David Lidsky's Blog, page 3377
December 16, 2013
This Interactive Map Illustrates Our E-Waste Problem
The mountain of waste is due to grow by one third by 2017, to 65.4 million tons.
An interactive waste map created by a UN partnership shows that the developed world is exporting its electronic waste to poorer countries, often illegally, where it is then dumped in landfills.















Can Blaise Agüera y Arcas End Google Maps' Arms Race With Apple And Microsoft?
Google just poached high-profile engineer Blaise Agüera y Arcas from Microsoft. Here's what he could bring to Mountain View.
Two weeks ago, when I asked Blaise Agüera y Arcas, one of Microsoft's most prominent engineers, for his thoughts on the company's fierce rivalry with Google and Apple in the digital maps space, he was careful not to disparage his competitors too much--even when discussing Apple's much-publicized flop when it entered the maps market. "I don't have schadenfreude about these things," he said. "I believe in competition--it's a race to some degree. It's not a large set of companies that have the scale to have a serious go at this, but it's a set of more than one."















12 Tools For More Mindful Living
Living a more mindful life is worth the effort, but remembering to focus and keep your mind in the moment is difficult. Here is a toolset designed to help you achieve your goals.
The focus of my life in recent months has been living mindfully, and while I don't always remember to do that, I have learned a few things worth sharing.















December 14, 2013
Google Buys BigDog Robot Maker Boston Dynamics
It's the eighth robotics company Google has acquired in the past year.
Google has acquired Boston Dynamics, the MIT spin-off research company behind some of the world's most advanced robots and androids, for an undisclosed amount.















December 13, 2013
How Newtown Parents Are Building A Long-Term Legacy And A Model For Cause Groups
Watch parents of Sandy Hook Elementary school students explain the evolution of a social movement on the one-year anniversary of the mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Today, on the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, we encourage you to watch "Newtown and Silicon Valley: The Search for Solutions." This video, part of our series of stories presented live on stage at Fast Company events, chronicles the remarkable journey of a group of parents in Newtown, Connecticut.















Online Deal Makes 100 Cronuts Available Outside New York
Gourmet food and gifts curator Goldbely has added exactly 100 cronuts to its inventory. Behold, the first startup to leverage the celebrity of a pastry.
Few baked goods have the star power of the cronut. Not quite croissant, not quite doughnut, the hybrid pastry has appeared on Jimmy Fallon Live, been hotly debated in the press, and inspired a global pastry trend. Anderson Cooper wants one on his birthday.















Mind-Controlled Computing Goes Open Source
Brain-computer Interfaces have made great progress as of late, but still aren't very sophisticated. A team of engineers wants the makers and hackers of the world to fix that.
Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are the systems that allow for direct communication between the brain and an external device. Existing BCI models are being worked on every day, but it's all being done almost exclusively by researchers and engineers with access to extensive resources. Joel Murphy and Conor Russomanno are two engineers that want to lower that barrier. What mind-control needs, they believe, are some makers.










This Autonomous Drone Thinks With Your Smartphone
This self-flying drone uses your phone as a brain--but is it worth risking your phone every time you want to take to the skies?
Many drones, including the best-selling AR Drone 2.0 Parrot, let you control the drone with your smartphone. A new drone has emerged that actually thinks with your smartphone--as in, you strap your phone into it and the drone becomes autonomous. While this seems like a great idea considering the ubiquity of smartphones, it assumes that you've got a powerful enough phone--if you have one at all. Is this a feasible model?










The Recommender: Christina Chaey On Bygone Beers And Beyoncé
The three best things one of Fast Company's Associate Editors saw on the Internet this week.

Twitter: @christinachaey
Titillating Fact: Christina is a baking fiend. (Her latest conquest: French macarons.) "Cooking is my favorite way to exercise creativity otherwise left unlocked--it's great to discover a new spice pairing or cooking method that reinvents the way I see and use familiar foods. But baking, which is less improvisation and more science, requires precision and dedication that, when done right, yields incredibly satisfying (and delicious) results. I'm attempting torrone for the holidays."










Twitter Is Starting To Alert You When Your friends Talk About TV Shows
A push notification spotted by Alex Rainert shows the social network wants to keep you updated on your favorite TV shows.

Twitter looks like it is experimenting with a feature that notifies you via push notification when your friends are talking about TV shows.















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