How Technology Changed the
Way the Blind Live and Work

The blind and visually impaired face tremendous challenges in learning to live without sight. Current and emerging technologies are knocking down barriers and providing blind men and women the opportunity to succeed in careers, education and hobbies that most sighted people believe requires vision. But despite the advances, an alarming number of visually-impaired people still experience difficulty in finding work and feeling empowered in a sighted world.

Produced by Floraine Berthouzoz and Nick Burns

Boozing It Up in San Francisco’s Hippest ‘Hood

San Francisco’s Mission district is home to dozens of bars, saloons, clubs, taverns and watering holes. Find the cheapest drinks, the darkest dives, the hottest date spots and the longest happy hours in town.

Want to sit outside and sip your PBR? Feel like dancing? Hungry? It’s all here. Learn the ins and outs of the Mission’s best-known bars plus the hush-hush hubs only locals have discovered.

About the Authors

Clayton Trosclair and Nick Burns are two well-traveled barflies and cocktail connoisseurs in San Francisco.

To download the App from the iTunes App Store, click here.

Pacific Biosciences is working on a DNA sequencing process that it says will allow a person’s genome to be sequenced in under an hour for less than $100 making a future of personally tailored genetic medicine more feasible. Reporter/Videographer: Nick Burns

A virtual, multimedia exhibit of Oakland-based artists and artist-run galleries.

Click here to view the project.

Video Production by Nick Burns, Caitlin Esch, Dara Kerr and Tyler Sipe
Flash Design and Production by Nick Burns and Floraine Grabler
Photography by Caitlin Esch, Dara Kerr, Tyler Sipe and iStockPhoto

The rapidly evolving facial-hair canon.

By Nick Burns (Published Jan 31, 2010 in New York Magazine)

The Mutton Man

Model: Terry Richardson

Nothing says “I’m a wilderness buff with artistic tendencies” quite like muttonchops, especially when accompanied by a fast-plummeting mustache (not a goatee, mind you; the chin stays bare). Works best on extroverts with narrow faces.

The Chin Curtain

Model: Abe Lincoln

Not to be confused with the chin strap, the pencil-thin strip favored by David Ortiz types. This is more of a backwoods look, with up to an inch-and-a-half-long “curtain” descending from the jawline. Flattering for less-prominent chins.

The Garden Gnome

Model: Brad Pitt

When Pitt really lets himself go, this is what he ends up with: a scraggly upside-down pyramid. Best for men with straight or wavy whiskers and square or angular (not round) faces. Consider rubbing Clubman wax into your mustache to hold the pointy shape.

The Hollywoodian

Models: George Clooney, Jon Hamm

A mountain-man classic, often appropriated by stars looking for a quickie image shift. The thicker the coverage, the more authentic the man. Trim occasionally and clean up the neck, lest one end up with…the Van Winkle.

The Van Winkle

Model: Joaquin Phoenix, circa Letterman meltdown

The full monty as far as facial hair goes; takes months, if not years, to harvest. To counter its sex-repelling qualities, condition it a few times a week and run a comb through it now and then.

Nick Burns is the co-author of The Bearded Gentleman: The Style Guide to Shaving Face (May 2010, Arsenal Pulp Press).

Illustrations by Justin Bryan Nelson

Read more: The Urban-Woodsman Primer – The Rapidly Evolving Facial-Hair Canon — New York Magazine