Friday, May 1, 2026
It’s gonna be May! Welcome to another Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our favorite five highlights in New York and tech this week.
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The New York soccer pros who still live with their parents (New York Times)
Two teenage soccer players are starring for the New York Red Bulls — and then heading back to their parents’ apartments after games. ⚽
At just 17 and 18, Julian Zakrzewski Hall and Adri Mehmeti are competing at the highest level of U.S. soccer, including matches where they out-play global stars like Lionel Messi.
They just better finish their homework before bedtime.
A Buddha is reborn on the High Line (Hyperallergic)
From a giant pigeon to a giant Buddha: A new sculpture on the High Line is reimagining a piece of cultural history and offering a moment of calm above the city. 🙏
Artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s installation draws inspiration from the Bamiyan Buddhas, the ancient statues in Afghanistan that were destroyed in 2001, reinterpreting them as a modern “echo” rather than a replica.
The piece mixes sandstone with brass recast from artillery shells, turning symbols of conflict into gestures of compassion — and adding a striking landmark to Manhattan’s skyline.
‘What we’re doing is real justice’: How one New York gym built a pipeline away from prison (The Guardian)
A Lower East Side gym is helping people build lives after prison. A new documentary out today tracks how the business is creating jobs and second chances for them. 🏋️
ConBody, founded by a former drug dealer who built a workout routine in prison, hires formerly incarcerated people as trainers and mentors.
The model is designed to provide stable income, community, and a path forward in a system where reentry is often stacked against them.
The analog charms of New York’s intercoms (New York Times)
The sweet sounds of New York: “Empire State of Mind” blasting from a pedicab, car honks galore, and the metallic buzzing of apartment doors. Even in a world of smart locks and video doorbells, New York’s loud, glitchy apartment buzzers are still going strong. 💪
Many buildings still rely on decades-old analog systems, with tangled wiring and barely readable panels that technicians patch together piece by piece.
The reason these relics remain is simple: Upgrading isn’t necessarily cheap. So for now, enjoy that familiar metallic buzz (and let’s hear it for New York).
The strange and special books, photos, and objects for sale at the NY Antiquarian Book Fair (Gothamist)
The Park Avenue Armory is hosting one of the biggest gatherings of rare books, manuscripts, and historical artifacts in the world this weekend, and the rare book world community will be descending upon NYC. 📚
The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair features everything from handwritten letters by J.D. Salinger to annotated scripts by John Wilkes Booth.
Items go for anything from a few hundred dollars to tens of millions.
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