David Lidsky's Blog, page 3355
January 17, 2014
Google Is Making A Smart Contact Lens
The lens would track glucose levels for diabetes patients and alert them to any problems.
By now, we're all familiar with the idea of wearable health trackers. But we're used to seeing them on our wrists. If Google gets its way, the next batch of wearables may be worn in your eyes.
Hoefler & Frere-Jones, The Beatles Of The Type World, Are Breaking Up
Tobias Frere-Jones says "treacherous" Jonathan Hoefler cheated him of his half of one of the world's most famous type foundries--a company that has worked for everyone from Nike to the New York Times.
Hoefler & Frere-Jones--perhaps the world's most renowned type foundry whose fonts have been seen everywhere from the pages of GQ to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign--is splitting up. And it's a nasty parting--the legal equivalent of a knife fight in the street.
How Much Do Data Scientists Get Paid?
Data Scientists have one of the most in-demand skill sets in tech. New data from O'Reilly reveals how much they get paid and why.
Business Insider's story about a Google developer who makes $3 million a year caused something of a furor this week, despite the fact that IT World could not confirm whether this $3 million man actually exists. So how much do companies pay the bearers of the hottest job title in tech: data scientist? The answer is not as much as you might think.
14-Year-Old's Anonymous Messaging App Has Nothing To Do With Anonymity
Just as Snapchat is not necessarily about secrecy, Backchat has less to do with the desire to be anonymous than with the desire for a new type of digital conversation.
Daniel Singer understands the marketing value of being a 14-year-old app creator. "People want to move to newer platforms suited for people in their demographic," he says. "I am a teen, so I have a decent picture of what they want."
4 Strategies of America's Best Places to Work
What makes a company a great place to work? We dive into the 2014 list of Best Companies to Work For and tease out the traits that keep staff happy and the balance sheet bumping.
At Fast Company, we try to crack the code on what makes a business succeed or fail. It's a complex mix of culture, strategy, vision, and values.
January 16, 2014
This Bell Labs Campus Was The Googleplex Of Its Day, And Now It's Dead
The New Jersey facility was designed by a famed Finnish architect and housed great discoveries of the 20th century, but it's been empty for seven years. What's next?
Bell Laboratories wasn't just a single building. Rather, it was nationwide constellation of labs responsible for global marvels of scientific discovery and seven Nobel prizes. The mantle began to disintegrate with the closing of the famous Manhattan office, but now Bell Laboratories' Holmdel facility in suburban New Jersey has closed--and the community is left to wonder what to do with the cavernous monolith where wonders once sparked into life.
Do Barcodes Work Better If They're Beautiful?
The creator of "aestheticodes" says he hopes to decorate the world with interesting, interactive surfaces.
Digital symbology needs a redesign. Barcodes aren't universal, and QR codes--which are--have never caught on. Together, they're a fairly disgraceful conduit between real life and digital life. Artists have attempted to pretty up these scannable data codes by assimilating logos into QR codes and using them as the basis of glitch art, and barcodes' vertical lines have been treated as design elements for more eye-catching package design. But generally speaking, consumers will only use technologies that are people friendly--much to the consternation of retail stores and advertisers, whose in-store barcode scanners and QR marketing campaigns inevitably flop.
Founding Team Member Of Ouya Muffi Ghadiali Is Leaving The Project
Kickstarter's second highest-grossing project, an open source console, has lost one of its key players after reporting tepid sales.
Ouya was a much buzzed about product when it came to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. It quickly raised $8.5 million in funding, marking the project in Kickstarter history. The promise: Ouya could revolutionize the gaming industry with its hackable platform, allowing gamers to also be developers without licensing fees. The team welcomed Muffi Ghadiali as VP of product development in 2012 to spearhead a team of engineers, but TechCrunch confirmed this morning that Ghadiali is departing from the company, putting Ouya's roadmap in question.
The NSA Is Collecting 200 Million Text Messages A Day
A program codenamed "Dishfire" is extracting metadata that includes location, contact, and credit card information.
More light has been shed on the extent of the National Security Agency's monitoring efforts. The Guardian reports that the agency has been collecting close to 200 million text messages a day globally.
Do Remote Workers Actually... Work?
Telecommuting is more common than ever, but it can devastate morale and demotivate people. Here's how to make sure it doesn't.
If you're looking for a job right now, chances are you'll come across a listing for at least one listing that involves telecommuting. Census data shows that more Americans are working remotely, and studies show that having the option to work from home can increase worker productivity. But while the viability of the remote workplace has been much discussed since several high-profile tech companies decided to eliminate telecommuting, most outlets have merely examined it in terms of efficacy--i.e., does a remote work environment benefit a company's overall productivity?
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