David Lidsky's Blog, page 3083
January 8, 2015
Today in Tabs: Regrettably, A Charlie Hebdo Explainer
A break from the normal Tabs.
The Take Engines took a few hours to crank up after the terrible murders at Charlie Hebdo yesterday, but by last night they were in overdrive, and for once I was glad, because beyond "can we please stop with the murdering?" I didn't know what to think about it. So I traveled deep into the content mines, and I emerge here with what I'm afraid is undeniably An Explainer, but at least it's only an explainer of the questions I found within myself, and the best answers I could come up with for them.
Uber, On A Collision Course With City Officials Around The World, Doubles Down On Politico Hires
The company is suddenly on the defensive, with shutdowns imminent from China to New York.
Uber, with its operations facing suspension in cities around the world, is marshaling a small army of policy staffers to do battle with local authorities. India and Spain banned the on-demand taxi service last year, France followed suit, and today China announced that it would be cracking down on unauthorized private cars, less than a month after Uber inked a $600 million deal with Chinese search engine Baidu.
Oh 'Appy Day: Apple Announces Record-Breaking Week For The App Store
Customers spent $500m in the first week of January alone.
Apple is all about breaking records these days. Having sold an unprecedented number of iPhones with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and with its most exciting product pipeline in a quarter century, the company today announced a new App Store record: During the first week of January, customers spent close to half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases.
Watch Parents Have "The Talk" With Their Kids In This Hilariously Uncomfortable Video
"Oh, the van-gina!" Nothing like capturing kids getting scarred for life.
There's no use getting comfortable in your chair because you're about to squirm right out of it.
"The Van-Gina!": Parents Teach Their Kids About Sex In This Hilariously Uncomfortable Video
Nothing like capturing kids getting scarred for life.
There's no use getting comfortable in your chair because you're about to squirm right out of it.
With Its New Mobile Scanning App, Evernote Is Trying To Transcend Paper
Scannable is entering a crowded category, but it's clever, simple, and useful.
Open Evernote's new Scannable app, point it at a document, business card, or receipt, and plop, it instantly creates a digital scan ready to be sent to a number of different locations—including an Evernote account. The free app, announced back in October, is now officially available in the iOS App Store.
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Tom Dixon Releases Gorgeous New Home Accessories
The rock star designer uses stunning materials to turn everything from tape dispensers and staplers to vases and barware into art objects.
British all-star designer Tom Dixon specializes in turning everyday stuff into almost sacred-looking design objects. In his four newest collections, Dixon uses sleek materials like copper, crystal, and black cast iron to transform desk accessories, vases, and barware into enchanting minimal sculptures.
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Cleverly Redesigned Progress Bars Make Slow Downloads Suck Less
The snail-like progress bar gets reimagined as a lightsaber, a chocolate bar, a personality test, and more.
Watching a progress bar fill up slowly while waiting for stuff to download or upload is the Internet equivalent of being put on hold. It's always tempting to hit "cancel" instead of "OK." What if a clever design could make this daily drag suck less?
The Serious Business Behind Warby Parker's Jokey Annual Report
Hot startup year-in-review season is upon us, and the hip glasses retailer lets people create a personal infographic suitable for sharing.
Warby Parker, the fast-growing New York eyeglasses startup, will publish its annual report this morning, and the news, provided in an advance copy to Fast Company, was very good. The company, which introduced Silicon Valley to the trend of vertically-integrated online retail—witness the Warby Parker of mattresses, of underwear, and of startup pivots—has been making big moves in the offline world over the past 12 months, opening stores in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, as it cements itself as a fashion brand rather than a pure e-commerce player. There are a few telling tidbits buried in the report, including the fact that Warby started selling progressive lenses, a small but significant step that will allow Warby to go after a broader swath of the eyewear market. The annual report also notes that this year the company's charitable arm, which helps distribute a pair of glasses in the developing world for each one it sells, gave out its millionth pair of frames.
A Nest For Clunky Old Apartment Radiators?
Radlabs wants to do for apartment dwellers what Nest has done for homeowners, but with a decidedly DIY bent.
With a smart thermostat, Tony Fadell's company Nest Labs was the first big splash in the smart home category. Just by replacing your existing thermostat, the Nest allowed you to save money and intelligently control your home's temperature, all through your smartphone. Nest is great. But what if you're one of the millions of apartment-dwelling Americans who doesn't have control over his heat? Who deals with thermostats that are either blazing hot in the winter, or not turned on at all?
It's a Nest for the rest of us.
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