Latest news with #conversion
WIRED
13 hours ago
- Automotive
- WIRED
How to Convert an Analog Bike to an Electric Bike
Michael Venutolo-Mantovani You can save yourself thousands of dollars on an electric bike by upgrading your current ride. Let us walk (or cycle!) you through it. Courtesy of Science Photo Library via Getty Images All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Say you want to get a bicycle up and down hills with a minimal amount of pedal power. What do you do? The first option is simple: buy an electric bike. However, ebikes aren't cheap. These days, the least expensive but still reliable ebike you can buy is Aventon Soltera 2.5, which costs around $1,200. You can rent an ebike, or find a city bike program that uses them, or, if you're really lucky, find an ebike in a lending library. Or you can just make your regular bike into an electric bike. That is, you can slap an aftermarket unit on your traditional bike, creating a motor-assisted ebike with little more than your bicycle and any of a variety of aftermarket power sources. What used to be a very niche field with only a small handful of offerings has become a cottage industry full of contenders and pretenders, and any number of startups offering a readymade conversion for your bike. So how do you turn your traditional bike into an ebike? And what are some of the best offerings out there? We'll walk you through it. If you don't see anything you like, make sure you check out our guides to the Best Electric Bikes or the Best Electric Scooters. Hot to Throt Well, first, you need to decide what kind of conversion you want. There are two basic kinds of ebikes, pedal-assist and throttle, with many newer models boasting some combination of both. Pedal assist is a mechanism that provides an added boost of electric power when you're pedaling. Via the use of cadence and/or torque sensors (how fast your pedals are rotating and the power that's being applied to them, respectively), pedal-assist units kick on at a certain point, making pedaling easier. Sometimes pedal assist can be so minimal, it's difficult to tell just how much work you're doing versus how much of the load your bike is handling. Throttle units act more like a motorcycle or moped, allowing the rider to either twist a tube mounted near the handgrip or use a thumb-based knob to deliver immediate power to the wheels. Throttle-based ebikes can be ridden without pedaling. When it comes to ebike conversions, where your power comes from and how it's delivered can look several different ways. Some mechanisms deliver power to either your bicycle's rear or front hub. Others are situated in the bottom bracket (that is, where the cranks meet the bike frame). And some newer conversion kits act something like a treadmill mounted to your bike, using rollers to help propel your wheel forward. Roll the Clip Photograph: Stephanie Pearson Having said all that, it's important to consider your level of bicycle know-how when it comes to what kind of ebike conversion you want to undertake. If you're a wrencher, the conversion process is generally straightforward, regardless of the type of unit. If you can change a tire or swap out your cassette, you'll probably be fine with a bit of trial and error and the help of YouTube tutorials. If you're asking yourself, 'What's a cassette?' it's probably best to visit your local bike shop and have a pro handle the work. Those 'treadmill' style conversion kits—such as the Rubbee X, Livall PikaBoost 2 rear-wheel units, or the Clip front-wheel unit—are typically the easiest to install, as you simply need to fix the machine to either your bike's seatpost frame or its fork, make sure its rollers are contacting your tire, and off you go. However, that 'contacting your tire' bit is a bit of a rub (pun intended), as the added contact with your rubber might lead to some extra wear. As disc brakes are becoming ever more the norm (as opposed to a traditional rim brake), Skarper offers a conversion unit that is equally as simple to install to your bike's disc-brake mounts and can be done by almost anyone who knows how to use an Allen wrench. The cool thing about each of these aforementioned units is the ease with which they can be attached and removed, meaning your ebike conversion isn't permanent. With them, you can use your road bike as a commuter during the week, yet keep on with your weekend group rides on the weekend. Hub It Out If you're looking for something more permanent (and way more powerful), units such as the Bafang M-Series replace your traditional bottom bracket with a motor that can deliver up to 1,000 watts of added power to the crank arms of your bike. However, as replacing a bottom bracket is one of the more involved things you can do on a bike, this isn't something you'll want to swap in and out. Somewhere in between the clip-on ease of units like the PikaBoost and the more permanent solution the M-Series offers, are the aforementioned hub-based power units, which tuck motors into the hubs of your wheels. Many of these units also offer battery packs that are meant to be attached to your bike's existing bottle cage mounts. Among the many options for hub-based power units, it's hard to beat the Zehus, which requires nothing more than replacing your existing rear wheel with a Zehus-outfitted wheel. Similarly, Cytronex, one of the earliest and longest-standing ebike brands around, offers a hub-based conversion kit that, while a bit more involved, should take no more than a few minutes of setup. With the explosion in popularity in ebikes, this list is barely scratching the surface. For each of the units mentioned here, there are a dozen or more aftermarket competitors offering similar products. Do your research, talk to the experts at your local bike shop, and decide which unit is right for you and your needs. Once you do that, keep the rubber side down! Power up with unlimited access to WIRED . Get best-in-class reporting that's too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today .
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Town centre offices in Reading to be converted into flats
Three floors of town centre offices will be converted into apartments after a planning application was first, second and third floors of St Mary's House in St Mary's Butts, Reading, will be converted to create 31 serviced floor will be built on top of the current building to provide another six apartments but shop units, currently including a Cancer Research charity shop and Caffè Nero, will Borough Council gave the plans permission last week. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
5 ChatGPT Prompts To Optimize Your Customer Journey And Sell More
Your customers are stalling at checkout. They're getting confused by your onboarding, losing interest after too many steps, or simply forgetting why they wanted your product in the first place. They click away and never return, and you're losing sales to businesses that make buying effortless. How big would your business be if every single person who found it actually bought from you? Turn your customer experience from questionable to inevitable with a buying journey that converts window shoppers into loyal customers. Copy, paste and edit the square brackets in ChatGPT, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through. Business owners think they understand their customer journey, but they're missing crucial touchpoints. You have to know every step your customer takes, from first click to final purchase. Put yourself in their shoes. Track everything. Because every interaction matters. Spot the gaps and smooth them out before another customer slips through. "Based on what you know about my business, help me map my complete customer journey. First, ask me specific questions about each stage: awareness, consideration, decision, purchase, and post-purchase. For each stage, identify the exact touchpoints, potential drop-off points, and customer emotions. Create a visual representation showing where customers get stuck and where they flow smoothly. Include specific metrics I should track at each stage to measure success." Remove friction. Your revenue depends on getting this right. People buy from businesses that respect their time. Fewer clicks, clear options, fast checkout means more completed purchases. Every extra step costs you money. Every confusing moment sends customers to someone else. Don't make them think. Make buying from you the easiest decision they'll make today. "Analyze my current buying process based on what you know about my products and services. Identify every point of friction that could stop a customer from purchasing. For each friction point, suggest a specific solution to streamline the experience. Focus on reducing steps, clarifying options, and speeding up checkout. Create a prioritized action list showing which changes will have the biggest impact on conversion rates. Ask for more detail if required." Confusion kills conversions. So tell customers what's happening at every stage. Use simple language, set expectations, confirm next steps. They should never wonder what happens next. They should never question if their order went through. Clear communication builds trust. Trust builds sales. Make every message count. "Review my customer communication touchpoints based on our previous conversations. For each stage of the buying journey, create clear, simple messaging that tells customers exactly what's happening. Where applicable, include order confirmations, status updates, and next-step instructions. Make each message conversational yet professional, matching my brand voice. Suggest the optimal timing for each communication to maximize engagement without overwhelming customers." Use their name, remember their preferences, surprise them with something extra. Small gestures create lifetime customers. People crave connection, especially when everything feels automated. So make them feel seen. Show them they matter beyond their credit card number. Stand out for the right reasons when you treat every customer like your best friend. "Based on what you know about my business model and customer base, suggest 10 specific ways to add personal touches throughout the buying journey. Focus on scalable personalization tactics that feel genuine without requiring hours of manual work. Include examples of surprise elements, thoughtful gestures, and memorable moments that turn one-time buyers into loyal fans." Too many businesses ghost their customers after getting paid. Big mistake. Check in after purchase to keep the relationship building. Ask for feedback, fix problems quickly, and show you care about their experience. Fast follow-up prevents negative reviews and creates positive ones. It turns satisfaction into advocacy. Make post-purchase care your secret weapon for growth. "Design a post-purchase follow-up sequence based on my typical customer journey. Create a timeline showing exactly when to reach out, what to say, and how to gather valuable feedback. Include templates for checking satisfaction, addressing common issues, and encouraging reviews or referrals. Make each touchpoint feel helpful rather than pushy. Focus on building long-term relationships." Stop losing customers to preventable problems. Map their journey to spot every gap, make buying effortless with fewer steps, communicate clearly so no one gets confused, add personal touches that create connection, and follow up fast to turn buyers into advocates. Every interaction decides whether someone buys once or becomes a customer for life. Your next sale is waiting. Access all my best ChatGPT content prompts.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Hull City Centre former Cecil cinema could be turned into church
A landmark former cinema in Hull City Centre could be brought back into use as a City Council has received a planning application from Calvary International Christian Centre (CICC) to convert the building, which was most recently used as a Mecca Bingo would be used as a place of worship under the new application, with CICC stating their aim to "introduce Christ and all that he embodies".The building, located on the corner of Ferensway and Anlaby Road, has been closed since 2023 and was built in the 1950s. According to the church's website, their Hull branch currently holds its services at the Reel Cinema in St Stephen's Shopping application does not provide much detail into how the church would look should it be approved, according to the Local Democracy Reporting to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Web developer who redirected client's website over unpaid invoice must pay damages, B.C. court rules
An image of the redirect page included in the court decision is shown. ( A web developer who redirected his client's website to a page that called the company out for failing to pay an invoice has been ordered to compensate the company for his wrongdoing. Though he denied he had done it, Nicholas Gust was found in B.C. Supreme Court to have redirected Clex Solutions Ltd.'s website to a page that read: 'Uh Oh! We didn't pay our web developers. The site will be offline until we pay them.' In a decision published Friday, Justice Palbinder Kaur Shergill ruled that Gust had breached his fiduciary duty to Clex and committed the tort of 'conversion' – wrongfully interfering with another person's right of possession of goods. However, she also found that Clex had breached its contract with Gust by failing to pay a $660 invoice. The judge dismissed most of the claims and counterclaims the parties brought against each other, ultimately ordering that Gust must pay Clex $7,000 in damages, plus interest, to be offset by the $660, plus interest, that it owes to Gust for completing his obligations under the contract. The contract and the claims Clex did not sign a written contract with Gust. Rather, it hired Andrew Buckley as a project manager and 'scrum master' for the development of its web-based software for student note-taking and studying. Buckley hired Gust as a subcontractor and tasked him – along with another web developer – with building a 'proof of concept' version of the software, according to the court decision. Gust submitted invoices to Buckley, and when two of them went unpaid in February and March of 2020, the decision indicates he stopped working on the project. Clex paid the February invoice at the end of March, but never paid the March invoice, according to the decision. The website redirect happened 'sometime in 2020,' and was discovered in late April or early May. Shergill's decision indicates it took about two weeks for Clex to restore the site to its proper homepage. The company sued both Gust and Buckley over the incident, but only Gust filed a response to the claim. Buckley did not participate in the court proceedings, and a default judgment was ordered against him. Shergill found Buckley owed Clex a duty of care and was negligent in fulfilling his role for the company. She awarded Clex $25,000 from Buckley for the loss of the website and the cost of restoring it, $15,000 for the loss of opportunity and $8,600 in special damages. However, the judge ruled Gust could not be held liable for Buckley's damages. The damages she awarded against Gust stemmed from her analysis of the various allegations Clex brought against him. Specifically, according to the decision, Clex alleged Gust had breached his contract, committed 'conversion and detinue,' breached a fiduciary duty, was negligent, intentionally interfered with economic relations and committed libel. As mentioned, Shergill found only the conversion and breach of fiduciary duty allegations had been proven on a balance of probabilities. No breach of contract Gust argued that because he had not signed a written contract with Clex, no contract existed for him to breach. Shergill rejected this argument, ruling that the parties 'acted as though there were a binding contract' between them, and therefore an oral contract existed. Clex alleged a variety of different breaches of this oral contract, starting with the suggestion that Gust had failed to uphold his contractual obligations by delivering a 'non-functional' website. The company argued Gust's demo version of the site had bugs, and that his refusal to fix them before being paid was a breach of the contract. 'There was no contractual requirement that the demo version of the software be bug-free,' the decision reads. 'Having that requirement would undermine the very purpose of a demo version.' 'The plaintiff has failed to establish the existence of an express or implied term that Mr. Gust was required to fix the bugs in the website prior to his account being paid, or that his billing or payment was tied to functional deliverables,' the document later adds. Similarly, Shergill found Gust was under no contractual obligation to help Clex restore access to its website after it was redirected. The redirection itself was outside the scope of the contract, and therefore could not constitute a breach, though it did amount to other 'actionable wrongs,' according to the decision. Clex also alleged Gust had 'sabotaged' the website, because certain functions stopped working after the redirect was reversed. Shergill found the company had provided insufficient evidence to prove there had been sabotage, though there was evidence Gust had accessed the site's back-end without authorization six times between December 2020 and February 2021, well after he had ceased work under the contract. Like the redirect, this unauthorized access fell outside the scope of the contract and could not be considered a breach, according to the judge's decision. 'Even though accessing the back-end of the website was not a breach on contract, that does not mean that Mr. Gust escapes liability for his actions,' the decision reads. 'Rather, I find that accessing the back-end code is better addressed through the law on breach of fiduciary duty.' Conversion and detinue The torts of conversion and detinue are closely related. According to Shergill's decision, conversion occurs when someone wrongfully interferes with another person's right to possession of property and detinue occurs when the person who committed conversion refuses to return the wrongfully retained goods on demand. In this case, the judge's finding that Gust had redirected the website – despite his claim he had not – amounted to a finding that he had committed conversion. Shergill reached a different conclusion on detinue, however, ruling that Clex had the necessary passwords and information to reverse the redirect without Gust's help and, indeed, had done so before the matter went to trial. Because detinue must be ongoing, the judge found, the restoration of the Clex website meant its claim for that tort must fail. 'When Mr. Gust re-directed the Clex website to the 'uh oh!' page, he did so intentionally and without permission from Clex,' Shergill's decision reads. 'Mr. Gust knew that taking the Clex website offline meant that existing users of the Clex software would be prevented from accessing the Clex website. The message posted on the 'uh oh!' page makes it clear that Mr. Gust's intention was to take the Clex website offline until such time as he was paid. The fact that Clex had the passwords and login information to redirect the website back to its home page does not absolve Mr. Gust from his wrongful action of conversion.' Breach of fiduciary duty In a similar vein, the judge found Gust's redirecting of the Clex website and his unauthorized accessing of its back-end after his contract had ended amounted to a breach of fiduciary duty. Gust's role as a web developer meant Clex was uniquely vulnerable to his actions and created an obligation not to use his access to cause the company harm or otherwise act against its interests, according to Shergill. 'Mr. Gust had, effectively, the virtual keys to Clex's online kingdom,' the decision reads. 'The fact that Clex's kingdom was small does not negate his fiduciary obligations to ensure that he did not take steps to cause harm to Clex. With those keys came an implied undertaking that Mr. Gust would act in the best interest of Clex when he accessed the website.' Clex's other claims The remaining claims against Gust in the lawsuit – negligence, intentional interference with economic relations and libel – were all 'poorly (pleaded) and barely argued,' according to the decision. On the question of negligence, Shergill found Gust had met the 'standard of care' required of a web developer when completing the work he was contracted to do. 'There is no evidence that Mr. Gust's back-end web development services fell below the standard of care while he was performing his duties for Clex,' the decision reads. 'Nor is there any indication that Mr. Gust was incapable of fixing any issues that arose throughout the back-end code development process.' Regarding interference with economic relations, the judge found Clex's argument failed the first part of the test for that tort. Intentional interference with economic relations involves unlawful actions committed by a defendant against a third party but intended to harm the plaintiff, according to the decision. In this case, Gust's unlawful actions – redirecting the website and accessing the back-end without authorization – were taken against Clex directly. Finally, Clex argued the content of the 'uh oh!' page was defamatory, because its assertion that the company did not pay its web developers would tend to lower Clex's reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person. While Shergill agreed that the page's content was defamatory, she found Gust had successfully proven the defamatory words were true. 'There is uncontroverted evidence that Clex indeed failed to pay Mr. Gust,' the decision reads. 'Mr. Gust issued a valid invoice, the invoice remained outstanding when the website was redirected to the uh oh! page, and the invoice was long overdue. (Clex's co-founder) himself testified that he had not paid the March Invoice to Mr. Gust and that, after the website was redirected, he did not intend to ever pay the outstanding $660.' 'The impugned statement was truthful. This is a full defence to the allegation.' Damages and counterclaim Clex sought more than $300,000 in damages against Gust, but Shergill found its justification for requesting that amount to be lacking. 'It is difficult to quantify the harm suffered by Clex due to Mr. Gust redirecting the Clex website to the 'uh oh!' page,' the decision reads. 'I lack any evidence of how many students were directed away from the website, or the value of the investor that (Clex) says left as a result of the website redirection. To the extent that people were turned away from Clex because they thought it was a company that did not pay its web developers, that is not a loss that Mr. Gust is responsible for. As I have noted, truth is a full defence to libel.' The judge concluded $7,000 was the appropriate amount to award, noting that – of the torts she had found he committed – only the conversion resulted in harm to Clex, and that harm 'was minimal.' For his part, Gust filed a counterclaim seeking payment of his unpaid invoice, which Shergill granted. He also sought aggravated damages and argued Clex's lawsuit was brought in bad faith and an abuse of process. Shergill dismissed these claims, awarding only the $660, plus interest, to Gust.
