experiments aimed at creating a world enriched by permaculture principles. The tour includes innovative techniques for growing food, such as hugelkultur and grey water systems, along with energy-efficient solutions like rocket stoves and solar dehydrators. Additionally, it features natural and energy-efficient living structures, including a rocket mass heated tipi and Wofatis—earth-sheltered homes that leverage natural materials for minimal heating and cooling. This educational tour spans over 300 acres of land dedicated to permaculture and homesteading experiments .

Beau Davidson's mycoinsulation recorded webinar discusses innovative uses of mushroom mycelium for insulation, DIY door construction, and crafting giant wooden hinges. It's designed to be engaging and party-like, or a "webinarty," as Beau terms it. Participants explore the practical aspects of growing mushrooms at nearly no cost, delving into suitable species and substrates, and embracing the trial-and-error process of homestead-scale biological research and development. The webinar also covers sustainable building techniques using Cross-Laminated Timber, Structural Insulated Panels, and other sustainable materials, all while considering the ethical implications of building materials and methods .

Alan Booker's recorded webinar focuses on the concept of the Spring Terrace, which is a feature related to the Permaculture Technology Jamboree at Wheaton Labs from the year 2022. The webinar includes a detailed explanation of how spring terraces operate, the specific conditions necessary for their creation, and how one can identify if those conditions exist in their own environment. Additionally, Alan Booker discusses the methods used to evaluate potential locations for spring terraces at Wheaton Labs, including boring for test cores and digging test trenches to assess sub-soil conditions. Furthermore, a small-scale demonstration of installing a spring terrace was conducted, and details about this process were also shared during the webinar.

• Low Tech Laboratory Movie

Movie - HD Streaming

In this movie you´ll see:

• The 2022 Permaculture Technology Jamboree at Wheaton Labs
• A rocket pottery kiln
• Mycelium for insulation
• Natural Building
• Water harvesting techniques with Sepp Holzer´s  Spring Terrace
• Various natural food preservation methods.
• Sustainable beekeeping with a log beehives
• The journey from sheep shearing to wool spinning
• Permaculture innovation

Low Tech Laboratory Combo

2 Movies - 2 Webinars- 12 builds  3D Plans

In this combo you´ll find:

• Low Tech Lab 3D Plans Bundle
• 65 Low Tech Things - tour movie
•  Alan Booker´s Spring Terrace Webinar
•   Beau Davidson´s Mycoinsulation Webinar

Low Tech Lab 3D Plans

12 builds - 3D Plans 

You´ll find step by step 3D plans for:

• Rocket Engine
• Rocket Hot Tub
• Rocket Kiln
• Mycellium insulated door
• Shaving horse
• Bike spinning wheel
• Log picnic table v1.0
• Log picnic table v2.0
• Vertical Log Beehive
• Horizontal Log Beehive
• Spring Terrace

Copyright © 2023 Paul Wheaton - Missoula, MT

• WEATHER ALERT High Surf Advisory Full Story
• solar eclipse

Greyhound bus routes offer views of 2024 solar eclipse in Indiana, Illinois, Texas

CHICAGO -- The 2024 solar eclipse path of totality crosses several states, and Greyhound is offering special routes for the best view of the celestial phenomenon.

The overall path of totality crosses multiple states where Greyhound operates, including Illinois, Indiana and more.

There are eight hand-selected routes the bus company says offers the best views of the eclipse, with some tickets starting as low as $15.49.

Here are Greyhound's hand-selected eclipse viewing routes and times (all in Central Time):

• Detroit, Mich. to Toledo, Ohio: 7 a.m. - 8:05 a.m., starting at $15.49
• Pittsburgh, Penn. To Cleveland, Ohio: 8:40 a.m. to 11 a.m., starting at $29.49
• Chicago to Indianapolis, Ind.: 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., starting at $29.99
• Louisville, Ky. to Evansville, Ind.: 10:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., starting at $44
• Nashville to Evansville, Ind: 10:15 a.m. to 11:50 a.m., starting at $36.99
• Memphis, Tenn. to Jonesboro, Ark.: 10:15 a.m. to 11:50 a.m., starting at $17.49
• Oklahoma City, Okla. to Dallas: 6:25 a.m. to 11:25 a.m., starting at $21.49
• Houston to Austin, Texas: 11:25 a.m., starting at $21.99

For more information or to purchase tickets, go to greyhound.com .

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• SOLAR ECLIPSE
• U.S. & WORLD

Solar Eclipse

How to protect your eyes during 2024 solar eclipse

Interactive map shows best times, places to watch total solar eclipse

Companies roll out total solar eclipse promotions

Will weather spoil your eclipse view? Here's an early look

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Subway customer intervenes during altercation inside store | Video

Travel Startup Funding 2023: We Tracked 200 Investments – Follow The Money

Justin Dawes , Skift

December 23rd, 2023 at 8:00 AM EST

Startup founders and investors have been saying all year that funding is tighter, but travel startups still raised billions in venture capital.

Justin Dawes

Travel startups raised at least $3.7 billion in 2023. Skift tracked more than 200 travel startup fundraises through a weekly roundup article, compiled from company announcements and exclusive reporting. 

While $3.7 billion is a big number, the actual total is surely higher. That’s because some startups do not share when they raise money, and some do not disclose amounts raised. And we don’t track all global markets.  

Below is an overview of the biggest raises, funding trends, and other important developments from 2023. (Is your travel startup raising money in 2024? Let us know .)

Short-Term Rentals

The short-term rental sector was the most well-funded in 2023. Skift tracked nearly 30 startups related to short-term rentals that raised more than $676 million.

The group includes booking platforms, property-management platforms, niche websites, and more.  

The sector has exploded since the pandemic, driven in large part by the surge in remote work, and that growth is continuing . 

Some of the startups that raised money are focused particularly on the digital nomad market. That includes Berlin-based property manager Habyt, which raised $42.4 million for a booking platform that includes rentals in co-living spaces, homes, and hotels for locals and travelers.

There have been fundraises for even more niche platforms, as well. Germany-based Raus and Australia-based Unyoked each raised millions of dollars for vacation-rental platforms that offer high-tech cabins in remote locations.

And Vipio raised several million dollars for specialty vacation rentals with a portfolio that includes Freddie Mercury’s former vacation home. 

Startups from the hotel tech sector were most likely to be funded in 2023, though the sector did not get the largest amount of funding overall.  

Skift tracked more than 30 startups related to hotel tech that raised at least $274 million, including several startups that did not disclose their funding amounts. 

This category covers a number of software products and services, such as property management, pricing and revenue, guest communications, kitchen operations, and more.  

The largest fundraise among them was $48 million by Stayntouch, a property management system owned by MCR. 

Next-Generation Aircraft

Nine startups developing next-generation aircraft and components raised more than $603 million. 

Regent Craft raised $60 million in October toward development of an electric seaglider for commercial travel along coastal routes. The first, called Viceroy, will carry 12 passengers up to 180 miles and is meant for underserved coastal communities. The company has a goal to deliver the product by mid-decade. 

And ZeroAvia raised $116 million in November to develop a hydrogen-electric jet engine, focusing first on engines that support a 300-mile range in aircrafts of nine to 19 seats by the end of 2025. 

Corporate Travel

There’s a lot of investment going toward platforms that help companies streamline corporate travel expenses. We tracked nine platforms that raised at least $445 million

Mooncard , a platform based in Paris, raised $40.6 million for an expense automation platform that includes providing Visa expense cards for employees of client companies. 

Tours and Activities

The tours and activities sector has been busy this year.

Klook, an online travel agency for tours and activities, recently raised $210 million (equity and debt) in a bid to compete with GetYourGuide and Viator. The Hong Kong-based company has now raised more than $900 million.

GetYourGuide this year raised $85 million in venture capital along with $109 million in revolving credit, pushing its total investment past the $1 billion mark.

And multiple startup platforms meant to streamline operations and sales for the sector raised millions of dollars. Historically one of most low-tech sectors in the industry, the tours and activities sector has been more focused on getting online and adopting new technology. 

Other Trends

• We tracked eight startups involved with the growing sustainable aviation fuel sector, raising a total of at least $312 million.
• There were various online travel agencies and other booking platforms, often specializing in niche markets, that raised a few hundred million dollars. Wheel the World, a booking platform for travelers with disabilities raised money in March , as did Bach, a planning and booking platform for bachelorette parties.
• There were fundraises by multiple startups working to modernize the ground transportation industry, particularly taxi operations and airport transfer bookings. 
• Startups with a product powered by generative AI are starting to raise money, though not large sums at the moment. 

Top 8 Single Fundraises 

• Ramp, corporate expenses including travel: $300 million
• Archer Aviation, flying taxi: $215 million
• Klook, online travel agency for tours and activities: $210 million (equity and debt)
• GetYourGuide, online travel agency for tours and activities: $194 million (equity and debt)
• Lilium, flying taxi: $192 million
• SkyNGR, sustainable aviation fuel: $190.9 million
• Hostaway, short-term rental management platform: $175 million
• DiDi Autonomous Driving, autonomous rideshare vehicle: $149 million

Backed by Celebrities 

There were multiple trip planners for consumers that raised money in 2023. 

Two of them were backed by entertainment celebrities.

• John Legend is a founder of It’s Good, an “invite-only” social media app for restaurant reviews, meant to combat negative reviews on Google and Yelp. The startup raised $5 million in October. 
• Paris Hilton is an investor for Layla, a generative AI trip planner chatbot accessible through an app or through direct messages on Instagram. The startup raised $3.3 million in late November.

Seven Innovative startups 

Below is a list of funded startups that stood out for being particularly unique.

• HalalBooking is an online travel agency tailored for the Muslim market , with features meant to help users search for specific needs, such as a resort with a ladies-only beach, a hotel with halal food, or a villa with a secluded pool.
• Scapia is a credit card for Indian travelers that offers unlimited domestic airport lounge access and 10% rewards on all purchases, which can be used to book travel through the app. 
• Fairlyne is a platform that helps consumers resell non-refundable travel tickets , a capability that’s common for sports and concerts but not travel.
• Autio offers more than 10,000 short audio stories based on geographic location and signed a deal with JetBlue to offer in-flight audio entertainment.
• HotelYaari is a platform that allows investors to purchase a stake in luxury hotels. 
• Minut provides short-term rental hosts with sensors to detect things like cigarette smoke, too many visitors, or too much outside noise. 
• DiDi Autonomous Driving raised $149 million for an autonomous rideshare vehicle that includes a robotic arm to pick up luggage and wake up passengers. And there’s no driver’s seat. 

Skift AI Travel Newsletter

AI coverage across travel sectors that’s focused on separating trendy moves from good ideas – in your inbox every Friday.

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: artificial intelligence , asia newsletter , business travel , funding , online travel newsletter , startups , vcroundup

Photo credit: Archer Aviation was one of the top-funded travel startups in 2023. Archer Aviation / Archer Aviation

LE PROJET .

ACTUALITES .

fr  /  en

REINVENTONS LE FUTUR AVEC LA LOW-TECH  !

Cyclow-tech Tour est une association engagée dans la recherche et la mise en valeur de nouveaux systèmes low-tech. Notre première action vise à explorer l’Europe à vélo afin de rencontrer les nouveaux acteurs de cette démarche, et de filmer, commenter, dessiner les inventions low-tech qu’ils imaginent et fabriquent.

Articles récents / Actualités

Vous avez dit low-tech ?

Faire un don

Le projet en quelques chiffres

kilomètres à vélo

pays à traverser

avant le départ

Réaliser un reportage et écrire un journal illustré sur notre expédition.

Mieux nous connaître

Issus d’une formation d’ingénieur en Environnement et Aménagement du territoire à l’école Polytechnique de l’université de Tours, nous nous sommes toujours sentis particulièrement investis à l’idée de démocratiser la résilience des territoires , la sobriété énergétique , la perma-architecture . Face aux signaux alarmants de la crise globale, nous choisissons de prôner les low-tech, les « basses technologies », en nous interrogeant sur la direction que prend notre société. Ces solutions privilégient la simplicité , la fabrication locale , ainsi que les techniques traditionnelles ou anciennes . Allez plus loin et découvrez notre projet, nos valeurs, nos méthodes et leurs impacts !

Nous découvrir

Présentation vidéo du projet

Participer ?

Vous souhaitez soutenir notre projet et promouvoir les alternatives low-tech ?

Aidez-nous en faisant un don !

Ils nous soutiennent déjà

CYCLOW-TECH

Plan du site :

Vous naviguez sur un site basse consommation . Chaque page émet en moyenne 14 fois moins de CO2 par vue. Pour un site comptant 10 000 vues par mois, cela représente 1.3 kg de CO2 par an.

Tous droits réservés © 2022 | Mentions légales Site réalisé par Valentin Le Lièvre

65 Low Tech Things - tour movie

Alex Freedman wrote: The link only goes to Paypal. is this correct? Does paying on paypal as a guest allow us to pay with the debit or credit cards shown?

The best gardening course: https://gardenmastercourse.com Permies.com FAQ

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Stephen Joel wrote: Will hard DVD copies be available?

Ever optimistic tree hugger. Dreams of food forest on our Pinelands plot.

paul wheaton wrote: Stephen Joel wrote: Will hard DVD copies be available?

When in doubt, doubt the doubt.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." -R. Buckminster Fuller

s byron wrote: This is kind of the opposite of the first queston above -- is there no Paypal option for non-US residents? Gumroad takes me directly to a Stripe-powered credit-card-only payment system, is that correct?

paul wheaton wrote: s byron wrote: This is kind of the opposite of the first queston above -- is there no Paypal option for non-US residents? Gumroad takes me directly to a Stripe-powered credit-card-only payment system, is that correct?

Alex Freedman wrote: Paul, I'm in the process of setting up the thread where we can gift folks with a copy of this tour movie, and folks can ask for a gift of the tour movie. WHich forum section is the best place to post the thread? And I will link it here for everyone. =) Thank you for your dedication to changing the world.

Alex Freedman wrote: Alex Freedman wrote: Paul, I'm in the process of setting up the thread where we can gift folks with a copy of this tour movie, and folks can ask for a gift of the tour movie. WHich forum section is the best place to post the thread? And I will link it here for everyone. =) Thank you for your dedication to changing the world.

M Johnson wrote: I purchased two per what I committed to.   Would be glad to give someone the second one as a gift…let me know if you have someone who needs it and can’t afford it

Always be kind to animal, plant, and earth.

Alex Freedman wrote: Freyda, i think the code will begin to work once the movie is completed and  released to the wider audience.At this point there is no movie, we are all just waiting for the completion. And I think the second part you mention is kind of a promotional link, for anyone who would like to do that. not something that you have to do to get the movie. Staff, If I am incorrect, feel free to correct this.

Thank you for your purchase! Note that this is a "pre-order." We will notify you when the movie is completed! Once the movie is made, this space here will be occupied by the movie for you to watch!

~ Dragons, Fairies and even a Mini-Paul! ~ You Know You're a Permie When... ~ All About Permies, including tutorials ~ Herbal Hugel Spiral of Randomness! ~ Tricks to Keep the Dirt from Sliding off a Hugel ~ List of Cascadia Bloggers and Facebook Pages! ~

paul wheaton wrote: Click on the thumbs up (or "+1") for this post if you would be up for paying $40 just to get your name in a list of names for "cast" or another list that says "crew" and you make up your own job title or role.                cast        jenny mcjennerson    ....    alien number 3        arthur johnson           ....     rick sanchez        walter roberts             .....    the fool         crew                               raven ranson           ....   director of odd smells         mike haasle             ....    tree shaping         nicole alderman      .....   swinging rope maintenance

I tried the new Google. Its answers are worse.

Google’s ai-‘supercharged’ search generative experience, or sge, sometimes makes up facts, misinterprets questions and picks low-quality sources — even after nearly 11 months of public testing..

Have you heard about the new Google ? They “ supercharged ” it with artificial intelligence. Somehow, that also made it dumber.

With the regular old Google, I can ask, “What’s Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth?” and a reasonable answer pops up: “169.8 billion USD.”

Now let’s ask the same question with the “experimental” new version of Google search. Its AI responds: Zuckerberg’s net worth is “$46.24 per hour, or $96,169 per year. This is equivalent to $8,014 per month, $1,849 per week, and $230.6 million per day.”

Um, none of those numbers add up.

Google acting dumb matters because its AI is headed to your searches sooner or later . The company has already been testing this new Google — dubbed Search Generative Experience, or SGE — with volunteers for nearly 11 months, and recently started showing AI answers in the main Google results even for people who have not opted in to the test .

Should you trust that AI?

The new Google can do some useful things. But as you’ll see, it sometimes also makes up facts, misinterprets questions, delivers out-of-date information and just generally blathers on. Even worse, researchers are finding the AI often elevates lower-quality sites as reliable sources of information.

Normally, I wouldn’t review a product that isn’t finished. But this test of Google’s future has been going on for nearly a year, and the choices being made now will influence how billions of people get information. At stake is also a core idea behind the current AI frenzy: that the tech can replace the need to research things ourselves by just giving us answers. If a company with the money and computing power of Google can’t make it work, who can?

SGE merges the search engine you know with the capabilities of a chatbot. On top of traditional results, SGE writes out direct answers to queries, interspersed with links to dig deeper.

Geoffrey A. Fowler

SGE is a response to the reality that some people, including me, are starting to turn to AI like ChatGPT for more complex questions or when we don’t feel like reading a bunch of different sites. Onely , a search optimization firm, estimates that using SGE can make a user’s overall research journey 10 to 20 times shorter by assembling pros and cons, prices and other information into one place.

An all-knowing answer bot sounds useful given our shrinking attention spans. But Google has a lot to work out. We expect searches to be fast, yet Google’s AI answers take a painful second or two to generate. Google has to balance the already fragile economy of the web, where its AI answers can steal traffic from publishers who do the expensive and hard work of actually researching things.

And most of all, the new Google has to deliver on the promise that it can consistently and correctly answer our questions. That’s where I focused my testing — and kept finding examples where the AI-supercharged Google did worse than its predecessor.

Putting Google’s AI answers to the test

Often when you’re Googling, what you really want is a short bit of information or a link. On a day-to-day basis, the new Google is often annoying because its AI is so darned chatty.

A goofy example: “What do Transformers eat?”

The AI answer told me that fictional robots don’t really need to eat or drink, though they need some kind of fuel. Meanwhile, old Google had the one-word answer I was looking for: Energon. (It’s a kind of magical fuel.) You got that answer from new Google only by scrolling down the page.

This doesn’t just happen with alien robots. When SE Ranking, a firm dedicated to search engine optimization, tested SGE with 100,000 keyword queries, it found the average answer it generated was 3,485 characters — or roughly a third as long as this column. One of Google’s challenges is figuring out when its AI is better off just keeping quiet; sometimes, SGE asks you to press a “generate” button before it will write out an answer.

Most of all, when we search, we expect correct information. Google claims SGE has a leg up on ChatGPT because its knowledge is up-to-date.

Yet I found the new Google still struggled with recent affairs. Three days after the most recent Academy Awards, I searched for “Oscars 2024.” It told me the Oscars were still to come and listed some nominees.

And nothing undermined my trust in Google’s AI answers more than watching it confidently make stuff up.

That includes facts about yours truly. I asked it about an award-winning series I wrote for The Washington Post, and it attributed it to some stranger — and then gave a link to some other website.

Then there was the time SGE all too happily made up information about something that doesn’t even exist. I asked about a San Francisco restaurant called Danny’s Dan Dan Noodles, and it told me it has “crazy wait times” and described its food.

The problem is that this is an imaginary shop I named after my favorite Chinese dish. Google’s AI had no problem inventing information about it.

So-called hallucinations about real and fake topics are a known problem with current AI. A disclaimer above SGE results says, “Generative AI is experimental,” but that doesn’t solve the problem. Google needs to figure out how to say “I don’t know” when it isn’t confident.

Suspect sources

To give us answers to everything, Google’s AI has to decide which sources are reliable. I’m not very confident about its judgment.

Remember our bonkers result on Zuckerberg’s net worth? A professional researcher — and also regular old Google — might suggest checking the billionaires list from Forbes . Google’s AI answer relied on a very weird ZipRecruiter page for “Mark Zuckerberg Jobs,” a thing that does not exist.

In my tests, suspect sources were a pattern. At the suggestion of Onely, I asked the new Google which was more reliable: Apple iPhones or Samsung phones. As a longtime reviewer, I could tell you lots of good sources of information on this, including professional journalists and repair organizations like iFixit.

Instead, the AI cites random views of people pulled from social media. Beyond the limited usefulness of a single Reddit user’s experience, how does Google know that it wasn’t a fake review posted by the phonemaker?

“Google SGE plays by a different set of rules compared to the traditional search engine we know today,” said Tomek Rudzki, Onely’s head of research and development.

SEO firms have been trying to do quantitative studies of SGE’s values, though they’re limited by Google’s requirements on test accounts. But they’ve found a similar pattern in the disconnect between the sites that the old and new Google link to. The SEO software company Authoritas tested searches with a thousand shopping terms in late March, and found that 77 percent of the time, the domain of the No. 1 traditional search result showed up nowhere in the AI-written answer.

And in its study of 100,000 keyword searches, SE Ranking found that the question-and-answer service Quora is the most-linked source by SGE; LinkedIn and Reddit were fifth and sixth. How often would those sources be acceptable on an eighth-grade term paper?

On searches about tech topics — including lots of “how to” questions — SE Ranking found the most-linked domain was simplilearn.com . I’d never heard of it before; the site describes itself as an “online bootcamp.”

“This trend not only diminishes the quality of search results but also reduces traffic and revenue for many small businesses, including affiliate websites,” says SE Ranking’s head of SEO, Anastasia Kotsiubynska.

A work in progress

Google says SGE is an opt-in experiment. But Google already blew past its expected end last December, and it hasn’t offered any update on when it will come to search for everyone. It’s possible that Google doesn’t think SGE is accurate or fast or profitable enough and that it will end up changing it dramatically.

They are wise to go slow, even if it makes Google look as though it’s behind in the AI race. The rival search engine Bing from Microsoft made a similar AI overhaul in February 2023, but its AI is still best known for going off the rails .

In an interview, Elizabeth Reid, a Google vice president leading SGE, characterized it as a work in progress.

“We’re really focused on ensuring we get the experience really right. There are a lot of different factors on this — things like latency, accuracy, helpfulness,” Reid said. “What we’ve been finding as we’re iterating and learning is that it’s pretty nuanced.” In other words, there are times the AI is helpful and other times it’s not — and Google is still trying to figure out where to draw the line.

When I shared the examples in this column, Reid told me that SGE’s hallucination rates are “very low” and have decreased “meaningfully” since SGE’s May launch, though she declined to be specific.

“I don’t want to minimize it — it is a challenge with the technology” and something “we’re really working on,” Reid said. Putting links right next to the AI answers, she added, is important to enable people to check the facts for themselves.

Here’s a proposal: Because Google acknowledges correct facts are a problem, it ought to disclose its own data on accuracy before it brings SGE to a broader audience. With billions of searches daily, even 0.001 percent can add up to a lot of wrong information.

Another area of Google’s focus is “trying to help ensure that we get to the core of the question as quickly as possible, and then give additional elaboration,” Reid said.

As for citing low-quality sources, Google disputed the outside research on SGE, saying it is based on searches that are more limited than what Google sees in practice. But it declined to share data of its own.

Reid said SGE doesn’t have a different standard than old Google. “We do see more diversity of sources that are coming forth. But the aim is really to continue to put high-quality content at the top,” she said.

Choosing who to believe is hard enough for humans. What makes Google think its current AI tech, known as LLMs, or large language models, is up to the task?

“They’re not perfect,” Reid said. “We want to take this thoughtful approach because the brand of trust that people have with Google is really important.”

The future of our information depends on it.

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Moscow Metro Tour

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Description

Moscow metro private tours.

• 2-hour tour $87:  10 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with hotel pick-up and drop-off
• 3-hour tour $137:  20 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with Russian lunch in beautifully-decorated Metro Diner + hotel pick-up and drop off. 
• Metro pass is included in the price of both tours.

Highlight of Metro Tour

• Visit 10 must-see stations of Moscow metro on 2-hr tour and 20 Metro stations on 3-hr tour, including grand Komsomolskaya station with its distinctive Baroque décor, aristocratic Mayakovskaya station with Soviet mosaics, legendary Revolution Square station with 72 bronze sculptures and more!
• Explore Museum of Moscow Metro and learn a ton of technical and historical facts;
• Listen to the secrets about the Metro-2, a secret line supposedly used by the government and KGB;
• Experience a selection of most striking features of Moscow Metro hidden from most tourists and even locals;
• Discover the underground treasure of Russian Soviet past – from mosaics to bronzes, paintings, marble arches, stained glass and even paleontological elements;
• Learn fun stories and myths about Coffee Ring, Zodiac signs of Moscow Metro and more;
• Admire Soviet-era architecture of pre- and post- World War II perious;
• Enjoy panoramic views of Sparrow Hills from Luzhniki Metro Bridge – MetroMost, the only station of Moscow Metro located over water and the highest station above ground level;
• If lucky, catch a unique «Aquarelle Train» – a wheeled picture gallery, brightly painted with images of peony, chrysanthemums, daisies, sunflowers and each car unit is unique;
• Become an expert at navigating the legendary Moscow Metro system;
• Have fun time with a very friendly local;
• + Atmospheric Metro lunch in Moscow’s the only Metro Diner (included in a 3-hr tour)

Hotel Pick-up

Metro stations:.

Komsomolskaya

Novoslobodskaya

Prospekt Mira

Belorusskaya

Mayakovskaya

Novokuznetskaya

Revolution Square

Sparrow Hills

+ for 3-hour tour

Victory Park

Slavic Boulevard

Vystavochnaya

Dostoevskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Partizanskaya

Museum of Moscow Metro

• Drop-off  at your hotel, Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills or any place you wish
• + Russian lunch  in Metro Diner with artistic metro-style interior for 3-hour tour

Fun facts from our Moscow Metro Tours:

From the very first days of its existence, the Moscow Metro was the object of civil defense, used as a bomb shelter, and designed as a defense for a possible attack on the Soviet Union.

At a depth of 50 to 120 meters lies the second, the coded system of Metro-2 of Moscow subway, which is equipped with everything you need, from food storage to the nuclear button.

According to some sources, the total length of Metro-2 reaches over 150 kilometers.

The Museum was opened on Sportivnaya metro station on November 6, 1967. It features the most interesting models of trains and stations.

Coffee Ring

The first scheme of Moscow Metro looked like a bunch of separate lines. Listen to a myth about Joseph Stalin and the main brown line of Moscow Metro.

Zodiac Metro

According to some astrologers, each of the 12 stops of the Moscow Ring Line corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac and divides the city into astrological sector.

Astrologers believe that being in a particular zadiac sector of Moscow for a long time, you attract certain energy and events into your life.

Paleontological finds 

Red marble walls of some of the Metro stations hide in themselves petrified inhabitants of ancient seas. Try and find some!

• Every day each car in  Moscow metro passes  more than 600 km, which is the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
• Moscow subway system is the  5th in the intensity  of use (after the subways of Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai).
• The interval in the movement of trains in rush hour is  90 seconds .

What you get:

• + A friend in Moscow.
• + Private & customized Moscow tour.
• + An exciting pastime, not just boring history lessons.
• + An authentic experience of local life.
• + Flexibility during the walking tour: changes can be made at any time to suit individual preferences.
• + Amazing deals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the very best cafes & restaurants. Discounts on weekdays (Mon-Fri).
• + A photo session amongst spectacular Moscow scenery that can be treasured for a lifetime.
• + Good value for souvenirs, taxis, and hotels.
• + Expert advice on what to do, where to go, and how to make the most of your time in Moscow.

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• Customized tours
• Moscow for kids
• Evening activities
• Moscow evening activities
• St Petersburg evening activities
• Day trips out of Moscow
• Golden Ring tours
• St Petersburg tours
• Russian tour destinations
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• Moscow highlights
• Travel Tips
• Upcoming group tours
• Moscow events

The wonders of Moscow metro

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