David Lidsky's Blog, page 2986
May 19, 2015
Inside A Secret Basement Powering The New York Subway's Pioneering Wireless Network
By 2018, every underground subway station in New York with have cellular service and Wi-Fi. The gear in this secret basement will keep riders connected.
For a moment, it feels like I'm being lured into a trap. Normally, when I arrive to meet somebody for an interview, I'm not required to weave through a maze of parked vans behind a nondescript building in an unfamiliar part of Queens. But today is different. I've been asked to keep the location of the interview secret, and for good reason.
Want Your Car To Talk To Your Nest Thermostat? Now It Can
Available today: an app store for your car.
Automatic is a $100 accessory that plugs into any car made after 1996. Sync it to your iPhone or Android device, and it allows you to see otherwise hidden information inside your car's computer. Automatic can diagnose a "check engine" light, calculate fuel efficiency, or call for help when your airbags deploy. It can even sound simple chimes when you're driving in a manner that burns excess fuel.
The Best UX Visuals Follow These 2 Rules
Design details send all sorts of cues to users. Make sure you know what your visuals are saying.
This is the second in a series of excerpts from the ebook Interaction Design Best Practices: Mastering the Tangibles by Jerry Cao, Kamil Zieba and Matt Ellis of UXPin, a UX design platform.
Morning People Vs. Night Owls: 9 Insights Backed By Science
Night owls are drunker, smarter, and get more booty—but morning types may be happier.
Chances are you already know whether you're a morning person or a night person (and if you don't, just ask your significant other). What you might not know is that social scientists use pretty specific—and, by academic standards, pretty casual—names for these two chronotypes. "Larks" are up and at it early in the morning, and tend to hit the sack at a respectable evening hour; "owls" are most alert at night, and typically turn in long after dark.
May 18, 2015
Google Quietly Moves Its Head Of Search Design To Virtual Reality
Google invests a major design talent in VR. Something must be afoot.
Jon Wiley, the lead designer of Google Search, has transitioned to become lead designer of Google Cardboard—the sub-$10 cardboard and plastic case that can transform a smartphone into a low-end, 3-D, virtual reality headset.
You Will Not Get To Retire: How Old Age Became Unaffordable And Unhealthy, And How We Can Fix It
The days of retiring peacefully and financially secure are close to being over. Get ready for a lot more seniors in the work force—which has the potential to be both a problem and an opportunity.
Planning to retire?
These Are The New Rules of Work
Forget everything you've always known about work. The rules have changed.
Work is increasingly both everywhere and nowhere—more deeply embedded in our lives than ever before, but disappearing as a discrete activity.
May 16, 2015
The Life And Rebirth Of Jim Henson And The Muppets
A quarter-century after the death of the legendary puppeteer, Kermit and company keep the crowds in stitches.
It's time to talk about that most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational man: Jim Henson.
May 15, 2015
Netflix Eyes China Expansion As It Faces Increasing Competition At Home
Streaming giant Netflix is in talks to expand into China as U.S. growth slows, but it faces legal and governmental obstacles.
Netflix is in talks with Chinese online broadcasting companies about bringing its content to China, according to The Wall Street Journal. As Netflix faces new competition in the U.S., including HBO Now, Hulu, and Amazon, an expansion into China would bring in potentially millions of new customers. But Chinese online broadcasting executives say that the biggest obstacle between Netflix and China is regional licensing blocks—geoblocking—that prevent content from being shown in certain countries.
NYC's Mythical 190 Bowery Will Open To The Public For Just One Night
Jay Maisel's famous grafitti mansion will be open to the public for the first time since 1966.
In 1966, famed photographer Jay Maisel spent $102,000 on the run down 190 Bowery, a former NYC bank that dates back to New York's Gilded Age. And for nearly 50 years, he's lived in the 6-floor, 35,000-square-foot, 72-room building with his wife and daughter.
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