David Lidsky's Blog, page 3221
July 8, 2014
The Yo App's Newest Use: Alerting Israelis To Palestinian Rocket Attacks
The makers of an app warning Israelis of trouble retooled their project to send notifications via the novelty app Yo.
In an unusual retooling, novelty app Yo is now being used to alert Israelis abroad of rocket attacks. According to Hebrew-language tech blog Geektime, Yo is being used to send Israelis who are living abroad notifications of rockets falling in their home country. The notifications are being conducted by Yo in conjunction with the Israeli Color Red app, an unofficial, self-described "propaganda tool" that sends push notifications of rocket explosions. Following a recent surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence, the Israeli army is currently conducted an offensive in Gaza and more than 100 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel within the past 24 hours. The two sides are engaged in the fiercest fighting since 2012.
To Sell Houses, People Are Used As Props In McMansions They Don't Own
Living in a model home isn't always a Bluth-like sitcom.
A poignant story from the Tampa Bay Times follows one family that lost everything in the recession and has found a peculiar way to hold on to the trappings of wealth. It sounds like the plot of some long-lost dramatic version of Arrested Development, but this is real.
Airbnb Asks Top Designers To Rethink The Modern Home
Designers reimagine domestic bliss, with fold-up rooms, a custom "smell of home" fragrance, and more.
In September, the London Design Festival will turn Trafalgar Square into a showcase for a new way of living. The festival partnered with Airbnb to ask four design studios--Studioilse, Jasper Morrison, Patternity, and Raw Edges--to reinterpret the concept of a home, prompting them to imagine a pop-up house people would never want to leave. The designs offer a unique--if sometimes abstract--take on what we want out of our domestic space.
Facing Protests, Zaha Hadid Revises Design For Tokyo's 2020 Olympic Stadium
For once, critics move the architect to action
Architect Zaha Hadid is not known for designs that seamlessly weave themselves into the fabric of the communities that surround them. Instead, her defiant silhouettes have mirrored a defiant attitude toward critics who have shaken their fists at her perceived complicity in forced evictions, treacherous working conditions, and monopolization of public resources.
Are Grainy Videos Of Atrocities Real? This Tool Will Tell You
In places where only cell-phone footage can tell the story of a crisis, video experts are stepping in to make sure the footage is real.
The shaky cell-phone footage was supposed to be from Nigeria, though Christoph Koettl was still trying to decipher the events unfolding on his screen. It looked like a soldier dragging an unarmed man down a paved road, shooting him, then leaving his corpse in a pile of more bodies off to the side.
This Project Traps Plastic Junk Before It Reaches The Ocean And Turns It Into Floating Parks
In the Netherlands, architects are launching an ambitious plan to stop plastic pollution from clogging up the North Sea.
One of the challenges of cleaning up the billions of pieces of plastic in the world's oceans is that the fragments are so small. Water bottles and plastic bags eventually break apart into tinier and tinier pieces that spread throughout the water in a messy soup. While the ideal solution might be making sure plastic makes it to recycling bins--or actually using fewer plastic products--another approach is to do a better job of catching plastic trash just before it reaches the sea.
New "Gone Girl" Posters And Trailer Stack The Evidence Against Ben Affleck
He totally did it, right?
David Fincher's upcoming "who killed Ben Affleck's wife" drama Gone Girl--based on Gillian Flynn's 2012 novel of the same name--has managed to become one of the year's most hotly anticipated films even though it's a family drama being promoted at the same time that apes are taking over the world, Cameron Diaz is about to recover her sex tape, and armies of Transformers are annihilating cities.
Before You Sell Your Old Smartphone, Consider This: Even If You Wipe It Clean, Your Sexts May Still Be On It
A security firm purchased 20 used smartphones, wiped them--and found plenty of naked selfies, emails, and even a loan application.
A startling discovery from security firm Avast Software will make you reconsider selling your old smartphone: Even after performing a factory reset, your browsing history, photos, and text messages can still live on the device.
The Secret Society For High-Achieving Women
You may not have heard of C200, but you have definitely heard of its members.
It's lonely at the top--especially for women.
How An E-Commerce Startup Is Reinventing The Wedding Registry
Gilt Groupe alums are making Zola's online registry a destination for couples tying the knot in a mobile-driven world.
It means love in Zulu language, but Zola, the online wedding registry startup, isn't just interested in couples' romance.
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