Afternoon Drive withJoanne Joseph

Apa Sherpa is a Sherpa mountaineer who holds the world record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest 21 times—more than any other person. In 2009, Apa founded the Apa Sherpa Foundation, a nonprofit that works to provide better educational and economic opportunities to the young people of the Khumbu region. In March 2014, Apa Sherpa, Google Earth Outreach, and the Nepalese nonprofit Story Cycle, embarked on a 10-day trek through the Khumbu region, supporting local people to enhance the digital representations of their communities on Google Maps.

We hope the project will empower the Apa Sherpa Foundation, Story Cycle, other nonprofits, and Sherpa community members to tell their stories through Google Maps.

http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/khumbu/

WhatsApp re-opened the “invitation” window for its voice calling service on 11 March 2014, making it possible for Android users to give one another access to the feature.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/smartphones/121786-whatsapp-voice-calling-tested.html

Massive switch to electric cars could save drivers £1,000 a year on fuel costs, if infrastructure is built to support the vehicles. The BMW i3 is representative of a new generation of electric cars. Electric car boom will require an infrastructure rollout to win over consumers who are worried about batteries running out of power. Electric cars could cut the UK’s oil imports by 40% and reduce drivers’ fuel bills by £13bn if deployed on a large scale, according to a new study. An electric vehicle surge would deliver an average £1,000 of fuel savings a year per driver, and spark a 47% drop in carbon emissions by 2030, said the Cambridge Econometrics study.

The paper, commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, said that air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulates would be all but eliminated by mid-century, with knock-on health benefits from reduced respiratory diseases valued at over £1bn. But enjoying the fruits of a clean vehicle boom will require an infrastructure roll-out soon, as the analysis assumes a deployment of over 6m electric vehicles by 2030 – growing to 23m by 2050 – powered by ambitious amounts of renewable energy.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/10/electric-cars-could-cut-oil-imports-40-by-2030