Airbnb Plus and the Desire for Premium Listings

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has observed that “guest expectations have evolved.” With that, the home-sharing organization deploys a new tier to their service: Airbnb Plus. After two trial years, it’s comprised of 2000 homes in 13 cities. All of these locations have been verified through a detailed inspection process. Verification means homes can charge more and will appear higher in search results. Hosts in the …

Minnesota’s Never-Built $10 Billion “City of the Future”

Distraught with the urban mess cities had become, Athelstan Spilhaus (creator of the comic “Our New Age,”) proposed a $10 billion utopian urban plan to be built in rural Minnesota back in 1967. Unfortunately, it would never come to fruition, but The Minnesota Experimental City and Spilhaus have become the subject of a new documentary, “The Experimental City,” directed by Chad Freidrichs. As the Smithsonian …

Isle of Dogs’ Animation Teams Explains Their Stop Motion Process

For anyone transfixed by the visuals of the latest animated Wes Anderson film, “Isle of Dogs,” animation director Mark Waring and lead animator Jason Stalman begin to explain some of their meticulous process in a new short documentary, “Making of: Animators.” As both are quick to admit, it’s not easy trying to get a performance from puppets—in essence lumps of rubber, metal and silicon. From …